cease Mishaps and paines are the fruits of the garden of our life the poorenesse of our way of birth may stead us as a rudiment in the first Classe the cryes and teares of the cradle are our Grammar the creeping weakenesse and pittifull infirmities of Boy-age like soe much Rhetoricke and now can there be a more subtile Philosophy then that of â—he consideration of the calamities which are destined to youth Is it not â—asie to become a great Naturallist by vertue of meditating the fruitfulnesse of our nature in the production both of ils and paines which continually afflict us and what better Metaphysicks He which goes out Doctor in the knowledge of himselfe is ignorant of nothing then contemplations of our Beeing ever rowling to â—ts ruine Let us draw then the conclusion of this Argument and joyne with as much reason as interest to these two Voâ—umes so renowned the Bible and the â—ace of Heaven where al sorts of Scienâ—es are in their source Death and immortality are only separated buâ— with the length of an instant This also of our â—ortall and decaying nature since it intructs us the Art to pry our selves in our Corruptions that wee may recover our â—elves in immortality When I consider that the Earth was â—eated of nothing Man of nothing and Man made of this nothing and the greatnesses which environs him are nothing at all and all the pleasures which hee idolatrizeth are also of the same stuffe The world subsists not but upon the foundation of its continual revolution I remainâ— all confused with astonishment nor eâ—ver able to conceive the subject of his vanity nor the reason of his arrogance poore corrupted Vapour with advancing it selfe A vapour Man elevating himselfe too high measures the depth of the Abysses of his Precipice is soon transformed into a Cloud to conceale its noysomnesse but yet by way of this elevation iâ— resolved into Lightnings and Thunder and afterward retumbles into the ditcheâ— from whence first it had its beginning A Puffe of wind which tumbles in its ownâ— violence A B last angry perhaps that it cannot subsist but in flying and that the action of its continuall flight is the beginning of its ruine Smoake A smoake which with 〈◊〉 vaine assault will needes scale the Heavens and yet hardly can one well distinguish the intervall betweene its firsâ— beeing and extinction Worme Wee are all already but rottennesse fince already wormes begin to devour us A streamâ— a poore glistering Worme which dazles none but purblinâ— spirits and gives light to those wormes which devoure it in private a streame alwayes murmuring alwayes trilling away And now why shall all these goodly nuâ—litie and all these pleasant Chimeraes insinuate to us the vanity which they are of shall these cozening appearances bestablish'd here below with Soveraignty bee it then onely in desire or in dreame Every thing corrupts the very eye which now reads these truths shall not be exempt for with what gilded rine so ere they bee out-sided Corruption is their Forme and Dust their Matter I am astonished that Man should be capable to mistake himselfe even to the point of forgetting what hee was then when hee yet was not what he is now whilst he enjoyes the beauty of the day and what hee must one day bee at the Sun-set of his life Assuredly yes I am astonisht at it Nature exhibites us so many Mirrours of Jnconstancy as she hath produced objects since all created things may serve him for a Mirrour to contemplate therein apparantly the verity of his miseries The Heavens though whirling about with a Motion alwayes equall in the same spaces of their carreere Since that Nature it selfe is mortall this second cause ceasing the ruine of these effects is infallible doe not cease to wax old even their age represents to us naturally our decay Though the Starres shine with a sparkeling Iuster as cleare as at the first Day of their creation yet as they are attached within those circles of Ages whose continual motion is limited they approach by little and little to their last West where their light must be extinct and the pace of their course shewes us the way of our life since time conducts us all together though diversly to our end The Fire so greedy that it devours it selfe when finding no more fuell to nourish it is it not a Mirrour of the Lampe of our life whose kindled weeke goes out when the Oyle of the Radicall moysture failes it The Aire which corrupts continually is it not an Image of our corruption and without doubt the Waters transparent body represents us the fragility of ours and its liquid crystalline alwayes rolling away makes us see in its gliding Every thing flees away from us and in running after them wee runne to Death our flitting nature The earth could not have figured us better then shee doth since wee are to day of the same matter and to morrow of the like forme What fairer Mirrour then that of Flowers where we may see in one day the whole course of our life for at Sun-rise the buds resemble our Infancy at noone the same now full blowne our youth The world is a Nose-gay of flowers which by little and little wither all together and at Dayes-end themselves now quite withered our last age I will not speake of all the other Species of creatures animate how every one in its selfe though living is an Image of death It sufficeth me to cherish this remembrance and leave to you thereof the meditation What shall I tell yee of Fortune of honours riches Fortune hath nothing more her owne then her Inconstancy and all these glorious qualities of valour Beauty and a thousand other besides which vanish away with us This blind Goddesse hath a Mirrour under her feet whose round figure shewes us at once both her instability and our inconstancy as for greatnesse and riches the ashes of those which have possest them are as so many fresh Crystalls of a Mirrour which flatters not wherein we may see the vanity both of their enjoyment and of their possessors Those other qualities of faire and valiant are of the same nature as those sensitive and vegetable soules There is nothing immortall in maâ— but vertue which dye together with the subject which they animate without leaving ordinarily so much as one smal memoriall for marke that they have had a beeing otherwise and in sequell to these truths can you find a truer Mirrour Man is the Mirrour of Man so that by due contemplation of one part he may save the whole then this of our selves since every part nay what say I every action and every sigh is an animate pourtrait of Death Insomuch that wee draw the breath of so many continuate Gaspes without ability of dispose of one onely instant to give internall to this exercise How is it then possible that
