transmigration of soules certaine which opinion as Caesar saith the ancient Brittish Druidae imbraced I would thy soule had flitted into my body or would thou wert aliue again that we might leade an indididuall life together Thou wast not more admired at home then famous abroade thy pen and sworde being the Heraldes of thy Heroicke deedes A worthy witnesse of thy worth was Lipsius when in amazement he cried out Nihil tibi deest quod aut naturae aut Fortunae adest nothing saith he to thee is absent that either to Nature or Fortune is present And in another place he addeth O tu Britanniae tuae clarum sidus cui certatim lucem affundunt Virtus Musa Gratia Fortuna O saith he thou bright star of thy Brittany whose light is fedde by Vertue the Muses Fortune and all graces The verses which are extant in S. Pauls Quire at London made in a gratefull memory of this king of knights sufficiently declare his deserts which verses valour and honour command me heere to insert England Netherland the heauens and the Arts The souldiers the world haue made sixe parts Of the Noble Sydney for who will suppose That a small heap of stones can Sydney inclose England hath his body for she it fedde Netherlande his bloud in her defense shed The Heauens haue his soule the Arts haue his fame All souldiers the griefe the World his good name Lord I haue sinned against thee and heauen and I am not worthy to be called thy childe yet lett thy mercy obtaine this Boone for me from thee that when it shall please thee that my name bee no more it may ende in such a man as was that Sidus Sydneyorum What grace is it to me when men report that a grasier of the same name the very sound of whom leaues rust behind it in Fames trumpet scraped vp together thousands a yeere whose greasy dignity in some two generations wii be Fly-blowne And therefore I doe not enuie but emulate the happinesse of the late Iosephus Scaliger who being descended from Princes and hauing all his race in his reines fledde the societie of wanton women fearing least he should beget one who might one day destroy his family and take from the lustre of it and so he himselfe like a Semi-god gaue a Period to his Parentage O! if a man had all his linage in his loines it were braue smothering it there rather then hereafter to let any crooked branch deform the beauty of the whole stocke or any disorderlie person either in 〈◊〉 or death to purchase infamy to his whole family Yet doe not I cleerely see how a man by neuer so hainous a fact cantaint his whole bloud or kindred since it is euident to all men of vnderstanding that alia est cognatio culpae alia sanguinis neither could Esau any way disparage Iacob But it is not a thing any way strange if the yong gentlemen of this kingdom leaue dishonor in their houses since their maintenance is too little to maintaine any honest course You shall see an elder brother stalke before his traine like Pharaoh before his host and his younger brother of the same bloud and of a greater spirit come sneaking after him as if hee were the basest of his brothers retinue What minde can frame it selfe to such meanes what will not a daring spirit vndertake rather then bee a bondslaue to his owne brother Non seruiam said that Laconian lad et praecipitem se dedit vpon which Seneca writing saith Qui mori didicit seruire dedidicit he that hath learned to die saith hee hath forgot to serue And the same Seneca saith Sapiens viuit quantum debet non quantum potest Epictetus talking of the care men haue how they shall liue hereafter crieth-out Mancipium si habuer is habeb is si non habuer is abibis Aperta est ianua Which seÌ„tences we will not English because the doctrine is not safe and sound No no that soule which leaues her tabernacle without a licence from her Emperour merits condemnation As a man who escapeth out of prison doth not thereby cleer himselfe of his fault done but augmenteth his punishmeÌ„t euen so that soule which stealeth out of her fleshy Iaile without a coÌ„mand froÌ„ that supreame magistrate in flying temporall miserie falleth into eternall anguish and layeth her selfe open to all that seueritie can inflict Hoc fecit illa saith Augustine illa sic praedicata Lueretia innocentem castam vim perpessam Lucretiam Lucretia insuper interemit Proferte sententiam leges iudicesque Romani This did saith he that so much renowned Lucretia innocent chast violated Lucretia murthered Lucretia Giue sentence O yee lawes and Iudges of Rome Hauing a little wandered let vs now at last take a view of man in his last oldestage As he brought diseases with him from his last mother so he must