A MIDNIGHTS Trance Wherin is discoursed of DEATH the nature of SOVLES and estate of Immortalitie As it was Written at the desire of a Nobleman By W. D. LONDON Printed by George Purslow for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at the signe of the Greene-Dragon in Paules Church-yard 1619. A MIDNIGHTS Trance wherin is discoursed of Death The nature of Soules and estate of Immortalitie THough it hath beene doubted if there be in the Soule of Man such imperious and superexcellent Power as that it can by the vehement and earnest working of it deliuer knowledge to another without bodily Organs and by the only conceptions and Ideas of it produce reall effects yet it hath beene euer and of all thought infallible most certaine that it often either by outward inspiration or some secret motion of it selfe is augure of its owne Misfortunes and hath shadowes of comming Dangers presented vnto it a while before they fall forth Hence so many strange apparitions and signes true Visions Dreames most certaine vncouth languishings and drowsinesse of which to seeke a reason vnlesse from the sparkling of GOD in the Soule or from the God-like sparkles of the Soule were to make Reason vnreasonable in reasoning of things transcending her reach Hauing often and diuers times when I had giuen my selfe to rest in the quiet solitarinesse of the night found my imagination troubled with a confused feare no sorrow or Horror which interrupting sleepe did confound my senses and rouse mee vp all appalled and transported in a suddaine agony and sad amazednes of such an vnaccustomed perturbation and namelesse woe not knowing nor being able to imagine any apparant cause carried away with the streame of my then doubting thoghts I was brought to ascribe it to that secret fore-knowledg presageing Power of the Propheticke Mind and to interpret such an agonie to bee to the Spirit as a faintnes and vniuersall wearinesse is to the Body a token of following sicknesse or as the Earth-quakes are to great Cities Harbingers of greater calamities or as the roring of the Sea is in a stil calme a signe of some ensuing tempest Hereupon not thinking it strange if whatsoeuer is humane should befall me knowing how Prouidence abates griefe and discountenances crosses and that as we should not despaire of euils which may happen vs wee should not trust too much in those goods we enioy I began to turne ouer in my remembrance all that could afflict miserable mortalitie and to fore-cast euery thing that with a Maske of Horror could shew it selfe to humane eyes till in the end as by vnities and points Mathematicians are brought to great numbers and huge greatnesse after many fantasticall glāces of mankinds sorrow and those incumbrances which follow life I was brought to thinke and with amazement on the last of humane euils or as one said the last of all dreadfull and terrible things Death And why may wee not beleeue that the Soule though darkely fore-seeing and hauing secret intelligence of that sharpe diuorcement it is to haue from the body should be ouergrieued and surprised with an vncouth and vnaccustomed sorrow And at the first encounter examining their neere vnion long familiarity friendship with the great chang paine and vglines which is apprehended to bee in Death it shall not appeare to be without reason They had their beeing together parts they are of one reasonable Creature the hurting of the one is the enfeebling of the working of the other what deare contentments doth the Soule enioy by the senses They are the gates and windowes of its knowledge the Organs of its delight if it bee grieuous to an excellent Lutanist to bee long without a Lute how much more must the want of so noble an instrument bee painefull to the Soule And if two Pilgrims who haue wandred some few miles together haue a hearts griefe when they part what must the sorrow be at the parting of two so louing friends as is the Soule and Body Death is the violent estranger of acquaintance the eternall diuorcer of Marriage the rauisher of the Children from the Parents the stealer of the Parents from the Children the intomber of Fame the only cause of forgetfulnes by which men talk of them that are gon away as of so many shadows orageworn Stories It is not ouercome by pride made meeke by flattery staied by Time Wisedome saue this can preuent help any thing nor Youth nor Vertue nor Beauty can make it relent and becom partial It is the reasonles breaker off of al actions by this wee enioy no more the sweet pleasures of Earth nor behold the stately Vault of Heauen Sunne perpetually setteth Stars neuer rise vnto vs all strength by this is tane away all comlinesse defaced Glory made ignoble Honour turned into contempt This in an houre robbeth vs of what with so great toyle and care in many yeeres we haue heaped together Successions of Linages by this are cut short Kingdomes want Heires and greatest States remaine Orphanes By Death wee are exiled from this excellent City of the World it is no more a world vnto vs nor wee no