meat I answer Thou art not all wormes meat for the subtilest part of thee liues in thy children all thy person is not food for wormes for thy soule the most excellēt part escapes thou art not long the foode of wormes for another forme and it may be another soule shal be soone adapted The Fift Argument from the end of Nature Euery end whereunto the Law of Nature doth direct all the actions of our life is for our good Death is the end whereunto the Law of Nature directs all the actions of our life Therefore death is for our good IT is a wonderfull strange thing so to feare that passage whereunto our breathing and the course of our life seemes to tend For although the life be but a swift course of some dayes running swifter then a Weauers shettle yet the greatest part of the world desires to haue them shorter and would see them as soone shut vp as discouered As wee may see in playes which for that they hold their eyes and spirits captiues are very pleasant vnto them for that they rauish their thoughts and sences expell all languishing conceits Inquire of a Dancer a Tennis-player a Dicer or a Courtier why they liue continually in a Dancing-schoole a Tennis-Court in a Dicing-house or in great mens houses They will answere you if they vouchsafe you answere That the time would be tedious if they should not spend it in some thing and euen we our selues being more retired if some more profitable imployment did not make vs to spend the time we would say Oh how long this day is when will it be night And if this slow night came not to interrupt our complaints they would breake out into mournefull lamentations in the meane this night presenting herselfe vnto vs the longer through death we are quite cōfounded her countenance defaceth the remembrance of all our former miserie What inconstancie is this wee will and wee will not see our end we desire that euery day should passe away swiftly else wee complaine we wil not haue our life to slide away for then wee howle and yet our life is nothing but a multiplying of many dayes whence comes it It is for that this waywardnesse which cleaues vnto vs by reason of this slow course of euery day of our life proceedes from our nature who finds neither hir appointed abode nor hir setled perfection here and this pale feare which seazeth vpon vs at the discouerie of the gate of death proceedes from the corruption which hath happened to our nature For proofe whereof the table of Natures innocencie in the beginning which is described vnto vs at the entrie of the Bible doth testifie sufficiently for Adam and Eue in Eden were alwayes cheared with delights and pleasures they had continually the vse of an hundred thousand wonders neuer thinking of the future nor desiring presently the end of the day which held them they had their happinesse in the present life the which hath beene hidden in heauen by reason of their transgression whither we must ascend through death to enioy it thither our nature doth call vs from the which our corruption doth diuert vs. Were it not then better to obey nature so officious towards vs then a pernicious deprauatiō which hath possessed vs And therefore the Ancients to taxe this vnreasonable desire of liuing here without end left vs in their pictures how that Tithon beloued of Aurora obtained of the gods at the entreatie of the Goddesse that he should not die But this man being tired with a million of sundry calamities and ouerladen with a burthensome old age so as like vnto little Infants he was saine to be bound vp swadled and rockt hee besought the Gods that he might be suffered to die like other men Whereby they shew that death hath bene granted by the gods as a fauour vnto men as being the safe port of all the tempest of this world Nature hath set a measure and fulnesse to all thing wee finde it in the greatest pleasures which continuing long are in the end distastfull vnto vs Even so hath she done in life wherefore there are old men which would not willingly returne backe to the first beginning of their Infants life vpon condition to run the same dangers which they past the which Tully affirmes of himselfe that if any god would giue him force to become young againe hee would refuse it no sayth he hauing finished my course I will not bee brought backe from the end to the beginning for what commodities hath life nay what toyles hath it not And admit I should confesse that it hath pleasure without any distast must shee not haue her full measure and saciety who can contradict this The sixt Argument taken from the Vntuersall Law All freeing from a common miserie carries in it selfe consolation Death is a freeing from a common miserie It therefore carries in it selfe consolation THe consolation of the miserable is to haue companions sayeth the old Prouerbe for men by conference of their common misery reape some ease and discharge as if they carried a heauy burthen in common Now ô you which dying thinke your selues debarred of felicity consider how death with an equall foote beates and ouerthrowes the Castells of Princes and the Cabinnes of Sheepheards Search Salomon and you shal find that neither wisedome nor riches could preserue him from death nor Sampson his force nor Absolon his beauty Hercules with all his exploites is laid in the graue Alexander with his Empires Caesar with his happy victories Craesus with all his pompe is gone Xerxes is vanished with his miraculous bridge vpon the sea of Helles pont all all gone to the Pallace of Ruine whereas death commands Call these great Princes in whose ambitious hearts their greatnesse had stirred vp enuious vapours we haue them all for companions in death the Oracle hath sayed it and experience doth shew it You are gods but yet you must die You Princes you shall passe like to one of vs. Behold a great man who dying sayed with a mournfull voyce Helas I am rich powerful and mighty and yet can I not wrest the shortest terme from pale destinie It is a great consolation sayeth Seneca to Polib c. 21. to think that whatsoeuer shall happen to vs by death hath bene suffered by all and all must suffer it and therefore hee cries out in the beginning of this Chapter in these termes What man saith hee is so full of artogancie and yet so vnable that will exempt himselfe or his from the necessitie of nature calling all things to one end In life men are vnequall but their beginning and ending are equall all are borne with one poore nakednesse and all dye with a stinking cold and liuing no man is more certaine of the next day then his neighbour hee onely is happy to whom the most miserable kinde of life doth not befall Happy then are wee if wee compare our selues with those people of
Aethiopia called Acridophages or caters of Grasse-hoppers who liuing farre from the sea and being destitute of all succours haue no other meate but these Grasse-hoppers which certaine hot windes from the west raise vp and bring vnto them the which they pouder vp with salt and liue thereon for that growing old which is not aboue fortie yeeres they breed in them certaine lyce which haue wings and stinke the which in a short space eate their bellies then the brest and in the end the whole body their paine beginnes with an itching intermixt with pleasure in scratching which increasing by little and little leaues him not vntill that hauing torne himselfe with his nayles hee hath made an issue for the lice and stinking matter which come forth in such aboundance as there is no possibilitie to bee cured and so through the vehemencie of their torment they end their miserable dayes with horrible cryes But let vs returne into our way and say with the holy writ Death is the highway of all the earth all enter into it let vs follow them by the tracke And you to whom the Ruler of the world hath giuen the Empire of life and death as it were at pleasure abate the frowning of your browes for what a poore man may feare of you the same is threatned to you by the great Master of all saith the tragicall Poet Seneca Obiect not vnto mee the beauty of your Pallaces nor the magnificence of your Sepulchers for the Philosopher Seneca will maintayne that we ought not to take measure of your tombes which seeme to take another course but one and the same dust makes all men equall if wee be borne alike wee must dye alike that great Establisher of humane rights hath made no distinction in our natiuitie and extraction with others but in the time wherein we liue when we shall bee come to the end of mortall men then farewell ambition thou must bee like to all that the earth doth couer Let vs comfort our selues in the death of great men and therefore let vs heare the last speeches and commandement of great Saladin Sultan of Aegypt and Syria I will said he in dying without any other obsequies they carry an old blacke iuppe vpon the end of a lance that the Priest cry out aloude all the people hearing him I haue vanquished I haue liued a great Prince but now I am vanquished by death and my life closed vp I haue beene rich now I haue nothing but a mourning weede To this goodly table let vs adde a second which the pensill of antiquitie hath drawne Cresus being vpon a burning pile is preserued from the fire by Cyrus but rather reserued to another season Cyrus made his profit of the words of Cresus that no man could account himselfe happy before his death he thinks of it and wills after his death others should thinke of it with him when as he caused these words to be grauen vpon his tombe I am Cyrus which conquered the Empire of the Persians let no man enuie this little peece of ground which couers my poore carcase What followes Alexander comes hunting after new worlds and stumbles vpon this tombe hee reades and considers of the words and compassion made his heart to grieue saith the History for the inconstancie of things why for that he must in like manner dye soone after hee dyed Let vs conclude and say with the Apostle that it is decreed that all men shall die once that no man is exempt no not Emperours Kings Princes Lords no not Popes Cardinals nor Bishops neither rich strong nor healthfull and thereby let vs take comfort An Obiection Any thing that is cause of strāge accidents is strange Death is the cause of strange accidents Therefore it is strange THis reason tends to confute the precedent Argument For that death ouerthrowing the highest mountaines degrading and vnthroning Kings and Emperors and consining thē into obscure caues with simple mourning clothes which rot in the end vpon their bodies seemes wonderfull terrible Answer The Monarks of the world haue their priuate consolation in death yea I will say that the greater they are the greater fauour they receiue in death A Kings life is an vnquiet life full of ten thousand cares and troubles he must watch for the quiet of his subiects and against the surprises of his enemies he hath not an houre free from amazement and eats not a bit without feare of poyson and therefore that King of Persia did iustly exclaime◅ against it O Crowne said he hee that knew how heauy thou art would neuer take thee vp where he should finde thee Say not O ambitious they are bare words onely which neuer giue the effects many great men haue spoken it and done it That famous Emperour Dioclesian reiecting the Romaine Empire shut himselfe in the Gardens of Salona to manure them with his owne hands That great King and Emperour Charles 5. protested that hee had found more pleasure and content in one day in his solitary life then in all his royall and triumphant reigne But to conclude the experience of all ages doth teach vs that the greatest gates are most subiect to winde the highest tops of Mountaines are soonest shaken and th◅ greatest Emperors are most assayled and haue no rest but in death onely The 7. Argument from the commendable e◅fect of the contempt of Death Euerie thing that makes vs valiant should be pretious The contempt of death makes vs valiant Therefore the contempt of death should be pretious THere is nothing that hath in it so great force to make a man valiant as the contempt of death he that feares it not makes himselfe master of the most strong and vigorous life in the world Seneca sayth that death is not to be feared that by the benefit thereof any thing is to be preferred or auoyded Agesilaus being demanded of one how hee might purchase great fame If thou contemnest death sayd he He whose spirit is seazed on with the feare of death will neuer performe any memorable thing in war this passion will benumme withdraw mens hands from the goodliest exployts in the world Plut. in Lacon Alexander said that there was not any place so strong by nature or by art that was safe for cowards We reade that Philip king of Macedon hauing ma◅e an irruption into Peloponesus and that one stepping forth sayd That it was to be feared the Lacedemonians would endure many miseries if they did not compound with Philip to whom one Damidas answered O Dwarfe sayd he what harme can happen vnto vs that feare not death Epictetus also teacheth vs that to attempt nothing basely wee must alwaies haue death before our eyes to make her familiar frendly vnto vs where of wee shall haue sufficient proofe in a souldier of Antigonus band who finding himselfe toucht with a deadly infirmitie had death in such disdaine as nothing amazed him yea hee was fearefull to the most
