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A36896
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The art of living incognito being a thousand letters on as many uncommon subjects / written by John Dunton during his retreat from the world, and sent to that honourable lady to whom he address'd his conversation in Ireland ; with her answer to each letter.
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Dunton, John, 1659-1733.
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1700
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Wing D2620; ESTC R16692
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162,473
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158
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In his History of Providence Sense and Brains For Adam by an affectation of Knowing more than was necessary came to know more than was comfortable and an insatiate Desire of Wisdom adds this Author is certainly a Symptom of the hereditary Disease derived to us from him The First of Men from hence deriv'd his Fall He sought for Secrets and found Death withal Secrets are unfit Objects for our Eyes They blind us in beholding he that tries To handle water the more hard he strains And gripes his Hand the Less his Hand retains That Mind that 's troubled with the pleasing Itch Of knowing Secrets having flown a pitch Beyond it self the higher it ascends And strives to know the Less it apprehends 〈◊〉 God hath set us bounds to all our Disquisitions and if we do not keep within compass we forfeit our Faculties and expose our selves to all the Dangers that are out of ken whatever we do let us do prudently and have a Regard to some good end For whatsoever is more than this is more than is Needful Safe or Honourable Surely no Man will doubt this that observes what Divine Iudgments have faln upon some that wou'd ha' known more then they shou'd I cou'd heap up Instances of this Nature but shall only Relate the Judgments that befell the Curiosity of an Officer that came to Mr. Perreauds house Dr. d ee Mr. Kelly Iohn Faustus and a young man in London I begin with the Officer who was a Papist belonging to a Court of Justice This Man came out of Curiosity to Mr. Perreauds House and hearing that the Devil fore-told future things there and some Secrets he wou'd needs Question him about many Matters but Mr. Perreaud desired him to forbear Representing to him both the Sin and the Danger of it The Lawyer rejected his Counsel with Scorn bidding him Teach his own Flock and let him have the Government of himself and so proceeded to propound several Questions to the Devil as about absent Friends Private Business News and State Affairs unto all which the Devil answered him and then added Now Sir I have told you all that you have desired of me I must tell you next what you demanded not That at this very time you are propounding these Questions to the Devil such a Man whom he Named is Debauching your Wife and then he further disovered many secret and foul Practices of the Lawyer Neither was this all for in conclusion the Devil told him Now Sir let me correct you for being so bold as to Question with the Devil you shou'd have taken the Ministers safe Counsel Then upon a sudden the whole Company saw the Lawyer drawn by the Arm into the midst of the Room where the Devil whirled him about and gave him many Turns with great swiftness touching the ground only with his Toe and then threw him down upon the Floor with great violence and being taken up and carry'd to his house he lay sick and distracted a long a Ses the Narrative of the Devil of Mascon time The Curiosity of Dr. Dee was also severely punish'd This man was an Excellent Scholar and Mathematician of the University of Oxford he was desirous of a great deal of Knowledge which was commendable enough but making it his Prayer to God to make him wiser than the rest of Mankind he was by the Divine Judgment given over to strong Delusions and sadly impos'd upon by the Apparition of Evil Spirits under the disguise of good Angels who promis'd to help him to the Philosophers Stone but never left him till they had drein'd him of what Wealth he had so that he died very poor and every way miserable AllMen adds my Author may take warning by this Example how they put themselves out of the protection of Almighty God either by unlawful Wishes or by seeking to Devils Witches Conjurers Astrologers Fortune-tellers and * Dr. M. Casaubon's Relat. of Dr. Dee's Actions with Spirits Pr. the like I shou'd next relate the Judgment