without cease The contentments which men receive here below Contentments causein their privation as extreme discontents are like the pleasures of the Chace which are onely rellish't running I draw to an end Belon in his Monuments of the Kings of Egypt sayes that they were enterred with such a splendour of pompe and magnificence that even those who had diverse times before beene admirers of it were for all that often in doubt whether the people went to place the corps in the Throne againe rather then in their Sepulcher O how ill to the eyes is the luster of this sad kind of honour For if vanitie be insupportable barely of it selfe these excesses of it put the spirits upon the racke Diodorus Siculus speaking of the Tombe which Alexander caused to be erected for his favorite Ephestion assures that the magnificences which were there to be admired were beyond as well all valew as example Marble Brasse Gold and Pearles were profusely offered to most cunning Artisans to frame thereof such workes wherein sadnesse and compassion might be so naturally represented that they might affect the whole world with the like Diamonds Rubies and all other precious stones were there employed under the Image of a Sunne Moone and Stars It seemes this Monarch blinded with Love thought to hold the Planets captive in the glorious enchainments of those faire Master-pieces A Man should never be angry with his 〈◊〉 fates the dâ—â—â—â—â— on 't are â—â—â—â—â—lable as if hee would revenge himselfe of them for their maligne influences which they had powred upon the head of his deare Ephestion But this conceite was vaine for the same starres whose captivity hee ostented upon this Tombe conducted him also by little and little to his grave The Romanes transported with passion to honour the memory of the Dictator Sylla caused his statue to be framed of a prodigious height all composed of perfumes and cast it into the funerall pile where his body whereof of this was also but a shadow was to be burn't to ashes Being desirous by this action to give to understand that as the odour of his statue disperst it selfe through all the City of Rome the much more odoriferous savour of his peculiar vertues would spred it selfe through all the world But to goe to the rigour of the literall sense it is credible they had not cast in this aromaticall statue into the stacke but only to temper the excesse of the stench of the body which was to be consumed with it And I proceed to imagine beside that the odour of this statue the cinders of his body and all the glory of the actions of Sylla had all the same fate since the winde triumph't o're 'em altogether Behold the reverse of the Medall of Vanitie 'T is remark't in the life of the Emperour Severus by the report of DION that hee made to be set at the gate of his Palace an Vrne of marble and as oft as he went in or out hee was accustomed to say laying his hand on it Behold the Case that shall enclose him whom all the world could not containe Great Kings have often the same thoughts in your soules if you have not the like discourses in your mouths the smallest vessell of earth is too great for the ashes of your bodyes which shall remaine of them after the wormes have well fed on them for the wretchednesse of your humane condition reduceth you at last to so small a thing that you are nothing at all But if I must give a name to those graines of corrupted dust which are made of your deplorable remaines I shall call them the Idea's of a dreame Man onely is considerable in respect of his noble actions since the memory of your being can passe for no other together with the time Behold a fresh subject of entertaine Some of our Ethnicke Historians report to us that the Troglodites buryed their kindred and friends with the tone of joyfull cries and acclamations of mirth The Lothophagi cast them into the Sea choosing rather to have them eaten of fishes in the water then of wormes in the earth The Scythians did eate the bodyes of their friends in signe of amitie insomuch that the living were the Sepulchers of the dead The Hircanians cast the bodies of their kindred to the Dogges The Massagetes exposed them as a prey to all manner of ravenous beasts The Lydians dryed them in the Sun and after reduced them to powder to the end the wind might carry them away Amongst all the customes which were practised amongst these strange Nations I find none more commendable then the first of the Troglodites looking for no hell they had good reason to celebrate the funerall of their friends and kindred with laughter and acclamations of cheerefulnes rather then with teares and lamentations For though that Life be granted us by divine favour There is moâ—e of temâ—â—ent in die thâ—â— to live if we â—â—nsider the end which man was created yet we enjoy it but as a punishment since it is no other thing then a continuall correction of our continuall offences Besides the sad accidents which accompany it inseparably even to the grave are so numerous that aâ— man may justly be very glad at the end of his journey to see himselfe discharged of so ponderous a burthen The body of Man being made of earth is subject to earth but the soule holds onely of its soveraine Creator Not that I here condemne the teares which we are accustomed to shed at the death of our neerest friends for these are ressentments of griefe whereof Nature authorizeth the first violences But neither doe I blame the vertue of those spirits who never discover alteration upon any rencounter of the mishaps and miseries of the world The living are more to be bemoned then the dead they being still i th' midd'st â—f this lifes tempest but these are aâ—â—eady arrived to their Port. how extreme soever they be And what disaster is it to see dye either our kindred or friends since all the world together and Nature it selfe can doe nothing else What reason then can a man have to call himselfe miserable for being destinated to celebrate the funerals of those whom he loves best since the divine Providence hath soveraignely established this order and since moreover in this carreere of Death to which all the world speeds the Present on 't being not distinguish't but by Time it will appeare when all is come to the upshot that one hath lived as long as another since all ages though different during their continuance are equall then when they are past Change wee the discourse I advow once againe There is no remedie more soveraigne to cure the passion of arrogance then this the of consideration of Caemitaries and Tombes The most vaine-glorious and ambitious are forced to yeeld themselves at the assaults of these sad objects For a spirit ne're so brave and valourous cannot but be astonish't when
