will seeme a moonth and every moonth a yeare Psal 90.10 and the time to longe that he hath liued David the Prophet telleth vs that the age of man is three score yeares and ten and if hee liue anie longer it is rather to bee reckoned a vexation then a life this is a short time for a man to liue no longer and yet if every one might attaine to these yeares the life of man might be said to be of some length But if it were possible to record the yeares of every man that dieth we should finde in that large Register of mens liues that where one man ariueth to the age of threescore yeares end ten there are a hundreth which doe not see halfe so many there dye many moe in their infancy then in their ripe yeares moe in youth then in olde age all which sheweth how shorte this life is and what thou art in the Fruition thereof Adde vnto this the Vncertainty thereof wherein thou maiest quickly conceiue how many and sundry sortes of casualties thy life is subiect vnto which makes that more vncertaine then the winde that is ever mutable and full of alteration To confirme this if wee should goe about to reckon how many instruments death hath to bring every mans life to an vnexpected end the best memory would rather faile to reckon vp the several engines that death vseth to destroy mans life withall then that death would want meanes to worke a sodaine and an vncertaine end of mans life This may be prooved by diverse examples of men of all degrees sortes and conditions whoe in their best strength and chiefest time of their health and prosperity haue bene suddainly set vpon by the vncertaine executioners of death when they least suspected them or thought thereof Aul Ge Lib. 15. Cap. 20. As for example The famous greeke Poet Euripides being in good health supped with Archelaus after the which as he returned home when he thought himselfe least in daunger of death he was sodainly and that on a trice torne to pieces with dogges and so founde by triall how vncertaine this life is Caesar who had past infinite perilles in the warres was by Brutus and Cassius slaine suddainly in the Senate house Plutarch in vita C. Caesaris where he thought his life to be most safe and least suspected the daunger of death so approuing by his vntimely end the vncertainty of every mans life Q. Curtius writting the history of Alexander the great reporteth that whē he had conquered the world and death to as it seemed to himselfe he was comming to Babylon caught suddainly by death and made to know and confesse that vncertaine is the life of man though he were so great a monarch T. Hostilius the third King of Rome Plutarch in vita Numae vvhen he supposed himselfe safest and freest from deathes darte vvas strictken on the soddaine with a thunder bolte and his house burn to ashes with the lightening Tarquinius Prtscus also the 5. King of Rome was sitting at dinner when he least dreamed of death choaked with the boane of a fish and died thereof that night all which may well witnesse how shorte and howe vncerteine the life of mā is The Poets haue preatily fained that there are three sisters whome Seneca called the Destinies Cic. Lib. de natura deor and Cicero supposed to be the daughters of Herebus and Nox whome they affirme to be very much busied about the life of man their names are Clotho Clotho colū gestat Lachesis irahit Atropos occai Lachesis and Atropos the first doth weaue the threede of life the second doth lengthen it a little and the last doth cleane cut it of but the last of the three hath the quickest hande in her woorkes for vvhat the other two doe frame for a time that she doth vndoe in the moment of time and the threede of life though it should bee somewhat longe in spinning yet it is cut of in the twinckling of an eie and vvhen vve thinke it is stron gest then commeth Atropos vnawares to perfourme and playe her parte Death hath also three principall servauntes vvhich he imployeth much and often about this busines and they as diligently put in execution and perfourme what he commaundeth for the shortening and soone cutting of of the life of man vvhose names as casualty infirmity and olde age gaue sufficient proofe and testimony that shorte oftentimes and most vncertaine is the life of man what accoumpt we should make of it and what man is in the fruition thereof CHAP. 7. The Consideration vvhat thou art in the fruition of so painfull a life THis Consideratiō concerning mans life is of the grievous paines miserable torments which very often and most commonly do accompany thy selfe as Sicknes in thy body Sorovves and passions of the minds the Vakndnesse of friendes the Envie of enemies the Deceipte of flatterers and other vvorldely Mishappes vvhich breede such multitudes of miseries as are almost vnpossible to bee named and very harde and painfull with patience to be endured And first for the grievous paines that Sicknesse breedeth and bringeth vnto the body we see and daily experience telleth vs that many men are so tormented therewith that their whole life from the cradle to the graue is but the drawing of an everfainting breath and as it were a lingring death or rather a painfull life more grievous then death it selfe As the fish Clupea which when the moone increaseth is white and when it doth decrease becommeth blacke grovving to any greatnesse killeth himselfe