call the sweat of death Sleepe proceedes from the fume which the meat digesting causeth this fume mounted vp and thickned by the coldnes of the braine descends againe and disperseth it selfe ouer all enters into the nerues by the which both sence and motion is distributed throughout the whole body so as death makes all the actions of the body to cease euen so sleepe doth all the feeling of the sinnewes of the senses and all motion of the exterior members For as wee doe often finde children lying asleepe vpon the ground thinking they were dead so man dying doth ofteÌ„ deceiue them that stand by being not able to iudge whether he be dead or sleepes Man cannot alwayes watch he must sleepe neither can he liue for euer he must dye and as he growes idle that can take no rest so hee is madd that thinkes not to die As he that stooping to his worke doth stemm with trafficke Boate along the shore the streame and pouring out himselfe in watrie sweate breakes all the bancks in vprore In retreate made to his Cottage from the laboring light strecht on the straw sleepes soundlie all the night As man after that hee hath sweat with tedious labour being broken and growne crooked with age after that he hath tost and turmoyld kept a great stir in the world being layed in the earth rests in death he that goes to bed puts off his clothes he that dyes vnclothes his bodie and his soule departs And as he that hath eaten and drunke freely feels in his stomacke a gnawing and cruditie which hinders his rest so hee that hath busied himself too much with worldly affayers feels vpon the approching of rest a remorse of conscience and an irresolution which will not suffer him to imbrace death quietly sleepe seazeth vpon mâ—…n lying awake in his bed insensibly so can he not obserue the verie moment of approaching death when sleep comes he feels no paine no more that the verie instant of death If men be froward and cry out when death approcheth so do they especially little children who crie most when sleepe comes vpon them Finally as in our soundest sleepe wee feele no paine we hold it a wrong to be awaked so let vs assure our selues we shall feele lesse paine in death seeing her sound sleepe cannot be troubled nor interrupted in any sort and therefore Diogenes taken with a sound sleepe a little before his death the Physition inquiring if he had felt no paine no answered he the brother comes before his sister So Gorgias LeoÌ„tinus being neere his end his bodie without streÌ„gth he had many slumbers so as a friend of his demanding how hee found himselfe Well saith he the brother beginnes to deliuer mee into his sisters hands Moreouer Nature which hath made nothing in vaine seems to assure vs of this proportion by the Dormouse which sleepes all Winter so foundly as it will rather endure all extremities then awake I haue seene a man of good credite put one into water boyling on the fire the which did not awake but only mooue the hinder legs a little yet in the Spring it is nimble leaps from branch to branch a goodly signe of the Refurrection of the dead The fifteenth Argument taken from former experience Not to be yet and to be no more are alike yea the same We â—…ere in peace and rest when we were not yet Therefore when we shall bee 〈◊〉 moreâ—… shall be iâ—… peace and râ—…st IT is an humane Argument which takes matters at the â—…orst and death for the 〈◊〉 priuation of the whâ—…le man yet without preiudicâ—… of his right if there bee any fouÌ„d Of necessity saith Pâ—…o death must bee one of these two a with-drawing or extinguishing of al sense and of the soule likewise or a transmigra tion as they holâ—… into some other place if death doth extinguish all and be like vnto sleepe the which most commonly when it is not troubled with dreames and fancies bring a â—…uiet rest O God what a gaine is death 〈◊〉 c. But if it be true which some say that death is a â—…ransport â—…o the happy regions that our soules hauing shined in these mortall bodies on this bare earth go to shine elewhere as when the Sâ—…nne aftâ—… that he hath enligâ—…ned ouâ—… horizon descâ—…nds to giue day vnto an other and then returnes to make his course anew what decease is there of the soule morâ—… then of the Sun which runnes his course through our horizon all the day and at night seemes extinct and dead to vs Or suppose there were an vtter extinguishing decease of the Soule aswel as of the Body what cause were there of feare in this extinguishing since not to haue bene at all and to cease to be is all one because the effect both of the one and the other is not to be Then why should wee feare that now when by the experience of aboue fiue thousand yeares when we were not that is to say that we were dead we neuer felt any kind of paine Hereunto king Aâ—…asis had re gard obseruing one who lamented much for the losse of his sonne If sayd hee thoâ—… didst not mourne when thy sonne was not at all neither shouldest thou now grieue that he be no more Let vs conclude with Seneea That according to the opinion of all the world he carries the supreame degree of folly that weepes for that hee liued not a thousand yeares since so hee doth second him which grieues that he shall not bee here the like â—…e oâ—… oâ—… it iâ—… all onâ—… â—…ou â—…d noâ—… be and You haue â—…ot benâ—… So spakâ—… the wiâ—…e man by the mouth of mâ—… saying We 〈◊〉 as if we 〈◊〉 not bâ—… Obiection Not to haâ—… had â—…llent things and â—…o 〈◊〉 loâ—… them â—…fter the enioyng them a time are verie different â—…t he that hath not beene is like to him that hath â—…ot had those exâ—…llent things life and the 〈◊〉 thereof and he that is no more like him that hath lost them after the enioying of them Therefore not to haue bin and not to be are verie diffâ—… things THe verie word â—…o losâ—… iâ—… of it selâ—…e 〈◊〉 he thaâ—… after a clâ—… fight 〈◊〉 lose his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then he which hath loâ—… 〈◊〉 knowledge of his sences oâ—… reason anâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…out thâ—… which we had not bin Whaâ—… is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not see himselfe swallowed vp in a guâ—… of darkenesse â—…ay in eternall horrorâ—… And therfore S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name oâ—… the faithfull â—…aith 2. Cor. 5. That we whicâ—… in this lodging groane vnder the burthen dâ—…sire not to â—…e vncloathed buâ—… to be clothed againe to the ende thaâ—… mortal may be swallowed 〈◊〉 by life Which shewes that the desire of man is to be if he enclines to deâ—…h it is 〈◊〉 assured â—…oÌ„sideration â—…hat by â—…ath he enters into a 〈◊〉 and morâ—… perfect being elsâ—… he would alwaies 〈◊〉 not to be that
