A LINE OF LIFE Pointing at the Immortalitie of a Vertuous NAME Printed by W. S. for N. Butter and are to be sold at his shop neere Saint Aâ—stens gate 1620. WISE and therein NOBLE AMbition beeing sooner discouered by acting then plotting can rarely personate practise in studie vnlesse the Arts themselues which in themselues are liberall should 〈◊〉 too curiously censured too inquisitiuely confined It is an easie vanity in these dayes of libertie to be a conceited Interpreter but a difficult commendation to bee a serious Author for whatsoeuer is at all times honestly intended oftentimes is too largely construed Generall collections meet not seldome with particular applications and those so dangerous that it is more safe more wisâ— to professe a free silence then a necessarie industrie Here in this scarce an handfull of discourse is deciphered not what any personally is but what any personally may be to the intent that by the view of others wounds we might prouide playsters and cures for our owne if occasion impose them It is true that all men are not borne in one the same or the like puritie of qualitie or condition for in some Custome is so become another Nature that Reason is not the mistresse but the seruant not the directresse but the foyle to their passions Folly is a sale-able merchandise whose factour youth is not so allowedly profest in young men as pleasure in men of any age yet are the ruines the calamities the wofull experiences of sundrie presidents and samplars of indiscretion and weakenesse euen in noted and sometimes in great ones so apparent so daily that no Antidote against the infection disease leprosie of so increasing an euill can be reputed superfluous For my part I ingeniously acknowledge that hitherto how euer the course hath proued a barre to my thrift yet I neuer fawned vpon any mans Fortunes whose person and merit I preferred not Neither hath any court-ship of applause set me in a higher straine a higher pinnacle of opinion then seuerest Approbation might make warrantable Howbeit euen in these few lines that follow my ayme hath not beene so grossely leuelled that I meant to chuse euery Reader for my Patron considering that none can challenge any interest herein from me vnlesse he challenge it by way of an vsurped impropriation whom I my selfe doe not out of some certaine knowledge and allowance of Desert as it were poynt out and at with my finger and confesse that Hic est it is this one and onely By which marke I can deny no man not guiltie to himselfe of a selfe-unworthinesse to call it his owne at least none of those who freely returne the defects to their proper owner and the benefit if any may be of this little worke to their own vse and themselues So much it is to bee presumed the verie taliarie Law may require and obtaine In all things no one thing can more requisitely bee obserued to be practised then The Golden Meane The exemplification whereof howeuer heretofore attributed I dare not so poorely vnder-value my selfe and labours as not to call mine But if I should farther exceede I might exceede that meane which I haue endeuoured to commend Let him that is wise and therein noble assume properly to himselfe this interest that I cannot distrust the successefull acceptation where the sacrifice is a thriftie loue the Patron a great man good for to be truly good is to be great And the Presentor a feodarie to such as are maisters not more of their own Fortunes then their owne affections Aestatis occasum hauâ—d aegre tulit vnquám Temperata Hyems IO. FORD LINEA VITAE A Line of Life TO liue and to liue well are distinct in theÌ„selues so peculiarly as is the ACTOR and the ACTION All men couet the former as if it were the totall and souereigne felicitie of a humane condition And some few pursue the latter because it giues an eternity to their blessednesse The difference between those two is Life desired for the only benefit of liuing feares to dye for such men that so liue when they dye both dye finally dye all But a good Life aymes at another mark for such men as indeauour to liue well liue with an expectation of death and they when they dye dye to liue and liue for euer In this respect hath death beâ—ng the parting of a precious Ghest from a ruinous Inne the soule â—rom the bodie beene â—y the Ancients styled a Hauen of safetie a finishing of Pilgrimages â— resting from trauaile â— passage to glorie Eueâ—ie man that most shuns â—t and he most shunnes â—t that most feares it â—unnes notwithstanding wilfully to meet it euen â—hen posting to it when â—ee abhorres it for the comparison is liuely â—emarkeable as he who in a Shippe directs his course to some Port whether he stand walk reuell sleepe lie downe or any way else dispose himself is notwithstanding alwaies driuen on to the period of his voyage So in this Ship of our mortalitie howsoeuer wee limit our courses or are suited in any fortune of prosperitie or lownesse in this great Sea of the World yet by the violence and perpetuall motion of time are we compeld to pace onward to the last and long home of our graues and then the victorie of Life is concluded in the victory of our ends It is granted in Philosophie that Action is the Crowne of Vertue It cannot in reason the light of Philosophie be denied that perseuerance is the Crowne of Action and then Diuinitie the Queene of Nature will confirme that sufferance is the Crowne of perseuerance For