Temporis Angustiae Stollen Houres Recreations BEING Meditations fitted according to the variety of Objects Martial lib. 8. Epig. 2. Tune potes dulces ingrate relinquere nugas Dic mihi quid melius desidiosus agas Sat plenè si sat benè BY THO. MANLEY Jun. Gent. And Student Anno Aetatis 21 mo LONDON Printed for John Stephenson At the Signe of the Sun on Ludgate-hill 1649. TO THE Most vertuous and truly worthy Gentlewoman M rs A. M. Thomas Manley wisheth all the blessings of this life and that which is to come Deare Mistris OUt of that spare time stollen from the houres of my more serious studies I have here from variety of objects extracted and rough-drawne a few light Meditations the extravagancies of a lighter braine which I have â—esumed to dedicate to your Name hoping that â—â—om it they will gaine both weight and credit A preâ—â—nt I confesse too meane for so great vertue yet 〈◊〉 assured confidence of your goodnesse that you â—ill not so much looke at the meannesse of the gift 〈◊〉 the good will of the giver and accept it because 〈◊〉 comes from a friend was the maine cause of my â—oldnesse which if you please to pardon adding â—ithall a grant of my desire acceptance I shall not â—nly acknowledge my selfe to be bound to you by the â—trictest tye of friendship but shall be bound to acâ—nowledge my selfe M rs Your most affectionate friend Tho. Manley Jun. TO THE Friendly READER TO make a tedious Preface to our ensuing short discourses seemes to me as vaine and unnecessarie as was his worke who made the gates to his Citie larger then the Citie it selfe all I shall say to thee is this I desire thee with sinceritie to reader and without Criticisme to amend what thou findest amisse so for such a friend this short Epistle will be long enough but if thou beest otherwise affected and readest only that thou mayst carpe to such I have made this too long I desire really thou mayst profit by thy reading so shalt thou receive comfort and I my desired reward thy good will farewell Thine to doe thee good M. J. Temporis Angustiae MEDITATION I. IT is a Maxime in Phylosophie that out of nothing comes nothing but this would put us into confusion and reduce us againe to a Chaos unlesse we were set upright by Divinity which assurâ—s us that an omnipotent hand out of nothing hath extracted and drawn all things being then thus rectified let us raise our thoughts to their highest pitch in contemplation of the end for which we were created The first and chiefest thing certainly is to exalt with prayses the power of our God And the next is to love our brethren and neighbours for if we love not our brethren whom wee have seen how can we love God whom we have not seen for the former our duty towards our God is to beleeve that he is that he is Almighty and that all his attributes are true what Nation was ever so barbarous which did not acknowledge a superintendent deity Nature it selfe hath taught us that there is somewhat beyond it selfe to whose glory and for the advancement of whose honour all our actions ought to tend The Scythians though farre remote both from civility and vertue yet acknowledged their Jupiter The Egyptians whose mindes vvere only stuffed with the study of Witchcrafts yet worshipped their Osiris The Indians then whom vvho more savage yet they rather then will have none to worship fall downe to the Devill To conclude the Turke though none more cruell yet have they their Mahomet Nay those Anthropophagi those man eatting Cannibals then whom though none more devillish yet have they their Deity on whose Altars they offer sacrifices and to whom they put up and preferre their Petitions And shall we who are Christians bought with a price even the bloud of the Lamb I say shall we be more barbarous then bâ—â—barisme it selfe not only denying the honour due to our great God but even as much as in us lies both denying our God to be and endeavouring to pull him if it were possible out of heaven by our sinnes We knovv his power but contemne it and all men are sufficiently instrued but Patience abused is turned to fury Secondly we must love our brethren Love saith the Apostle worketh no harme to his neighbour therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law and our Saviour himselfe faith This command I leave you that yee love one another Certainly the often inculcation and repetition of this duty in the Scripture sheweth unto us how strict and diligent we ought to be in the observation of it It is a command upon whose observance depends our vvhole happinesse for what happinesse can there be where love is taken away Or hovv can that Common-wealth flourish where nothing abounds but strifes and contentions By Concord small things in little time grow great nay come to the top of prosperity by discord things already great in a small time grovv lesse nay vanish into nothing as by the one we rise to thâ— highest top of humane felicity so by the other we are throwne into the depth and gulfe of all wretched calamities Hence then you serpentin brood of Cadmus who onely begin to live that ye may study and endeavour to ruine one another Thinke you that God created man to be a selfe-destroyer nay we see otherwise in the very beginning