more People vnto it That Death naturally is terrible to be abhorred it cannot altogether be denied it being a priuatiō of Life a not-being euery priuation being abhorred of nature and euill of it selfe yet I haue often thought that euen naturally to a minde by onely nature resolued and prepared it is more terrible in conceite then in verity and at the first glance then when well looked vpon that rather by the weaknesse of our fantasie then by what is in it and that the solemnities and shews of it did adde much more vglinesse vnto it then otherwise it hath to auerre which conclusion when I had gathered my astonished thoughts I beganne thus with my selfe If on the great Theater of this Earth amongst the numberlesse number of Men this condition were onely proper to thee and thine then vndoubtedly thou hadst reason to repine at so vniust and partiall a Law But since it is a necessity from the which neuer an age by-past hath been exempted and vnto which those which bee and so many as are to come are thralled it being as common as any the most vulgar thing to sence why shouldst thou in thy peeuish opposition take so vneuitable and familiar a chance to heart This is the broad path of mortalitie our generall home behold what millions haue trod it before thee what multitudes shall after thee with them who at that same instant runne In so vniuersall a calamity if DEATH bee one priuate complaints cannot bee heard with so many royall Palaces it is no losse to see thy poore cabin burne Shall the Heauens stay their euer-roling wheeles for what is the motion of them but the motion of a swift and euer-whirling wheele which twineth forth and againe vproleth our Life and hold still time to prolong thy miserable dayes As if they had nothing to
without any sensible touch as the flame withdrawes it selfe from the wicke the Oyle fayling As to those shrinking motions and conuulsions of sinewes and members which appeare to witnesse great paine let one represent to himselfe the strings of a high-tuned Lute which being cracked retire to their naturall winding or a piece of Ice which without any outward violence cracks at a Thaw no other waies do the sinewes of the body finding themselues slacke and vnbended from the Braine and that their wonted labours and functions do cease struggle and seeme to stirre themselues without any paine or sence Now although Death were an extreme paine sith it is in an instant what can it bee Why should wee feare it For while we are it commeth not and it being come wee are no more Nay though it were most painefull long continuing and terrible vgly why should we feare it Since feare is a foolish passion but where it may preserue but it cannot preserue vs from death That is euer terrible which is vnknown so do little children feare to goe in the darke and their feare is encreased with tales But that perhaps which doth bring thee most anguish is to leaue this painted Sceane of the World in the Spring and most delicious season of thy yeeres for though to die be vsual to die young may appeare extraordinary If the present fruition of thes things be foolish what can a long continuance of them be Poore and strang Halcyon why wouldest thou longer nestle amidst these inconstant waues hast thou not already suffred enough of this world but thou must yet endure more But count thy yeres which are now thou shalt find that whereas ten haue ouer-liued thee thousands haue not attained this age One yeere is sufficient to behold all the magnificence of Nature nay euen one day and night for more is but the same brought againe This Sun that Moone those Starres the disponsition of the Spring Summer Autumne Winter is that very same which the Golden age did see They which haue the longest time lent them to liue in haue almost nothing of it at all setting it eyther by that which is past when they were not or by that which is to come Why shouldst thou then regard whether thy dayes be many or few which when prolonged to the vttermost must proue paraleld with Eternitie as a Teare is to the Ocean It is hope of long Life that maketh life seeme short Who will weigh aduisedly weigh the inconstancy of humane affaires with the back-blows of Fortune shall neuer lament to die yong Who knoweth what disasters might haue befallen him who dieth yong if hee had liued to been old Hauen taketh them whom it loueth from dangers before they doe approach pure and if wee may say so virgin Soules carrie their bodies with great anguish and delight not to abide long in them being euer burnt with a desire to returne to the place of their rest and to be relieued of fleshly vncleanlynesse that which may fall forth euery houre cannot fall out of time life is a iourney in a dustie way the furthest home is Death in this some goe more heauily burthened then others swift actiue Pilgrimes come to the end of it in the morning or at Noone which slow-paced wretches clogged with the fragmentall rubbish of this world scarce with great trauell crawle vnto at midnight Dayes are not to be numbred after the