of this disease was so great that there was no roome in the Church-yards to bury the dead and many finding themselues infected with this disease being out of all hope of recouery would presently sow themselues in sheetes looking when death would come to separate the soule from the body These were the whips that God vsed in a generalitie for punishment of sinnes But what would we speake of diseases when Plinie and others write that in two thousand yeeres to their time they haue discouered aboue three hundred diseases to which men are subiect we may say with the Poet Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus 〈◊〉 Prima fugii subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor durae rapit inclementia mortis The best dayes of vs miserable men The first are that make haste from vs and then Diseases come with sorrowfull old age Labour and lust Deaths implacable rage Let vs descend to some particular matter which hath happened to men either by the secret iudgement of God or by some rare accidents Popyelus King of Polonia a man of euil life would often wish that he might be deuoured of mice At last as he was sitting at dinner banquetting and 〈◊〉 a company of great mice set vpon him which came from the carkasses of his vncles which he and the Queene his wife had killed with poyson These mice in great heapes assaulted him his wife and children as they sate feasting and neuer left gnawing vpon them day and night though his guard and souldiers did all they could to driue them away great fires were made and the King his wife and children placed in the middest yet notwithstanding the Mice ran thorow the fire and fell to their gnawing againe Then they went into a ship and prooued what the water would doe the Mice followed them and gnawing continually vpon the Ship the Mariners seeing themselues in danger of drowning the water comming in at the holes which the Mice made brought the Ship to land where another companie of Mice ioyned with these and molested them more then before when his followers saw these things perceiuing it to be the Iudgement of God they all fled The King seeing himselfe left alone and those departed that should defend him he went vp into an high tower but the Mice climbed vp and deuoured him his wife and two sonnes By which it appeareth that there is no policie nor power to be vsed against God The Emperour Arnolphus was likewise eaten vp with Lice his Physicions being vnable to giue him any remedy Hotto Bishop of Ments in Germanie perceiuing the poore people in great lacke of victuals by the scarcitie of corne gathered a great many of them together and shut them into a barne and burnt them saying That they differed little from Mice that consumed corne and were profitable to nothing But God left not so great a crueltie vnreuenged for he made Mice assault him in great heapes which neuer left gnawing vpon him night nor day he fled into a Tower which was in the midst of the Riuâ—…r of Rhyne which to this day is called the Tower of Mice of that euent supposing hee should be safe from them in the midst of the Riuer But an innumerable companie of Mice swam ouer the riuer to execute the iust Iudgement of God and deuoured him The like happened to a Bishop of Strasbrough who was also deuoured with mice When Harold King of Denmarke made warre vpon Harquinus and was ready to ioyne battell there was a dart seene in the aire flying this way and that way as though it sought vpon whom to light And when all men stood wondering what would become of this strange matter euery man fearing himselfe at last the dart fell vpon Harquinus head and slew him An Italian Gentleman being vniustly condemned to die as it was thought by Pope Clement the fift at the request of Philip the faire King of France seeing them both out of a window speaketh to them aloud in this sort Thou cruell Clement for as much as there is no iudge in the world before whom a man may appeale from that vniust sentence which thou hast pronounced against me I appeale from thee as from an vniust Iudge to the iust Iudge Iesus Christ before whom I summon thee and likewise thee King Philip at whose suite thou hast giuen iudgement of death vpon me within one yeere to appeare before the Tribunall seat of God where I shall plead my cause which shall be determined without couetousnesse or any other passion as yee haue done It chanced that about the end of the time by him prefixed both the Pope and the King dyed The like happened to Ferdinando the fourth King of Castile who puttìng to death two knights rather through anger then iustice whose fauour could not be obtained neither by weeping and lamenting nor by any petitions they summoned the King to appeare before the Tribunall seat of Christ within thirtie daies the last of which the King died A Captaine likewise of the Gallies of the Genowayes tooke a vessell the Captaine whereof neuer did harme to the Genowayes yet for the hatred that the Captaine of the Genowayes did beare to his Nation he commanded him to be hanged And when no petitions nor prayers would be heard nor excuses allowed nor any mercy would be found hee said to this cruell Captaine that he did appeale to God that punisheth the vniust and summoned him to appeare at a certaine day appointed to render account before God of the wrong he had done him the very same day that he appointed the Captain of the Genowayes dyed of like went to yeeld his account A strange example likewise by a false accusation of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry This man was indued with many vertues and had great care of his flocke and would punish seuerely publike sinners which procured the hatred of many wicked persons who accused him to the Pope as a man insufficient for his charge laying many faults against him The Pope holding a good opinion of the Bishop aduertised him of it who to purge himselfe and to declare his innocency made choise among all his friends of one Arnand whom he loued dearely and aduanced to many dignities to go to Rome This man being rich intending to depriue his master and to occupie his place suborned two wicked Cardinals with a great summe of money to fauour his practice when he came to answer for his master hee confessed how much bound he was to him yet he was more bound to God and to the truth then to men and said that the accusations laid against the Bishop were true By meanes whereof the Pope sent the two corrupted Cardinals to heate determine the Bishops cause when they came into Germanie they sent for the Archbishop and vpon hearing of his cause depriued him of his dignities and placed Arnand in his roome The Bishop being present at
