fury and rage have assassinated even Natures-selfe and that we now alone remaine in the world to celebrate its funerals by our lamentations and regreets Fathers Mothers Death is a severe Iudge and pardons none Children Nobles and Plebeians Kings and their subjects are all pell-mell in this stacke of rotten wood which Time like a covert but burning fire consumes by little and little not able to suffer that ashes should be exalted above dust Proud Spirits behold here the dreadfull reverse of the medall All these sad objects of mortality and yet actively animated with horror affright by their own silence enjoyne the same to you thus to amuze your Spirits in the contemplation of their deplorable ruines If you be rich See here those who have possessed the greatest treasures of the world are not now worth the marrow of their owne bones whereof the wormes have already shared the spoyle If you be happy The greatest favorites of fortune are reduced to the same noysomnesse as you see the filth that enrounds them If you be valiant Hector and Achilles are thus here overcome behold the shamefull markes of their overthrow If you be men of Science Death may be contemned but not avoided Here lyes the most learned of the world 'T is the Epitaph on their tombe Reade it I grant more-over you may be the greatest Princes of the earth An infinite number of your companions are buried under these corrupted ruines Suppose in fine that your Soveraignety did extend it selfe over all the Empire of the world A thousand and a thousand too of your semblables have now nothing more their owne then that corruption which devoures even to the very bones Ambitious Heart see here a Mirrour which flatters not since it represents to the life the reality of thy miseries Well maist thou perhaps pretend the conquest of the Universe even those who have borne away that universall Crowne are now crowned but with dust and ashes 'T is no wonder the Miser ne're thinks of Death his thoughts are onely taken up for this Life Covetous wretch behold the booke of thy accounts calculate all that is due to thee after payment of thy debts learne yet after all this that thy soule is already morgaged to devils thy body to wormes and thus notwithstanding all thy treasures there will not abide with thee one haire upon thy head one tooth in thy chops nor one drop of blood in thy veynes nor ne're so little marrow in thy bones nay the very memory of thy being would be extinguish't if thy crimes did not render it eternall both here and in the torments of hell Pride is but like the noone-flourish of a flower which at Sun-set perisheth Proud arrogant man measure with thy bristled browes the dilatation of the earth Brave with thy menacing regards the heavens and the flarres These mole-hills of rottennesse whereof thy carkasse is shap't prepare toward the tombe of thy vanity Seneca Epist These are the shades of Death inseparable from thy body Quotidie morimur quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae since it dyes every houre If thou elevate thy selfe to day even to the clouds to morrow thou shalt be debased to nothing But if thou doubt of this truth behold here a thousand witnesses which have made experience of it Luxurious Wanton give thy body a prey to voluptuousnesse deny nothing to thy pleasures but yet consider the horrour and dreadfulnesse of that Metamorphosis when thy flesh shall be turned to filth and even that to wormes and those still to fresh ones which shall devoure even thy coffin and so efface the very hast markes of thy Sepulture How remarkable is the answere of Diogenes to Alexander What art thou musing on Cynicke says this Monarch to him one day having found him in a Charnell-yard I amuze my selfe here answers he in search of thy father Philips bones among this great number which thou see'st but my labour is in vaine for one differs not from another Great Kings the discusse of this answer may serve you now as a fresh instruction to insinuate to you the knowledge of your selves You walke in triumph to the Tombe followed with all the traine of your ordinary magnificences but being arrived at this Port blowne thither with the continuall gale of your sighs your pompe vanisheth away your Royall Majestie abandons you your greatnesse gives you the last Adieu and this your mortall fall equals you now to all that were below you The dunghill of your body hath no preheminence above others unlesse it be in a worse degree of rottennesse Corruptio optimi pessima as being of a matter more disposed to corruption But if you doubt of this truth behold and contemplate the deplorable estate to which are reduced your semblables Their bald scalps have now no other Crowne then the circle of horrour which environes them their disincarnated hands hold now no other Scepter but a pile of worms and all these wretchednesses together give them to see a strange change from what they were in all the gloryes of their Court These palpable and sensible objects are witnesses not to be excepted against The serious meditation of his miserable condition is capable to make any man wise Let then your soules submit to the experiment of your senses But what a Prodigie of wonder 's here doe I not see the great Army of Xerxes reduced and metamorphosed into a handfull of dust All that world of men in those dayes which with its umbragious body covered a great part of the earth shades not so much as a foot on 't with its presence Be never weary of thinking of these important truths In Hercule Octaeo Seneca in the Tragedie of Herculeâ— brings in Alcmena with grievous lamentation bearing in an urne the ashes of that great Monster-Tamer Ecce vix totam Hercules Complevit urnam quà m leve est pondus mihi Câ—i totus aether pondus incubuit leve And to this effect makes her speake Behold how easily I carry him in my hand who bore the Heavens upon his shoulders The sense of these wordes ought to engage our spirits to a deepe meditation upon the vanity of things which seeme to us most durable All those great Monarchs who sought an immortalitie in their victories and triumphs have miss't that and found Death at last the enjoyment of their Crownes and splendours being buried in the same Tombe with their bodyes See here then a new subject of astonishment The Mathematicians give this Axiome All lines drawne from the Center to the Circumference are equall Kings Princes abate your haughtines The world is a Game at Chesse where every of the Sett ha's his particular Name and Place designed but the Game done all the Pieces are pellmell'd into the Bagge and even so are all motrals into the grave your subjects march fellow-like with you to the Center of the grave If life gave you preheminence
