יהוה Annos aeternos in mente habui Memorare nouissima tua THE SWEETE THOVGHTS OF DEATH and Eternity Written by Sieur de la Serre AT PARIS 1632. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE HENRY NEVILL BARON OF ABERGAVENY SYR YOV may behold heer a sensles Statue made to the Life but vvithout Life till the Promethean Fire of your vvell knovvn piercing Iudgment gracing it giue it a true subsistence It hath a Mouth vvithout VVords VVords vvithout Spirit till you the Mecaenas through your Honours gracious acceptation affoard it strength energy As for the Heart expressed in the pure Intentiō of this Addresse to your Honour it is vvholy yours nor needs the spoiles of feigned Deityes to giue it breath to make it more your ovvne then novv it is Or rather if you please you haue heer tvvo nevv-borne Tvvins put forth thus naked as you see into the vvide VVorld to shift for themselues and like to be forlorne vnles your Lordship pittying their pouerty take thē into your Honourable Patronage and safe Protection France hath had the happinesse to giue them their first birth your Honour shall haue the trouble to afford them a secōd That to haue bred a Spirit able to conceiue and bring forth such issues And your Lordship through your noble Fauour to make them free Denizens of this Kingdome Or lastly to speake more properly I heer present your Lordship vvith the Svveet Thoughts of Death and Eternity expressed in our tongue Not to vndertake to make that svveet vnto you vvhich othervvise vvere bitter vvho through a fayr preparation of a Christian and vertuous life haue confidence inough to looke grim Death in the face and vvith good serenity of conscience to vvayt on Eternity but rather that your Lordship vvould please to commend the same to others of like quality vvho follovving the vogue of the allurements pleasures and delights of this vvorld may haue need of such noble Reflections as Monsieur de la Serre Authour of this VVorke vvell versed vvith people of that ranke hath learnedly and piously shevved to this more free and dissolute age So shall your Honour do a charitable vvork of mercy the vvorld be edified and I vvell satisfied to haue put to my hand Your Honours most humbly and truly deuoted H. H. THE TABLE OF CHAPTERS Chap. 1. OF the sweet Thoughtes of Death pag. 1. Chap. 2. What Pleasure it is to thinke of Death pag. 6. Chap. 3. That there is no contentment in the world but to thinke of Death pag. 22. Chap 4. That it belongeth but only to good Spirits to thinke continually of Death pag. 30. Chap. 5. How those spirits that thinke continually of Death are eleuated aboue all the Greatnesse of the Earth pag. 41. Chap. 6. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Alexander the Great pag. 50. Chap. 7. He that thinkes alwayes of Death is the Richest of the world pag. 61. Chap. 8. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Cresus pag. 66. Chap. 9. That he who thinkes alwaies of Death is the Wisest of the world pag. 73. Chap. 10. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Salomon pag. 80. Chap. 11. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Helena pag. 90. Chap. 12. That of all the Lawes which Nature hath imposed vpon vs that same of Dying is the sweetest pag. 113. Chap. 13. How Worldings dye deliciously without euer thinking thereof pag. 119. Chap. 14. Goodly Considerations vpon this important verity That whatsoeuer we do we dye euery houre without cease pag. 124. Chap. 15. The Tombe of the pleasures of the Sight pag. 127. Chap. 16. The tombe of the Pleasures of the Sense of Hearing pag. 130. Chap. 17. The Tombe of the other Pleasures that are affected to the Senses p. 132. Chap. 18. How he who hath imposed the Law of death vpon vs hath suffered all the paynes therof together pag. 135. Chap. 19. The pleasure which is found in Liuing well for to Dye content pag. 143. Chap. 20. The Picture of the Life and Death of a sinfull Soule pag. 148. Chap. 21. A goodly Consideration and very important both for lyfe and death pag. 159. THOVGHTS OF ETERNITY The Triumph of Death pag. 3. The Glory of Paradise pag. 55. Of the Infernall Paynes pag. 190. The Houre of Death pag. 145. Of the svveet Thoughtes of Death CHAP. I. THERE are no sweeter Thoughtes then those of Death Spirits being raysed to the knowledge of Diuine thinges do euer occupy themselues in counting the tyme of their banishment in this strange Land where we sigh vnder the burden of our Euils Slaues liue not but of the hope to see themselues at liberty their prisons and their irons are obiects both of horrour and dread which put their soules vpon the racke The Sun shines not for them at all and all the sundry pleasures agreable to their senses changing their nature serue but to afflict them So as in their captiuity they breath the ayre of a dying lyfe whose moments last for ages We are those slaues so enchained within the prison of our bodies as exiled from the paradise of our delights where the first innocency of our parents had established vs a Mansion so true it is their disobedience hath changed our bodies into prisons and the delightes of our Soules into thraldome What feelings then may we haue in this seruile condition whereunto we are brought but those of an extreme dolour and bitter sorrow to see our selues depriued of the Soueraygne God where Soules do find the accomplishment of their rest The harts being holily enamoured speake so sweet a language both of sighes sobbs in the absence of that they loue as if the Angels were touched with enuy they would desire to learne it to make therof a new Canticle of glory in their Eternity Of all the dolours that may tyrannize a soule such as know what it is to loue find not a more intollerable then that of the absence of the Subiect with they loue perfectly indeed And if it be true that affections draw their force from their merit what should our loue be towards this Sauiour whose perfection so wholy adorable cannot brooke comparison but with thēselues And how be it this great God be infinitly louely yet would he needs be borrowing a hart of nature to resent the draughts of our loue to dye on the Crosse of their woundings What excesse of goodnes How may they resist the sweet strokes of his mercy He espouses our Condition for to suffer all the miseryes therof sinne and ignorance only remayning without power agaynst his person in so much as dying he changed the countenance of death and makes it so beautifull as generous harts at this tyme sigh not but in expectation of their last sigh since euen the selfsame moments that lead vs to the Tombe conduct vs also to immortality The paynes which my Sauiour hath suffered on Mount Caluary haue beene fruitfull to bring forth diuers punishments in fauour of the infinite number of Martyrs who
withhouldes this second life from vs wherein abides the accomplishment of our happines To dye is but to cast into the wynd the last sigh of our miseries To dye is but to make a partition of our selues commending the body to the Earth the Soule vnto Heauen To dye is but to bid a last adieu to the world preferring the company of Angels before that of men To dye is to be no more vnhappy To dye is to despoyle vs of our infirmities and to reuest vs with a nature exempt from sufferances O sweet death since it leades vs to the spring of life O sweet death since it giues vs the Eternity of glory in exchange of a moment of dolour O sweet death since it makes vs to reuiue for euer in a felicity immortall O yee Soules of the world thinke then alwayes of death if you will tast with pleasure the sweetnes of life For it shal be euen in this last moment where you shal receiue the Crowne of all the others you may sigh long inough in your chaynes you are neuer like to be delyuered thence if death come not to breake the gates of your prison Go before it then and carry in your countenance the desire of meeting it rather then a feare to be touched with it We should suffer with a good cheere that same which we must of necessity endure What say I endure Were it a payne to approach to the end of ones euils Were it a payne to become for euer exempt from their sufferances Let vs rather say a Contentment since thereby do we get forth of sadnes to enter into ioy Let vs call it a Happines since so we do abandone the dwelling of misfortunes to liue eternally in that of the felicities of Heauen That there is no contentment in the world but to thinke of Death CHAP. III. DEATH hath it's delights as well as Lyfe Iob was neuer more happy nor more content then at such tyme as he saw himselfe vpon the Throne of his dunghill oppressed vnder the burden of his miseries He dyed so deliciously in the depth of his dolours as he would haue suffered alwayes and haue dyed incessantly in that manner His wounds serued him as a mirrour to his loue For in looking thereinto he became amourous of himselfe but yet loued he not himselfe but to dye continually so pleasing was death vnto him therby to obey him who had imposed that law vpon him Loue changes the nature of things From the tyme that a Soule is chastly taken with this passion it neuer suffers for the subiect which it loues The paynes and torments therof are changing the name quality within the hart They are Roses rather then Thornes For if it sigh it is of ioy and not of payne if it be necessary to dy to conserue this louely cause of its life it is no death to it but a meere rap◠of contentment which seuers it from it selfe in fauour of another selfe which its loues more then it selfe In such wise as it begins to liue content from the point it begins to dye in or rather to take its flight towards the obiect it hath proposed to it selfe of the full perfection of its loue From this goodly verity do I draw this lyke consequence That the hearts wounded with diuine loue do neuer sigh in their torments but of the apprehension they haue of their short durance Death which to vs seemes so foule and deformed vpon the sudden changing it's countenance in their respect appeares a thousand tymes more beautifull then lyfe Whence it is that they are alwayes thinking thereon to to be alwayes content since it is the point where their paynes do termine where their felicityes begin The most pleasing thoughtes which our spirit can tell which way to conceyue can haue no other obiect then that of contentment of profit and of vertue in so much as they are the three sorts of goods whereto our will is tyed Now where shall we find more pleasure then in the thought of death since it is the great day of our Fortune where we take possession of the delights of Heauen Where more profit then in the selfe same thought since the soueraygne good which is promised to vs is the But the End and Obiect thereof And where more vertue then to thinke alwayes of Death whilest with the armes of these sweet thoughts we triumph ouer vice I belieue it is impossible to tast pleasures without thinking of death in regard these delights are continually a flying away and incessantly dy with vs in such wise that if we cannot ressent the contentments but within their fruit in running alwayes after them they are rather displeasures then pleasures and therefore we hold there are no greater delights thē those of thinking of Death as being the only meane to make them eternall When I resent vnto my selfe S. Laurence extended vpon the deuouring flames but yet more burned with the fire of his loue then with that of his punishment how he cryes out with a cheerefull voyce in the midst of the heates which consume him to be turned on the other side as if he thought he should not dye but by halfes being so but halfe burned I do feele my selfe rauished with the same iumps of ioy that transported him Death is so welcome to him as he deliciously roles his body on the coles as if they were very beds of Roses So as if he be touched with any payne at all it is for not suffering it for that his life being all of loue finds its element in the fire that consumes it and therefore he sighes of gladnes in the height of his torments In effect how shall he expire admidst those heats if his hart be all aflame already his Soule of Fire For if he were to be turned into ashes the stronger must needs preuayle So as he cannot be consumed but through the fire of his loue O sweet encounter O welcome combat And yet more deere the Triumph Death assayles him with flames it assaults him with heats but the fire wherewith he is holily burned triumphes reduceth him to ashes so to render them as cōsecrated This great Martyr neuer tasted in his life more sweet pleasures thē that of feeling himselfe to dy vpon this bed of flames because resenting death he felt the delights of immortall life wherof he made himselfe a crowne Kings Princes and all those who are raysed to some great fortune confesse it to be a great pleasure to dy since they dy euery hore so sweetly amidst their greatnesses I say so sweetly for their spirits and their senses are so strongly occupyed with their continuall ioyes as the Clocke which keepes accompt of the houres of our lyfe may sound long inough its 24. houres a day and they heed it no more then if they were starke deafe And the night full of horrour which represents to vs the same of the Sepulcher cānot fright them any more then
are and now is he all dust The flash of his riches did dazle all the world except Solon who discouering his miseries in the midest of his greatnesses maintayned him to be poore with all his treasure Go you sometymes before your death and imagine the houre which you breath in to be your last and then consult with the Oracle of your iudgement for to know the good which you would haue done before this cruell separation of your selfe from your selfe And after it shall haue taught you your duty suffer not your selfe to be ouertaken by the sundry disasters which euery moment may be taking away your lyfe Serue your selfe of your Riches without glewing your affection to them Since you are the mayster of them suffer them not to be your mayster You haue found them in the earth and there let them rest for you nor let any one be fetching thē forth Wel may you be hiding them in your coffers for a tyme but the day of Death discouers all it is in your hands to make vp the last accompt eyther of the profit or domage which they shall peraduēture haue caused to you You might haue purchased Heauen with your almes where it may be you haue rather bought euē Hell with your prodigalities You might haue built Temples to the glory of him who hath bestowed them on you you haue offered them in sacrifices vpon the Aultar of your passions to the Idols of your soules Will you neuer open your eyes to discouer the precipices which encompasse you round Will you be alwayes cruell to your selues to the preferring of the mansion of the earth before that of heauen the delights of the world before those of Eternity and the vayne riches of heere beneath before the treasures of the eternall glory Imagine you that before you were borne you were nothing that being borne you haue but quickened a peece of corruption whose life cōceales the infection and whose Death bewrayes the same Say now then you Rich men as Cresus shall I terme you miserable with Solon since Death takes all away from you saue only the sorrow of hauing liued so ill a life That he who thinkes alwaies of Death is the wisest of the world CHAP. IX VERITY is the obiect of all Sciences And of all verityes there is none more knowne nor is more sensible then that of our mortall condition since we dye continually without cease In so much as the best science of the world consists in the knowledge of ones self The disasters and miseries that befal vs euery houre are goodly schooles for vs to become learned As for me I hould that the onely meditation of death instructs vs in all that which is necessary for vs to know Who doubtes but that he who thinkes alwayes of his end is a great Deuine if all the goodly Maximes of this diuine science termine at the eternall life which followes death That he is a Philosopher we must needs belieue for if Philosophy learne vs the art of reasoning we can serue our selues of reason no wayes better then to be alwayes a thinking of death and the contemp of lyfe That he be an Astrologer is a meere necessity because throgh the mouing of his lyfe he vnderstands that same of the stars which shine vpon him imagining with himselfe that as he goes by litle and litle to finish his course in the Tombe so lykewise the Sun approches to the end of its lucid race where it is to fynd at last its vtmost That he is a Mathematician the resemblances are too playne since that according to the measure of the knowledge he hath of himselfe he can measure the height depth and breadth of all things being of the same nature with him That he should be ignorāt of Arithmetick it were not credible for since he can tell how to compt all the moments of his life he must needs be very skilfull in numbers I should thinke he had skil in musike too since he puts his passions in accord to charme his spirit with their sweet harmony He must of necessity be a great Phisitian since he busyes his soule so in the chiefe health of his innocency to attaine immortality in musing alwayes vpon Death So as with reason might we hould him