carry them with him to his first mother the earth Now commeth the Physician with his mish mash an hundred Simples in one Compound and powreth it into this leaking vessell If hee recouer he standeth bound to his Doctour for his life and acknowledgeth him next vnder God his preseruer Good Iesus that a man should bee obliged to him for breathing who deteines the breath in bondage and prolongeth the houre of the soules releasement Seneca saith that there are some men who though they saue another mans life yet they doe not any way engage him whome they saue amongst which hee placeth Physicians and maketh this his reason Quia ad alienum commodum pro suo veniunt because they seeke another mans profit for their owne Moreouer an olde man groweth a young childe againe his limbs faile him and all the faculties of his body fade Nay which is worse his diuine part beginneth to nodde and is depriued of that subtility which runneth through all things in and aboue nature that is conceiueth all that is not inconceiueable And therefore Seneca thought that it was lawfull for an aged man of an imperfect minde to kill himselfe Non relinquam senectutem si me totum mihi reseruabit totum autem ab illa parte meliore At si coeperit concutere mentem si partes eius conuellere si mihi non vitam reliquerit sed animam prosiliam ex aedificio pâ—trido aâ— ruenti I will not leaue Age saith he if it leaue me whole and entire to my selfe that is perfect in my better and perfecter part But if age distract my minde and deface her fairest parts if it leaue me a soule and as I may so saie no life to solace that soule I will then leape out of this ruined and lothsome lodging But this is more acutely handled in Stobaeus where Musonius or some other saith in this manner Sicut è domo exigi videmur cum locator pensione non acceptâ fores reuellit tegulas aufert puteum obstruit itâ— et hoccorpusculo pelli videor cùm natura quae
things truelie delightfull for things falsely deceitfull Oh welcome minute that shall free this body from so long an apprentiseship of woe And indeede what is there that should holde or delight me heere except to satisfie the vnordred appetites of the body and vnlawfull desires of the soule But perhaps some wil vrge that I am as yet in my spring of youth which I grant Yet am I glutted and tired as much with the troubles of this Age as a Priam as a Nestor The dayes are alreadie come vpon mee wherein I may truely say I take no pleasure in them But others will reply that I haue friends for whose sake I should desire to liue It is true indeede that I haue friends but with-all such friends as Tacitus speaketh of Et quibus deer at inimicus ab amicis sunt oppressi and they saith he to whom enemies were wanting were oppressed by their friends I long to bee acquainted with my neerer kinred to whom I shall say Corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother my sister Salomontelleth vs All pleasures vnder the sunne are vanity I take his word and therefore long to see what pleasures are aboue the sunne where the Son of God sitteth at the right hand of his father making intercession for mee and all sinners And thou Lord of hosts grant that when this my last and best day shall come and those harbingers of death summon me to appeare that then I may bee readie and grant also that as at the first my body was willing to receiue my soule so at the last my soule maie be willing to leaue my body Thou louer of soules be thou mercifull to my soule and when mine eyes shall grow dimme my lips black my mouth drawen-vp my browes knit my eares deaf my hands and feerebenummed with cold my pulse beating yet weakely and when all my senses faile me then giue me some sense of life euerlasâ—ing My good God let me at that houre thinke as I do now that it is a thing no more strange to die theâ— to be borne â—being it is an equal law of Nature which bindeth ouer all alike to their first and last appearance I knowe there is some paine in death but withal I knowe that I owe that paine with the vantage to my mother Who as she endured as great paine us euer woman did to bring me into the world so must I endure some paine to rid my selfe of this painefull life of the which I am as weary aâ— a 〈◊〉 of his â—are I shallneuer be truely merry till that day of miâ—th and releasement commeth All ioy hâ—ere belowe is sinfull and almost all delights vnlaw 〈◊〉 according to that of Austin 〈◊〉 lâ—titia est impâ—â—it a 〈◊〉 The ioy saith he of this Age is nothing else bu◠〈◊〉 â—â—punished Yeâ— will I not seeke to hasten the hourâ—â— of my deare deliuery but will attend Gods 