beene of such a worth as every day you descry they had powerfully resisted against the assaults of Ages but as they had nothing admirable in them but the Name Memorials have preserved that and let them perish But yours MADAME which are too perfect for a sutable Name shall not cease to survive the revolutions of Times as being enlivened by Vertue which alone can exempt from Death Let it not seeme strange then if I hazard the perils of the Sea to render Homage to a QUEENE whose Greatnesse perforce humbles the most arrogant spirits being not able so much as in thought to reach to the first degree of her Glory The GRACES themselves are hers and the VERTUES have allianced their owne and her Name and all the adorable qualities which are found here below are admirable in her alone as in their Source I am constrained to be silent MADAME being over-charged with too much subject of speech The number of your Perfections astonishes me the greatnesse of your Merit ravishes me the splendour of your Vertue dazles me And in this dazle this transport this excesse of admiration wherein my senses and spirits are all alike engaged I am compell'd to cast my selfe at the feet of your Majestie and demand pardon of the boldnesse which I assume onely to enjoy the stile of MADAME Your MAIESTIES Most humble and most obeysant Servant P. De la SERRE TO THE QVEENE OF GREAT BRITAINE Vpon the Mirror which flatters not of Le Sieur de la SERRE SONNET PRINCESSE this perverse Ages glorious gemme Whose least of Vertues seemes a prodigie â—â—ustrious Sien of the fairest Stemme â—â—at Heaven e're shew'd this Vniverse's eye â—â—ough Fate with thousand hind'rances averse â—â—rres me the place to which my duty 's bent â—annot cheere my soule from selfe-torment â—â—it by designe to pourtray you in Verse But since that SERRES shew's in this true Mirrour The Vertues of your Mind 's eternall splendour As lively as your Body's beautious measure My heed to view you here lets others passe So well I here agnize all your rare treasure That I ne're saw a better Crystall-Glasse Par le Sr C. To the AUTHOR upon the same subject STANCES DIvine Spirit knowing Soule Which with lovely sweet controule Rank'st our soules those good rules under Which thy Pen layes downe with wonder Whil'st the sweetnesse of thy Voice Breathes oracular sacred noise All thy Workes so well esteem'd Thorough EUROPE proofes are deem'd Of thy Gifts which all admire Which such Trophies thee acquire And with these thy Muse invested ORPHEUS is by thee out-crested Also since blind Ignorance Makes no more abode in FRANCAE Seldome can wee meet with such As the workes of thy sweet t'uch Such immortall straines of spirit As doe thousand Laurels merit But although thy active Muse Wonders did before produce As wee seldome see the like This doth with amazement strike 'T is a MIRROUR that doth shine More with Fire then Crystaline 'T is a MIRROVR never flatters On my eyes such rayes it scatters That therewith I daz'led am Searching for thee in the same By some charme or stranger case I see thy spirit not thy face This strange fashion doth amaze me When I ne're so little gaze me I am streight all on a fire The more I looke more I admire 'T is a MIRROVR sure of flame Sparkling more wee marke the same Yet not every prying eye Shall it-selfe herein espie 'T is not for so commune use Free from flattering abuse None so clearely here are seene As King CHARLES and his faire Queene Therefore thus the AUTHOR meant To the World it to present Since it is a thing so rare And unparalelled faire That it should a Tablet bee For the fairest hee could see SERRES this thy worke-man-ship Doth my spirit over-strip With such judgement and such grace Thou do'st shew in little space Three strange Wonders without errour Two bright Sunnes in one cleare MIRROVR And by this thy rare composure Shall thy Name beyond enclosure Of this present Age obtaine Eternall honour for thy paine Writing to these Princes Graces Thou art prais'd in thousand places Par le mesme Vpon the BOOKE SONNET HEre undisguis'd is seene in this true Mirrour The glory or the shame of mortall storie As Reason or the misse-led Senses errour Doe winne the day or yeeld the Victorie SERRES doth here lively delineate Our every-dayes vaine wretched passages And what is destin'd after Funerall state To innocent purenesse or black wickednesse Such diverse subjects in this one enclosed Such various objects to the view exposed Thou little Monarch MAN small Vniverse Thy Soule it lessons thus and thee informes As thou art Soule with heavenly fires converse As thou art Flesh thou art a Bait for wormes To the READER IT may perhaps seeme strange that I treat so often in my Works of the same matter as of the contempt of the World and meditations of Death But if the importance of the subject be considered and the profit to be derived thence a Man will never be wearie of seeing such faire truths under different presentations Besides the conceptions of spirit upon the same matter are like the productions of Nature in the Species's of Tulips Every yeere shee gives a Change both to their Colour and Array And though they be still Tulips shee renders them so different from their first resemblance that they can hardly otherwise be knowne but by name The Mind doe's the same upon the same subject its Fancies which are its ornature and embellishment render it by their diversitie so different from it selfe that 't is hardly knowne but by the Titles which it beares to particularize each Conceit So that if once againe I represent unto thee the pourtrait of Vanitie and the Image of Death my spirit which hath steaded me for Pencill and colouring in this Worke hath rendred it so rare in its Noveltie and so excellent in difference from those which have preceded that thou shalt finde nothing in it commune with them but my name Thou mavest consider moreover that I dedicate Bookes to KINGS and QUEENES â—ot every day and that these objects of such eminent magnificence doe so nobly 〈◊〉 the faculties of my Soule that I could not have pettie thoughts for such high Personages 'T is that which without ostentation makes me beleeve that if thou buy once againe this Booke and tak'st the paines to reade it thou wilt regreet neither the Time nor Money which thou shalt employ therein ADIEU If thou bee'st of so good an humour to pardon the Faults excuse those of the Impression APPROBATIO LUTETIAE PARISIORUM QVi moribundam vitam qui edacem vitae mortem in hoc Speculo Liber exprimit te Lector tibi objicit tam felici veri specie tam clara sublimis styli Luce ut temet fugere nequeas Frequens contuere ne tetra haec tua species aeternûm tua sit Ita apprecor MART. LUENKENS Sanctae Theol. Lic Prof. Ordin Apost
Man should mis-know himselfe having such faithful Mirrours before his eyes where at all times hee may see apparantly the Truth of his Nature kneaded in Corruption formed by it and destroyed also by the same Strange thing he can see nothing in the World All the obiects of the world bid us Adten while we but regard 'em since they are alwayes fleeing away but Images of inconstancy and yet will not apprehend his owne change whatsoever shall smite upon his eare will resound nothing but the bruit of his flight and yet he will not thinke upon his retreat Lastly his other Sences and his fancy shall have no other object but this of the continuall vicissitude of all things and yet hee will remaine firme and stable in his vanity To muse alwayes of Death iâ— the way of Immortality till death ruine its foundation Thus in the deceitfull opinion wherein hee is of possessing all things hee looseth the possession of himselfe and having too much dreamed on his pleasures his Life is past as a Dreame without returne I must tell you one of my meditations I shall never be able to comprehend the meaning of those who moane themselves against Fortune A man may well complaine against Fortune these vaine regreetes exempt him not from the paine the World and all the pleasures of this life One forsooth will upbraid to this foolish Deity her deceipts without considering that he deceived himselfe in giving Trust to a Goddesse that nere had any Hee yet will accuse her to have conducted him still through craggy wayes and over-spread with thornes as if in following