is vnknowne vnto vs. that we haue a soule sayth Seneca by whose commandement wee are thrust on and called backe all men confesse it but what this soule this Lady and Queene is no man can decide neither yet where shee abides Laertius or rather Heraclitus for him Let vs passe ouer the soule sayth hee for no man can finde it yea if hee should imploy his whole life so profound is the reason thereof Do not vrge that the eye seeth euery thing but it selfe for the eye seeth another eye but one soule knoweth not another soule yea the eye seeth it selfe not his image but his proper substance in the reflexion of his visuall beames by the meanes of the looking-glasse as for the soule al they that haue deliuered their opinions haue seemed to doate Varro hath sayd that it was an aire conceiued in the mouth purified in the lights made lukewarme in the heart diffusedly spred ouer the whole body Zeno that it was a fire kindled in our bodies by the celestiall fire Empedocles and Circias that it was nothing but the blood Hippocrates that it was a subtile spirit insinuated throughout the whole body Thales that it was a nature mouing of it selfe without rest Asclepiades a common exercise of the senses Hippoc. that she goes alwayes on vntill death 6 Epistle part 5. com 5. Finally if it were euer it is in this That so many heads so many opinions Answere The soule flowing from the diuine essence hath that common with God that we see many nega tions of her but few or no affirmations but we know with Aristotle that it is the perfection of a natural body which may haue life that it is the beginning of nourishment feeling motion and vnderstanding And yet more then that although wee cannot climbe so high the reason is that the knowledge which the soule hath of things is from the senses by meanes of the Ideaes but the soule cannot bee perceiued by the senses of her there are no Ideas nor by consequence any knowledge And as for this aire this fire these spirits such as they are fashioned in the braine they are but organes and vessells fit for the soule seeing that wee see them wast and consume euery moment without losse of life the which notwithstanding cannot subsist without the ministery of the soule Finally as for the different opinions of diuers men they shew that they know not what it is but withall they demonstrate that they know there is a soule which they striue to know but who is he that would study to know that which is not in nature vnlesse he were mad The second Obiection If the soule were endowed with a speciall motion she would expresse it by her body But she doth not expresse it IF the soule at the departure out of the body had her flight towards heauen she would giue some signe of it to the body stirring it with some speciall motion Simple Creatures mooue themselues in all sorts of motions differing from plants which without mouing from their place doe but grow vp and spread abroad for that their soules are diuers and why should not man who hath a speciall soule haue a speciall motion As for that he bounds and skips therein a goate or a cat hath more then hee neither is that the reasonable soule that doth it but rather the vegetatiue the mixture of the naturall fire which raiseth him wherfore as soone as a man breathes and exhales this fire hee falls from his leape but of any proper or particular motion of this flying soule hee feeleth nothing Answere Seruius vpon the 6. of Virgil will answer That the soule in the body is like vnto a Lyon shut vp in a streight cage which notwithstanding loseth nothing of his force although he cannot shew it but if he once escape you shal see him as strong as before so as a man would thinke his force had bene abated in his prison Moreouer some haue bene so actiue as they haue flowne as at Paris in the yeare 1551. there was one vndertooke to flie from the Tower of Nefle vnto the Louure the riuer being betwixt both the King expecting him and although hee could not get to the end of his enterprise yet hee got vp into the aire after such an admirable manner as hee came to the mid-way But the flying of the Creature doth not proue his essence immortall for then birds should be immortall And how then can the soules mount vp to heauen going out of the bodies If thou doest beleeue the holy Scriptures the Angells sent to serue them louingly which shall receiue the inheritance of saluation will carry them as the Angell did poore Lazarus Hereunto that good Father Macarius had regard There is a great Mistery saith hee accomplished in soules going out of the bodies for if they bee guilty of sinne troopes of diuells and bad angells flocking about them seaze vpon those soules as their slaues and carry them away c. But if they bee in good estate the companies of good Angells carrying them to a better life present them vnto the Lord yet wee will not deny but in the soule there is an intrinsecall vertue to climbe vp to heauen with a swiftnesse equall to her desire if that fire hath a secret force to mount vp to his proper place being a dead Element what then shall the soule separated do being so actiue and so quicke and whose proper Country is Heauen And although that heauen especially that which is the mansion of happy soules bee so many leagues distant as Astrologers which haue sought to take the height haue found millions being much amazed haue mounted neere to two thousād millions of leagues yet we must not beleeue that the soule is long in passing this great distance for that her motion not being continued but diuided like