death of man-hood at what time the spirit is fortified and growes more ripe in good Counsell and wiser in his actions this life ascends vnto the decrepit age as they call it which begins at 70. yeares where rests the death of age and so runnes on vnto the graue all the remainder of his life and this is the 8. degree of life In the end succeeds in his turne the last principall and most to be desired death I say the principall for that it makes an end of all the other deathes that went before and feares no more the miseries of life I say to be desired for she alone doth crowne the actions of mortal life with glorious immortality it is the hand which sets vpon our heads the flourishing Diadem of eternall life It is the last staffe of the ladder manifested vnto Iacob by vision ordained by God to the end wee may thereby ascend vp into heauen It is that dun horse that is to say pale and mournefull to our opinions but yet wee must backe him to runne the carreere of death to passe vnto that most happy aboad Poore man thou tremblest at the shadow of death thou doest crie and howle when she layes hold on thee euen so thou diddest when thy mothers strength cast thee out of her wombe if then thou haddest had thy iudgement neate as now thou hast thou wouldest haue held thy selfe happy to haue left a most filthy prison within the circuite of that round Citty In like sort if now thou hadst thy vnderstanding and Spirit transformed and renewed as the Apostle speakes thou shouldest see plainely that what doth terrifie thee is that which should assure thee But yet if God hath not imparted vnto thee the light of his grace take aduice of humane reason call Seneca vnto thee who had but the eyes of a man and consider what he sayth thou shalt find that in it are no ambushes nor constraint it is onely pure and simple nature which speakes by reason it is an vndoubted Maxime that nature alwayes tends and attaines for the most part to the perfection of her worke Man is her Master peece all other Creatures are made for him the perfection of man is his perpetuity in a most happy life nature leads man by degrees to this perfection We see she failes not in the second degree seeing that the Infant borne is much more perfect then that which is newly ingendred in the wombe it failes no more in the third nor cōsequently to the eighth as I haue shewed Let vs conclude thereby that it is impossible she shold faile in the principall which is the ninth degree of life which shee must perfectly finish wee must iudge of the end of the worke by the beginning and progresse Finally if the study of Philosophy bee a kinde of death as Philosophers hold for that man is sequestred from the company of men and the vanities of the world to haue his spirit free and at liberty in his braue meditations and if in this estate man is more accomplished and more perfectly happy without comparison then they that trouble themselues continually with the affaires of this actiue life Oh what shall it bee when as the soule purged from the infection of the senses freed from all commerce with the body shall be wholly in it selfe ennobled with a supernaturall grace illuminated with a celestiall flame inspired with an vnspeakeable ioy how beautifull happy and ioyfull shall shee be To this death then let vs direct our vowes and our eies let vs take acquaintance and be familiar with her shee is our friend since that Iesus Christ did vanquish and subdue her for our sakes shee is prepared for vs as a way into which wee must of necessity enter to goe into our Countrey which is heauen It is the onely meanes ordained of God to go vnto that most blessed Mansion Let vs then stretch out our armes couragiously and with a smiling countenance when we shall see her turned towards vs making signe that shee will imbrace vs let vs receiue her for shee is a necessary gift to our cortupted nature which wee must not reiect but imbrace as Saint Chrysostome saith The first Obiection Euery end of a worke is not the finall cause therefore it followes not that death is the finall cause of life although it be the extreame end THere are three cōditions necessary to a finall cause the one is that it be the last point of the operation the other is that the worke bee finished for the loue thereof if the first bee found in death the second which is the principal falls seeing that the actions of life tend not vnto death as to their deare and best beloued Answer I said not that death was the finall cause of life but the way yea the onely way which leades vs vnto it and that for the loue of that great and foueraigne good which is ioyning to the gate of death we should desire it and not bee amazed at it after the example of S. Paule who writing to the Philippians desired to be dissolued and to be with Christ the which was farre better for him that he might bee crowned with a crowne of Iustice and enioy that vnspeakeable good as hee saith else-where But some Infidels will say I demand proofes hereof fauorable to my reason I answer that hee hath put the flame of reason into thy vnderstanding who doth illuminate euery man which commeth into the world hath presented his grace vnto thee in the Gospell to beleeue and there is nothing but the barre of thy sinnes that doth hinder thee neither is this Gospell concealed from any but such as haue the eyes of their vnderstanding blinded by the Prince of this world But if thy reason beeing blinded cannot apprehend the souereigne Good which is in death yet shall you plainly see a meere priuation from all miseries an absolute rest and a tranquility which cannot be interrupted and therfore if there were no other but this reason death should cause no amazement but rather giue contentment considering the estate of this life The second Obiection All demolishings carry deformity and cause horror Death is a demolishing of man therefore death causeth horror PAllaces Temples and other buildings yeeld a pittifull spectacle when we see them ruined and what shall man doe who exceedes in excellency all buildings yea the earth the heauen and all that we behold what can hee doe lying vpon the earth in death but perplexe our mindes To this I answer by distinction to the similitude and then I flatly deny the application I say therefore to the first proposition that there are two sorts of demolishings the one is necessary and wisely vndertaken for a better structure the other is preiudiciall and vndiscreetly done by reuenge for a totall ruine I confesse that this in its deformity should giue cause of horror but I cannot confesse that the like is in death in the
so swiftly as no man can feele it For so was the will of the Eternall to the end that mortall man should bee alwayes ready to die and not delay when hee feeles it for it is insensible The second Obiection It is a vaine and pernicious thing to giue eare to Astrologers in their predictions The former discourse seemes to perswade a man vnto it It is therefore vaine and pernicious EXperience hath and doth dayly verifie that they which haue easily giuen credit to the predictions of future things are for the most part in the end deceiued Niceas King of Syracusa found it true to his cost for confidently beleeuing his diuines that his death was neere he wasted his treasure in all kinds of excesse and liued in want all the remainder of his life which did far exceed the terme of his prediction Aboue all the lamentable taking of Constantinople by the Turkes is memorable The Grecians bewitched with a certaine old prediction that the day would come when a mighty enemie shold seaze vpon most of the forts of Constantinople but being come to the great place called the brazen Bull he should be represt and driuen out by the Inhabitants who to resist him had seazed vpon this place The Constantinopolitanes giuing credit he eunto hauing abandoned their strongest defences retire into this place wher they attend the Turke but they falnt are put to flight slaine and sackt and so to the great preiudice of Greece the Imposture of their Prophecie was manifest Answer I grant the Maior of the proposition and doe confirme it by the Law of God Let no diuiner be among you vsing diuinations nor regarders of times nor any that vse predictions nor Sorcerer c. Whosoeuer vseth any such thing is abominable to the Lord. And what should not Christian Magistrats doe herein seeing they are forbidden by infidels Mecaenas speaking to Augustus the Emperor of the gouernment of the Common weale sayth That there ought not to be any Soothsaier in the Common weale for all such kinde of men in speaking sometimes truth most commonly lie and are the cause of Innouations and troubles The Turkes Empire obserue the like prohibition according to the Al◅aron which sayth that all kinde of diuining is vaine and that God alone knowes all secrets But according to this deposition I denie the Minor and add that in all my precedent discours there is not a word which tends any way to the maintayning of Astrologers to heare and beleeue them I did produce some Histories to proue that our dayes are so determined by God as they cannot exceed their bounds prescribed and this doctrine is true holy diuine Behold the Oracles Man borne of a woman is of a short life fall of cares c. His daies are determined thou hast the number of his moneths with thee thou hast prescribed his limits which he shal not passe And Dauid sayth vnto God My times are in thy hand and therefore Christ is dead and risen that he might cōmand both ouer the dead liuing sayth S. Paul Rom 14. 9. The Iewes would haue put Christ to death before his time but they could not they sought sayth the Gospell to lay hold of him but no man did it for that his houre was not yet come The time of Iesabels death and the ende of her wickednes was accompli shed the time of her death the place had bin foretold by the Prophet Elias Iehu was chosē to execute this decree he did it without any regard till after the euent He runnes furiously into the towne of Iesrehel where Iesabel was after whom he sought Iesabel thought to stay him with her painted face and with the charme of her affected looks which she cast from her chāber window but Iehu commanded they should cast her downe which was done and her bloud rebounded against the wall against her houses the Scripture addes being entred he did eate and drinke after sayd Go now and burie this cursed woman for she is the daughter of a king but they found nothing remayning but the skull the feete palmes of the hands whereof they made report to Iehu who said It is the word of the Lord which he had deliuered by his seruant Elias say ing that in the field of Iesreel the dogs shold eate the flesh of Iesabel And as God for the edification of his Church wold rayse vp Prophets to de clare his promses or threats so w◅uld he somtimes thurst on certen men to denounce his Iudgements to the world to make them amazed in their euents to these fortellers whensoēuer we finde in them the Propheticall zeale of the Lord we ought to giue credit as soone as they haue pronounced the word But to these latter spirits most commonly Lyars we must neuer giue any credit vntill after the euent of that which they haue foretold For the thing being past it is no more doubtfull we may then beleeue it but not before and this was the meaning of the former discourse Otherwise it is not lawful to inquire of doubtfull euents of any Magitian Astrologer Mathematician yet a wise and iudicious man may without scruple of cōscience by certen coniectures gathered from the reading of good books from the vse of things the obseruatiō of the like he may I say conceiue presume or suspect which way the destinie tends and what his ende is but fearefully without confidence not to make a profession of it God only can search the bottome of his decrees none other without his particular and expresse assistance no not the Angels neither good nor bad the determinatiō of our dayes is one of his decrees it can neither be knowne nor stayed by vs. Behold letters from heauen to the end we may doubt no more Man saith Solomon knowes his time no more then fishes which are taken in the net and birds in the snare so men are snared in the bad time when it falls suddenly vpon them In vaine therefore doe we feare that which cannot be corrected by vs. The third Obiection If the cause of death be euitatabl◅ the effect also shal be But the cause of death is euitable Ergo. IT is writtē that a wiseman shal rule the stars for that finding himselfe inclyned to some mortall disease by some malignant influence of the stars he will change the ayre correct that bad complexion that it impaire not We are also commanded to honor the Physition for necessities sake by reason of the Phisicke which he ministers for the preseruation of life Moreouer Gods prouidence hath not imposed any necessity in humaine actions whereof he is Lord and especially of those which depend of his free will as who can hinder a man from killing himselfe if he please as many haue done We reade also in the booke of truth that the periode of the ruine of Niniuie assigned to 40. daies was altered by their repentance also the execution of the
〈◊〉 to say death iâ—… we take it as the argument giues it I answere That if there bee a great difference not to haue beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be he haâ—… the 〈◊〉 â—…nefit that is no more for hee hath this aboueâ—… the other that he hath enioyed life and the fruits thereof which the other haâ—… vnlesâ—… you will deny that hâ—… which hath bin admitted into the Kings Chamber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…th not any 〈◊〉 abâ—…ue â—…im that hath not beene admitted at all and that hee which hath beene a Maior or a Consul in a free Citie is not more honored then hee which hath neuer beene But the Obiector supposeth one thing which is not That this life is adorned which most excellent gifts being full of most sharpe agonies as is iustified in the 18. Argument and theâ—…fore I deny the consequence of his Minor and to prooue the falsehood I produce that which Salomon saith Eccles. 4. that hee more esteemes the dead then those which bee liuing yea hee esteemes him that hath not beene more happy then the one or the other Secondly the losse of fight of sences of the habit of sâ—…iences is grieuous to a liuing man who hath enioyed them for a time for that he is capable of sorrow but to make it a conclusion to a dead man who should be more grieued to haue lost all this and life it selfe there is no consequence for that death is incapable of sorrow and mourning wherein the Prouerbe of Hesiodus may be verrified The moitie is more then the whole the losse of sences and reason are more grieuous and more to bee lamented then the priuation of life Thirdly I deny that man dying loseth any thing hee was but Vsufructuarie of life God the proprietarie demands it and he restores it what losse Thou art not angry if any curious sercher of the most exquisite rarities of the world if hauing suffered thee to see his Cabinet he afterwards drawes the curtaine thou wilt take it patiently how great soeuer thou art If the Seigneurie of Venice hath done theâ—… the honour to see their stately treasure haue dazled thine eyes with the glistering of those 14. Pearles of their Ducall Bonet of the 12. Crownes of gold and of other most rich ornaments wouldest thou not take it patiently to giue place after some houres Know then that it is reasonable that the Lord of Lords hauing brought thee into his house there to behold the golden studdes which adorne the firmament to obserue the diuers motions of the 7. Planets and among the rest of the Sunne the eye of the world to touch and comprehend the 4. Elements and other infinite goodly creatures if it be his pleasure and hee make signe vnto thee to giue place to others that suruiue it is reason thou shouldest dislodge and thanke the Lord for his fauour Finally I maintayne that the depth and horrour is as great to reason to liue perpetually here without end the same life which wee now breathe for our discourse is of this life as great I say and greater then to bee dead depth for who can perfectly comprehend a life without end horrour for who would alwayes liue with the feare of a hundred millions of horrible miseries which may happen in a hundred millions of yeeres not