for the paines of those prickles that come out of his owne sides so men possessed and payed with sicknes doe chaunge both colour and complexion as Clupea doth or as the moone waxeth and waneth and vvhen they grovv to any yeares the prickles of their paines is the cause of their death If vve shoulde seeke for examples to shewe how that many men haue beene mightily tormented with sicknesse vve might easily find see an endles sea of instaunces to confirme this conclusion wherein we vvill not wade much to wearie the Reader but rather referre him to consider of the cruell experiment that poore miserable men doe make thereof who pining with continuall sicknesse languish all their liues long from their mothers breastes till they bee borne of foure and brought to their last and longe home onely and for a taste herein I will set before him a fevve of many such examples as the holy scriptures offer vnto vs. Mephibosheth the sonne of Ionathan 2. Sam 4.4 Math. 9. the sonne of Saule was lame of both his legges and ledde a lingring languishing life all his daies Iïrus daughter vvasted vvith sicknesse and the vvoman of Canaans daughter vexed with a Devill had ended their daies vvith dolour and griefe if CHRIST at the humble suite and petition of their parentes Mar. 5. had not shewed mercy vnto both Marke maketh mention of a miserable
is such as it vvill not suffer vs to indure troubles vvith patience This that hath beene said may in some sort suffice to shevv though not fully and perfectly hovv paineful hovv tormenting and hovv ful of cares the course of this life is serveth fitly to stirre and mooue thee to consider and vveigh vvell vvith thy selfe vvhat thou art in enioying of so short so vncertaine so painefull a life as this is CHAP. 8. The Consideration what thou arte in thy death and manner of dying THe last Consideration of this first part is concerning thy death vve meane not here to discourse but cursorilie of the difference betvveene corporall and spirituall temporall and eternall death best beseeming the pens and paines of great and graue Divines but only to speake of the death of the body most familiar and best knowne to all men It is an old saying very true that as sure as man is borne so sure he is to die Some said that death is three folde but rather might haue said and that more soundly and more truely that it hath three degrees the first Naturall the second Criminall the thirde Iudiciall For the first vvhich is Naturall or the dissolution of nature this as is said before as it is common to all men and no man is exempted from it so it hath in it many things seeming very fearefull and procuring much amazement vvhich yet ought not to bee feared at all as vvhen death dravveth neere sending before him his habinger Sicknes he presenteth vnto the sicke man a gastfull countenance and leane bones vvithout flesh yea hee doth offer to his remembraunce the losse of all his goods and honors his departure from his friendes the sequestring of his soule from his body and the seperating of himselfe from the vvorld from all things in the vvorld hovv deare and delightfull soeuer vnto him vvhereby the senses are all over-loaden and burthened vvith sorrovv according to the saying of the Poet Mille modis lethi miseros mors vnafatigat that is A thousand kindes of deathes and moe Death hath at hand to vvorke mansvvoe All vvhich behelde of the meere naturall man in the grimme visage of death as it vvere in a looking glasse seeme very dread full but of these chiefely the loue of this life maketh him most of all to feare death and yet to him that is truly vvise the sadde sight of death yeeldeth no such hideous aspect or discontentment but rather mooueth him to remember and make good vse of that excellent saying of Seneca Sen. epist 62. Before olde age I had care to liue vvell that I might in olde age die well that is vvillingly For to die vvillingly is to die vvell vvhich if a man vvould consider and put in practise then needed he not to feare this naturall death of the body Full vvell said the Heathen Philosopher Cice. in som Scip. that vnlesse God should free man from the keepers or from that prison of the body there could be no passage into heauē Though death doe dissolue this temporall and momentary life frō the body yet if a good death follow a good life it addeth a longer life vnto this temporall and transitory life and it taketh away all cares and calamities from the body and life of man in so much that such a death may aptly be called the end of labours the conservation of victory the gates of life and the entraunce into euerlasting felicity Thus may the vertuous discreete and considerate man learne to know what he is concerning the first degree of death vvhich we cal naturall or the dissolution of nature As touching the second degree of death vvhich vvee call Criminall or the death of offence this vnto many men seemeth nothing fearfull although it ought more to bee feared then the first The first degree of Naturall death every man must yeelde vnto and paye vndoubtedly as a due debte to Nature or rather to the Creator of Natures vvorkes but the seconde degree of death vvhich is the death of offence as it begonne and brought in that first death vvhich vvee tearme Naturall so is it or it ought to be much more feared then the same For one of