to be vertuous without the testimonie of imployment is as a rich Minerall in the heart of the Earth vn-vseful because vnknowne yet to bee vertuously imployed and not to continue is like a swift runner for a Prize who can with ease gaine it from others but slothfully sitteth downe in the middle way but to perseuere in well-doing without a sence of a dutie only with hope of reward is like an Indian Dromedarie that gallops to his common Inne prickt on-wardes with the desire of Prouender It is beast-like not to differ from beasts aswell in the abuse of reason as it would bee in the defect ACTION PERSEVERANCE IN ACTION SVFFERANCE IN PERSEVERANCE are the three golden linkes that furnish vp the richest Chain wherwith a good man can bee adorned They are a tripartite counterpawne wherby wee hold the possession of life whose Charter or Poll Deed as they terme it are youth till twentie manhood till fortie olde age till our end And hee who beginnes not in the spring of his minoritie to bud forth fruits of vertuous hopes or hopefull deserts which may ripen in the Summer of confirmed manhood rarely or neuer yeelds the crop of a plentifull memory in his age but preuents the winter of his last houre in the barren Autume of his worst houre by making an euen reckoning with time mis-spent dying without any Issue
is not any allurement could lull men in the mist of their misdeeds so much as those two pestilent yoke-fellowes and twinnes of confusion The multitude of offenders and the libertie of offending They are both Examples and Schoolemasters to teach euen the very ignorant whose simplicitie else might be their excuse to do what if others did not they might accidentally slide into but not so eagerly pursue To conclude this point it may somewhat too truly be said though not by way of discouragement yet of caueat what by the procliuitie and pronenesse of our frailtie is warrantable Let no man bee too confident of his owne merit The best doe erre Let no man relye too much on his owne Iudgement the wisest are deceiued yet let euery man so conceiue of himselfe that he may indeuour to bee such a one as distrust shal not make him carelesse or confidence secure It followes that the very consideration of being men should somwhat rectifie our crooked inclinations and ennoble our actions to keepe vs worthy of the priuiledge wee haue aboue beasts otherwise only to be a man in substance and name is no more glorie then to bee knowne and distinguished from a very beast in nature Presidents from Antiquitie may plentifully be borrowed to set before vs what some men haue beene not as they were Commanders or employed for the Commonwealth but as they were Commanders of their owne infirmities and employed for the CoÌ„monwealth of their own particular persons Epaminondas amongst the Thebanes is worthy of note and memorie euen to our Ages and those that shall succeed vs Hee as the Philosopher recordeth chose rather to bee moderate alone then madde with the multitude chusing at all times to consult with himselfe in excellent things not with his Countreymen to giue Lust Dalliance Effeminate softnes a Regiment in the Kingdome of his thoughts no not of his thoughts much lesse of his Actions Phocion among the Athenians Brutus among the Romanes are for their particular cariage of themselues as they were only men well worthy of all remembrance And the sententious Seneca is bold to say that all Ages will euer hatch and bring forth many such as Clodius a man bent to mischiefe but rarely any Age another Cato a man so sincere so free from corruption and so seuere a Censurer of himselfe But what need we to search histories of other times or the deserts of another Nation when in our owne Land in our owne dayes wee might easily patterne what a man should bee or not bee by what others haue bin Among many two of late times are iustly examined not as they were different in fortune in yeares in degree but as they differed in the vse of the gifts of their mind The first was IOHN the last and yongest Lord HARRINGTON whose rare and admirable course of life not as he was a Noble man for then indeed it were miraculous but as a man deserues all prayse and imitation from all Of whome it may without flatterie for what benefit can accrue to flatter the dead or affection bee said That He amongst a World of men attayned euen in his youth not only to grauitie in his behauiour to wisedome in his vnderstanding to ripenesse in his carriage to discretion in his discourse but to perfection in his action A man wel-deseruing euen the testimonie of a religious learned Diuine But for that his owne merit is his best commendation and questionlesse his furest reward for morall gifts let him rest in his peace whilest the next is to bee obserued SIR WALTIR RAVLEIGH may be a second President a maÌ„ known and wel-deseruing to be knowne A man endued not with common endowments being stored with the best of Natures furniture taught much by much experience experienc'd in both fortunes so feelingly and apparently that it may truly bee controuerted whether hee were more happie or miserable yet beholde in him the strange Character of a meere man a man subiect to as many changes of resolution as resolute to bee the instrument of change Politique and yet in Policie so vnsteddie that his too much apprehension was the foile of his iudgement For what man soeuer hend all what the former Discourse hath amplified