making mention of the vices and sinnes whervnto man is subiect which a good man should feare more then death As for the authoritie of S. Paul it is not nature only but the heauenly grace which makes him to speake so and they that shall be partakers of this grace in the same degree may braue death with S. Paule and say vnto him O death where is thy victory O graue where is thy sting And if S. Paule in this place did contemplate in spirit the excellent ornaments which hee had seene in the third heauen in his extacie and on the other side toucht to the quicke with the venemous sting of sinne he makes no mention but of the simple deliuerance as if it had beene sufficient for him O wretched man that I am sayth he who shall deliuer me from the body of this death Hee makes mention of deliuerance for that he felâ—… Coâ—…bate in himselfe and found himselfe prisoner to the Law of sinne as the verse going before doth declare But you will reply There is nothing to be compared to life it is a naturall desire and common to all men Ansâ—… Man desireth not only to be and to liue but to beeâ—…t ease else what is hee that like to Ixion in the Poet would alwayes liue to be fastened to a wheâ—…le Who would alwayes liue the damnable life of Satan and his angells in the middest of an vnquenchable fire but mad men and fooles And in truth the desire wee haue to roule on alwayes from day to day is that by an abusiue hope we promise vnto our selues some future pleasure and content The Apostles desire better ordered and grounded was to put off this mortall body and to put on one that was bâ—…essed and immortall not vpon earth where it is not to be found but in heauen and by a diuine and celestiall power But that doth contradict this assertion That man desires as much or more to end the miseries of this life as to continue this miserable life and therefore certaine wise men of the world did settle their resolution vnto death vpon this Dilemma saying Either we shal be happy in death if the soule escapes or else we shal be without paine or misery if all remaine No small aduantage doubtlesse seeing the greatest point of happinesse in this life is to beeleast vnhappy The 11. Argument taken from two resemblances of Death Sâ—…ounding is a kinde of Death and the shadow of the body is an Image of it But in swounding there is no paine nor in the shadow any amazement BY Syncope I vnderstand the strongest and most extended swounding not that which is gentle which happeneth sometimes at the opening of a veine in the which the patient neither loseth feeling nor speech but that which carries away all the forces of a man his natural I say and principally his vitall Sleepe is nothing to represent death in regard of this symptome for it is death it selfe only there is in this sometimes a returning to life and there none I haue seene it and obserued it in my father being an old man I haue conferred it with some that were apparantly dead yet could I not finde any difference he lay without any shewe of soule in any of his â—…ects notwithstanding that he was continually rolled vp and downe in a chamber his pulse was not to bee felt he was in a cold swet ouer all the extreamities of his body were exceeding cold And these are the very signes of a right Syncope by the which the truth of our Maior is iustified that to fall into the Syncope is to fall into death for as death is a cessation
Combate to kil this feare of death in man I therefore persist in my opinion that it is nothing but the feare which man hath to fall into some greater miserie as we haue shewed doth make him so much apprehēd death But there is no euill in this as appeares in the following argument Therefore there is no reason of feare which reason should gouern a reasonable man Let vs not trust to those distrustful spies which being returned from the point of death cry out Horror horror for they faile more in corage then in bodie and deserue the like punishment to them that went to discouer the land of Canaan who being returned brought nothing but bad and slanderous tydings to al the people as the holy Scripture doth witnes Let vs rather beleeue wise and valiant men produced heereafter vpon the Theater who like vnto Iosua◅ spies depose ioyntly that God hath deliuered death into our hands that it is quencht for our sakes Next it is not true that all men flie death being called many haue bin greeued returning to health after some great sicknesse which they thought should haue swallowed vp their life Giue me leaue to speake this truth of my selfe being 120. leagues from my parents about 14. yeares since studying in a towne streightly besieged and famished I fell sicke of a bloudie flux whereof many dyed whereof my master was dead In this estate I was resolued to dye but when I found that God gaue me force to vanquish my disease I was verie melancholike in the beginning held it a losse to be recouered And therefore notwithstanding this opposition wee will close vp our discourse with Seneca saying That death is the cause that life is no martirdome The 20. Argument taken from the remouing of the euill of death No euill consisting in a falfe opinion and nothing in effect is to be feared Death is an euill consisting in a false opinion and nothing in effect c. IT is a great aduantage as great Captaines say to haue obserued and measured his enemy from head to foote Let vs in like manner obserue and measure death and we shall find it is but an Anatomy a vaine name a Picture and Image a scar-crow a bable a fantasticke feare an imaginary fire which some men see in an euening walking in Church-yards An ideot at the sight thereof would be amazed sweare that hee hath seene a spirit walking but a wiseman will vnderstand that it is an oyly exhalation which by agitation takes fire Ignorant opinion makes man beleeue that death is very euill when it is a priuation from all euil hee is amazed with a false alarme So women and weake spirits dare not remaine alone in their Chambers for that they imagine they shal see spirits and apparitions little children are afraid to see their parents masked Astianax could not endure the sight of Hector armed but lay aside these armes take away the maske you shall conuert their feare into assurance and their cries into ioy So pull away these false maskes of hideous lookes and the trembling cries of them that die they are but fained or sorrowes grownded in the aire of an imaginary euill So Cassander did tremble at the sight of Alexanders picture dead long before the table would not bite him yet hee quaked as if it had beene some furious beast the reason was that his imagination being impayred hee thought that Alexander was wonderfully in choller against him Wil you haue an apparent signe that in this horrible apprehension of death mans iudgement is troubled and therefore suspected to bee false The strongest and most vigorous the yongest and most iust do least feare the losse of life who in reason should apprehend it most if it were to be feared hauing more interest in it but old men and such as are subiect to the cholike stone and malefactors feare it without measure Maecenas tormented continually with a feauer was content to bee cut and mangled so as with all his paines hee might prolong his life How many Messales offenders would liue in torture or broken vpon the wheele so as they might not end their liues What is the reason of this but that his iudgement is peruerted beleeuing that all the paine he feeles shall be doubled in death If he be a reprobate and vnderstands it of the second death and not of the first whereof wee now discourse his iudgement is right but for a good man to thinke that there is any great paine in a naturall death hee erres much It is not the death said Aeschines but the violent passion against death which is horrible If they thinke there bee any discomodity in death sayd the old man Bassus let them know it comes from them that die not from death which frees them of all paine Pindarus sayth of man that he is but the dreame of a shaddow but let vs speake it and with more reason of death a dreame is false and a shaddow the opposition of a sollide body to the light So death the priuation of life is an euill dreamed and false Good God who can represent that which is not vnder what idea can the Painter imagine to draw it he will present vnto vs bones bound with sinewes without flesh and naked hauing a sythe in his hand this is something but be well aduised to thinke that death doth subsist beyond this representation as a liuing man doth subsist longer then his picture you should bee foully deceiued for take away this representation and all other imagination and you take away all that is of death for it is nothing at all therefore the portrait is false May a man paint a voice the which although it be inuisible yet it falls vnder the sence of hearing but death in what sence so euer you take it is incapable of all sence and by consequence not to bee drawne by any pencel What is death then it is a word of few letters which hath no subsistāce but in imagination nothing in nature nothing in effect We laugh at the Bourgondian spies who in their war against the French King Lewes 11. being sent to discouer the Country fled at the sight of certaine Thistles as if they had discouered a troupe of men at Armes If we had the vnderstanding to know death as the sight hath to distinguish thistles we should find that they are more ridiculous which fly amazed from the incounter of death for it is nothing at all whereas thistles are at the least pricking plants Let vs then say boldly That to feare that whereof neuer any man yet felt the sting to draw from a wandering fantasie proceeding from an vnsetled braine a true and sensible paine is a meere folly Oh God! what paine can there be at the very instant when life flies away in a body depriued of all sence Let a sicke body endure all the extremities of paine yet in death there is none at all doest thou not
impossible that at the soules departure from the body there should be any great paine the soule leaues the body as the light doth the ayre which it doth inuest as Viues speakes after S. Augustine Wee must not then imagine heere a grosse tearing of the soule from the body as of a piece of cloth for the vnion of the soule with the body is spirituall and incomprehensible But of the pretended paine in death there is sufficiently spoken in the Obiection following As for the two other enemies it is true that the conscience presents vnto a dying man the foulenesse of his sinne and it is true that Satan tempts man to despaire to precipitate him into eternall perdition But for all this must a man that feares God feare death and feare to lose the battaile No but hee ought rather to assure himselfe of the victory and present himselfe boldly to the Combate as a valiant fortunate Champion against one that is weake and vnfortunate They that are for vs are stronger then they that are against vs God which hath begunne continues his worke in vs and ends it to his glory the faith which he hath prāted in vs wil quench the inflamed darts of the wicked spirit the full assurance of the remission of sins by Iesus Christ dead for our sinnes and risen for our iustification will pacifie the conscience and shew him Iesus Christ in heauen sitting on the right hand of God and stretching out his armes to him Thirdly the seales of the holy Ghost in vs for by it we are sealed to the day of Redemption Baptisme the Communion of the body of Christ and the Spirit of sanctification will terrifie Satan and make him flie Finally the good Angels which from our birth and throughout the whole course of our liues haue administred vnto vs guided and comforted vs will redouble their loue and courage in the like offices at our greatest need and at our last gaspe Let vs not feare seeing we haue such assurance in the Word of God which doth plainely witnesse that the Angells are administring Spirits sent to serue for their sakes that shall receiue the inheritance of saluation Here then is no subiect of desperate feare but rather of an assured resolution The 4. Obiection All paine is euill In dying there is paine EPicharmus by the testimony of Cicero sayd that he would not die but to be dead he cared not The reason is in my opinion for that he feared the passage of death not death it selfe which hee thought with vs had no paine There are many at this day of this opinion abhorring death like an internall gulfe for that they conceiue there is some sharp and violent paine which they endure before it comes and thereunto tends the prouerbe He is in bad case that dies And S. Augustine seemes to attribute I know not what sharpe feeling and force against nature in the diuulsion of the soule from the body which were vnited together Answere If death be terrible by reason of the paine we apprehend in it then life by the same reason should be more for in it some man endures more by the cholicke the stone the sciatica yea by the tooth ach and by many other infirmities without death then an other hath felt in dying And there is this aduantage in death that it comes but once wheras the aboue mentioned infirmities are often reiterated in life But to haue a perfect view if this paine bee so great as opinion a bad counsellor doth make vs beleeue let vs search with reason into the immediate cause of that which doth engender this paine in our bodies The pathes which leade man to death are infinite but all bend to one of these foure high wayes outward force subtraction of meate and drinke inward sicknesse and old age These foure kinds of death may happen to al men yea to wise men although by iniustice touching the first by some rare accident as touching the second concerning the third by ordinary corruption of humors and by an infallible defect of nature touching the fourth Paine according to the definition of learned Phisitions is the feeling of some thing that is offensiue and troublesome to the nature of the body for that it is contrary to the health thereof the which happens either by the dissoluing and cutting of his continued substance or by the alteration thereof which alteration proceeds from the intemperate heate or cold for as for humidity and drinesse they are rather passiue qualities then actiue whose operation is very slow and the paine in the member that is altered is suddaine not gentle as if you be exceeding cold and come to a very sensible paine cold settles his paine in disioyning heate in burning and it is to bee noted that any sence may be wounded yet little or nothing is his paine in comparison of that of touching the which is dispersed ouer the whole body from which no other vessell of the sences is exempt which is the cause that wee sometimes feele prickings in the eyes and shootings in the eares c. Let vs now come to the application Death which comes to man by extreame age can be no cause of paine there being nothing in him that tortures his body nothing that doth suddainely alter and change him by extreame cold or heate but his life goes out presently like vnto a Candle that wants tallow by the losse of his radicall humour deuoured by little and little since his birth by his naturall heate and although this heate doth yet striue as it hath formerly done to conuert the meate which is familiar and fit for the body into radicall humor to repaire his losse yet she can worke no more her vertue failes her euery agent hath his vertue limited what soeuer doth act suffers in acting through vse and in continuance of time this heate decayes dissolues is lost and death ensues So as it hath bene disputed in vaine whether life might bee continued this radicall humor being restored by some fit nutriment for that humor being at the first a certaine ayery onely portion of that seede which doth reside in all the sollide parts it is impossible that such an humour and so much as is needefull should be supplied in it's place The only fruite of the tree of life which was in Eden had this secret vertue by the diuine ordinance to make man immortal that shold eate therof and therefore according to the opiniō of the Fathers God suddenly after the sin chased Adam and Eue out of Eden least they should lay hold of that fruite and become immortally miserable with the diuells In processe of time there happens two notable changes to this radicall humour the one in the quality for that it degenerates by little and little of naturall becomes strange the other in the quantity for that it is wholy wasted whereunto man being once reduced he can suffer no paine if hee complaines