one that is blind a man should not hazard to run this danger Another will make yet fresh complaints against the Worlds detesting it's Sweetes The world may well bee the instrument of our destruction not the cause cursing it's charmes and calling it a Thousand times deceiptfull but why one would say to hear these plaints that the world began but now to receive its birth I meane were but now newly created that no man knowes it yet and that its first couzenages began but now to be discovered What folly is not this to cheat ones selfe to have commerce with a cheater the world never yet bore any other name or title why then ayme we to nourish our selves with its delights whose after-bitternesse empoysons sensibly our soules But if its charmes be powerfull enough to tempt reason The number of those whom the world hath deceived is so great that they that still trust it are now no more excusable they are yet too feeble to vanquish it provided that the will consent not so that a man remaine convict of all the crimes whereof he may be accused What seeming ground then have we to be enraged against those pleasures which we have received The will is so free that it cannot suffer violence but from it selfe if our selves only give them both being and forme the Fancies conceive these delights and the will gives them birth they are the workes whereof our imaginations form the Species and our desires make the Metamorphosis changing them into objects palpable and sensible which are markes of the seale of our depravednesse Let a man then abhorre pleasures instead of accusing them Pleasures are the greatest enemies of life for in casting flowers upon our heads they fill our hearts with thrones detest their vanity in lieu of complaining of their dedeitfulnesse But if they be criminall they onely beare the staine of their Fathers and if they be complices of our destruction t is we give them Birth to give us death Let men cease to lament of Fortune since the Mirror of its flying scarfe Fortune is stil her selfe he which trusts her takes delight to bee cheated and wings expresse to the life its lightnesse and our folly Let none Argue any more that the world is cause of our ruine since we cannot chuse but tread every houre over the dust and ashes of those who have too late repented to have followed it As for voluptuousnesse t is a vaine Idea to which our passions give a body to make it serve as a sensible object of their brutality insomuch that it can do nothing but by our first motions taking its vigour from our force and its power from our Soveraigntie and this renders us doubly culpable palleating our faults instead of acknowledging them Pleasure still takes its force from our voluntary weakenesse since laments rather than excuses might absolve us them Is it not that St. Iohn Chrysostome toucht with compassion of our miseries cries out in astonishment of our weakenesse ' Oh World how many hast thou deceived 'T is more then folly when the folly of others serves us not for example but this is its trade and profession O Fortune how many hast thou made to fall but even yet still while I am speaking shee gives employment to her treason and exercise to her Tyrannie O Pleasures comfitted in Sweetes and steeped in bitternesse how many have yee poysoned but yet their venome is so common that the whole earth is infected with it What remedy then to all these ils No other then this to pry into ones selfe in the MIRROVR of his owne Ashes Wee can no better contemplate any thing then in the Mirrour of our Nothing a MIRROVR alwayes hanging at the Girdle and which flatters not A MIRROVR whose glasse though more brittle then one of Crystall makes us yet to see that all the objects of the World are false but that of our Corruption a Mirrour which represents us more lively in our pourtraict then in our selves A Mirrour whose kind of shadow and Chimera makes us see in effect that which we are in appearance A Mirrour all miraculous which preserves certaine Species's of nothing to render them sensible to our knowledge A Mirrour all divine which metamorphosing our bodies into shadows yet expresses us so naturally that the most arrogant cannot mistake themselves A Mirrour lastly which Nature hath charmed with it's owne proper spels All the Mirrours of the World flatter except this of our miseries to the end that vewing himselfe herein a Man may be able to resist the charmes of the World's allurements I am greatly astonisht at those that preach us the Knowledge of our selves to be so troublesome and difficult since that at all times and in all places of all sides and all sorts of fashions wee are Nothing at all or if by an excesse of flattery and vanity If a man would still study himselfe he would become the wisest of the World I borrow some names to expresse truely what wee are it can bee no other then those of durt and mire whose noysomnesse takes away all doubt on it from the most incredulous In what then consists this trouble of studying to know one's-selfe since the most ignorant may in this goe out Doctors in the schoole of our miseries Selfe-knowledge onely
of them But in this last instant their possession is the saddest object which can be presented to your thoughts And notwithstanding 't is the onely nourishment which rests to you amid the hunger which torments you uncessantly as if for punishment of part of your crimes heaven did permit that the instruments of your pleasures A Man carryes away nothing with him at his Death but either a regreet or else a satisfaction of an evill or a good Life should also be the same of your punishments considering the greatnesse of your miseries by that of your unprofitable treasures for after all you must dye and though you carry with you this desire to beare away with you your riches into the tombe they remaine in your coffers for to serve as witnesses to your heires of the vanity of their enjoyment The Silke-wormes which have so much trouble to spin out their mouths their little golden threads thinke to stablish to themselves a shelter of honour to the proofe of all sorts of atteints and on the contrary they warp the web of their owne ruine Just so is it with the Rich-ones of the world who an ingenious industry To what effect is' t to seeke repose in this world 't is never to be sound but in God employ all their assayes to lay solide foundations here below of an immortall life and yet all their actions cannot but terminate in an end contrary to their designes since they search Eternity in the circles of Ages alwayes in revolution and repose in the perpetuall instability of all worldly things Insomuch that they trouble themselves to suffer much and all their cares and paines are but as fresh sowings of * See the ambiguity of the French word Soucies in the first Chapter Marigolds which dying in their gardens respring in their hearts there to dye never Behold the end of their jorney-worke Treasures to what effect serve you me if I must enter all naked into the grave Pleasures what becomes of your sweets if my last sighs are but bitternesse Grandeurs of this life in what stead you me if you cannot exempt me from the miseries of Death LORD I am rich enough in that I serve for an object of pity to thy adorable Providence whose o're-liberall bounty furnishes me for all my dayes nourishment enough to passe them what can I wish more on what side somever I take my way to goe the course of Death Heaven is an object of consolation to the most miserable I can never loose from