A MIDNIGHTS Trance Wherin is discoursed of DEATH the nature of SOVLES and estate of Immortalitie As it was Written at the desire of a Nobleman By W. D. LONDON Printed by George Purslow for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at the signe of the Greene-Dragon in Paules Church-yard 1619. A MIDNIGHTS Trance wherin is discoursed of Death The nature of Soules and estate of Immortalitie THough it hath beene doubted if there be in the Soule of Man such imperious and superexcellent Power as that it can by the vehement and earnest working of it deliuer knowledge to another without bodily Organs and by the only conceptions and Ideas of it produce reall effects yet it hath beene euer and of all thought infallible most certaine that it often either by outward inspiration or some secret motion of it selfe is augure of its owne Misfortunes and hath shadowes of comming Dangers presented vnto it a while before they fall forth Hence so many strange apparitions and signes true Visions Dreames most certaine vncouth languishings and drowsinesse of which to seeke a reason vnlesse from the sparkling of GOD in the Soule or from the God-like sparkles of the Soule were to make Reason vnreasonable in reasoning of things transcending her reach Hauing often and diuers times when I had giuen my selfe to rest in the quiet solitarinesse of the night found my imagination troubled with a confused feare no sorrow or Horror which interrupting sleepe did confound my senses and rouse mee vp all appalled and transported in a suddaine agony and sad amazednes of such an vnaccustomed perturbation and namelesse woe not knowing nor being able to imagine any apparant cause carried away with the streame of my then doubting thoghts I was brought to ascribe it to that secret fore-knowledg presageing Power of the Propheticke Mind and to interpret such an agonie to bee to the Spirit as a faintnes and vniuersall wearinesse is to the Body a token of following sicknesse or as the Earth-quakes are to great Cities Harbingers of greater calamities or as the roring of the Sea is in a stil calme a signe of some ensuing tempest Hereupon not thinking it strange if whatsoeuer is humane should befall me knowing how Prouidence abates griefe and discountenances crosses and that as we should not despaire of euils which may happen vs wee should not trust too much in those goods we enioy I began to turne ouer in my remembrance all that could afflict miserable mortalitie and to fore-cast euery thing that with a Maske of Horror could shew it selfe to humane eyes till in the end as by vnities and points Mathematicians are brought to great numbers and huge greatnesse after many fantasticall glāces of mankinds sorrow and those incumbrances which follow life I was brought to thinke and with amazement on the last of humane euils or as one said the last of all dreadfull and terrible things Death And why may wee not beleeue that the Soule though darkely fore-seeing and hauing secret intelligence of that sharpe diuorcement it is to haue from the body should be ouergrieued and surprised with an vncouth and vnaccustomed sorrow And at the first encounter examining their neere vnion long familiarity friendship with the great chang paine and vglines which is apprehended to bee in Death it shall not appeare to be without reason They had their beeing together parts they are of one reasonable Creature the hurting of the one is the enfeebling of the working of the other what deare contentments doth the Soule enioy by the senses They are the gates and windowes of its knowledge the Organs of its delight if it bee grieuous to an excellent Lutanist to bee long without a Lute how much more must the want of so noble an instrument bee painefull to the Soule And if two Pilgrims who haue wandred some few miles together haue a hearts griefe when they part what must the sorrow be at the parting of two so louing friends as is the Soule and Body Death is the violent estranger of acquaintance the eternall diuorcer of Marriage the rauisher of the Children from the Parents the stealer of the Parents from the Children the intomber of Fame the only cause of forgetfulnes by which men talk of them that are gon away as of so many shadows orageworn Stories It is not ouercome by pride made meeke by flattery staied by Time Wisedome saue this can preuent help any thing nor Youth nor Vertue nor Beauty can make it relent and becom partial It is the reasonles breaker off of al actions by this wee enioy no more the sweet pleasures of Earth nor behold the stately Vault of Heauen Sunne perpetually setteth Stars neuer rise vnto vs all strength by this is tane away all comlinesse defaced Glory made ignoble Honour turned into contempt This in an houre robbeth vs of what with so great toyle and care in many yeeres we haue heaped together Successions of Linages by this are cut short Kingdomes want Heires and greatest States remaine Orphanes By Death wee are exiled from this excellent City of the World it is no more a world vnto vs nor wee no more People vnto it That Death naturally is terrible to be abhorred it cannot altogether be denied it being a priuatiō of Life a not-being euery priuation being abhorred of nature and euill of it selfe yet I haue often thought that euen naturally to a minde by onely nature resolued and