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of life as of a gift If it will tarrie I will not thrust it soorth of doors if it make haste to be gone I will not be he that shall intreate it to abide The time I haue to liue deuotion shall dispose of and my chiefer pleasure shall bee in prayer I will first pray for Christs church militaÌ„t that it would please him to shorten the time of her warfare that so the time of her triumphing may approach Next of all I will pray for all Gods anointed ouer what Kingdomes or Nations soeuer they bee placed and in particular as by the duty of a subiect I am bound for my gratious Soueraigne Faiths great defender Thou Ancient of daies crown his dayes with happinesse and as he raignes by thee so let him raigne for thee and while he defends thy Truth defend thou him from those porte-couteaux For in these treacherous times it is to be feared that his greatest enemies are those of his ownâ— house And as for his succeeder in the throne gratious God let him be successeful in al his approued proceedings that so succeeding ages may sing say his praises Lord shield him rather from secret flatterers then from open enemies and hauing all things let him not want this one A truth-teller I will wish the same to him which Thomas Walsing hamus reporteth of Henry the fift that as he is Modest us 〈◊〉 so he may be Magnanimus in actu Last of all I will pray for my selfe that hee that made me would vouchsafe to haue mercy vpon mee Thou that art able to throw an Angell down arâ— able to raise a sinner vp Lord then raise me 〈◊〉 falâ—e 〈◊〉 the gulâ—â— of sin Thou into Lambe of OOD which dyedâ—t once for the 〈◊〉 of the 〈…〉 mercy vpon me and seeing thou hast suffered for my wickednes let not me suffer for it too nor cry for my crying sinnes lesus at thy Name my â—â—ee shall bowe my heart bend and all my soule and body be transformed into reuerence Oh blessed comfortable allpromising Nome in which the olde Age of new names and if you will haue it so the newe Age of olde names may be included Christâ—◠〈◊〉 Origen qui 〈◊〉 ill is or is 〈◊〉 apâ—d 〈…〉 Christ saith he who is in those 〈…〉 of the earth â—â—en amongst the Britannes Amen Lord Iesus and bee with vs still to the ends of the world Mercifull maister let mee with my last gaspe pronounce in confidence those words of dying Luther I haue serued thee I haue belieued thee and now I come to thee And because there is no other way to come to thee but by death Lord let me expect death euery where and alwaies not knowing where or wheÌ„ it will expect me and 〈◊〉 me thinke of that often which I must doe once Blessed Maister my will is thine but if it bee thy blessed will take me out of this Age before I bee aged and let this corruption put-on incorruption this mortalitie immortality imperfectioÌ„ perfection and then this impotency shal see omnipotency this nothing all things Oh inconceiueable ioy to behold the Apostles Patriarks and Prophets together with the Kings of the Earth doing homage to the King of Heauen and Earth And till this ioyfull appointed time come the greatest comfort I can yeeld my selfe and others is an allusion which I tooke out of an 〈◊〉 French Writer to weer that as GOD laboured six dayes and rested the seuenth so man after hee hath turmoiled himselfe through-out all the sex ages of the world shall in the seuenth Age repose himselfe in a better world Which he that created the world grant for his sake that redeemed the world Amen FINIS Iob. 31. 35. Sen Epist 62. Sen. de benef lib. 1. cap. 10 Ambros de poenit lib. 1. cap. 34. I Scalig. lib. 1. poetic cap. 2 Scal. lib. 6. poetic pa. 800. 801. Lip cent Epist 5â— Mat. 27 24 Athenaeus lib. 6 Ibidem Annâ—l li. 1 Mat. 23. 3 In Alcor Turc pag. 191. Sen. de benef li. â— cap. 34. A Coward who Mat. 5. 39. â—erâ—ins Gen. 2. 24 Prou 16 Prou. 15 24 Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Sen. Epist 29. Heb. 13. 8 Iob. 36. 14. Deut. 23. 18. Ezech. 16. 33. Prou. 22. 14. Prou. 23. 17. Prou. 26. 5 Albert. Mag. de mulier fort Reuel 14. Iob. 31. 1 Castilionaeus in suo Aulico lib. 4 De ciuit 15. 100. 23. Bernhaâ— Serm. 25 super canticum canticorum Deut. 28 53. Mal. 3. 3 Zach 5. 2. Ier. 23. 20 1. Timâ—t 6. 10. Phil. 3. 19 Lu. 12. 15 Psal 39. 6 Eccl. 5. 9 Mat. 18. 10. Mat. 19 8 Wis 7 Sen. de beat vita cap. vlt. Sen. Epist 26. Sen. Epist 7. 1. Disserâ— cap. 9. August de ciu cap. 19. Sen. lib. 4. de ben cap. 13. Sen. Epist 58. Serm. 1. Mat. 10 34 35 De Benif lib. 4. cap. 26. 27. Lipsius in exâ—mp po lib. 1. cap. 4. Idem ibidem Luk. 1. Luk. 1. Mat. 3. v. 7 Franc. de ver Con. par 2. ca. 2 Socr. in vita Iul. Baronius in paraenes ad venet pag. 9â— Colin â—â—ditionis Agust de baptis contra Donat. lib. 2. cap. 20. Acts. 17 22. Auer in 12. Metaphysi Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Ma. 20. 22 55. episto Cambdenus epist ad lectorem Mat. 5. 19 1. Ti. 3. 6 Tert. de resur carn Psal 60. 1. 2. 3. See the quotatioÌ„s of Monsieur du Plessis vpon their Thalmud in his book entituled Aduertissement aux Iuâ—fs In Alcor Turc Tacit. hist lib. 1. Ecclesiastes 12. 1. Tacit. hist lib. 1. Iob. 17. 14. Eccles. 1. August in Euang. seeun Lucam serm â—7 Mat. 10. 36
