dances and feasts each of them flitte incessantly it 's sure that death approatcheth nigh howerly Were all your dayes spent in the solemnityes which frequently are found when so that marriages are pompously celebrated Oh! how direfull would your last day appeare vnto yee since then must yee render account of your time past in laughter and dance Reflect a while how many are the dances and feasts wherein you haue entertained your times hence take counsaile secretly of your memoryes then vse your judgments and see what is left vnto yee yee shall never haue other for your pleasures And what will it not bee reproach vnto yee that yee sould your portions for nothing which yee pretended for Heauen I haue heard say that Lysimachus did exchang his Crown for a glass of water but when Ladyes obserue then it was so with him at that time when hee was even as it were reduc'd to ashes by the same heate of thirst which burn'd his entrailles in so much as beeing in such plight in rendring his dying spirit hee chang'd naught else but wind but breath for water But to see how remissely yee giue over your pretensions of eternall consolations of everlasting joyes for toyes such I may truely terme them which beare no other titles then of meere deprauations of your phantasyes of your imaginations Where is that self affection whence yee seeme to become so passionate Is it not to hate your selues that you affect not aught else but what doth flit it's not it when yee dye what will bee left yee of your passed time but a present greif and too late such whose anguishes will never cease Yee never dreame of other thing then to enquire after new pastimes to the ruine of your times Alas Nor consider yee aright that Time doth ruine yee for in seeking to pass it yee must find death How so is it possible that yee striue to pass over it which so swiftly glideth by yee as doe your phantasyes light though they bee they can not over take it And what more seriously yee ought to ponder is that all the time of your liues hath for its terme its limit a sole moment on wich though such doth depend for ever and a day your calamityes or your felicityes that 's a misery in torment which hath no end this a bliss in glory which will be permanent beyond all ages illimited indeed Oh! how pretious are the contemplations of the last period of our liues How is it so that thou art not as inseparable to our soules as is the shaddow to the body Oh! how sweet is the memory of our death Why is it so that our memory is not for the most part in such sort all taken vp with thee as that it never forget thee Oh Deuine is the meditation on Eternity Art thou not as sensible of our soules as our respiration is of the preseruation of our hearts How Dauid liketh mee well when hee cryed out aloud that hee had often meditated and that seriously indeed on the dayes for ever where God Allmighty is solely the light Oh faire dayes I wonder not that yee haue no night the Sunne which sheweth it self on yee is bright and borroweth not it's light no. Oh dayes most happy say no more or thus I am not one whit astonished if so bee it that yee remaine for ever the Planet which gaue yee a beeing possesseth Eternity in cheif in proper Truely my soule is extasyed rapt as it were in this sweet contemplation with such singular content it 's in such guise as that really it hath no desire to be otherwise Ladyes in a word it 's so that yee must arriue to the dayes end and returne thither from whence yee came in the morning for it 's but one dayes iourney Yee haue a fine time of it to bee lazing The Sunne who sendeth forth his beames for yee will that yee goe as fast as doth hee Dance laugh sleepe vntill noone day the shippe of your liues leaueth not it's cours it sayleth evermore incessantly on the sea of it's proper miseryes onely by the wind of your respirations it cannot stay it self vntill it arriue at the hauen of the sepulcher Ladyes it 's the hauen to which Doomes Trumpet doth summon yee Take yee heed least it bee not found a rock vnto yee where yee may encounter too dreadfull a shock the calamity thereby is for Eternity and repentance vnprofitable In good earnest at what time soever I think of Eternity nothing that 's wordly doth please mee I am not bold to say so much that each parcell of the Vniuers made such by a Soveraigne power and absolute from it having it's soule it 's beeing it 's life is not in it self admirable and adorable in it's Creatour but as there are so many obiects of change or of corruption my heart not well appeas'd sigheth after the fountaine of the lesser springs as after it which is onely capable to quench the thirst of my desirs Ladyes would yee but distast the word's pleasures yee haue a ready way to fill your best thoughts on the delights of Eternity for such is the inequality that common sense will lead yee will suffise to make yee misprise them and earnestly desire theise AN ALARVM FOR LADYES The fift Dayes Worke. COME to my ayde my Lord cryed out Saint Hierome a thousand times a daye I dye for feare at the resound of that Trumpet which doth summon mee to thy judgment Ah Ladyes if this glorious Saint amydst the deserts and amydst the austerityes of a life all devoted to pennance found himself reduced at a bay at a stand for feare and dread can yee frame with the