view the heavens which are the Gates of thy Palace Insomuch as if any thing faile me I have but to strike there with my regards thou art alwayes upon a ready watch to succour the miserable Supply me then O LORD if it please thee with thy ordinary charities and since that hope dyes after me I will rather cease to be then to hope in thee These are the strongest resolutions of my soule We beg of God every day new favours every day we render our selves unthankefull for those we have received We reade of the children of Israel that having received of God and infinity of riches at their comming out of the red Sea by the wracke of their enemies they made of their treasures Idols and joyning in this sort Idolatry to Ingratitude they erected altars to their brutality since under reliefe of a brute beast they represented their God But leave wee there the children of Israel and speake of the Fathers of BABYLON I meane those wicked rich ones of the world to whom God hath done so great favours in heaping them with so many goods Are not they every day convicted of Idolatry in their unacknowledgement since the coffers of their treasures are the Idols of their temples Are we worthily Christians when idolatry is more familiar to us then to infidels since we make idols of all the objects of our passions More beasts then brutes in their voluntary depravednesse they offer incense to their brutish passions and no otherwise able but to erect them secret altars in their soules they there sacrifice every houre a thousand sighs of an unsatiable ambition Insomuch that the God of heaven is the God of their dissimulation and the Calfe of Gold the God of their beleefe and opinion Say wee then boldly that the objects of our passions are Golden Calveâ— to us since our hearts become their Idolaters One here will sigh for love of honours as well as for his Mistresse with designe to hazard a thousand lives and as many soules for the conquest of their vaine felicities and see here his idolatry making his God of these Chimera's of honour which vanish away like a Dreame at the rouzing up of our reason What folly is' t to seeke repose in the world which subsists onely in revolution Another there will lose quite and cleane all the peace wherein he is of a quiet life for to set up a rest purely imaginary in the amassement of treasures And of heaven hearing his votes with designe to punish him give some favourable successe to his cares and watchings hee becomes and Idolater now indeed an Idolater of those goods which as yet he adored but in hope and renders himselfe miserable for having desired too ardently felicities which onely beare the voyce to be so but their usage and possession may prove as dangerous upon the earth as Rocks within the Sea The goods of the earth are right evils and at Death each one shall so experiment ' em One will have his heart wounded and his Soule atteinted with a new tricke of ambition and as all his desires thoughts are terminated to the objects of his designes hee is never in health while the feaver of his passion is continuall I leave you to consider of what ratiocination hee can be capable during the malady of his spirit All sorts of wayes seeme equally faire unto him for to guide him unto the port whither hee aspires having no other ayme but this to acquire aâ— what rate somever that good whereof he is in Quest and of this Good it is where of he makes his Idoll after a shameful immolation of the best dayes of his Life to the anxieties of its possession Another will establish his repose in the turmoyle of the word turning his spirit to all winds to be under coverâ— from the tempests of fortune Blind as he is hee followes this Goddesse with the hoodwinckt eyes Wavering as he is he aspires but after the favours of this inconstant Deity of which he is secretly an idolater but if perchance she elevate him very high there is no more hazard of his fall the lawes oâ— this necessity are inviolable and one cannot avoyd the rigour of them if not avoyding their servitude Insomuch that after hee hath sneak't himselfe a long time amongst the grandeurs of the earth hee finds himselfe enlabyrinthed in the miseries wherein hee is borne without possessing any thing
only which shall serve very soone for a Beere to his carkasse See in what consists the profit of his rents after their account made Another will be rich onely in Medowes and changing his hay into Gold which is but Earth he fills therewith his coffers But Foole that he is hee thinks not that his life is a Medow his body the hay thereof and Time the Mower The World is a Medow and all the objects which therein we admire are flowers which fade every houre who by his example makes publicke trafficke of the same marchandize changing by little and litle the hay of his body into Earth And is not this to be very ingenious to cheat a man's selfe Anothers ayme is onely to be rich in buildings some ' the' Country some ' th' City and assuming vanity from the number as well as the magnificence of his Pallaces hee beleeves that they are so many Sanctuaries of proofe against the strokes of fortune or the thunders of heaven What a folly 's this to esteeme ones selfe happy for having diverse Cabbins upon earth to put himselfe under couvert from the raine and wind during the short journey of life The raine ceases the wind is past and life dyes and then the tempest of a thousand eternall anguishes comes to entertaine him without possibility of discovery even from hope one onely port of safety To be onely rich then in aedifices is to be rich in castles of paper and cards such as little children lodge their pety cares in We must build upon the unshakeable foundations of eternitie if a man would be sheltered from all sorts of stormes To what purpose steads it us to be richly lodged if every houre of the day may be that of our departure Men trouble themselves to build houses of pleasure but the pleasures fade away and we also and these houses remaine for witnesses of our folly and for sensible objects of sorrow and griefe in that cruell necessity to which wee are reduced to abandon them It is to be considered that wee are borne to be Travellers and Pilgrims and as such are wee constrain'd to march alwayes straight to the gist of Death without ever resting or being able to find repose even in repose it-selfe To what then are all these magnificent Pallaces Though we say the Sunne sets every night yet it rests not and so Man though he lay himselfe to sleepe rests not from his voyage to Earth when our onely retreat beats on to the grave To what end are all this great number of structures when wee are all in the way and point to end our voyage O how well is hee housed that lodgeth his hope in God and layes the foundations of his habitation upon ETERNITIE A good conscience is the richest house that one can have Another designes his treasures in numerous Shippings traficking with all winds in spight of stormes and tempests but be it granted a perpetuall calme as heart could wish and imagine we as himselfe does that hee shall fish with Fortunes nets all the Pearles of the OCEAN what can he doe at the end with all his ventures if he trucke them away hee can gaine but stuffe of the same price if hee sell them he does but change white purified earth for yellow which the Sunne purifies as well within the mines what will hee doe now with this new marchandise or this his gold behold him alwayes in trouble to discharge himselfe of so many burdens If gold were