will eat fish but of no living thing else The Rashboots will eat Swines flesh which is most hatefull to the Mahometans some will eat one kinde of flesh some of another of all very sparingly but all the Hindâ—os in general abstain from Beef out of an high and over-excellent esteem they have of Kine and therefore give the Mogol yearly besides his other eâ—actions great sums of money as a ransom for â—hose Creatures whence it comes to passe that amongst other good provisions we meet there but with little Beef As the Mahometans Burie â—o the Hindoos in general not believing the resurrection of the flesh burn the bodies of their dead near some Rivers if they may with convenience wherein they sow their ashes And there are another Sect or sort of Heathens living amongst them called Persees which do neither of these of whom and how they bestow the bodies of their dead you shall hear afterward The Widows of these Hindoos first mentioned such as have lived to keep company with their Husbands for as before there is usually a good space of time 'twixt their wedding and bedding The Widows I say who have their Husbands separated from them by death when they are very young marry not again but whither or no this be generally observed by them all I know not but this I am sure of that immediately after their Husbands are dead they cut their Hair and spend all their life following as Creatures neglected both by themselves and others whence to be free from shame some of them are ambitious to die with Honour as they esteem it when their fiery love carries them to the flames as they think of Martyrdom most willingly following the dead bodies of their Husbands unto the fire and there imbracing are burnt with them A better agreement in death than that of Eteocles and Polynices the two Theban brothers of whom it is said that they were such deadly enemies while they were alive that after when both their bodies were burnt together in the same fiery Pile the flame parted and would not mix in one of which Statius thus Nec furiis post fata modus flammaeque rebelles Seditione Rogi Whose rage not death could end rebellious ire Inflam'd to civil War their funeral fire Nec mors mihi finiit iras Mine anger with my body shall not die But with thy Ghost my Ghost shall battel trie But those which before I named agree so well in life that they will not be divided by death where their flames unite together And although the Woman who thus burns with her Husband doth this voluntarily not by any compulsion for the love of every Widow there is not thus fired and though the poor Creature who thus dies may return and live if she please even then when she comes to the Pile which immediately after turns her into ashes yet she who is once thus resolved never starts back from hir first firm and setled resolution but goes on singing to her death having taken some intoxicating thing to turn or disturb her brains and then come to the place where she will needs die she settles her self presently in the middest of that combustable substance provided to dispatch her which fuel is placed in a round shallow trench about two foot deep made for that purpose near some River or other water as before and though she have no bonds but her own strong affections to tie her unto those flames yet she never offers to stir out of them But Her breathlesse Husband then she takes In foulded arms this done she makes Her humble sute to ' th flames to give Her quick dispatch she cannot live Her honour dead Her friends there come Look on as if 't were Martyrdom And with content are hit her led As once to view her marriage bed And thus she being joyfully accompanied unto the place of her dying by her Parents and other friends and when all is fitted for this hellish Sacrifice and the fire begins to burn all which are there present shout and make a continued noise so long as they observe her to stir that the screeches of that poor tortured Creature may not be heard Not much unlike the custom of the Ammonites who when they made their Children passe through the fire to Molech caused certain Tabrets or Drums to sound that their cries might not be heard whence the place was called Tophet 2 King 23. 10. which signifies a Drum or Tabret Now after their bodies are quite consumed and lie mixed together in ashes and those ashes begin to grow cold some of them are gathered up by their nearest friends and kept by them as choise Relicks the rest are immediately sowen by the standers by upon the adjacent River or water Alas poor wretches what a hard Master do they serve who puts them upon such unreasonable services in the flower of their youth and strength thus to become their own executioners to burn their own bones when they are full of marrow and to waste their own breasts when they are full of milk Now Almighty God requires no such thing at his peoples hands therefore it is by far the more strange to consider that the Devil should have such an abundance of servants in the World and God so few But for those poor silly Souls who sing themselves into the extremity of misery thus madly go out of the World through one fire into another through flames that will not last long into everlasting burnings and do it not out of necessity but choise led hereunto by their tempter and murderer and consequently become so injurious and mercilesse to themselves certainly they deserve much pity from others who know not how to pity themselves For nemo miserius misero non miserants scipsum There are none so cruel as those which are cruel and pitilesse to themselves But though I say there are some which thus throw away their own lives yet if we consider those Hindoos in general we may further take notice SECT XX. Of the tendernesse of that people in preserving the lives of all other inferiour Creatures c. FOr they will not if they can help it by any means take but on the contrary do what they can to preserve the lives of all inferiour Creatures whence as before I told you they give large money to preserve the lives of their Kine a reason for this you shall have afterward and I have often observed that when our English boyes there have out of wantonnesse been killing of Flies there swarming in abundance they would be very much troubled at it and if they could not perswade them to suffer those poor Creatures to live they would give them mony or something else to forbear that as they conceived cruelty As for themselves I mean a very great number of them they will not deprive the most uselesse and most offensive Creatures of life not Snakes and other venomous things that may kill them saying that it is their