vanityes of the world when yee doe but once meditate on the necessity of your deaths from which there 's not one exempt This innocent doth tremble at it and are yee not aught sensible of it This harmeless quakes persist yee senseless This just man I say againe cryed out incessantly for help and succour though hee where soe pure yet will yee not bee awakened though infirme by the example of his astonishment Can yee take rest in the ships of your bodyes and on the world 's tempestuous sea 's without fore discerning that Time who is the Pilott puts yee one the shore of your sepulcher Awake your selues then suddainely and as your liues are but dreames at your waking dreame againe what trades yee intend to vse whilst yee are in this long Eternity to which yee make your howerly approatch God hath giuen yee and each one of yee since the time wherein yee haue been of reason a pencill in your hands as to Zeuxis that renown'd Painter who painted according to his beleif n'aught else but Eternity this is a paterne for yee such as it sheweth yee that all your works should haue for object and ayme no other thing In summe all which yee meditate on say and doe is painted in oile colours of Eternity I would yee vnderstood mee aright all
Were yee awakened then would resound the direfull Trompet which call's yee to the day of Doome where each one must appeare in proper person and answeare for himself in particular Set before yee now the confusion and disorder yee shall bee brought vnto Is it not likely that yee will blush for shame as often as yee haue lay'd white on your faces will they not become pale with feare as often as yee haue lay'd on them red therein yee will betray your selues publiquely discovering the secrets of your guilty slights I excuse Narcissus in the fable where as it 's found that there hee became his own enamoured the adorer of himself How was hee deceived Alas poore Narcissus thou never didst discover thy self in that guise and manner But how can one pardon yee or in any wise conniue at the errours found in yee of the like nature Can yee make the least question of your defects since that yee are fully fraught with them And for your forgettfulness of your miseryes it 's strang What yee fe'ele a thousand times a day can not butt make yee confess that yee are not pasted of aught else nor formed of any other matter Awake yee then speedily redeeme your selues out of this earthly sloth wherewith your soules are burthned are indeed heavily oppressed and lending an attentiue eare vnto the dreadfull sound of this Trumpett which summoneth the Vnivers to judgment ponder seriously that it giveth not a vaine warning since that each moment an infinity of soules come thither in troupes See in what case yee would bee found if death should surprise yee even then when your faces are painted your phantasyes charged with vanityes and your soules soyled with a thousand kinds of crimes Oh God of justice who will not feare thee at the day of thy vengeance Belieue me Ladyes since that your death's are inevitable since that yee must expressely dye indeed sollicitously note your dayly demeanours It seemth to any one who observeth the care which yee employ on your faces that you liue for them onely The fairest of your company who yesterday dyed suddainely to day affrighted her vassals and though yee bee tender to maintaine her former beauty yet I assure mee that yee defye to come nigh her without stopping your noses Enstyle yee those horrours graces which appeare on her face those her eyes suncke those her wanne lippes I tell yee truely that hew of death that it's tincture would as it where even make mee hate your sexe were I not a fruite of the same tree The rootes and body of the tree are of the self same stamp The leaues and flowers are of the self same nature there is not a pinne to choose To apply my self more nigh vnto yee I will state it thus that there is amongst yee one who is the flower the mirrour the wonder of this age what honour what lucre what returne of profitt will hence accrew vnto her were it that one sing her praises in each tongue there will not be found aught but aire in diuers fashions Should one erect and consecrat vnto her Altars she must bee the sacrifice for having been the Idole Were it that shee could impose lawes to all mortalls she can not exempt her self from beeing subject to all their miseryes Were that courtly Fortune led her by the hand to the height of thrones the self same may occasion her to fall into the precipice of a lamentable prison there to dye through greif as it was to Darius his wife I l'e goe further namely that herrenowned beauty had the vant in the judgment of many ages what then where may be found her aduantag therein A thousand honours will bee ascribed vnto her What will the world render vnto her where shee is no more nor ever shall bee and likely shee shall then burn in Hell there so remaine eternally Her body I say shall bee food for wormes Her soule for the flames and somtimes her name and fame shall bee celebrated heere below Where lyeth the honour now My spirits doe suffer in theise contemplations through their conceiu'd feare and astonishment Ladyes in what a miserable condition are they who solely haue beauty for their share for their part What rate set yee on beauty