to be the wisest of the world and the wisest that are to authorize my saying may well be glad to imitate him Aristotle thou hast ill imployed thy tyme to stand so much in discourse of the world without knowing the miseries thereof For if thou hadst had the knowledge of them why hadst thou not followed the example of Alexander in seeking forth a new one not for to conquer it as he but for to liue in eternally happy And as his valour had put the conceipt into his head so might thy spirit haue giuen thee the same proiect It is playne therefore thou hast spoken of the Earth with the language of heauen and of heauen with the language of the earth Thou hast made an Anatomy of nature discoursing with iudgemēt of all the second causes which do make the springs of the whole to moue Thou hast gyuen the definition of al things but only of thy self as if thou couldst not haue remembred them all but with forgetting thy selfe Thou wast busyed much in counting the nūber of the heauens without assigning thy place there put aloft Thou hast noted the diuers motions of the Sunne thou hast spoken of it's Eclypses without once informing thy selfe of the cause which hath giuen it the being and light Thou hast discourst very aptly of the reuolution of ages and of the continuall vicissitude of tyme without taking any heed to the perpetuall inconstancy of thy life Thou hast maintayned that whatsoeuer subsists in the world runnes post to it's ruine and yet as if thou perceiuedst not thy self to runne awhit towards the Tōbe with the rest of created things thou hast spoken not a word of this second life wherein abides the perfection of all our happines Thou hast yielded the Sunne to be eclypsed Thou hast afforded the Moone to take diuers coūtenāces vpon her Thou hast giuen leaue to Serpents to be changing their skin and to the Phenix to reuiue of it's ashes and cruell to thy selfe the while thou hast taken away the hope from thee of euer arising againe Thy spirit hath beene like to a torch which consumes it selfe to giue others light For thou labourest to discouer to men all the goodlyest secrets of nature and hast voluntarily hidden from thy selfe the secrets of thine owne saluation Thou hast lent Ariadnes threed to an infinite number of spirits who were intangled in the labyrinth of the world without once being able to get forth thy selfe though the knowledge of its causes and effects thou hast euen damned thy selfe Fooles speake not but of thy Prudence and wise men of thy Folly It had beene a great deale better for thee thou hadst possest all the Vertues then to speake so of
life were it to dy neuer and to suffer without cease since miseryes and paynes are the miserable accidents of our bodies it would euen be a liuing death or rather a dying life a thousand times more cruell and intollerable then death it selfe Happy then yea thrice happy is that last instant which makes vs get forth of the Empire of tyme most pleasing is the moment which leades vs into the Eternity O sweet agony ful of extasy and rauishment O glorious Ioseph guide now my pen in this faire labyrinth of death wherein it is wandering to touch at some thing of your last rauishments when as you gaue vp your soule on the lips of himselfe that created them Lyfe hath nothing so delicious as your death you dy in the armes of the mother of lyfe and of lyfe it selfe And shall I say that is a death You amorously expire on the mouth of your Redeemer that is to say on the gate of Paradise what ioy The pen fals out of my hand as if it were sensible of these incomparable pleasures wherwith the end of your holy lyfe was crowned but I hope to recouer it agayne very shortly for to speake more worthily thereof if these secret Vowes which I haue already offered you may be gratefull to you Let vs say then confidently that of all the actions of lyfe the last of death is the welcomest of al to such as haue lyued well and it is permitted to all the world to liue well Goodly Considerations vpon this important verity That whatsoeuer we do we dye euery houre without cease CHAP. XIIII THE inhabitants of Nylus are so accustomed to heare the dreadâ—ull noyse of its waters alwayes roaring as they haue no eares to feele the incoÌ„modity therof Let vs say the same in a diuers sense of men in the world that they are so habituated to this sweet feeling of dying without cease as they perceiue not theÌ„selues to dy awhit They breath in dying the aire of the Death which they sigh forth without thinking euer of Death A strange thing to liue continually in Death and to dy euery day in life without once dreaming of the necessity of their end whither they run alwaies They do nothing els but dy and they haue no care but to liue For if they speake the ayre wherof they forme their words causeth the lights to dye which is the Clocke of life the respirations the minutes these minutes are couÌ„ted and one succeding to the other the lasts strikes the houre of Death If they eate the very food that nourishes them doth putrify in their bodyes as in a dunghill in signe that they are full of corruption and this infectioÌ„ by little and little ruines the infected vessel wherein it is enclosed If they sleepe they exteriourly carry the countenance of death which they hide within In fine there is no action wherein they may be any wayes employed which is not a Symbole of Death If the foolish errours of these men of the world concluded not in an irreparable domage they would afford as much pleasure as they moue pitty For one gets into his Caroch with purpose to goe to some faire house of his in the Country without considering the while how that very way of his walke is euen the same of Death whither Tyme which is the Coachman leades him insensibly with all his company So as if they go not to lye for this dayes iourney at the lodging of the Tombe it is put of for the morrow after Another embarkes himselfe in a Pinnace for to sayle into the Indyes himselfe is a Pinnace the while embarked in the sea of the world from the moment of his birth sayling without cease at the pleasure of the wind wherewith age doth replenish the sayles and that without once being able to land but in the hauen of the Tombe This Gallant heere shal be going in post to see his Mistresse and he hath no other obiect in all his course then to arriue as soone as he can to the place where she lodgeth Foole as he is he considers not the while how that euery step he puts forward on his way he approacheth the nerer to the Tombe whither he runs with full speed vpon the same Post-horses he takes to compasse his amourous desires Another there wil be going more easily in a Litter and with lesse incommodity for feare the heate or cold may seeme to preiudice his health but let him go as easily as he will yet Death will not fayle to lead his mules in such sort as he shall but passe onely by his howses of pleasure so to go forwards in his way directly to the Tombe what digression soeuer he seemes to make to put it off Thinke on this truth my Dames during the calme and tranquility of your fortune the spring tyme of your lyfe will not alwayes last euen as the seasons of the yeare succeed ech other so those of age pursue one another But as we see often how the intemperance of the ayre causeth the winter to arriue in the midst of sommer take heed the intemperance of your humours produce not the winter of death in the midst of the spring tyme of your lyfe In vayne do you set forth all your deceiptfull markes of immotality the time scornes them and I laugh at them For if to day you be something tomorrow are you lyke to be nothing So passeth away the glory of the world all flyes into the Tombe The Tombe of the pleasures of the Sight CHAP. XV. LET all the fayrest Obiects which are in Nature appeare in my presence to behold ech one in its turne the foundation of their Sepulcher Let the Heauen shew forth open to view its serene countenance the Sun his liuely brightnes the Moone her siluer day the starres their twinckling sparkes the Ayre its fayre nakednes The birds their warblings their richest robes of plumages enamelled with euery sort of colours The Trees the ornament of their blossomes and the decking of their fruits the Meadowes the tapestry of their greenes and Mountaynes the mossy stuffe wherewith they couer their crumpt backes the forrests their thicke branches the sauadge beasts the extrauagant beauty which Nature hath impressed in their brutish kind through the diuersity of the formes which they represent the Earth the inside of its coffers replenished with all sorts of riches the Riuers the Christall of their streames the Fountaynes the liquid glasses of their waters the Sea its huge waterish maÌ„tle the fishes the infinite number of their figures wholy different Let the world yet giue forth new wonders and beauty exhibit to our view its fayrest lyuing pictures yet all those obiects taken altogether are no more then a little dust enclosed in the crust of artificiousnes which Tyme quite ruines by little and little Thou man of the world who seest but only by thine eyes in cherishing thy life so with the pleasures of the sight admire yet once in thine Idea
it is alwayes inseparable from the mortall condition wherein you are borne You must dy and appeare in this fatall Couch not with your gorgeous Attire nor Royall Mantles but rather with shirts well steept in a cold sweate where your liues are to run shipwracke To cary your Crownes vpon your heads they are so feeble as they cannot endure the weight To hold your Scepters in your hands candles rather would beseeme you better to affoard you light to find the Sepulcher Your Subiects are already assembled about your beds to see anew this verity that you are all equall in the necessity of dying Those Titles of Maiesty which they affoard you haue no more grace with them amidst your miseries Me thinkes in truth it is very much to call you Men since you begin to be no more so It is euen iust now that you are to dy the day is come the hower approches death is already on the way to your Pallace you may do well if you please to put your Souldiers in Centinell for to stop him in the entry Behold how he knockes at your Chamber doore you must necessarily vouchsafe for to speake vnto him since he comes on the behalfe of God to signify the sentence of death vnto you I doubt me that you haue the Spirit much occupyed in the apprehension of your present affayres and that you would willingly put of the accompt to some other day but that may not be Tyme hath strooke the houre which is to beare sway at the end of your daies What sighes what sobs what plaints cast you forth to the wind the remēbrance of your Greatnesses past torments you now while your guilty consciences put your soules on the Racke like as the dolours already haue put your bodies For to cast your eyes vpō the guilded Seelings were to increase the horrour of the Sepulcher which they prepare you To behould likewise your Courtiers who stand about you the displeasure you find to leaue them makes you to turne your view another way Whereas it were better to set your eyes on the approches of Death and in the feeling of your present Miseryes to publish in dying this verity that you are but ashes durt corruption Diogenes was walking one day in a certaine Churchyard where he entertayned his sad thoughts in the meditatiō of death at what tyme Alexander surprized him by a suddaine approch demaunds of him what he was doing in so dismal solitary a place I am busied said the Philosopher in seeking out the bones of Philip your Father amidst so great a number of these you see heere but the payne which I take is vnprofitable because they are all equall This Answere is full of Mysteries for it seemes to represent vs to the life this Verity That the greatest Kings of the world differ not awhit but in goods and greatnesses only from the wretchedst that are since in the Tombe they resemble ech other so much as it were impossible to marke any difference betweene them But me thinkes the houre is already spent and that Death knockes harder now at the Chamber doore then before Behold how he enters in carrying his Sithe in the one hand an Hower-glasse in the other to let vs see that if he mow the hay of your life with his Sithe the sand of the Hower-glasse which he carries being taken for the Foundation of your vaine-glory is euen now run out so as if there remaine any little behind it is but only to giue you leasure to open your mouth for to cast forth the last breath in this last moment O fearefull momēt wheron depends the Eternity of Glory or the Eternity of paine This is that last breth which condemnes or iustifies all those who haue gone before O fearfull moment wherin is pronounced the Sentence of our second life or Death O fearefull moment since it presides the birth of our wretchednes or of our felicity O fearefull moment wherein all our good or euill consists O fearful moment wherein Paradise is offered or Hell afforded O fearefull moment wherin we are made companions for euer of the Angels or of the deuils O fearfull moment where the Soule before God findes the Eternall recompēce of its good deeds or euerlasting paynes of its crimes O fearefull moment what ioyes what sorrowes what pleasures and what dolours doest thou comprize in thy short durance As often as I thinke on thee I do tremble with feare for this moment is a great deale more dreadfull then death it selfe This only moment is it my Soule whereupon the Eternity depends Imploy thou all those of thy life vpon the thoughts of this last Thou approchest vnto it euery hower euery instant robs thee of somewhat of thy former life Whatsoeuer thou doest thy body doth nothing but dye from its transitory life depēds thy eternall life for out of the Earth canst thou merit nothing for Heauen Thinke thou alwayes on this last moment where Crownes and Punishments are prepared Crownes of an infinite glory Punishments of a dolour immortall All thy actions shall there be receiuing their price or paine Price of Paradise or payne of Hell Hence it is that the Prophet cries I shall remember the day of my death for to liue eternally Cast your eyes now vpon those Kings extended dead vpon their rich Couches What say I those Kings can Maiesty corruption be compatible together What apparence of beliefe in beholding them to be such that they are Kings since all their Royall qualities are dead with them Would not a man say they were heapes of Earth so raysed aboue the Earth where the worms are beginning to take their fees Approach to this fatall couch you proud Spirits who measure the globe of the Earth through this vayne beliefe that you merit the Empire of it and in your imagination contemplate the while those that possesse them in effect and you shall behold them quite through teares laied stretched at your feet without pulse without motion Their Maiesties are full of horrour and miseryes in their turne haue taken hold of their owne since they are all borne mortall and consequently miserable what strange Metamorphosis from Colossus's of Greatnesses quickened with a lyfe full of splendour and of glory to be chaunged in an instant into an heape of durt whose putrifaction infectes the whole world You Monarkes Kings Princes be you Idolatours of your Greatnesses as much as you please I attend you at the end of your Carriere to let you see on the backside of the Medall that you are but corruption if you doubt thereof let him that suruiues another approch to his Tombe he shall sensibly know that there is nothing more true in the world Thou miser approch to this mournfull Couch there is place inough for thee Thou needs must dye the houre is strooke but tell me how much gold and siluer dost thou leaue in thy coffers and to what end serue they but to purchase