of the Day which with a continuall aspect We are all amourous of our selves not knowing for what for our defects are objects rather of hate then Love contemplates all created things cannot make reflexion of his beames to see himselfe as if his mother Nature had apprehended in making him so glorious that the Mirrour of his light might not be metamorphosed into a fire of love to render him amorous of his owne proper lustre But the Intellect this Sunne of our Soules has a faculty with which it can both contemplate out of it selfe all things A Man cannot stumble ordinarily but through perveâ—snesse since Reason enlightens him in the very worst wayes and repeale againe the same power to consider it selfe which makes a Man capable not onely of the Meditation of the miseries of the World but also of that of the afflictions and troubles which inseparably keeps him company to the grave We reade of Moses that God commanded him to frame the * The Laver which was before the Tabernacle Exod. 38.8 fore-front of the Tabernacle all of Mirrours to the end that those that should present themselves before his Altar might view themselves in this posture of Prayer O this excellent Mysterie Mortals it behooves you to view your selves in the Mirrour of your Ashes if you would have your vowes heard God hath taught us an excellent way of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread But why O Lord teachest thou us not to aske thee our bread for to Morrow There is nothing assured in Life but its continuall Death as well as for to day O how good a reason is there hereof This is because that life hath no assurance of tom-orrow besides that it is an excesse of grace that wee may be bold to crave of him the bread of our nourishment for all a whole day since every moment may be That of our Death Reader let this verity serve thee yet as a Mirrour 'T is not sufficient to muse of the necessity of dying but to consider also that every houre may be our Lost if thou would'st have thy prayers to pierce the heavens This is not all to know thy body is a Colosse of filth which is traild along from one place to another as it were by the last struggle of a Life alwayes languishing It behooves thee also to call to mind that every instant may terminate the course of thy troublesome carriere and that this suddaine retreate constraines thee to bid Adieu for ever to all the things of the world which thou cherishedst most Thoughts onely worthy of a noble spirit I have eaten Ashes as bread Psal 102. 9. Cinerem tan quam panem manducabam sayes the Royall Prophet but how is it possible I conceive his thought He entertained his soule with the remembrance of the Ashes of his body and this truth alone serv'd as object to his imagination for to satisfie the appetite of his Soule Lord give me both the same relish and desire to repast my selfe still thus of Dust and Ashes in remembrancing my selfe alwayes that I am nothing else A man to abase himselfe below that which he is being so poore a thing of nothing O sweet remembrance of my rottennesse since it steads me for eternall nourishment of my Soule O precious memorie of my Nothingnesse since able to satisfie the appetite of my heart Let this be the daily bread O Lord which thou hast taught me to aske thee to the end that all my desires together nourishment I recollect my selfe in this digression Having diverse times mused of the imbecillity and weakenesse of Man Si vitrei essemus minus casus timeremus S. Aug. I am constrain'd to cry out with St. Augustin What is there that can be more fraile in Nature If we were of Glasse pursues hee our condition might therein be better There is nothing more brittle than glasse yet man is more for a Glasse carefully preserv'd may last long time and yet what paine somever Man takes to preserve himselfe and under what shelter somever hee shrowds himselfe for covert to the storme hee breakes and is shattered of himselfe What reply you to these verities Great Princes Well may you now be arrogant The fragilitie of Glasse cannot admit of comparison with this of your nature what seat will you give to your greatnesse and what foundation to your vanity Man is fully miserable since his life is the source of his miseries when the wind alone of your sighs may shipwracke you upon the Sea of your owne proper teares what surnames will you take upon you for to make you be mis-taken That of Immortall would become you ill since every part of your body serves but as a But to the shaftes of Death Invincible A man may doe every thing with vertue without it nothing would also be no way proper since upon the least touch of mishap you are more worthy of pity then capable of defence Would you be called Gods your Idolaters would immolate you to their owne laughter Tread under foot your Crownes if rightly you will be crowned with them you onely thus render your selves worthy of those honours which you misprize for Glory consists not in the possessing it Heaven cannot bee acquâ—red but by the misprize of earth but in the meriting and the onely means to obtaine it is to pretend nothing at all to it How remarkeable is the custome of the Locrians at the Coronation of their Kings They burnt before them a handfull of Tow to represent unto them the instability of their grandeurs and the greedinesse of Time to destroy them In effect all the greatnesses of the Earth are but as a bundlet of Tow All the grandour of Kings is but as the blaze of flaming tow and then when Darius would make of them his treasure Mis-hap set fire on them and reduced 'em into Cinders and when hee had yet in his heart a desire to immortalize them a new fire seaz'd his intrals by the heat of thirst which burn'd him to the end to consume at once both the cause and the effect So true it is that the Glory of the world vanisheth away like Smoke Great Kings if you build a Throne of Majestie to the proofe both against Time and Fortune lay its foundation upon that of your miseries He which esteems himselfe the least of all is the greatest Humility takes her rise in low linesse from the lowest footing when she makes her flight into the heavens O how admirable is the Humility of Saint Iohn Baptist They would give him titles of Soveraignty in taking him for the Messias but call to you Memory how with an ejaculation oâ— Love and reverence hee precipitateâ— himselfe both with heart and thoughâ— into the Abysse of his owne Nothingnesse there to admire in all humility both Greatnesse and Majesty in his Throne I am but a voyce Vox clamantis in deserto Iohn 1.23
