of grace pouring into your wound no lesse oyle of mercie then wine of Iustice yet sith courtesie oweth compasion as a duâ—tie to the afflicted and nature hath ingrafted a desire to finde it I thought it good to shew you by proofe that you carry not your cares alone thoâ—gh the loade that lieth on others can little lighten your burthen her decease can not but sit neerer your heart whom you had taken so deepe into a most tender affection That which dieth to our loue being alwaâ—â—s aliue to our sorow you would haue bâ—â— louing to a lâ—sse louing sister yet finding in her so many worths to be loued your loue wrought more eaâ—nâ—stly vpon so sweete a subiect which now being taken from you I presume your griefâ— is no lesse then your loue was the one of these being euâ—r the mesure of the other the Scripture mooueth vs to bring forth our tâ—ares vpon the dead a thing not offending grace aright to reason For to be without remorâ—e in the death of friends is neither incident nor conuenient to the nature of man hauing too much affinitie to a sauage temper and ouerthrowing the ground of all pietie which is a mutuall simpathie in ech of others miseries but as not to feele sorrow in sorrowfull chances is to want sence so not to beare it with moderation is to want vnderstanding the one brutish the other effeminate and he hath cast his account best that hath brought his summe to the meane It is no lesse fault to exceede in sorrow then to passe the limites of competent mirth sith excesse in either is a disorder in passion thogh that sorow of curtesie be lesse blamed of men because if it be a fault it is also a punishment at once causing â—asting torments It is no good sign in the sicke to be senslesse in his paines as bad it is to be vnusually sensitiue being both eyther harbengers or attendants of death Let sadnes sith it is a due to the dead testifie a feeling of pitie not any pang of passion and bewray rather a tender then a deiected minde Mourue as that your friendes may finde you a liuing brother all men a discreete mourner making sorowe a signell not a superior of reason some are so obstinate in their owne wil that euen time the naturall remedie of the most violent agonies can not by any delayes asswage their griefe they entertaine their sorow with solitary muses and feede with sighes and teares they pine their bodies and draw al pensiue consideration to their mindes nursing their heauinesse with a melancholy humor as though they had vowed them selues to sadnesse vnwilling it should end till it had ended them wherein their folly sometimes findeth a ready effect that being true which Salomon obserued that as a moth the garment and a worme the wood so doth sadnesse perswade the heart But this impotent softnesse fitteth not sober mindes Wâ—e must not make a liues profeâ—sion of a seuen nights duety nor vnder colour of kiâ—dnesse be vnnaturall to our selues if â—ome in their passion ioynd their thoughts into such laborinths that neither wit knoweth nor will careth how long or howe farre they wnder in them it discouereth their weakenesse but discerneth our meditation It is for the most the fault not of all but of the â—eeliest women who next to the funeral of their friends deem it a second widowhood to force their teares and make it their â—appinesse to seeme most vnhappy as though they had only been left aliue to be a perpetuall map of dead folkes misfortunes but this is to arme an enemie against our selues and to yeeld Reason prisoner to Passion putting the sworde in the rebelles hand when wee are least able to withstand his treason Sorrowe once setled is not lightly remoued easily winning but not so easily surrendring possession and where it is not excluded in time it challengeth a place by prescription The Scripture warneth vs not to giue our hearts to sadnes yea rather to reiect it as a thing not beneficiall to the dead yet pâ—eiudiciall to our selues Ecclesiastiâ—us alloweth but seuen dayes to mourning iudging moderation in plaint to be a sufficient testimony iâ— good will and a needeful office of wisâ—dome Much sorrowe for the dead is eyther the childe of selfe-loue or of rash iudgement if wee should shead our teares for others death as a meane to our contentment wee shewe but our owne wound perfit louers of our selues if we lament their decease as their hard dâ—stinie we attach them of euil deseruing with to peremmatory a ceÌ„sure as though their life had been a arise and their death a leape into finall perdition for otherwise a good departure craueth small condolling being but a harbour from stormes and an entrance vnto felicitie But you know your sister too well to incurre any blame in these respects And experience of her life hath stored your thoughts with notice of so rare vertues as might sooner make her memorie an inforcement to ioy then any inducement to sorrow and moue you tâ— esteeme her last dueties rather the triumph of her victorie then the farewelles of her decease She was by birth second to none but vnto the first in the realme yet she measured onely greatnesse by goodnesse making nobilitie but the mirrour of vertue as able to shew things worthy to be seene as apte to drawe many eies to beholde it she suted her behauiour to her birth and ennobled her birth with her piâ—ty leauing her house more beholding to her for hauing honoured it with the glorie of her vertues then she was to it for the titles of her degree she was high minded in nothing but in aspiring to perfection and in the disdaine of vice in other things couering her greatnes with huâ—ilitie among her inferioâ—s shewing it with curtesie amongst her peeres of the carriage of her selfe and her sober gouernement may be a sufficieÌ„t testimony that enuy hir self was dumbe in her dispraise finding in her much to â—epine at but naught to reproue the clearenes of hir Honor I neede not to mention she haâ—ing alwaies armed it with such modestie as taught the most vntemperate tongues to be silent in her presence and answered their eyes with scorne and contempt that did but seeme to make her an aime to passion yea and in this behalfe as almost in all other shee hath the most honourable and knowen Ladies of the land so common and knowen witnesses that those that least liked her religion were in loue with her demeanour deliuering their opinions in open praises How mildely she accepted the checke of fortune fallen vpon her without desert experience hath bin a most manifest proofe the temper of her mind being so easie that she found little difficultie in taking downe her thoughts to a meane degree which true honour not pride had raised to the former height her faithfulnes and loue where she found tru frendship is written with teares in many eyes and wil