grow in him He would feygne haue found some rocke within this sea of loue but the Pilot who steeres the ship of his life is a Port of assurance for all the world since he cōmands the winds and tempests What pleasure needs must this great Saint take to see himselfe thus smitten with the selfe same woūds of his Maister The Crosse fayles him howsoeuer yet he hath it in the hart The Crowne of Thornes he misseth but what say I he weares it in his Soule But then at least he seemes not to be depriued but of Nayles and Gaule I deceiue my selfe For as for the nayles he caryes the markes thereof as well in hands feet as side and for gaule the tongue takes very greedily the sweet bitternes therof O great Saint thrice happy Tel vs the pleasure which is to dye since you dy so sweetly in the extasies of your felicities How irksome needs must life be to you and the earth be in contempt with you in this trāsportation of ioy wherunto you are raysed S. Stephen hath beheld the Heauens opened and you his hart who hath created them S. Paul hath seene so admirable things as might not be tould and you felt such delicious as cannot be expressed S. Peter hath beene dazeled through a beame of glory you by one of loue whose light hauing pierced your darksome body hath made it transparent to the eyes of all the world so communicating it's diuine qualityes thereinto as the markes therof remayne eternal S. Iohn hath slept vpon the bosome of his Maister and by a sweet transport your hart got through and sought within the bosome of his hart your most assured repose This same disciple hath beene a witnesse of his torments and you participant of his paynes with this glory yet moreouer of bearing as well the wounds in the Soule as the markes on the body So as your fauours are so deare as none dare enuy them for fear of presumption though otherwise they be most worthy of enuy I wonder the thoughts of Death should be displeasing since we dye with pleasure in the life we lead There are none so blind in the knowledge of themselues that know not how they dy euery houre were it not iust then that we should thinke vpon that which we are continually a doing And wherefore shall we not take pleasure at this thought if it be the most profitable sweet that we are able to conceiue It is impossible to thinke of death but we must needs be thinking of Eternall life which succeds the same or rather say we It is impossible to thinke of the Soueraigne God and not to thinke of the imaginary euill of death And where shall we be finding of thoughts both sweeter and deerer then those of our Soueraigne Good So as if for the raysing of our spirits thither we are to passe into the imaginations and idea's of death the light of the Sunne which shal serue vs for obiect shall disperse all those vayne shaddowes which subsist not but through a false opiniō The starre of the day neuer shewes more bewtifull thē when it hath escaped through flight from a shole of clouds which do hide its light Those obscure clouds so strongly relieue the flash of its light as thence it appeares to be radiant in excesse The like may we say of our Reason being as the Sunne of our life that from the tyme it escapes from all these vayne shadowes of feare and dread which do veyle its brightnes it appeares so shining as it serues for a torch to passe very confidently withall from this life to the other The Will loues but the Good it is the Needle that is alwayes a pointing at this Pole It is the Iron which incessantly followes this Adamant as its only obiect In such sort as we are not capable of loue but to purchase the good which is presented vnto vs be it false imaginary or true And therin is iudgement giuen vs to know the difference that is from the one and the others Now that life is a false good there may no doubt be made since it hath no other foundation in it then misfortunes myseries That it is an imaginary good we are enforced to belieue whiles its pleasures are but of fancyes and dreames But that death is a true good we are to hould for certaine since it is the end of the terme of our exile of our captiuity of our sufferances For we cannot enter into glory but by the gate of the tombe where being reduced to our nothing we returne to our first beginning Sweet then are the thoughtes which make the life fastidious and death pleasing yet more sweet the desires that termine all our hopes in Heauen Such as know not the Art of dying well diliciously are vnworthy to liue Impatience in the expectation of death is more sensible to a holy Soule then the greatest pleasures to a man of the world We cannot loue life but in cherishing the fatall accidents that are inseparable from it which made Terence to say That he loued not any thing of all that which was in him but the hope of a speedy dying In effect there is no greater consolarion in life then that of death For were it immortall with all the encombrances that cleaue vnto it of all the conditours that are found in nature that same of man would prooue to be the most vnfortunate The afflicted loue not but by the sweet expectation of death and the others of the hope of a second life with reason imagining with themselues that if on earth they be touched with some pleasure they shal be one day accomplished in Heauen with al desirable delights And through the good of our death it is that we possesse the soueraigne good of eternall life It is the entry of our felicity the passage from the false and imaginary to the true and alwayes permanent He is yet vnborne whose hart being glutted with al sorts of contentments hath neuer gaped after new pleasures There is not a Soule in the world how happy soeuer it thinke it selfe that points not its pretensions beyond that same which it possesseth We hold it good to be rich our desires are alwayes in chase of Good We are raysed to the top of the greatest dignities we build new Thrones in our imagination not finding on earth scope inough to satisfy our Ambition withall In so much as mā hath alwaies vnrest in the repose which he hath once proposed to himselfe which makes vs sensibly to perceiue that the obiect of our desires is forth of nature and that if we sigh in the midst of our felicityes it can be but of the hope we haue to possesse some greater then they We haue lyued long inough then in Tantalus his Hel where we are continually a thirst without being euer able to drinke We must be vsing of some violence with our selues and go couragiously before death since it is that which
if they were quite blind Needs must the charmes of their pleasures be strong to make them insensible to that which toucheth them so neere S. Augustin sayd how the greatnesses of the world aspersed a kind of leprosy on the soule which euen benummed all the senses of the greatest Potentats of the earth In effect all their sighes all their actions do but carry the countenance of Death with them yet perceyue they no whit therof A strange thing To liue and not to thinke of lyfe at any tyme or rather of Death since to liue and dy is but one thing It is yet true notwithstanding that we dye without euer thinking of death wherin do we spoile our selues of the sweetest contentments of lyfe because our whole felicity consists in dying well and the meanes to incurre a glorious death is alwaies to thinke of the miseries of lyfe to the end to be encouraged through hope to possesse the eternall glory which is promised vnto vs. We do naturally loue our selues with so strong affections that all the powers of the world are not able to burst the chaynes thereof But what more mighty proofes may we affoard of this verity then that of thinking continually of Death since the same is the day of our Triumph When shall I begin to liue not to dye for euer sayth the Royall Prophet Our lyfe is a continuall combat and the day of our Death is that of our Victorie All the Martyrs though they were in the thickest of the fight and alwaies in the action of defending themselues yet in this warre of the world thought themselues very happy to find the occasion where they might make to appeare the last endeauours of their courage in the midst of torments for that they found in Death the crowne of immortall lyfe O sweet lyfe and cruell the attendāce As often as we carry our thoughtes beyond nature and euen to Heauen our spirit remaines wholy satisfyed therewith because that in this diuine pitch where it sees it selfe eleuated aboue it selfe it begins to liue the lyfe of Angells The earth is in contempt with it and when the chaynes of it's body fall off in their first condition it suffers their tyranny through constraint So that if it be permitted vs at all moments to abādon the world in thought to haue thereby some feeling of heauenly delights should we be our enemies so farre as to contemne these diuine pleasures in groueling without cease in our miseryes while the only meanes to be touched with it is to thinke on Death since there is no other way in lyfe to fynd the felicity we seeke for We may piously say that the Virgin purest most holy liued on earth a lyfe litle differing from that lyfe which is liued in Heauen her spirit all diuine intertayned it selfe alwayes with the Angels or rather with God himself while she had the glory of bearing him within her sacred wombe or in her armes In so much as her life was a voluntary Death all of loue seeing that through loue she tooke no pleasure but to dye so to possesse more perfectly the onely obiect of her lyfe She prized not her dayes but in the expectation of their last night as knowing its darknes was to produce the brightnes of an eternal day wherof herselfe had beene the Aurora O how sweet would it be to be able to liue in that sort for to dye deliciously It is not a life truly immortall to be alwayes thinking of death if death afford vs immortality How fastidious is the life of the world the Prophet cryes Let vs now then be ioyning our voyce to his cryes and say that death only is to be wished for All the holy Soules which in imitation of my Sauiour haue adorned thēselues with thornes haue been turning the face to the tombwards there to gather Roses With death it is where they termine their dearest hopes So as if they liue content it is not but through the sweet hope which they haue to dye O yee prophane Spirits who sacrifice not but to voluptuousnes pull off the hood of passion that thus blinds you to destroy those aultars of Idolatry whereon you immolate your selues without thinking of it for punishment of your crymes If you will know the true pleasure indeed it consists of thinking of Death as of the Spring that produceth our delights Our Crownes are at the end of their cariere nor shall we euer come to possesse the Soueraygne God to which we aspire with so much feruour and vnrest but by the way of Death When shall I cease to lyue with men sayth Dauid He is euen troubled amidst the greatnesses of the earth His Scepter and his Crowne are so contemptible to him as he would willingly change his Throne with the dunghill of Iob on condition to dye with his constancy To liue is no more then to be sequestred from that which one loues and after God what may we loue After him what may we desire So as if now these holy affections these diuine wishes cannot looke on glory but in passing by the Sepulcher let vs thinke continually on Death as of the way we take which we are yet to make This is the onely meane to render vs content for that these thoughtes are inseparable from the eternall felicity which is promised vs. That it belongeth but only to good Spirits to thinke continually of Death CHAP. IIII. SVCH as know the Art of familiarizing death with life through continual remēbrance of their end do neuer change the countenance in any perils They looke to resume both their bloud and life at once with the same eyes they behold the things which are agreable to them so as they remayne inuincible in their miseryes through the knowledge they haue of their condition Wounds neuer hurt their soules and all the maladies wherewith they may be touched afflict but their body only Their good Spirit habituated with the ordinary encounter of a thousand sad accidents inseparable from life tasts their bitternes in its turne and feeles their thornes without any murmuring The end of all actions ought to be the first ayme of the iudgement that conceiues them if it will shun the griefe of hauing done them So as from the tyme that we are capable of reason are we to serue our selues of it to consider the necessity of our mortall and transitory condition that the continuall obiect of our end may serue as a condition meanes to arriue happily thereunto The wiser sort are those who repent at least for that which they haue done true wisedome consists in not cōmitting folly And what more great may a man admit thē that to neuer thinke of death since it is the end where all our actions receiue their prize or payne Remember thou Death the Wisemā sayth and thou shalt neuer syn O glorious remembrāce who raisest vs to so high a degree of honour as neuer to offend God which is the only
perfection of the Soule next to the knowing him and louing him withall O glorious remembrance which changest our frayle and guilty Nature into one which is wholy innocent O glorious remembrance that makest vs deliciously to breath the ayre of Grace since they liue in the estate to dye euery hower for to liue eternally O glorious remembrance which on earth makest vs the inhabitants of Heauen O glorious remembrance where the Spirit finds both its Good and repose When I represent to my selfe the pittiful estate of our Condition I am afrayd of my selfe for disasters and miseryes do so attend vs at the heeles as there is almost no medium betweene dying and lyuing We sigh without cease the whole ayre we breath our very being that so tumbles alwayes towards its end wisheth not but it s not being whither euery instant leades it without intermission What better thoughtes may we now conceiue then of these verities since it is too true that we are borne vnhappy for to liue miserable vntill the point of dying And the only meane to change this misery into happines is euery moment to thinke vpon it for feare of falling euer into neglect or forgetfulnes of our selues There are feeble Spirits who dare not carry their thoughts vnto the end of the cariere of their life they euen faynt in the mid way their shadow affrights them they feare euery thing they imagine without considering the obiect of their feare subsists not but in their fancy only and how by that meanes to become ingenious to torment themselues To feare death is to feare that which is not since it is but a mere priuatiō and to haue a further feare of the thought is to fly the shadow of his shadow which is nothing Wherein these Spirits do but feed their owne weaknes liuing in death and dying in their life without dreaming once of Death But what goodly matter will they say so to mayntaine their errour for one to thinke of that which naturally all the world abhors Is it not to be miserable inough to be borne and to lyue dye in myseries without one be burying his spirit before his Body through the continual memory of his end It is euen as much as to make ones selfe vnhappy before hand so to dreame of the euils which we cānot auoyd It is inough to endure thē constantly when they arriue without going to meet with thē as if it could euer arriue too late Feeble apparences of Reason Admit that Nature abhorres Death as the ruine of this strait vniō of the body with the soule know we not also how this nature blind in all its passions and brutish in all its feelings takes alwayes the false good for the true not being able to worke but by the Senses which as materiall take its part To belieue now that our miseryes augment by this thought that we lyue dye miserable were much while on the cōtrary we do blunt the point of their thornes in so thinking of them in regard this continuall consideration of our misfortunes in this life makes vs to take the way of vertue for the attayning one day the glory and felicity of the other To imagine it also to be a griefe to dreame assiduously of Death as of an ineuitable euill is a meere imaginatiō which cannot subsist but within it selfe For we are neuer to thinke of Death but as of a necessary good rather then of an infallible euill since otherwise it i◠nothing of it selfe We should only represent to our selues that we are to change both condition and life and how this change can be no wayes made but at the end of our course whither we are continually running and that without pause awhit Our being of it selfe destroyes it selfe by little and litle withall things els of the world besides It is a funerall Torch burning by a Sepulcher that shines as long as the wax of our body lasts while euen the least blast of disaster is able to extinguish it for euer For howbeit the earth be large and spacious yet hath it noe voyd place in its whole extent but where to point euery one his Tombe euen as nature which though fruitfull of it selfe to produce many wonders yet finds an impotency withall to engender twice its lyuing workes The Fables informe vs well how Euridice was delyuered from her chaines in Hell but not from her prison she had the power to approach vnto the bounds of the dismall place of her captiuity but not to set her selfe at liberty So as if the Poets within the Empire which they haue established to themselues haue religiously held this inuiolable law of not to be able to dye twice with what respect ought we to adore the truth so knowne to euery one and so sensible to all the world And the knowledge which we haue thereof should vncessantly draw our pirits to these thoughtes to the end they sstray not in the labyrinths of sin which is the only Death of the Soule When I represent to my selfe the faces which these men of the world do make when they are spoken to of Death I haue much ado to belieue they are capable of reason since they faile thereof in the consideration of this important verity that they are but meere putrefaction and a little dust ready to be cast into the wind in the twinckling of an eye That walke they where they will they but trample their Tombe vnderfoote since the earth seemes to chalēge its earth whereof they are moulded and framed They shut their eares to the discourses that are made to them of Death which they are one day to incurre and open them to hearken to the Clocke whose houres minutes insensibly cōduct them into the Sepulcher whither willingly they would neuer go In so much as howbeit they are hasting euery moment to death yet they dare not be casting their eyes on the way they hould as if the sight could forward their paces wherin truly I can not abide nor excuse their pusillanimity since the danger whereinto they put themselues produceth an irreparable domage This same is an infallible maxime That such as neuer dreame of death do neuer thinke of God forasmuch as one cannot come at him but by Death onely On the other-side not to thinke euer of the end which should crowne our workes were as much as to contemne the meanes of our Saluation and so to forget our Sauiour who with his proper lyfe hath ransomed ours The eye cannot see at one and the selfe same tyme two different obiects in distance one from the other The lyke may we say of the Spirit though it's powers be diuerse yet can it not fasten its affections vpon two subiects at once vnequall and seuerall one from the other If it loue the Earth then is Heauen in contempt with it if it haue an extreme passion of selfe-loue to its lyfe the discourses of death are dreadfull to it And by how much it sequesters it selfe