and ret orts upon it's own paces Man may be sayd to be happy in being subject to all mishaps But Man contrarily being setled upon the declining stoop of his ruine rouls insensibly without intervall to the grave his prison Death is a grace rather than a paine O deare ruine 〈◊〉 O sweet captivity since the soule recovers her freedome and this Sepulture serves but as a Furnace to purifiâ—â— his body The Aire although it corrupt is not for all that destroyed thâ— corruption of Man destroyes its materiall O glorious destruction since iâ—steades him as a fresh disposition to render him immortall The Fire thougâ— it fairely devoure all things is yet preserved still it selfe to reduce all thâ— World into Ashes But Man perceive himself to be devoured by Time with out ability ever to resist it Oh benâ—ficiall Impotence since hee findes hâ—â— Triumph in his overthrow The â—elâ—citic of man in this world consists in the necâ—ssity of death the Sunnâ— causeth alwayes admiration in its oâ—dinary lustre but Mans reason is impaired in the course of Times Oh weâ—come impairement since Time ruinâ— it but onely in an Anger knowing thâ— it goes about to establish its Empire beyond both time and Ages In find the Heavens may seem to wax old 〈◊〉 their wandring course How happy is man in decaying evermore since he thus at last renders himselfe exempt from all the miseries which pursue him they yet appear the same still every day as they were a thousand yeeres a'gon Man from moment to moment differs from himselfe and every instant disrobes him somewhat of his Beeing Oh delightfull Inconstancy since all his changes make but so many lines which abut at the Center of his stability A long life is a heavie burthen to the soule since it must render an account of all its moments How mysterious is the Fable of Narcissus the Poets would perswade â—â—s that Hee became selfe-enamoured â—â—ewing Himselfe in a Fountaine But 〈◊〉 am astonish't how one should become amorous of a dunghill though â—overed with Snow or Flowers A face cannot be formed without Eyes Nose â—nd Mouth and yet every of these â—arts make but a body of Misery and Corruption as being all full of it This Fable intimates us the repreâ—ntment of a fairer truth since it inâ—â—tes a Man to gaze himselfe in the â—ountaine of his teares thus to become morous of himselfe not for the liâ—eaments of dust and ashes whereof â—s countenance is shap't but rather of â—ose beauties and graces wherewith his soule is ornamented and all these together make but a rivelet If a man could contemplate the becauties of his soule in innocence he would alwaies be surprized with us love which leads him to the admiration of that source from whence they tooke their originall Oh how David was a wise Narcissus then when hee made of his Teares a Mirrour If a man would of en view himselfe in the teares of his repentance be would soon become a true selfâ—over so to become enamour'd of himselfe for he was so selfe-loving in his repentance that in this Hee spent both dayes and nights with unparelleled delights But if Narcissus ship-wrack't himselfe in the fountaine of his selfe-fondnesse This great King was upon point to Abysse himselfe in the Sea of his tâ—eres All the vaine objects of the world are so many fountaines of Narcissus wherein prying men may shâ—pwracke themselves for their liquid Crystalline shewd him to himselfe so beautifull that hee burned with desire thus to drowne himselfe Ladies vieâ— your selves in this Mirrour since you are ordinarily slaves to your owne selve love You will be faire at what price soever see here is the meanes The Crystall Mirrour of your teares flatter not contemplate therein the beauty of this grace which God hath given you to bewaile your vanities This is the onely ornament which can render you admirable All those deceitfull Chrystals Teares are the faithfullest Mirours of penitence which you weare hang'd at your Girdles shew you but fained beauties wherof Art is the work-mistresse and cause rather then your visages Would yee be Idolaters of the Earth which you tread on your bodies are but of Durt but if you will have them endeared where shall I find tearmes to expresse their Noysomnesse Leave to Death his Conquest and to the Wormes their heritage If Ladies would take as much care of their souls as of their bodies they would not hazard the losse both of one and to'ther and search your selves in that originall of Immortality from whence your soules proceed that your actions may correspond to the Noblenesse of that cause This is the most profitable counsell which I can give You It is time to end this Chapter Great Kings I serve you this Morning instead of a Page to awake You and remembrance You that you are Men I meane Subjects to Death and consequently destinated to serve as a Prey to the Wormes a Shittle-cocke to the Windes and matter for to forme an object of horror and astonishment to you altogether Muze a little that your life passeth away as a Dreame The meditation of our nothingnesse is a soveraigne remedie against vanitie thinke a little that your thoughts are vaine consider at the same time that all that is yours passes and flies away You are great but this necessity of Dying equals you to the least of your subjects Men are so neare of blood together that all beare the same name Your powers are dreadfull but a very hand-worme mocks at 'em your riches are without number but the most wretched of men carry as much into the grave as you In fine may all the pleasures of Life make a party in Yours yet they are but so many Roses whose prickles onely remaine to you at the instant of Death Man hath nothing so proper to him as the misery to which hee is borne The horror which environs You chaseth away your greatnesses the weakenesse which possesseth you renders unprofitable your absolute powers and onely then in that shirt which rests upon your backe are comprised all the treasures of your Coffers Are not these verities of importance enough to breake your sleepe If the earth be our mother heaven is our father I awake you then for to remembrance you this last time that you are Men but destined to possesse the place of those evill Angels whose Pride concaved the Abysses of Hell that you are Men but much more considerable for the government of your reason then your Kingdome That you are Men but capable to acquire all the felicities of Heaven if those of the Earth are by you disdained That you are Men but called to the inheritance of an eternall Glory if you have no pretence to any of this world Lastly that you are Men but the living images of an infinite and omnipotent one Though the body and soule together make up the man there is yet as