be longer registred in gratefull memories diuers that haue tried her in that kinde auowing her for secrecie wisedome and constancie to be a miracle in that sex yea when shee found least kindnesse in others she neuer lost it in hirselfe more willingly suffering then offering wrong and often weeping for their mishappes whome though lesse louing her shee could not but effect Of the innocencie of her life this generall all can auerre that as she was gratefull many wayes and memorable for vertues so was shee free from the blemish of any vice vsing to her power the best meanes to keepe continually an vndefiled conscience her attire was euer such as might both satisfie a curious eye and yet beare witnesse of a sober minde neyther singular nor vaine but such as her peeres of least report vsed her tong was very little acquainted with oathes vnlesse eyther duetie or distrust did enforce them and surelie they were needelesse to those that knewe her to whome the trueth of her words could not iustly be suspected much lesse was she noted of any vnfitting talke which as it was euer hatefull to her eares so did it neuer defile her breath of feeding shee was very measurable rather of too sparing then too liberall a diet so religious for obseruing all fasts that neuer in her sickenesse shee could hardly bee wonne to breake them and if our soules be possessed in our patience surely hir soule was truly hir owne whose rocke thought often stricken with the rod of aduersitie neuer yeelded any more then to giue issue of eie streames and though these thrâ—ugh the tendernesse of her nature aptnes of hâ—r sex were the customarie tributes that her loue paied more to her friendes than her owne misfortunes yet were they not accompanied with distempered words or ill seeming actions reason neuer forgetting distancie though remembring pitie her deuotions she daily obserued offering the daily sacrifice of an innocent heart and stinting her selfe to her times of prayer which shee performed with so religious a care as well shewed that shee knew howe high a Maiestie shee serued I neede not write how duetifully shee discharged all the behoofes of a most louing wife since that was the commonest theame of her praises yet this may be saide without improofe to any that whosoeuer in this behalfe may be counted her equall none can iustly be thought her superiour where she owed she payed dutie where she found she turned courtesie wheresoeuer she was knowen she deserued aâ—itie desirous of the best yet disdaining none but euill company she was readier to requite benefits theÌ„ reuenge wrongs more grieued then angred with vnkindnes of friends when either mistaking or misreport occasioned aâ—y breaches for if their words carie credite it entred deepest into her thoughts they haue acquitted her from all spice of malice not onely against her friends whose dislikes were but a retire to steppe further into friendship but euen her greatest enemies to whom if she had bene a iudge as she was a suppliant I assuredly thinke she would haue redresâ—ed but not reuenged her iniuries In summe she was an honour to her predecesâ—ours a light to her age and a patterne â—o her posteritie neither was her conclusion different from her premisses or her death from her life she shewed no dismay being warned of her danger carying in her conscience the safeconduct of innocencie But hauing sent her desires before to heauen with a milde countenaunce and a most calme minde in more hope then feare she expected her owne passage shee commended both her duetie and goodwill to all her friends and cleared her heart from all grudge towardes her enemies wishing true happinesse to them both as best became so soft and gentle a minde in which anger neuer stayed but as an vnwelcome stranger Shee made open profession that shee did die true to her religion true to her husband true to God and the world she enioyed her iudgement as long as she breathed her body earnestly offering hiâ— last deuotions supplying in thought what faintnes suffered not her tongue to vtter in the end when her glasse was tunne out and death beganne to chalenge his interest some labouring with too late remedies to hinder the deliuery of her sweet soule she desired them eftsoones to let her goe to God and her hopes calling her to eternall kingdomes as one rather falling asleepe then dying shee most happily tooke her leaue of all mortall miseries Such was the life such was the death of your dearest sister both so ful of tru comfort that this suruey of her vertues may be a sufficient lenatiue to your bitterest griefes For you are not I hope in the number of those that reckon it a paâ—te of their paine to heare of their best remedies thinking the rehearsall of your dead friendes prayses an vpbraiding of their losse but sith the obliuion of her vertues were iniurious to her let not the mention of her person be offensiue vnto you and bee not you grieued with her death with which shee is best pleased So blessed a death is rather to be wished of vs than pitied in her whose soule triumpheth with God whose vertues stil breatheth in the mouthes of infinite praises and liueth in the memories of all to whom either experience made her knowen or fame was not enuious in concealing her deserts shee was a iewel that both God and you desired to enjoy he to her assured benefit without selfe interest you for allowable respectes yet employing her restraint among certaine hazards and most vncertaine hopes Be then vmpier in your owne cause whether your wishes or Gods will importeth more loue the one the adornement of her exile the other her returne into a most blessed countrie and sith it pleased God in this loue to be your riuall let your discretion decide the doubt whome in due should carry the suite the prerogatiue being but a right to the one for nature grace being the motiues of both your loues she had the best title in them that was author of theÌ„ and she if worthy to be beloued of either as she was of both could not but prefer him to the dearest portion of her deepest affectioÌ„ let him with good leaue gather the grape of his own vine plucke the fruit of his owne planting and thinke so curious workes euer safest in the artificers hand who is likeliest to loue them and best able to preserue them shee did therefore her duety in dying willingly and if you will doe yours you must be willing with her death sith to repine at her liking is discourtesiâ— at Gods an impietie both vnfitting for your approoued vertue she being in place where no griefe can annoy her she hath little neede or lesse ioy of your sorrow neither can â—he allow in her friends that she would loathe in her selfe loue neuer affecting likenesse if she had bin euill she had not deserued our teares being good she cannot desire them nothing being lesse to the