Staffords NIOBE Or HIS AGE OF TEARES A Treatise no lesse profita ble and comfortable then the times damnable Wherein Deaths visard is pulled off and her face discouered not to be so feare full as the vulgar makes it and withall it is shewed that death is only bad to the bad good to the good AT LONDON Printed by Humfrey Lownes 1611. TO THE RIGHT Honourable Robert Earle of Salisbury Knight of the most honourable Order of the Garter Vicount Cranborne Lord Cecil of Essindon Lord high Threasurer of England Chancelour of the Vniuersitie of Cambridge and one of his Maiesties most Ho nourable priuie Councel A. S. wisheth the pleasures of the Kingdome of Heauen for his paines taken in this Kingdome of the Earth IT may seem strange vnto you truely honourable Lorde that a stranger should dedicate a Booke vnto you but wonder not For though I be not knowen to your Honour yet your Honor is wel knowen vnto me and indeed to whom not I haue no small time be it spoken without blasphemie euen worshipt your Worth and therefore now offer vp vnto it all the reuenewes of my reuerence I was the rather induced to dedicate it to your Honour by reason that my father was a neighbour to your Father being much obliged vnto him and my whole Family vnto your selfe And next of all to giue you thankes in the behalfe of all Gentrie which is daylie bettered by your Lordships directions and furtherances in all honest courses Desert was fled into the Desert before your Lordship called her home from exile clad hir weather-beaten limmes And which draweth neere vnto a miracle your Lordship doth not imitate the greatest part of the hodiernall Nobilitie Qui beneficia in calendario seribunt But whether goe I knowing that your monosyllables as also short speeches are pleasing to GOD sometimes and to Great-men at all times Accept then this Leafe rather then Booke together with my vowed and owed seruice which though I offer serò tamen seriò my euer honoured Lord. Your Lordships most humble seruant to be commanded ANTHONIE STAFFORD TO THE Reader Different or indifferent READER Health to thy Soule and Bodie Knoweing vertue to bee of the nature of the Sun that is she shines as well vpon the bad as vpon the good I thought the badde would claime interest in her as well as the good To preuent which I wrote this treatise in which I haue layed my selfe open to the world to the intent that I may attract the loue of the vertuous and the hate of all those who continue vitious for I hold him to be no honest man that is beloued of all men For in that he sheweth that he can apply himselfe to the time be it neuer so vitious to the place be it neuer so infamous to the person be it neuer so odious Wherfore I giue all men to vnderstand that I am a servant to Vertue which I proclaime to the world by this booke my Heraulde and giue defiance to her foes and mine And howsoeuer I seeme now and then to lend an eare to lewdnesse it is not that I take pleasure in it but because I am loth to diplease the harbourers and diuâ—lgers of it What soeuer the world thinkes of me or thinketh me to be yet this I am For being throughly acquainted with myselfe I doe not aske another man what I am I protest it againe and againe that I depend on Vertue And if I wax poore in her seruice I shall account my selfe richer then all this wicked worlds wealth can make me and if I growe rich without her I shall esteeme my self poorer then pouerty her selfe can make me I speake not this like a PoliticiaÌ„ to purchase my selfe a greater fame then mine owne worth No no We doe not dissemble in those things in which he first deceiues himselfe that would others Wherefore he is iniurious to me who wicked in himselfe frameth a minde to me out of his owne If my inward man excuse me what care I who accuse me yet doe I not despise an honest report but onely warne you this that it is not in my power to tye loose tongues And therefore Fame is to be reckoned amongst these externall accidents as of no moment to the accomplishment of a quiet and a blessed life What to be consisteth on my part what