honours and such like bringeth not felicity but the service of God Iugera non faciunt felicem plurima frater Non Tergestini dulcia musta soli Non Tyriae vestes Aurâ—… non pondera flavi Non ebur aut gemma non juvenile decus Non dulcis nati soboles non bellula conjux Non tenuisse suâ—… sceptra superbamanu Noveris rerum causas licet astra polique Et nostro quicquid sub Iove mundus habet At mea si quaeris quae sit sententia Frater Dicam vis felix vivere vive Deo Brother not many acres make thee blest Nor the sweet grapes in Tergestine prest Not Tyrian garments not thy golden treasure Not Ivory gemmes nor all thy youthfull pleasure Not thy faire issue not thy beauteous bride Not a proud scepter with thine hand to guide To natures secrets though thy skill extend And thou the starres and poles dost apprehend With all the world doth beneath Iove containe Yet if thou ask'st of me what thou shalt gaine By these I le speake if thou wouldst make thy ' boad In heaven so live that thou mayst live to God The end of the fifth booke THE FELICITIE OF MAN OR HIS SUMMUM BONUM THE SIXTH BOOKE CHAP. I. The Creation of Man and the estate he was in at the beginning before his fall Mans alteration after his fall how he participates with the nature of brute beasts All things made to serve man rebell against him Man only of all other Creatures declineth from his originall nature The reason why God suffereth evill to be committed The means that God hath given to man by which to escape the dangers into which he is fallen Of the three faculties of the soule vegetative sensitive and understanding c. IT appeareth by that which hath bin said what manner of felicitie men may enjoy in this life which is rather an usurped name and improperly so called than so indeed Now resteth to discourse upon the true end and felicity of man or beatitude and Summum bonum When God had created this goodly frame of the world being so called of his excellent and beautifull forme replenished with such varietie of creatures and placed the earth in the middest last of all he made man after his owne image which St. Paul interpreteth to bee justiâ—… and holinesse of truth who was after called Aâ—…am of the veine of red earth whereof hee was made And when God had finished this worke and made man hâ—… ceased from creating any more things and rested in him in whom hee delighted and would for ever after communicate himselfe his wisdome his justice and his joy and gave unto him a companion for his greater comfort and pleasure This man he adorned with many goodly gifts and placed him in Paradise which signifieth the best part of the earth and that estate of men in which they should have lived without sin and death In which place appointed for their habitation are the four fountaines of the goodly rivers of Euphrates Tigris Ganges and Nilus which they water passe through and containeth almost a third part of the earth But when this man by the temptation subtill practices of the Serpent tasted of the forbidden fruit withdrew himselfe from the due obedience of his Creator he lost many of those goodly ornaments wherewith God had endowed him and fell into the punishment appointed for his transgression eternall death and damnation But the son of God bearing a singular favour to man pacified his father to satisfie his justice which was immutable he took upon him to fulfill all that obedience 〈◊〉 God required of man and restored him into Gods favour againe though not with recovery of all his lost ornaments revealed the promise of God which he had also procured to send him to be a protector of mankind against the tyranny of the Divell therefore he is called the word because he revealed this secret decree out of the breast of the eternal Father And this was the first miracle that God wrought after his creation of the world and the creatures therin contained staying them that were to dye without the second causes and without that ordinarie course of life which before hee had established Iosephus writeth that Adam set up two tables of stone in which he wrote the beginning of the creation the fall of man and the promise Now if wee consider what a worthy and beautifull creature man was before his fall the very habitation temple of God without sinne and without death wee may easily judge what an ungrateful and unhappy creature he was to revolt from God to the Divell whereby he and his posterity became subject to sinne and death For first God made him after his own image likenes that is he made him most good uncorrupt holy righteous immortall furnished him with most excellent gifts that nothing might bee wanting unto him to all blessednesse in God His understanding was wholly divine his will most free most holy he had power of doing good evil a law was given him of God which shewed him what he should doe or what he should not doe For the Lord said Thou shalt not eate of the tree of knowledg both of good evil God simply required of him obedience faith that whole Adam should depend upon him that not constrained by necessity but should do it freely he told him also the perill willed him not to touch the tree lest he dye So that he left him in his own counsell whose will was then free might have chosen whether he would have broken Gods commandment or not Neither did â—…atan in the serpent compel him to eat but perswaded the womaÌ„ with hope of a more excellent wisedome who drew on her husband willingly to bee partaker of the same by the false and lying perswasion and promise of the divel by the delectable shew sightliness of the tree the fruit whereof after the woman had first tasted she gave to her husband also to eate By meanes whereof hee lost those goodly gifts ornaments which God had bestow'd upon him which gifts hee gave to Adam upon condition that hee would also give them to his posterity if himselfe did keep them but would not give them if hee by his unthankfulnes would cast them away so that by his transgression disobedience hee was cast out of Paradise that is out of that happy estate found al the elements lesse favorable His nature condition was alter'd from goodnes holines to sin and wickednes from sincerity to corruption the influences that descend from the stars and planets which are of themselves simply good through our sinnes and corruption turne to evill so as all things made for our use rebell and conspire together against us and our sinnes are the cause of all our evill Which fall and alteration of mans nature and his ingratitude towards
been said Man is immortall his soveraigne good or beatitude is not to bee had in this life but it is to bee joyned with God in heaven to which hee shall attaine if whilst he is here upon the earth he love and worship God with all his heart and bee obedient continually to his will But our first parent that was by nature free and capable of goodnesse revolted from God that is from his soveraigne good and by his rebellion was made a flave to sinne by means whereof he fell from God and from his beatitude And therefore except he find pardon by grace he is fallen into extreame misery which we call hell From this man wee derive our pedegree whose 〈◊〉 hath begotten our flesh and made us the servants of sinne as hee was made himselfe so that naturally we are to expect the reward of sin that is death for wee are heires to our father whose inheritance is death onely and damnation And we heape daily more coales upon our heads For no man performeth that to God which the law most justly requireth and therefore every one daily offendeth God many waies in thought word and deede so as they sinke continually deeper And against whom do wee commit these offences Against our Father our Creator that hath bestowed so many things upon us from whom we revolt to the deuill his enemy And as the offence doth multiply and encrease according to the respect of him against whom it is committed so doth the offence against his divine Majestie that is infinite deserve punishment In what case then are wee miserable creatures that dayly commit sinne upon sin except God himselfe discover some way how his justice may by satisfied and how wee may come into his favour