things which passe away and since the world hath nothing else 't is a long while that I have bidden adieu to it It had promised me much and though it had given me nothing yet cannot I reproach it finding my selfe yet too rich by reason of its hardnesse But I returne to the point Men of the World would perswade us that it is impossible to finde any quiet in it to say a firme settling of Spirit The onely meanes to be content is to settle the conscience in peace wherein a man may be content in his condition without ever wishing any other thing And for my part I judge nothing to be more easie if wee leave to reason its absolute power What impossibilitie can there be to regulate a mans will to God's And what contradiction in 't to live upon earth of the pure benedictions of heaven What greater Riches can a man wish then this to be able to undergoe the Decrees of his Fate without murmuring and complaint If Riches consisted onely in Gold Diamonds Pearles or such like things of like raritie those which have not of 'em might count themselves miserable But every man carryes his treasure in his conscience Hee which lives without just scandall lives happily and who can complaine of a happy life Riches are of use to humane life but not of necessitie for without them a man may live content But if to have the hap of these felicities of this life a man judge presently that hee ought of necessity to have a great number of riches This is to enslave himselfe to his owne opinion abounding in his proper sense and condemning reason for being of the contrary part I know well that a man is naturally swayed to love himselfe more then all things of the world Philautia that this love proceeds from the passion of our interests seeking with much care and paine all that may contribute to our contentments and whereas Riches seeme to be Nurses of them this consequence is incident to be drawne that without them is no contented living But at first dash it is necessary to distinguish this love into Naturall and Brutall and beleeve that with the illumination of reason When Reason reignes the passions obey wee may purifie the relishes of the first even to the point of rendring them innocent without departing from our interests and consequently the enjoyment of our pleasures giving them for object the establishment of our setled content in misprision of all those things of the world which may destroy it As for this brutish Love which estranging us from God separates us also from our selves the passion of it becomes so strong by our weaknesse that without a speciall grace wee grow old in this maladie of Spirit of contenting our Senses rather then obeying our Reason making a new God of the Treasures of the Earth But in conclusion these Gods abandon our bodies to the Wormes and our soules to the Devils And for all their riches the greatesâ— Great ones can onely purchase a glorious Sepulture Is not this a great advantage and a goodly consolation He whose will submits to Gods will lives ever content Maintaine we boldly that a man may finde quietnesse of life in all sorts oâ— condition with the onely richenesse of â—tractable Soule resign'd to take the time as it comes and as God sends it without ever arguing with his providence There is no affliction The Spirit of a Man will beare his infirmitie whereto our Soule cannot give us asswage There is no ill whereto it selfe is not capable to furnish us a remedie A man how miserable somever may finde his contentment amidst his miseries if he lives for his soule more then for his bodies behalfe God makes us to be borne where he will and of what Parents hee pleases if the poorenesse of our birth accompanie us even to death hee hath so ordained it what can wee else doe but let him so doe Can he be accounted miserable that obey's with good grace his soveraignes decrees 'T is a greater danger to be very rich then very poore for riches often make men loose their way but povertie keepes 'em in the streight path O how is it farre more easie to undergoe the burthen of much povertie then of great riches For a man extremely poore is troubled with no thoughts more important then onely how to finde meanes to passe his life in the austerities whereto hee is alreadie habituated without repining after other fortune as being estranged equally both from his knowledge and reach in which respects hee may well be stil'd happie But a man very rich dreames of nothing but to eternize the continuance of his dayes although this fancie be in vaine in stead of letting them quietly slide away insomuch that being possest with no passion more then love of life hee thinkes alwayes to live and never to die Death cannot be said to deceive any body for it is infallible and yet the world complaines of it But Death comes ere hee thinks on 't and taking from him all to his very Shirt constraines him to confesse that riches are onely profitable by misprision since by the contempt a man makes of them he may become the richest of the world O what a sensible pleasure 't is to be Rich say wordly men alwayes but I would faine know in what consists this contentment what satisfaction can there be had to possesse much treasure knowing what an infinit number of our companions are reduc'd to the last point of povertie Some in Hospitals where they lye in straw o'rewhelmed with a thousand fresh griefes Others at the corner of a street where a piece of a Dung-hill serves them at once both for bed and board Some againe in Dangeons where horrour and affright hunger and despaire tyrannize equally over their unfortunate spirits And others in some Desert to which ill fate has confined them to make their ills remedilesse as being farre removed from all sorts of succours There is no emptinesse in nature for miseries fill all How with the knowledge of these truths a man shall be able to relish greedily the vaine sweets of wordly riches it must needs be for want of reason or pity and consequently to be altogether brutish or insensible I shall have suppose a hundred thousand crownes in rents and all this revenue shall serve but to nourish my body and its pleasures without considering that a hundred thousand poore soules sigh under the heavy burden of their miseries every Day and yet men shall esteeme me happy in being rich in this fate O how dangerous are the treasures which produce these felicities 'T is a brave generositie to be sensible of other mens miseries Is it possible that the Great-ones of the world doe not thinke at all in the middle of their Feasts of the extreame poverty of an infinite number of persons and that in themselves they doe not reason secretly in