from thoughtes of its end the lesse approacheth it to God through those very thoghts Lord I will thinke of my last dayes sayd the Prophet for to remember thee This great King and great Saint withall did belieue the memory of Death was inseparable from that of his Mayster since dye he needs must one day himselfe O sweet Death and yet more sweet the remembrance if it be true that it powerfully resists agaynst all manner of vice We cannot know good spirits but throgh good actions there is none better in lyfe then then of preparing ones selfe for death Whatsoeuer we can do which is admirable indeed looseth the whole admiration if it haue not relatiō therunto nor may a man be thought to haue lyued but to dy rather who thinkes not euer of this sweet necessity whereof the law dispenseth with no man The greatest perfection consists for one to know himselfe so as the Spirit cannot make its Eminency appeare but by beholding it selfe in its nature created to render the continuall homage of respect to its Creatour And being abased in this necessary submission it should consider that its immortality boūds vpon eyther an eternall payne or els on a lyke glory and that it is not at all but to be happy for euer or eternally vnhappy Vpon these considerations it may found the verity of its glory since it could not tell how to purchase eyther a iuster or a greater then that of knowing well it selfe For as then its diuine thoughts make it to take it's flight towards the place of its origin not prizing the earth but to purchase there the merit of Crownes which it pretends to possesse in Heauen Among the infinite number of errours which make the greatest part of the world to be guilty of crime this same is one of the most common of al To esteeme forsooth those extremely who are eloquent be it of the tongue or pen and to put them in the rancke of the more excellent Spirits As those also who through a thousand sleights being al very criminal cā tell how to amasse a great deale of riches to ariue to the highest dignityes Thus do the spirits of the world and are so esteemed by such as they But I answere with the Prophet how all their wisedome is folly before God The good spirits indeed are alwaies adhering to good and there is no other in lyfe then that to be allwayes thinking of death for to learne to dy well Since in this apprentiship only are comprized all the sciences of the world Eloquennce hath saued neyther Cicero nor Demosthenes Riches haue vndone Cresus greatnesses haue thrown Belus King of Cyprus out of his Throne into a dunghill To what purpose serues it to know how to talke well if we speake not of things more necessary and more important of our saluauation To what end serues it to be rich since we must needs be a dying miserable On the other side there is no other riches then that of Vertue and I had much rather possesse one aboue then the crownes of all the Kings of the World below What pleasure may a man take to behold himselfe raysed to Thrones since he must needs in a moment be descending into the Sepulcher What is become of all those who haue beene mounting the degrees of Fortune beene seene on the top of most eminent dignities Disastres or time which changes all things haue let them fall into the Tombe so as there remaynes no more of thē but the bare remembrance that sometymes they haue beene Consider we then and boldly let vs say how it belongs to good Spirits only to be euery houre thinking of Death since we dy euery hower That these thoughtes are the most sublime where with a good soule may entertaine it selfe That of al the wayes which may lead vs to Heauen there is none more assured then that of continually thinking of the last instant which must iustify or condemne all the other of our life for that our actiōs take their Rule frō these thoughtes to receiue the price of them All the rest is but vanity and meere folly Out of these thoughtes there is no good Out of these thoughtes there is no repose Who thinks not of death thinks of nothing since al seeme to termine at this last moment The most happy are miserable if this thoght make not vp the greatest part of their happines And the richest are in great necessity if they dreame not of that of their mortall condition Whatsoeuer is said if Death be not the obiect of the whole discourse they are but words of smoke that turne into wynd Whatsoeuer is done if Death be not the obiect of the actions all the effects are vnprofitable In fine all glory all good all repose all the contentment of the world consists in thinking alwayes of Death since these thoughtes are the only meanes to atteyne the eternall felicity wherto they termine And a generous Spirit cannot giue forth more pregnant proofes of its goodnes then in thinking on the Death of the body whiles euen of this moment depends the life of the soule How those spirits that thinke continually of Death are eleuated aboue all the Greatnesse of the Earth CHAP. V. IT is impossible to know the world without contemning it since the disastres and miseryes wherewith it is stuft are the continuall obiects of this knowledge And from the point that our iudgment hath broken the visards of the false and imaginary goods which vnder the maske of their goodly apparences deceyue our will it suddenly abhors in them that very same which passionately heertofore it seemed to cherish Whence it happens that we can neuer enter into knowledg of the world but we acquit our selues of it at the same time throgh a sorrow for not hauing despised it sooner since all its goods are but in apparence onely and its euils in effect So as if it be a Tree we may boldly say that miseryes are the leaues therof misfortunes the branches and death the fruit And it is vnder the shadow of this vnhappy Tree where our forefathers haue built our first tombe Man may seeme to disguise himselfe if he will vnder the richest ornaments of Greanes with the fayrest liueries of Fortune Well may he trample Scepters and Crownes vnderfoot in the proudest condition whereto Nature and Lot might haue raysed him vp He is yet the same I meane a peece of corruption shut vp in a skin of flesh whereof the wormes haue taken possession already from the momēt of his birth Let him measure as long as he will a thousand tymes a day the ample spaces of the world with this proud ambition to make a conquest of them all yet he must be fayne to let them fall if he would find the true measures of them without compasse enclosed all within seauen foot of earth which shall marke out his Tombe If he assemble with the same ambition all the Thrones of Kings
Monarch who had so many markes of immortality with him be the prey of wormes sport of the winds what shal be your lot Whereto may Fortune seeme to reserue you Go to then I graunt you whatsoeuer you can possibly demaund I affoard your ambition an age of lyfe an Empire of a new world a happy successe to all your desires What shall become of you after all this since this long lyfe this glorious Empire all your felicityes togeather must haue an end with this world As often as you shall issue forth of your condition for to enter into the forgetfulnes of your selfe you do send your thoughtes into this tombe and you shall suddenly return from this wandering Do not flatter your selfe your Crowne is but of earth as the head that weares it Your Scepter is but a sticke of wood subiect to corruption as your hand is that holdes it and the rest of your ornaments are but a worke of wormes wherof you are the prey Iudge you then whether your vanity can subsist any long tyme vpon such feeble foūdations or no. You are accustomed lykely at such time as you build some proud pallace or other to go a walking in the compasse thereof taking pleasure to admire the goodly scituation where you haue destined the place of your dwelling do you the like with your tombe go visit euery day the solitary place where you are to lodge for so long a tyme and this wil be the onely meane to make death euen as sweet vnto you as life it selfe and to bury your pride your vanity and al your vices together before your body according to the saying of the Wiseman for he that thinkes continually of death shall neuer stray from the way of vertue He that thinkes alwayes of Death is the Richest of the world CHAP. VII I MERVAILE much that Cicero should put this Truth into Paradox That he forsooth is the richest who is most cōtent whiles there is nothing more certaine then it For the Soule hath no other riches more properly her owne nor more in affect then that of contentment In what condition soeuer where a man finds himselfe with repose of Spirit may he well be said to be perfectly rich True treasures are not of gould of siluer or of other things of like valew but rather of good actions since by their price one may buy Eternity Besides whose fruition what may we desire Besides whose glory what may we pretend Withall the riches of the world we can buy no more then the world it selfe Alas what good in the possession thereof if it be wholy stuffed with euils See we not euery momēt how it quite destroyes it selfe and that it runnes without cease to its end as the Sūne to its West The richest are ordinarily the most vnfortunate of all others for that hauing by lot of nature some little Empire on earth they fall absolutely to attribute the Soueraignity thereof to thēselues in the vayne thoughts of their greatnesses seeme neuer to sigh but for them nay they euen dy with them O dreadfull Death He then may be only said to be rich who makes profession to follow vertue his way being bordered with Thornes represents to vs that same of Death whose Roses are at the end of the course to crowne our labours withall In so much as we cannot loue vertue but with the continuall thoughts of Death since to see its Body we had need to seuer our selues from the shadowes of the Earth We much admire some feeble ray of its image only vnder the obscure veyle of our mortall condition but that only in idaea and as it were in a dreame We had need to awake yet once more and come to be reborne from our ashes againe as the Phenix in the presence of the great Sunne of Iustice. I would say that we must needs dy one day for to reuiue eternally in the accomplishment of all the felicities of Heauen Alexander hath no greater a treasure then that of his hopes The ayme or scope of his Fortune was alwayes vpon the future and what goods soeuer he possessed he euery day yet attended for more as if he had some intelligence with Chance to receiue from its prodigall hand all the effects of his desires The merchants that go in pursuite of riches vpon the Ocean liue not but of the hope of their mercinary cōquest How miserable soeuer they find themselues on the way of their nauigation they so mainly forget themselues in the sweet thoughts of their expectation as they thinke themselues the richest of the world and they wil sooner be loosing their lyfe in the midst of the rockes then the beliefe they haue thereof So much their imaginary hope seemes to carry them away Let vs say then more boldly and with more reason that such as termine all their hopes to the Eternity as to the onely obiect which is able to quench the thirst of our soules still increasing more and more may be sayd before hand to be the richest of the Earth For their hope is not that of Alexander whose vowes were addressed to Fortune much lesse that other of those old Martiners as changeable as the sea that guides them but another quite different that for foundation hath but Vertue and in the hope of possessing one day the treasures of Heauen they take the paynes to purchase them through the continuall meditation of Death as the onely lesson that teacheth vs to liue well They passe deliciously their tyme in the expectation of their last day on earth and like to those merchants stand counting all the houres of their voyage with impatient desire to see out of hand the very last of them so to be alwayes perfectly happy And howbeit this voyage be long and troublesome yet they esteeme thēselues so rich withall as they would not change their hopes for all the gold of the world In effect we must needs confesse that the only hope of glory ioyned with vertues is the only good of life for the atteyning one day of the possession of them where a holy soule may find the full accomplishmēt of its desires But it is yet to be considered that this hope and all these vertues can haue no surer foundation then that of the continuall thoughtes of Death since all our good doth absolutely depend of this last houre wherein the important sentence of our life or Death is to be signified vnto vs. Hence it is that mā being holily rich heapes vp good workes during the course of his life as diuine Treasures to enrich his soule with all the eternall felicities which may accomplish it with glory and contentment He liues alwayes contēnt and rich at once in this pleasing thought forsooth that he will neuer seeme to dye vntill such tyme as he be quite dead Whence it happens that he tramples vnderfoot very generously all sorts of greanesses and riches through the knowledge he hath of those which his spirit possesseth
deuoure the rest of our miseryes O happy Tombe where our soules do recouer their liberty where our bodyes do fynd the end and terme of of paynes O happy Tombe where we are reduced to corruption to arise in glory O happy Tombe where death euen dyes with vs and where lyfe reuiues with our selues for an Eternity O happy Tombe where we render to the earth the earth of our body to put our soules in possession of the inheritance of heauen O happy Tombe where we passe from death to lyfe from sadnes to ioy from infamy to glory from payne to repose and from this vale of teares vnto the mansion of delights From the tyme that the children of Israel had tasted in the desart the sweetnes of the heauenly Manna the most delicious meates of the earth were growne to be contemptible to them their harts euen chaÌ„ging their nature fell incessantly gaping after this celestiall food So likewise may I say that from the instant wherein a holy Soule is once fed with the food of the grace which is found in an innocent lyfe the world is an obiect of horrour and amazement vnto it its thoughts desires creep not on the earth any more if it sigh it is but after its last sigh if it complayne it is only for the long terme of its banishmeÌ„t in this vale of miseryes The hope of dying serues it as a coÌ„fort in its trobles and solace in its paynes it lyues in the prison of its body as slaues in the prison of their crimes with a necessary constancy alwayes attending on the last houre therof and this last moment where begins the eternity of glory Me thinkes the sentence of death which the diuine iustice pronounced once to our first Parents in that earthly Paradise was much in their fauour agaynst the euills wherewith their lyfe was fraught For if God had made the same to be immortall with all mischifes which succeeded their offence of all created things had man beene found to be the miserablest of them and most worthy of compassion but the same Goodnes which moued the Creatour to effect this goodly worke did euen moue him likewise to conserue the same His sentence was of death but in the rigour of his iustice he let his merry to appeare at the same tyme since from the payne of death we passe to the delights of a permanent and immortall lyfe In so much as this sweet coÌ„solation is inseparable from our tormeÌ„ts for they shal one day finish O sweet End since thou breakst the chaynes of our captiuity O sweet End since thou makest vs to reuiue neuer for to dy O sweet End since thou putst an end to all our sufferances O sweet End since we dye to reuiue for euer How Worldlings dye deliciously without euer thinkâ—ng thereof CHAP. XIII WE must needes confesse how the soules of the world are so deepely taken with the sleepe of their pleasures as they are euen drowned in their blindnes without feare of the precipices that encompasse them round Ioy transports them gladnes rauishes them rest charmes them hope comforts them riches moderats their feare health fortyfies their courage all the vanityes nurse them and bring them vp in the forgetfulnesse of themselues so as they may neuer be able to vse any violence for to breake the chaynes of their captiuity A pittifull thing how they neuer