likenes of goodnesse than to see it selfe any cause of vniust disquiet or trouble to the innocent Would Saul haue thought it friendship to haue wept for his fortunes in hauing found a kingdome by seeking of cattel or Dauid account it a curtesie to haue sorowed at his successe that from following sheepe came to foile a giant and to receiue in fine a royall crowne for his victorie why then should her lot bee lamented whome higher fauour hath raised from the dust to sit with princes of Gods people if securitie had bin giuen that a longer life shuld stil haue bin guided by vertue and followed with good fortune you might pretend some cause to complaine of her decease But if different effectes shoulde haue crossed your hopes processe of time being the parent of strange alterations then had death beene friendlier then your selfe and sith it hung in suspense which of the two would haue hapned let vs allowe God so much discretion as to thinke him the fittest arbitrator in decision of the doubt her foundations of happines were in the holy hilles and God sawe it fittest for her building to be but lowe in this vale of teares and better it was it shoulde be soone taken downe than by rising too high to haue oppressed her soule with the ruines Thinke it no iniury that she is now taken from you but a fauour that shee was lent you so long and shew no vnwillingnes to restore God his owne sith hitherto you haue payed no vsury for it consider not how much longer you might haue enioyed her but how much sooner you might haue lost her and sith she was held vpon curteâ—ie not by any couenant take our soueraignes right for a sufficient reason of her death our life is but lent a good to make thereof during the loane our best commoditie It is due debt to a more certaine owner than our selues and therefore so long as we haue it we receiue a benefit when we are depriued of it we haue no wrong we are tenants at will of this clayee farme not for tearme of yeeres when wee are warned out we must be ready to remooue hauing no other title but the owners pleasure it is but an Inne not a home we came but to baite not to dwell and the condition of our enrance was in fine to depart If this departure be grieuous it is also common this to day to me to morrow to thee and the case equally afflicting all leaueth none any cause to complaine of iniurious vsage Natures debt is sooner exacted of some then of other yet is there no fault in the creditor that exacteth but his owne but in the greedinesse of our eger hopes either repining that their wishes faile or willingly forgetting their mortalitie whome they are vnwilling by experience to see mortall yet the generall tide washeth all passengers to the same shoare some sooner some later but all at the last and wee must settle our mindes to take our course as it commeth neuer fearing a thing so necessarie yet euer expecting a thing so vncertaine It seemeth that God purposely concealed the time of our death leauing vs resolued betweene feare and hope of longer continuaunce Cut off vnripe cares lest with the notice and pensiuenesse of our diuorce from the world we should lose the comfort of needfull contentments before our dying day languish away with expectation of death Some are taken in their first steppe into this life receiuing in one their welcome and farewel as though they had beene borne onely to be buried and to take their pasport in this hourely middle of their course the good to preuent change the bad to shorten their impietie some liue till they be weary of life to giue proofe of their good hap that had a kindlier passage yet though the date be diuerse the debt is all one equally to be answered of all as their time expireth for who is the man shall liue and not see death sith we all die and like water slide vppon the earth In Paradice wee receiued the sentence of death and here as prisoners we are kept in ward tarying but our times till the Gaoler call vs to our execution Whom hath any vertue eternized or desert coÌ„mended to posteritie that hath not mourned in life and bin mourned after death no assurance of ioy being sealed without som teares Euen our blessed Lady the mother of God was throwen down as deep in temporal miseries as she was aduanced high in spirituall honours none amongst al mortall creatures finding in life more proof then she of her mortalitie for hauing the noblest sonne that euer woman was mother of not onely aboue the condition of men but aboue the glorie of Angels being her sonne onely without temporall father and thereby the loue of both parents doubled in hir breast being her only Sonne without other issue and so her loue of all children finished in him Yea he being God and she the nearest creature to Gods perfections yet no prerogatiue either quitted her from mourning or him from dying and though they surmounted the highest Angels in all other preheminences yet were they equall with the meanest men in the sentence of death And howbeit our Ladie being the patterne of christian mourners so tempered her anguish that there was neither any thing vndone that might be exacted of a mother or any thing doone that might be disliked in so perfit a matron yet by this we may gesse with what curtesies death is likely to friend vs that durst cause so bloody sunerals in so heauenly a stocke not exempting him from the law of dying that was the authour of life and soone after to honour his triumphs with ruines and spoile of death Seeing therefore that death spareth none let vs spare our teares for better vses being but an idle sacrifice to this dease and emplacable executioner and for this not long to be continued where they can neuer profit nature did promise vs a weeping life exacting teares for custome as our first entrance and for suting our whole course in this doleful beginning and therefore they must be vsed with mesure that must be vsed so often and so many causes of weeping lying yet in the debt â—ith we cannot end our teares let vs at the least reserue them if sorowe cannot bee shunned let it bee taken in time of neede sith otherwise beeing both troublesome and fruitlesse it is a double miserie or an open follie We moisten not the ground with pretious waters they were stilled for nobler endes either by their fruites to delight our sences or by their operations to preserue our healths Our teares are water of too high a price to be prodigally powred in the dust of anie graues If they be teares of loue they persume our prayers making them odour of sweetenesse fit to be offered on the aultare before the throne of God if teares of contrition they are water of life to