number of them but after their goodnesse the greatnes of a Spheare addeth nothing to the roundnesse of it but a little circle is as round as the most ample that Musician is not most praise-worthie who hath longest played but he in measur'd accents who hath made sweetest melodie to liue long hath often beene a let to liue well Let it suffice that thou hast liued to this time and after the course of this world not for nought thou hast had some smiles of Fortune fauors of the worthiest some friends thou hast neuer beene disfauoured of the Heauen Yet it is almost impossible that thou canst want a desire to liue and wishest not thy dayes a while continued though not for life it selfe at least that thou mayst leue to after-times a monument that once thou wast for since it is denied vs to liue long said one let vs leaue some worthy remembrance of our once here being and thus extend this spanne of Life so farre as is possible O poore Ambition to what I pray thee canst thou concreded it Arches and stately Temples which one age doth rayse doth not another raze Tombs and adopted pillers lie buried with them which were in them buried hath not auarice defaced that which Deuotion did make glorious All that the hand of Man can make is eyther ouerturned by the hand of Man or at length by very standing and continuing consumed as if there were a secret opposition in Fate to controle al our industrie Possessions are not enduring children lose their Names families raised on the highest top of wealth and Honor like those which are not yet born leauing off to be so doth Heauen confound what we labor with Art to distinguish That renowne by Papers which is though to make men glorious and which neerest doth approach the Life of those eternall Bodies aboue how slender it is the very word of paper doth import and what is it when obtained but a multitude of words which comming Worlds may scorne How many millions neuer heare the names of the most famous Writers And amongst them to whom they are knowne how few turne ouer their pages And of such as doe how many sport at their conceits taking the verity for a Fable and oft a Fable for Veritie or as wee doe pleasants vsing all for recreation Then the arising of more famous doth obscure and darken the glory of the former being esteemed as Garments worne out of fashion Now when thou hast obtained what praise thou couldst desire it is but an Eccho a meere sound a cloud of Ayre which seene a farre did appeare something but approached is found nought a thing imaginary depending on the opinion of other Men for it is hard to distinguish vertue and fortune the most vicious if prosperous haue euer beene praysed the most vertuous if vnprosperous haue still beene despised Applause obtained whilst thou liuest hath euer enuy following it and is brittle like that Syracusians Spheare of Glasse and borne after thy Death it may as well be ascribed to some of them that were in the Troian Horse or to such as are yet to be borne an hundreth yeeres hereafter as to thee who nothing knows and is of all vnknown What can it auaile thee to bee talked of whilst thou art not Consider in what bounds our Fame is confined This Globe which seemeth large to vs in respect of the Vniuerse is lesse then little how much thereof is couered with Waters how much not at al discouered How much desart and desolate And how many thousand
body No violent thing can bee euerlasting the abiding of the Soule without the body being violent cannot bee euerlasting How is not such a beeing not violent since as in a stranger place the faculties of it which neuer leaue it are not duely exercised this is not contradictory to Nature much lesse impossible to God If the body shall not arise how can the only and soueraigne Good bee perfectly and infinitely good For how shall hee be Iust Nay haue so much iustice as a man if hee suffer the euill and vicious to haue a more prosperous and happy life then the followers of Vertue Which ordinarily vseth to fall forth in this life for the most wicked are lords and gods of this earth as if it had been made only for them and the vertuous are but their enuassaled slaues beeing subiect to all dishonors shames wrongs miserie Sith then he is most good most iust of necessity there must be appointed by him another time and another place of retribution in the place of retribution in the which there shall bee a reward for liuing well and a punishment for doing euil with a life in the which both shall haue their due and not in their Soules only for sith both the parts of man did act a part in the right or wrong it is reason they both be arraigned before that High Iustice to receiue their owne For man is not a Soule onely but a Soule and Body to which either guerdon or punishment is due This seemeth to bee the voice of Nature in almost all the Religions of the World this is that vniuersall testimony charactered in the minds of the most barbarous and sauage people for all haue had a blind ayming at ages to come and a mistie diuining of another life all