consider the while that this ioy wherwith they are so carryed away eueÌ„ vanishes quite lyke a flash of lightening that this gladnesse wherewith they are rauished destroyes it selfe with its owne violence in running incessantly vnto its end That the repose which charmes them coÌ„cludes with an eternall vnrest that the hope which coÌ„forts them quite changes it selfe by litle litle into despayre That these riches which do moderate their feare during their lyfe augments it at their death that the health which strengthens their courage whiles the calme and tranquility of their fortune lasts doth bread them a thousand stormes throgh the absence thereof where they run danger of ship wracke And finally that all those vanityes which serue them as a Nurse and Schoole mistresse to trayne them vp in vices are as so many bad Pylots which make a traffike of their losse and ruine When I image with my selfe the blindnesse whereto the men of this world are brought I cannot chuse but be moued with compassion for them Is it not a strang thing and worthy of pitty that they runne as fast as euer they can vnto Death without cease without intermission without fetching of their breath and without euer taking any heed of the way they hold as if they liued insensible in all their senses The Sunne which riseth euery morning sets euery euening for to let them see how the light of their life should haue at last a last setting as well as it The Age which makes them hoary and which keepes reckoning of their yeares through the accoÌ„pt of the wrinckles which it causeth to grow on their face preacheth nought els but the necessity of their departure All their Actions termine not a whit but to the ruine of the body from whence they fetch their motion since euery action of it selfe still tendes to its end How can they chuse but thinke of death if all the subiects which are found in Nature do euen cary the very lineaments thereof in the face The Sunne dyes in running his race The Moone dyes in her perpetuall inconstancy The ayre dyes with its coruption The birds seeke death in flying The brute beasts in running and the fishes in swimming in the water The seasons dye in springing againe as well as the trees The flowers dye with the day that hath seene them blow forth The earth dyes in the order of tyme since her yeares are counted The Sea sinckes it selfe by litle and litle into its proper abysses The fyre consumes it selfe in its heat and Nature it selfe that serues for a second cause in the generation of all things destroyes it selfe by litle and litle with them I speake nothing of men since they haue nothing more proper then Death What meanes trow you to forget this sweet necessity of dying whose law very happily dispenseth with none yet for all that do not doubt but there are many in the world who would neuer be dying but this were a childiâ—h language of theirs so farre from reason and common sense as one had need to declare himselfe to be a starke foole for to excuse himself of the errour or rather of the cryme We do all waies contemne the good vnknowne and as we naturally lyue in the apprehension of loosing that which we possesse we cleaue to the present so true it is that all things do escape vs and fly away froÌ„ vs. What a life were it for vs to lyue eternally in the miserable condition wherein we are borne What a life would it be to be alwayes breathing in sighes in mourning in playnts What a
the obiects whose beauty heeretofore thou hast adored then represeÌ„t to thy selfe according to the argument thou canst draw from the nature of their being what is become of them or what are they like to be If it be some proud pallace wherin the order the riches the magnificence the industry of the workeman be in dispute about glory to know who shall carry away the prize consider that Tyme destroyes it at all howers and that it shall neuer giue ouer till it see the ruines of it If the charmes of Art do charme the sight in admiration of the fayrest colours laid on a rich subiect think but a little of the fraylty of those accidents For all the beautifullest colours that are do fetch their birrh from that of flowers And can we see any thing more changeable or of so small a date as they So as if the allurements of the beauties of Nature do rauish thy soule by thy eyes defeÌ„d thy self forth with through the knowledge thou hast of their misery since in effect the fayrest Lady in the world is but a masse of flesh which corrupts euery moment vntill such tyme as it be wholy formed to corruption and this corruption into wormes As for all other things whatsoeuer which thou mayest haue seene being no whit more noble then it thou Mayst well be iudging of their defects by the consequence In so much as whatsoeuer the HeaueÌ„s haue glittering the Earth rare Nature gay Art more admirable if thou seruest thy selfe of the touchstone of thy iudgement to know the matter which supports the image thou shalt soone find all to be no more then dust and so mayest feare least it happen to fly in thine eyes to make thee blind if thou lookest but too neere vpon it The Tombe of the Pleasures of the Sense of Hearing CHAP. XVI YOV Soules of the world who suffer your liberty to be taken away through your eares with the deceiptful charmes of Syrens You I say who sigh for ioy for delectation and extasy amidst the pleasures of a sweet harmony eyther of voyces or instruments leÌ„d your guilty eares to heare the reasons which seeme to condemne your errours I doubt not a whit but the purling of a siluer brook the sweet running murmur of a fountayne the pretty warbling of birds and the amourous accents of a delicate voyce ioyned with the sweet allurements of the melody of a Lute are of force inough to captiue your spirits vnder the empire of a thousaÌ„d sorts of delights But yet returne a little from this wandering of yours Content your selfe with the losse of liberty and saue your reason to repayre your domage At such tyme as you stand listening to the humming noyse of this riuer to the murmur of this fountayne imagine this truth the while That all passeth away that all slides along like to the waues Their language preacheth nought els Those birds euen call for death at the sound of their chaunting like the Swan And if the harmony of a voice or Lute so charme you coÌ„sider awhile how the pleasure of this melody is formed of the ayre and that in the same instant it resolues into ayre agayne so as the delights euen dy in their birth You let your eares be tickled with the charmes of EloqueÌ„ce imagine you that since it is true that as neither Cicero nor Demosthenes were exempt from the Tombe or corruption with al their fayre elocution so shall you neuer be able to perswade death with al your gallant discourses to prolong the terme of your life but a moment True Eloquence consists in preaching Vertue and true Harmony to hould reason alwayes at accord with the Will for to desire nothing but what is iust The Tombe of the other Pleasures that are affected to the Senses CHAP. XVII OPEN your eyes you worldlings to discouer playnly the truth of your crymes You take your pleasures to cherish daintily your bodyes as if you knew not their miseryes But why say I your pleasures Can you take any contentment to stuffe your putrified body with a new matter of corruption Whatsoeuer you eat is a symbole of Death so shall you dy in eating You do nothing but heape dung vpon dung add but infectioÌ„ to infection I graunt that your life passeth euer its dayes in continuall banquetting But I would fayne haue you let me see the pleasure which is left you of all this good cheere at the latter course Is this a contentment trow you to haue the Belly stuffed with a thousand ordures to put your spirit on the racke with the stinking fume of meates not well concocted which arise vp in the brayne Is it well with you to haue the head drousy the pulse distempered the spirit benummed reason astray Behold heere a part of the delights which succeed your delights and you haue no care but to pamper your bodyes as if you lyued but onely for them not considering the meane while how the same very food which affoards them lyfe euen brings them to death Inebriate your selfe with these brutish pleasures and by the example of the new Epicures haue no passion but to conserue them yet of necessity must the imaginary paradise of your lyfe conclude in a true Hell on the day of your death For all these roses shal be changed into thornes in that last moment Glut you and crumme your bodies for to satiate the wormes withall But this is nothing as yet Your soules being the companions of your euills must needs be euerlastingly punished in an eternity of paynes O dreadfull Eternity It seemes in a fashion that those men of the world may well be excusing their vanity that causes them to carry both amber and muske about them since they are all full of of infection and corruption which makes me belieue that they feare least men come to sent the stench of their miseries so engage them or rather inforce them to serue themselues of this cunning In effect all these odours and these perfumes smell so strong of earth as we cannot loue the smoke without runing into danger of the fire So as those who tye their spirit to these vayne idea's of pleasures are in loue with shadows and despise the bodyes They smell very well that smell not ill and such as habituate their bodyes to Perfumes can neuer endure the stinke of the mortuary Torches which shall encompasse their bâ—d at the houre of death I speake to you my Ladyes who doe so passionately affect these foolish vanityes I remit you euer to the instant of Death for to receyue the iudgement of your actions full of shame and reproach Deale you so as your soule may sauour well rather then the body since the one may euery moment be cited to the presence of God and the other serues as a prey for the worms It were better your teeth should sauour il then your actions for those are subiect to corruption and these heere shall liue eternally
eyther in payne or glory I leaue you to thinke of these important verityes For the pleasures of Touching being of the selfe same nature with the rest and hauing no more solid foundatiō then they we may draw the consequence of the same argumēt with them and conclude how this imaginary pleasure cannot seeeme to cleaue but to weaker spirits who loue only the earth because its obiect is so vile and base as we had need to abase our selues to obserue its aymes Let vs resume the ayres of our former discourses and say that the pleasures of the world do not subsist in the world but through the name onely which is giuen them For in effect they are nothing but a dreame the shadow of a shadow whose body we neuer possesse Such as loue them are not capable of loue since they fix their affections on the pourtraicts onely of imagination and of the Idea's which the wind defaceth euery moment True contentmēt consists in thinking alwayes of death And this is the onely pleasure of lyfe since it termines in the delights of Eternity How he who hath imposed the Law of Death vpon vs hath suffered al the paynes therof together CHAP. XVIII I NOTE an excesse of loue in the History of that great King who being touched with a generous desire to banish vice for euer from his Kingdome to bring in Vertue there to reigne in peace among an infinite number of Lawes which he imposed on his subiects the payne of pulling out the eyes was decreed for his punishment that should violate the most important of thē The ill lucke was that his only Sonne should fall the first into that cryme What shall he do And what shal he resolue vpon For to quit himselfe from the assaults both of loue and pitty which nature gaue him euery moment he could not do since the halfe of his bloud takes away fury from the other halfe What likelihood for one to arme himselfe against himselfe to excite his arme to vengeance to destroy his body He hath no loue but for the guilty how shall he haue passion to destroy him He sees not but by his eyes and how shall he be able to see him blind In fine he sits not on his Throne but to keepe him the place how shall he possibly mount this throne to prononce the sentence of his punishment Of necessity yet the errour must be punished if he wil not soyle the splendour of his iustice which is the richest ornament of his Crowne and the onely vertue that makes him worthy of his Empire Nature assayles him powerfully Loue giues him a thousand batteryes and euen Pitty often wrings the weapons from his hands and yet Reason for all that seemes to carry away the victory There is no remedy but needs must he yield to Nature Loue and Pitty but yet finds he a way to make Iustice triumph in satisfying the law He puls out one of his sonnes eyes for one halfe of the punishment and causes another to be pluckt forth from himselfe for to finish the chasticement What excesse of Goodnes Let vs draw now the mysticall Allegory from this history and say That our Redeemer represents this iust King at such tyme as in the terrestrial Paradise he imposed this law of obedience vnder paine of death vpon man being the Sonne of his hands as the noblest worke of his Creation This man being the first borne becomes lykewyse at that same very tyme the first guilty in contemning the commaundements of his Soueraygne He eats that fatall Apple or rather opens with his murderous teeth that vnlucky box of Pandora stuffed with all manner of euills The punishment euen followes his offence so neere as he instantly incurres the payne of death But what a prodigy of loue The Creator being touched with the miseryes of his creature takes away the rigour of the law without destroying it quite or infringing the same I meane that he seuers death from death in causing the guilty to arise agayne from his ashes for to liue eternally And the meanes wherof he serues himselfe is to dye with him and in the Chalice of his passion to drinke all the bitternes of death for to chāge the nature therof In such sort as this way of death conducts vs now to eternall lyfe O sweet Death a thousand tymes more plesing thē whatsoeuer is most pleasing in the world O sweet Death a hundred and a hundred tymes more delicious then all the pleasures vnited together O sweet Death where the body finds repose the spirit contentmēt the soule its whole felicity O sweet Death the only hope of the afflicted the sole consolation of the wisest and the last remedy for all the euils of the world O sweet Death and a thousand tymes more admirable then his goodnes that imposed the law since through the same very Goodnes he would needs be suffering the paine it selfe for to take away the payne Who durst refuse to drinke in his turne in the Chalice where God himselfe hath quenched his thirst Let vs go thē very holily to Death for to go cheerefully thither is to make loue and vertue lead vs into the sepulcher if we meane to find therein a second cradle where we may be reborne anew neuer to dye any more I cannot forget that goodly Custome of the Egyptians that when as a Sonne being armed with fury should passe to that extremity of cruelty as to take away the life from him who had giuen him the same he incurred this sweet punishment withall to be shut vp for three whole dayes in prison togeather with the body whose Parricide he was I should thinke that such as had imposed the law had this beliefe that the terrible and dreadfull obiect of the cryme was a torment of force inough for the guilty to extort the last teares from his eyes the vtmost playntes from his soule For in effect Nature neuer belyes it selfe it is alwayes it selfe it may well affoard some intermission of loue of pitty but yet at last it snatches the hart from the bowels through a violēce worthy of it selfe Let vs see now the backside of this Meddall so to draw forth the mistery out of this moral verity We represent to day this guilty sonne since we haue put our Redeemer to Death who is the common Father of our soules The punishment which the law of his Iustice hath now imposed vpon vs it to looke cōtinually on this Tree of the Crosse whereon our crymes haue made him to expire for to repayre their enormity withall O sweet punishment For spilling the bloud of him who hath filled our veynes the law exacts no more of vs then teares For hauing nayled him on the Crosse Iustice enioynes vs no other payne then that of nayling our eyes on the same pillar wherupon he is nayled For hauing crowned him with thorns he would haue vs to trample vnder foote the roses of our pleasures In fine