Namely that the only felicitie of a good life depends in doing all things freely by beeing content with what wee haue for wee speake of a morall man This is to remember that we are mortall that our dayes passe on and our life slides away without recouerie Great is the taske the labour painfull the discharge full of danger the daÌ„gers full of Enuy that he must of necessitie vndergoe that like a blaze vpon a Mountain stands neerest in grace to his Prince or like a vigilant Sentinell in a Watch-tower busies and weakens his owne naturall and vitall spirits to administer Equalitie and Iustice to all according to the requisition of his office It is lamentable and much to bee pittyed when places of Authority in a CoÌ„monwealth are disposed of to some whose vnworthinesse or disabilitie brings a scandall a scorne and a reproch to both the place and the Minister The best Law-makers amongst the Ancients were so curious in their choice of men in Office in the Commonwealth that precisely and peremptorily they repuâ—ed that STATE plagued whipped tormented wounded yea wounded to death where the subordinate Gouernours were not aswell vnblemished in their liues and actions as in their names and reputation A PVBLIKE MAN hath not more neede to be Bonus Ciuis a good Statist then Bonus Vir good in himselfe a very faire and large Line is limmed out to square by it a direct path that leades to a vertuous Name if a man acquite himselfe nobly iustly and wisely in well steering the Helme of State that he sits at otherwise his Honours are a burthen his Height a Curse his Fauours a Destruction his Life a Death and his Death a Misery A Misery in respect of his after Defamation aswell as of his after accompt Far from the present purpose it is to diue into the depth of Policie or to set downe any positiue rules what a right Statesman should be for that were with Phormio the Philosopher to read a Lecture of Souldierie to Hannibal the most cunningest Warriour of his time consequently as Phormio was by Hannibal to be iustly laughed at so aswell might Seneca haue written to Nero the Art of Crueltie or Cicero to his brother Quintus the Commendation of Anger The summe of these briefe Collections is intended to recreate the minde not to informe Knowledge in practice but to conforme Practice to Knowledge Whereto no indeauor can bee found more requisite more auaileable then an vndeceiuing lesson of an impartiall obseruation wherin if our studies erre not with many and those most approued thus we haue obserued First of publique men there are two generall sorts The one such as by the speciall fauour of their Prince which sauour cannot
to inherit his remembrance or commeÌ„dation Heere is then a preparation made to the ground-worke foundation wheron the structure and faire building of a minde nobly furnisht must stand which for the perpetuitie and glorie of so lasting a monument cannot altogether vnfitly bee applyed to a LINE OF LIFE For whosoeuer shall leuell square his whole course by this iust proportion shall as by a â—ine bee led not only to vnwinde himselfe from out the Labyrinth and Maze of this naturall troublesome Race of frailtie but to flie vp in the middle path the via lactea of immortalitie in his name on Earth to the Throne of life and perfection in his whole man and to an immortalitie that cannot bee changed Deceiuing and deceiueable Palmesters who will vndertake by the view of the hand to bee as expert in foretelling the course of life to come to others as they are ignorant of their own in themselues haue framed and found out three chiefe lines in the hand wherby to diuine future euents The line of life The middle naâ—urall line and the table â—ine According to the fresh colour or palenes â—ength or shortnesse bredth or narrownesse straitnesse or obliquitie continuance or interâ—issioÌ„ of either of these â—hey presume to censure â—he manners the infirmities the qualities the verie power of Life or Death of the person But the line of life is the eminent mark they must be directed by to the perâ—ection of their Master-piece All which are as far from truth as wonder onely it is true and wonderfull that any ignorance can be so deluded Another line of life is the most certaine and infallible rule which wee as we are men and more then men Christians more then Christians the image of our maker must take our leuel by Neither is iudgement to be giuen by the ordinary lineaments of the furniture of Nature but by the noble indowments of the mind whose ornaments or ruines are then most apparently goodly or miserable when as the actions we doe are the euidences of a primitiue puritie or a deriuatiue deprauation Here is a great labour to indure a great strength in that labour to conquer a great Resolution in that strength to triumph requisite before wee can climbe the almost impregnable and inaccessible toppe of glorie which they that haue attempted haue found they that haue found haue enioyed to their own happines and wonder of imitation RESOLVTION is the plotter and the Actor nay it is both the plot and the Act it selfe that must prompt vs how to doe aswell as it must point vs out what to do before wee can as much as take into the hands of our purposed constancie this line which must direct vs to life make vs to liue Whatsoeuer therefore in those briefe ensuing collections is inserted to patterne and personate an excellent man must be concluded and vnderstood