4. 17 18. And therefore said the same Apostle Rom. 8. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared unto the glorie which shall be revealed I reckon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a Metaphor either taken from accountants that put many particulars into one entire summe or else from Logicians who draw certain or infallable conclusions from foregoing premises Thus I reckon or I conclude when I compare profit and losse together as what I shall certainly gain and what I may happily loose by the profession of the Gospel when I have put all crosses and incumbrances in the one Scale and the recompence of the reward in the other it amounts all to this that the eternal wâ—ight of the Crown doth exceedingly outweigh the momentary weight of the Crosse Thus it is with all men who in their greatest pressures can see further than earth as that first Martyr professing the Gospel Stephen did who died not upon a bed of Down but under a shower of stones yet could out of that terrible and thick storm look into Heaven and so do others who can behold whatsoever they feel with the eye of Faith and this is like that Tree which Moses cast into the bitter waters of Marah and it made them sweet Exod. 15. But as for others I have named and shall further name to behold their sufferings and torments onely with the eye of sense it must needs make their tortures however they bear them out out of measure to torment I have been told by some who were eye-witnesses whom I dare credite and therefore I dare relate it of strange kindes of death executed by the command of the King of Japan upon his subjects where some are Crucified or nailed to a Crosse Others rather roasted than burnt to death Thus there is a stake set up and a Circle of fire at a pretty distance made round about it the condemned person being naked is so fastned to that stake as that he may move round about it and so doth as long as he is able to stir till his flesh begins to blister then he falls down and there lyes roaring till the fire made about him puts him to silenâ—e by taking away both his voice and life Now they say that one great reason why they put men there unto such exquisite torments is because they hold it a thing of the greatest dishonour there for any man to dye by the hand of an Executioner therefore they are usually commanded when they are sentenced to dye to rip up or cut open their own bellies and those who will not so do are tormented in dying Hence most of that people when as they have received that hard command to prevent death by dying call for their friends about them eat and seem to be merry with them then in the close of the meal and in their presence commit this sad slaughter upon themselves as first those poor wretches make themselves naked to the middle he or they who are to dye then the most wretched self-murderer who is to act that bloudy part strikes a sharp Knife into the bottom of his belly then rips himself up and after gives himself one other cut cross his belly and when he hath done both these if after he can but wipe his bloudy knife upon a white paper or Napkin that is laid by him he is believed to part with his life with a very great deal of honour and immediately as he is made to believe goes to Fakaman whom they say is the God of War So much power the Devil hath in those dark places of the World to make the people there do what he please Oh 't is a misery of all miseries here to be a drudge a bond-man a slave to the Devil as those and so infinite multitudes more professing Christ are by obeying Satan in his most unreasonable commands and yet will not be made sensible of that their basest bondage But to return again to the place froÌ„ whence I have made some excursion when I was in India there was one sentenced by the Mogol himself for killing his own father to dye thus first he commanded that this Paricide should be bound alive by his heels fastned to a small iron Chain which was tied to the hinde leg of a great Elephant and then that this Elephant should drag him after him one whole remove of that King from one place to another which was about ten miles distant that so all his flesh might be worne off his bones and so it was when we saw him in the way following that King in his progresse for he appeared then to us a skeliton rather than a body There was another condemned to dye by the Mogol himself while we were at Amadavar for killing his own Mother and at this the King was much troubled to think of death suitable for so horrid a crime but upon a little pause he adjudged him to be stung to death by Snakes which was accordingly done I told you before that there are some Mountebanks there which keep great Snakes to shew tricks with them one of those fellows was presently called for to bring his Snakes to do that execution who came to the place where that wretched Creature was appoinâ—ed to dye and found him there all naked except a little covering before and trembling Then suddenly the Mountebank having first angred and provoked the venomous Creatures put one of them to his Thigh which presently twin'd it self about that part till it came near his Groin and there bit him till bloud followed the other was fastned to the outside of his other Thigh twining about it for those Snakes thus kept are long and slender and there bit him likewise notwithstanding the wretch kept upon his feet nere a quarter of an hour before which time the Snakes were taken from him But he complained exceedingly of a fire that with much torment had possessed all his Limbs and his whole body began to swell exceedingly like Nasidius bit by a Lybian Serpent called a Prester of whom Mr. May in his Translation of Lucan the ninth Book thus writes His face and cheeks a sudden fire did rost His flesh and skin were stretch'd his shape was lost His swelling body is distended far Past humane growth and undistinguish'd are His limbs all parts the poyson doth confound And he lies hid in his own body drown'd Now much after this manner did the stinging of those Snakes work upon that wretch about half an hour after they were taken from him the Soul of that unnatural Monster left his growing Carkasse and so went to its place And certainly both those I last named so sentenced and so executed most justly deserved to be handled with all severity for taking away the lives of those from whom they had receiv'd their own Some of our family did behold the execution done upon the later who related all the passages of it and for