not this a sweet lyfe So as if Time strike the houre of its retrayt from its first disposition to death it deduceth a last for to yield vp it selfe into the hands of him that created it In vaine doth euill seeke to afflict its senses the light of its constancy would be alwayes appearing through the shadowes of its sad countenance To what condition soeuer had it beene raysed vnto it takes no care to quit the greatnesses because it had neuer tyed its affections thereunto The Sun may well arise and sett agayne yet she beholds it alwayes with the selfe same eye It s East and West are equall to it though they be different attending without anxiety the West of the torch of its lyfe The labour which it hath to prepare it selfe for death is not very great since still it hath lyued in this preparation Notwithstanding as we cannot employ all our tyme in so important a busines it deliciously spends the remaynder of its lyfe therein It smyles to behold all the world to weep about its bed and being not able to speake any more to cōplaine of their plaints it sighs to heare them sigh For it suffers not but what it sees others to suffer All the griefe is in the body and if it seeme a litle to reflect vpon it it is but a griefe of loue with sighing in expectation of its last sigh for to behold the onely obiect of its good Let the wyfe cry the children pull their hayre and the neerest of its kyn be carying on their visage the sadnes which they haue in their hart let the best friends be partners of this condolement and euery one in his fashion complayn of the disaster so befalne him yet she alone stands praysing the heauens for it and blesseth the day and houre now ready to produce this last moment where the eternity of its glory should begin Well may death seeme to make its visage pale but not the hart for loe it appeares in these last extremes more refulgent then euer lyke a cādle which is ready to go forth it hath the voyce of a dying Swan which is able to charme all the dolours that enuirone it round The Diuells are astonished to behold it so deuoyd of astonishment the force of its inuincible courage doth so weaken their power as they are constrayned to pretend nothing to triumph at In such sort as with the armes of Vertue it caryes away the crowne vnto the end of the race euen dying with the desire it hath to dye rather then of sorrow for not lyuing long inough Thus through force of the sighes of loue it sends forth at last through a last push of loue the last sigh from the bowels and so flyes away vpon its wings vnto the fellowship of the Angels into Heauen where its holy thoughtes had now along tyme established their dwelling O sweet dwelling O happy death which conducts vs thither O welcome dwelling and most delicious the moment which affoards the Eternity thereof The Picture of the Life and Death of a sinfull Soule CHAP. XX. OF all the miserable conditions wherto a man may be reduced that same of lyuing in Mortall Sin is the most vnhappy and vnfortunate The Slaues in the Galleyes are a great deale more happy then such a one For their bondage is limited to a terme and that of sin to a payne of an eternall seruitude It is impossible a guilty man should liue content in the midst of all the pleasures of the world for his cryme is his hangman and torture If he be present at bāquets the remembrance of his offences is mingling of some aloes in his delicious meates If he quench his thirst with the sweetest nectar in the world the same very thought wil be distilling a droppe of gaule into his Cuppe If he walk into some goodly garden the imaginatiō of his faults being alwayes present with him makes him to feele the Thornes of the Roses he admires If he go a hunting the Torturer of his guilty conscience runs after him Let him goe where he wil through the world his cryme is his shadow which followes him throughout Whatsoeuer he doth he is euer ready to thinke of what shal become of him what fortune soeuer he possesseth it is neuer great inough to put his spirit in repose The least accident that happens to him brings him to Deathes doore because that finding himself to be guilty he lyues alwais on the poynt of paying for his cryme If it rayne he imagins straight the Heauens are prepared to powre a new deluge vpon him for to punish him with If it thunder he perswades himself presently that the lightening hath no other ayme then to light on his guilty head If the weather be fayre he sees a sommer without a winter within for his brutish passions produce a continual tempest in his soule If fortune present him with Scepters he regards them but as one apprehending thē shortly to be taken away from him since he deserues them not In fine he wanders in vaine in the labyrinth of all vanityes and returnes to himselfe agayne at all tymes to confesse of force that he is the most wretched of the world in the most of all his greatnesses If he be taken with a sicknes behold him on the racke there are not Priests inough to be found nor Religions to confesse him yet knowes he not what to say For the nūber of his offences are without number and his troubled memory can but only represēt to him the least part of them The disease seemes to presse him hard in the meane tyme his paynes do put him anew on the racke Of all whatsoeuer is represented vnto him there is nothing likes him so much as the Phisitian doth but he is now in the point to try his last remedy after he hath turned ouer all his old Bookes The Doctours are assembled togeather about his bed but it is only to bid him Adieu in a language which he vnderstands not Behold all the comfort they giue him in so much as to see the Phisitians so assembled about him and set by his bed in chayres of Grauity one would say they were the Princes of the Senate that come to pronounce the sentence of Death vpon this guilty wretch He hearkens attentiuely to them without hearing them For the feare he hath of vnderstanding all which they say makes him euen deafe to the halfe The Syncopes are the Hangmen which present themselues to him for to execute this cruell sentence of Death Then the hope of his curing begins to leaue him Behold him yet once againe in the strongest pangs of his agony He would confesse the euil he hath done and that which he endures doth hinder him from it He would recount the history of his life but the dolours of his present Death will not permit him to do it His hart through its vehement sighes his eyes through their forced teares and his Soule by
its necessary sighes do pray his tongue ech one in its fashion to disclose their crymes but the same cannot speake the rigour of a thousand punishmēts makes it to be dumbe On the other side his spirit in the disorder wherein it finds it selfe can haue no other thoughts then those of sorrow for eternally abandoning that which it loues so deerly He knowes not how to expresse a last farewell to his pleasures Whatsoeuer represents it selfe to his eyes are so many obiects that renew his payne If he take heed vnto the beames of the Sun with peere into his chamber window for to take their leaue of his eyes he remembers immediately all the pleasures he hath taken through help of their fayre light in a thousand and a thousand places where it hath beene a witnes of those errors of his If the weather be foule he thinkes vpon that tyme which he hath ill spent imagining withall that the Heauens being touched with compassion of his disasters do euen weepe before hand and bewayle the losse they endure of his Soule It seemes to him that the sound of the bells doth call him to the tombe and that of the Trumpets vnto iudgement He sees nothing about him that astonishes him not He heares nothing that affrights him not He feeles nothing but his miseryes his tōgue is all of gaule wheresoeuer he layes his hand vpon himselfe he touches but the dunghill of his corruption If his spirit seeme to returne to him againe by intermission of the traunce wherein he is he quite forgets the hope of good through the ill he hath committed not being able to dispose his soule to any repentāce The sight of his friends importunes him that of his children afflicts him and the presence of his wyfe serues him as a new addition to his sorrow They behold him not but weeping he is neuer strooken with other noyse then with that of the cryes and plaints of his domestickes The Phisitian goes his wayes out of the chamber to giue place to the Cōfessour And the one knowing not how to cure the body the other hath difficulty to heale the soule by reason of the despayre wherein he is entangled Iudge now to what estate must he needs be brought His speach that fayles him by litle and litle His sight is dimme with his iudgement and all his other senses receyue the first assaults of Death They present him with the Crosse but in vayne for if his thoughtes be free he thinkes but of that which he beares of force They may cry lōg inough to him to recommend himselfe vnto God the deafnes he hath had before to his holy inspirations doth astonish him now also at this houre How many deaths endures he before his death How many dolorous sighs casts he forth into the ayre before the breathing his last All the punishments of the world cannot equall that which he endures For passing out of one litle Hel of paines he enters into a new which shall not haue end but with eternity What good then would he not willingly haue wrought But his wishes are as so many new subiects of griefe in this impotency whence he is neuer to see himselfe deliuered Into what amazement is he brought The Sunne denyes him its light so as if he behold his misfortunes it is but onely by the light of the mortuary Torches which giue him light but to conduct him to the tombe O how the Houre of these last extreames drawes forth in length Ech moment of his lyfe snatches out the hart from his bosome euery moment without putting him to death On which side soeuer he turnes himselfe both horrour and despaire beset him round He caryes Death in his soule for that which he is to incurre Death on his body for that which he now endures Death in his senses since they dye by little and little in so much as all his life is but a liuing Death that consumes him slowly to reduce him into ashes Being now brought to these streights the wicked spirits imploy the last endeauors of their power for to carry away the victory after so many conflicts had What meanes of resistance where there is no pulse no motiō no voyce no tongue His spirit is now in extremes as well as his life and his hart being hardened is now ready to send forth its last sigh in its insensibility as if it dyed in dying His eyes are now no more eyes for they see no more His eares may no more be called so for they heare not awhit and all the other senses as parts precede the ruine of their whole The Soule only resists the cruell assaults of Death in beholding its enemyes in continuall expectation of their prey but the hower presseth it must surrender O cruel necessity In fine for to finish this bloudy Tragedy the Deuils carry it away to Hell for recompence of the seruices which it had yealded to them And this is the lamentable end of synfull Soule You Soules of the world who liue not but throgh the life of your pleasures behold the fearefull Death where the life termines And since the heauens the earth the elemēts whatsoeuer els in nature moues changes without cease do you thinke to find any constancy and stability in your delights Know you not that with the very same action wherewith you runne along withall your contentments you run vnto your Death and that during the tyme it selfe that Tyme affoards them vnto you he takes euen them away from you We loose euery houre what we possesse what care soeuer we take in conseruing the same My Ladyes Keep well your gallāt beauties from the burning of the Sunne If that of the Sunne or of the fire be not able to marre them yet that of Age and Tyme doth ruine them notwithstanding all the industry of Vanity which you haue to employ about them Put your fayre Bodyes into the racke of another body of iron to conserue the proportion therof yet tyme but derides your inuentions For it assayles you within and you defend your selues but without only You haue dared the Heauens inough with an arrogant eye you must needs be stooping with the head now at last for to looke on the earth whence you are formed You must needs bow the necke to the yoke of your miseryes and resume agayne the first forme of your corruption In going to dauncing to feasts and to walke abroad you go to Death In vayne do you command your Coachman then to cary you to such a place since Tyme as I haue said conducts him also that caryes you thither In so much as on which side soeuer you turne your selues you approach vnto the tombe After you haue tasted all the pleasures of the world what shal be left you of all but a griefe of the offences in the soule the sad remembrance of their priuation in the memory this sadnes in the hart for hauing made it to sigh so after your ruine
I doubt very much least death do astonish you but if you neuer do thinke vpon it it will astonish you a great deale worse when you shall see it indeed If to liue and dy be but one and the selfe same thing make the Thought of death while you liue so familiar to your selfe that you neuer thinke of any other thing since you neuer do other thing but dy So as if to feare it and neuer to thinke of it do make its visage the lesse hideous I would counsayle you to banish this Thought out of your spirit but so as you be in good estate But on the contrary the forgetfulnes you haue of it makes it so dreadfull vnto you at the least remembrance therof that comes into your mynd as you seeme almost to be in danger of dying by the only feare of dying I cannot abide the weaknes of those spirits who apprehend an euill so much which they cānot auoyd whereas the euill of the feare which they haue is often tymes a great deale more bitter then that which they feare But the only meane to be cured of this feare is to liue alwayes in that of God For the strōgest apprehension of Death proceeds from the great number of the Offences which one hath committed in his life A good man feares rather to liue too long then to dy too soone because he hopes for the recompence of his trauayles at the end of his course whiles the wicked can attend but for the chastizement of his sins So as for to banish this feare from our soule we had need to haue banished the offences thence The innocēt hath no feare but for the iudgement of God this feare is inseparable frō his loue he feares him not but through loue so as this very feare produceth contētment and banisheth sadnes in the meane tyme. I leaue you this truth to meditate vpon that a life of Roses brings forth a death of Thornes Let vs say now for Conclusion of this worke that if one will auoyd this manner of Death he must alwayes be thinking of Death There is nothing more sweet then these thoughts nothing more welcome thē this remembrance Without the thoughts of Death there is no pleasure in life without the thoughts of Death there is no comfort in anoyes without the thoughtes of Death there is no remedy for our euils In fyne to finish all he who is alwayes thinking of Death doth thinke continually of the meanes of attaining eternal life O sweet thoghtes I would not haue my spirit to be capable of a thought but onely to thinke euery moment of death since it is the onely good the onely contentment and the only Repose of lyfe A goodly Consideration and very important both for lyfe and death CHAP. XXI I SHOVLD thinke there were no greater pleasures in the world then to contemne thē all at once since in effect the best spirits do neuer find repose but in the contempt thereof I know well there are certayne chast Pleasures which we cannot misse but as the soule hath its senses affected lyke vnto the body we are to hinder our spirit from mixing its feelings with those of Nature euer feeble and frayle therby not to tast its delights too deliciously Our iudgement hath beene giuen vs as a Torch to guide our steps by our actions and our thoughtes in this sea of the world wherein we are as Slaues in the Galley of our bodyes and the pleasures we seeke therein are the rockes where we find our shipwracke I know well also that we are to be strongly armed for to defend our selues while our proper senses do so warre vpon vs. But in this manner of combat the excesse of payne produceth the excesse of glory let vs breake the crust to see this verity discouered The greatest Saynts and the wisest men haue beene forced to confesse after a thousand proofes of experience that we can not tast any manner of contentment without the grace of God Thou Couetous man in vayne thou rests thy vn-rests on the coffers of thy treasures I deny thee to be held content for if thou reasonest euen reason condemnes thee If thou seruest thy selfe of thy iudgement to be able to do it what argument soeuer thou makest it but fully concludes agaynst thy opinions So as thou cāst neuer enter into the knowledg of thy vayne pleasures without departing from that of thy selfe In a word thou canst not be a man and be content togeather in thy miserable condition since reason and thy contentmēt can neuer subsist in one subiect Thou Ambitious man I would lend thee wings for to fly to the heauens of fortune it seemes to me already that I see thee seated in her throne but looke what greatnes soeuer thou possessest thou dar'st not say for al that thou wert well content for feare the truth should happē to bely thee And knowest thou not how Ambition and Repose do alwayes breake fellowship the one with the other That Pleasure and Feare cannot couple together and that desires as well as hopes do make the soule to be thirsty Represent to thy selfe then the disquietnes which thou findst in thy greatnesses since thy Ambition cannot limit its ayme within their fruition How the pleasures of thy possessiōs are mixt with the feare of their short durance that by vehemently wishing more more thou makst thy selfe vnhappy In such sort as thou maiest not dare to cal thy selfe happy without flattering thy selfe or rather without blushing for shame You Courtiers let me see the pictures of your felicities bring to light what seemes most to afford it the lustre and splendour it hath I graunt that in the midst of the spring tyme of your life loue and fortune with a prodigall hand haue bestowed vpon you what they had most rare beautifull with them yet would you dare to maynteyne with al this that you are content during the reigne of your Empire Whereas if any one haue the boldnes to perswade weake spirits thereunto let him truly recount vs the history of his pleasures I know that he will streight be shewing vs some Roses but I know withall that he wil be hiding the Thornes vnder their leaues as frayle as his contentments though they were of the flowers of a restles remembrance gathered in the sad memory of things past since delights are of the same nature alwayes dying and subiect to receiue their tombe frō the very same day they first sprong vp As for the presents of Fortune if she giue them with one hand she takes them away agayne with the other So as her fauorites are ordinarily the most vnhappy of all because that in snatching away the goods from thē agayne which she hath once bestowed vpon them she dragges them often along for to bury thē vnder their ruines And will you call that a pleasure My Dames you have but one fayre wedding day in all your lyfe whose feast you do secretly celebrate in