others ease their carefulnes with borrowed pleasures not bred out of the true roote but begged of externall helps They shall still carry vnquiet mindes easily altered with euery accident sith they labor not any change in their inward distempers But by forgetting them for a time by outward pastimes innocencie is the only mother of true mirth and a soule that is owner of God will quietly bare with all other wants nothing beeing able to empouerish it but voluntarie losses Beare not therefore with her losses for shee is won for euer but with the momentarie absence of your most happie sister yea it can not iustly bee called an absence many thoughts being daily in parlee with her onely mens eies and eares vnwoorthie to enioy so sweete an obiect haue resigned their interest and interested this treasure in their hearts being the fittest shrines for so pure a Saint whome as none did knowe but did loue so none can nowe remember with deuotion Men may behold her with shame of their former life seeing one of the frailer sexe honour her weakenesse with such a traine of perfections Ladies may admire her as a glorie to their degree in whom honour was portraied in her full likenesse grace hauing perfected natures first draught with all the due colours of an absolute vertue all women accept her as a patterne to immitate her giftes and her good partes hauing beene so manifested that euen they that can teach the finest stitches may themselues take new workes out of this sampler Who then could drinke any sorrowe out of so cleere a fountaine or bewaile the estate of so happy a creature to whome as to be her selfe was her praise so to be as shee is was her highest blisâ—e You still floate in a troublesome sea and you finde it by experience a sea of dangers how then can it pittie you to see your sister on shoare and so safely landed in so blissefull an harbor Sith your Iudeth hath wrought the glorious exploite against her ghostly enemies for the accomplishing whereof shee came into the dangerous campe and warrefare of this life you may well giue her leaue to looke home to her Bethulia to solemnize her triumph with the spoiles of her victorie yea you should rather haue wished to haue beene Porter to let her in than mourne to see her safe returned For so apparant hazardes shee caried a heauenly treasure in a earthlie vessel which was too weake a treasurie for so high riches sinne creeping in at the window of our sences and often picking the lockes of the strongest hearts And for this it was laide vp in a surer to the which the heauens are walles and the Angelles keepers She was a pure fish but yet swimming in muddy streames it was now time to draw her to shoare and to employ the inwardes of her vertues to medicionable vses that laid on the coles of due consideration they may draw from our thoughts the Deuilles suggestions and applied to their eyes which are blinded with the dung of flying vanities the â—lime of their former vanities may fall off and leaue them able to behold the true light the base shell of a mortall body was vnfit for so pretious a Margarite and the Ieweller that came into this world to seeke good pearles and gaue not onely all he had but himselfe also to buic them thought now high time to bring her vnto his bargaine finding her growen to a Margarites full perfection She stoode vpon too lowe a ground to take view of her Sauiors most desired countenance and forsaking the earth with Zacheus shee climed vp into the tree of life there to giue her soule a full repast of her beauties Shee departed with Iepthaes daughter from her fathers house but to passe some moneths in wandring about the mountaines of this troublesome worlde which being now expired she was after her pilgrimage by couenant to returne to be offered vnto God in a gratefull sacrifice and to ascend out of this desert like a stemme of perfume out of burned spices Let not therefore the crowne of her vertue be the foile of your constancie nor the ende of her cumbers a renewing of yours But sith God was well pleased to call her shee not displeased to go and you the third twist to make a triple cord saying Our Lord gaue and our Lord tooke away as it hath pleased our Lord so hath it fallen out the name of our Lord be blessed FINIS Clara Ducum soboles supâ—ris noua sedibus hospes Clausit in offenso tramite pura diem Dotibus ornauit super auit moribus ortum Omnibus vna prior Par fuit vna sibi Lux genus ingenio generi lux inclita virtus Virtutisque fuit mens generosa decus Mors mutat properata dies orbamque relinquiâ— Prolem matre verum coniuge â—lore genus Occidit a se alium tulit hic occasus in ortum Viuat ad occiduas non reditura vices OF Howards stemme a glorious branch is dead Sweet lights eclipsed were in her decease In Buckehurst line she gracious issue spread She heuen with two with four did earth increase Fame honour grace gaue aire vnto her breath Rest glorie ioyes were sequeles of her death Death aymed too high he hit too choise a wight Renowned for birth for life for liuely partes He killd her cares he brought her woorths to light He robd our eyes but hath enricht our hearts Lot let out of her Arke a Noyes doue But many hearts were Arkes vnto her loue Grace Nature Fortune did in her conspire To shew a proofe of their vnited skill Slie Fortune euer false did soone retire But double Grace supplied false Fortunes ill And though she raught not to her fortunes pitch In grace and vertue few were found so rich Heauen of this heauenly Pearle is now possest Whose luster was the blaze of honors light Whose substance pure of euery good the best Whose price the crowne of vertues hiest right Whose praise to be her selfe whose greatest blisse To liue to loue to be where now she is FINIS 〈◊〉 Eccles. 38. â— 1. King â— 1. King 17. Psal. 112. Psal. 86. Eccles. 10. Psal. 88. â— Kings 14. â—enes 5. Apoc â— 3. King 1â— 2. Kings 1â— Sap. 4. Ruth 1. Psalme 12. Iud. 15. 2. Cor. â— Tob. â— Tob. â— Maâ—th 13. Luke 19. 〈…〉
