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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
Conjecture However I 'll close my Eyes on this vain World and dress out my Hearse in the best manner I can I went Yesterday to Stepny-Church to to view the Graves of others the better to prepare my Mind to write this Essay on my own Funeral I spent about Five Hours among the Tombs which tho' it be a Melancholy sight yet has something in it proper to instruct the Living In walking through What we may learn by walking through a Church-yard and by Viewing of Dead Mens Sculls a Church-yard especially that of Stepny and Chiswick we see a great number of Dead-mens-Sculls arranged one in Pile upon another which puts us in mind of the Vanity and Arrogance wherewith other while they have bin fill'd We need but walk through a Church yard to see what is this Foolish Animal Man Here we see what we Magnify what we call a King a Duke a Lord even a little Warm and Walking Earth that will be Ashes soon we came into the World crying and squalling and We consume our Lives in drivling Infancy in Ignorance Sleep c. so much of our Time 's consum'd in drivling Infancy in Ignorance Sleep Disease Trouble that the remainder is not worth the being rear'd to we see in walking through a Church yard how Time laughs us out of Greatness and shuts up our wide designs in a Dark Narrow Room Then what Midness is the Pomp the Noise Time shuts up our wids designs in a Dark Narrow-Room the Splendour the Frantick Glory of this Foolish Life we makeour selves Fools to disport our selves and vary a Thousand antick ugly shapes of Folly and Madness These fill up the Scenes and Empty Spaces of our Lives Folly and Madness fill up the Empty Spaces of our Lives The Thoughts of this one wou'd think shou'd abate our Pride and sensual Affections for why shou'd I be so Vain to Pride my selfe in outward Pomp and Bravery who within a few Hours may be a Dead Corpse carryed in Procession Methinks the Sight of a Funeral shou'd humble the Proudest Man or Proud Man that thou maist be humbled The Sight of a Funeral shou'd humble the Proudestman Go to the dull Church-yard and see Those Hillocks of Mortality Where Proudest Man is only Found By a small swelling of the Ground Here Crowds of Rich Bodyes are made Slaves to the Pick Ax and the Spade Dig but a Foot or two to make A cold Bed for thy Dead Friends sake 'T is odds but in that Scantling Boom Thou robbst some Great Man of his Tomb And in thy Delving Smit'st upon His Shin-Bone or his Cranion Some make a huge Noise in the World to have the Honour to fill out a more Splendid Epitaph Such Lessons as these we may learn by viewing the Tombs of those who make a huge Noise in the World that they may have the Honour to fill out a more Splendid Epitaph And as a walk through a Church yard shews us the Uanity and End of all Worldly Grandeur so it also shews us That Death is as Common as 't is Ingrateful Infants as well as Men dayly can direct us in it Witness every Church-yard where are to be seen Graves of all Sizes In ev'ry Church-yard are to be seen Graves of all Sizes This Treasury of Death Survey Where Young and Old like Tribute pay See what Acquaintance thou canst Spy Amongst those Skulls I prithee try Man of Science prithee shew Thy Darling Child or Aged Foe Mankind by thee alone are read And know'st thou nothing of the Dead No surely nothing at all for Alexander seeing Diogenes tumbling among Dead Bones ask'd him what he sought To whom the other Diogenes Tumbling among Dead-Bones Answered that which I cannot find The difference between the Rich and the Poor And as there be Graves of all Qualities and Sizes so who can see 'em covered with Green Turf and withering Grass and forget he must die Before we come into the Church we are presented with these Sights A 7th part of our Time is set a part to put us in mind of dying as if unfit to hear Gods Word untill we are put in mind of Death and this we are injoyn'd once in Seven Dayes as if it 7th part of our Time were to be set apart to put us in mind of dying And happy are those Christians whom the sight of Funerals and Graves Rings a Peal in their Ears of their own Dissolution which by most is so little remembred that 't is become a saying I thought no more on 't then of my Dying Day which tho' a wicked Expression yet I fear there 's a great deal of Truth in 't for my self must Confess That Living in a Country Uillage where a Burial was a Rarity I never thought of Death it was so seldom presented unto me coming to London where there is plenty of Funeralls so that Coffins and Corpse in the Grave Observations upon the Funerals in Country Villages and upon those in London justle for Elbow-Room for so they do both at Stepney and Chiswick and ev'ry Church-yard in this Populous Town I Slighted and neglected Death because grown an Object so constant and Common How soul is my Stomach to turn all Food into bad Humours Funerals neither few nor frequent work effectually on me London is a Library of Mortality Volumes of all Sorts and sizes Rich and Poor Infants Children Youth c. dayly dye I see there is more required to make a good Schollar than only the having of many Books Lord I therefore wish that thou wilt be my School-Master and teach me to Number my Days that I may apply my Heart unto Wisdom Thus Madam have I shewn what we may learn in a Church-yard where you 'l see me buryed ' ete my Letter is finisht It teaches us the Vanity and End of all Worldly Grandeur What little A Church-yard gives me hints about my own Death and fair warning to prepare for it reason such Worms as I have to be Proud That Death is the Fate of all that come into this World from the Man of 60 to the Infant that is just born And in this Particular it reminds me of my own Death and the consequence of it and therefore A walk toâ—a Church-yard I thought the most likely thing to prepare my Mind to write an Essay on my own Funeral And as a Church-yard gives me hints about my own Death and fair warning to prepare for it so it also shews us the Folly of murmuring that we are Mortal Creatures for shou'd I complain that there shall be a Time in the which I shall not be I may as well repent that there was a Time in the which I was not and so be greived that I am We have to Reason to murmur that we are mortal Creatures noâ— Old as Adam had bin had he liv'd to this present Year 1700 for not to have been 4000 Years before this Moment