you needs dy and in this cruell separation of you frō your selues your laughings chāge to teares your songs of gladnes into lamentable cryes of sorrowes and all your banquets pleasures into bitter plaints which torment your hart and put your soule vpon the racke There might be some manner of satisfaction perhaps to heare the discourses which men of the world do hould if their blindnes the while do not afford mattter of compassion One takes paynes to recount al the pleasures he hath taken during his life another keepes account of the good fortunes he hath had a third assures vs that he hath possessed heertofore a great number of treasures a fourth endeauours to perswade as many as will belieue him that he hath beene on the top of the greatest dignityes What discourses of smoke are these For he that hath tasted so many contentments hath nothing left him but the sad remembrance of the hauing once had the possession of them Another who yet now thinkes on the good fortunes which once he hath had makes himselfe a new vnhappy through the memory of his passed felicities He that casts his eyes on the ashes of his riches insensibly consumes himselfe in the selfe same fire that consumed them And another that reares vp his head aloft for to behold through his teares the place from whence he fell euen looseth the force for euer to rise againe notwithstāding that it be good for him to sleepe often so to be a framing of these dreames For euē as all those pleasures and goods are slid vanished away with the things that seemed the most durable so all the contentment all the goods which may any wayes appertaine vnto vs shall fly away and the worst is that we run after them for to signe out our Tombe in their Sepulcher Salomon hath had so many pleasures Cresus passessed so much riches Alexander receiued so great honours Helena so many prayses for her incomparable beauty But Salomon is no more but dust with all his riches Alexander but earth with all his honours nor Helena any more then corruption with all her graces Trust you not then to your pleasures you great Kings for their Roses shall wither and their Thornes endure for euer Put not your hopes in Riches since they are of earth as well as you Despise you Honours since all glory is due to Vertue only And you my Dames employ from hence-forth all your cares and labours to decke your Soules rather then your bodyes if you wil haue Angels enamoured and men to be emulous of you For so euery one shal striue for glory to imitate you in this glorious enterprize This is the counsayle I giue you and with it will I finish my Booke The end of the svveet Thoughtes of Death THOVGHTS OF ETERNITY Distributed into foure Parts To wit The Triumph of Death To wit The Ioyes of Paradise To wit The Infernall Paynes To wit The Houre of Death VVritten in French by Sieur de la Serre translated into English Permissu Superiorū M. DC XXXII THOVGHTES OF Eternity The Triumph of Death O HOW sweet is it to thinke continually on eternall things All flies away before our eyes in the course of their fight by little and little lyfe escapes away from vs. The Sunne doth well to rise euery day anew the moments of its Reigne are measured within the order of Nature It must of necessity follow the decay of time wherof it is the dyall and after it hath presided to all the vnhappy accidents heere beneath it lends the light of its torch at last to its proper ruine Though the stars of the night appeare thicke in the Heauens with the same aspect alwayes glittering in wonders yet can they not choose but wax old euery instant robbes them of somewhat of their durance since they shine within Tyme for not to shine within Eternity Though the heauens being quickned by the soueraigne Intelligēce of the Primum mobile renew their paces euery yeare within the round spaces of their Circles their turnings yet are counted and though they returne agayne by the same way they incessantly approach to the point that is to termine their Course The Fire which entertaynes it selfe in its Globe insensibly deuoures it selfe for that Region of its dwelling is a part of the body which consumes it selfe The Ayre that takes vp all yet can not fill vp the voydnesse of the Tombe which the last instant of tyme prepareth for it Though the Phoenix-King of its subiects find a second Cradle within its first Sepulcher yet at last another selfe shall aryse againe from its Ashes though yet vnlike since it shal not haue the same power to communicate the same vertue to the Species of its of spring So as it shall dye at last through sorrow of its sterility Though the Serpent shift the skinne neuer so much yet doth its Prudence extend no further whiles Age fals a laughing at its cunning in deuouring vp its being The Trees that do euery yeare waxe young agayne continually grow old The Spring the Summer and the Autumne are of force indeed to make them change the countenance but not their Nature and the Brookes affrighted with this continual vicissitude go flying into the bosome of their Mother belieuing they are shrowded but in vayne for the Ocean carryes their Wracke within the valley of its waues The Seasons growing from the end of one another as the day from the end of night shal be disioyned and seuered by a new Season which with it shall bury all the others The fayrest mayster-peeces of Art forasmuch as they are layed vpon the ground pay cotinuall homage to the ruine of Tyme as he that presides within his Empire witnesse those wonders of the world which subsist no more then in the memory of men for a signe onely of what the famous Athens the triumphant Carthage the proud Troy haue beene heeretofore they are now buryed so deep in their ruine as one can hardly belieue they haue euer beene They go seeking thē in historyes but the memory of their raigne is so ould as they are no otherwise found then in Fables only Let vs speake of diuers People rather thē of Townes That great world of men which the Earth hath borne a thousand tymes on its bosome and the Sea vpon its waues was drowned at last in the riuer of Xerxes teares for which he prepared a tombe an hundred yeares before The Kings haue followed their subiects in this common shipwrack all the Pourtraits of Apelles and the Statues of Lysippus of Phidias haue runne like hazard with them by this inuiolable necessity that the shadow euer followes the body Well might Alexander cause himself to be surnamed Immortall but yet purchast not Immortality He tooke the paynes to seeke out another world and in the midst of his Triumphes had need of no more then seauen foote of earth to be buried in Cyrus would fayne haue it
as he stood in competēcy with his brother-in-Law about the Crowne of the whole world at once yet notwithstanding his miseries made him an homicide of himselfe through a stroke of despaire Maximus came to the Empire from the lowest degree of a seruile condition but from the tyme that he was on the ridge of Greatnesse did Fortune make him to descēd so low by the same degrees he mounted vp with as his Misfortunes had no relation with his Prosperities Thus passeth the glory of the world leauing a great deale more astonishment behind then euer it afforded admiration If a great Architect should seeme to perswade vs to belieue that our dwelling house were on the point of falling and that we were in daunger to be buried in its ruines I would imagine with my selfe we should lyue alwaies in payne to auoyd the effects of his presages seeking with all sollicitude the meanes to eschew those perils So as if I turne the Meddall it wil appeare this tottering and ruinous house to be nothing els then that of the world wherof that great Architect who hath layd the first foundations hath affoarded vs the truth of this assurance that it shall fall to ruine very soone The Heauen and the Earth shall passe away What solidity then can we establish heere beneath in this soyle as well of Pouerty as of Infamy since it shakes vnder our feet through its continuall vitissitude The ruines thereof appeare without cease before our eyes in the course of its deficiency our life pursues the same way And neuertheles with what blindnes do we fall a sleep in the ship of our deliciousnes not considering how it floats vpon the stormy sea of the world as abundant in shipwrackes as the land of Mishaps We must neuer turne away our eyes from the obiect of Inconstancy since it is naturall to all that which hath subsistence heere beneath The Monarchy began with the Assyrians It passed to the Persians from the Persians to the Macedonians from the Macedonians to the Romanes and at this day the Empire is in Germany In so much as after that this so famous and illustrious a Crowne shall haue run through the foure corners of the earth it shall resolue into earth following the course of those that shal haue possessed the title eyther by right of hazard or by the right of Birth So as if Heauē Earth do passe whatsoeuer shall beare the image of the creation is cōprized within this reuolution of Ages where all concludes in a last end There is nothing so great in the world as the Hart which contemnes all Greatnesses Tyme as Mayster of all which is in Nature le ts forth Crownes and Scepters to Kings to some for a day to others for a moneth to some others for a yeare and to others for more but after the terme is expired it giues no more dayes one succeds in the place of another vnder one and the selfe same Law of condition Let the infinite number of Kings heere present themselues that haue raygned vpon Earth and if euery one hath had his Crowne it may likewise be sayd that ech hath had his Tombe Then seeke not Greatnesses my Soule but in vertue and in the glorious contempt of things of the Earth Thou seest how Magnificences haue not charmes but for a day their glittering fadeth with their light and what foundation soeuer they haue they carry in their being the Necessity of their ruine To what end shouldst thou raise thy Ambition vpon Thrones if they be States of vnhappines and inconstancy Enuy not Kings their Crownes nor Scepters since it is the title of a transitory glory Felicity cōsists not for to rule with Empire but rather to find repose of life in the condition wherin he is borne And what more sweet repose can one looke for then that of desiring nothing in the world This is a pleasing paine to be alwayes in vnrest to find that soueraigne good which we seeke for I would say that Eternity where delightes are durable in their excesse When thou shouldst be exalted aboue all the Greatnes of the Earth what happines and what contentement would be left thee since the Tyme of their possession glides without respit with the pleasures where with they are quickned In such sort as if at the rising of the sunne thou receyuest Sacrifices in homage at the setting thou shalt find thy selfe stript by Fortune or by Death Fixe not thy thoughts then but on the obiects which hould touch with Tyme nor seeke thou euer to runne after things that fly away Thy immortall nature cannot eye but Eternity sigh then incessantly after its Glory if thou wilt one day haue it in possession There be some who seeke their repose all their pleasure in Riches as if Gould had this Vertue to eternize their contentments Set not thy hart vpon things of the world saith the Apostle When the Poets would speake of Riches they put before vs the Gould of the riuers of Hebrus and Paectolus to let vs see how they fly away from our eyes as the waters Put case a man should possesse all the treasures of the earth yet should he not seeme to be richer awhit for all that since he were but the guardian and not the owner of those treasures Riches consist not in possessing much but rather in contenting ones selfe with a little Cresus could neuer satisfy his couetous desire during his life which induced his enemies to fill his Body with the gould wherewith he could not fill his Soule What Folly to seeke Eternity in Riches where is ordinarily found but Death This very man heere made accompt to stuffe his Coffers with Gould Syluer knew at last that his Treasures were so many fatall Instruments that serued for nothing but to take away his life so as being deceiued in his hopes he became sollicitous to conserue very charily the meanes of his losse of his ruine He therfore that goes to seeke for the Riches of the East puts himselfe to the mercy of the waues and in seeking the repose of his life approaches so neere to Death as he is distant from it no more than the thicknes of the shipboard What feeblenesse of humane Spirit to put in hazard whatsoeuer one holdes most deere on Earth for the purchase of a little Earth I had rather a great deale be Iob on the dunghill then Cresus on the woodpile for the one flouted at Fortune in his miseries and the other had recourse to Solon to repent himselfe for not hauing followed the way of Pouerty rather then that of Riches since the latter led him to Death Crates the Theban considering that he floted without cease within this vast sea of the world despised Riches for feare to suffer Shipwracke with so heauy a fraight The Wheele may well run about but can neuer get forth of the lymits of its Circle so lykewise man may well trauayle runne ouer the