potable hee might perhaps nourish himselfe therewith for a while but as MIDAS could not doe it in the fable he will ne're bring it to passe in the verity he must needs keep watch then day and night to the guard of his riches and well may hee keep sentinell Death comes to robbe him of them since at his going out of the world she takes them away from him What apparence is there that the treasures of the Sea should be able to make a man rich since the possession of all the world together cannot doe it A hundred thousand ships are but a hundred thousand shuttle-cockes for the winds The treasure of good workes is eternall riches and a hundred thousand objects of shipwracke Suppose they arrive to the Port the life of their Master is alwayes among rocks for 't is a kind of ship which cannot arrive at other shore but at the banke of the grave And I leave you to consider what danger he may runne if there the storme of his avaricious passion cast him The sand-blind-sighted may foresee his ruine and the most judicious will beleeve it infallible Behold in fine a man rich to much purpose Our life is a Ship which loosing from the Haven of the Cradle at the moment of our birth never comes ashore againe till it run aground upon the grave that would have drayn'd by his ambition the bottomlesse depths of the Ocean and now to find himselfe ith'end of his carreere in the abysses of hell having an eternitie of evils for recompense of an age of anxieties which hee hath suffered during his life LORD if I would be rich in wood let it be in that of thy CROSSE and from henceforth let its fruits be my revenues and my rents If I would traficke in meads Let the meditation of the hay of my life be my onely profit If I set my selfe to build houses He which puts his trust in God is the richest of the world how poore somever he be let it be rather for my soule then for my body and in such sort that my good workes may be the stones and the purity of my conscience the foundation And lastly If I would travell the Seas to goe to the conquest of their treasures let my teares be the waves thereof and my sighs the winds and thy grace alone the only object of my riches Make me then rich O LORD if it please thee by the onely misprise of all the treasures of the Earth 'T is alreadie a sufficient enjoyment of rest and quiet to set up ones rest in God onely and teach this secret language to my heart never to speake but of thee in its desires nor of other then thy selfe in its hopes since of thee alone and in thee onely lies the fulnesse of its perfect felicity and soveraigne repose Let us not rest our selves in so faire a way I cannot comprehend the designe of these curious Spirits who goe seeking the Philosophers-stone in that Spitle where an infinite number of their companions are dead of regreet to have so ill imployed their time They put all they have to the quest of that which never was and burning with desire to acquire wealth they reduce all their owne into cinders and their lungs also with vehement puffing without gaining other recompence at the end of their labours but this now to know their folly The love of God is the onely Philosopher-stone since by it a man may
things which passe away and since the world hath nothing else 't is a long while that I have bidden adieu to it It had promised me much and though it had given me nothing yet cannot I reproach it finding my selfe yet too rich by reason of its hardnesse But I returne to the point Men of the World would perswade us that it is impossible to finde any quiet in it to say a firme settling of Spirit The onely meanes to be content is to settle the conscience in peace wherein a man may be content in his condition without ever wishing any other thing And for my part I judge nothing to be more easie if wee leave to reason its absolute power What impossibilitie can there be to regulate a mans will to God's And what contradiction in 't to live upon earth of the pure benedictions of heaven What greater Riches can a man wish then this to be able to undergoe the Decrees of his Fate without murmuring and complaint If Riches consisted onely in Gold Diamonds Pearles or such like things of like raritie those which have not of 'em might count themselves miserable But every man carryes his treasure in his conscience Hee which lives without just scandall lives happily and who can complaine of a happy life Riches are of use to humane life but not of necessitie for without them a man may live content But if to have the hap of these felicities of this life a man judge presently that hee ought of necessity to have a great number of riches This is to enslave himselfe to his owne opinion abounding in his proper sense and condemning reason for being of the contrary part I know well that a man is naturally swayed to love himselfe more then all things of the world Philautia that this love proceeds from the passion of our interests seeking with much care and paine all that may contribute to our contentments and whereas Riches seeme to be Nurses of them this consequence is incident to be drawne that without them is no contented living But at first dash it is necessary to distinguish this love into Naturall and Brutall and beleeve that with the illumination of reason When Reason reignes the passions obey wee may purifie the relishes of the first even to the point of rendring them innocent without departing from our interests and consequently the enjoyment of our pleasures giving them for object the establishment of our setled content in misprision of all those things of the world which may destroy it As for this brutish Love which estranging us from God separates us also from our selves the passion of it becomes so strong by our weaknesse that without a speciall grace wee grow old in this maladie of Spirit of contenting our Senses rather then obeying our Reason making a new God of the Treasures of the Earth But in conclusion these Gods abandon our bodies to the Wormes and our soules to the Devils And for all their riches the greatesâ— Great ones can onely purchase a glorious Sepulture Is not this a great advantage and a goodly consolation He whose will submits to Gods will lives ever content Maintaine we boldly that a man may finde quietnesse of life in all sorts oâ— condition with the onely richenesse of â—tractable Soule resign'd to take the time as it comes and as God sends it without ever arguing with his providence There is no affliction The Spirit of a Man will beare his infirmitie whereto our Soule cannot give us asswage There is no ill whereto it selfe is not capable to furnish us a remedie A man how miserable somever may finde his contentment amidst his miseries if he lives for his soule more then for his bodies behalfe God makes us to be borne where he will and of what Parents hee pleases if the poorenesse of our birth accompanie us even to death hee hath so ordained it what can wee else doe but let him so doe Can he be accounted miserable that obey's with good grace his soveraignes decrees 'T is a greater danger to be very rich then very poore for riches often make men loose their way but povertie keepes 'em in the streight path O how is it farre more easie to undergoe the burthen of much povertie then of great riches For a man extremely poore is troubled with no thoughts more important then onely how to finde meanes to passe his life in the austerities whereto hee is alreadie habituated without repining after other fortune as being estranged equally both from