the Fathers saith Aug. sup Gen. that Adam and Eue beganne to dye in the same day that they did receiue the lavve of death that is vvhen they offended first and that by one mans offence death came vnto all men This death of offence vvhich is cause first of the Naturall then of the Iudiciall death ought therefore most of all to be feared yet wee see and that to to commonly hovve men make small reckoning of this death and doe least dreade it else vvoulde they not be so proane and ready to runne on head-long and to committe those offences that doe procure death and perpetuall destruction This death of offence or the offence it selfe vvhich causeth death ought to be very much feared For though men while they liue doe lightly and little regard it yet it bringeth with it to torment them vvhen they are a dying shame horrour and confusion The last degree of death or the last effect of it is the death of Iudgment this hath three stepps or staires by which it mounteth either to eternal happines or else descendeth vnto endlesse paines and torments For Iudgment is saide to be of three sortes the first is of our selues the seconde is of men and the third is of or by the Creator of man For the first Iudgment of our selues concerning our deathes and of our desertes of death this is invvarde and contained in the Conscience of everie man vvhich Conscience vvhen it giueth iudgment against a man it makes him feele the paines of death in life and it figureth vnto him the perpetuall paines vvhich he shall endure after death An heathen Philosopher could say that a guilty conscience is like to an vlcer in the body Plut de animi tranquillitate For it leaueth sorrowe and griefe wounding him and feastering in his heart and minde continually When reason can relieue the minde moued otherwise to sadnesse nothing can ease the galling and torture of a guilty Conscience Ovid lib 1. de Ponto Eleg. 1. which caused the comfortlesse Poet to confesse and say Paenitet o si quid miserorum creditur vlli Paenitet et facto torqueor ipse meo that is I doe repent if any wretched wight Might credit haue or be beleud in this It grieveth me and galleth day and night My woefull hearte that I haue done amisse This is the fruite and onely ease I finde A guilty deede yealde to a galled minde Therefore this Iudgment of our selues in our owne consciences that we haue not onely deserued this temporall but an eternall death is without it be eased by perfect Penitence a double death vnto vs. The second steppe of ludgment is the Iudgement of men whereon death also doth depend As the iudgmēt of our selues is internall and
vvoman vvhose body with sickenesse vvas vvonderfully vveakened and vvhose wealth vvith Phisitians vvas vvasted her issue of blood continually increasing so that in twealue yeares she never had ease one day What what shall I speake of that woman whome her infirmities had bowed togeather and of whome Christ saide Luc. 13. that Satan had bounde her for eighteene yeares Ioh. 5.1 The poore man that laye at the poole of Bethesda keapt his bedde eight and thirty yeares not able to helpe himselfe till Christ healped him The same vvas the state of Agbarus King of Edessa Euseb Lih. 1. Cap. 14. of vvhome Eusebius maketh mention it vvere to longe and an infinite laboure for me to lay dovvne all that might be remembred to this purpose let him that would knowe more aske the Phisitian how many sundry sortes of diseases he seemeth to knovve though he seldome cureth most of them all which are ordained for the punishment of sinners Iob. 1. and are inflicted vpon miserable men in all ages Onely I will ende with poore and patient Iob whose life during his triall was much more grievous then death whose children were destroyed suddainly whose goods were taken from him violently whose body was diseased straungly whose wife vpbraided him wickedly whose friends rebuked him sharply what greater Crosse could be laid on man bereast of childrē chap. 2. spoiled of goods abused by his wife condemned by his friends sore in body sicke in mind what misery may be compared here with was it any marvaile that he desired his death Cap. 10.18 or rather that he had never beene borne Now how painfull the life of man is which is subiect vnto so much sorow we may perceiue it by the visage and see it in the estate of their bodies who are overwhealmed therewith For most commonly their bones are dried vp and their bodies ther by made like vnto an anatomy whereof grewe that olde Adage vvhich adviseth a man not to eate vp his hearte signifying that such as are troubled vvith much sorovve consume avvay even as if they had eaten vp their owne heartes and end their liues with supping vp that sowre potion Hovv painfull mans life is that is possessed vvith sorovve may well bee perceiued and that everie man hath his parte thereof is pregnant to be proued for that is true which the Poet testifieth thereof speaking to man thus Quocunque aspiceres gemitus luctusque sonabant Formaque non taciti funeris intus erat that is Which way so-e're thou looke about There sighes and sobbes doe sound It is no silent burials shape That in thy selfe was found These verses doe well declare hovv that mans life is full fraught with cares sorrowes Care men haue to preuent perils as they are comming towardes them and they sorrow when they see