to that of spirits departing out of the body she is presently in heauen euen as in this corruptible bodie in a moment shee sends the beames of her sight and thoughts vp to heauen But wholy to stoppe the mouth of our aduersarie we say that the true knowledge of the soule in her immortalitie is no humaine inuention but a diuine reuelation as Iustine Martyr sayth and that since shee is fallen from her first integritie which fall hath so amazed dulled her as she knowes not truely what she hath beene what she is or where shee is nor whither she shall goe of whosesinne she is the subiect as Iron is of rust it hath wholie spoyled her dulled her quicknesse and weakned her vigour which is the cause that she stumbles in the way of health is blynde in the knowledge of the least things is interrupted in the course of her brauest discourses by a flye or any toye To conclude shee is so troubled as shee dreames of a thousand fancies in a manner mistakes euery thing The fift Obiection To alledge the desire of a morsell of fruit
demolition of man but onely the first for as a wise master of a familie when hee sees that his house threatneth ruine that it sinks in many places and the walls open commands it to be pulled downe that with the ruines and materials hee may raise another to cōtinue many yeares euen so nature a most expert Architectrice seeing man ladē with woūds deiected with misery and melancholy cōsumed with age and grown cro◅ked with the gou◅e catar◅es sowe◅ him co◅uptible in the graue that after many changes she may raise him incorruptible by the powerful voice of Christ. If the earthly habitation of this mansion bee destroyed saith the Apostle S. Paule we haue a dwelling with God that is to say an eternal house in heauen which is not made with hands and therefore we sigh and desire so much to be cloathed with our mansion which is in heauen and this is for our soule expecting the Resurrection of her body And this body sayth the same Apostle being sown in dishonour shall rise againe in glory sowne in weakenesse shall rise in strength and sowne a sensuall body shall rise a spirituall body What thē can man produce against this but onely some murmuring of his Incredulity that it exceedes the bounds of reason without the which hee will not assure himselfe of any thing I answer that the full perswasion of that which is written in the holy word is well grounded vpon faith a particular gift of heauen to all true Christians touching the returning of our bodies as for the reasonable coniecture of our future life after death I deny that this hath beene altogether vnknowne to men guided onely by the instinct of nature and I will proue my assertion sufficiently in the 39. Argument if God so please To this first consolation we will adde a second that is nature finding the declining and wasting of the substance of man came by a sacred mariage to stay some portion in the matrix of his deare moity and to fashion and bring forth many other reasonable creatures at diuers times creatures which haue the same flesh and bones of father and mother And if it be true that a good friend is a second selfe what shal a good sonne bee but himselfe without any addition whereby is plainly manifested what Macrobius saith that the body recoiues three aduantages of the reasonable soule that is to say he liues he liues well and in succession of time he remaines immortall Ecclesiasticus goeth ◅art her saying That if the father of a childe dyes it is all one as if hee were not dead for hee hath left his like behind him hee hath seene him and hath ioyed hauing left one who shall take reuenge of his enemies and requite his friends And this was it which moued that great Law-giuer Plato to make a law that euery man at a comperent age should marrie a wife else he shuld be called before the Iudge condemned in a fine and declared infamous for that as he afterwards sayth euery man should consider in himself that there is a certen power efficacie of nature which makes men to purchase an Immortalitie he would inferre that whosoeuer leaues children doth reuiue in some sort in them It is an order of nature which we must inviolablie obserue ingendring we perish of the one side but we begin again of the other If our parents by their fading and dying substance had not giuen vs life we could not haue entred into it of our selues what wrong is it if nature doth that of vs for our children which she bath done of our Parents for vs Moreouer death which is a priuation of life is a beginning of life in nature remayning in the first matter by the which she disposeth her selfe to a new forme not to continue still at this deformed spectacle Thirdly wha◅ great deformitie see you in death which is not in him that sleeps Fourthly that deformitie which may be is not seene by him whom it concernes it is to the suruiuor◅ that it should be hideous but most commonly they find it pleasing reaping by that meanes large successions elboe roome freedome from comptroll and if it were otherwise the world would not be able to containe vs. And thus much for the first part of the obiection As for the 2. which resembleth the demolishing of building to death this similitude hath no proportion yea it is contrary to the state of the question for what makes a ruined building deformed It is the disorder we see in it it is but a heape of stones and timber the stones are not layd in order one vpon another neither is the timber raised as it ought to be It is then the forme that wants when as the materialls remaine but in man or rather a dead carcase the soule which is the forme receiues no blemish she is freed from the surprises of the graue Thou doest not complaine that the egge-shell is broken when a chicken comes forth neither is the body of man to be lamented when as the soule flies away But what great difformitie doest thou see in a dead body thou seest little or no difference at all with one that sleeps this doth not terrifie thee why should the other amaze thee especially if thou doest consider that the body which is dead is truely asleepe the which is a subiect of an other