alone I say it 's no other then to haue a gay posy of flowers wherewith one may deck and dress one's self trimmely in the morning during the space that they are fresh butt about noone indeed so soone one leaueth the regard as well of the flowers as stemme even so at the approach of night this admired obiect the self same ment is misprised of the Vnivers Truely what soever is say'd I find nothing good but Vertue the rest passeth by and vanisheth One of tall and comely stature stoopeth A cleere voice changeth And a polite wit sometimes looseth it self through Vanity Vertue is it which is solely stable solely permanent on it's one ground never giving vs over to our ruine Bee yee then Ladyes since so yee will needes haue it as faire as was Cypris say'd to bee in the fable yet yee will gaine but an apple for your recompense Admitt yee bee as beautifull as was Lucretia famed to bee in the History yet dyed shee through greif All the beautyes who haue appeared on the earth since the instant of it's hauing beeing make but à hillock of it's gross dust It 's vertue solely which lead's vs beyond our tombs But whither goe yee now so well accoutred so neately dressed If it bee to Confession to make that desseigne your good morrows since that it 's the first Sunday of the moneth then reflect how yee haue prepared your selues In lieu of examining your consciences before a Crucifixe yee haue been curious to enquire the state and being of your faces before a lookinglass Yee goe to craue pardon for your offences and a new trangress yee in the same which calls for justice Yee part I say from the Confession chaire to the Altar there to receiue your Saviour with soules more disposed to offend heere after then resolu'd to repent of what is passed in your former liues Is not this to crye for vengeance against your selues Me thinckst I see the rare sainct Francis to appeare with that perfect charity which enflamed him on earth and by the self same fire wherewith the Seraphins are surrounded and entertained happily in Heauen and yet hee thought himself vnworthy to take vpon him the order of Preisthood Yet will yee bee so audacious so shameless as to receiue your owne Creatour with impure mouths and prophane hearts the sole thought of this crime doth put my spirits out of frame caused through confusion and astonishment AN ALARVM FOR LADYES The second Dayes Worke. I Warne yee Ladyes in the name of God for it's himself who giveth yee notice that yee neither know the day nor hower when this Trumpet which calleth yee to his judgment will giue the last summon How is it with yee Thinck
yee it not amiss to pass the moity of your ages in dreames and folyes Yee sleepe with soules as black as Hell what repose can yee enjoy at the eue of your everlasting restlesness The Heaven though insensible quaketh for horrour at the clamour the great noise of this Trumpet The earth though immooveable doth thence tremble for feare The Angells themselues in their purity and all the Saints jointly in their innocence are toutched with astonishment allthough they are not capable of feare and yet yee sleepe during the time of this publique alarum's being which fright 's all Nature Awake yee speedily and prepare your selues to render an account even of the least idle word which yee haue let fall Ah! how out of frame yee are when yee wake it seemeth to me that yee haue set by to dye in shew yee will dye now in earnest Let me see how it is with yee Yee are at a bay for feare and dread Oh! how profitable would theise agonyes bee found vnto yee if yee would oftentimes vndergoe the paines to apprehend liuely God's judgments but your spirits avers'd from so serious thoughts are the cause of your missprise thereof without reflecting on your loss therby that 's à pitty alas I perceiue that yee are risen to dress your selues and yee are never vnready to deck your bodyes repleat with infections but forbeare a while I pray then look out of the window there 's a spectacle for yee to meditate on that stinking carcass which is carried to be buryed the same with whom two dayes since yee contested with for beauty it 's now as yee see borne to the tomb and yee will follow it thither it 's but a pace before yee it 's not knowen as yet wether yee arriue all three together thither This dreadfull Trumpet soundeth dayly and yee trace the ground incessantly and run the self same race Obserue a right how it doth agree to judgment that yee bee seen buryed in the way one while to frisle your haires for to hide your nitts another time to make white your teeth those little bones whose least infected ruineth your graces and thus much is in favour of your bodyes which apparantly doe putrify and hence the wormes expect their prey in this world and the infernall spirits in the other What is the benefitt which your soules doe reape by the graces of your faces Thinck yee that at the hower of your deathes your Confessour will demand of yee how many yee haue enthrall'd enchained and made your slaues No no but at larg namely how long it hath been that yee haue employ'd your time in so vnhappy a beeing at such rate in so commiserable a state There is no further talke of your excellent persons your rares faces their graces shall possess no places no more shall they domineere your soules onely shall