that they cannot overcome those which are already befallen them so that sorrow sitteth as it were on euery side and at every hand before and behinde man whereby his life is environed with perpetuall paines And as for the paines or deadly tormentes rather that by meanes of externall evils as the vnkindnesse of friendes the envie of enemies and the deceipte of flatterers doe inseparably accompany mans life they are to too well knowne to euery man both in their owne particular experience and also in the examples of others For the first it is most true and not doubted of by any that the greatest calamity that can happen to a man and may most grieue molest a faithful friend is to be vnfaithfully dealt withall by him whom he accompted and esteemed for his best friend this made the poore Poet thus pittifully to complaine of his friendes vnfaithfulnesse Omnia iam fient fieri quae posse negabam Et nil est de que non sit habenda fides Hac ego vaticinor quia sum deceptus ab illo Laturum misero quem mihirebar opem that is All things shal be which once I deem'd could ne're be done And nought there is to which my faith shal not be wonne This I foretell because I was deceiu'd by him Who vnto me I thought would succour bring By this it shoulde seeme that the poore miserable banished Poet felte nothing more grievous amiddest all his miseries in his exile then the deceipte of his reputed friende vvhereby also this is made manifeste that greate is the griefe and much is the paine that falshoode in friendshippe procureth a man The painefull tormente that an envious enemy worketh a man is little inferiour nay rather it equalleth the former For this adversary set on rage and inflamed vvith ire T. Liuius is resolued as an vnextinguishable fire to consume the life the honour and the whole estate of him that is envied and vvho is hee that is truely vertuous vvhich is not subiect to envies iavves Val. Max. Lib 4. Tit. de amicit Xen. in Paed. Cyri. l. i. And as Xenophon saith hee is in verie evill case whome no man envieth neither coulde hee in his daies remember any vertuous man that was not cruelly stunge vvith this poysoned and most venemous serpent vvhereby wee may vvell note hovve that mans life is much tormented with envie Lastly of the deceite of flatterers hew farre forth it tormenteth mans minde this at the first is not seene of most men but lyeth hidde as a padde in the stravve For the flatterer covereth his knavery vvith the cloake of good counsell and shaddovveth his subtile devise by soothing and smoothing of him vvhome hee is aboute to deceiue euermore praysing and commending his actions howe euill soeuer and dispraising the vvorkes and deedes of others hovve good soeuer as hee findeth his humor and may best feede the fantasie of him that he followeth vntill hee haue vvonne him to vvorke his owne woe and in the end brought him to the deepe dungeon of vtter destruction then but commonly to late men repent them that euer they knewe such companions and are vveary of them when they perceiue howe that they haue broughte them sorrowe shame and confusion to vexe grieue and torment their mindes continually and as long as they haue daies to liue neither is this the least adversary though last set downe heere that troubleth and disquieteth the life of man By these and such other meanes more then can vvell be manifested to mans life fraught with anguish and paine is made so loathsome vnto himselfe 1. Kin. 19.4 that vvho is he vvhich with Elyas doth not wish to die confesse that he is not better then his fathers whose bodies be at rest as he vvould be and saith not vvith Paule Cupio dissolui Phil. 1.23 esse cum Christo I desire to be dissolved and to be vvith Christ For that vvere to a Christian heart advantage in deed By the rules of Christianity vvee should learne truely to be contented vvith all crosses and calamities vvhich happen vnto vs in the course of this life yet our natural corruption
in our owne consciences so the iudgment of men is externall depending vpon exteriour proofes probabilities whereby they giue their iudgment of life and death And although that the iudgment of men be not alvvaies true in their difinitiue sentence and decree of men howe they haue deserved either to liue or dye because that they which are the ludges whither with authority or without may mistake the lawes by the which they iudge or else those that produce proofes vnto them may either wilfully or ignorantly misinforme and misguide them yet it behoueth every wise man discreetly to submitte himselfe vnto that sentence of the Law which limitteth vnto him either life or death Demosth. Con And For as the excellent Orator affirmed it is not lawfull to maligne magistrates though they be wicked evill the reason thereof is because that they vvhen they do giue iudgment of life and death are the substitutes of him vvho is the author of life and death And if thou vvilt dye vvell avoide and eschevve all evill deedes vvhich are the occasions of this iudgement of men vvhich deeme and iudge thee worthy of death For this iudgment of death doth commonly follow the evill actions of a badde life The last steppe in the last degree of death vvhich is called the finall Iudgment followeth death at the latter daic vvhen the vniversall iudgment of mankinde shall bee and either eternall