discourse as we shall see if God please But all things haue their period the ladder his last staffe and life her last degree Thou diddest ascend ioyfully so must come downe againe with the like content if in the last steppe or in the midst thou beest not carried away accidentially by some violent death but to returne to the place where thou hast beene taken thy nature doth exhort thee yea it forceth thee If too vniust thou doest not willingly giue thy consent looke into the degrees of life and this contemplation will giue thee cōsolation against death when thou wert borne into the world there was found in thee an appetite to some substāce or meat without thy selfe the which hauing beene supplied thee and sent by the mouth into the stomacke was conuerted into a conco◅ted iuyce and then transformed into bloud by the liuer refined into spirits by the heart and finally fitted to thy decaying body thou didst receiue nourishment force and Ioy these are the first degrees of life then climing higher thou hast extended the fiue faculties of thy senses thine eye to see beautiful things thine eares to heare melodious sounds thy nose to smell pleasing sents thy mouth to tast holesome and delightfull sauours and thy hand to handle smooth and wel polished things these are other degrees of the same life At length the reasonable soule comes to play his part the vnderstanding desires to know whatsoeuer the sences apprehend whatsoeuer his eye sees his eare heareth his hands touch and moreouer what they neither see heare nor touch reason flying to
in liuing long saith the same Epist. 10â—… That the iniury of times doe anticipate and interrupt in shew the lawfull course of our dayes our apparent vertue will make our life more compleate Yea but God doth promise long life to them that shall honour their parents I answer That God doth promise prolongation of a happy life to them that shall obey him This happinesse is not in this world it is onely to bee found in heauen it is therefore of heauen whither his speech tends And although the literall sense be of the land of Canaan yet was it a figure of the mysticall and chiefe abode that is to say of he auenly Paradise which was the mould of this land flowing with milke and honey and all sorts of blessings And if any one against this probable reason will vnderstand the promise to be generall of the whole earth we may answer that God like vnto Physitions grants vnto men that haue sicke spirits not what is most profitable but what they importunatly and ignorantly desire Otherwise I will neuer yeeld that this life with what singular and extraordinary happinesse soeuer it be fauoured from heauen is better then the life eternall whereunto death doth infallibly leade the chil dren of God It is the onely cause why it pleased the Eternall to take iust Abel vnto him by death and would suffer cursed Caine to languish long It is also the reason why Iesus Christ doth not promise long life as the Lawe doth to those that shall honour him and follow him but the Crosse yea death it selfe Mat. 10. Mar. 13. It therefore remaines true that the Oracle saith Iust men are taken away from the euill enter into peace they rest vpon their bed c. And in like sort it is true that death cannot bee ill seeing it is the reward that God giues vnto his for their faithfull seruice or at the least it is the beginning if it be not the totall The Ninth Argument taken from the rule which should measure all the desire of man Man a reasonable Creature should not desire any thing but what is seasoned with reason The estate of this present life is not seasoned with good reason Therefore man should not desire the estate of this present life THe maior of this Argument cannot bee denyed by any reasonable creature to whom I speake the minor is iustified by the numbring of the three degrees of life vegetatiue sensitiue and intellectuall either of which being considered apart or all three together they haue no vaileable reason to mooue vs to loue them but let vs examine them in order In the vegetatiue life is chiefly obserued a facultie drawing retayning concocting and expulsing to nourish and make grow so as the chiefe end in the Indiuiduum is growing in this growing what reason of loue and in this what hath not a tree more then man yet no man desires to bee a tree yea should hee exceede in height that at the Indies which the Portugalls eye-witnesses sayling to Goa say to bee higher then a crossebow can shoote what auailes it man to be of a monstrous height but for a hindrance Witnesse Nicomachus the Smyrnean who growing to such a prodigious height that being but young hee could not remoue out of one place had continued an vnprofitable stocke if Aesculapius by strict dyets and violent exercises had not abated him In this then wee see no reason to desire life Let vs come vnto the sensitiue we perceiue in creatures fiue senses answering to fiue sensible obiects which are in the world And let vs obserue that the perfection of the sence is when it enioyeth his proper obiect as the perfection of the eye is to see colours of the eare to heare sounds of the nose to smell sents of the mouth to taste sauours of the hands yea of the whole body to touch tactible qualities The sight in colours obserues the sorting and mixture of diuers varieties the proportions and exact dimensions I deny not but man may take pleasure therein but it is a brutish vnreasonable pleasure if it bee not referred to the honour of the Authour of these colours if it bee religiously referred man will desire an increase of sight both of body minde the which he finds in himselfe to be obscure short and so weake that at the brightest colours it melts and is dispersed as the lightning This desire cannot bee perfect but in the new casting of the body by death and therefore Dauid said Turne away mine eyes lest they behold vanitie Psal. 119. they had seene it in Bersabee and elsewhere hee had beene almost lost But yet if in the sight lies the point of the reason of life why is not man another Linx to pierce through stone walls and to see without hindrance whatsoeuer