to make unto you but to speak to the Cooper to give every one of you a good Cup of Sack and so God blesse us Here was a speech indeed that was Short and Sweet that had somthing following it to make it most savoury that it might be tasted as well as heard Mine was verbal without any such relish and therefore I for 〈…〉 r to insert it The morning come we found the Caraque so close to the Shore and the nearest if our ships at least a league off that we held our hands for that day expecting when she would weigh her Ankers and stand off to Sea a fitter place to deal wiâ—h her And that afternoon we chested our late slain Commander putting some great shot with him into it that he might presently sink and without any Ceremony of Guns c. usual upon such loccasions because our enemy should take no notice put him overboardgainst the Iland of Mohilâ—a whore he made his own Grave as all dead bodies do buried not in dust but water which shall one day as well as the earth give up its deâ—d Rev. 20 13 when all the bodies of men since the woâ—ld began that haveâ— tasted Death in their several generations however after death they have been bestowed wheresoever laid up shall be raised again And though all would not yet all must A little before night that present day the Caraque departed again to Sea we all loosed our Ankers opened our Sayles and â—ollowed The day now left us and our proud Adversary unwilling as it should seem to escape put forth a light as before for us to follow him as afterward we did to purpose The night wellâ—â—gh 〈…〉 spent we commended again our selves and cause to God when I observed more seeming devotion in our Sea-men that morning than at any time before or after while I kept them company who for the generality are such a kind of people that nothing will bow them to bring them on their knees but extream Hazads When this exercise was ended the day began to appear in a red maâ—ntâ—l which prov'd bloudâ— unto many that beheld it And now we entred upon a second encounter our four ships resolving to take their turns one after the other that we might compel this proud Portugal either to bend or break But before I shall give an account of our further engagement I will take notice of two accidents which to me seemed very observable and exemplary the first this there was one in our ship whose Sir name was Raven a servant to our late slain Commander who immedâ—ately before we began to engage came to me and told me that he had a very great desire to follow his Master with what mind he spake this I know not but if hea 〈…〉 ly and with desire his speech was very all for if it be an extreme madnesse for a man to intreat God to take away the life of his Beast much more to request him to take away his own Life But whatsoever his Petition was in respect of his inward desire it pleased Maâ—ghev God presently to answer him herein by the first great Shot that came from the E 〈…〉 my which strook off his Head Aman may hope to speed well that knows how to Petiâ—â—on well but by the Righteous â—udgment of God it oftentimes fall out that such unadvised requests meet with a return of most sad and unwelcome answers There was another a Taylor but not in our ship who while the Company he sailed with were engaged brought his pressing iron to one of the Gunners and desired him to put it into a Peece of Ordnance already laden telling him that he would send it as a token to the Portugals withall swearing that he would never work again at his trade it pleased God immediately after to sentence him out of his own mouth and to let his tongue to fall upon himself for that great Peece was no sooner discharged but a great Bullet was returned from the enemy which strook him dead And now Reader thou mayest suppose us speaking again to our adversary and he to us in the harshest and lowdest of all Dialects no arguments being so strong as those that proceed from the mouths of Guns and Points of Swords Our Charles the Admiral played her part first and eâ—e she had been at defyance with her enemy half an hower there came another great shot from him which hitting against one of our iron Peeces mounted on our half Deck brak into many little parts which most dangerously wounded our New Commander and the Master of our ship with three others beside who received several hurts by it Captain Pepwels left Eye by a glance of a Peecâ— of that broken bullet was so Torn that it lay like Raggs upon his cheek another hurt by a peece of the same bullet he received on his Jaw-bone and by another on his Head and a fourth hurt he received in his Leg a ragged peece of that broken shot sticking fast betwixt the two bones thereof grating there upon an Artery which seemed by his complayning to afflict him so much that it made him take very little notice of all the rest of his Hurts it being most true of bodily Pains that the extremity of a greater pain will not suffer a man much to feel and complain of that which is lesse as that tormenâ—ing pain by the Toot-ach makes a man insensible of the a king of his head and when the Gout and Stone surprise the Body at once together the torture by the Gout is as it were lost in the extremity of the Stone And thus was our new Commander welcomed to his Authority we all thought that his wounds would very suddainly have made an end of him but he lived till about fourteen Moneths after and then Dyed as he was returning for England I told you before that this man suffered not alone by the scattered peeces of that broken shot for the Master of the Ship had a great peece of the Brawn of his Arm strook off by it which made him likewise unserviceable for a time and three other of the Common sailers received several and dangerous hurts by it likewise The Captain and Master both thus disabled deputed their Authority to the chief Masters mate who behaved himself resolutely and wisely so we continued Alternis vicibus one after the other shooting at our adversary as at a But and by three of the clock in the after noon had shot down Her Main-mast by the board her Mizen-masts her fore top mast and moreover had made such breaches in her thick sides that her case seemed so desperate as that she must either yeild or perish Her Captain thus distressed stood in for the shore being not far â—rom the Iland of Gaziaia we pursued as sar as we durst without hazard of Ship wrack then we sent off a Boat with a flag of â—â—uce to speak with him He waved us with another upon which Mr. â—onnick our