whole world what Courage is this to assaile and combate That which none could ever yet resist and what a power is it to tame That which never yet yeelded Echo her selfe hath not rebounds enow to resound aloud the wonders of this Victorie This is not the Triumph of Alexander when he made his entry into Babylon mounted upon a Chariot as rich as the Indies and more glistering then the Sunne In this we see no other riches but the rich contempt which ought to be made of them no other lustre but of Vertue This is not the Triumph of Caesar then when he was drawne unto the Capitoll by forty Elephants after he had wonne twenty foure battels In this we see nought else but a funerall pompe but yet so glorious that Death her selfe serves for a Trophie to it This is not the Triumph of Epaminondas where the glorious lustre of the magnificence sham'd the splendour of the day which yet lent its light to it The marvels which appear'd in this here seem'd as celebrating in blacke the Exequies of all the other braveries of the world since nothing can be seene more admirable then this To triumph over vice is the noblest Trophie This is not the Triumph of Aurelian where all the graces are led captive with Zenobia In this are to be seene no other captives but the world and all its vanities and their defeat is the richest Crowne of the Victor This is not the Triumph of that pompeous Queene of Egypt entring into Cilicia where shee rays'd admiration to her selfe in a Galley of unutterable value but in this wee contemplate the more then humane industrie of a Pilote who from the mid'st of the stormes and tempests of the world recovers happily to the Port the ship of his life though yet but in the way to approach to it In fine this is not the Triumph of Sesostris whose stately Chariot foure Kings drew Passions are the onely slaves of this and Death being here vanquisht this honour remaines immortall and the name of the Triumpher All the glory of men van sheth away with them Say we then once againe O how glorious a Triumph is this over Death O how brave is the victorie over our selves and the onely meanes thus to vanquish a mans-selfe is to bury his ambition before his body be ensepulchred preparing ne'rethelesse the tombe of both to the'nd that the continuall remembrances of Death may serve for temperament and moderation to the delights of life We reade of Paulus Aemilius that returning to Rome laden with wreaths of Laurell after the famous victorie over the Persians he made his entrance of triumph with so great pompe and magnificence that the Sunne seemed to rouze it selfe many times as if upon designe to contemplate these wonders Pompey desirous to expose to the view of day all the magnificent presents which Fortune had given him in his last conquests entred now the third time in Triumph into the City of Rome where the noyse of his valour made as many Idolaters as admirers gayning hearts and now conquering soules as well as before Realms and Provinces But it seemes that the glory which accompanyed him in this action had this defect not to be sufficiently worthily knowne even of those that were witnesses of it as surprizing by much all that they could possibly expresse of it There was seene advanc't before his Charriot in ostentation Vanitie is a dangerous enemie it flatters onely to surprize a Checker-worke composed of two sorts of precious stones whose beauty set them beyond all price But yet me thinks their sparkling might have in good time beene a light to him if by a feeling of fore-sight touching the inconstancie of his fortune hee had caused to have beene graven thereon the historie of his mishaps There was admired in sequell a Statue of the Moone all of Gold in forme of a Crescent and I am astonisht that this Image of change and Vicissitude made him not fore-see the deturning of the Wheele I meane the storme that was to succcede the calme of his happinesse He caus'd moreover to be caried before him a great number of Vessels of Gold never thinking that Death might soone replenish some part of them with his ashes There was seene to follow a Mountaine all of Gold upon which were all sorts of animals and many Trees of the same matter and this mountaine was enrounded with a Vine whose golden glittering dazled the eyes of all that considered its wonders Ambition is an incurable disease of the soule if in good time it be not lookt too This proud Triumpher was the Orpheus which to the Lyrick sound of his renowne attracted this Mountaine these Animals these Trees this Vine But as Orpheus so him also Fortune destinated a Prey to the fury of Bacchinals I meane the Eunuchs which put him to Death Three Statues of gold first Iupiters then Mars and then of Pallas came after These were his Gods and his Goddesse what succours could he expect from these Deities which had no subsistence but in statue and the copy of whose portraict had no principall There was had in admiration moreover over thirty Garlands all of gold and Pearles A man had need to have an excellent memorie not to forget himselfe among his honours but these Crownes were too weighty for his head from whence it came to passe that hee fell under the burden A golden Chappell followed after dedicated to the Muses upon which was a great Horologe of the same materials And as the Index still turned ought not he to have considered that the houre of his triumphing began to passe away and that of his overthrow would presently sound being sequell to the Lawes of that vicissitude to which Fate hath subjected all things His statue of gold enrich't with Diamonds and Pearles whereof nor hee himselfe nor hee that enwrought them knew the value followed in its course and in fine this his shadow was more happy then the true body as having never beene scuffled with but by time and the other was van quisht with miserie Then appeared the great Pompey seated upon a Throane where hee and Fortune seemed to give Laws to the whole world for his Triumphall Charriot was so richly glorious so magnificent in rarities so splendide in new and ne're-before-seene wonders that a ravishment surprized mens spirits elevating them at once from admiration to extasie not giving them leasure to make reflection upon the present realties Be it our constant meditation of the inconstancie to which all worldly things are subjected But this Triumphall Charriot still roul'd about and though the Triumpher remain'd seated in his place yet his Fortune turned about likewise Insomuch that in going to the Capitoll hee approach't by little little to the bank where his life and happinesse were equally enterred In fine for the fulnesse of Glory These proper names of the conquests which he had made were read in golden Characters The