is in the world The hearing in sounds distinguished conceiues a harmony which is no other thing but an aire beaten with many and diuers tunes followed with a iust proportion and happy incounter here vpon earth since that sinne was brought in by man Man of this Lute the world being speciall string All th' other nerues doth into discords bring And renders now for an enchanting aire A murmure so offensiue to the eare As Enion would amaze Enion the rude That th' ancient â—…arrs the Chaos made renew'd HEEre then there is no reason to desire life but rather the end to go and heare the mellodious sounds which are made in heauen diuine in their measured times and proportions which euen the poore Pagans haue acknowledged Smelling of sents seemes a certaine exhaling vapour tempered of heate and moisture but he is soone loathed bee it neuer so delightfull as of muske some cannot endure it but sound at the sent of it But besides all this there are in the world many pestiferous vapors which make man sicke yea die and therefore by consequence herein there is no more reason to desire life then death Tast feeles the sauours which are made by the seasoning of diuers liquors but in those man doth soone find a distast and repletion if he vse them without measure or discontinuance Where is then the true reason of mans good which must be taken without measure without interruption and without satiety the more it is taken the more it is desired and the more compleate it is the more it doth reioyce and content In the end comes touching the pleasure whereof cannot bee but in the feeling of smooth and polished bodies This pleasure as of the former sence if it be continued without intermission becomes very vnpleasant and the most excellent point thereof slides sooner away then it is perceiued this pleasure which the greatest hold to be so great at the very instant it passeth and giues to man two dangerous checkes one to the soule which it depriues of vnderstanding the other to the body which it driues into a falling sicknesse Aristotle doth witnesse the first Hippocrates the last
Combate to kil this feare of death in man I therefore persist in my opinion that it is nothing but the feare which man hath to fall into some greater miserie as we haue shewed doth make him so much apprehēd death But there is no euill in this as appeares in the following argument Therefore there is no reason of feare which reason should gouern a reasonable man Let vs not trust to those distrustful spies which being returned from the point of death cry out Horror horror for they faile more in corage then in bodie and deserue the like punishment to them that went to discouer the land of Canaan who being returned brought nothing but bad and slanderous tydings to al the people as the holy Scripture doth witnes Let vs rather beleeue wise and valiant men produced heereafter vpon the Theater who like vnto Iosua◅ spies depose ioyntly that God hath deliuered death into our hands that it is quencht for our sakes Next it is not true that all men flie death being called many haue bin greeued returning to health after some great sicknesse which they thought should haue swallowed vp their life Giue me leaue to speake this truth of my selfe being 120. leagues from my parents about 14. yeares since studying in a towne streightly besieged and famished I fell sicke of a bloudie flux whereof many dyed whereof my master was dead In this estate I was resolued to dye but when I found that God gaue me force to vanquish my disease I was verie melancholike in the beginning held it a losse to be recouered And therefore notwithstanding this opposition wee will close vp our discourse with Seneca saying That death is the cause that life is no martirdome The 20. Argument taken from the remouing of the euill of death No euill consisting in a falfe opinion and nothing in effect is to be feared Death is an euill consisting in a false opinion and nothing in effect c. IT is a great aduantage as great Captaines say to haue obserued and measured his enemy from head to foote Let vs in like manner obserue and measure death and we shall find it is but an Anatomy a vaine name a Picture and Image a scar-crow a bable a fantasticke feare an imaginary fire which some men see in an euening walking in Church-yards An ideot at the sight thereof would be amazed sweare that hee hath seene a spirit walking but a wiseman will vnderstand that it is an oyly exhalation which by agitation takes fire Ignorant opinion makes man beleeue that death is very euill when it is a priuation from all euil hee is amazed with a false alarme So women and weake spirits dare not remaine alone in their Chambers for that they imagine they shal see spirits and apparitions little children are afraid to see their parents masked Astianax could not endure the sight of Hector armed but lay aside these armes take away the maske you shall conuert their feare into assurance and their cries into ioy So pull away these false maskes of hideous lookes and the trembling cries of them that die they are but fained or sorrowes grownded in the aire of an imaginary euill So Cassander did tremble at the sight of Alexanders picture dead long before the table would not bite him yet hee quaked as if it had beene some furious beast the reason was that his imagination being impayred hee thought that Alexander was wonderfully in choller against him Wil you haue an apparent signe that in this horrible apprehension of death mans iudgement is troubled and therefore suspected to bee false The strongest and most vigorous the yongest and most iust do least feare the losse of life who in reason should apprehend it most if it were to be feared hauing more interest in it but old men and such as are subiect to the cholike stone and malefactors feare it without measure Maecenas tormented continually with a feauer was content to bee cut and mangled so as with all his paines hee might prolong his life How many Messales offenders would liue in torture or broken vpon the wheele so as they might not end their liues What is the reason of this but that