Cain for murdering his brother Abel was cursed by God with a heavie curse to be a vagabond and God set a marke upon him lest any man should kill him If yee bite and devoure one another yee shall be consumed one of another What can be expected there but desolation where every man vvill be in all cases his owne both Judge and Executioner When every man may doe that which is right in his owne eyes What society can there be among men where Love is taken away Love is the life of the soule the maintainer of unity the bond of peace the efficient cause of happinesse and as Logicians say Causa sine qua non it is the builder of Common-wealths the repairer of breaches the restorer of pathes to dwell in VVe know not God unlesse we love God is love To conclude Love covereth a multitude of sinnes Love is like the Spring in and by which all things flourish it is the most noble passion of the soule which wholly spends it selfe in the attaining of a desired good I could vvith the Silke-worm quite worke my selfe to death spend my selfe all my choysest parts all my abilities in this heavenly Subject he is a child a senselesse creature a beast worse then a beast that hath never been touched with this heroike passion but I digresse I transgresse to returne Let brotherly love continue so shall wee bring to our selves blessing upon blessing we shall enjoy the God of love and by the love of God we shall be made a mirrour of happinesse the glory of all people A
among so many their contraries that unlesse his understanding be quicker he may be deceived and grasping Ixion like a cloud instead of the substance an alluring falshood for a pleasing truth but love is my subject or I am his chuse you whether and he that will write so divine a thing had need of a better pen and a quicker wit then my immature youth can yeild least my dull phrase clog his lighter wings and of God Cupid make him devill Cupido Love then is the life of the soule and the soule of some mens life it is a pleasing torment a bitter sweet a lover of truth a hater of dissimulation it is the perfection of all joy the consummation of all earthly blessings Cupid by the heathen was made a God which shewes his divine power it is alwaies young for true love can never grow old and dye and nothing doth so much sweeten and delight our life as love the Crowne is the ensigne of a King and no such King as love it hath subdued all creatures rationall sensitive vegetative yea and sencelesse have their sympathies the fiercest creatures are tamed by love Ardet Amans Dido c. and shall I be refractory to so great a power no I will submit and acknowledge it I rejoyce in my slavery Oh heavenly passion that canst wrap up my senses in so great delight Let me but enjoy thy wished presence I desire no greater joy for while it is joyned with vertue it partakes of its goodnesse and what of delight is wanting in one is added by the other a vertuous Love being nothing else but a love of vertue Thus let me love and there I le rest ' Cause vertuous love is alwayes best MEd. 10. I Can never see a candle that is now burning in its greatest strength and splendor presently with one little blast of winde puft out and extinguished but it drives me to the thought of my mortality for why may not I in the heighth of all my jollity be suddenly taken away Why should I be spared doe I not see every day mē of abler parts fal before my face and on every side of me Have I a lease of my life or have I made a Covenant with Death If so where is my evidence what have I that in the least manner may or can oblige and tye Death no I have no such thing I confesse my frailty and cannot but acknowledg that without Gods mercy the most contemptible of the Creatures might arrest me for an action of trespasse against my Creator deliver me over to his Jaylor Death till I could answer for my misdemeanors But Lord if thou shouldest be extreame to marke what is done amisse who then could be able to stand Enter not then into Judgement with thy servant for no flesh living can be justified in thy sight MED 11. I Can reade in no book but it presents to my sight some profitable objects to remember me of my mortality for reading in Martial I found an Epigram made on a lad who walking under the caves of some noble house in Rome in the winter when the cold was predominant and congealed the water into hard Ice an Isicle fell downe on him and killed him herein me thoughts was presented a sad memento to after Ages of their owne frailty when vvater contrary to its nature shall turne as I may say heads-man Doe wee feare drowning When can we walke with more safety then in winter when the hard frosts with their biting sharpnesse have converted water into a more condense matter and as it were made in that element a new Creation yet then see the frailtie of our natures which from such even helps cannot gather any safety nay from the falling Isicle I collect this that the meanest things that were by God created are of power sufficient to execute Gods wrath and vengeance on us for our sinnes But there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared c. MED 12. LOve is a voluntary affection and desire to enjoy that which is good Love wishes