prepared it is more terrible in conceite then in verity and at the first glance then when well looked vpon that rather by the weaknesse of our fantasie then by what is in it and that the solemnities and shews of it did adde much more vglinesse vnto it then otherwise it hath to auerre which conclusion when I had gathered my astonished thoughts I beganne thus with my selfe If on the great Theater of this Earth amongst the numberlesse number of Men this condition were onely proper to thee and thine then vndoubtedly thou hadst reason to repine at so vniust and partiall a Law But since it is a necessity from the which neuer an age by-past hath been exempted and vnto which those which bee and so many as are to come are thralled it being as common as any the most vulgar thing to sence why shouldst thou in thy peeuish opposition take so vneuitable and familiar a chance to heart This is the broad path of mortalitie our generall home behold what millions haue trod it before thee what multitudes shall after thee with them who at that same instant runne In so vniuersall a calamity if DEATH bee one priuate complaints cannot bee heard with so many royall Palaces it is no losse to see thy poore cabin burne Shall the Heauens stay their euer-roling wheeles for what is the motion of them but the motion of a swift and euer-whirling wheele which twineth forth and againe vproleth our Life and hold still time to prolong thy miserable dayes As if they had nothing to
body No violent thing can bee euerlasting the abiding of the Soule without the body being violent cannot bee euerlasting How is not such a beeing not violent since as in a stranger place the faculties of it which neuer leaue it are not duely exercised this is not contradictory to Nature much lesse impossible to God If the body shall not arise how can the only and soueraigne Good bee perfectly and infinitely good For how shall hee be Iust Nay haue so much iustice as a man if hee suffer the euill and vicious to haue a more prosperous and happy life then the followers of Vertue Which ordinarily vseth to fall forth in this life for the most wicked are lords and gods of this earth as if it had been made only for them and the vertuous are but their enuassaled slaues beeing subiect to all dishonors shames wrongs miserie Sith then he is most good most iust of necessity there must be appointed by him another time and another place of retribution in the place of retribution in the which there shall bee a reward for liuing well and a punishment for doing euil with a life in the which both shall haue their due and not in their Soules only for sith both the parts of man did act a part in the right or wrong it is reason they both be arraigned before that High Iustice to receiue their owne For man is not a Soule onely but a Soule and Body to which either guerdon or punishment is due This seemeth to bee the voice of Nature in almost all the Religions of the World this is that vniuersall testimony charactered in the minds of the most barbarous and sauage people for all haue had a blind ayming at ages to come and a mistie diuining of another life all appealing to one generall Iudgement Throne To what else could serue so many expiations sacrifices Prayers solemnities and ceremonies To what such sumptuous Temples and such care of the dead To what all Religion If not to shew that they did looke for a more excellent estate of liuing after the short course of this was out-runne and who doth deny it must deny that that there is a God a Prouidence and not beleeue that there is a World or Creatures and that hee himselfe is not what hee is But it is not of Death perhaps that wee complaine but of Time which vsing against vs as against all fragil and caduke things his adamantine Lawes altereth the constitution of our Bodies benummes our sences and the Organes of our knowledge of which euils Death relieueth vs So that if we could be transported oh happy Colonie to a place where there were no time it were our only good and the accomplishment of all our wishes Death maketh this transplantation for the last instant of corruption or leauing off of a thing to be what it was is the first of generation or being of that which succeedeth Death then beeing the end of this miserable mortall life of necessity must bee the first beginning of that other eternall and so without reason of a vertuous Soule is it either feared or complained on As those Images were figured in my Mind the morning-Star now almost arising in the East I found my thoughts to become calme and appeased and not long after my sences one by one forgetting their vses began to giue themselues ouer to rest leauing mee in a still and quiet sleepe if sleep it may be called where the Mind awaking is carried with free wings frō out fleshly bondage For heauy lids had no sooner couered their lights when I thoght nay sure I was where I might discerne all in this great All the large compas of the rowling Circles the brightnesse and continuall dances of the twinkling Starres which through their distance here below cannot bee perceiued the siluer countenance of the silent Moone shining by anothers light the hanging of the Earth as enuironed with a Christall girdle the Sunne enthronized in the midst of the Planets Eye of the Heauens Gemme of this goodly Ring the World But whilst