to this death they which haue condemned mee are more vniust then I am Inferring thereby that he died well and honestly seeing they put him to death wrongfully and without cause Plato doth teach vs that Socrates was wont to insult ouer death in these tearmes I haue beene carefull said he to liue well in my youth and to die well in my age I am not tormented within me with any paine I am not vnwilling to dye for seeing my life hath beene honest I attend death ioyfully This is much but it is nothing in regard of Saint Paule who protesting that he felt not himselfe guilty in any thing cried out with a bold spirit that hee was assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers neither things present nor things to come nor height nor depth should separate him from the loue of God Let vs theÌ„ be careful to polish our soules and to settle our consciences let vs apply our selues to a well ordered equity let the body subiect it selfe vnto the soule and follow her motions Let the inferiour powers of the soule obey the commandements of reason Let reason guided by the holy Ghost obserue the Law grafted in euery creature by nature especially in man and most of all the Law of Moses To doe this is to be vertuous and to be vertuous is to haue a good conscience We must then direct all our actions to vertue if wee desire to liue in the world without feare without paine in peace and ioy vertue doth first of all make the soule perfect in her intellectuall part disperseth the clouds of error ignorance illuminating reason doth adorne it with prudence Secondly she labours to polish the will of man and hauing reformed it by her orderly course shee giues him the habite of Iustice. Thirdly she doth temper the angry part pulls away the extreame feare and on the other side prunes away the sprouts of rashnes and plants betwixt both valour and haâ—… dy feare Finally it doth also bridle the faculty of concupiscence and restraines the motions of voluptuousnesse and makes them obedient to the command of Temperance It is in a few words the true meanes to get a pure and vpright conscience especially if we bee carefull to be as honest in our priuate secret actions as if all the world did behold vs Seneca doth recommend this vnto vt in many places Wee reade of one called Virginius whose History was written by Cluuius who presented it vnto the sayd personage and sayd vnto him If there be any thing written otherwise then thou wouldest pardon mee and reforme it Oh no answered Virginius whatsoeuer I haue done hath bene done in that manner to that end that it might bee free for all to write at their pleasures a worthy speech of a noble spirit and content with his conscience in his actions Iulius Drusus when as one promised a great sum of mony to his Master mason that his house might not be subiect to the view of any man and I sayd he will giue twice so much if thou canst build my house in that sort as all men may see into it what is done there This was to saue his conscience not to do more in secret then before all the world And what a madnesse is it in most men not to feare God nor their conscience and yet to feare men who can do least in the correction of their faults What shall we then feare in this world One only God for his feare will inspire our hearts with an hardy courage against the greatest feares The 27. Argument taken from the frequent thinking of Death He that will receiue Death ioyfully must propound it often to his thoughts Wee all desire to receiue it ioyfully c. SOme sayth Seneca come to their death in choler but no man receiues it when it comes with a cheerefull countenance but he that hath long before prepared himselfe for it Let vs try this remedy it cannot be bad In the night after our first sleepe in bed let vs presuppose that we are dead and by a strong imagination let vs settle our selues in that sort as hauing no sence nor feeling that our soule and reason tells vs that it is euen so in death that there is no other difference but that our soule is yet present in the body and then let vs goe vnto our friends or to any other that die let vs view them talke vnto them and touch them being dead and we shall finde that in all this there is nothing to be feared that all is quiet that there is nothing but opinion that 〈◊〉 abuse man Let vs proceed enter the Church-yards and go down into their graues wee shall finde that 〈◊〉 the dead rest in peace yeaâ—… so profound 〈◊〉 peace as no liuing creature can interrupt them Let vs yet go on farther there is no danger for by the saying of Plato the knowledge of death is the goodliest science that man can attaine vnto Let vs do like vnto Iohn Patriarke of Alexandria build our tombes and not finish them but euery day lay one stone Let vs haue some Anatomy or MoÌ„mie in our houses and let vs not passe a day without beholding it let vs handle it it is death Little children by little and little grow familiar with that which they did strangely fly and in the end they play with it and know that it is but a dead image of copper which so terrified them Wee shall also see in death that it was but a shaddow that so amazed vs. Let vs yet do more waking and not dreaming let vs dispose our selues of purpose as Philippe King of Macedon did by chance who wrestling vpon the sand after the manner of the Country saw and measured the length of his body and admired the littlenes thereof in the shape printed in the sand where he had fallen Finally let vs not forget what the Emperour Maximilian 2. or 3. yeares before his death commanded carefully to be done that they should carry with him a coffin of oake in a chest with an expresse command that being dead they should couer his body with a course sheete hauing put lime in his eares nosestrills and mouth and then to lay him in the ground Let vs follow these great examples both high low and wee shall see that when death shall present her selfe vnto vs it will bee without amazement But if wee flie from euery image of death from al thought therof if the ringing of bells a shew of some mans death doth importune vs finally if euery word of death be troublesome as there haue beene such I doubt not but to them death is wonderfull terrible Obiection If the most reasonable feare Death most it is by reason to be feared But the antecedent is true therefore the Consequent must follow SEneca yea experience doth teach vs that Infants little children and such as haue lost their
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
by the fauourable winde of diuine grace may to morrow str◅ke against the rockes of incredulitie haue a contrary winde and suff◅r shipwracke and so haue ◅eede of the answeres ◅ere set downe To conclude counterp◅ysons are not for the sound but for the sicke and infected these confutations are not for them which bee cleane in heart and sound in spirit but for such as irreligion and presumption of humane wisedome haue bewitched Othou the Cr◅ator of all things the Authour of our life the Inspirer of our soules the Father Sonne and holy Ghost one true and onely God I humbly beseech thee illuminate the eyes of my vnderstanding that I may plainely see the happy issue of fearefull death that it will please thee so to purifie the thoughts of my soule that shee may fully apprehend the true causes of her immortality that it will please thee so to fauour my penne that it may write worthily vpon so worthy a subiect that the worke finished thou mayest be glorified the Reader edified and my selfe fortified Amen The Combate betwixt Man and Death The first Argument taken from the Instrumentall cause of eternal life The only meanes to attaine to the perfection of that good which the world so much desireth should not giue any amazement to the world Death is the only meanes Therefore Death should not giue any amazement to the world THE first proposition of this Argument doth plainely iustifie it selfe for without exception all men desire the happinesse of life the perfection of Soueraigne good which is the beatitude of the holy Spirit called eternal life I except not ill doers for they erre in doing ill and either beleeue that it is good or the way which tends vnto it But there is but one way to attaine vnto this good which is death Now then to abhorre this death more then horror it selfe greedily to desire that good which only death can giue vs to desire health and reiect the potion whereby we may recouer it to affect the pleasures which they say are in those fortunate Ilands but without any figure in that heauenly Paradice to refuse to enter into that shippe which alone can bring vs thither were to mocke at himselfe Let vs proceed and come to the proofe of the 2. proposition for thereon is grownded the force of our Syllogisme That Death is the onely meanes to attaine vnto the perfection of life is manifest in that the perfection of euery thing is the enioying of the ends all the lines of our dessignes all the proiects of our enterprises all our sweating and toyle tend and aime at the end Who knowes not that death is the first end of life feeles not but that life in her greatest vigour driues him directly thither all men may see that life is vnited inseparably vnto death by the con tinuance of the same succession of times cōsider this time whereof the enioying is the life There are three parts that which is past the present and the future the presēt is the bond of that which is past and of the future and as this article of the present time runnes as violently towards the future as the Primum Mobile turnes in the heauē so doth ourlife run vio lently towards her end This life is a very way as soone as thou doest enter into it and makest but one step it is the first pace towards the end of the way towards the end of life which is death for the going out of the cradle is the beginning of the entry to the graue whether thou wilt or wilt not whether thou thinkest of it or not yet it is true yea as certaine as in an howre-glasse where the first graine of sand which runnes is a guide vnto the last to the end of the hower Euery day we passe carries away some part of our life yea as we grow life decreaseth this very day which we now enioy is deuided betwixt Death and vs for the first howres of the morning being past to the present in their flowing are dead to vs wherefore Seneca had often this sentence very fitly in his mouth Death hath degrees yet that is not the first Which diuides vs in twaine but of the death is the last And it is the very reason why that wise Tekohite sayd vnto Dauid in the present time For certaine we die and slide away as the waters which returne no more So many degrees as there are in life so many deaths so many beginnings of another life Let vs examine them and take speciall note of the first death to iudge of the latter for herein as in all the other workes of wise Nature the end is answerable to the beginning The first degree of mans life is when being fashioned and framed hee liues in the wombe of his mother this is a vegetatiue life a life proper to plants only wherein hee may receiue nourishment grow in this life he continues commonly but nine moneths at the end of which time hee dies but a happy death whereby he gaines the vse of the goodly sences of nature that is to say of sight hearing smelling tasting and touching behold then the first death when as the Infant by the force of nature is driuen out of that fleshie prison comming from which place he striues and stretcheth out himselfe hee is angry with nature and cries incessantly but he is ill aduised it is his good and the beginning of his perfection Now followeth the infantiue life not differing from that of beasts which extends vnto seuen yeares compleate of this life child-hood is the death which begins at eight yeares and retaines nothing of the Infancy As for the exterior of man which is the body not the flesh nor bones not the foure principall humors if that bee true which the Phisitions hold for a Maxime that our bodies change all their substance euery seuen yeares And in truth how could our sliding nature so long subsist if it were not maintained by drinke and meate the which by a certaine vertue infused into all the members of the body digested purged and applied doth transubstantiat it selfe into our very bodies proportionably as the substance decayes as appeares by the words in the booke of Wisedome cap. 5. Being borne wee suddenly desist from that being wherein wee were borne It is no more the first body which wee brought into the world that is dead wee haue an other in our child-hood the third degree of life which extends vnto 18. yeares at the end wherof his death encounters him in the which beginnes the 4. degree of life which goes vnto 22. and then dies but from this death riseth youth the 5. degree which florisheth vnto 30. yeares then his flower falls and his youth is lost but a rich losse seeing thereby man-hood the perfect age is gotten which being strong and vigorous climbes vnto 50. yeares and this is the 6. degree of life Then comes age the 7. degree of life and the