his knowledge and reach in which respects hee may well be stil'd happie But a man very rich dreames of nothing but to eternize the continuance of his dayes although this fancie be in vaine in stead of letting them quietly slide away insomuch that being possest with no passion more then love of life hee thinkes alwayes to live and never to die Death cannot be said to deceive any body for it is infallible and yet the world complaines of it But Death comes ere hee thinks on 't and taking from him all to his very Shirt constraines him to confesse that riches are onely profitable by misprision since by the contempt a man makes of them he may become the richest of the world O what a sensible pleasure 't is to be Rich say wordly men alwayes but I would faine know in what consists this contentment what satisfaction can there be had to possesse much treasure knowing what an infinit number of our companions are reduc'd to the last point of povertie Some in Hospitals where they lye in straw o'rewhelmed with a thousand fresh griefes Others at the corner of a street where a piece of a Dung-hill serves them at once both for bed and board Some againe in Dangeons where horrour and affright hunger and despaire tyrannize equally over their unfortunate spirits And others in some Desert to which ill fate has confined them to make their ills remedilesse as being farre removed from all sorts of succours There is no emptinesse in nature for miseries fill all How with the knowledge of these truths a man shall be able to relish greedily the vaine sweets of wordly riches it must needs be for want of reason or pity and consequently to be altogether brutish or insensible I shall have suppose a hundred thousand crownes in rents and all this revenue shall serve but to nourish my body and its pleasures without considering that a hundred thousand poore soules sigh under the heavy burden of their miseries every Day and yet men shall esteeme me happy in being rich in this fate O how dangerous are the treasures which produce these felicities 'T is a brave generositie to be sensible of other mens miseries Is it possible that the Great-ones of the world doe not thinke at all in the middle of their Feasts of the extreame poverty of an infinite number of persons and that in themselves they doe not reason secretly in
world I say the winning'st or the pleasing'st since they guard themselves onely with such kind of weapons whose hurtings makes us often sigh rather for joy then griefe Certainely the Victory of Reason over all the revolted faculties of our â—oules merits alone the honour of a Triumph and what advantage somâ—â—er a man has over his enemies hee â—imselfe is yet still vanquisht if his â—ices be not subdued I pursue my deâ—â—gne They which have enthronized Vertue in their breasts have laid their foundations upon the ruines of their passions to testifie to us that a Man cannot be vertuous with their predominancy And after essay of diverse meanes upon designe to vanquish them I have found none more powerfull then this The Meditation of Death but if any doubt this the tryall on 't will be profitable for him How is it possible that a Man should let himselfe be mastered with the passion of Revenge if he but muze of that Vengeance which his sins may draw downe every moment upon his head as being every houre in estate to dye Hee shall heare rumble in his eares the thunder of Divine Justice by the continuall murmur of his sighs which advertize him of the approaches of Death What courage can he have to avenge himselfe being upon point himselfe to suffer the torment of eternall vengeance Thou that art Vindicative wilt thou then quench the ardour of thy Choller feele thine owne pulse and consider that this pety slow feaver wherewith thou art stormed leads thee by little and little into the grave 'T is more honour for a man to avenge himselfe of his choler then of his enemie Who can be Ambitious if musing of Death since hee must quitt all with his life Let us ponder a while the fate of those arrogant spirits which ha' muz'd themselves to conquer the vaine greatnesses of the Earth What hath beene in fine their share at the end of the carriere They have had nothing but unprofitable regreets to have so ill employ'd their time finding themselves so poore with all their treasure as if they had beene borne the wreched'st of the world Thou Ambitious-one willt thou be cured of the disease of thy Passion think each houre of the day that that which thou now hearest strike may be thy Last Who would sigh for prophane Love after these objects of dust and ashes Mortall frailtie brings blemish to the fairest visages and mightily takes from their opinion being well considered if he often considered that hee himselfe is made of nothing else and that this noysome and corruptive matter seekaes nothing more then abysses of the grave there to hide within its loath somenesse in effect who would give his flesh a prey to pleasures if he would consider that the wormes do in expectation make their fees thereof already The Meditation of Death serves for temperament to all sorts of delights And if a Man bee capable of love in this muze it cannot be other then of his Salvation since this object is eternall but all others of the world perishable Infortunate Lovers search the solace of your immodest passions in the Anatomy of the subject whereof you are Idolaters Be assistant at that dead view Thinke of your owne Death Behold you are cured He which considers of that wretchednesse which is adjunct to Death easily mispriseth the riches of this life What wretched Rich man would be so much in love with his treasures if he would consider that Death robs him from them every day making him dye continually and that at the end of the terme of his life hee carryes along with him but the good or the evill which hee hath done to be either recompenc'd or punish'd but with a glory or a punishment whereof Eternity alone must terminate the continuance Covetous Misers the onely meanes for you to be so no more is to celebrate your owne funerals by your Meditations and often to consider the Account not of your riches but that which you must render one day of their fruition since your Salvation depends thereon Who in fine would make a God of his Belly seeking with passion all the delights which may tickle the sense of Taste if he represented to himselfe the miseries of the body which hee takes so much paines to nourish and the rigour of those inviolable decrees which destinate him a prey to the wormes and the remaines of their leavings to rottennesse This consideration would be capable to make him loose both appetite and desire at the same time to nourrish so delicately his carkasse O soules all of flesh repasting your selves with nothing else there is no invention to make you change nature but this to Heare your selves dye by the noyse of your sighs to See your selves dye by the wrinkles which furrow every day upon your visages and to Feele your selves die by the beatings of your pulse which indexeth this your hecticke feaver wherewith you are mortally attainted This is a Probatum-remedie the experience thereof is not dangerous May not a man then maintaine with much reason that the thought of Death alone is capable to cure our soules of the disease of their passions in doseing them both the meanes If a man should forget all things else but the miseries of his condition this last were enough to exercise the vastest memorie and the Vertue to triumph