pleade their causes God grant that they want not plea to obtaine their suites O how faire is the employment of this second dayes entertainment it's passed off in admiring and tricking your selues meaning thereby to tempt and attrap weake persons to idolatrise But alas I find yee farr more simple yet It doth appeare that yee labour onely to advance and advantadg the fiends of Hell since at the dayes end they cary with them away all your spoiles Further heerevnto adjoine their conquestes of your selues It 's confess'd that yee are ritchely cloth'd that there can not bee added aught to the stately curiosity which serue as a new lustre to your enticements But whither bend yee your way so nicely deckt if it bee to a Comedy Ah! how Cleopatra that young Princess representeth a dolefull personage on the stage the Theather of her marriage in the Tragedy of King Philip her deere husband's death for she dyed by the same stroke of misfortune which caryed that great Monark to his tomb Shee was as faire as are yee How comes it to pass that yee are happyer She was as yong as yee What reason haue yee not to apprehend her misery her missfortune sensibly The Trumpet which cited yee to death and judgment soundeth incessantly thither doth each one make their recours in troupes and croudes Who can assure yee that yee shall not appeare there this very day since that yee make your way as fast as the rest Is that a reposed life is it to possess tranquillity to perceiue your selues dye without your beeing prepared for death will yee expose those things to so great a perill Which yee can not loose but once Yee liue not but for Eternity for the life of this world is not properly a life and yet yee let pass your time without reflecting once thinking of Eternity which will last as long as God Almighty What will it not turne to your reproach that on Earth yee shall bee found to haue donne nothing else but dress and deck your bodyes of earth Oh! what a rare exercise would it bee if so your soules were of the same matter Oh! the sweet entertainement if it were not expressely necessary to dye if so one were to liue for ever but daily to liue the eue of an eternall loss and passing all the time to the dressing and decking of your carcasses by consequence it must follow that Hell will bee your recompense Notwithstanding what heerein is fore delivered behould yee pass your time in seeing a Comedy at the Burgugnion house but know yee not that yee there act your parts and are at the end of each interclude giving occasion of laughter and scorn to all the sage Democrites for the vaine employments of your times yet it is expedient that I extract your gaines out of your losses Atleast thinke yee during this your entertainements of time that the world is a Theater where even new yee represent those persons whom God hath endowed for Eternity Doe yee well or ill yee shall not appeare but this time solely on the Theater yee play your parts for ever the Angells and the Diuells are your lookers on expecting the end of the last act whence yee are to receiue praises or reproaches I meane recompense or chastisement Yee haue a faire petition to deliver descended from the Theather into your sepulcher Oh! giue vs leaue to rise againe wee will liue better then in former times wee haue The intercludes are passed The play is ended The candells are extinguish'd each one shall receiue his guiderdon according to his merit and for an Eternity O fearfull judgment But what'is more dreadfull yet is that the Trumpet doth summon yee thither amongst the disorder wherein yee liue I leaue yee to consider heere on seriously AN ALARVM FOR LADYES The third Dayes Worke. HAPPY are they vvho rest in our Lord Ladyes then 〈…〉 yee for 〈…〉 to the 〈…〉 I find yee your 〈…〉 are as black as possâ—â—◠〈…〉 though your faces 〈…〉 white Behold yee are bridled vnder the chinne as are little infants with a mask lined with waxed linnen to fright them Oh! how
bee for ever Then rouse your selues and since yee can not gainesay this eternall necessity to dye dye valiantly with armes in your hands The benefit thereby had is companion of glory Amidst all the tortures which cruelty hath invented ever it 's esteemed that thereis never any of more rigour then that it of watching What an vnquietness is it to sleep never But if so bee it that for having slept too much in this world yee prooue condemned to watch incessantly in the other what affliction say I is it to bee kept awake I meane not on your downe beds your delicate coutches well made and in curious order but rather on beds of fire of flames which by Devine vertue will burne without consuming yee I tremble for feare yea even to horrour each time wherein I meditate heeron I find not any thing of less worth in life then is sleep and they who haue compared it to death therein haue found as pregnant reason as proportion It 's true wee daily dye but when the new death of fleep doth sursurprise vs can not wee say that wee dye twice at once Our soules haue somewhat to doe to handle in their follies the life of dreames wherewith they are then all taken vp it 's a kind of death vnto them as prooveth the light of reason which doth onely rule their facultyes in so much as that they who sleep much are more sottish then others and also more subject to a suddaine