with wonder and amazement I gazed on those celestiall twinnes and the burning Lamps of that glorious Temple like some poore Countrey-man brought from his solitary Mountaines and flocks to behold the magnificence of some stately City there was presented to my sight a Man as in the spring of his yeres with that selfesame grace comely feature and maiesticke looke which the late _____ was wont to haue on whom I had no sooner set mine eye when like one thunder-stroken I became all astonished But hee with a mild demeanour approching and voice surpassing all humane sweetenesse appeared mee thought to say What is it doth thus torture thee is it the memory of Death the end of all Sorrow and entrie to these happy places is thy fortune below on that darkened Globe that scarce through the littlenesse of it heere appeares so great that thou art heart-broken and deiected for the leauing of it what if thou hadst left behind thee a _____ so glorious to the world yet but a mote of dust encircled with a Pond as that of mine so louing Parents such great Hopes these had beene apparant occasions of regrate and but apparant Dost thou thinke that thou leauest life too soone Death is best yong things faire and excellent are of least endurance the Rose which is the flowre of flowers that same day that sees it spred in the morning sees it fade at euening and lose the leaues the Spring-time the most amiable Season of the yeere is the Shortest Who liueth well liueth long those whom GOD loueth best are soone relieued of mortall miseries Let not man esteeme his estate after his earthly being which is but a Dreame though hee bee borne on the earth hee is not borne for the earth more then the embrion for the Mothers wombe it plaineth to bee relieued of its Bands and to come to the light of this world and Man mourneth to bee loosed from the Chaines with which he is fettered in that inchanted valley of vanities it nothing knoweth whither it is to goe nor ought of the beauty of the sensible world and the visible workes of God neither doe men of the magnificence of this intellectuall world aboue vnto which as by a Mid-wife they are directed by Death Fooles who thinke that this excellent and admirable Frame so wel ordered so rightly gouerned so wonderfully faire was by that supreme Wisedome made that all things in a circulary course should be and not bee arise and dissolue and thus continue as if they were so many Shadowes caused by the incountring of the Superior Celestiall bodies changing only their fashion and shape or were dreames which for a morning haue their being in the braine No no the eternall Wisedome hath made man an excellent creature though hee faine would vnmake himselfe and turne againe to nothing though hee seeke his happinesse amongst the vnreasonable creatures hee hath placed aboue When some Prince
oft as man Hee seemeth not the same person in one and the same Day by reason of his subiection to his priuate Passions Young wee scorne our childish conceits and wading deeper in yeeres for yeres are a Sea into which we wade vntill we drown we esteeme our Youth inconstancy Folly Rashnes Old wee begin to pity our selues plaining because we are changed that the World is changed Like them in a Shippe which when it is they that launch frō the shore are brought to beleeue that the shore doth flie from them Whē we are freed of euill in our owne estate wee begin to grudge and vex our selues at the happinesse and fortunes of others wee are fraught wee care for what is present with sadnes for what is by-past with feare for that which is to come nay for that which will neuer come we deeme that pitty which is but weakenes and plunge our selues in the deepest gulfes of anguish one day still laying vp strife of griefe for the next The Aire the Sea the Fire the Beasts be cruell executioners of Man yet Beasts Fire Sea and Ayre bee pitifull to Man in respect of Man for mo men are destroied by men then by them all What wrongs scornes contumelies prisons poysons torments receiueth man of man What engines and new workes of death are daylie found forth by man against man What Lawes to thrall his liberty Fantasies and scar-crowes to inueigle his reason Amongst the Beastes is there any hath so seruile a lot in anothers behalfe as man yet neither is content nor hee who raigneth nor he who serueth The halfe of our Life is spent in sleepe which sith it is a release of care the balme of woe and indifferent arbiter vnto all must be the best and yet is but the shadow of Death and who would not rather thē suffer the Slings and Arrows of outragious Fortune the whips and scorns of time the oppressors wrongs the proud mans contumelies sleepe euer that is dye and end the Heart-ake and the thousand naturall Shocks that flesh is heire to Our happinesse heere seemeth rather in the wanting of euils and being free of crosses then in the enioying of any great good What hath the brauest of mortals to glory in Is it greatnesse Who can be great on so small a round as this Earth and bounded with so short a course of Time How like is that to castles or imaginary Cities builded in the Skie of chance-meeting Clouds Or to Giants modelled for a sport of Snow which at the hotter lookes of the Sunne do melt away such an impetuous vicissitude so towseth the estates of this World Is it knowledge