These are the differences which distinguish a liuing Creature from a plant the sensitiue life from the vegetatiue If sensible things perceiued by their sence were of themselues to bee desired without doubt the more excellent they were in their kind the more pleasing they should be yet contrariewise we see that the thing that is most sensible offends that sence most which is proper vnto it The fire burnes with touching and doth stupefie and takes from it his sensitiue vertue the thunderclap dulls the hearing troubles the braine and by a long continuance of a great noise makes him deafe and so of the other sences Moreouer if the reason of life consisted in the sences who would beleeue that man were the more perfect creature seeing that many exceed him in sence for the spider in the subtiltie of touching the Ape in the bountie of tast the Vulture in the force of smelling the Boare in the ventue of hearing and lastly the Linx in the seeing facultie exceeds him farre Thirdly these Organs of the sences are ordained only by nature for the vegetatiue life that is to say either for the preseruation of the Indiuiduum by eating and drinking or of the Species by generation It is true that man applyes them also to other ends then we haue obserued but those Creatures which haue nothing but the two first degrees of life whereof we treat imploy their sences to no other end but to entertaine themselues or for generation So the Lyon will start at the sight of a stag but it is for that he sees his preie prepared and not simply for that the stag hath such varietie of colors The Nightingale will answere with a melodious sound hearing another sing it is not for any delight it hath for in a true declaration it sufficeth not that the sence take pleasure in the obiect which is proper and proportionable vnto it but this proportion must also be inwardly apprehended cōceiued the which is neither found in the Nightingale nor in any other creature destitut of reason And whence then comes will you say the cause of this sodaine answer to the voice heard It proceeds from the complexion of the Nigh tingale to the point wherof it mounts when as the sound which beates the ayre strikes his eare and enters thereby into his head as we finde by experience in our selues whenas hearing any one yaune we are moued to doe the like hearing one sing we sing seeing the world runne we runne after it yet know not whither the Quaile by example wil be moued at the singing of the masle not for any delight shee takes but from the motion to generation which she feels kindled in her selfe The Dog will faune and leape vpon his master whom he had lost and yet this doth not proceed from any naturall instinct tends to no other end but to be kept defended and fed by his sayd master Finally hee that will duly obserue it shal finde that all the sences of vnreasonable creatures haue no other end but preseruation generation an end intimated in the vegetatiue life a life we saw had no sufficient reason to moue our desire how then shall the sensitiue haue Moreouer if reason and the desire of life consisted in the pleasure of the sences why haue they which were most giuen vnto it had wretched ends and ignominious liues the Emperour Vitellius Spinter thinking to find his felicitie in it incountred his ruine hee was giuen to lust and gormandize so excessiuely as at one supper hee was serued with 2000 sorts of fish and 7000 of fowle And what was the end of this life He was sodainely slaine pierced through with small darts drawne naked through the streets and cast into Tiber after the eight month of his Empire and before the sixtieth of his age To this wee will adde one in our fathers time Muleasses King of Tunis who although hee were banished from his Realme and had succours denyed by Charles the fift yet he was so drowned in the delights of sensualitie as hee spent a 100 Crownes for the sauce of a Peacocke and the more to bee rauished with musicke he caused his eyes to bee banded and to delight his smelling hee was continually perfumed with Muske What happened He was defeated in battaile by his own Sonne Aminda and as hee fled disguized he was followed by the sent of his perfumes discouered and taken and his eyes put out with a hot Iron by his owne Children O crueltie but a iust iudgement of God for his voluptuousnesse Then comes the sight so piercing and passionate after the faire faces of women and stayes not there onely but O shamefull sight it will see the bodies naked the which is condemned both by God and man Romulus condemned that man to death which suffered himselfe to bee seene naked by a woman how much more is that woman to bee condemned which layes aside all modestie with her smocke as Giges said in Herodotus The Emperours Valentinian Gratian Theodosius religious obseruers of chastitie did forbid vpon great penalties that none should shew themselues naked in publike but to Tiberius Caligula Heliogabalus others who tooke no delight but to defile their eyes and bodies with such shamefull spectacles God did shew his horrible Iudgements in their deaths Finally voluptuousnesse hath not only bene the cause of the ruine of men alone but of whole Estates Sybarides a Towne seated betwixt two riuers in old time strong and flourishing did rule ouer foure bordering people had vnder their obedience 25. Townes and could bring to field 300. thousand men armed yet by the dissolution of the Sybarites in two moneths ten dayes shee was spoiled of all her felicity and greatnes drowned and quite ruined The like excesse was the ouerthrow of that mighty Romaine Empire as wee may easily reade in them that haue written of that subiect As long as Curius and Fabricius led The Romaine Armies that for dainties fed On boiled turnops and the cresses were Amongst the Persians th' only delicate cheare In peace both led their liues retired still And fear'd in warre did with their Trophees fil Almost all earth But when of th' after seede Of Syrian Ninus Persians learn'd to feede On sugar delicacies and that Rome With pleasure of their bellies ouercome In Galba's Rule Vitellio's Nero's liuing No lesse for glory in their dishes striuing Then if in conflict they the field had won Of Mithridates and Alcides son All iustly saw themselues by nations spoy'ld That they long since had fought withall and foil'd Warning those Realmes that take their courses now Lest they their earth with equall ruines strow The Obiection The moderate vse of the sences in worldly things is pleasant and lawfull Therefore it is reason to desire life ANswer The word moderate shewes of it selfe that this reason is verie moderate and weake yea that there is contradiction in the adioinct as they say true pleasure admits no moderation it
with the displeasures and finding these greater and more grieuous why should hee feare to lose the pleasures to auoyd the displeasures A Poet speaking of a solitary life sayd That if there be not so great ioy without doubt there is not so great paine If death haue not the ioyes of this world it hath not the torments of life which are farre greater Obserue it for a certaine Maxime that there are three things here below which march equally with an inconstant pace the estate of the aire which they call time life and the opinion of man And that which is worse there are more cloudy dayes then cleere more miserable dayes for man then happy and more changes to bad then good But that which should fully assure vs going out of this life is Iesus Christ who protests That no man shall pull his sheepe out of his hands Ioh. 10. We know whose wee are by the faith that is in vs by the which we are fully perswaded that God will keepe our pledge vntill that day 2. Tim. 1. Moreouer we are assured of the end by the beginning for to him that hath shal be giuen more Luc. 19. Finally we doubt no more For the holy Spirit doth witnesse with our Spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. This is certaine but admit that it were not so there is no pleasure in the world be it neuer so short but it leaues behind a venimous sting of serious repentance I see thy large possessions thy stately houses the amiable aspect of thy children thy treasure the greatnesse of thine honors finally all the pompe in the world raise thee vp with their goodly shewes but beleeue me these things are not so happy as thou doest hold them for proofe looke vpon them that haue them in a higher degree then thy selfe if notwithstanding they bee not miserable they be transitory things if thou leauest not them first they will leaue thee if thou doest affect them more then as an exercise for thy spirit thou hast neither witt nor iudgement This vnderstanding which makes the man should not crouch vnder these carnall things it must rayse vp himselfe to those which are eternall to the beauties bounties exquisite workmanship of this vniuers All the pinching care which thou takest for the world is but a toyle to the bodie vexation of minde and a losse of time do what thou wilt enioy all the possessions of the earth but know this for certaine that one onely houre can take them from thee Doest thou not see that all runnes to change in this world like vnto the Moone which immediatly doth gouerne it Art thou mounted to the highest degree thou must descend againe he that loues thee wil hate thee he whom thou hast saued it may be will kill thee as it happened to Iulius Caesaer thou doest laugh to day it may be to thou shalt weep to morrow Doest thou triumph to day an other day thou shalt be led Captiue finally art thou aliue to day another day will carrie thee to the graue and not knowing what day if thou art wise thou wilt suspect euery day like vnto that good old man Messodan who being inuited by one of his friends to a feast the next day sayed vnto him Doest thou put me off vntill tomorrow who after so many yeares did neuer hold any one day assuredly mine but I haue held euery day as if it had beene my last a resolution which differs much from these young old men who hauing one footein the graue yet thinke they may liue one yeare more at the least and the yeare being past yet another and so alwaies what is this but against the order of nature to thinke to liue euer The 12. Argument from the condition of life No man should hate any essentiall condition of that which he pursues Death is an essentiall condition of life Therefore no man should hate Death that seekes life IT wee consider of death not in her introduction but as she hath beene blest by God since by his grace it is no fearefull paine to life as we conceiue but an inseparable qualitie Life is a burning Lampe the body is the cotten the radicall humour the oyle the naturall heate the fire this fire consumes the oyle and cotten by little and little and in few houres had deuoured it all if nutriment supplied and changed by a secret vertue did not kepe it repayred yet can it not preserue life from naturall ruine but for a time for that the vertue ingrafted into all the members of the body wearing by degrees in the transubstantiation of meates and application thereof to the fading substance comes in the ende to waste the humor dryes vp the fire is quenched death followes and seeing that we see death inclosed in the bodie of life he should be verie indiscreet that would seeke life and hate death and hee wise and vertuous that will no more regard death then life seeing it concernes his dutie Heare what Pompey the Great returning out of Sicily with Corne to famished Rome in a great storme said vnto the Master of the ship being halfe dead Gowe goe we the question is not to liue but to goe This great personage did consider that it was as naturall for man to dye as to liue and in truth all that haue liued are dead what force soeuer they pretended to oppose the most puissant beasts in the world the Elephants goe to dust yea Nature willing to shew how little that is which here seemes great and how vpon the least occasion all force decayes shee suffereth the Elephant at the sight of the least and basest creatures of a Mouse or an Ant to bee so seazed with feare as he trembles strangely The Tyrants were smothered with lightning in the Phlegrean fields The Tyrant Maximine with his 8 foot in length with his great thumb carrying his wiues bracelet for a ring who drew carts laden brake an horse teeth with his fist and did split trees with his hands Although he thought himselfe immortall by reason of his force yet he lyes slaine by his subiects In the same estate is Marius whose fillips were like blowes with a hammer Among the Moderns George Castriot Prince of Albania valiant and fortunate in his exployts who with his owne hands had slain 2000 Turks who neuer gaue but one blow to cleaue a man in two and to ouerthrow the strongest yet in the end death subdued him and layd him in his graue Let the Idolatrous Turkes search his Tombe for his bones and from those reliques draw an inuincible force to themselues yet hee is dead doth not this suffice Behold Cities Common weales and kingdomes they haue their youth and vigor so in like manner their age and death where is Thebeâ—… that great City whereof the name is scarce remaining where are those 〈◊〉 Cities of Candie where is Sparta and Athens wherof there remains nothing but the base ruines And thou the
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