death as if so that their continuall action dying twice did conferre vnto this heavy accident I returne vnto yee At lenght God bee thank'd yee are awakened How meane yee to pass the rest of the dayes journey I am assur'd that yee ought to haue leisure to bee dress'd atleast consider amidst theise vaine entertainements the deplorable manner of life yee liue vnder day and night namely to cloth and vncloth your miserable carcasses whilst Time hath prepared each one's sepulcher I l'e tell yee yet againe that the trade vnder which yee are ever apprentises is a lamentable state and beeing Liue yee not a strange life to change your clothes very often there 's each day somewhat to say for the manner of them differ in so much as what is now in fashion hardly will suite with yee and serue your turnes to morrow so certaine is the world in it's inconstancy as are your humours Ladyes there are not found other clothes which change not fashion but your winding sheetes they allwayes are the same but as each one chooseth the colour's they best like of if your mournefull one 's agree not with your present humours yet accustome your selues therevnto taking your measures of them each night in your beds the ground therein to be found and the necessity will render vnto yee in the end an object which will suite with yee not distast yee a jot Ah no. I neither enquire whither nor to what places yee direct your steps your paces in your carotches the weither is so faire that it inviteth yee to goe abroad and take the aire I will attend yee with my thoughts according to my wonted manner to know the subiect and ground of your time's enternainement what it may prooue to bee Behould yee in a curious garden there seated nigh a fountaine vnder the shaddow of many trees whose branches on their tops are joyned together or very nigh Your intentions in so doeing are to lend your gracious eares a while vnto the nightingale but the letter's sense of her warblings I must declare vnto yee shee telles yee in her language in her manner such as it is that it's good to salute the Sunne each morning likewise in the evening To tender vnto the Moone some curious musick or other Theise maling Planetts desist not by the influences of their cours to giue a speedy end vnto her Kingdome in such sort that her shouts her turnes her divisions her quaverings and redoublings are so many griefes on the vnhappiness of her state since that shee hath no voice but to invite the world to her funerall rites hence is shee constrain'd to dye the sooner through the necessity of her singing Likewise the Turtell who seeketh in vaine her companion lamenteth her misfortune in an other tune which doth shew vnto yee that Time is greedily gaping after the ruine of each thing And though that the Eccho bee but a sound a voice Time beeing vnable to make it cease by degrees devoureth the rockes which giue it a rebound No no Ladyes Time doth not forbeare any thing What though Time were decev'd once as it is mention'd in the fable when Orpheus requir'd of Him Euridices Time hath had memorable reveng as may bee seen in the Historyes of all the Poets who to that end gaue him their counsailes But how well are yee placed it seemeth to mee that it 's to meditate at your ease and repose on that all which God Allmighty hath created heere below and that it all doth participate of the same nature that doe the flowers and fountaines which yee see since that all glideth like to the swiftness of their waves passages their currants Yes Ladyes the World is a garden of flowers various in their graces their beautyes colours and their odours but all theise according to Nature are of the same matter I l'e declare my self more clearely God Allmighty in the space of his Creation planted all what soever yee admire heere below in the garden of the Vnivers namely flowers of diuers colours allso of valiew but all of the same matter for there is not one of them exempt from corruption Theise truely are the flowers disclos'd in the morning displayd at midday faded in the evening and of which Time who is the gardener croppeth what hee will and then when it best pleaseth him Certes Ladyes the world is a fountaine and whatsoever it 's composed of are its waues which properly haue nothing in their nature but swiftness passing by This is essentiall to what soever that 's heere below Yee may please your selues to cast your eyes on all the objects which yee find every where about yee There is not one onely which doth not returne yee the like adieu which yee giue them since that yee runne the same race all together though diversely and by different wayes and manner into the gulphe of the tomb For all that hitherto hath been say'd make vnto yee a posy of flowers but in gathering those flowers-deluces those roses those pincks and gilly-flowers thinck that Time likewise is daily busy in the gardens of your faces there cropping sometimes the flower-deluce of your paintings other times the roses of your cheekes then the gilly-flowers of your lipps Whereof hee composeth a nosegay of your inconstancyes Yee sensibly apprehend this verity other proofes are not requisite How now Ladyes All theise will fade in your sights like a flower All theise will glide before your selues as waues and yee as if insensible will not stirr a jot no