sweetest pleasures of life he should feele in Death the cruelst dolours Hermenides had to much purpose surely caused very stately Pallaces to be erected in the dominion of his Empire since he was to dy in his Charriot as in a rouling House that should conduct him to his Tombe That famous Temple of Salomon was twice ruined by the Assyrians then reedified by the Iewes and againe was ruined by the Romanes And after that Traian had caused that Magnificient Bridge to be built vpō Danubius the waues neuer left roaring vntill such tyme as they had buried in their bosome the last marke of its being These Piramids of Egypt which with their sharp points seemed to outface the Heauens haue beene quite ouerthrowne by tyme within such an Abysse of ruine as they put them now in the rancke of dreames and fables Besides it seemes in all these magnificēt Fabrikes how Art Nature contribute but a backewardnes The Stones and Tymber are made to be dragged by force and if they lend but eares to the pushes of this cōstraint they shall marke how the waggons that beare them and the Engines which susteine them seeme to grone vnder the burthen as if they complayned of their Folly I esteeme a farre greater pleasure to dy vnder the roofe of a Cottage then vnder the fret-worke seeling of a Pallace because in that they cannot be touched with griefe to abandō the dwelling and in this place the Riches they admire therein seeme to make vs very sensible of the priuation To what end serued the great Buildings which the Queene Semiramis caused to be erected on the face of the Earth but for matter of shame and confusion in their Ruine The Queene of Saba had a whole towne for her House and after her Death both she and all her Greatnesses were enclosed within a little space of a Cubits breadth What folly to go about to build vpon a Territory where one lodges not but in passing as a Pilgrime From the tyme we are borne if we were but capable of Action we should be occupied in making our Sepulcher since Tyme seemes to lead vs thereunto unto with an incredible swiftnes So as if the infirmity of building do seize possesse vs let vs build Temples to the Glory of him who prepares the Eternity What is become of that proud Babylon is it not credible that its onely ruine eternized the name The Locrians built a Temple to the Sun but the Moone its Sister being iealous of this Glory obteyned of the Destines the sentence of it ruine for during the raygne of the Night the Ayre and wind did satiate their hūger with its Ashes When I thinke of this dreadfull vicissitude of Tyme which alters all things vnto the point of making vs quite to loose the remēbrance of them I contemne whatsoeuer is presented to my eyes and make no reckoning thereof since so in a moment the fayrest obiects change the face If your first Father were now risen agayne he would quite forget the world for a thousand tymes in an age hath it changed the countenance Let vs loue the change then in this inconstant and transitory lyfe and let euery one follow his lot without constraynt without tyranny in the way of vertue for to arriue at this pleasing habitation of Eternity Man makes greatly to appeare both his vanity and his Pride in these Buildings where he would seeme to establish if he could the foundation of some shelter that might be of proofe agaynst the stormes of death But the crime of his vnknowledgement is so enormous a thing as seemes to pull on his head the thunders of Heauen Learne thou Earth sayth Wisedome speaking of man to put thy selfe vnder foot it is thy property so to be trampled on for if thou flewest in the Ayre it could be but as dust so as thine Arrogancy cannot subsist but in folly If man would consider without cease to what point he is reduced his spirit would not be able to conceiue but thoughtes of Humility Before his birth he was nothing after his birth he is so smal as we dare not speake it for in a word is he nothing but a dunghill couered ouer with snow where the disposition of corruption prepares a food and nourishment for the wormes whereof then should he seeme to wax proud whose end is pouerty and corruption So as if he take any vanity at the Suns rising for the Greatnes he possesseth at the setting of this Starre we shall all be equall Marke attentiuely sayth S. Iohn Chrysostome the sepulchers of Dead men seeke round about for some signes of their passed Greatnesses For if those Tombes do send forth any flash of Magnificēce to thine Eyes conuey thy Thoughtes thereinto and thou shalt find but corruption Their ioy is extinct with their life their pleasures past ouer with their dayes and all their riches are abiding in their Coffers for to publish their folly touching the vnprofitable care they haue had in heaping them together They haue left their Pallaces at the first terme of their possessiō without so much leasure only as to accompt with their Host. Earth that art but Earth in thy natiuity Earth in thy lyfe in Earth the end wherfore art thou proud since thou art but flesh in apparence putrifaction in effect I commend greatly the custome of those of the Molucca's who build not their houses but for the tyme only they imagine to lyue and so dying oblige their children to do the same Arpilaus King of the Medes had caused a very stately Pallace to be built where he would end his dayes but from the instant that Tyme had strooke the houre of his retrait his enemyes entred into this Pallace and cast him forth of the window Cleophon the Lydian dyed ouerwhelmed with the ruines of his house and Iulianus notes how he had no other tombe Rid thy selfe my Soule from these vayne ambitions so to lodge in Pallaces knowing how the worms in pledge do harbour with in the house of thy body Thou beholdest so many goodly Edifices whose Gould and Marble seeme to defye Tyme as not able to destroy them yet within an age they abate their pride and with easy paces begin to follow the way of their ruine reteyning somthing of the nature of those workemen Iob had a farre better grace vpon his dunghill then on a Throne for what spectacle was it to put ashes corruptiō vpon cloth of gold Leaue these pallaces to men of the world who blind with a brutish ignorāce do establish the foūdation of their pleasures in thē Thou knowest that death enters euery where and since thy God dyed in a desert Mountayne wherein the excesse of his Misery he had not a drop of water to quench his thirst shut thine eyes to the glistering of those guilded feelings and suffer not this foule reproach at any tyme to expire vpon flowers whiles thy Sauiour gaue vp the ghost on thorns Do thou follow him then
in his glorious actiōs build thee a Temple within thy selfe where ech moment of thy lyfe thou mayst addresse to him vowes thou art to make for Eternity since the goodly Pallaces of his dwelling are of proof against the inconstancy of the world If the imagination could attract to it selfe all the obiects in distance from it to represent them in an instant before thy eyes how many mischiefes should we behould How many Deathes and how many dying liues They hould there is no vacuity in nature I will easily belieue it since miseries seeme to take vp all This is the accident so inseparable to man and which accompanies him to his Graue Euery one hath his dolours affected in like sort as his pleasures are but some ripen as they put forth and others gather strength in their feeblenes to eternize their durance How dreadfull would this Theater of the world seeme to be if one should behold all the Tragedies which are acted therin Phirra quenches her fury with her fathers bloud Eumenides is reuenged of her mother through poyson Curtius buryes his brother within his cradle Pernesius plucks out the eyes of his sister Etna And Symocles being an enemy to his race sets the Pallace on fire where his parents were assembled and I should thinke the fire of his choller was the first sparke of that consuming fire Nero seekes nourishment for to satisfy his cruelty in the bowels of his mother but God permitted the Executioners should hold the place of delinquēts on the day of their death when they gaue vp their lyfe to the assaults of a thousand dolours a great deale more cruell then Death it selfe Consider all these dismall accidents my Soule which happen euery moment One is consumed with fire as Pliny another is hanged as Polycrates heere one is cast downe headlong as Lycurgus there was another burned with a thunder-bolt like Esculapius There haue some been drowned in the sea as Marcus Marcellus Curtius was swallowed vp in a bottomeles pit Eschyllus the Philosopher had his head crushed with a Tortesse shell Cesar was slaine by such as he tooke to be his friends Cicero's head was cut off vpon the boot of his caroch Euripides was deuored by dogs Cleopatra died with the sting of a serpent or rather with that of her despaire Socrates is poysoned Aristo dieth of famine Seneca through the point of a launcet Cold tooke away the lyfe from Neocles Tarquinius Priscus was strangled with a fish-bone Lucia the daughter of Aurelius dyes with the point of a needle Elacea drownes her lyfe in the ice of a glasse of water Anacreon is choked with swallowing but the kernell of a raysin And Fabius the Pretour suffered shipwracke in a messe of Milke and the encounter with a little hayre was the Rocke he fell vpon Sophocles and Diagoras dyed of ioy and Philemon with too much laughing as well as Zeuxis Fabius Maximus dyed in the field as Lepidus I will nor make vse of the examples of our ages since they are so fresh and it sufficeth that their memory is as sad as odious Thou seest then my Soule how death disportes himselfe with Crownes Thou seest how he tramples Scepters vnder foot how in the presse of the world his Sith spareth not any one Such a one to day lynes Contented who to morrow shall dye Miserable One moment onely seuers vs from death and mishap there is no other respit betweene lyuing and dying then that of an instant which makes me verily to belieue that Being and not Being in man differ not awhit since he lyues not but dying and moues not but to bound his actions in the Tombe whither he postes without stop Earth Who art but Earth Earth within the cradle Earth in the course of lyfe and Earth in the end Stay a while and if Time which leades thee will not suffer it consider in so hasting to the funerall how the Earth goes to ioyne with Earth and that whatsoeuer is in the world doth follow step by step to resume its first forme in the dust They would faine haue made Iob belieue on his dunghill that he had lost all and that in his losse he was brought to the last point of misery but I imagine the contrary for he sitting on his dunghill was found to be in his proper heritage and by how much deeper he was buryed in corruption so much was he the forwarder in the possession of himselfe if it be true that man is nought but mire and durt Let Kings make a shew of their Greatnesses eyther in feasts as Lucullus or in apparrell as Tiberius or be it in other sorts of Magnificences all their instruments of glory are of Earth and vanish into smoke as well as they If the ashes of Kings and Subiects were mingled together it were impossible to distinguish the one from the other since they are all of the same Nature and al carrying the face of a like forme The greatest Monarches are men for Death This flash of life which so dazels the eyes of subiects fades away like the beauty of the rose at the setting of the Sunne How many Kings haue there beene in the world since the birth thereof and yet were it impossible to find out the least marke of their Tombes whiles some are buryed in the Ocean as Lertius others in the flames as Hermasonus some heere in gulfes as Lentellinus others there in the ample spaces of the aire where their dust is scattered as that of Pauzenas King of the Locrians And of all together can there hardly be griped an handfull of dust so true it is they are turned to their nothing Ah! how now my Soule wilt thou see buried with a dry eye whatsoeuer Nature hath more faire the Earth more rich Art more precious Wilt thou see dye euery moment the subiects of thy Loue or rather a part of thy selfe through the alliance thou hast made with the body without abating thy vanity and humbling thy arrogancy What expects thou in the world if all its goods be false and euills true There is no assurance to be found but in Death nor consolation to be had but constantly to suffer its Misery Honours they are all of smoke Glory of wind Greatnesses of Snow and riches of Water sliding from one to another without being possessed of any Repose is not to be had but in imagination pleasure but in a dreame The Thornes spring continually and the Roses blow without cease Sweetnes makes but its passage only heere and bitternes his whole abode If this soyle do bring forth flowers they are but of Cares if it beare fruit they are but Peares of Anguish Teares are heere continuall because the anoyes are alwayes present Ioy is not seene but running and sadnes makes heere a full stop It is a place where Piety is banished as well as Iustice and where Vices reigne and Vertue is made a thrall Where the fires of Concupiscence do burne and
thee Hell Thou must yield an accompt of thy extortions and oppressions Death comes to summon thee on the behalfe of God to appeare within an houre before the Tribunal of his Iustice to heare thy sentence of death pronounced by his owne mouth What wouldest thou not giue to prolong yea but a day onely the terme of thy departure But all thy treasures cannot buy thee a moment of lyfe thou must dye O cruell necessity and yet more cruell the dolour which now seemes to martyr thy soule Thou must dye Thou maiest weep long inough for death is blind thou maiest cry as fast as thou wilt while he is deafe for to hope that the Greatnes of thy miseryes may mooue him to Pitty he neither hath hart nor bowels if he liue notwithstanding it is for nothing but to enforce al the world to dy Thy houre is come thou must dye Alas How many deaths dost thou suffer ere thou loosest thy lyfe Thou leauest thy children rich it is true but dyest miserable thy selfe in the state of damnation Behold thee well recompenced for the paynes thou hast taken in heaping so much wealth forsooth to loose thy soule Cruell to thy selfe Thou hast not lyued but for others Infidell thou hast betrayed thy selfe Murderer thou hast snatched away thy lyfe with an vnnaturall hand imploying thy care to fil thy coffers with gold and thy soule with crymes You Misers if you read the history of these Verities deriue your profit frō the domage of others for the auoyding of these piercing griefes and the intollerable dolours of this last momēt of life imploy all the others to thoughtes of the Eternity of glory or of Payne And imitating the Prophet say with him Lord I wil remēber me of the day of death for to liue eternally You must appeare my Dames ech one in her turn in this lamētable couch The watch which Death seems to cary in his hand hath strooke the hower already of the departure of the fairest She must needs dye but assist I pray at this sad spectacle Me thinkes I see her now farre different from that which she was wont to be Alas What a chaunge I seeke for the Maiesties which I haue sometymes seene in her brow and I find nothing els but horrour and amazement there I demaund of her eyes what is euen become of them for they are buryed so deepe in her head as they but loose sight of them who seeke for them Her cheekes as sticht one to the other do hinder her from opening the mouth in such sort as her tōgue can speake no more then a sad language of sighes to call vpon Pitty to contemplate her miseryes withall Her armes very carelesly stretched forth euen dy with their feeblenes In fine her body of Earth deuoures by little and little the flesh that couers it Who would say now seeing this Dame in the state whereunto she is brought that she was the other day the fayrest of the Citty Her company was a duncing with her at such a tyme where all the Gallants that were there fell a striuing to court her most One valued the Gold of her hayre another the Iuory of her teeth This heere admired the snow of her bosome and he there the alabaster of her hands The casts of her eyes did wound many of them and the allurements of her graces increased yet the number The more indifferēt to loue would become great Maisters thereof with the sight of her perfections and yet neuertheles is it true a strange thing that her hayre heertofore of gold and now staring as it were hath lost its lustre that her teeth of Iuory are become blacke with the blast of death that the snow of her bosome is dissolued that the alabaster of her hands is faded that the species of her eyes are dulled so as if they wound as yet they are but the woūds of Pitty That her graces are without grace and that in fine all those who admired the same heertofore come to repent themselues and such as had loued her when tyme was are now displeased with themselues for hauing euer so much as dreamed of her What cruell Metamorphosis my Dames If you cannot giue credit to the faithfull report which I make you of these verityes cast but your eyes vpon this doleful Couch and you shall see a lyuing image of your self or rather a dying of one now brought to the last extremes You make such accompt of your charmes behold them in the Tōbe you prize your bayts so much contemplate the same in ruine you cherish your Sweetnesses so dearly consider their feeblenes you make a shew of your deliciousnes and your alluremēts behold to what passe they are now brought Vaunt you of the Roses of your face as much as you please they are no more but Thornes If you lay forth to view the whitenes of your delicate complexion see you not how pale now dolour harh made it for to take away its beauty All those lockes so curled in nets of loue all those eye-browes so carefully elaborate with a trembling hand that face so washed and plaistered ouer with a secret art those paynted lips that necke so erected through force of endeauour those curious actions those smiles those Vn-voluntaries of hers and all those agreable fashions are vanished now in an instant and horrour and dreadfulnesse possesse their place Alas how the pourtraite of this Dame which I see there hanging at her beds head is differēt far from its originall The shadow of that body moues to loue the body of this shadow to pitty The allurements of this liueles image are all full of charmes and the draughts of this beauty yet liuing wounds with feare insteed of loue The hower in the meane tyme seemes to passe away and she must dy Alas what dolours do they feele in this cruell departure From what payne are they exempt This poore Dame beholds her selfe abandoned of all the world and which is worse of the Phisitians themselues She sees not but by the light of mortuary torches which are lighted round about her bed A confused noyse of sighes plaints doth smite her eares Her owne sauour begins to infect her and her feeling is exercised with the sufferance of a thousand sorts of paynes and all very different in thēselues Whatsoeuer she beholds afflicts her because all the obiects which are represented to her do carry the image of her dolefulnes with them Her Parents her Friends are about her indeed but they are as so many executioners that put her hart vpō the racke by reason of the griefe she feeles to forgoe them for euer Her only Brother comes to her to giue her a kisse all bedēwed with teares and his moaning plaints do euen plucke out the hart from her bosome as knowing them to be the very last Her Father oppressed with sorrow comes to bid her the last Adieu but all of sighes in regard her euill now growne to extremes seemes