his iudgement is peruerted beleeuing that all the paine he feeles shall be doubled in death If he be a reprobate and vnderstands it of the second death and not of the first whereof wee now discourse his iudgement is right but for a good man to thinke that there is any great paine in a naturall death hee erres much It is not the death said Aeschines but the violent passion against death which is horrible If they thinke there bee any discomodity in death sayd the old man Bassus let them know it comes from them that die not from death which frees them of all paine Pindarus sayth of man that he is but the dreame of a shaddow but let vs speake it and with more reason of death a dreame is false and a shaddow the opposition of a sollide body to the light So death the priuation of life is an euill dreamed and false Good God who can represent that which is not vnder what idea can the Painter imagine to draw it he will present vnto vs bones bound with sinewes without flesh and naked hauing a sythe in his hand this is something but be well aduised to thinke that death doth subsist beyond this representation as a liuing man doth subsist longer then his picture you should bee foully deceiued for take away this representation and all other imagination and you take away all that is of death for it is nothing at all therefore the portrait is false May a man paint a voice the which although it be inuisible yet it falls vnder the sence of hearing but death in what sence so euer you take it is incapable of all sence and by consequence not to bee drawne by any pencel What is death then it is a word of few letters which hath no subsistāce but in imagination nothing in nature nothing in effect We laugh at the Bourgondian spies who in their war against the French King Lewes 11. being sent to discouer the Country fled at the sight of certaine Thistles as if they had discouered a troupe of men at Armes If we had the vnderstanding to know death as the sight hath to distinguish thistles we should find that they are more ridiculous which fly amazed from the incounter of death for it is nothing at all whereas thistles are at the least pricking plants Let vs then say boldly That to feare that whereof neuer any man yet felt the sting to draw from a wandering fantasie proceeding from an vnsetled braine a true and sensible paine is a meere folly Oh God! what paine can there be at the very instant when life flies away in a body depriued of all sence Let a sicke body endure all the extremities of paine yet in death there is none at all doest thou not
impossible that at the soules departure from the body there should be any great paine the soule leaues the body as the light doth the ayre which it doth inuest as Viues speakes after S. Augustine Wee must not then imagine heere a grosse tearing of the soule from the body as of a piece of cloth for the vnion of the soule with the body is spirituall and incomprehensible But of the pretended paine in death there is sufficiently spoken in the Obiection following As for the two other enemies it is true that the conscience presents vnto a dying man the foulenesse of his sinne and it is true that Satan tempts man to despaire to precipitate him into eternall perdition But for all this must a man that feares God feare death and feare to lose the battaile No but hee ought rather to assure himselfe of the victory and present himselfe boldly to the Combate as a valiant fortunate Champion against one that is weake and vnfortunate They that are for vs are stronger then they that are against vs God which hath begunne continues his worke in vs and ends it to his glory the faith which he hath prāted in vs wil quench the inflamed darts of the wicked spirit the full assurance of the remission of sins by Iesus Christ dead for our sinnes and risen for our iustification will pacifie the conscience and shew him Iesus Christ in heauen sitting on the right hand of God and stretching out his armes to him Thirdly the seales of the holy Ghost in vs for by it we are sealed to the day of Redemption Baptisme the Communion of the body of Christ and the Spirit of sanctification will terrifie Satan and make him flie Finally the good Angels which from our birth and throughout the whole course of our liues haue administred vnto vs guided and comforted vs will redouble their loue and courage in the like offices at our greatest need and at our last gaspe Let vs not feare seeing we haue such assurance in the Word of God which doth plainely witnesse that the Angells are administring Spirits sent to serue for their sakes that shall receiue the inheritance of saluation Here then is no subiect of desperate feare but rather of an assured resolution The 4. Obiection All paine is euill In dying there is paine EPicharmus by the testimony of Cicero sayd that he would not die but to be dead he cared not The reason is in my opinion for that he feared the passage of death not death it selfe which hee thought with vs had no paine There are many at this day of this opinion abhorring death like an internall gulfe for that they conceiue there is some sharp and violent paine which they endure before it comes and thereunto tends the prouerbe He is in bad case that dies And S. Augustine seemes to attribute I know not what sharpe feeling and force against nature in the diuulsion of the soule from the body which were vnited together Answere If death be terrible by reason of the paine we apprehend in it then life by the same reason should be more for in it some man endures more by the cholicke the stone the sciatica yea by the tooth ach and by many other infirmities without death then an other hath felt in dying And there is this aduantage in death that it comes but once wheras the aboue mentioned infirmities are often reiterated in life But to haue a perfect view if this paine bee so great as opinion a bad counsellor doth make vs beleeue let vs search with reason into the immediate cause of that which doth engender this paine in our bodies The pathes which leade man to death are infinite but all bend to one of these foure high wayes outward