THE Triumphs ouer Death OR A Consolatorie Epistle for afflicted mindes in the affects of dying friends First written for the consolation of one but now published for the generall good of all by R. S. the Author of S. Peters Complaint and Maoniâ— his other Hymnes LONDON Printed by V. S. for Iohn Busbie and are to be sold at Nicholas Lings shop at the West end of Paules Church 1595 To the Worshipful M. Richard Sackuile Edward Sackuile Cicilie Sackuile and Anne Sackuile the hopeful issue of the honourable Gentleman maister Robert Sackuile Esquire MOst lines do not the best conceit containe Few wordes well coucht may comprehend much matter Then as to vse the first is counted vaine So is't praise-worthy to conceit the latter The grauest wittes that most graue workes expect The qualitie not quantitie respect The smallest sparke will cast a burning heat Base cottages may harbour things of woorth Then though this Volume be nor gay nor great Vnder your protection I set foorth Do not with coy disdainefull ouersight Deny to reade this well meant orphanes mite And since his father in his infancie Prouided patrons to protect his heire But now by death none sparing crueltie Is turnd an orphane to the open aire I his vnworthy foster-sire haue darde To make you patronizers of this warde You glorâ—eng issues of that glorious dame Whose liâ—e is made the subiect oâ— deaths will To you succeeding hopes of mothers fame I dedicate this â—ruit of Southwels quill He for your Vncles comâ—ort first it writ I for your consolation print and send you it Then daine in kindnesse to accept the worke Which he in kindnesse writ I send to you The which till nâ—w clouded obscure did lurke But now opposed to ech Readers view May yeelde commodious fruit to euery wight That feeles his consâ—ience priâ—kt by Parcaes spight But if in aught I haue presumptuous beene My pardon-crauing pen implores your fauour If any fault in print be past vnseene To let it passe the Printer is the â—rauer So shall he thanke you and I by duety bound Pray that in you may all good gifts abound Your Worships humbly deuoted Iohn Trussell R Reade with regarde what here with due regarde O Our second Ciceronian Southwell sent B By whose perswasiue pithy argument E Ech well disposed eie may be preparde R Respectiuely their griefe for friends decease T To moderate without all vaine excesse S Sith then the worke is worthie of your view O Obtract not him which for your good it pend V Vnkinde you are if you it reprehend T That for your profit is presented you H He pend I publish this to pleasure all E Esteeme of both then as we merite shall W Wey his workes woorth accept of my goodwill E Else is his labour lost mine crost both to no end L Lest then you ill desâ—rue what both intend L Let my goodwill all small defects fulfill He here his talent trebled doth present I my poore mite yâ—t both with good intent Then take them kindly both as we them ment Iohn Trussell To the Reader CHancing to â—inde with Esopes Cocke a stone Whose worth was more than I knew how to prise And knowing if it should be kept vnknowne T ' would many skathe and pleasure few or none I thought it best the same in publike wise In Print to publish that impartiall eiâ—s Might reading iudge and iudging praise the wight The which this Triumph ouer Death did wâ—ite And though the same he did at first compose For ones peculiar consolation Yet will it be commodions vnto those Which for some friends losse prooue their owne selfe-foes And by extremitie of exclamation And their continuate lamentation Seeme to forget that they at length must tâ—ead The selfe same path which they did that are dead But those as yet whome no friends death doth crosse May by example guide their actions so That when a tempest comes their Barke to tosse Their passions shall not superate their losse And eke this Trâ—atise doth ech Reader show That we our breath to Death by duetâ—e owe And thereby prooues much teares are spent in vaine When teares can not recall the dead againe Yet if perhappes our late sprung sectaries Or for a fashion Bible-bearing hypocrites Whose hollow hearts doe seeme most holy wise Do for the Authors sake the worke despise I wish them weigh the words and not who writes But they that leaue what most the soule delights Because the Preachers no Precisian sure To reade what Southwell writ will not endure But leauing them since no perswades suffice To cause them reade except the spirit mouâ— I wish all other reade but none despise This little Treatise but if Momus â—iâ—s Espie Deaths triumph it doth him behoue The writer worke or me for to reproue But let his pitcht speecht mouth defile but one Let that be me let tother two alone For if offence in either merit blame The fault is mine and let me reape the shame Iohn Trussell ⧠The Authour to the Reader IF the Athenians erected an altare to an vnknowne god supposing hee woulde bee pleased with their deuotion tâ—ough they were ignorant of his name better may I presume that my labour may be gratefull being deuoted to such men whose names I knâ—w and whose fames I haue heard though vnacquainted with their persons I intended this comfort to him whom a lamenting sort hath left most comfortlesse by him to his friends who haue equall portions in this sorrow But I thinke the Philosophers rule will be here verefied that it shall be last in execution which was first designed and he last enioy the effect which was first owner of the cause this let Chance be our rule since Choice may not and into which of your hands it shal fortune much honour and happinesse may it carry with it and leaue in their hearts as much ioy as it found sorrow where I borrow the person of a Historian as well touching the dead as the yet suruiuing I build vpon report of such Aâ—thours whose hoary heads challenge credit and whose â—iâ—s and eares were witnesses of their wordes To craue pardon for my paine were to slander a friendly office and to wrong their courtesies whome nobilitie neuer taught to answere affection with anger or to wage duâ—ty with dislike and therefore I humbly present vnto them with as many good wishes as good will can measure from a best meaning minde that hath a willingnesse rather to affoorde then to offer due seruices were not the meane as woorthlesse as the minde is willing The Triumphs ouer Death OR A Consolatorie Epistle for troubled mindes in the affects of dying friendes IF it be a blessing of the vertuous to mourne it is the rewarde of this to be comforted and he that pronounced the one promised the other I doubt not but that Spirite whose nature is Loue and whose name Comforter as he knoweth the cause of your griefâ— so hath he salued it with supplies