over them But if of this you desire an example call to mind that which I have proposed you in the beginning of the Chapter How marvellous is it that a great Monarch who is able to maintaine all manner of pleasure in his heart with all the delights which accompany it celebrates himselfe his Funeralls in the midst of his carriere of life beginning to raigne at the end of his raigne since that last object is alwayes present before his eyes His Passions doe assaile him but hee vanquisheth them they give him combate but he leads them in triumph and buryes them altogether in the Tombe which hee prepares himselfe Consider a little the glory which is relucent in this action We read of the Kings of Arabia that they triumphed upon Dromedaries the Kings of Persia upon Elephants of Croatia upon Bulls the Romanes upon horses and yet 't is remarkt of Nero that hee made himselfe be drawne in Triumph by foure Hermaphrodite Mares Camillus by foure white Horses Marke Antony by foure Lions Aurelian by foure Hearts Caesar by forty Elephants Heliogabalus by foure Dogges Moreover the Poets doe assure us that the triumphant Charriot of Bacchus was drawne by Tygers Neptunes by Fishes of Thetis by Dolphins Diana's by Harts of Venus by Doves Iuno's by Peacocks All these objects of pompe and magnificence whereof histories This Vanitie is a most contagious maladie and the onely preservative is the remembrance of Death and Fables would eternize the vanity have for all that done nothing but passe away and though a little remembrance of ' them stay with us 't is but the
memoriall of a Chimera and of a fantosme since it preaches nothing else to us but the ruine and non-entity of that which hath beene other-while O how glorious a Triumph is it These things ruminated on will make us wise when wee our selves are encharioted over our passions now enslaved and subjected under the Empire of Reason There is nothing so glorious there is nothing so magnificent For these Dromedaries these Elephants these Bulls these Horses these Hermaphrodite Mares these Lyons Stags and Tygres afore-mentioned are but brute beasts which draw along in traine after them others as brutish as themselves as suffering themselves to be transported with vanitie which onely reduceth them to this beastly-semblant vanitie Let us turne our face to another side SABELLICUS in his ENNEADS actively perswades us to beleeve that the Christians of Aethiopia doe carry in their processions great vessels full of ashes Let the fire of Divine Love glow upon our ashes to emblematize apparently the frailty of our nature But may not wee say upon too much reason that wee are earthen vessels full of ashes and what object more sensibly can be presented before our eyes to shew us the truth of our miseries then this of our selves From Earth is our production and the same serves us with nourishment and for sepulture also as if ashamed the Sunne should afford his light to our wretchednesse Make we then every day Funerall processions or at least visit in meditation every houre our Tombeâ— as the place where our bodyes must make so long abode Celebrate we our selves our owne Funerals and invite to our exequies The thought of our end is a soveraigne remedie against our passions Ambition Avarice Pride Choller Luxurie Gluttony and all the other Passions wherewith we may be attainted to the end to be Conquerours even by our owne proper defeate For when a Man yeelds to the Meditation of Death then reason commands sense All obey to this apprehension of frailty and feeblenesse Pleasures by little and little abandon us the sweets of life seeme sowre and wee can find no other quiet but in the hope of that which Truth it selfe hath promised us after so much trouble Proud Spirits be ye Spectators of this Funerall Pompe which this great Monarch celebrates to day Hee invites the Heaven and the Earth to his Exequies since in their view hee accompanies his pourtrayed gkeleton unto the Tombe his Body conducts thither its shadow the originall the painted figure in attendance till a Metamorphosis be made both of one and t'other O glorious action where the Living takes a pride to appeare Dead as dying alreadie by his owne choice as well as necessitie O glorious action where the Triumpher takes a glory in the appearance of his overthrow O glorious action where all the honour depends upon the contempt of the worlds honour O glorious action where Garlands of Cypresse dispute the preheminence with Laurell and Palme O glorious action where the Conquerour under-going the Lawes of Nature elevates himselfe above it making his puissance to be admired in his voluntarie weakenesse But I engage my selfe too farre in 't Herodotus remarkes that the Queene Semiramis made her Sepulcher be erected upon the entrances of the principall Gate of the * Babylon Citie to the end that this sad object of wretchednesse might serve for Schoole-master to passengers to teach them the Art to know themselves O blessed Lesson is that no better Schoole then the Church-yard which the Tombes can affoord us O gracious Science is that which they instruct us Strabo testifies that the Persians made Pipes of dead-mens bones which they used at Festivals to the end that the sad harmonie which issued thence might temper the excesse of joy But may not we say our Lungs to be to us such kind of Whistles and that our dolorous sighs which produce thence the harmonie are capable to moderate the violence of our contentments A strange thing it is that all the animated objects which are affected by our senses beare the image of Death and yet wee never thinke but of Life Let our eyes but fairely turne their regards on all sides All that lives they may see dyes and what ha's no life passes away before ' em Our eares are tickled with the sweet harmonie of Voices or Instruments or Tabors or Trumpets But these sounds are but Organs spirited with blasts whose borrowed wind is lost when the motion ceaseth and there behold the Faile of their life And for Instruments 't is true they warble delightfully yet their melodie is often dolefull to the mind The object of our nothingnesse ha's a grace and allurement capable to ravish the best spirits when it considers that it proceedes from certaine guts of dead beasts which Art hath so contrived Tabors being of the same nature must also necessarily produce the same effects and Trumpets also doe but sobbe in our eares since their clangor is forced onely by the violence of a blast of sighs Our Taste cannot satiate the hunger of its appetite but with dead and breathlesse things and all our other senses are subject to the same necessitie Insomuch that Death environs us on all sides though we be alwayes her owne and yet wee never thinke on 't Death is ever present and at hand to our heart but still absent from our memorie but in extremities as if wee were onely to learne at the last instant that wee are Mortall and the hard experience which wee make on 't were the onely Lesson which by Nature is given us LORD render me capable if it please thee of this Science which may effectually teach me the Art to know my selfe to the end that this knowledge may represent to me alwayes the realitie of my wretchednesse Make me that I may see my selfe may understand and feele my selfe to dye every moment but so that I may see it with the eyes of my heart perceive it with the eyes of my soule and feele it by the sense of my conscience therein to finde my repose and safetie I know well that Nature mournes uncessantly the death of its workes which are devoured every houre by time and though no where thus can I see but Sadnesse it selfe yet ne'rethelesse remaine I insensible of the horrour of these objects and though they be terrible my spirit not affrighted Render me therefore if it please thee render me fearefull and make me even to tremble in thinking of it since the thought of it is so important and suffer me not to live a kind of Death without meditating of that life which is exempt from Death and whereof Eternitie is the Limit All my votes doe terminate at this and all my wishes which I addresse to thy bounty that I may one day see the effects of my hopes Let us advance on our first proposiâ—ion O how celebrious and glorious is the Triumph over our selves Let us leave the Laurels and Palmes to those famous