againe In this distresse religion presenteth it selfe to us which sheweth us the true God But what is that but to present the guilty before the Iudge What doth religion then availe us It leadeth us to the Scripture which sheweth the expresse will of God to bee that we should love him with all our heart and our neighbour as our selfe and to them that obey his will he pronounceth eternall life to the disobedient eternall death Seeing the same Scripture sheweth that mankind is corrupted from the beginning and that all our imaginations and 〈◊〉 are wicked and seeing we all feele in our selves and in our members motions contrary to the will of God and therefore wee detest with horrour the botomelesse pit of hell But as this Scripture pronounceth against us our condemnation and a severe sentence of death so doth it also shew us a Mediator by whose helpe and meanes we may obtaine pardon and grace and be reconciled to God againe In which conjunction that beatitude and felicity may bee restored to us for which wee were created at the first And this is the third marke of the true religion for it is certaine that the religion which God hath so deepely engraven in our hearts is not in vaine Now he that will enter into himselfe and duely consider his owne insufficiency to performe the justice of the Lawe shall easily see how necessary it was for us to have a Mediaâ—…our to pacific Gods wrath and to satisfie his justice and how greatly we are bound to our Creator that would not reject or utterly destroy us as our demerits required but rather would leave us a meanes to returne into his favour againe without which wee must have all suffered eternall death and damnation which favour sheweth us plainely that as God is just so he is mercifull This Mediatour therefore must bee such as will not onely 〈◊〉 his wrath by fulfilling our obedience due to our Creator and purchase his grace and procure us his mercy but also satisfie his justice which is immutable And for as much as the offence is infinite and the punishment likewise being committed against the Creator which is infinite the satisfaction of the punishment must also be infinite If man should offer the world to God hee received it of God and by his owne fault hath lost it againe And seeing God made the world of nothing which must also have an end the world can bee no sufficient satisfaction for the offence that is infinite If man offer himselfe what doth hee offer but an unthankfull and rebellious mind blasphemous wordes and perverse deeds by which hee shall provoke the wrath of God and incense him the more against us If an Angell should intreat for us a creature will bee no sufficient Intercessor to pacifiethe the Creator and though hee bee good yet not being infinite hee cannot cover an infinite evill So that we must needs say that God must set himselfe between his justice and his mercy and that as hee created us at the first so he must new make us againe and as he created us in his favour so hee must absolve us from his wrath and as hee declared hi wisedome in creating us so hee must shew the same in restoring us But who then is that Mediator God against God Infinite against Infinite that can both cancel that infinit obligation satisfie that infinite punishment It is even Iesus Christ the only Sonne and wisedome of the eternall Father both God and man A man that he may be borne under the law God that he may fulfill the law a man that he may serve God that he may redeem a man that he may submit himselfe with all humility God that he may submit himself above all things a man that he may suffer God that he may overcome a man that he may die God 〈◊〉 hee may truimph over death It is also necessary to our salvation that our Mediatour be a man that he may suffer punishment for our sins and reconcile mankinde to God againe For except he were descended of the same kinde we are wee could not bee partakers in any sort of him nor he of us so should his satisfaction merits appertain nothing unto us therfore it is requisit that he should be borne of our progeny that he may be flesh of our flesh bones of our bones that as we be all in Adam the servants of sinne so we may be in the Mediatour free and discharged of the reward of sin that is from death againe he must overcom sin he must be without sin and because he must make us cleane he must be without spoâ—… for we are conceived in iniquity borne in filthiness and corruption insomuch that as it is necessary he should be a man so it is requisite hee should bee conceived in another sort than after the manner of men And after so many great miracles which God hath wrought we need not wonder at this that 〈◊〉 was conceived of the holy Ghost and brought forth by a Virgin Hee that could draw out a woman from a man without a man could also bring forth a man from a woman without a man Many things seeme unpossible if
assembly of people going backward of purpose and seeing euery one laughing him to scorne asked them alowd if they were not ashamed to mocke him for going backward when hee walked whereas they did so all the daies of their life As if hee should say that no man followed the right course of life but rather that all liued contrary to that they ought For all men desire to be in a happy estate Hecopus hic labor est But few take the right course to attaine to it It is commonly said that wise men differ from fooles in this that they set vp a marke to shoot at these shoot their arrows vp into the ayre at random without any certain marke And again that good men differ in this from the wicked that some propose to themselues a good end others an euill end some that which is good indeed others that which is good in shew only Many set vp no marke or end at all to which they should direct the course of their life but fall from one kinde of life into another as chance offereth without any certaine end or purpose Some direct the course of their life to some end as to a marke but because they mistake one thing for another they neuer attaine to that they desire Others though they see what the marke or end is to which they should direct the course of their life which is felicitie yet as men who vse to take vpon them blind-folded to finde out a post or hillocke or such like wander vp and down without finding that they secke so they being made blinde by their affections which as Plato saith bee very euill counsellers and clogged with worldly cares and carried away with vnsatiable desires bestow their labour in vaine and can neuer finde that they seeke for And though all men desire one thing that is a happy estate yet the great difference we see in the course of their liues argueth their mistaking some other thing for that they secke after by meane whereof they can neuer attaine to the end of their desires Let vs looke into mens labours and consider what the things bee for the obtaining whereof they imploy all their trauell and study for that seemeth the thing which they take for felicitie or a great meane to the attaining of it For euery man naturally desireth that which he thinketh to be good Three things I obserue that the most part of men greedily hunt after and leaue no stone vnturned as the prouerbe is to attaine to them Some desire to liue in pleasure many seeke for riches others labour for honour and glory in these things according to their seuerall inclinations they put their felicitie But how farre