the dying and corrupting soules they may purchase fauor and repeale the sentence till it be executed as the example of Ezechias doeth testifie but when the punishment is past and the verdict performed in effect their pleading is in vaine as Dauid taught vs when his childe was dead saying that hee was likelier to go to it than it by his weeping to returne to him Learne therefore to giue sorrow no long dominion ouer you Wherefore the wise should rather marke than expect an end meete it not when it commeth doe not inuite it when it is absent when you feele it do not force it sith the bruite creatures which nature seldome erring in her course guideth in the meane haue but a short though vehement sence of their losses you should burie the sharpenesse of your griefe with the course and rest contented with a kind yet a milde compassion neither lesse then decent for you nor more then agreeable to your nature and iudgement your much heauinesse woulde renew a multitude of griefes and your eies woulde be springs to many streames adding to the memorie of the dead a new occasion of plaint by your own discomfort the motion of your heart measureth the beating of many pulses which in any distemper of your quiet with the like stroke will soone bewray themselues sicke of your disease your fortune thogh hard yet is notorious and though moued in mishap and set in an vnworthy lanthorne yet your owne light shineth farre and maketh you markeable all will bend attentiue eye vpon you obseruing howe you warde this blowe of temptation and whether your patience be a shield of proofe or easily entred with these violent strokes It is commonly expected that so high thoughts which haue already climed ouer the hardest dangers shuld not now stowp to any vulgar or femal complaints great personages whole estate draweth vpon them many eies as they cannot but be themselues so may not they vse the libertiâ— of meaner estates the lawes of Nobilitie not alowing them to direct their deeds by their desires but to limite their desires to that which is decent Nobilitie is an ayme for lower degrees to leuell at markes of higher perfection and like stately windowes in the northeast roomes of politicke and ciuil buildings to let in such light and lie open to such prospects as may affoord their inferiors both to find meanes and motiues to heroicall vertues if you should determine to dwell euer in sorrow it were a wrong to your wisedome and countermaunded by your qualitie if euer you mind to surcease it no time sitter then the present sith the same resons that hereafter might mooue you are now as much in force Yeeld to Wisedom that you must yeeld to Time be beholding to your selfe not to time for the victory make it a voluntarie worke of discretion that wil otherwise be a necessary worke of delay We thinke it not enough to haue our owne measure brimme full with euill vnlesse we make it runne ouer with others miseries taking their misfortunes as our punishments and executing forraine penalties vppon our selues yea disquiet mindes being euer bellows to their owne flames mistake oâ—t times others good for ill their follie making it a true scourge to them that how socuer it seemed was to others a benefite Iacob out of Iosephs absence sucked such surmises as hee made his heart a prey to his agonies whereas that that buried him in his owne melancholies raised Ioseph to his highest happinesse if Mary Magdalen saide and supposed shee could haue suncke no deeper in griefe than shee had already plunged her selfe and yet that which she imagined the vttermost of euils prooued in conclusion the very blisse of her wishes The like may be your errour if you cumber your minde with musing vppon her death which would neuer be discharged from cares till death set his hand to her acquittance nor receiue the charter of an eternall being till her soule were presented at the fealing I loathe to rubbe the scarre of a deeper wound for feare of renewing a dead discomfort yet if you will fauour your owne remedies the maisterie ouer that griefe that springs from the roote may learne you to qualifie this that buddeth from the braâ—ch let not her losses moue you that are acquainted with greater of your owne and taught by experience to knowe how vncertaine this chance is for whome vnconstant fortune throweth the dice if she want the woonted titles her part is nowe in deede and they were du but vpon the stage her losse therein is but a wracke of woundes in which shee is but euen with the height of princes surpassing both hir selfe in them and the new honors of heauenly stile If shee haue left her children it was her wish they should repay her absence with vsury yet had she sent her first fruits before her as pledges of hir own comming And now may we say that the Sparrow hath found a home and the Turtle Doue a nest where she may lay her yongling enioying some and expecting the rest If she be taken from her friends shee is also deliuered from her enemies in hope hereafter to enioy the first out of feare of euer being troubled with the latter If shee be cut off in her youth no age is vnripe for a good death and hauing ended her taske though neuer so short yet shee hath liued out her full time Old age is venerable not long to be measured by increase of vertues not by number of yeares for heauines consisteth in wisedome and an vnspotred life is the ripenes of the perfectest age If she were in possibilitie of preferment shee coulde hardly haue wanted higher then from whence shee was throwen hauing beene bruised with the first she had little wil to clime for a second fall we might hitherto truely haue said this is that Noemi shee being to her ende inriched with many outward and more inward graces But whether heereafter shee would haue bid vs not to cal her Noemi that is faire but Mara that signifieth bitter it is vnâ—ertaine sith she might haue fallen into the widows felicitie that so changed her name to the likenesse of her lot Insomuch that she is freed from more miseries than she suffered losses and more fortunate by not desiring then shee would bee by enioying fortunes fauour which if it be not counted a follie to loue yet it is a true happinesse not to neede we may rather thinke that death was prouident against her imminent harmes then enuious of any future prosperities the times being great with so many broiles that when they once fall in labour we shall thinke their condition securest whome absence hath exempted both from feeling the bitter throwes and beholding the monstrous issue that they are likely to bring foorth the more you tender her the more temperat should be your griefe sith seeing you vpon going shee did but steppe before you into the next world to which she thought you to