with sweet Almonds made as small as they could and with some of the most fleshy parts of Henns stewed with it and after the flesh so beaten into peeces that it could not be discern'd all made sweet with Rose-water and Suger-Candy and sented with Amber-Grecâ—e this was another of our dishes and a most luscious one which the Portugals call Mangee Real Food for a King Many other dishes we had made up in Cakes of several formes of the finest of the wheat-flower mingled with Almonds and Sugar Candy whereof some were sented and some not To these Potatoes excellently well dressed and to them divers Salads and the curious fruits of that Countrey some preserved in Sugar and others raw and to these many Roots Candied Almonds blanched Reysons of the Sun Prunellas and I know not what of all enough to make up that number of dishes before named and with these quelque chose was that entertainment made up And it was better a great deal than if it had consisted of full heaped up dishes such as are sometimes amongst us provided for great and profuse entertainments Our bread was of very good excellent wheat made up very white and light in round Cakes and for our drink some of it was brew'd for ought I know ever since Noah his flood that good innocent water being all the drink there commonly used as before and in those hot Clymates it being better digested there than in other parts it is very sweet and allayes thirst better than any other liquor can and therefore better pleaseth and agreeth better with every man that comes and lives there than any other drink At this entertainment we sat long and much longer than we could with ease cross leg'd but all considered our feast in that place was better than Apicius that famous Epicure of Rome with all his witty Gluttony for so Paterculus calls it ingeniosa Gula could have made with all provisions had from the Earth and Air and Sea My Lord Ambassadour observed not that uneasy way of sitting at his meat but in his own house had Tables and Chayres c. served he was altogether in Plate and had an English and an Indian Cook to dress his dyer which was very plentifull and cheap likewise so that by reason of the great variety of provisions there his weekly account for his house-keeping came but to little The meaner sort of people there eat Rice boyled with their green-Ginger and a little Pepper after which they put Butter into it which is their principal dish and but seldom eaten by them but their ordinary food is made not of the flowr of wheat but of a course well tasted grain made up in round broad and thick Cakes which they bake upon their thin iron plates before spoken of which they carry with them when as they travell from place to place when they have bak'd those cakes they put a little butter on them and doubtless the poor people find this a very hearty food for they who live most upon it are as strong as they could be if they had their diet out of the Kings Kitchin I shall here say no more of this but proceed to speak SECTION XI Of the Civilities of this people Of their Complements and of their Habits AND here the people in general as before was observed are as civil to strangers as to their own Countrey-men for they use when they meet one another or when they meet strangers to bow their heads or to lay their right hands on their brests and to bow their bodyes as they pass saluting them further with many well-wishes They use not to uncover their heads at all as we do in our salutes from which custom of ours the Turks borrow this imprecation for their enemies wishing their souls no more rest after death than a Christians hat hath which â—s alwayes stirred but the meaner sort instead of uncovering their heads to their superiours use these abject ceremonies by putting their right hand to the earth and then laying it on their head or by falling down on their knees and then bowing their heads to the earth both signifying that those unto whom they shew these reverences and respects may tread or trample on them if they pleased When we visite the people there of better quality they entertain us with much humanity first rising up to us they bow their bodyes and then intreat us to sit with them on their Carpets where they are free in their discourse which we usually exchange with them by an Interpreter If we have any business with them they return very civill and fair answers and for our further entertainment give us Beetle or Paune to chew before spoken of In their neer and more close and hearty Salutes they do not joyn hands as we but do that which is hatefull to the Spaniard and not at all in use with us for they take one another by the Chin or Beard and cry Bobba which is Father or Bij which is Brother and this appeares to be a very ancient Complement for thus Joab long ago saluted Amasa 2 Sam. 20. 9 but this they do in love not as Joab did there in treacherie In their Complements they express many good wishes to one another as Salam Allacum God give you health the reply Allacum Salam the same health God give you And Greb-a Nemoas I wish you the prayers of the poor And Tere gree gree kee Bulla doore which made English speaks thus I wish one good to come unto you after another every Gra which is a space of time a little more than a quarter of an hour and they have many more Complements like these handsom and significant As inferiour people who have their dependance on others use to say unto them I eat your Breat and Salt as much to say I am your servant I live by you and you may do with me or to me what you please Now as this people of East India are Civil in their speeches so are they Civilly clad for there are none who weare their own skin alone for their covering as very many in the Western India do For the Habites of this people from the highest to the lowest they are all made of the same fashion which they never alter nor change their Coats sitting close to their bodyes unto their wasts then hanging down loose a little below their knees the lower part of them sitting somewhat full those close Coats are fastned unto both their shoulders with slips made of the some cloth which for the generality are all made of courser or finer white Callico and in like manner are they fastned to their wast on both sides thereof which Coats coming double over their brests are fastned by like slips of cloth that are put thick from their left arme-holes to their middle The sleeves of those coats are made long and somewhat close to their Armes that they may ruffle especially from their elbowes to their wrists Under this