for methods sake in this one only attribute RESOLVTION For by it are exemplified the perfections of the minde consisting in the whole furniture of an enriched soule and to it are referred the noblest actions which are the externall arguments and proofes of the treasure within For as it is a State Maxime in Policie that Force abroad in Warre is of no force but rather Rashnesse then Souldierie vnlesse there bee counsell peaceably at home to direct for expedition so are all actions of Resolution in the Oeconomie and household gouernment of a mans owne particular priuate wealth but shining follies vnlesse there bee a consultation first held within him for determining the commoditie the conueniencie and commendation of such actions aswell in doing as when they are done Order in euerie taske is for conceipt easiest for demonstration playnest for Imitation surest Let vs then take â—nto our consideration â—his Line of Life and trace the way wherein wee are to trauaile keeping our eye on the Compasse whereby we may runne to the Paradise of memorable happinesse And first it is to be obserued That Resolution hath three branches The one concerns a mans owne particular person for the carriage of himselfe in his proper dutie and such an one is knowne by none other â—ote then in beeing A MAN Another concernes a mans imployment in affaires for his Countrey Prince and Common-wealth and such a one as is knowne by the generall name of A PVBLIKE MAN The last concernes a mans voluntarie traffique in ciuill causes without the imposition of authoritie only vrged on to performe the offices of a friend as a priuate Statist to seuerall ends all tending to goodnes and vertue and such a one is euer to be call'd a GOOD MAN In euerie one of those there is a plentifull imployment presenting it selfe to the liberall choyce for ennobling themselues with publique honors or gayning them the truest honour A deserued fame which is one if worthie of the best and highest rewards of vertue Superfluous it were and vnnecessarie to enter into the contentious lists of diuided Philosophers or vnreconciled Schoolemen for the absolute and punctuall definition of man Since it sufficeth vs to be assured that he is mainely and yet pithily distinguish't from all other created substances in the only possession of a reasonable soule This royall prerogatiue alone poynts him to be noblest of creatures and to speak truth in an assertion not to be gain-said he containes the summary of all the great world in the little world of himselfe As then the Fabricke of the globe of the earth would of necessitie runne to the confusion out of which it was first refined if there were not a great and watchfull prouidence to measure it in the iust ballance of preseruing and sustayning so consequently without question the frame of our humane composition must preposterously sinke vnder its owne burthen if warie and prudent direction as well in manners as in deedes restraine it not from the dissolution and wracke the procliuitie of corrupted Nature doth hourely slide into A mans minde is the man himselfe said the Romane Orator and the chiefest of the Grecian Naturalists was confident to auerre that the temperature of the minde followed the temperature of the body It were a Lesson worthie to bee cond if eyther of those rules may be positiuely receiued For out of the first as any man feeles his inclinations and affections thereafter let him iudge himselfe to bee such a man Out of the latter it may be gathered how easie it were for euerie man to be his owne Schoolemaster in the conformation or reformation of his life without other tutour then himselfe Socrates his speech of the vse of mirrours or looking glasses concludes whatsoeuer can bee ranged in many wordes of this subiect and is therefore notoriously vsefull and vsefully notable When thou viewest thy selfe in a mirrour said that wise man surueyest thy complexion thy proportion if thy face be more faire louely and sweeter then others thy bodie straighter thy lineaments perfecter coÌ„sider how much more thou art bound
With the Poet he can resolue Hic murus aheneus esto nil conscire sibi his integritie to him is a Brazen wall And with the Orator he assures himselfe that nullum theatrum virtuti maius conscientiâ Vertue hath not a more illustrious and eminent Theatre to act on then her owne conscience Socrates a good man if a meere morrall man may be termed so beeing scurrilously by Aristophanes the Poet derided before the people and by Anytus and Melytus vniustly accused before the Iudges as a trifler a master of follies a corrupter of youth a sower of impieties answered If their alledged imputations be true we will amend them if false they pertaine not to vs. It was a noble constancie and resolution of a wise man that he inlightned with the only beames of nature was so moderate and discreet The good man here personated inspired with a farre richer diuiner knowledge then humanitie cannot but asmuch exceede Soerates in those vertues of resolution as Socrates did his aduersaries in modestie and moderation Kings and mightie Monarches as they are first mouers to all subordinate ministers of what ranke or imploiments soeuer within their proper dominions are indeed publike persons But as one king traffiques with another another and another either for repressing of hostilitie inlarging a confederacie confirming an Amitie setling a peace supplanting