belong more then to this which hath already giuen you the most vngrateful congee They that are vpon remouing send their furniture before them and you still standing vpon your departure what ornament could you rather wish in your future abode than this that did euer please you God thither sendeth your adamants whither hee would draw your heart and casteth your anchors where your thoughts should lie at rode that seeing your loue taken out of the world and your hopes disanchored from this stormie shoare you might settle your desires where God seemeth to require them If you would haue wished her life for an example to your house assure your selfe shee hath left her friends so inherited with her vertues and so perfit patterns of her best parts that who knoweth the furuiuors may see the deceased and shall finde little difference but in the nūber which before was greater but not better vnlesse it were in one repetition of the same goodnesse wherefore set your selfe at rest in the ordinance of God whose workes are perfit and whose wisedome is infinite The termes of our life are like the seasons of the yere som for sowing some for growing and some for reaping in this only different that as the heauens keepe their prescribed periods so the succession of times haue their appointed changes But in the seasons of our life which are not to the lawe of necessarie causes some are reaped in the seed some in the blade some in the vnripe eare all in the end this haruest depending vpon the reapers wil. Death is too ordinarie a thing to seem any nouelty being a familiar guest in euerie house and sith his comming is expected and his arrant vnknowen neither his presence should be feared nor his effects lamented What wonder is it to see fuell burned spice pownded or snow melted and as little feare it is to see those dead that were borne vpon condition once to die she was such a cōpound as was once to be resolued vnto her simples which is now performed her soule being giuen to God and her body sorted into her first elements it could not dislike you to see your friend remoued out of a ruinous house and the house it selfe destroyed and pulled downe if you knewe it were to build it in a statelier forme to turne the inhabitant with more ioy into a fairer lodging Let then your sisters soule depart without griefe let hir body also be altered into dust withdraw your eyes from the ruine of this cotage cast them vpon the maiestie of the second building which S. Paul saith shall be incorruptible glorious strange spirituall and immortall night and sleep are perpetuall mirours figuring in their darknes silence shutting vp of sences the finall end of our mortal bodies for this some haue entituled sleep the eldest brother of death but with no lesse conueniēce it might be called one of deaths tenants neare vnto him in affinity of condition yea far inferior in right being but tenāt for a time of that which death is the inheritance for by vertue of the conueiance made vnto him in Paradice that dust we were to dust we should returne He hath hitherto shewed his signiorie ouer all exacting of vs not only the yerely but hourely reuenues of time which euer by minuts we defray vnto him So that our very life is not only a memorie but a part of our death sith the longer we haue liued the lesse we haue to liue What is the daily lessening of our life but a continual dying and therfore none is more grieued with the running out of the last sand in an houre glasse then with all the rest so should not the end of the last houre trouble vs any more of so many that went before sith that did but finish course that all the rest were stil ending not the quantity but the quality commendeth our life The ordinarie gaine of long liuers being onely a great burthen of sinne for as in teares so in life the valew is not esteemed by the length but by the fruit and goodnesse which often is more in the least than in the longest What your sister wanted in continuance she supplied in speede and as with her needle shee wrought more in a day than manie Ladies in a yeere hauing both excellent skil and no lesse delight in working so with her diligence doubling her endeuours shee won more vertue in halfe than others in a whole life Her death to time was her birth to eternitie the losse of this worlde an exchange of a better one indowment that she had being impaired but many farre greater added to her store Mardocheus house was too obscure a dwelling for so gracious an Hester shrowding royall partes in the mantle of a meane estate and shadowing immortall benefits vnder earthly vailes It was fitter that shee being a summe of so rare perfections and so well worthy a spouse of our heauenly Ahashuerus should bee carried to his court from her former abode there to be inuested in glorie and to inioy both place and preheminence answerable to her worthines her loue would haue beene lesse able to haue borne hir death than your constancy to brooke her and therefore God mercifully closed her eies before they were punished with so grieuous a sight taking out to you but a newe lesson of patience out of your old booke in which long studie hath made you perfect Though your hearts were equally ballanced with a mutual and most entire affection and the doubt insoluble which of you loued most yet death finding her the weaker though not the weaker vessell laide his weight in her ballance to bring her soonest to her rest let your mind therefore consent to that which your tongue daily craueth that Gods will may bee done as well here in earth of her mortall body and in that little heauen of her purest soule sith his will is the best measure of all euents There is in this worlde continuall enterchange of pleasing and greeting accidence still keeping their succession of times ouertaking ech other in their seuerall courses no picture can be all drawen of the brightest colours nor a harmonie onely conforted onely of trebles shadowes are needefull in expressing of proportions and the base is a principall part in perfect musicke the condition of our exile heere alloweth no vnmedled ioy our whole life is tempered betweene sweete and sowre and wee must all looke for a mixture of both the wise so wish better that they stil thinke of worse accepting the one if it come with liking and bearing the other without impatience being so much maisters of eche others fortunes that neither shall worke them to excesse The dwarse groweth not on the highest hill nor the tall man looseth not his height in the lowest valley and as a base mind though most at ease wil be deiected so a resolute vertue in the deepest distresse is most impregnable They euermore most perfectly enioy their comfortes that