they are from the true felicitie shall hereafter if God will appeare rather by the common iudgment of men that will vse reason for their guide than by Logicall arguments and by examples of them whose miserable estate and vnfortunate end hath discouered the error of their disordered and licentious life that by seeking felicitie where it was not they found in felicitie where it was By whose example after Diogenes counsell wee may become wise by another mans harme for he is wise very late that is made wise by his own harme For as Seneca saith Longum iter per praecepta brene efficax per exempla The way by precepts is long by examples short and pithy And first to beginne with Pleasure wherein some learned men of account among the ancient Philosophers as Epicurus and others seeing how willingly men are drawne to pleasures held that felicitie or soueraigne good should consist They reasoned thus That action is the end or felicitie of man to which by nature of his own accord he is most willingly ledde But all men of their owne accord are most willingly led to pleasures Therefore Pleasure is the end or felicitie of man But the Epicures were in this greatly deceiued for man as in the substance of his body participateth with brute beasts so in his spirituall essence which is a reasonable soule hee participateth with Angels And though hee be by the worst part of his nature giuen to pleasure yet reason reprehendeth and blameth his brutish affections But the cause of this dissention in mans nature the Philosophers saw not only Christian Religion sheweth why his affections are repugnant to reason If felicitie as the Philosophers affirme bee the proper action of man then can it not bee in Pleasure for that is common with him and brute beasts but after them it must bee an action peculiar and proper to him alone And seeing that man is made of two distinct natures though by the great wisedome of the Creatour wonderfully vnited together it is more reason that his felicitie should bee agreeable with the best part of his nature which is a reasonable soule and resembleth the Angels that are made after the image of God than with the worst part of his nature which resembleth and is of the like substance to brute beasts But he that will enter into the due consideration of mans felicitie must haue respect to both his natures the body and the soule both which it must in a sort touch yet according to the proportion and difference of excellencie that is betweene them the one representing the image of God being immortall the other participating with brute beasts being subiect to death and corruption Such a felicitie as consisteth in the momentany pleasures of this life the Indian captiues may challenge The Indians haue a manner when they haue taken one of their enemies prisoner whom they meane not presently to cate not to imprison him as the vse is in these parts of the world but they bring him with great triumph into the village where hee dwelleth that hath taken him and there place him in a house of some man that was lately slaine in the warres as it were to re-celebrate his funerals and giue vnto him his wiues or sisters to attend vpon him and to vse at his pleasure They apparel him gorgeously after their manner and feede him with all the daintie meats that may be had and giue him all the pleasures that can be deuised When hee hath passed certaine moneths in all manner of pleasures like an Epicure and is made fat with daintie and delicate fare like a Capon they assemble themselues together at some festiuall day and in great pompe bring him to the place of execution where they kill him and eate him This is the end of this poore captiues pleasures and the beginning of his miseries whose case is nothing inferiour to theirs who enioying the pleasures of this life for a small time wherein they put their felicitie are rewarded with death and perpetuall torments For as he was taken prisoner by his enemies so are they captiued by the Diuell who feedeth their humours with variety of pleasures that he may at length deuoure and destroy them both body and soule Many examples are
campe caused to bee published that hee that would give them most money they would make him Emperour A proud and presumptuous offer for a handfull of men inclosed within a wall of a little circuit to set the world to sale A notable example and worthy of deep meditation whereby we may plainely see how feeble and weake the things are which wee so greatly esteeme in this life and what small reckoning and account wee ought to make of worldly power and dominion and all other riches and possessions which wee call the goods of the world and how far they are from felicitie that thinke themselves to live in securitie and happinesse by possessing worldly wealth and dominion when three or foure hundred men shall be sufficient to take away the life and dominion from a grave and wise Emperour of Rome a man of great vertue and experience well beloved of his people master commander of the world in the middest of the Citie of Rome head of the Romane Empire And they to carry the matter away without punishment or called to answer their Princes death What reason have we so much to esteeme and desire any worldly wealth and power with the hazzard many times of our soules when so mighty a Monarchie representing such a majestie the terrour of Princes Nations and as it were the throne of the earth shall be by proclamation set out to sale for a little money When this newes was published in Rome that the Empire should be sold word therof was brought to Didius Iulianus a very rich man as he sate at supper in the middest of his pleasures Who being perswaded by his friends to hearken to this offer went presently to the campe where he found another chapman whose offer the souldiers durst not accept fearing lest hee would revenge the Emperours death whose kinsman he was But receiving the large promises of Iulianus they put downe a ladder over the wall of their camp took him to them where after they had sworn him to performe his promise for the money agreed upon they saluted him by the name of Emperour and marched with him in order of battell well armed through the Citie to the Palace The People in stead of salutations cursing him bitterly and cast stones at him out of their windowes And when the Armie had entituled him Pater patriae they found early the next morning these Latine letters written upon the gate P.V.E.P. sounding thus Proditor Venditor Emptor patria In English thus Traytor seller buyer of thy Country And after he had reigned seven moneths in which time he suffered a great many indignities being odious to all men and to the souldiers also because hee performed not his promise the Senate sent a Gentleman to kill Iulianus who declaring the sorrowful Embassage which hee brought him with many teares Inlianus desired that he might not be slaine before he had seene Severus who was then at the gates of Rome with an armie elected Emperour but the Gentleman durst doe no other than cut off his head These and the like examples whereof histories are full fraught argue the imbecillitie and frailtie of humane power and riches which may bee likened to the rattles and toyes which children use to play with suddenly they come and quickely they are gone no where stable nor settled but with every blast and mutabilitie of fortune tossed hither and thither He that now