marke the difference in their course being arrived to the end of their carreere for a hundred Ages when past and one instant make but the same thing 'T is onely necessary to muze of our last gist in the grave since thither we runne till wee â—re out of breath from moment to moment The Trojans would have the burying-places of their Princes to be in the most remarkable place of the City to the end Placâ—s of buriall are sad Theaters where every day are acted none but Tragedies that this sad object might serve as a fixt Memento to remembrance them that the Tragedie which had beene acted by these yesterday might againe be represented by some other to day The Philosophers know that objects move the faculties and that according to the quality of their impressions they worke upon the spirits which contemplate them Let us say now that of all the direfull objects which are presented to our eyes there is none more powerfull o're our apprehensions then this of Meditation of Death and the horrour of the grave The most couragious yeeld themselves to these assaults the most valiant resist nor their violences All droop at approach of an enemy so redoubtable But our defeat if rightly carryed is more glorious then our Triumph What successe is this by being overcome to beare away the crowne of victory such submission is a marke of Soveraignety If the meditation of death make not a sinner change his life nothing will doe it Petrus Gregorius tells us of the Emperour Charles the fift that hee caused his winding head-ketcher to be carryed before him for a standard in all his Armyes six yeeres before he dyed to the end that the continuall object of his greatnesse might not be too powerfull to tempt him to misconceive himselfe We doe the same every day without thinking on 't for our shirts are in a manner as so many winding-sheetes which wee carry alwayes with us in all places where we goe But if this sad object be not enough to moderate our ambition and rebate our vanity this voluntary is inseparable from paine we must needs undergoe the Law which wee impose upon our selves 'T is best to let Death be welcome to us since 't is inevitable LORD suffer me not if it please thee so farre to mistake my selfe as never to come to the point of meditating of this blessed Decree which thou hast imposed on me to dye one day But illuminate my spirit with the light of thy grace which may stead me as a Pharos to shew me the haven of the grave where the ship of my life must put ashore Make me also if it please thee to be ignorant of all things else but the knowledge to live well that I may also dye so and thus let the miseries which accompany me the mishaps that follow me and all the other afflictions which thy goodnesse hath subjected me to be the ordinary objects of my thoughts to the end that I stray not from the way of my salvation And now have have I no other passion but to see the effects of these prayers Let us goe to the end The Combat ought alwayes to precede the Victorie and the Victorie the Triumph Those that have averred that the world is to us an hostile Army composed of so many Souldiers as there are objects in nature capable to agitate the power of our passions had very good reasons to defend the truth of their Thesis These objects of it make warre against us continually with all the assaults inventions and stratagems of a cruell enemy Beautie that assaults our soules by the way of our eyes with as much cunning as force for at first view it amuseth the Sence with admiration by a slight of complacence to which its sweets and allurements insensibly engage it Afterwards the Sensus Communis receiving the faire Species of the Idea of this faire enemie presents them to the Fancie the Fancie to the Vnderstanding which after it hath examined them according to its capacitie offers them to the Will which by a naturall apprehension findes it selfe obliged to love the subject from whence these amiables doe proceed And now then it is the Cue of Reason ether to condemne or authorize this Love but most often that becomes charmed it selfe and wee vanquish't Not that Reason is not sufficiently strong and powerfull but whereas its force and vertue depends meerely upon grace Our passions are the flattering'st enemies of the world for they assault us with those semblant satisfactions to us as may seeme most agreeable and thus they are most to be feared the contempt which ordinarily it makes of this renders both alike unprofitable This is that which obliges us in all these conflicts to implore the helpe of heaven rather then to trust upon our strengths and evermore to have a jealous eye to this our subtile enemie which yet can never get other advantage upon us then that which our wretchlesnesse suffers it to acquire We cannot justly complaine of our defeat since 't is voluntarie The very fairest objects of the world may well enforce admiration but not love since love cannot be formed in our hearts but by a powerfull reflexion of the amiable qualities which are found in the subject and in this it is necessary that the understanding doe operate and the will consent And this cannot be done without a free deliberation which wee absolutely authorize Insomuch that we cannot be overcome if we rush not into 't with desire of our owne overthrow And this not so neither as if there were no trouble in the resistance but rather 't is a way to acquire much more glory in the victory over beauteous objects by the power of reason which is more troublesome and difficult then that which one gets o're an enemy by force of armes The rewards which God hath prepared after all our troubles doe infinitely surpasse our deserts But the honour also surpasseth alwayes the difficulty and what paine soever a man can possibly take the Prize and Crowne at last can admit of no comparison Wee must then bravely combate those proud beauties which make publick profession to enchaine our hearts in irons and put our soules upon the rack and let them see to their confusion that the naturall Magicke of their charmes is to us a new Art of Logicke which informes us to make Arguments both to give for granted their power and yet destroy their force Faire leave have they to expose to view their blandishments and graces the light of Reason produceth a livelyer Day whose luster duskes the midday-splendour for by the ayde of this light a man may see that all their quaintnesses are but dawbings their delicacies but artifice and their attractives but onely composed by distillatories And how can one Idolatrize them then after meditationall presentment of these verities Behold the onely meanes to prescribe a rule over these Soveraignes who would impose it on the