an heresie and such like not immediately concerning his owne particular or his peoples but for moderating the differences betweene other Princes In this respect euen Kings and priuate men and so their actions belong wholly and onely to themselues printing the royalty of their goodnes in an immortalitie of a vertuous and euerlasting name by which they iustly lay a claime to the Style of good men which attribute doth more glorifie their desert then the mightinesse of their thrones can their glories In which respect our SOVERAIGNE LORD AND KING that now is hath worthily chronicled his Grand-fathers remembrance which was as hee best witnesseth called The poore mans King A title of so inestimable a wealth that the riches of many Kingdomes are of too low meane a value to purchase the dignitie and honour of this onely Style The poore mans King The famous and most excellent commendation of A GOOD MAN cannot be more expresly exemplified in any president or myrrour by all the instances of former times nor shall be euer farre farre beâ— seruilitie or insinuation ouer-paralleled by any age succeeding then in the person of IAMES the King of great Britaine presently here reigning ouer vs A good man so well deseruing from all gratefull memorie seruice and honour that not to doe him seruice is an ingratitude to the greatnesse of his goodnesse and not to doe him all honour an ingratitude to the goodnesse of his greatnesse A good man that euen with his entrance to the Crowne did not more bring peace to all Christian nations yea almost to all Nations of the Westerne World then since the whole course of his glorious reigne hath preserued peace amongst them A Good man who hath thus long sought as an equall and vpright moderatour to decide discusse conclude and determine all differences between his neighbouring Princes and fellowes in Empire A good man of whom it may be verified that he is BONORVM MAXIMVS and MAGNORVM OPTIMVS A good man that loues not vertue for the name of vertue onely but for the substance and realitie A good man whom neither scandal can any way impeach of Iniustice tyrannie ignorance nor imposture traduce to a neglect of merite in the desertfull to leuitie in affections to surquâ—drie in passions to intention of inclyning to folly or declyning from reall worth which as an heditarie inheritance and a fee simple by nature and education hee retaynes in himselfe to the wonder and admiration of all that may emulously imitate him neuer perfectly equall him Questionlesse the Chronicles that shall hereafter report the Annalls of his life and Actions shall doe infinite iniurie to the incomparable monuments of his name if they Style him as some would wish IAMES THE GREAT or as others indeuour IAMES THE PEACEABLE or as not a few hope IAMES THE LEARNED For to those titles haue the Greekes in Alexander the Romans in Augustus the Germans in Charles the Fift the French men in Charlemaine and Henrie the Fourth Father to their present King attayned But if he shall be reported in his Style to be as in his owne worthinesse hee may iustly challenge he must then be styled as by the approbation of all that truely know him he is knowne to be IAMES THE GOOD Let the summe of this branch of Resolution which is indeed Corona operis the summe of the whole sum bee concluded That this onely patterne as he is onely inferior on earth to God who is BONVM SVMMVM the chiefe and soueraigne good so the distinction betweene his great Master and him whose Vicegerent he is consists in this with reuerence to the diuine Maiestie be it spoken That as God whom to call good is but an improprietie of description is not singly bonus good but Bonitas goodnesse in abstracto as the Schoole-men speake So vnder the great KING OF KINGS this King of men is substitute to his King with this vp-shut The one is foreuer the King of goodnesse and our King on earth not onely a good King but a good man Such a good man as doth himselfe run and teacheth by his example others securely and readily to runne by his Line of Life to the immortalitie of a vertuous name A priuate man A publique man A good man haue beene here particularly deciphered discoursed It comes to conclusion that hee who desires either in his owne person to be renowned for the generall prosperitie of the Common-wealth to be eternized or for the coÌ„munitie of his friends or any whom hee will make his friends remeÌ„bred in the Diaries of posteritie must first lay the foundation of a willingnesse from thence proceed to a desire froÌ„ theÌ„ce to a delight from a delight to practise from practise to a constant perseuerance in noble actions And then such a man howsoeuer he liue shall neuer misse to end his dayes before his honors and the honours of his name can end for they shal know no end and yet euen in death and after death ouer-liue all his enemies in the immortall spring of a most glorious memorie which is the most precious Crowne and reward of A most precious Line of Life The Corollarie IN the view of the precedent Argument somewhat perhaps too lamely hath the Progresse of a Mans Life in any Fate been traced wherein still the course like a Pilot sayling for his safetie and wel-fare hath alwayes had an eie to the North-Starre of Vertue without which men cannot but suffer shipwrack on the Land aswell as Mariners on the Sea Such as haue proofes in their owne persons and experiences of both fortunes haue past through