But wee haue not yet attained a perfect vnderstanding of the smallest floure and why the grasse should rather bee greene then red the Element of fire is quite put out the Ayre is but water rarified some affirme there is another world of men and creatures with Cities and Towers in the Moone the Sunne is lost for it is but a cleft in the lower Heauens through which the light of the highest shines What is all we know compared with what wee know not It is perhaps artificiall cunning how many curiosities be framed by the least creatures of Nature vnto which the industry of the most curious Artizans doth not attaine Is it Riches What are they but snares of Liberty bands to such as haue them possessing rather then possessed Metalls which Nature hath hidde foreseeing the great euill they should occasion and the only opinion of Men hath brought in estimation When wee haue gathered the greatest aboundance wee our selues can enioy no more thereof then so much as belongs to one man Rich and great men doe their businesse by others the lesser doe them themselues Will some talke of our pleasures It is not though in the fables told out of purpose that Pleasure being called in haste from Earth to Heauen did here forget her apparell which Sorrow hauing thereafter found to deceiue the World attired her selfe with and if wee shall confesse the truth of most of our ioyes we must say that they are but disguised Sorrows the drammes of our honey are lost in pounds of Gall Remorse neuer ensueth our best Delights Will some Ladies vaunt of their Beauties That is but skinne-deepe of two senses onely knowne short euen of Marble Statues and Pictures dangerous to the beholder and hurt full to the possessor an enemy to Chastity a thing made to delight others and not those who haue it a superficiall lustre hiding Bones and the Braines things fearefull to bee looked vpon growth of yeres doth take it away or sicknesse or sorrow preuenting them our strength matched with that of the vnreasonable creatures is but weakenesse If Death be good why should it be feared And if it bee the worke of Nature how shall it not bee good And how shall it not bee of Nature Sith what is naturally generate is subiect to corruption for such a composition cannot euer endure but must of necessity dissolue Againe how is not Death good fith it is the thaw of all those miseries which the frost of life bindeth together In two or three ages without Death what an vnpleasant spectacle were the most flourishing Cities in the World For what should there bee to be seene in them saue bodies languishing and courbing againe into the Earth Pale disfigured faces Skelitones in stead of Men And what were there to bee heard but the regrets of the yong and Plaints of the aged with the pittifull cries of sicke and pining persons there is almost no infirmity worse then age If there bee any euill in Death it would appeare to bee for that paine and torment which we apprehend to arise of the breaking of those straight bāds which keep the Soule and Bodie together which since it is not without great wrestling and motion seemes to proue it selfe vehement and most extreme The sences are the onely cause of paine but before that last effect traries that the worst cōposed Bodies feele paine least and by this reason all sicke persons should not much feele paine for if they were not euill composed they would not bee sicke That the sight hearing smelling taste leaue vs without paine and vnawares wee know most certainely and why should wee not beleeue the same of the feeling That which is capable of feeling is the vitall Spirits which in a man of good health are spred extended through the whole Body And hence is it that the whole body is capable of paine but in sicke men wee see that by degrees those parts which are most remoued from the heart remaine cold and being denuded of naturall heate all the pain that they feele is that they can feele no paine now as before the sicke be aware the vitall Spirits retire themselues from the whole extension of his body to assist the heart like distressed Citizens which finding their wals battred run to defend their Cittadell so do they abandon the heart
or great King on the earth hath builded any stately City the worke being perfected they were wont to set their Image in the middest of it to be gazed vpon and admired No otherwise hath the Soueraine of this All the fabricke of it done placed Man made to his own Image in the midst of this admirable City God contayneth all in him as the beginning of al Man containeth al in him as the midst of all inferior things be in man more nobly then they exist superior things more basely celestiall things fauour him earthly things are vassaled vnto him hee is the band of â—oth neyther is it possible but that both of them haue peace with him if he haue peace with him who made the couenant betweene them and him Hee was made that hee might know the infinite goodnesse power and glory of him who made him and knowing loue and louing enioy him and to hold the Earth of him as of his Lord Paramount How can it bee thought that God should giue so long life to Trees Beasts and the Birds of the Ayre being Creatures inferior to Man which haue lesse vse of it and denie it to him vnlesse hee had prepared another manner of liuing for him in a place more excellent