fild with a thick yellow watry substance that arose upon many parts of our bodyes which when they brake did even burn and corrode our skins as it ran down upon them For my part I had a Calenture before at Mandoa which brought me even into the very Jawes of Death from whence it pleased God then to rescue and deliver me which amongst thousands and millions of mercies more received from him hath and shall for ever give me cause to speak good of his Name There are very few English which come thither but have some violent sicknes which if they escape and live temperately they usually enjoy very much health afterward But death made many breaches into my Lord Ambassadors family for of four and twenty wayters besides his Secretary and my self there was not above the fourth man returned home And he himself by violent Fluxes was twice brought even to the very brink of the Grave The Natives of East India in all their violent hot diseases make very little use of Physicians unless in be to breâ—th a veine sometimes after which they use much fasting as their most hopefull remedy That foul disease a most into consequence of filthy incontinency is too common in those hot climates where the people that have it are much more affected with the trouble it brings than with the sin or shame thereof As many amongst us who care not for issue but lust and after pay dear for their filthines which many times rotts or else makes bare the bones of them that are thus filthy For as vertue and goodnes rewards it self so to it self wickednes is a punishment poena peccati peccasse saith Seneca this is cleer in the sad consequences of many other sins cui â—hu cui vae who hath wo who hath sorrow Solomon askes the question and resolves it too Prov. 23. 29. they that tarry long at the wine c. for it will bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adâ—er How many sad diseases are contracted to mens bodyes by this kind of intemperancy who can recount the hurts that by this means come to the whole body especially to the Head Stomack Liver and the more noble párts who can recite the Rheumes Gouts Dropsies Appoplexies Inflamations and other distempers hence arising Drunkennes being like that Serpent Amphisbaena which hath a sting in the mouth and a sting in the tail for it kills two wayes first the Body and after that the Soul How were the thoughts of Amnon rackt about the compassing of that incestuous unnatural and brutish lust with his Sister Tamar for first he is sick for her and after he had reaped the bitter fruit of his beastly desires his lust ending in loathing he was sick of her and hated her exceedingly and said unto her arise be gone 2 Sam. 13. 15. Brutus and Cassius were traytors which Julius Caesar fear'd Macilenti pallidi men pal'd with Anger whose thoughts to do mischief drank up all their own sap and moisture Envy â—aith Solomon is the rottennes of the bones Prov. 14. 30. hence the heart of the malicious and envious man is never without torment for it boyles continually as it were in Brine And therefore this sin is said to have much justice in it self Justius invidia nihil est because it eateth the heart and marrow of her master as he desireth to have the heart of another to be eaten up And thus may it be said of Anger when it boyles up to rage as many times it doth in se sâ—mper armatur furor that it is always in Armes against it self The people in East India live up to our greatest ages but without all question they have more old people than we a thing not to be wondred at if we consider the great Temperance of that people in general in their eating and drinking But to proceed The Hindooes or Heathens there begin their year the first day of March The Mahometans begin theirs the tenth at the very instant as the Astrologers there ghess that the Sun enters into Aries their year as ours is divided into twelve Months or rather into thirteen Moons for according to them they make many payments They distinguish their time in a much different manner from us dividing the day into four and the night into as many parts which they call Pores which again they subdivide each of them into eight parts which they call Grees measured according to the ancient custome by water dropping out of one vessell into another by which there alwayes stands a man appointed for that service to turn that vessell up again when it is all dropped out and then to strike with an hammer upon the brim of a concave peece of Metal like the inner part of a large platter hanging by the brim on a wire the number of those Pores and Grees as they pass It hath a deep sound and may be heard very far but these are not common amongst them Neither have they any Clocks or Sun-Dials to shew them further how their time passeth We lived there some part of our time a little within or under the Tropick of Cancer and then the Sun was our Zenith or Verticle at noon day directly over our heads at his return to his Northern bounds of which I have spoken something before The Sun-rising there was about six houres in the Morning before its appearing here so that it is twelve of the clock with them when it is but six with us We had the Sun there above the Horizon in December when the dayes are shortest neer eleven houres and in June when they are at their fullest length somewhat more than thirteen houres which long absence of the Sun there from the face of the earth was very advantagious to cool both the Earth and Air. I proceed to speak SECTION XIV Of the most excellent moralities which are to be observed amongst the People of those Nations NExt to those things which are Spiritually good there is nothing which may more challenge a due and deserved commendation than those things which are Morally and Materially so and many of these may be drawn out â—o life from the examples of great numbers amongst that people For the Temperance of very many by far the greatest part of the Mahometans and Gentiles it is such as that they will rather choose to dye like the Mother and her seven Sons mentioned in the second of Machabees and seventh Chapter then eat or drink any thing their Law forbidds them Or like those Rechabites mentioned Jer. 35. Where Jonadab their father commanded them to drink no wine and they did forbear it for the Commandement sake Such meat and drink as their Law allowes them they take only to satisfie Nature as before not appetite strictly observing Solomons Rule Proy 23. 2. in keeping a knife to their throats that they may not transgress in taking too much of the Creature hating Gluttony and esteeming drunkennes as indeed it is another Madnes and