desire enjoyes now if there be so much sweetnesse in the theoretick part how much more is there in the practick if there be so much pleasure in the journey how much greater joy at the end If it somewhat tends to vertue to wish good then it is vertue it selfe to do to enjoy good if desire of good make a man vertuous then the full enjoyment of it makes a man perfectly happy O divine and heavenly passion that canst at the same time make a man both vertuous and happy Let me now begin to love that I may begin to be vertuous and proceed in affection that I may be truly happy What happinesse greater then true love What Paradise more glorious then that of affection Let me then love truly that I may enjoy happinesse and let me devote my selfe to a vertuous affection that I may have a share in the terrestriall Paradise Thou conquer'st all Love let not me be free I will devote my self wholy to thee Thou canst make happy yea and vertuous too Accept me then I le be a servant true MED 13. WHen I see wet wood laid on a fire as it will not burne without much blowing so it will dead and spoile the rest which burnt well before I cannot but think of mans inability to good for of himself being backward to do any vertuous thing when he is clogged with the heavy lumpish masse of the body it will even obliterate those good thoughts that were before seeing then we are so unable to do any good thing of our selves let us fly to him that is able to give us both to will and to do good Lord we are wicked can do nothing well And do in nought but vitiousnesse excell That we can do no good is our hearts grief But we beleeve Lord help our unbeleif MED 14. PRide hath been the destruction of all its lovers and alwaies carries them the higher to make their precipice the greater what made Adam lose his Paradise but pride a desire to know more then was necessary for him what threw the angels out of heaven and of demy-gods made them all devils but their too great aspiring pride our very common proverb pride wil have a fall should teach us to shun that that we my stand upright why should I love that that hates me and how shall I better know a perfect hatred then by this that it seeks my overthrow would any reasonable man be altogether guided and directed by his known enemy and is it not our greatest enemy that stirrs us up to that damnable sin I have no way then to uphold my selfe but by following my master Christs precept be ye lowly as I am lowly I will never therefore be refractory to those commands that drive me to good but I will take and submit to my friends counsell and what friend more true then he that hath laid downe his life for my sake I
soule till thy lightning grace spread its refulgent beames in my heart infuse it then into my heart and then it will be readie to shew forth thy praise Lord in my heart make but thy graces shine I shall to praise thee then be wholy thine MED 36. THough Charitie begin at home yet it must not end there for no man is borne only for himselfe a man must not spend all his kindnesse within doores but must stretch out his hand to be bountifull to others whose wants require his helpe and whose penurie calls for something of his abundance As I must therefore alwayes provide for my owne to avoide the brand of an Infidel so when it lies in my power I will doe all good to others that I may gaine the Character of charitable I am not borne all for my selfe but somewhat for others for it is better not at all to live then not to live to profit my Countrie MED 37. HOw soone doth time passe away the morning is gone the noone is alreadie come and it will not be long before the night overtake us the work we have to doe we must do quickly before night come wherein no man can worke our life is that moment of time which so soone passeth away the morning of our youth is fled before we well know we are borne the noone of our middle Age is alreadie come and yet we are not prepared for that worke which ought to have been done in our morning the night of our old age is approaching wherein the very stooping of our bodies towards the ground tels us they are going to decay and that now that we would we cannot take hold of that happy opportunitie so often before let slip by us Lord make me alwayes readie to receive thee The only way to sweeten death is alwayes by having it in remembrance and the best way to make a happy exit is by alwayes meditating on my end MED 38. VVHen I seriously consider with my selfe how vvith two or three glances of my eye I am able to runne over that most glorious fabrick of the world in a card which by perambulation I was not able to compasse in many yeares nay in my whole life it drives me with admiration to the thought of the wonderfulnesse of Gods workes of which we may contemplate with ease yet not be able in our whole life to attaine the perfect knowledge of them it makes me chide the folly of those men who contemne other mens industrie and labour and thinke by sitting at home and finding fault to gaine Knovvledge of the mystical secrets of nature and the world I will therefore by praising their deeds encourage and prick forward others to the discoverie of that which my too great sloth hinders me from