I am said to be on the vaine vulgars Fame and Conscience are of two differing properties the one blazeth a mans deserts yet makes him neuer the better the other the better yet neuer the more renowned I knowe that my beliefe in God and not the worlds beliefe of me shall saue me yet by the way would I not haue any man thinke that I write this by constraint that is to cleare my selfe of any imputed Crime for I write it not to dispossesse but to possesse the world of a good opinion of me I verily thinke that I haue layed my selfe too open dealt too plainely in some things contained in this insuing treatise but I passe not much For as my birth styled me a gentleman so I would haue my death stile me generous Prying Policy telleth me that it is farre 〈◊〉 to knowe what a man speaks then to speak what he knowes but my harmelesse heart dictates to my pen not what the world would but what it should heare of My soule is an Antipode treads opposite to the present world My intent in writing this book is twofolde first to purchase to my selfe not so much the title of a learned as of an honest man and secondly because I knowe not whether my vnfortunate fortunes and vnstaied youth may leade me that the world may be acquainted with the secrets of my soule and may receiue from me a testimonie of my liuely faith that so it may iudge the more charitably of mee being dead Thus much for my selfe Now gentle or vngentle Reader concerning thee I diuide thee into Learned and Vnlearned and the Learned I subdiuide into Iudicial and Not-indiciall Seneca saith that SummuÌ„ bonum in iudicio est that mans chief felicity is in iudgement and Sealiger calleth it Animamsapientiae the soule of wisedome And therefore he that hath this Wisedomes soule to be the Centre of his soule I doe not so much feare as reuerence his censure But hee that hath read neuer so much and in his discourse will shoote whole Volleis of Volumes at a man and yet wanteth iudgemente my Booke turnes his posteriours to him and bids him shoote there as a marke too faire for his carping mouth to aime at The Vnlearned I rediuide into Prudent and Impudent The Prudent will not let his censure flie aboue his knowledge but what he vnderstands not he will with modestie either passe it ouer or with discretion enquire after it of some better-knowing spirits As for impudent asses who will reprehende vvhat their shallowe vvits can neither apprehende nor comprehende and so turne despaire into iudgement I hold them fitter to
Christianitie torne in peeces by schisme and heresie He scorneth the head the more because hee sees the members of the bodie so wound one the other Oh that wee could with the harmony of an vnseparable vnion charme the eares of this Christianities serpent But surely hee will stop his eares to our charming who disobeyeth the voice of that great charmer charme hee neuer so wiselie Thou seede of Abraham thou house of Iacob thou disposer of the graces and promises of the all-puissant I bewaile from my soule thy heauie condition and lament that thou canst not repent What grosse absurdities haue seized on thee of the which beliefe is not capable As for example that God before he built this world exercised himselfe a long time in setting-vp and pulling-downe before hee could learne to finish the frame hee hadde conceiued Thou further sayest that God hath certaine appointed daies wherein he afflicteth himselfe because in choler he defaced thy citty with thy temple and tokens of this his felt sorrow thou makest to be lightning and thunder Thou saiest also that God ordeined a sacrifice amongst the Iewes euery new Moone to recompence the wrong he did to the Moone in taking light from her to giue it to the Sunne Thou farther sayest that he is angrie once a day and then the crimson combes of the Cookes waxe pale and bloudlesse Thou hast also a prophane fable that on a day there being a disputation betweene certaine Rabbins and R. Eliezer God gaue sentence on Eliezers side for which the Rabbins excoÌ„municated him and then God smiling said My children haue ouercome me Thou sayest also that he that gainsayeth the words of the Scribes deserues more to be punished then he that contradicts the Law of Moses the one may be absolued the other must absolutely die Thou saiest also that he is no good Rabbin which doth not hate his enemy nay that doth not pursue reuenge euen vntill death And hee that disalloweth of any thing in these bookes denieth God himselfe What God will doe with thee I know not this I know that no Nation hath kept her integritie but thou Oh would thou hadst also kept thy sinceritie