world I say the winning'st or the pleasing'st since they guard themselves onely with such kind of weapons whose hurtings makes us often sigh rather for joy then griefe Certainely the Victory of Reason over all the revolted faculties of our â—oules merits alone the honour of a Triumph and what advantage somâ—â—er a man has over his enemies hee â—imselfe is yet still vanquisht if his â—ices be not subdued I pursue my deâ—â—gne They which have enthronized Vertue in their breasts have laid their foundations upon the ruines of their passions to testifie to us that a Man cannot be vertuous with their predominancy And after essay of diverse meanes upon designe to vanquish them I have found none more powerfull then this The Meditation of Death but if any doubt this the tryall on 't will be profitable for him How is it possible that a Man should let himselfe be mastered with the passion of Revenge if he but muze of that Vengeance which his sins may draw downe every moment upon his head as being every houre in estate to dye Hee shall heare rumble in his eares the thunder of Divine Justice by the continuall murmur of his sighs which advertize him of the approaches of Death What courage can he have to avenge himselfe being upon point himselfe to suffer the torment of eternall vengeance Thou that art Vindicative wilt thou then quench the ardour of thy Choller feele thine owne pulse and consider that this pety slow feaver wherewith thou art stormed leads thee by little and little into the grave 'T is more honour for a man to avenge himselfe of his choler then of his enemie Who can be Ambitious if musing of Death since hee must quitt all with his life Let us ponder a while the fate of those arrogant spirits which ha' muz'd themselves to conquer the vaine greatnesses of the Earth What hath beene in fine their share at the end of the carriere They have had nothing but unprofitable regreets to have so ill employ'd their time finding themselves so poore with all their treasure as if they had beene borne the wreched'st of the world Thou Ambitious-one willt thou be cured of the disease of thy Passion think each houre of the day that that which thou now hearest strike may be thy Last Who would sigh for prophane Love after these objects of dust and ashes Mortall frailtie brings blemish to the fairest visages and mightily takes from their opinion being well considered if he often considered that hee himselfe is made of nothing else and that this noysome and corruptive matter seekaes nothing more then abysses of the grave there to hide within its loath somenesse in effect who would give his flesh a prey to pleasures if he would consider that the wormes do in expectation make their fees thereof already The Meditation of Death serves for temperament to all sorts of delights And if a Man bee capable of love in this muze it cannot be other then of his Salvation since this object is eternall but all others of the world perishable Infortunate Lovers search the solace of your immodest passions in the Anatomy of the subject whereof you are Idolaters Be assistant at that dead view Thinke of your owne Death Behold you are cured He which considers of that wretchednesse which is adjunct to Death easily mispriseth the riches of this life What wretched Rich man would be so much in love with his treasures if he would consider that Death robs him from them every day making him dye continually and that at the end of the terme of his life hee carryes along with him but the good or the evill which hee hath done to be either recompenc'd or punish'd but with a glory or a punishment whereof Eternity alone must terminate the continuance Covetous Misers the onely meanes for you to be so no more is to celebrate your owne funerals by your Meditations and often to consider the Account not of your riches but that which you must render one day of their fruition since your Salvation depends thereon Who in fine would make a God of his Belly seeking with passion all the delights which may tickle the sense of Taste if he represented to himselfe the miseries of the body which hee takes so much paines to nourish and the rigour of those inviolable decrees which destinate him a prey to the wormes and the remaines of their leavings to rottennesse This consideration would be capable to make him loose both appetite and desire at the same time to nourrish so delicately his carkasse O soules all of flesh repasting your selves with nothing else there is no invention to make you change nature but this to Heare your selves dye by the noyse of your sighs to See your selves dye by the wrinkles which furrow every day upon your visages and to Feele your selves die by the beatings of your pulse which indexeth this your hecticke feaver wherewith you are mortally attainted This is a Probatum-remedie the experience thereof is not dangerous May not a man then maintaine with much reason that the thought of Death alone is capable to cure our soules of the disease of their passions in doseing them both the meanes If a man should forget all things else but the miseries of his condition this last were enough to exercise the vastest memorie and the Vertue to triumph over them But if of this you desire an example call to mind that which I have proposed you in the beginning of the Chapter How marvellous is it that a great Monarch who is able to maintaine all manner of pleasure in his heart with all the delights which accompany it celebrates himselfe his Funeralls in the midst of his carriere of life beginning to raigne at the end of his raigne since that last object is alwayes present before his eyes His Passions doe assaile him but hee vanquisheth them they give him combate but he leads them in triumph and buryes them altogether in the Tombe which hee prepares himselfe Consider a little the glory which is relucent in this action We read of the Kings of Arabia that they triumphed upon Dromedaries the Kings of Persia upon Elephants of Croatia upon Bulls the Romanes upon horses and yet 't is remarkt of Nero that hee made himselfe be drawne in Triumph by foure Hermaphrodite Mares Camillus by foure white Horses Marke Antony by foure Lions Aurelian by foure Hearts Caesar by forty Elephants Heliogabalus by foure Dogges Moreover the Poets doe assure us that the triumphant Charriot of Bacchus was drawne by Tygers Neptunes by Fishes of Thetis by Dolphins Diana's by Harts of Venus by Doves Iuno's by Peacocks All these objects of pompe and magnificence whereof histories This Vanitie is a most contagious maladie and the onely preservative is the remembrance of Death and Fables would eternize the vanity have for all that done nothing but passe away and though a little remembrance of ' them stay with us 't is but the