But O God! said I had it not been better that for the good of his natiue Countrey so _____ had yet liued How long will ye replied he like the Ants thinke there bee no fayrer palaces then their hills and like poreblinde Moles there is no greater light then that little which they shunne As if the master of a Campe knew when to remoue a Sentinell and hee who placeth Man on this Earth did not know how long he had neede of him Euery one commeth here to act his part of this Tragicomedie called Life which done the Curtaine is drawne and he remouing from the Stage is said to die Most _____ then answered I Death is not such an euill and paine as it is of the vulgar esteemed Death said he nor painefull is nor euill of it selfe except in contemplation of the cause of it being as indifferent as birth Yet it cannot be denied but that the vncouthnesse of it with the wrong apprehension of what is vnknowne in it is noysome But the Soule sustained by its Maker prepared and calmely retired in it selfe doth finde that Death since it is in a moment of time is but a short nay sweete sigh and is not worthy the remembrance compared with the smallest dramme of the infinite happinesse of this place Here is the Palace roy all of the Almighty King in which the incomprehensible comprehensibly manifesteth himselfe in place highest in substance not subiect to any corruption or change for it is aboue all motion and solid turneth not in quantitie greatest for if one Starre one Spheare bee so vast how vast how great must those bounds bee which doth them all containe In qualitie purest Heauen here is all but a Sunne or the Sunne all but a Heauen this is the onely and true Olympe If to earthlings the footstoole of God seemeth so pleasant of what worth if they could see would they hold his Throne And if the Throne bee so wonderful what is the sight of him for whom and by whom this All was created Of whose glory to behold the thousand thousand part the most pure intelligences are fully content and with wonder and delight stand amazed for the beauty of his light and the light of his beautie is incomprehensible Here doth that earnest appetite of the vnderstanding pause it selfe not seeking to know any more for it seeth before it in the vision of the diuine essence a mirror in the which not Images or shadows but the true and perfect essence of all that is is most viuely and perfectly seen all that can be knowne or vnderstood Here is the will stayed louing that Soueraigne Good in whose fruition all good consisteth and without which can be none Here is a blessed company euery one reioycing in another and filled with ioy of themselues the happinesse of one is the happinesse of the whole as the happines of the whole is the happinesse of euery one and as the company is innumerable the ioy of each one is incomprehensible No silly Mortall confined on that piece of earth who hath neuer seene but sorrow can rightly thinke of or bee capable to conceiue the happinesse of this place So many feathers moue not on Birds so many Birds cleaue not the Ayre so many leaues tremble not on Trees so many Trees grow not in the wilde Forrests so many waues turne not in the Ocean so many Sands border not those waues as this Triumphing Court hath varietie of delights and neuer loathsome pleasures Ambition Disdaine Malice Ignorance Error Difference of opinions doe not enter this place resembling the foggie mists which couer those lists of sublunary things Here is Youth without Age Strength without Weakenesse Ioy without Sorrow Light without Darkenesse Life Without End Ages doe neuer here expire Time did neuer enter All pleasure paragon'd with what is here is griefe all Mirth mourning all Beauty deformitie heere one dayes abiding is aboue the continuing in the most Fortunate estate of the Earth many yeeres and sufficient to counteruaile the extremest Torments of Life Amongst all the wonders of the great Creator not one appeareth to bee more strange replied I then that the dead should arise Nature denying a regresse from priuation to a habit Wonders said hee in a wonderfull cause are no wonders the Author of Nature is not thralled to the Lawes of Nature but worketh with them or contrary as it pleaseth him vnto whom nothing perisheth This world is as a Cabinet in which the small things though hid are nothing lesse kept then the great To him who in an instant brought all this All from nought to bring againe in an instant any thing that euer was in it to what it was once should not be thought impossible Where the power is without limitation the worke hath no other limitation then the workers Will Reason her selfe finds it more possible for infinite power to deliuer from it selfe a finit World and restore any thing in this world to what it was first though decayed and dissolued then for a finit man to change the forme of matter made to his hand The power of God neuer brought to knowledge all that it can for then were his infinit power bounded and finite That time doth approach in which the dead shall liue and the liuing bee changed and of all actions the guerdon is at hand then shall there bee an End without an End Time shall finish and Place bee altered and another World of an age Eternall and vnchangeable shall arise With the which mee thought hee vanished and I did all astonished awake FINIS