is lifted upon high is throwne downe againe into the gulfe of miseries Saepius ventis agitatur ingens Pinus celsae graviore casu Decidunt turres ferunt que summos fulmina montes The mighty Pine that growes aloft Is shaken by the windes more oft The higher that the Turrets be The greater is their fall we see The nearer Heaven the Mountaines looke The sooner they are thunder-strooke Unworthy are they to bee esteemed and called good things that double the bitterness of griefe with the desire of them when they are lost Which seemed to bee gravely considered of king Iohn of France when he was taken P◅soner by the blacke Prince For being moved with the sudden alteration of his fortune that in a moment of a mighty Prince was become a captive in the power of his enemies he was very sad and pensive But when he was brought to the presence of King Edward after he had considered of the vanitie and uncertainetie of worldly things hee looked with a very cheerfull countenance as though no such thing had happened to him At which change King Edward hearing before of his penfivenesse much marvelling demanded of him the cause of his sudden alteration I was quoth King Iohn the last day as you know a mightie King and now I am fallen into your hands a captive at your disposition Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas Vanitie of vanities and all is vanitie To which saying an English Poet seemed to allude No wight in this world that wealth can attaine Vnlesse he beleeve that all is but vaine And looke how it commeth so leave it to goe As tydes finde their times to ◅bbc and to slow The like is reported to bee spoken by Gilimer King of the Vandales when hee was overthrowne in battell by Bellisarius and led in the triumph very richly apparelled set out with gold and precious stones the king was at that time very sad and pensive untill he came before the Emperour Iustinian and then being commanded to adore him sitting in his chaire of State he fell into great laughing pronounced these words Vanitas vanitatū omnia vanitas And when all men thought by the greatnesse of his sorrow sudden alteration of his estate that he was falne mad that would laugh at such an unseasonable time the Emperour asked him why being before so long sorrowfull hee fell so suddenly into such a laughing He answered that he laughed at the variable unconstant estate and condition of men that he who was even now a king is now become a slave The King Sesostris was aptly taught the uncertainety of humane things by the example of foure Kings whom when he had taken prisoners he caused them to draw him in a Chariot one of the Kings turned his face alwaies backeward and being demanded the cause hee answered that as hee beheld the wheeles of the Chariot that the same which was on high came downe below hee called to minde the condition of men Which answer made Sesist◅is more milde and gentle Ecclesiastes saith one commeth out of prison and is made a King and another which is borne in the Kingdome falleth into povertie And whosoever shall enter into the due consideration of these things with an upright judgement shall finde that there is nothing in this life better than a meane estate which hee that can attaine and keep is of all other neer◅st to this part of felicitie For when ambition and desire of having hath possessed a mans minde whatsoever is sweet and pleasant in this
bull being placed not far off hearing his voyce came running to him through the presse of peoply overthrowing divers of them and layd his head in Mahomets lap having the book tyed between his horns wherein the law was written called Alcoran the people beleeving the rather by Sergius perswaâ—… that God had sent the bull with the booke of the law because about the pigeoÌ„s necke they had fastned a little schedule wherein was written in golden letters he that can put a yoke upon the buls neck let him be king Sergius fetched a yoke and delivered it to Mahomet who put it â—…fily upon the buls nocke and was of the foolish people called King and sergius a Prophet By these kind of devices hee seduced the people and after hee had reigned tenne yeare being about foure or fiâ—… and thirtie yeares old it happened that one of his 〈◊〉 proofe whether or not whether he would 〈◊〉 againe the third day after his death and 〈◊〉 up to heaven as he had ofâ—…old told them he would doe after he had reigned ten yeares he 〈◊〉 gave him poyson to 〈◊〉 which when Mahomet had drunke his colour began to change and the poyson went presently to his heart and dispatched him as hee had well deserved A just judgement of God to punish the wicked by the wicked His body was diligently watched by his disciples looking for his reâ—…rre the third day as he had said But when the third day was past and that they saw he would not rise againe that his body began to stinke they let him lye 〈◊〉 and departed And the eleventh day after his death 〈◊〉 that poysoned him came againe to see how he lay and as one Lucas reporteth hee found his body eaten with dogges And gathering his bones together he tooke them with him and buryed them in a towne called Madinaraziell When the Arabians and others perceived how he had deceived them and that he rose not againe according to his promise many of them fell from him and would no longer hold of his religion But in his life annexed to his Alcoran some of his disciples 〈◊〉 strange things of his death and resurrection and 〈◊〉 that his body of himselfe after a miraculous fort hangeth on high under a vault of the Church at 〈◊〉 where indeed it is done by art a Load-stone 〈◊〉 up the Iron Coffen wherein his body or bones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it did hang in the ayre But the Turkes and â—…hough of his sect beleeving that he hangeth there by â—…vine power goe thither yearely in pilgrimage as Christians doe to Ierusalem to the Sepulcher This was 〈◊〉 beginning and end of this glorious Apostle of 〈◊〉 whose holinesse was in his youth such that the Citiâ—… of Mecha condemned him to death for these whom now they adore for a high Prophet of God Such fruits the desire of glory wherein he put his felicity brought forth to the perpetuall torments of his owne soule and of infinite thousands besides But such an Epitaph had bin more meete for him than to be so exalted as was engraven upon the tombe of a Vice-roy of Sicilia by the people of that countrey in revenge of his tyrrannous governement Qâ—…i propter nos homines Et propter nostram salutem Descendit adinferos That is Who for us men And for our salvation Is gone downe into hell Salmoxes device to perswade the Gothes that the soule was immortall was more tolerable being done with better meaning Hee taught those people that neither himselfe nor any that lived nor they which were to be borne should dye for ever if they lived vertuously but they should goe into such a place where they should alwayes live and enjoy all good things and leade for ever a most happy life And when he had thus perswaded his followers he conveyed him secretly out of their sight into a building under the ground which he had before prepared for the purpose where hee remained three yeares leaving his followers lamenting sorrowing as if he had bin dead the fourth yere he returned to them againe they being sufficiently satisfied of the eternitie of the soule and the perpetuall reward of vertue By which device hee wan to himselfe such