least feare their contraries for a desire to enioy carrieth with it a fear to loose and both desire feare are enemies to quiet possession making men rather owners of Gods benefits then tenants at his wil the cause of our trobles are that our misfortunes happen either to vnwitting or vnwilling mindes foresight preuenteâ—h the one necessitie the other for he taketh away the smart of present euilles that attendeth their comming and is not amated with any crosse that is armed against al where necessitie worketh without our consent the effect shoulde neuer greatly afflict vs griefe being bootlesse where it can not helpe needelesse where there was no fault God casteth the dice and giueth vs our chance the most wee can doe is to take the point that the cast will affoord vs not grudging so much that it is no better as comforting our selues it is no worse If men should lay al their euilles together to be afterwardes by equall portion diuided amongst them most meÌ„ would rather take that they brought than stand to the diuision yet such is the partiall iudgement of selfe-loue that euery one iudgeth his selfe-miserie too great fearing if he can find some circumstance to increase it making it intollerable by thought to induce it When Moses threw his rod from him it became a serpent ready to sting and affrighted him insomuch as it made him to flee but being quietly taken vp it was a rod againe seruiceable for his vses no way hurtfull The crosse of Christ rod of euery tribulation seeming to threaten stinging and terrour to those that shunne and eschew it but they that mildely take it vp and embrace it with patience may say with Dauid thy rod and thy staffe haue been my comfort In this affliction resembleth the Crokadile flie it pursueth and frights followed it flieth and feareth a shame to the constant a tyrant to the timorous Soft mindes that thinke only vpon delights admit no other consideration but in soothing things becom so effeminate as that they are apt to bleede with euery sharpe impression But hee that vseth his thoughtâ— with expectation of troubles making their trauell through all hazards and apposing his resolution against the sharpest incounters findeth in the proofe facilitie of patience and easeth the loade of most heauy cumbers we must haue temporall things in vse but eternal in wish that in the one neither delight exceed in that wee haue no desire in that wee want and in the other our most delight is here in desire and our whole desire is hereafter to enioy They straighten too much their ioyes that draw them into the reach and compasse of their sences as if it were no facilitie where no sence is witnes whereas if we exclude our passed and future contentments pleasant pleasures haue so fickle assurance that either as forestalled before their arriuall or interrupted before their ende or ended before they are well begunne the repetition of former comfortes and the expectation of after hopes is euer a reliefe vnto a vertuous minde whereas others not suffering their life to continue in the conueniences of that which was and shall be diuided this day froÌ„ yesterday to morrow by forgetting all and forecasting nothing abridge their whole life into the moment of present time enioy your sister in your former vertues enioy her also in her future meeting being both titles of more certaine delights than her casuall life could euer haue warranted If we will thinke of her death let it be as a warning to prouide vs sith that that happeneth to one may happen to an other yea none can escape that is common to all It may be the blowe that hit her was meant to some of vs and this missing was but a proofe to take better aime in the next stroke if we were diligent in thinking of our own we shuld haue little leasure to bewaile others deaths when the souldior in skirmish seeth his next fellow slaine he thinketh more time to looke to himselfe than to stand mourning a haplesse mischance knowing the head which sped so neere a neighbour cannot be far from his own head But we in this behalfe are much like the seely birds that seeing one sticke in the lime bush striuing to get away with a kind of natiue pittie are drawen to goe to it and so rush themselues into the same misfortune euen so many for their frends decease by musing on their lot wittingly surfet of too much sorrow that sometimes they make mourning their last decease but steppe not you into this roile that hath taken none but weake affections holde not your eies alwayes vpon your hardest happes neither bee you still occupied in counting your losses There are fairer partes in your bodie than scarres better eye-markes in your fortune then a sisters losse you might happily finde more comforts left than you would willingly loose But that you haue alreadie resigned the solaces of life and shunned all comforts into the hopes of heauen yet sith there is some difference betweene a purpose and proofe intending and performing a subdued enemy being euer ready to rebell when hee findeth mighty helpes to make a partie It is good to strengthen reason against the violence of nature that in this and like cases will renew her assaults it was a forcible remedie that hee vsed to withstand the conceit of a most lamentable occurrent who hauing in one ship lost his children and substance and hardly escaped himselfe from drowning went presently into an hospitall of lazars where finding in a litle rome many examples of greater miseries hee made the smart of others sores a lenatiue to his owne wound for besids that as lownesse pouerty was common to them they had also many cumbers priuate to themselues some wanting their sences some their wits other their limmes but all their health in which consideration he eased his minde that fortune had not giuen him the greatest fall If God had put you to Abrahams triall commaunding you to sacrifice the hope of your posterities and to be to your onely sonne an author of death â—s you were to him of life If you had bin tied in the streights of Iepthaes bitter deuotion in bruing his sword in his owne daughters blood and ending the triumphs ouer his enemies with the voluntarie funeralles of his onelie of-spring yet sith both their liues and their labours had bin gods vndeemable debt your vertues ought to haue obeyed maugre al incounters of carnall affection And how much more in this case should you incline your loue to Gods liking in which hee hath receiued a lesse part of his owne and that by the vsuall easiest course of natures lawes Let God strippe you to the skinne yea to the soule so hee stay with you himselfe let his reproch be your honour his pouertie your riches and he in lue of al other frends Thinke him enough for this world that must be all your possession for a whole eternity let