that fell upon Edward Kelly for prying too far Secret things belong to God and therefore said one of the Fathers where the Scripture has not a mouth to speak we shou'd not have an Ear to hear but this Curious Wretch forgetting this Consults with the Devil he 'd rather go to Hell for Knowledge than be ignorant of any thing But see the Event of this Vain-Curiosity for Dr. Casaubon tells us that clambering over a Wall in his own house in Prague which bears his Name to this day he fell down from the Battlements broke his Legs and so bruised his Body that he dyed in a few days Then again there was Iohn Faustus must needs study the Black-Art that he might Know more than others and that he might ne'er be puzled with Nice Questions 't is said he led about with him an Evil Spirit in the likeness of a Dog to consult with as occasion offer'd But for all his Familiar Devil Divine Vengeance followed his Curiosity for coming into an Inn in the Dukedome of Wittenburg he sat very sad and when his host demanded the cause thereof he answered that he wou'd not have him affrighted if he heard a Noise and shaking of the house that Night which hapned according to his own Prediction for in the Morning he was found dead by his bed-side with his Neck wrung behind him and the house where he lay beaten down †VVanly Hist. Man to the ground Neither must I forget to mention the Bold Curiosity of that Young Man Mr. Baxter mentions There is saith Mr. Baxter now in London a Youth the Son of a very Godly Conforming Minister who reading a Book of that Art called Conjuration coming to the Words and Actions which that Book said wou'd cause the Devil to appear was presently desirous to see him He came saith he to me in Terror having before opened his Case to a Parish Minister and affirmed to me that the Devil had appeared to him and solicited him with a Knife to cut his Throat and told him he must do it suddenly for he wou'd stay no longer Mr. Baxter told him how safe he was if he repented of his Vain Curiosity but never heard of him more 〈◊〉 might enlarge but here be Instances enough to check our Vain Curiosity and to shew how ill those Men succeed that to be cured of the Athenian Itch go to the Devil for Brimstone Sure I am to give way to Vain Curiosities will disquiet our Minds but will never amend ' em Yet we have a wicked Custom in London of Gentlemens studying the Controversies for Ornament not taking them to Heart nor handling them with that Reverence they ought but Nice Points have never been my study I ne'er put my Sickle into the Divines Harvest but leave Disputations to those whom God hath marked for his Ministry Or suppose which was never known I shou'd Itch but Once to try how pleasing Sin wou'd be yet at Adam's Price I
Sermon being ended to suppose me carrying to the new Burying-place where being brought to my Grave I I 'm now brought to my own Grave call it mine as I have paid for it the Parson declares Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great Mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother here departed we therefore commit his Body to the Ground Earth to Earth Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust in sure The words used at the Burial of the Dead and certain Hope of the Resurrection to Eternal Life The Church in her Funerals of the Dead us'd to sing Psalms and to give Thanks for the delivery of the Soul from the Evils of this Life I think The Church in her Funerals of the Dead used to Sing Psalms and to give Thanks for the Delivery of the Soul from the Evils of this Life this a seasonable Devotion for Phil. now is cur'd of all Diseases and lies lovingly in the Bosom of his Mother Earth where my divided Parts in a few Years will revel in their loosned Motions which had before been crowded together in my sickly Composure and thus you see in my fleeting Life and Burial that Our Entrance and our Exit seem to meet Our Swadling Bands almost our Winding-Sheet Poor Man from Mother Earth does just arise Then looks abroad returns again and Dies Some Sixty Years perhaps with much ado Phil. lies lovingly in the Bosom of his Mother Earth He has prolong'd his tedious Life unto Then under Griefs and Cares he sinks away His Carcass mouldring into native Clay And now methinks I see the Bearers laying my Corpse as near to The Bearers laying my Corpse as near to the Bones of Iris as possible the Bones of Iris as possible and I suppose your Ladyship won't blame me for this part of my Will for Dr. Brown applauds those Tempers that desire to Sleep in the Urns