Death gives them now equality There is now no place of affectation or range to be disputed the heap of your ashes and their dust make together but one hillocke of mould whose infection is a horrour to me I am now of humour not to flatter you a whit We read of the Ethiopians that they buryed their Kings in a kind of Lestall and I conceive there of no other reason then according to the nature of the subject they joyned by this action the shadow and the substance the effect with the cause the streame with its source for what other thing are we then a masse of mire dryed and bak'd by the fire of life but scattered againe and dissolv'd by the Winter of Death and in that last putrefaction to which Death reduceth us the filth of our bodyes falls to the durt of the earth as to its center for so being conceived in corruption let us not thinke strange to be buryed in rottennesse 'T is well men hide themselves after death in the Earth or the enclosure of Tombes their filth and noysomnesse would else be too discovert Earth dust and ashes remaine still the same be it in a vessell of gold or in a coffin of wood or in a Mausolean Tombe of marble Great Kings well may you cover your wretchednesse with a magnificent Sepulcher they will for all this not alter condition the noysomnesse of your bones is never without the abhorrement and putrefaction proper to them And if suppose their masse be reduced into dust and the wind carry it away the very wings of the wind are laden with rottennesse and can scatter nothing else in a thousand places where ere they fall I will a little straggle out the way without loosing my ayme Fabius Paulus reports that upon the Tombe of Isocrates there was a Syren seared upon a Ram and holding a Harp in her hand And this gave to understand That this famous Orator charmed mens soules through their eares by the sound of his admirable eloquence But whereas no melodious ayre was heard from the mute Harp of this Syren it was required of the Spectators to take for granted in imagination the harmony of her sweet touches How unsufferable is the vanity of men who even is on their Tombes will have the display of their vaine glory as embleme of the sweetnesse of this great Orators voyce But Death imposeth silence on both and thus remained they a sad sight both in object and mysteries contained under since now of these passages remaines no more but a weake remembrance and whereof Time by little and little effaceth even the Ideas Iohannes Baptista Fontanus relates that upon the Sepulcher of Q. Martius there was ' graven a Ramme supported upon the two fore-feet and a Hare dead by its side The Ramme represented the generosity of this great Captaine in all combats and the dead Hare his vanquisht enemies But what honour now remaines him after their defeat This van quisher of an infinite number of miserable wretches is at the last overcome with his owne miseries Though Triumphant in a thousand combats one marble stone now containes all his trophies and glory O deplorable fate to have but seven foot-earth after conquest of the greatest part of the earth Plutarch assures us that upon the Tombe of Alexander there was represented in Embleme Asia and Europe appearing vanquisht and in the chaines of their captivity with this mot which served as a fresh Trophy The victorie of Alexander O poore victorie O sorry triumph for where are now its Laurels and Palms This great Monarch conquered the whole world but being never able to conquer his ambition This in the end hath taken away all the glory which it made him acquire Great Princes advance then on to the conquest of the Vniverse but I advertise you one thing The misprise of the world is more glorious then all its honours All those that are returned from the same action have much repented themselves to have taken so great paynes for so small a matter * Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle The Game 's not worth the Candle as the Proverb But if you love to Conquer and triumph your passions will furnish you with such subject every houre Let 's once see the end of our carriere We read of Cyrus that he caus'd to be engraven these words upon the stone of his Monument HERE LYES THE CONQVEROVR OF THE PERSIANS But what excesse of mishap could have reduced so great a Monarch to such an excesse of wretchednesse must it be said Here lyes of one that lately stood so triumphant Would hee have men admire his past glory in view of that vault where he was enterred would he have men adore the magnificences of his Life upon the same Altar where Death exhibits him as a victime Is not this a vanity more worthy of compassion then envy The History of the life of Themistocles was to be read upon the marble of his Sepulcher but 't was forgotten there to depaint also the story of his Death 'T is but a poore satisfaction to have for recompence of so much paines but the ostentation of a glorious Sepulcher Behold the high deeds of Themistocles this was the inscription But to us it may be of importance to consider that although the wonders which he had done were onely graven upon the port of his Monument yet for all that they also made their entrie into it and followed the fate of their author so that now rests nothing of Themistocles but Name for of all that hee hath done the wind hath carryed away the glory and the small remembrance on 't which sticks by us is but a portraict of vanitie There was represented upon the Tombe of Ioshua the Sunne with this inscription Iosh 10.12 Sunne stand thou still upon Gibeon True it is the Sunne stood still in the mid'st of his carreere to give full Triumph to this great Captaine over his enemies But after they were overthrowne this Planet jealous of his glory conducts him also to his grave as not enduring to see any thing upon earth as durable as it selfe So true it is that all things here flit away There is no course swifter then that of Life to Death with the swiftnesse of a Torrent though their flight to us seeme much more slow The Epitaph which some * Sit fides penes Authorem writings report us of Adam has not so much splendour and magnificence as the others Hee is Dead sayes his Epitaph speaking onely of him O excellent Epitaph Men shall say no more of you one day Great Kings Well may you with Q. Martius come off victorious from all combats and enter in triumph into Cities with Alexander Well may you cause to be insculp't the History of your Acts upon the marble of your Sepulchers like as Themistocles and may you Sub-poena the Sun for a witnesse of the reality of your triumphs like