force subtraction of meate and drinke inward sicknesse and old age These foure kinds of death may happen to al men yea to wise men although by iniustice touching the first by some rare accident as touching the second concerning the third by ordinary corruption of humors and by an infallible defect of nature touching the fourth Paine according to the definition of learned Phisitions is the feeling of some thing that is offensiue and troublesome to the nature of the body for that it is contrary to the health thereof the which happens either by the dissoluing and cutting of his continued substance or by the alteration thereof which alteration proceeds from the intemperate heate or cold for as for humidity and drinesse they are rather passiue qualities then actiue whose operation is very slow and the paine in the member that is altered is suddaine not gentle as if you be exceeding cold and come to a very sensible paine cold settles his paine in disioyning heate in burning and it is to bee noted that any sence may be wounded yet little or nothing is his paine in comparison of that of touching the which is dispersed ouer the whole body from which no other vessell of the sences is exempt which is the cause that wee sometimes feele prickings in the eyes and shootings in the eares c. Let vs now come to the application Death which comes to man by extreame age can be no cause of paine there being nothing in him that tortures his body nothing that doth suddainely alter and change him by extreame cold or heate but his life goes out presently like vnto a Candle that wants tallow by the losse of his radicall humour deuoured by little and little since his birth by his naturall heate and although this heate doth yet striue as it hath formerly done to conuert the meate which is familiar and fit for the body into radicall humor to repaire his losse yet she can worke no more her vertue failes her euery agent hath his vertue limited what soeuer doth act suffers in acting through vse and in continuance of time this heate decayes dissolues is lost and death ensues So as it hath bene disputed in vaine whether life might bee continued this radicall humor being restored by some fit nutriment for that humor being at the first a certaine ayery onely portion of that seede which doth reside in all the sollide parts it is impossible that such an humour and so much as is needefull should be supplied in it's place The only fruite of the tree of life which was in Eden had this secret vertue by the diuine ordinance to make man immortal that shold eate therof and therefore according to the opiniō of the Fathers God suddenly after the sin chased Adam and Eue out of Eden least they should lay hold of that fruite and become immortally miserable with the diuells In processe of time there happens two notable changes to this radicall humour the one in the quality for that it degenerates by little and little of naturall becomes strange the other in the quantity for that it is wholy wasted whereunto man being once reduced he can suffer no paine if hee complaines
pit attend no more thy truth Answere These holy men haue neuer thought much lesse spoken that the soule was mortall but only that they whom death takes away do no more declare the glory of God to the liuing that a dead mouth cannot preach the wonderful workes of the Eternall And for proofe hereof Dauid doeth assure vs in another place where he sayth I shal not die but liue and declare the workes of the Eternal and If I descend into the pit what proffit shall there bee in my blood Shall the dust praise thee and preach thy truth By which words hee shewes that he meant not to speake but of the praises of God made by the mouth among the liuing As for Ezechias when hee deliuered these words hee had bene then assured to liue by Esay so as hee makes it knowne that whereas God prolonged his life it was to magnifie him in the world and to declare his mercy and yet that the Saints deceased sing the prayses of God in heauen appeares by many texts but that in the Apoc. is sufficient of the 4. beasts and the 24. Elders who sung a new song Moreouer those innumerable multitudes of all Nations Tribes people and tongues attired in long white robes and hauing branches of palme in their hands crying with a loud voyce Saluation to our God who is set vpon the throne and to the Lambe But some one will reply seeing the Saints in heauen sing most melodiously and holily the praises of the Lord how coms it that they alledge this reason to prolong this life that they may celebrate the name of the Eternall I Answer that the heauens haue no neede of these holy sounders out of the Lords praise that they haue from the beginning the Angells which sing continually Holy holy holy is he which-hath beene which is and which shal be and moreouer the faithfull deceased But the earth is altogether desert wherefore the children of God desire to remaine there the course of their prefixed age to the end they may publish the praises of God to the ignorant world and although it be to their losse yet the seruice of God and the glory of their Maister is more deere vnto them then their owne health as Moses and S. Paul among others haue witnessed The second Obiection If the soule being immortall had bene as they say infused into the body of man immediatly from God it is not possible but there shold remaine some knowledge But there remaines none IF the Soule be created immediatly by God and infused into the body from the very moment of this creation and infusion shee is perfect in her essence and therefore should haue a certaine knowledge but wee do not remember our birth nor our Baptisme by reason of the great imperfection of our nature in that age If then as those Infants of whom Aristotle makes memtion who spake as soone as they were borne we had had the temper of the braine requisite to the vnderstanding and memory we should then haue vnderstood and wee should now remember as well as those things which we haue seene within a yeare and since that time which brings al things to maturity hath ripened our nature But if the