Act. 9. 37. They lay up none of the bodies of their dead in their Misquits or Churches as before but in some open place in a grave which they dig very deep and wide a Jewish custom likewise to carry the bodies of their dead to bury them out of their Cities and Towns Luke 7. 12. Their mourning over their dead is most immoderate for besides that day of general lamentation at the end of their Ram-Jan or Lent before mentioned they houl and cry many whole dayes for their friends departed immediately after they have left the world and after that time is passed over many foolish women so long as they survive very often in the year observe set dayes to renue their mourning for their deceased friends and as a people without hope bedew the graves of their husbands as of other their near relations with abundance of seemingly affectionate tears as if they were like those mourning women mentioned Jer. 9. 17. who seemed to have tears at command and therefore were hired to mourn and weep in their solemne lamentations And when they thus lament over their dead they will often put this question to their deaf and dead Carkasses why they would die They having such loving wives such loving friends and many other comforts as if it had been in their power to have rescued themselves from that most impartial wounding hand of death Which carriage of theirs deserves nothing but censure and pity though if it be not Theatrical we may much wonder at it and say of it as it was said of the mourning in the floor of Atad Gen. 50. 11. that it is a grievous mourning or as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Zech. 12. 11. if we take those lamentations onely in a literal sence But to speak unto this as a Christian certainly the Apostle who forbids immoderate mourning for friends departed 1 shef 4. 13. imployes and allows of that mourning which is moderate To behold a great Funeral where there are abundance of mourning garments and no weeping eyes is not a good sight for a man to die as Jehojakim a very bad Son of an excellent good Father of whom it was sadly prophesied that he should die without lamentation non plangent eum Eheu frater they shall not lament for him saying Ah my brother his Ashes should not be moistned with one tear and to be buried as Jehojakim was with the burial of an Asse Jer. 2. 18 19. is very sad And doubtlesse it had been better for a man never to have been born than to live undesired and to die unlamented For a man to run a long race through the world and to leave no token of good behinde him but to be like an Arrow shot by a strong arm up into the aire wherein it flies a great circuit yet immediately after it is fal'n it cannot be discern'd that it was ever there I may say of such a one that he was born out of due time or rather that it had been good for him if he had not been born at all But now further concerning their places of Burial many Mahometans of the greatest qualitie in their life time provide fair Sepulchres for themselves and nearests friends compassing with a firm wall a good circuit of ground near some Tank before spoken of about which they delight to Burie their dead or else they close in a place for this use near springs of water that may make pleasant fountains near which they erect little Misquits or Churches near them Tombs built round or four square or in six or eight squares with round vaults or Canopies of stone over head all which are excellently well wrought and erected upon Pâ—llars or else made close to be entered by doors every way under which the bodies of their dead lie interred the rest of that ground thus circled in they plant with fruit Trees and further set therein all their choisest flowers as if they would make Elysian fields such as the Poets dream'd of wherein their Souls might take repose Thus to bury as it should seem was an ancient custom for it is written of Manasseh King of Judah that he was buried in the garden of his own house so of his Son Amon that he was buried in that garden likewise 2 King 21. 18. and 26. verses thus I seph of Arimathea had his Sepulchre in his garden and it was well placed there that when he was in the place of his greatest delight his meditations might be seasoned with the thoughts of his death There are many goodly Monuments which are richly adorned built as before was observed to the memory of such as they have esteemed Paeres or Saints of whom they have a large Kalender in which are Lamps continually burning attended by votaries unto whom they allow Pensions for the maintaining of those lights and many transported there with wilde devotion dayly resort to those monuments there to contemplate the happinesse those Paeres as they imagine now enjoy And certainly of all the places that Empire affords there are none that minister more delight than some of their burying places do neither do they bestow so much cost nor shew so much skill in Architecture in any other structures as in these Now amongst many very fair Piles there dedicated to the remembrance of their dead the most famous one is at Secandra a Village three miles from Agra it was begun by Achabar-sha the late Mogols Father who there lies buried and finished by his Son who since was laid up beside him The materials of that most stately Sepulchre are Marble of divers colours the stones so closely cemented together that it appears to be but one continued stone built high like a Pyramis with many curiosities about it and a fair Misquit by it the Garden wherein it stands very large planted as before and compassed about with a Wall of Marble this most sumptuous Pile of all the structures that vast Monarchy affords is most admired by strangers Tom. Corâ—at had a most exact view thereof and so have many other English men had all which have spoken very great things of it And if we here step aside to look into other Countreys and stories we may observe much to this purpose though none that I have ever heard of like that I last named where many whose foregoing lives have little deserved those following remembrances yet after death have had their bodies lodged in rich Monuments when others of great worthâ— and most deserved memory have been very obscurely buried Varro writes of Licinius or Licinus but a Barber to Augustus Caefar who getting wealth was after his death honoured with a fair Monument of Marble when grave and wise Cato had but a small meer stone to cover him and renowned Pompey had in this kinde no remembrance at all of all whom Varro briefly writes thus Marmoreo Licinus tumulo jacet at Cato parvo Pompeius nullo Licinus entomb'd under rich Marble stone Cato a