reputation and glory that he was accounted equall with the king who made him his companion in the governement of his kingdome But the death of Mahomet was not the end of much troubles and mischiefe that arose through his false doctrine in divers parts of the world For thereof ensued sundry sects according to the severall inclinations of the fantasticall heads of his disciples and followers in whom the Divell stirred up such a desire of glory that imitating their masters example and treading in his path some of them became little inferiour to him in riches and dominion Among the rest in our age Affrica that according to the old proverbe is accustomed alwayes to bring forth some new and strange thing raised up one of Mahomets disciples from a poore Hermit to be a Monarch of many goodly kingdomes and countries This man was borne among the famous mountaines of Atlas of very base poore parentage and became an Hermit which the Affricans call Morabuth that is a holy man This fellow began to preach his vaine doctrine in the yeare of Grace one thousand five hundred fourteene and would admit no glosse or interpreter of the Alcoran but followed simply the text He playd the hypocrite so kindly that by a counterfeit shew of holinesse and simplicity and austerity of life he was greatly esteemed and honoured And when hee saw himselfe well followed of the people of Fez Maroque where he made himselfe strong and that the multitude depended upon his word hee told them whom he best favoured that he had a desire to visit the King of Taphilletta because hee lived not according to the sinceritie of their law The cause 〈◊〉 he desired this kingdome was that if his deviâ—… tooke not that effect hee looked for it might serve him for a place of retreyt As hee travelled towards Taphilletta there was no village that hee passed by but he preached his doctrine into the great townes they would not suffer him to enter because of his 〈◊〉 and for feare of some tumult His travell was alwayes by the sea coast because that countrey was well peopled insomuch that within short time his traine resembled a huge army of above threescore thousand men strong The simple king of Taphistetta would needs heare this Hermit and talke with him of matter touching his conscience who was not so intentive in his Sermon as he was circumspect in viewing the kings forces and the meanes he had to defend himself At length he told his followers God had revealed to him that he must expell this king out of his kingdome as unworthy to reigne For confirmation whereof hee shewed them certaine false miracles By meane whereof they slue the king and made the Hermit
beauty of the flesh that as a flowre in May sheweth it selfe to day and to morrow withereth away and returneth to the earth againe from whence it came Vaine is beauty saith the wiseman deceivable is the grace of countenance Histories both divine and profane are full of many mischiefes that beauty hath brought to men Beauty is compared by holy men to a painted snake that is faire without and full of poyson within But what estimation should we have of that which a little scratch or scarre disfigureth a short sicknesse altereth a small blemish disgraceth a few years withereth and wrinckleth To all these and a great many more the most beautifull â—…ace that hath beene is subject The Prophet compareth man to a shadow that is nothing but an appearance which deceiveth the sight a false figure without substance which sometime sheweth great by and by little So happeneth it to a man which sometime seemeth to be great and yet hee is nothing but when hee is lifted up on high and placed in the highest degree of honour even then he perisheth suddenly and no man knoweth what is become of him no otherwise than a shadow when night is come Likewise the Psalmist saith I saw the wicked man mightie and flourishing like a greene bay tree I passed by him and he was no more there I sought for him but he was not to be found Likewise the glory we take in gorgeous apparell is vaine yea and more foolish than the rest The wife man saith See thou never glory in apparell And yet wherein doe men that are able to have it take more pleasure or pride than in gay apparell which was devised to cover our shame of nakednesse and other infirmities contracted by the fall of our first parent Adam And that which was invented for our necessitie is now used for pride and glory We rob almost all the creatures in the world to deck our bodies withall Neither are they sufficient that are upon the earth but we must borrow feathers of the fowles of the ayre and we must goe into the sea to rob the fishes of their pearle the sands of their precious stones And then we must dig into the ground for gold and silver as the Poet sayth Effediuntar opes irritament a malorum Wealth is digged up the incitement to all evill And all this forsooth to make our selves in our owne eyes shew to bee more goodly creatures by our vaine devices and fantasticall toyes than God hath made us by his great wisedome and specially to allure love and liking to bad intents and purposes And when they have attired themselves with the ornaments that God hath given to the creatures of the earth to the birds of the ayre to the fishes of the sea for their necessitie and beautie and with the stones and scurfe of the earth it selfe they jet it up and down be holding themselves and others in great bravery as though all this counterfeit beautie came naturally from their own persons yet all is not gold that glistereth their mindes be soyled with foule and filthy vices It is a strange thing to see the blindnesse of men that will not consider the great difference of excellencie that is between the body and the minde by the one of which we resemble and are like to the Angels that are immortall yea and to God himselfe and by the other to brute beasts that live after the motion of their senses and are subject to death and corruption And yet how carefull men are to decke the body that is but a lump of clay and to provide for his pleasures and how negligent to provide for the minde or soule that is immortall and of an Angelicall nature â—…an the Emperour was wont to say that it was unseemely for a wise man seeing he had a minde to hunt after praise from his body Saint Bernard speaking of the vaine curiositie of men to adorne and cherish their bodies saith Thou takest great paine to decke and nourish this body that is but a vessell of dung and a sepulchre of wormes and leavest thy poore soule which is the imaâ—…e of God hunger-starved and forsaken Kings in eldâ—… time made no great account of their outward habits making no difference betweene them and the common people by their apparell but by their minde and inâ—…rd furniture When Alphonsâ—… King of Arragon was admonished to weare more costly apparell I had rather said he excell my subjects in manners and authoritie than in a Diademe and purple Socrates being asked which was the most beautifull creature in the world A man quoth hee adorned with learning Plato being asked what difference was between the learned and the ignorant answered As much as is between the Physitian and the diseased And Aristotle to the same question said That there was as great difference between the learned and the unlearned as was between the living and the dead And as the sight receiveth light from the ayre that is round about it so doth the