in religion It is more then a miracle to mee that feare doth not weigh-downe the eye-lids of the Iewe when he offers to looke-vp to heauen Neque enim saith Origen deberent vltra coelum aspicere qui in creatorem coeli peâ—â—auerunt et dominum Maiestatis Neither indeed saith he ought they to beholde heauen who haue sinned against the Creatour of heauen and the Lord of Maiesty The Turke conceiueth more reuerently of Christ then the Iewe for he accounteth of him as of a great Prophet the Iew as of a false Prophet Neither hath the Turke so grosse abuses and absurdities as hath the Iewe which whosoeuer listeth to compare shall finde The Turke hath many riddles which rather merite laughter then loathing and for example sake we will set-down some fewe of them What is that which is first wood and afterwards receiueth a spirit into it It is there answered Moses Rod. What woman is that which onely came from a man and what man is that which onely came from a woman It is there saide the former to be Eue the later to be Christ The rehearsall of more of these friuolous fooleries would cost mee much time and yeeld the Reader little profit and therefore I will onelie heere insert one or two things remarqueable in the Turkish Phisiques They hold that the starres hang by golden chaines Againe they saie that a Bull beares the earth vpon his hornes so that when the Bull shakes his head an earth-quake ensues Modesty wil not let me enter into the Turkes paradise where all things are vncleane and beyond measure baudy Oh my God! who is there that rightlie vnderstandes the courses of mans life the curses due to it for the vices of it and withall considereth the variances of religion as also that Turkes inhabite the better halfe part of the world Iewes and Atheists a quarter of the other halfe Schismatickes Heretickes three quarters of that quarter who is there I say that weighing all these things will not welcome if not inuite death specially in this age in which that of Tacitus is right true et propter virtutes certissimum exitium And vertues saith he are rewarded with certaine destruction Vertue looke to thy Essence for thou hast almost lost thy Existence thou hast a Being of thy self but scarce any Being in any other Wherefore I exhort all those who either haue or loue vertue to desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ Let them contemplate this that death is the Orient of Weale and the Occident of Woe that is the rising of all comforts and the fall and setting of all crosses Death is the sole sanctuary for sorrowe the freedome from feare hope 's harbour faith's faire field the ending of a bad beginning of a better life Death is not so vgly as the world would make her her lookes are louely and when all the world disdaines desert shee rewardes it Wherefore wee should not with such a fond childish griefe bewaile the death of our friends whom mercy hath taken from miserie As when we see the sunne eclipsed wee grieue not knowing it shall come to his former forme againe euen so 〈◊〉 it is heere we should not fall into womanish lamentations for the losse of them whose bodies wee know shall rise againe who shal see God with those eyes with which they leaue to see the world For though they die to vs they liue to the Lord. Wherefore wee must not thinke that Dauid lameÌ„ted the temporal death of his sonne Absolon but that his propheticke soule fore-sawe that eternall death due to Diuells and their ministers for to them death bringes damnation The wicked man dares not in his greatest passion call to God for compassion but hides himself from his face hauing all his time beene glutted with forbidden fruite If hee looke vp hee sees Gods iudgement hang ouer him if downeward he meditates his graue vnder him and hell vnder it if on both sides of him at each hand sitteth horrour and confusion if before him he beholdeth Perdition his hangman dragging him on to his slaughter if behinde him Vengeance doggeth him at the heeles the least noise makes him expect his pursiuants At last he withdraweth himselfe into his cabine thinking to lock-out Death who in a moment locketh-vp his eye-lids neuer more to open till they shall see heauen gates shut against their master Oh foole reuolt from thy irreligious superstition to a religious pietie neither quake at that whose power it is in thy power to conquer by an heartie penitence and feruent prayer Shrinke not at thy fatale blowe thy death shall be life and that a blessed and eternall one I for my part will account of death as of that which helps me to an vnualued bargaine things eternall for things momentarie