call the sweat of death Sleepe proceedes from the fume which the meat digesting causeth this fume mounted vp and thickned by the coldnes of the braine descends againe and disperseth it selfe ouer all enters into the nerues by the which both sence and motion is distributed throughout the whole body so as death makes all the actions of the body to cease euen so sleepe doth all the feeling of the sinnewes of the senses and all motion of the exterior members For as wee doe often finde children lying asleepe vpon the ground thinking they were dead so man dying doth ofteÌ„ deceiue them that stand by being not able to iudge whether he be dead or sleepes Man cannot alwayes watch he must sleepe neither can he liue for euer he must dye and as he growes idle that can take no rest so hee is madd that thinkes not to die As he that stooping to his worke doth stemm with trafficke Boate along the shore the streame and pouring out himselfe in watrie sweate breakes all the bancks in vprore In retreate made to his Cottage from the laboring light strecht on the straw sleepes soundlie all the night As man after that hee hath sweat with tedious labour being broken and growne crooked with age after that he hath tost and turmoyld kept a great stir in the world being layed in the earth rests in death he that goes to bed puts off his clothes he that dyes vnclothes his bodie and his soule departs And as he that hath eaten and drunke freely feels in his stomacke a gnawing and cruditie which hinders his rest so hee that hath busied himself too much with worldly affayers feels vpon the approching of rest a remorse of conscience and an irresolution which will not suffer him to imbrace death quietly sleepe seazeth vpon mâ—…n lying awake in his bed insensibly so can he not obserue the verie moment of approaching death when sleep comes he feels no paine no more that the verie instant of death If men be froward and cry out when death approcheth so do they especially little children who crie most when sleepe comes vpon them Finally as in our soundest sleepe wee feele no paine we hold it a wrong to be awaked so let vs assure our selues we shall feele lesse paine in death seeing her sound sleepe cannot be troubled nor interrupted in any sort and therefore Diogenes taken with a sound sleepe a little before his death the Physition inquiring if he had felt no paine no answered he the brother comes before his sister So Gorgias LeoÌ„tinus being neere his end his bodie without streÌ„gth he had many slumbers so as a friend of his demanding how hee found himselfe Well saith he the brother beginnes to deliuer mee into his sisters hands Moreouer Nature which hath made nothing in vaine seems to assure vs of this proportion by the Dormouse which sleepes all Winter so foundly as it will rather endure all extremities then awake I haue seene a man of good credite put one into water boyling on the fire the which did not awake but only mooue the hinder legs a little yet in the Spring it is nimble leaps from branch to branch a goodly signe of the Refurrection of the dead The fifteenth Argument taken from former experience Not to be yet and to be no more are alike yea the same We â—…ere in peace and rest when we were not yet Therefore when we shall bee 〈◊〉 moreâ—… shall be iâ—… peace and râ—…st IT is an humane Argument which takes matters at the â—…orst and death for the 〈◊〉 priuation of the whâ—…le man yet without preiudicâ—… of his right if there bee any fouÌ„d Of necessity saith Pâ—…o death must bee one of these two a with-drawing or extinguishing of al sense and of the soule likewise or a transmigra tion as they holâ—… into some other place if death doth extinguish all and be like vnto sleepe the which most commonly when it is not troubled with dreames and fancies bring a â—…uiet rest O God what a gaine is death 〈◊〉 c. But if it be true which some say that death is a â—…ransport â—…o the happy regions that our soules hauing shined in these mortall bodies on this bare earth go to shine elewhere as when the Sâ—…nne aftâ—… that he hath enligâ—…ned ouâ—… horizon descâ—…nds to giue day vnto an other and then returnes to make his course anew what decease is there of the soule morâ—… then of the Sun which runnes his course through our horizon all the day and at night seemes extinct and dead to vs Or suppose there were an vtter extinguishing decease of the Soule aswel as of the Body what cause were there of feare in this extinguishing since not to haue bene at all and to cease to be is all one because the effect both of the one and the other is not to be Then why should wee feare that now when by the experience of aboue fiue thousand yeares when we were not that is to say that we were dead we neuer felt any kind of paine Hereunto king Aâ—…asis had re gard obseruing one who lamented much for the losse of his sonne If sayd hee thoâ—… didst not mourne when thy sonne was not at all neither shouldest thou now grieue that he be no more Let vs conclude with Seneea That according to the opinion of all the world he carries the supreame degree of folly that weepes for that hee liued not a thousand yeares since so hee doth second him which grieues that he shall not bee here the like â—…e oâ—… oâ—… it iâ—… all onâ—… â—…ou â—…d noâ—… be and You haue â—…ot benâ—… So spakâ—… the wiâ—…e man by the mouth of mâ—… saying We 〈◊〉 as if we 〈◊〉 not bâ—… Obiection Not to haâ—… had â—…llent things and â—…o 〈◊〉 loâ—… them â—…fter the enioyng them a time are verie different â—…t he that hath not beene is like to him that hath â—…ot had those exâ—…llent things life and the 〈◊〉 thereof and he that is no more like him that hath lost them after the enioying of them Therefore not to haue bin and not to be are verie diffâ—… things THe verie word â—…o losâ—… iâ—… of it selâ—…e 〈◊〉 he thaâ—… after a clâ—… fight 〈◊〉 lose his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then he which hath loâ—… 〈◊〉 knowledge of his sences oâ—… reason anâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…out thâ—… which we had not bin Whaâ—… is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not see himselfe swallowed vp in a guâ—… of darkenesse â—…ay in eternall horrorâ—… And therfore S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name oâ—… the faithfull â—…aith 2. Cor. 5. That we whicâ—… in this lodging groane vnder the burthen dâ—…sire not to â—…e vncloathed buâ—… to be clothed againe to the ende thaâ—… mortal may be swallowed 〈◊〉 by life Which shewes that the desire of man is to be if he enclines to deâ—…h it is 〈◊〉 assured â—…oÌ„sideration â—…hat by â—…ath he enters into a 〈◊〉 and morâ—… perfect being elsâ—… he would alwaies 〈◊〉 not to be that
man is as the world aboue the Moone alwayes cleere and without clouds But what is this ioy it is saith Seneca peace concord greatnesse of spirit ioyned to mildnesse it is to bee content with things present whatsoeuer and to become a friend to his affaiers It is sayth D◅critus to haue his spirit free from feare and the religious Doctor Saint Ambrose will say That tranquillity of conscience and assured innocency make the life happy Finally Salomon will cry out than a ioyful spirit is a delightful banket and contrariewise a troubled minde thinkes alwayes of things which are distastfull mournfull Trust not to these mela◅cholie men to whom adu◅ choler makes white things seeme blacke those that are happy vnfortunate and to feare where there is nothing but subiect of assurance Life is as we gouerne it good or bad pleasant or displeasant and therefore Epictetus sayed f◅ly That euery thing had two ends and that by the one it was easie to beare by the other combersome If your brother saith hee hath done you wrong doe not consider of ◅t of that side that he hath done you wrong for then it is vneasie to beare but of the other as he is your brother that you haue beene nourished together and then you wil find it very tolerable Du Vair who like the industrious Be◅ hath gathered summarily together the flowers of the Stoicks writes that nature may say vnto vs as the Philosopher did vnto his Disciples What I present vnto you with the right hand you take with the left your choice tends alwayes to the worst you leaue what is good and imbrace the bad Let vs take things by the good end wee shall finde that there is subiect of loue in that which we hate For there is not any thing in the world but is for the good of man As for example you haue a sute with your neighbour when you thinke of him your sute coms to minde and then you curse him and are disquieted the reason is you take it by the bad end but take it by the other and represent vnto your selfe that he is a man like to you that God by a resemblance of nature calls you to a mutuall affection that he is in the same Citie in the same Temple and doth communicate in the same Lawes the same prayers and the same Sacraments with thee that you are bound to succour one another reciprocally Finally the Stoicks hold for a Maxime that a wise man is exempt from iniurie either to giue or receiue he cannot doe any being borne onely to ayde hee receiues none for that being grounded vpon vertue hee valiantly contemnes all reproch wrong so as hee is inuulnerable as Seneca saith not for that hee is not strooke but for that as hee saith hee cannot bee hurt Answer I know that the Stoicks with whose fethers our obiector decks himselfe haue sought to frame their wise man of that fashion that he should not be capable of any ill but continually possest of a sollide ioy but whatsoeuer they haue purtrayed was but a vaine picture without effect or truth like vnto the Chimeres and Centaures Who wil beleeue that a wise man put vpon the racke feeles no paine Who can say that the life of Metellus is not more to be desired then that of Regulus turned vp and downe in a pipe full of nailes and that they are equall fauours That a wise man will ioyfully holde his hand burning in the fire like vnto Mutius Scaeuola Finally that a wise man beeing burnt tormented and put in Phalaris burning bull will notwithstanding say O what a sweete life is this Let them do what they list I care not These and such like are the Paradoxes of these Philosophers who as Cicero saith carry admiration in their foreheads but beeing strip't naked they giue cause of laughter of themselues as Plutarke saith they confesse their absurditie and vanity And in truth who wold not laugh when among other things they say that only a wise man is truely a king rich beautifull yea though he were a slaue a begger or a Zopirus with his nose cut off c. But let vs answere punctually to the reasons obiected The Sarazin Abdala vnderstands that by some excellent relickes of thesoule man is admirable to the world but hee doth not touch his felicitie for hee hath nothing of that remayning since his transgressiō he is continually here below miserable in euery degree He had the gift of free will to haue enioyed his owne happynesse if hee had would but for that hee abused it he lost himselfe and his liberty saith S. Augustine He rules ouer all creatures but a miserable domination in the which the meanest subiect exceeds his Lord in felicitie and twise miserable in the which the Lord suffers more miserie then the most wretched of his subiects Reade Plutarke and then Homer but aboue all the Spirit of God in the holy writ who knowes what wee are and qualifies man with no other titles but of darkenesse and foolishnesse to thinke a good thought of himselfe a brutish man who comprehends not the things which are of the Spirit and cannot vnderstand them for they are spiritually discerned Finally hee shewes him to be weake sicke dead in his sinnes a vipers broode not able to doe any good thing for that he is bad and by consequence cannot take part but with Satan the prince of darkenesse and the father of lyes and all iniquitie Moreouer if Seneca and others to retayne men in life teach them what they ought to doe it is no argument that they diuert them from death when shee shall present herselfe vnto them but contrariwise Seneca doth in a manner generally protest That death hath no discommoditie that it is not onely without ill but without the feare of ill and that it is a foolish thing to feare it c. As for life hee calls it deceitful and vicious for that it is alwayes imperfect But see how vpon this question hee opens his heart to sorrowfull Martia for the death of her sonne O ignorant men saith he of their owne miseries which doe not commend death as the goodlyest inuention of nature For whether that she holds felicitie inclosed or excludes calamitie be it that shee ends the satietie and wearinesse of old age or that shee carries away youth in his flower in the hope of better things be it that shee calls vnto her the most vigorous age before that it hath mounted the roughest steps yet is she to all men their end to some a remedy to some a vow and those are more bound vnto her to whom she coms without calling He goes on but he cuts off his discourse to come to the end of his life which was cut off for being commanded by Nero to dye without any delay hee willed his Surgeon to open a veine in his foote holding it in a bason of warme
to desire Death not as wee propounded them nor as we haue found them but as they make themselues known If we shall indge of the streame by the spring what may we hope for of the life of man conceiued betwixt the vrine and excrements borne naked all in tears but only a perpetuall flux of corruption pouertie and calamities therefore it is not without reason that S. Bernard sayd That man is but a stinking sperme a nourishment for wormes a sacke of excrements and such should wee see him within if the skinne did not stay our sight outwardly Doe we doubt of it seeing of this liuing substāce there are ingendred wormes about an ell long and being dead serpents in the pithe of the backe as Plinie writes and experience teacheth Plutarke reports that the king of Egypt hauing caused the body of Cleomenes to be hanged and the garde hauing discouered a great serpent wound about his head they called the people who running to this spectacle called Cleomenes as a demy-God The like happened to a young man a Germaine who would neuer suffer his picture to be drawn in his life time but onely granted to his kinsfolkes who importuned him that some dayes after his interment they might take him vp and draw him as they found him Being taken out of the graue they saw about the Diaphragma the pith of the backe many little Serpents to verifie what the authour of Ecclesiasticus faith When man dyerh he becoms the inheritance of serpents The life of man is a candle exposed to all winds saith Epictetus His body is a store-house of all sorts of diseases saith another his flower his most excellent point of glory is such as he is alwayes in paine and martyrdome and this point passeth away dazling the eye like a flash greatnesse and worldly riches are no more sssured then the waues of the sea they flowe suddainely and ebbe no l◅sse violently Sesostris King of Egypt causing himselfe to bee drawne in a Chariot of pure gold by foure Kings his prisoners one of them held his eye fixed vpon the wheele which did rolle vp and down by him Sesostris obseruing it demanded of him the cause of his countenance who answered That looking vpon the wheele and obseruing the spoaks to bee sometimes aloft and suddainely downe againe I call to minde the rolling change of my selfe and my companions Sesostris considers hereof abates his pride and giues liberty to his Captiues Such is the estate of the affaires of this world like vnto a marke subiect to infinite darts of aduersity No man knowes what the night brings sayd one in Titus Liuius the pleasures are vncertaine but the displeasures most certaine Nature giues vs a taste at our comming into the world where wee enter weeping And according to this instinct of nature the Thraci ns wept at the birth of their children numbring what miseries they should suffer in the world For the same reason the Getes a religious people held that it was better to die then to liue therefore they lamented at their child-birthes and sung at their burialls And wise Salomon saith that the day of death is better then that of birth Looke into Erasmus vpon the prouerbe Optimum non nasci Sophocles in like manner giues aduice that it is more reasonable to weepe at the birth of their children