minde from learning And Ennius likeneth a wise man without learning to an uncleane glasse that is fit for nothing yet not he that knoweth many things but he that knoweth things fruitfull is wise When Alphonsus king of Arragon heard that a King of Castile should say that learning was not meete for noblemen and gentlemen hee exclamed and said These are the words of an oxe and not of a man That man saith Marcus Aurelius that taketh upon him to be a man and hath no learning what difference is there betweene him and a beast When the people of Mitylene were become masters of the sea they inflicted this punishment upon their colleagues that were revolted from them That they should not teach their children to reade nor the liberall sciences esteeming that to be of all kind of punishment the most grievous to passe their life in want of knowledge and the liberall sciences There is nothing more unjust than a man unlearned because hee thinketh nothing to bee right but what he doth himself Pythagoras engraved in a stone with his owne hand these words set it before his Acadâ—…my He that knows not that which he should know is a beast among men hee that knoweth no more than hee must needes is a man among beasts hee that knoweth all that may be knowne is a God among men If the gallants of the world were so carefull to adorne their mindes with vertue and learning as they are curious to garnish and set out their bodies with gay garments and new â—…angled fashions and vaine toyes to please their senses there would be no place for the Poets saying that speaketh thus of Courtiers Scorta placent fracti curvique é corporegressus Et 〈◊〉 crines tot nova nomina vestis The Congees Cringees and affected pace Of common strumpets are in most request And now the loose locks dangling 'bout the face With the new names of
friends which agreeth with Plinie that in the courts of Princes the idle and vaine name of friendship onely remamth In the courts of Princes I do confesse there is a conuersation of persons but no confederation of will For enmitie is holden for naturall and amitie for a stranger In Court the manner is whom they deprave in secret the better to deceive to praise them openly The Court is of such nature that they that doe most visit them the worse they intreat them and such as speake best to them the more evill they wish them They which haunt the Courts of Princes if they will be curious and no fooles shall finde many things whereat to wonder and much more whereof to beware And to another question whether the Court be deare or good cheape he answered Some things in the Court are at a good price or to say it better very good cheape that is cruell lies false newes unhonest women fained friendship continuall enmities double malice vaine words and false hopes of which eight things we have such abundance in this Court that they may set out Boothes and proclaime Faires In the Court saith he there be few that liue contented and many that be abhorred In the Court none hath desire there to die and yet wee see not any that will depart from thence In the Court we see many doe what they list but very few what is meete In the Court all dispraise the Court and yet all follow the Court and the fashion of the Court is if a man be in fauour he knoweth not himselfe and if the same man be out of fauour no man will know him This life at Court is no other thing then a languishing death a certaine vnquiet life without peace and principally without money and a certaine purchase of dammage and offence to the body and of hell to the soule which mooued one to say Excat aula qui vult esse pius It may be wished that the Spanish Court which he meaneth had a priviledge or speciall prerogatiue to vse these manners alone An Italian compareth the life of Courtiers with that of Sea-faring men saving that there is in them this difference that the Sea-man commeth to the end of his purpose by sayling well and the Courtier to his by doing ill Zenobia the noble Queene of Palmerines is reported to haue had a well ordered Court as appeared also by her answer made to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius who making warre vpon her offered her conditions of peace and demaunded her sonne to bee sent to him for a pledge I meane not to satisfie thy request said she for I heare thy Court is replenished with many vices where my Palace is furnished with sundrie Philosophers from whom my children draw doctrine one part of the day and erercife the knowledge of Armes the other part Of such men one thus noteth their nicenesse Horum aliquis vest is operosa tegmine cultus Molliter alivedem flectit sparsamque renodat Casariem laxos patitur flaitare capillos If these men would haue more respect to inward vertue and lesse to externe vanity and not be so curious in decking their bodies that they neglect to adome their minds nor to effeminate themselues to the delicitenesse of tender women but rather to foâ—…me themselues to the comelinesse of manly men for the outward habit of the body for the most part discouereth the inward disposition of the mind they might better find the way to felicity To him that slike is as cloth and gold as brasse it is no matter what vesture he hath so as accoram be observed for it is the minde and not the habite that giveth grace to a man and yet there may be betweene them and others a difference in habite and a respect had to the dignitie of the place and person pride and vaine-glory may be as well covered with base apparell as with gorgeous attire as appeared by the taunt which Socrates gave to Antisthenes the Philosopher for this man used to weare bare apparell as it were in contempt of the vanitie of gay garments and when he walked in the streets as he chanced to meete men hee would set out to the shew a hole in his cloke whose manner when Socrates had observed I see quoth he thy pride and vanitie thorow the hole of thy cloke Let us leave Courtiers entertaining their Ladies and follow other mens pathes in examining a little the estate of Princes for whom only in the judgement of men it seemeth Felicitie was created for he that considereth what the things be that bring a man to a quiet contented and happie life will thinke that fortune hath provided for them above all others most plentifully What maketh a man more had in admiration in this world then riches dignities dominions libertie to doe well or evill without controlment abilitie to exercise liberality to have the fruition of all manner of pleasures both of body and mind They have all things that may be desired for a mans contentment whether it be in sumptuous apparell and ornaments of the body or in the varfelicitie and happinesse which whosoever will onely consider superficially must needs confesse that they alone triumph ouer all those things which are the cause of other mens sorrow and trouble But if we will behold the matter neere hand weigh it in equall ballance we shall find that the same things which we think to be the meanes to attaine to felicity and to make them happie is the cause to many of their infelicitie and unhappinesse The danger they are in by the greatnesse of their estate and malice of their enemies seemeth to detract from their felicitie and giueth them just cause of suspition and feare It appeareth by histories that there were Emperours that durst not goe to bed untill they first caused their beds corners of their chamber to be searched for feare lest they should be slaine when they were asleep Were it not better said Inlius Caesar to die once then to liue in such continuall feare and suspition They command all and yet many of them seeme as though they were gouerned by one or two which is much disallowed of diuers State men And it is said in the Prouerbs that safetie commeth of many Counsellers and that good counsell commeth of God And the Philosopher aduiseth Princes not to commit all their matters to any one Counseller alone for no man can alwaies of himselfe rightly consider and know all things and in reasons that are contrary one to another discerne which is best and therefore he that followeth his owne opinion alone is rather accounted proud then wise Through such an opinion of his owne wisedome Lautrec is reported to haue lost the kingdome of Naples from the King his Master and all that he had in Italie because he would not aske nor follow the aduice of them that were wiser then himselfe The ordinary guard of