life or eternall death insueth Of this I purpose to speake but as an occurrent by the vvay Then shall bee the beginning of glory to the good and to the vvicked of shame and confusion then shall bee the seperation of the sheepe from the goates of the corne from the cockle and of the blessed from the accursed After this then they that receiue the sentence of life shall never dye or feare death any more and those vvhich are appointed to dye can never hope for life againe whatsoever some men haue dreamed of this matter whereof we purpose not heere to intreate This last degree of death or difference betweene life and death hath in it either much feare or much ioy feare to the wicked in respect of former offences but ioy vnto the faithfull in their hope of enioying future happinesse which followeth after a vertuous life and a godly end Lactan. in divinis inst Lib. 6. cap. 4 And as Lactantius alleadgeth if it be asked of vs vvhyther death bee good or evill vvee must aunsvvere that this or that mans death is good or bad as his life was either good or bad vvhich hee had lead before For if thy life be good then vvill thy death also be good vnto thee but if thy life be evill then likewise is death evill vnto thee The Conclusion of this first parte of the first pointe of Consideration concerning thy selfe VVhat then arte BY this litle touch or light handling of Consideration herein gentle Reader tendered vnto thee if thou hast read over the same with good regarde thou maiest thereby make some triall concerning the knovvledge of thy selfe what thou arte in thy Creation in thy Procreation and by r the in thy Life and in thy Death All which if thou doe well and advisedly consider thou shalt finde that to be true Bernardus in senten which Bernard affirmeth that man is sicke of a threefolde malady in the beginning in the middle and in the ending that is in his birth in his life and in his death For his birth is vnpure his life is perverse his death daungerous His birth it is vnpure by reason of our first parents fall and the daily offences of our naturall parents Psal 51.5 which mooued the Psalmist well weighing it to say that in sinne hee vvas conceiued His life is perverse because that by nature he is proane to all evill actions His death is daungerous because his life is vitious There is in our birthe a beginning of sorrowe there is in our liues a continuance of the same there is in our deathes either a dissolution or else a perpetuall possession thereof The end of the first Section of the first parte of Consideration The Consideration THE SECOND SECTION OF the first part of the Consideration of humane Condition CHAP. 1. The Consideration of thy selfe who thou art NOw having said somewhat concerning the first part of the first point of the Cōsideration of thy selfe which is What thou art it is necessary that we proceed farther to the seconde part of this first point of Consideration which is Who thou art The Consideration whereof doth containe in it the remembrance reknowledgement of thy parentage linage and descent the knowledge of thy state of body of thy vvealth calling dignity and wisedome To the goodnesse and greatnesse of which giftes the Philosophers in former times haue attribured a great part of mās felicity calling Riches Nobility Honors the goods of fortune Health Strēgth Beauty they tearmed the goods of the body Wisedome Learning and Vertue they esteemed to be the goods of the Minde By the true Consideration of thy selfe vvho thou art in the possession of these blessings thou maiest learne to know that if thou haue any or all of them thou art yet no otherwise happy in them then according as thou doest vse them for if it be true that there is a difference betweene vsing and enjoying of thinges in that wee are saide properly to vse onely those thinges that are temporall Pet. Lumb Lib. 1. and to emote those thinges that are eternall thou maiest consider that thy parentage thy health thy dignities thy wisdome being things tēporal transitory are then only to be vsed of thee here for a time that but for very short time for thou maist by no means enioy thē alwaies This wel pōdered thought vpon will soone bring thee to the knowledge of thy selfe Who thou art For there is nothing that letteth and hindereth a man more from the knowledge of himselfe then the opinion and fonde conceipte he hath of the goodnes greatnes and durablenesse of those worldly blessings which he doth possesse and so entirely affect Therefore to vveede out the over-weening opinion thereof vvee vvill first beginne with thy linage and parentage and so bring thee by little and little into the consideration of thy selfe vvho thou art Art thou descended of a noble family or of a base linage if thou be noble borne then commonly pride and presumption catch holde and lay such violent handes on thy vvill thy affection and thy vnderstanding that they can hardlie bee remooued from thee till they haue remooued thee from the knowledge of thy selfe who thou art For thy presumptuous pride and selfe-liking affection will make thee beleeue that thou art much better then indeed thou art This makes men many times to measure their owne greatnes of birth as they doe their shadowes vvhich alwaies seeme bigger then their bodies and by degree it draweth them to beleeue that their birth and