as beeing entred into great miseries and beeing dead to carry them ioyfully to the graue as freed from the miseries of this life And who will doubt any more of this seeing he that neuer lies calls this life death Ioh. 5. saying Hee that heares my words and beleeues in him that sent me shall passe from death to life The Lycians law ordayned that they which wold mourn should put on womens robes for that it did in no sort befit graue and discreete men to weepe for the dead but for passionate women Vpon this law a Lawyer of Padoua groūded his testament although he be taxed by another First hee charged his heire vpon great comminations to banish all blacke cloth from his Funeralls and that he should prouide singers and players on Iustruments to sing and play going among the Priests both before and behinde the Corpes to the number of fifty to euery one of which he bequeathed halfe a Ducate for his paines Moreouer hee ordained that 12. young virgines attired in greene should carry his body vnto Saint Sophias Temple in which he should be interred suffering them to sing ioyfull songs with a loud voyce and for a reward hee bequeathed them a certaine summe of money to helpe them at their marriage All sorts of Priests and Monkes might assist except such as were barred with blacke lest that colour should darken the beauty and cheerefulnesse of his Funeralls he had seene with Heraclitus that during the dayes of this miserable life there is no subiect but of teares and that at our departure we should reioyce with Demoeritus And therefore Plato doth rightly call death a medicine for all miseries and Seneca esteemes it the end of seruitude Let vs seale vp this discourse with the memorable aduice which Epictetus gaue to the Emperour Adrian enquiring why they set garlāds vpon the dead It is in signe answered he that at the day of their death they haue triumphed ouer the diuers assaults of this life Let vs then dye when it shall please the prince of this life to cease the teares and alarmes of this life and to beginne the life of heauen whereas God will wipe away all teares from our eyes whereas death shall be no more and there shal be no more mourning crying nor labour Obiection If men call for death and being come refuse it so much it is a signe that it is very horrible But the antecedent is true Therfore the consequent is also true IT is reported in Laertius that the Philosopher Antisthenes tyed to his bed by a greeuous disease and the more grieuous the more he loued his life was visited by Diogenes who knowing the man had taken a naked sword vnder his gowne Antisthenes perceiuing him cried out O God who shall deliuer me from hence Diogenes answered presently that shal this shewing him his sword But Antisthenes replied more sodainly I meane from these paines and not from my life It seemes that most of those crier sout for death make that their refuge when she approcheth neere them Esope in the Apologue hath naturally described it by that old man who being laden with a great burthen and falling into a Ditch he grew to despaire and calling for death death came and commands him to follow him O no said he I call thee to helpe me vp with my burthē that I may returne Answer I know well that many feare death much not for any desire to liue nor for the pleasures they haue in life for the two examples obiected shew the contrarie but for that they know not what death is And thereunto tends this
apparitions shadowes and walking spirits to wrestle with them The statue of Nicon the wrestler borne at Tasos did witnesse it without words when as one who had enuied and hated Nicon at the sight of this statue fell into his old spleene which he had borne him liuing who taking a staffe layd vpon the image to despight the memory of Nicon the image to bee reuenged of this affront fell vpon him with all his weight and crusht him to death This was an accident but it was well and iustly ordained But behold another more euident Fabia wife to the Emperour Heraelius Being carried dead to her tombe it happened that a maiden by mischance did spit out at a window vpon the body for which she was taken burnt in the same fire that was prepared to reduce the body of Fabia to ashes In such recommendation they had in those dayes the honor of the dead The rage of Sylla is iustly held detestable who not content to haue done all the violence he could to his enemies whilest they liued after their death would draw their bones out of their graues and cast them into the riuer The death of the Saints is pretious before God let vs also say the death of vertuous men is pretious before men and if any one hath bene blemished in his life it should be buried in his graue Lewis 11. of France a great King hath verified it in his owne person towards his enemy the faire Agnes whom some of those times supposed that the Kings Father had entertained After her death she was intoÌ„bed in the Church of the Castle of Laches and by reason of a certaine rent shee gaue vnto it her body was layd in the middest of the Quire Lewis comming thither some time after there was suite made vnto him by a Priest that hee would suffer them to remoue that Tombe to some other place for that it did incomodate them The King beeing informed who lay there answered That which you demand is vniust although this woman were in her time very opposite vnto me yet will I not violate her Sepulcher Moreouer I cannot conceiue that you haue laid this body in so eminent 〈◊〉 place without some rich present performe that to your Benefactor being dead which you promised her being alâ—… and remooue her not from thence to bind you more strictly towards her I giue you for an increase sixe hundred pounds starling If this were done in a life which was blemished what shall it bee in one that is all pure and vntainted If it be obserued towards them that dye a drie death how much more towards them that are vniustly slaine by Tyrantâ—… Behold a memorable history among many which intimates that God hath a watchfull eye ouer them Perdinand fourth Mâ—…g of Spaine transported with choler vppon a suspition ill grounded for a murther committed commanded two bretheren of the house of 〈◊〉 to bee throwne headlong from the top of a rocke Going to their execution these Gentlemen protest and crie out that they dye innocents and seeing the Kings eares were shut vp to their iust defence they cited him to apear within 30. dayes before the soueraigne Iudge The dayes run on and the King is carelesse vntill that vpon the 30. day hee found himselfe seazed at the first but with a light infirmity but it increased so suddainely as hee dyed the same day Consider hereof you to whom honour is more pretious then life and who liuing feele the stings of Enuy and slander more then your bodies are followed with their shaddowes Take comfort heerein for God by your death will preuent these vniust pursuites and make an end of these iniurious taxations Enuy assaults the man liuing but lying in the bed of death she leaues him at rest as the Poet saith and then due honour is giuen to men of merit O you which meditate day and night on your learned writings writings either to chase away ignorance or to reforme men deformed with all sorts of vices in this debaucht age faint not for any malice they beare you liuing death will smother this rancor consume this enuy we see it daily and before vs Cate the Cenfor did taxe it sharpely I know saith hee that many ignorant of true honour will traduce my writings if I publish them but I let their babling fall to the ground meaning the graue whereas the sharpest stings of slander are abated and buried and the bookes which during the life of their Authors durst not looke vpon the light no more then Owles after their death flie out like young Eagles and behold the Sunne Obiection Whatsoeuer God and men hold to be euill is euill God and men iudge death to be euill Ergo c. THIS Argument is grounded vpon the Diuine Oracle pronounced to Adam That day thou shalt eate of the fruite of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death the Apostle saies that Death is the reward of sin As for men in Cities wel gouerned their lawes impose the punishment of death for theeues murtherers sedicious c. I answer That death in her beginning is bad but not in her deriuation but it is good in respect of his power and wisedome who drawes light from darkenes good from euill life from death for now by the blessing of God death serues as a ladder to the faithfull to ascend vp into heauen So the diuersity of tongs sent at the building of the Tower of Babel proceeded from the fury of God kindled against the builders to frustrate their enterprize Yet the same tongs haue bene since imparted to the Apostles vpon White-sonday by the fauour of God thereby to haue the mysteries of the Lord declared So garments were inuented in token of the losse of our naked Innocency and yet in continuance they are become an honorable ornament for our bodies as wee see Euen so in the beginning God sent death in his fury and since he sent it in fauour to Enoch to Iosias and to all them hee loues The holy Ghost speaking by the penne of Salomon sayth that hee more esteemes the dead which are already dead then the liuing which are yet liuing As for malefactors death is not inflicted vpoÌ„ theÌ„ as it is simply death but for two reasons adiaceÌ„t the one is that depriuing them of all motion it makes them cease to commit any more euill frees the Country of such vermine The other that it is imposed for a publike infamy and therefore they are set vpon scaffolds and gibbets in publike place this deserued infamy is the true torment of the punishment death is but an accident and do wee not see many delinquents desire an honorable graue more then life the which they would not do if they held death to bee the worst of euills and not rather an extreame dishonor in which they feele their soules to suruine Bias therefore did answere wittily being demanded which of all
two for all the rest Pyrrhus who might haue liued a happy King and haue enioyed that which the time did present vnto him yet he transported with a hope to subdue all Italy was graciously informed by Cineas a seruant of his but a iudicious Orator after this manner Sir if the Gods make vs Victors what profit shall wee reape by this victory Wee shall haue an easie meanes saith he to conquer all the cities that are vpō the consines of Italy and this done replied Cineas what shal then becom of vs Sicile answers Pyrrhus will willingly submit vnto vs. Shall Sicile then pursued Cineas be the end of our wars Who shall then hinder vs said the King to passe into Affrick to Carthage and from thence into the kingdome of Macedon Whereunto Cineas Well my Prince when all this shall be made subiect to our power what shall we do in the end Pyrrhus smiling answered We will then rest quietly at our ease with pleasure and content Cineas hauing brought him to the point he aymed at made him this last reply Sir seeing wee enioy all that can bee desired in a happy and contented life who can now interrupt our quiet and trouble our felicity and not deferre it to vncertaine dayes and lay it vpon dangerous hazards This was more then enough to moue Pyrrhus to content himselfe with what he had if vain hope had not made him insensible but hee must hazzard himselfe fight against the Romanes then he must be besieged encountered and slaine by a woman Goe you Princes propound vnto your selues these haughty hopes of glory but expect nothing but smoake flatter not your selues in your fortunes she is treacherous the more shee smiles the more she is to bee feared Iulius Caesar is the second example shee was his friend for a time but in the end she betrayed him when as he should haue contented himselfe with that great Romaine Empire he conceaued new hopes of subduing the Parthians and makes his preparatiues but in the meane time his Citizens conspire his death and fayle not So Esops Falconer whilest that hee is watchfull to take the Fowle a viper which hee casually trode vpon turnes and bites him by the foote whereof he dyed Manilius cries out That good is alwayes mixt with euill here below teares follow vowes and in any thing fortune neuer keeps one course The safest remeady not to be troubled nor infested with so many vnquiet euents which follow one another in this life is to quench in vs the baites of them which are two hope and feare for wee floate betwixt these two continually and alwayes depending vpon the accidents of fortune wee either suspect them or affect them What then will you say must wee wholly despaire No it is not my meaning there is a meane betwixt all hope and all despaire the which Seneca propounds vnto thee Hope not saith he without despaire neither despaire without hope Otherwise as he doth wisely aduertise thee it is like the life of a foole which is ingratefull trembling and alwaies tending to the future Ingratefull for that he makes no account of that which is past nor of the present trembling for that it feares more and sooner then it should in the end it bends to the future for that it relies not vppon the present good which presents it selfe doth not tast it nor make any account of it but either ioyes with hope of the future or else pants for feare And this future how short soeuer it bee yea the night following it may bee will conclude thy life Heare what God said to the foolish couetous man who through hope to liue at ease to eate drinke make good cheare resolued to build Barnes to store vp his Corne promising afterwards to himselfe great ioy and long life But O foole said the Eternall this night thy soule shal bee taken from thee Obiection To thrust a wretched man into despaire is a cruell thing To take all hope from a wretched man is to thrust him into despaire c. THe Philosophers Elpistiques held opinion that there was nothing did more mollifie the bitternesse of miseries in this present life then hope And by the saying of Thales it is the most common thing to men for it neuer flyes away with other transitory things but continues with man euen vnto the end Pindarus termes it the nurse of old age for be he neuer so much broken and decayed yet he hopes to liue one yeare at the least Yea some one as the Poet sayth hanging on a gibbet will not lose all hope to escape she is so faithfull a companion euen vnto death Plato calles it the renewing of all good fortune Finally some haue described it by a hog which thrusting his nose into the ground and hoping to finde something to eate teacheth vs that passing on wee should hope for better things Answere I shall willingly grant the argument and the exposition if they he applied to the true hope the nurse of faith and grounded vpon the diuine power and assistance which euen a wise man hath at his death sayth Salomon but of humane hope which hath nothing to support it but riches or humane power or health and strength of body or some other worldly thing I will deny it constantly and with reason For there is nothing firme on earth all is wauering and fraile to hope in it is to leane vnto a tottering wall and to bee crusht in the ruines it is to ease himselfe being weary vpon a swords point which will pierce him through To warne man hereof is not to cast him into a gulph of despaire but to retire him for who wold not despaire when hauing basely hoped for all prosperity he runnes into extreame ruine But when one cries out Beware trust not they are then weary seeke some better assurance so as nothing befalls vnexpected and by consequence nothing can driue him into despaire Let vs set before you Polycrates the most fortunate man in the world who to shaddow his fortune cast his richest Iewell into the sea which within a short time was restored in a fishes belly that was presented vnto him Yet must Amasis King of Egypt his allie and friend write vnto him That these prosperities were to be suspected that this calme would bring a storme in which hee should suffer shipwracke And lost hee should bee ingaged with him hee renounced all the rights of friendship which they had contracted together according to the vse custome of those times The which fell out so for in the end he was taken by Orbetes Lieutenant to Cyrus whom others say to be S◅trape to Darius and tyed ignominiosly to a gibbet It seemes S. Ambrose did meditate and make proffit of this History who hauing incountred a man who bragged that he had neuer tasted any misfortune hee presently left him saying That he feared to be lost with him who had neuer felt any disaster His