seeme to you happy or vnhappy I know not because I was neuer conuersant with him but what if you had had his company would you then know him Can you take knowledge of his felicity by no other meanes No truly Then it seemeth ô Socrates that you will say likewise I cannot tell whether the great King of Persia bee happy or not and so it is true for I know not how he is instructed with learning or with iustice Doth all felicity consists in this Truly by mine opinion for I account that man or woman that is honest and good to be happy and him that is vniust and vnhonest vnhappy Then according to your words Archelaus is vnhappy Yea surely if he be vniust and vnhonest Thus much of Socrates Yet negligence is to be auoided and prouidence without ouermuch care and possession without feare is necessary and requisite It is a wise mans part to put aside dangerous things before they come to do hurt for the losse or harme a man receiueth by his own fault is more grieuous then that which happeneth to him by another man Thucidides saith It is no shame for a man to confesse his pouerty but it is a shame to fall into it by his owne fault He must haue all things premeditate that happeneth to men and thinke the same may fall vpon him for the things that are foreseene before pierce not so deepely as that which commeth suddenly and taketh a man vnwares He that will make his life pleasant must not take ouermuch care to prouide for it neither can any man take full pleasure of any thing except he haue a minde prepared for the losse of it One proâ—…steth by long study to haue learned this to contemne mortall things and not to bee ignorant of his ignorance Death is to all men by nature terrible but to a Christian that knoweth with how great an aduantage hee changeth his estate it ought to bee had in contempt whereof the heathens that knew not God nor what should become of them made little account who for friuolous causes would offer themselues voluntarily to die whose examples though they be not to be followed but auoyded as an vnlawfull and vnnaturall act yet they may serue to perswade men the rather to discharge themselues of all feare of death that haue an assured hope certaine knowledge to possesse the vnspeakable ioyes of heauen when the Infidels through a vaine hope of a better life wherein neuerthelesse they were deceiued would often make choise of a voluntary death CleoÌ„brotus hauing read Plato his booke of the immortality of the Soule wherein he disswadeth men from the ouermuch loue of this life thinking he had found the ready way to deliuer his soule out of prison cast himselfe downe headlong from a high wall and brake his necke They haue a custome in Narsinga that when the men die their wiues be buried aliue with them that with great solemnity and ioy when the king is dead there is a pile of wood of a most pleasant sauour set on fire the kings carkeise carried into it and then all his concubines whereof he hath great store and all his familiar friends and fauourites and such of his seruants as were in estimation with him are likewise carried into that pile of wood to which place they go with such haste ioy to be burnt that to accompany their king in that kind of death they seeme to esteeme it the greatest honour and felicity that can happen to them The Indians by custome doe marry many wiues and when the husband is dead there is great contention among his wiues which of them he loued best that she may be buried with him then she that hath iudgement with her with great ioy merry countenance is led by her friends to the place and casting her selfe into the fire vpon her husband is burnt with him as a most happy woman the rest remaining leading a sorrowfull life There hath been a people dwelling by the mountaines called Rifei who hold this for a custome when they come to the age of 50 They make great piles of wood and put fire to them there burne themselues aliue and sacrifice to their gods and the same day the kinsfolke children make a great feast and do eate their flesh halfe burnt and drinke with wine the dust of their bones How much lesse then should Christians feare death when it pleaseth God to send for them that hope for a crowne of glory after this life They make a good bargaine that with the death of the body seeke the saluation of their Soule Plato saith All the life of wise men is the meditation vpon death that men ought not to be carefull to liue long but to liue well For the honourable age saith Saâ—…mon is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And Euripides saith This life is life by name but in very deed labour Death is not a torment but a rest and end of all mans miseries and labours And Seneca Before old age come a man should learne to liue well and in old age to die well But the day of our death saith Gregory our Creator would not haue knowne to vs that the same being alwayes vnknown may be alwayes thought to be at hand and that euery man should be so much the more feruent in operation by how much hee is vncertaine of his vocation that whilest we be vncertaine when we shall die wee may alwayes come prepared to death And because that is so certaine a thing that no man can escape it shall bee good alwayes to thinke vpon death especially in the time of prosperity â—…or the thinking often thereof will bridle and restraine all other cuill thoughts and desires of worldly vanities for in prosperity we forget humane srailty It is reported that the Emperour Charles the fift fiue yeeres before he died euen when he was occupied in his greatest affaires caused a sepulcher to be made with all things appertaining to it that was necessary for his buriall being dead and that secretly lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisie which things he had closely carried with him whithersoeuer he went fiue yeeres together some thinking there had been some great treasure in it some other that there had been bookes of old stories some thought one thing some another but the Emperour smiling said that he carried it about with him for the vse of a thing to him aboue all others most precious In that sort he seemed to set death alwayes before his eyes that the coÌ„tinuall remeÌ„brance therof might driue from his heart the vaine pompe pride of this world Let vs imagine that we see a maÌ„ of mean estate whose mind is cleansed from all perturbations vnquietnes that hath