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
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
fearefull cryes of this vnhappy Prince who being enchayned in a straite Prison all of Fyre casts forth the last sighes of his life in the Flames quickened with so excessiue an heate as they may not be compared but to chose of the Fornace They come to his Succour but Death at that instant touched with pitty preuents the helpe they could afford in finishing his euils with the end of his life But looke we yet still in the backeside of this Madall vpon the torments and cruelty which a new King suffers in the midst of Hel being fast enchayned within a burning prison where he alwayes burnes without euer dying What difference of Torments The one is left to the mercy of deuouring flames being watered with a water which increaseth the heat imploying in vayne for his Succour the endeauour of his voyce the other enuironed with despaire endures the paine of eternall Fire which burnes him without taking away his life You see very sensibly O you soules of the world how the payne which one suffers in this vale of teares cannot be compared how cruell soeuer with the least dolours of the dāned I I graunt the Stone or Grauell the wind-cholicke the Sciatica and a thousand other Maladies besides deliuer you into a restles combat of punishments and torments yet their sharpest fits their piercing points their gaul and their rigours are true pleasures ioyes and rauishments of Spirit in comparison of the sufferings of Soules eternally criminall Let Lucius Fabius maintayne as long as he will in the discourse of his miseryes how the last day of his lyfe had lasted three Monthes he lyuing the while without being able once to close the ey-lids at the approch of sleep Let Theocrates publishing his vnhappines vaunt contentiously in the presence of the most afflicted Soule how he had lodged thirty six yeares in a bed in cōpany with a thousand sorts of payne which visited him one after another Let the vnfortunate Caricles trayling without cease the durt of his body through that of the streets of Athens for the space of sixty yeares moue cōpassion in the harts of those which neuer had it in consideration of his Misery yet is the lamentable history of al these euils a very Canticle of ioy and gladnes in comparison of the sufferances of the damned For if Fabius haue watched three monthes in the world Cain neuer sleeps in hell if Theocrates haue passed his Thorny life in a like couch that he neuer came forth to re-enter into the Tombet it is fifteene hundred yeares or more since the Richman hath lodged in a bed of flames in the midst of Hell without hope that the ice of death shall euer slake the heate of its fires Let Caricles trayle his liuing carkasse in the diuers wayes which lead him to the Tombe he finds yet a Port after so many stormes but Pharao may be dragged long inough by the deuils in Hel ere there be any death or sepulcher for him which may afford him an end to his paines So as the difference is so great betweene the euills of the one and the punishment of the other as one cannot thinke of it but with a profound astonishment How profound O Lord are the Abysses of thy Iustice You Soules of the world pul off the veyle that blinds you so Breake you the rackes of your Passions that with-hould you in your vices To what purpose thinke you is a moment of pleasure while it robs you of eternal glory and brings you forth a Hel of dolours A little shiuering of a Feauer makes you to quake for feare A fit of Heate makes you to breath the aire of a burning life to sigh at once with the ardour which consumes you quite Alas What would you do in Hell where the Cold of Ice where the Heat of the flames shal by turnes tormēt you eternally One glasse of a potion one little twitch with a launcent two nightes without sleepe within a bed very softly made brings you to the last gaspe Ah! What shall it be in those darkesome places where a gaul more bitter then gaul shal be alwaies in your mouth Where a thousand strokes of the launcets of fire shall pierce you not in the veyne but to the hart with a wound alwayes bloudy and euer new for to eternize the payne thereof where a perpetuall vnrest shall banish rest for euer from your spirit and sleepe from your eyes There was a great Personage of our tyme who had so great a horrour of Medicines that al the euils whose dolours he had proued were a great deale lesse sensible to him then their bitternes In so much as after he had tasted the gaule thereof diuers tymes this cōceipt came into his mynd that when there should be no other punishment in Hell then that of taking continually medicines it would be insufferable But I should thinke that if all the gaule and all the bitternes of the Earth were put together in a vessell one would take that liquour for imaginary Nectar in comparison of the puddle salt waters whereof the damned are made to drinke Bethinke your selues profane Spirits who establish in the world the foundation of your repose Open your eyes to behould the disastres which enuiron you You seeke a Paradise on Earth but you find not in it any other Center then Hell What pretend you Pleasures can accompany you no further thē the Tombe you must quit their company wirh life Now what a griefe hath one in dying to abandon the seat of delights for to enter into that of torments Admit one had passed very pleasantly a hundred yeares of life at the last moment of that tyme what satisfaction remaines him thereof since by the law of diuine Iustice it must necessarily ensue that euery one in his turne shal be gathering the thornes of all his Roses Euery ioy hath its sadnes euery fortune its crosses so likewise may we boldly say that euery pleasure hath its payne If we let our first life runne out in contentments the latter shal become immortall in punishments This is an inuiolable decree pronounced by God himselfe vpon the Mount of Caluary that he who will not follow the way which he hath taken vpō him for to go to Heauen shall neuer enter therin Flatter not your selues you Princes of the Earth who being raysed vpon Thrones of snow and smoke forget your selues so much in your Greatnesses as you become Idolatours of your good Fortune If you be borne puissant consider how your power is of glasse and that with all your Treasures you shall not be able to purchase a moment of assured life All the aduantage you haue aboue others is to be able to hide your faults with the more artificiousnes vnder your sumptuous habit but vpon the vncertaine day of your Death shall you make demonstration of your misery and the Corruption which you carry within must necessarily appeare without Thinke you that the Empire which you