and since I cannot doe it my selfe I will praise God for those which can doe it for mine and the generall good He only knows to prize rightly that understands the worth truly MED 39. I remember a storie of one vvho coming into the buriall place in Rome where Caesar lay would needs know which was his head among many others that lay there it was answered that with no nose which he seeking and seeing all want not being satisfied demanded yet a second time and then was told that without the teeth when he looking and seeing all want said so and so could not learne vvhence then tends this great ambition to aspire and thirst of riches Your greatest honour in the grave cannot distinguish you from the basest beggar Irus and Craesus Caesar and the meanest Roman souldier the greatest King and the meanest Peasant are all alike in death the thought of this should drive men from such vaine thoughts I will never spend all my time to gain that which will at last doe me no help but the chief of my care shall be not that I may dye rich but good MED 40. WHat a little spark will kindle a great fire What a little fire will set whole Cities in a flame How soone will Napthe take fire The tongue is this sparke greater provocations are the fire and a hasty person is the soone fire-taking Napthe How carefull then ought we to be least our tongues by greater provocations strike that fire in hastie persons which increasing by factions may grow into a flame I will take heed therefore of saying or doing that which may breed distractions and I will endeavour to set men together but not by the eares MED 41. WHen divers men are assembled at a feast I see that one can eate heartily even enough to suffice nature of that dish which another mans stomack would not digest which another mans palate could not relish I can gather out of those greatest calamities that presse me some hopes of Gods love towards me for every sonne he loves he chastiseth and comfort my selfe in those saddest afflictions under which perhaps another man may faint nay even despaire We see that out of the same flower the laborious Bee can gather honey and the venemous spider suck poyson I will comfort my selfe with this that God will strengthen to beare yea and overcome the afflictions he laies on me MED 42. HOw great is the content of the righteous when he is departing out the world he alwayes accounted himselfe as a stranger or pilgrim and never set his minde on any thing in this world knowing them to be altogether vaine and unsatisfactory he only now dying rejoyceth that he is going to enjoy good What traveller having passed many dangerous wayes rejoyceth not when he drawes neere to his Countrie What pleasures have we in this world which draweth neer to an end every day and which selleth unto us so deare those pleasures that we receive I will never certainly brag of an ill market but I will endeavour to mend my selfe I will not be of their minde who think nothing good but what is deare but I will alwayes seeke to have a pennie-worth for my pennie MED 43. VVHat man is not content to depart out of an old ruinous house who is so senselesse and altogether neglectfull of his life and safetie as to love constant fightings and battles The world is an old decaying edifice and what other thing is our life but a perpetuall battle and sharp skirmish wherein we are one while hurt with envie another while with ambition and by and by with some other vice besides the sudden onsets given upon our bodies by a thousand sorts of diseases and flouds of adversities upon our Spirit Who then will not say with Saint Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ MED 44. HOw much that candle steeds me at night which at noon day was of no use yet not that now it hath more light but that there is more need of it every man will be my friend in the noone the time of my prosperitie but he is a true friend that stickes to me and helps me with his counsel in the night of
Nation of whom it will be reported that blessings happinesses have seated themselves among us to conclude let us serve God truly and love our brethren and neighbours heartily so shall our peace be blessed and lasting and our happinesse infinite and eternall Amen MED 2. On the shortnesse of mans life THat the most lasting and durable things if sublunary are but fraile I am sure no man will or can deny the greatest Prince as well as the meanest beggar are subject equally to the stroake of death the lofty Cedar as well as the inferiour shrubs are lyable to be rooted up by stormy blasts Craesus with all his wealth Aristotle with all his wit and all men with all their wisdome have shall perish turne to dust One being asked what the life of man is turned round and went away shewing thereby that it is lesse then a vapour as we are young and may live so we are mortall and must dye Phylosophers accounted it the chiefest felicity never to be borne the next soon to dye The oldest man living if he but take away the time spent in sleeping and in idlenesse for the measure of life is not length but honesty and the study of vertue neither doe we enter into life to the end we may set downe the day of our death but therefore doe we live that we may