small one had Great Pompey none When Iulius Caesar had vanquished Ptolomey and the distressed King hoped to preserve his life by flying into a Boat there were so many of his Souldiers which followed him that they lost their lives by that very means they hoped to preserve them for their too much weight sunk the Boat and they all with their most unhappy King drown'd together Concerning whom I have what here follows but a little varied thus observed to my hand Mixt with Plebeians there a Monarch lies The last o' th race of Egypts Ptolomeys Under no covert but his Niles cold waves No Pyramids nor rich Mansolian graves Nor Arched vaults whose structures do excell As his forefathers Ashes proudly dwell And dead as living do their wealth expresse In sumptuous Tombes or gorgious Palaces This was the Fate of that last Egyptian Monarch and it is sad to consider that an Egyptian Monarch should be buried under water and mudd and a Roman Barber covered with Marble The like hath been the condition of many others who have deserved in their generation lasting remembrances in this kinde but have not found them when others who have merited nothing at all have had much said and in that respect much done for them after death And therefore one of this age very eminent for great parts writing of a great man by place and deserts but obscurely buried and observing rich Monuments set off with large and undeserved Encomiums for others which deserved them not first blames The flattering stone Which oft belies the dead when he is gone And after writes further in relation to him before mentioned thus Let such as fear their rising purchase vaulâ—s And statues onely to excuse their faults While thou shalt rise thorough thy easie dust At the last day these would not but they must And truly if we consider and impartially read many Hyperbolical expressions engraven upon some Monuments we may make a pause at the two first words which are commonly these Here lies and write them thus hear lies and there make a stop because little or nothing that follows hath any truth in it And therefore though many great and rich men have their bodies after death covered with stately Piles which hold forth many and high commendations of them yet these cannot keep their names from putrifying and rotting as much above ground as their bodies do under it The name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10. 17. His remembrance shall perish from the earth and he shall have no name in the street Job 18. 17. or if their names survive and be remembred they shall but continue their shame as here lies or there dwelt such an oppressor such a cruel or such a covetous Muck-worm or such a filthy or such a prophane ungodly person or such an intemperate drunken sot whom many times such an inscription would fit if it were written over their doors as Diogenes sometimes caused to be written upon the door of a like intemperate person who had written before that his house was to be sold under which that Cynick wrote thus I thought this house would surfet so long that it would spue out its master for God shall take such away and pluck them out of their dwelling places and root them out of the land of the living or as the Prophet Jeremiah speaks their dwellings shall cast them out But however they which deserve true honour should have it both alive and dead The memory of the just shall be blessed Abel was the first that ever tasted death and he died by violence he died for Religion Oh how early did Martyrdom creep into the world yet Abol who hath been so long dead yet speaketh Heb. 11. 4. or the Testimony which Almighty God gave of that righteous Abel is yet spoken of and so shall be till eternity hath swallowed up time The remembrance of Josiah is like a composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the Apothecary sweet in all mouths c. and so shall remain when stately Monuments erected to preserve the memorie of others shall be so defaced that it will not appear where they once were In a word all Kings and Potentates of the earth of what Nation soever they be must first or last lay down their swords and Scepters and Trophies at the gates of death No earthly King shall ever carry his Crown further than Simon the Cyrenian did the Crosse to Golgotha to the grave which narrow compasse of earth shall at last put a confinement to all their great thoughts who have believed as Alexander sometime did the whole world by much to little to bound their desires Unus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit Orbis Aestuat infelix angusto limite mundi Ut Gyarae clausus scopulis parvaque Seripho CuÌ„ tamen a figulis munitam intraverit urbem Sarcophago contentus erat Mors sola fatetur Quantula sint hominuÌ„ corpuscula Ju. Sat. 10. One world the youth of Pella cannot hold He sweats as crouded in this narrow mold To close Seriph's and Gyara's Rocks consin'd But when into the Towns with brick-walls lin'd He entered once there must he rest content In a straight Coffin and slight Monument For death alone is that which will confesse Though great mens mindes their bodies littlenesse Ecce vix totam Hercules implevit urnam Behold great and victorious Hercules the subduer of the Monsters of the World when he was dead and his body resolved into aslies scarcely fill'd one earthen Pitcher Death is the great Loveller which cuts down and then layes all people flat before God Oh if sicknesse and death could be brib'd how rich they would be this death makes all men to appear as they are men upon even â—erms in the sight of God The great men there shall not be offered a Chair and Cushion to sit down while others stand and wait I saw the dead both small and great stand before God Rev. 21. 12. The small and the great are there and the servant is free from his master Job 3. 19. The distinction then in that day shall not be 't wixt poor and rich 'twixt mean and mighty 'twixt them that are nobly born and those of low parentage But good and bad shall be the onely Terms to distinguish one man from another before that great Tribunal when every one of what degree or condition soever he hath been shall receive from the hands of God according to that which he hath done in the flesh be it good or evil When the two Cups the two rewardâ— the two recompences shall be impartially distributed and none but those which shall be found in Christ accepted rewarded in the mean time as it is in natural rest it is much better to lodge in a very poor base and mean cottage upon an hard open pallat and there to have sweet and quiet sleep than in a most sumptuous Palace upon a bed of down enclosed with the richest Curtains that cost