It is the excesse of the feare of death I striue to prune and root out shewing that vanity and corruption is so vnited to life that all which liue yea the greatest spirits wallow in this mire and therefore death which giues an end to this vanity and corruption should cause no feares to reply that it is the abuse and not the life we may answer againe that the abuse is generall since the fall of the first man no man can be exempt if hee be well obserued Let Diogenes go suddainely with a torch lighted into the most frequent market of Athens nay into the most famous royall Faire of France to search yet shal he not find one and I know not whether hee himselfe which could so taxe others will bee found without blame and whether he as it hath bene reproched vnto him did not more glory in his Tub then Alexander in his Empire Oh how easie it is to speake and lie Vertue consists in practise and action there will not any one be found in this age that is not tainted more or lesse with one of the aboue named vices or with all three wee can giue no instance All men suffer themselues to be led to some vaine hope which they attend from day to day which in the end deceiues them and death deliuers them from this deception why then should it be so terrible vnto them But represent one out of ten thousand who hath learned wherein the true end of life doth consist that is to say in the tranquillity of the mind in continuall action according vnto vertue yea according vnto piety as hee knoweth and striues to haue the spirit of a wise man whereof Seneca speakes epist. 60. that is like vnto the world aboue the Moone alwayes cleere Yet must he confesse that he is in a wondeful cōbate yea in insupportable paine being tossed with contrary windes of diuers passions which neuer leaue him no more then his body or flesh Sometimes the immoderate loue of transitory things stings him sometimes the hatred of eternall things sollicites him or prophane ioy or the melancholy of the minde layes hold of him and consumes him if vaine hope leaue him then furious despaire gets hold or boldnes thrusts him on to mischiefe or feare retires him from good and furious choller transports him beyond the bounds of reason so many passions so many cords to bind him so many assaults so many paines if it succeed not wel and most commonly it proues contrary to his proiect for this heauy flesh this sensuall concupiscence which hee is to incounter dawes him stil to the ground But harken how that great Apostle more vertuous then all the Philosophers together for that hee had the gift of the Spirit of God in a higher degree heare how in the like conflict he cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death If this seruant of God liuing the life of Iesus Christ yet for the mortal assaults which he felt tearmes this present life death and were death a deliuerance what feare wee in death that wee do not salute it rather as the safe port from all the stormes and tempests of this life full of baites and snares as S. Augustine sayth Let vs feale vp this discourse with the ring of Seneca which is That the condition of all men imployed is miserable and that most miserable which attends no other thing but his imployments hee taxes the greatest part of men who like vnto Liuius Drusus from their infancy to their dying day giue themselues no truce alwayes in action in trauell of minde or body if they meete with any pleasure they passe it ouer lightly without taste if with displeasure they are toucht to the quicke Finally they run so swiftly as they looke not to their way they thinke not of their life and cannot say what it is all actions shall bee pleasant but that which is proper to man which is to haue the spirit purged giuen to Philosophy and to the meditation of that which concernes man in the world Let vs then say with reason O vanity of vanities this is nothing but vanity The 30. Argument taken from the restoring of mankind Whatsoeuer being lost shal bee powerfully restored to vs againe should not trouble vs in the losse Life being lost shal be powerfully restored c. IF thou beest a Christian Christ commands thee thy faith doth bind thee to beleeue the Resurrection of the flesh in the which by the powerfull voyce of the Creator raysing them vp which sleepe in the dust the life which thou hadst left shal bee restored vnto thee againe with most pretious interests But if depriued of the eyes of this faith thou canst not see the beginning of the creation of the world seeing that by faith as the Apostle doth witnesse wee vnderstand that the ages haue bene ordained yet as a miscreant thou doest beleeue the eternity and fatality of the world let vs admit this supposed truth to bee true know then that the limited reuolution of the heauens being ended and al the order of causes chained together returned to the same point in the which they hold all things ballanced in an equal weight know I say that this same concatenatiō of causes by a necessary reuolution wil restore thee to life yea to the same estate in the same place in the same positure thou art in at this present so as you which reade these things or heare them read shall be the same at the same time reading or hearing It is the true extraction which moued that great Zoroastres to assure that one day al men should take life againe Plato was of the same opinion saying That after the returne of the eight spheare which was in thirty six thousand yeares all things should in like manner returne The reason there is nothing made new vnder the Sun and there is nothing but what hath bene and may returne hereafter So the Sun withdrawing his quickning influence with his body from our Zenith the trees being withered remaine without fruit without any verdure without leaues If thou hadst not seene it the yeares past yet thou mayest in some sort beleeue that the Sun should returne and by his returne giue that vegetatiue vertue that springing sap sweete smelling spirit to herbes and trees which thou didst hold depriued of that power and so they were for this life which is in them in the beginning of Winter descends from the branches to the body and so to the roote but the same gracious Star which by his retyring had caused this death returning drawes backe by a wonderful regression and reuolution of nature this vegetatiue vertue from the earth to the roots to the body and to the branches and makes it to be seen and smelt by the buds blossomes leaues and fruites A dead man and one liuing is all one sayd Heraclitus hee that watcheth and the sleeper
against Ramoth of Gilead were welcome but only Miche◅s who pronounced the contrary was put in prison and yet they were false and this true Let vs beware of the like least that fauour and grace deceiue vs in this matter Let vs take the ballance of equity and weigh the reasons propounded if they be good they wil weigh downe whatsoeuer shall be opposed and if they bee currant they will endure the touch let vs then try the first Huart a great Philosopher of Spaine maintaines that the vnderstanding hath his beginning his increase and his constitution and then his declining like vnto a man hee meanes his body for the vnderstanding is the most excellent part of man and like other Creatures and plants And for this cause hee that will learne at what age hi◅ vnderstanding is most strong and vigorous let him know that it is from 33. vnto fifty at what time the gravest Authors should be made if during their liues they haue had contrary opinions Hee that wil write bookes should compose them at this age neither before or after if hee will not retract or alter them Hitherto Huart which experience doth confirme for we see that as a man doth aduance in age he growes in wisedome and Iesus himselfe made true man aduanced in wisedome and stature Contrariwise age declining the spirit decaies in memory in quicknesse in vnderstanding so as man being very old hee becomes twice a child fumbling with his tong doating in minde As for that the Testators say that they are sound in minde it is to shew that neither age nor sicknesse hath as yet made them lose their spirits and therefore it is a true signe of their decay concluding contrary to the intention of the Author And whereas the labourer spake so diuinely it did not proceed from the neerenesse of death but from the alteration of the temperature of his braine growne whot in the first degree by the force of his infirmity so some women haue prophecied and spoke Latine yet neuer learned it by the same reason of the temperature required yet they die not suddainly in this estate To the 2. Religion proceedes partly from nature partly from institution from nature who to rule all Creatures to make them follow the traine of his order graues in them al a certaine terror indistinct apprehension The Creatures feare man and by this feare are contained in their duties man feares a hidden superiority and maintaines himselfe in society many times hee feares hee knowes not what nor wherefore and therefore it happens that women who are commonly more fearefull are more religious Yea they report of certaine bruite beasts which adore the deity as Elephants yet they do not say that their soules are immortall From institution for as vessells do long retaine the sent of their first liquor wherewith they are seasoned so children maintaine vnto the end the religion wherein they are bred and brought vp although it were the most fantasticke and strange in the world yea if in stead of sauing it should damme them as we may see if we will open our eyes in these times so fertill in religions To the 3. If the soule bee mortall it followeth not that nature hath made any thing in vaine if she hath hope or feare to be immortall it is to encourage it to vertue that is to say to the preseruation of that goodly order and to terrifie it from the infraction thereof if she dies her alteration of the immortality dries away Nature hath also giuen vnto the Bat a desire to see the light of the Sun yet this desire neuer takes effect Finally euery creature flies death and desires life not for a time but for euer and by consequent in their kind desire to be immortall and yet they attaine not to it To the 4. The heart beats continually and is immortal Dogs sleeping dreame and are mortall therefore the vnquiet and vncessant action of the soule can bee no certaine signe of her immortalitie To the Fift Iohn de Seres almost throughout the whole course of his history of France will answer That man findes no miserie but what he seekes The philosophers yea Diuines will say that felicitie proportionable vnto humaine nature consists in an vpright disposition of his will to carry himselfe according to the reason that is in him towards all things that shall present themselues to make his profit of al things not to trouble himselfe with any thing that can happen in this world and to nourish the seeds of vertue which are sowen in his mind To the Sixt Solon will answer that it is a hard matter to please all men some complaine of the shortnes of life if we obserue it these are such as haue prodigally consumed thēselus at cardes dice and haue not found it but toolate Others complaine of the length and cut it off before their time But Seneca wiser then either well say that wee must not be carefull to liue long but enough to liue long is a worke depending of destinie to liue enough is of the minde The life is long if it be full and it is full when the spirit affects her good and tranfers her power to her selfe O excellent speech hee that hath eares let him heare Let vs proceed certen creatures liue longer then man and which Rauens Stags the Phenix I doubt it much as for the Phenix it is a fabulous thing for Stags we know not any thing but by a writing which was found about a Stags necke Caesar gaue me this if it were the first Caesar it is long since but it might be some other whilest that the Emperours reigned in France and that is not long As for the Rauen a most importune and vnfortunate bird who hath tryed it But admit this were true there were but two or three excepted out of the generall rule of nature which is that man her chiefe worke liues longer then any other creature and it is her pleasure to except from the generall as we see else where ceasee then to blame that which you should commend and admire To the Seuenth and last simbolizing much with the second you must receiue the same answer And moreouer there is not found any generous instinct in the soule of man which appeares not as great in brute beasts for the preseruation and defence of their yong As for the confession pretended so easie of an offence committed the diuerse kinds of tortures invented to wrest it out in iustice belie it but you will say they are inwardly tormented how know you that who can see nothing but the exterior part Answere The doctrine of the humaine soule depends of a superior knowledge that is of the Metaphisicke whereof the rule is the Canon of the old and new Testament man must not presume to thinke he can fully comprehend it her perfect intelligence is reserued for vs exclusinely for euer when we shall behold it in