appealing to one generall Iudgement Throne To what else could serue so many expiations sacrifices Prayers solemnities and ceremonies To what such sumptuous Temples and such care of the dead To what all Religion If not to shew that they did looke for a more excellent estate of liuing after the short course of this was out-runne and who doth deny it must deny that that there is a God a Prouidence and not beleeue that there is a World or Creatures and that hee himselfe is not what hee is But it is not of Death perhaps that wee complaine but of Time which vsing against vs as against all fragil and caduke things his adamantine Lawes altereth the constitution of our Bodies benummes our sences and the Organes of our knowledge of which euils Death relieueth vs So that if we could be transported oh happy Colonie to a place where there were no time it were our only good and the accomplishment of all our wishes Death maketh this transplantation for the last instant of corruption or leauing off of a thing to be what it was is the first of generation or being of that which succeedeth Death then beeing the end of this miserable mortall life of necessity must bee the first beginning of that other eternall and so without reason of a vertuous Soule is it either feared or complained on As those Images were figured in my Mind the morning-Star now almost arising in the East I found my thoughts to become calme and appeased and not long after my sences one by one forgetting their vses began to giue themselues ouer to rest leauing mee in a still and quiet sleepe if sleep it may be called where the Mind awaking is carried with free wings frō out fleshly bondage For heauy lids had no sooner couered their lights when I thoght nay sure I was where I might discerne all in this great All the large compas of the rowling Circles the brightnesse and continuall dances of the twinkling Starres which through their distance here below cannot bee perceiued the siluer countenance of the silent Moone shining by anothers light the hanging of the Earth as enuironed with a Christall girdle the Sunne enthronized in the midst of the Planets Eye of the Heauens Gemme of this goodly Ring the World But whilst with wonder and amazement I gazed on those celestiall twinnes and the burning Lamps of that glorious Temple like some poore Countrey-man brought from his solitary Mountaines and flocks to behold the magnificence of some stately City there was presented to my sight a Man as in the spring of his yeres with that selfesame grace comely feature and maiesticke looke which the late _____ was wont to haue on whom I had no sooner set mine eye when like one thunder-stroken I became all astonished But hee with a mild demeanour approching and voice surpassing all humane sweetenesse appeared mee thought to say What is it doth thus torture thee is it the memory of Death the end of all Sorrow and entrie to these happy places is thy fortune below on that darkened Globe that scarce through the littlenesse of it heere appeares so great that thou art heart-broken and deiected for the leauing of it what if thou hadst left behind thee a _____ so glorious to the world yet but a mote of dust encircled with a Pond as that of mine so louing Parents such great Hopes these had beene apparant occasions of regrate and but apparant Dost thou thinke that thou leauest life too soone Death is best yong things faire and excellent are of least endurance the Rose which is the flowre of flowers that same day that sees it spred in the morning sees it fade at euening and lose the leaues the Spring-time the most amiable Season of the yeere is the Shortest Who liueth well liueth long those whom GOD loueth best are soone relieued of mortall miseries Let not man esteeme his estate after his earthly being which is but a Dreame though hee bee borne on the earth hee is not borne for the earth more then the embrion for the Mothers wombe it plaineth to bee relieued of its Bands and to come to the light of this world and Man mourneth to bee loosed from the Chaines with which he is fettered in that inchanted valley of vanities it nothing knoweth whither it is to goe nor ought of the beauty of the sensible world and the visible workes of God neither doe men of the magnificence of this intellectuall world aboue vnto which as by a Mid-wife they are directed by Death Fooles who thinke that this excellent and admirable Frame so wel ordered so rightly gouerned so wonderfully faire was by that supreme Wisedome made that all things in a circulary course should be and not bee arise and dissolue and thus continue as if they were so many Shadowes caused by the incountring of the Superior Celestiall bodies changing only their fashion and shape or were dreames which for a morning haue their being in the braine No no the eternall Wisedome hath made man an excellent creature though hee faine would vnmake himselfe and turne againe to nothing though hee seeke his happinesse amongst the vnreasonable creatures hee hath placed aboue When some Prince