who lies prostrate before him he will with his broad round foot immediately presse him to death but if that wretched Creature be condemn'd it 〈…〉 mori ut se mori sentiat so to dye as that he may feel tortures and torments in dying which are as so many several deaths The Elephant will break his bones by degrees as men are broken upon the wheel as first his Legs then his Thighs after that the bones in both his Arms this done his wretched Spirit is left to breath its last out of the middest of those broken bones But it is a very sad thing and very much unbeseeming a man as he is a man to seem to take pleasure in executing of punishment as those appear to do who make it their businesse to study and invent tortures to inflict on others Thus those Monsters of men did in the primitive times of Christianity devise new torments for the exercise of the Faith and patience of Christians which in their relations are extream hard and sad to read of much more in their suffering of them were they to be endured Yet almighty God did then so support his people in the middest of all those grievous extremities they were made to suffer that their Tormentors were more troubled to invent then they were to endure tortures so that they overcame while they were overcome and were not more than men but morâ— thaâ— Conquerors over those who seemed to conquer them I cannot deny but that the strength of pride may carry men very far the strength of delâ—sion much further as we may observe from the examples of the ancient Stoicks and since them from others whose Frantick opinions have made so prodigal of their limbs and lives as that they would seem very little to regard extreamity of tortures and sufferings yea death it self When one told Theodorus Seneca the Philosopher reports the stories that he would hang him up alive in the Air he answered thus minitare istud purpuratis tuis c. threaten this to thy Carpet Knights Theodoruâ— cares not whither his body rot in the Air or in the Earth and that when others were upon the Rack they would cry ô quam suave c. Oh what pleasure is there in racking Now what pity wrought in others pride and delusion wrought in these The truth is non p 〈…〉 a sed â—ausa facit Martyrâ—m it is not a mans suffering but the reason of it which made a Martyr and therefore however others bear things ouâ— they and they onely to whom it is given not onely to believe but also to suffer can behold their sufferings so with a clear eye of Faith that though they be intolerable in themselves and seem so to others yet are they made easie to them Ignatius came to the stake and kissed it at which he was presently burnt Others have inimbraced those flames which immediately afâ—â—r â—â—â—n'd them into ashes whence Tyrants persecutors have often served though much against their wills to build and enlarge the Church of Christ As the persecution of Stephen served to spread the Doctrine of salvation in the Countreys thereabouts and to raise up a number of Churches that happening to persecutors which might happen to a man who to put out a quick fire of burning Coals should scatter them all over his Chamber and so set on fire his whole House The Church of Christ hath ever gained in persecution what it hath lost in prosperity Therefore those Christians in the primitive Church when they were tortured would not except of deliverance Heb. 11. 35. that is aâ—â—â—pt of it upon any sinfull terms and in the 138. of the same Chapter they received or took possession of the promises which they had onely in hope a far off and embraced them as if they had had them in hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hug'd them they kiss'd them as resting abundantly satisfied with the hope and expectation of them If in thiâ— life onely the people of God had hope then were they of all mâ—n most miserable for they are here as some chief tender plants of another Countrey who have much ado to live and grow whereas the wicked like weeds thâ—ive without watering The Devil is called the Prince of the World and therefore it would be very strange if any of Gods people should finde very much content where Satan hath so much to do Here in this World optimi pissimâ— agunt the best usually fare worst the righteous have most wrong But it will not alwayes be thus a time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and then all tears shall be wiped from his peoples eyes and all sadnesse shall be removed from their Spirits Nec Malleus Tyrannorum nec secur is pâ—rsecutionis and as one of the ancients sweetly comforts when the Hammer of Tyranny cannot touch nor the Ax of persecution hurt them for they shall be out of the reach of all fears troubles annoyances which make their lives here sometimes for the present seem bitter unto them Without doubt the services of Gods people would be very ill rewarded if they should continue here in this life still But God who lends them to the world â—owes them a far better turn than the whole earth can pay them and therefore when he sees good removes them hence because it is for their preferment in the mean time though the miseries of Gods people be great their dayes are short And although Almighty God do not say it vocally yet secretly he speaks to all his people as sometimes he did to Moses after he had done all the words which he appointed him to do here he bids him go up to Mount Nebo and dye there Deut. 32. 50. go up and dye as if he had said go up and eat So Joseph before him said unto his brethren I dye Gen. 50. 24. as if he had said I eat I drink I sleep It is neither news or strange for any dear servant of God to think of dying because he knows that he shall part with nothing by death but what is a burden to him his sin loose nothing by dying but what he would fain be rid of his corruption Hence the ancient Fathers naming the death of the faithfull their birth and the day of their Martyrdom the day of their Nativity shewed what great satisfaction and content they had in the thought and hope of the life to come In the mean time they beheld their sufferings whatsoever they were so with the eye of Faith as before that it made them easie to be endured while they looked not at things which were seen or did not much regard them but at the things which were not seen for the things they saw or felt here how bitter or sharp soever they were were temporal transient would have an end but the things they saw not but assuredly expected were eternal where they should finde weight of glorie for lightnesse of affliction 2 Cor.