obey him that made us imploy the time and talent he bestowes well and with wisdome and to dye whensoever he shall call us I say let him but abstract those times he will finde no length of time whereof to brag It is true Age is the gift of God yet it is the messenger of death no man can promise himself life for a moment how great use might we make of this meditation what manner of persons ought we to be in all godlinesse and honesty alway to be prepared against the day of our death for every mans deaths-day is his dooms-day which we know not how soon may happen for Old men must die young men may die soon We see the time 's not long 'twixt night and noone MED 3. WHo would ever trust him that loves to break the trust reposed on him and will never do any good unlesse it be to satisfie some private ends some selfe interest as such men deserve not to be trusted so neither ought they to live for in stretching my conscience to harme others I deceive my self and while I strive by wicked and sinister ends to rob others of their hoped and sought earthly good I barre my self from an everlasting by shutting heaven against my self As I would not promise more then I mean to perform break my faith so I would not do more then I could with conveniency least regard of my faith breake me MED 4. REbellion is as the sin of witchcraft saith the Scripture we know that witchcraft is doomed to death by the lawes of God men by humane laws with death here by divine with death if we may judge certainly without Gods great mercie everlasting necessity and want of friends shall never make me take sin for a refuge I had rather go the narrow way alone then accompanyed the broad one I had rather go to heaven by my self then to hell with a multitude and if I must make a Covenant yet it shall not be with death and hell least while I vie iniquity with the devill I buy the devil with hell to boot for my iniquity MED 5. HOpe is one of St. Pauls Cardinall vertues which comforts us endures us with patience to wait the Lords leasure for the fulfilling all his gracious promises to us as despaire on the contrary taints our purer part the soule with a rash presumption against and charging God with a breach of promise Hope well and have well saith the proverb I will therefore hope well that I may have well and never dispaire of not obtaining that which I have no sure way to loose but by not seeking MED 6. REsolution and policy are the two chiefest things that make up a perfect souldier policy to lay designes for themselves and countervaile their enemies and resolution to put them proposed in execution policy layes the ground work the foundation resolution builds finishes the structure policy without resolution building good for little resolution without policy a building without a foundation good for lesse but joyn them and there comes forth a goodly building excellent wayes to obtaine both a victory single or absolute conquest and I am sure I shall never attaine the Jewels locked up in the chest of resolution unlesse I am able to attaine the key of policy MED 7. THe childe that is now born cries assoone as it is entered into the world as foreseeing the miseries that he must undergo therein and indeed what is the whole life of man but a compound of miserie since there is nothing here in which he may joy whereon he may settle his happynesse the greatest pleasures bring the greatest cares if his head be adorned with a crowne his shoulders shall surely beloaden with cares every day increaseth our sorrow he therefore is most happy that dyeth soonest Our time passeth away and we know not how I will therefore alwaies be prepared against that time which shal come I know not how soone may come presently will come at last since I know every step brings me nearer to my journies end and every day brings me nearer to my death I will pray Lord prepare me for he that may dye every day doth as it were dye daily MED 8. AS he cannot be a just man that contrary to the lawes of nature infringes another mans right by violence and injury so he cannot be a good Christian that contrary to the laws of God with a malicious heart doth that to another which he would not have done to himself he that knows not how to obey deserves not to rule for an imperious subject will certainly prove an insolent Tyrant I will give to every man his due to avoid the staine of injustice and I will do to all men as to my selfe to gaine the title of a Christian I will learne to obey here that I may be admitted to rule hereafter which I may with Gods grace attaine knowing that for Christs little flock there is a Kingdome prepared MED 9. LOve as it is the badge of a Christian so it is the note of a man because it is a passion too noble for any irrationall creature to be subject to For God having given man a more divine part the soule then any other creature so his passions are higher then that they should be subjected by any thing but reason but of all this is most excellent as alwaies aiming at some good for a lovers eye is most peircing his wit of greatest maturity his tongue of greatest eloquence all his inward parts commonly most excellent which he hath most need of because vertue and good are placed