of their Fathers and strive to go the nearest way to Corruption 'T was the late Request of a great Divine to lie by his Wife in Shore-ditch and for that Reason he was Buâ—yed there Sr. Nathaniel Barnardiston in his last Will desires his Executors that the See knowing our Friends in Heaven p. 54. Bones of his father might be digged out of the Earth where they were Buryed and laid by his own Body in a new Vault he order'd them to Erect for the same purpose that tho' he cou'd not Live with his Father as Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston and the Lady I. desire both to be Buried with their Father long as he wou'd have desir'd yet he design'd their Bodies shou'd lie together 'till the Resurrection The Lady I. made the same Request with respect to her Worthy Father and her Funeral Sermon tells us They lay down alike in the Dust. Neither is this fond Love any great Rarity for we read that in some Part of the Indies a Father of a Family being Dead the Law of the Country ordains that he be put in an Equipage for the other World and that such things as had been most dear unto him shou'd be Burned with him The best beloved of his Wives Dresseth In the Indies the Wives will be Burnt with their Husbands her self more Richly and with more care for Death than she had done for her Wedding-Feast the whole Kindred in Festival Garments Conduct her Solemnly to the Flaming-Pile and there she suffers her self to be Burnt with Ceremony with her Husband I am more desirous to be Buryed with Iris than these Indians were to be Burnt with their Husbands and I hope we shall rest in the same Grave 'till the Resurrection Here we must rest and where else shou'd we rest Is not a Man 's own House to Sleep in best If this be all our House they are to blame That Brag of the Great Houses whence they came What is my Father's House And what am I My Father's House is Earth where I must lie And I a Worm no Man that fit no Room 'Till like a Worm I crawl into my Tomb This is my dwelling this is my truest Home A House of Clay best sits a Guest of Lome Nay 't is my House for I perceive I have In all my Life ne'er dwelt out of a Grave The Womb was first my Grave whence since I rose My Body Grave like doth my Soul enclose That Body like a Corps with Sheets o'er spread Dying each Night lies Buried in my Bed O'er which my spreading Testers large extent Born with Carv'd Antiques makes my Monument And o'er my Head perchance such things may stand When I am quite run out in Dust and Sand. My close-low-Builded Chamber to my Eye Shews like a little Chappel where I lie While at my Window pretty Birds do Ring My Knell and with their Notes my Obiits Sing Thus when the Day 's vain Toil my Soul hath wearied I in my Body Bed and House lie Buried Then have I little cause to fear my Tomb When this wherein I live my Grave 's become So that a Grave and six Foot of Ground is all I can call my own some â—ome Athenian-Friend â—ay perhaps scatter â—me Lines â—n my Hearse and Mourning â—ay attend â—y Funeral â—ut nothing will tarry with me â—t my Grave Athenian-Friend perhaps on my Hearse will scatter some Lines and strew the Cloth with Rime Painting perchance may Guild some Flag or Banner and Stick it on my Coffin Musick may Sing my Dirge and tell the Mourners I lov'd that Art but when all is over nothing will tarry with me but my Grave And 't is most just for here I did receive them I found them when I came and here I leave them Neither the Things I want and others have Accompany their Owners to the Grave Will Beauty go Will Strength in Death appear Will Honour or Proud Riches tarry there They all say no for let grim Death draw near Beauty looks Pale and Strength doth faint for Fear There 's little Wealth or Pride in naked Bones And Honour sits on Cushions not cold Stones Nay ask our Friends that when we are in Health Wou'd Die for Love of us or for our Wealth Mark what they set their Hands to view it well Your Friend till Death but once dead Fare you well So that we are scarce sure of a Grave or were we sure of that 't is all 〈◊〉 Grave is â—ll that we â—an call our â—wn we can call our own for observe of a Man new Dead this was his Wife says one that was his Land This was his Brother That was He is a Wretch that won't part with the world when it lies in his way to Heaven his Building This was his Garden And thus they talk awhile of what WAS HIS but if we go to the Church-yard where his Body lies 't is said this IS HIS GRAVE and not his Friends so that when we are Dead we are sure of something but 't is only