soule be immortal and not subiect to time and if from the beginning of her creation shee hath receiued her perfect stature how can time deface her vnderstanding and how is it that she remembreth not any thing no not in dreaming when shee was put into the body Some will reply That this sinfull mortall body is the cause of this misery but I may answere that the corporall cannot worke vpon the spirituall and that the Diuines hold that man by his offence hath lost all supernaturall guifts priuiledges which were freely giuen him but not such as were naturall conferred vpon him by the right of Creation and who doth not see but that to vnderstand to remember are naturall guifts Answere The soule of man is extracted immediatly from God and being once infused into the body shee receiues not in any age neither in her substance or forces any change alteration or increase Yet by vertue of the sentence of condemnation which God pronounced against Adam and al his posterity the Creator not confirming the soule in her excellency and innocency but leauing it to it selfe shee hath in an instant lost her dignity is become ignorant and vicious and the infection of carnall sences which shee hath suckt vp being in the body doth augment her deprauation so as she is not able to remember any thing of this actioÌ„ proceeding from God in her creation and vnion to the body So Adam and Eue not confirmed in their felicity as the Angells and Saints are now in heauen by the benefit of Iesus Christ as soone as they had committed the transgression were in an instant made mortall ignorant and vicious A plate of iron flaming in the fire hath no sooner felt the fresh ayre but it loseth his fiery colour Euen so the soule is no sooner gone out of the Eternallâ—… forge but shee loseth her colour and brightnes and the body is as cold water to the burning iron so as now the soule hath no knowledge in the body but what she gets by the sences and they that are deafe by nature are also naturally dumbe for being vnable to heare the words di stinguished neither can they lâ—…e them And they that are borne blinde cannot distinguish of colours c. Let vs conclude with S. Augustine That the spiritual light in the which man had beene created to know his Creator himselfe and things that are profitable for him was quenched by sinne Let vs add with Nicholas de Cusa That the soule of man sent in to a morrall bodie is like vnto 〈◊〉 infant which as soone as it was borne was carried into 〈◊〉 strang countrie wholy 〈◊〉 of inhabit aâ—… nourished by a she Wolfe being growne great he could in no forâ—… know the place of his birth 〈◊〉 his father mother 〈◊〉 had a conâ—…sed feeling of this truth writing that the soule which liued â—…appy and knowing in the coâ—…panie of the Gods being confined into this prison of the foule infected body to frame it giue it life hath in stantly lost â—…l her happines knowledge by reason of the bad temperature of the body The 3â—… Argument taken frâ—… the voyce of all the world The voyce of the people is the voyces of God and by consequent of the truth But the Soule is immortall according to the voyce of the people MAny writers haue collected the opinions of people and of ages vpon the iudgement of the soule as Macrobius vpon Scipioes Dreame Marsilius Ficinus others And among the Moderns Mons de Plessis Crepet the Celestin with others to whom I send the reader where he may see a woÌ„derful consent of men to conclude that the soule is immortall as holding it not from
efficient cause of Immortaliti But the soule is eleuated aboue all time and place IT is without all question that onely time ruines all things yet the vnderstanding is not subiect to time for the time past is present vnto it And therefore man shall see an act plaied before him and yet he shall haue another in his vnderstanding which was done 10. 20. or 30. yeares before and shall haue it so present in his minde as the spirituall intuition thereof will steale from his corporall eyes that which is presently acted before them So Scipio Affricanus sayed that he was neuer lesse alone then when he was alone why For that his actes past his armies led and his triumphes presented themselues vnto him in the most solitarie walkes of his garden Obserue a horse he doth not see seele nor thinke of any thing but the obiect that is before his eyes But contrarie-wise the soule is there where she stayes least she studies and calls to mind what is past becomes wise for the future before shee sees and of three times makes but one for that she is not subiect to time this is plainly seene in the Prophets to whom the future is reuealed in the spirit as it were present by him that hath made time And this is the true reason why the Prophets speak without lying of things to come as if they had bin done So Esay chap. 9. spake of Iesus Christ A child is borne vnto vs a child is giuen vs for hee saw him borne with his Propheticall eyes dead and risen againe I would insist vpon this Argument if it were not as plaine as it is firme As for the naturall place of the Soule she is not definite for she is all in the braine all in the heart all in the liuer all in the Matrix so of the other parts of the bodie not according to the totall of her vertue for she is one in the head an nother the feete another in the sight another in the hearing But she is thus diffused according to the totall of her essence which makes her in some sort infinite and by consequent immortall It is not then of her as of the moouer of a great wheele which touching one part makes all the rest turne Nor as a King who sitting in his Pallace stretcheth out his hands to the farthest confines of his kingdome But as God in the world who is in heauen on earth and all in all The first Obiection All that is distempered by heate and drought is perishable Such is the Soule GAllen thinking that the Soule burnes in the body by a burning feauer is lost with the great losse of bloud and that a strong poyson doth poyson it hee protests plainely that vntill that time hee had doubted what the substance of the Soule was but then growne wiser as well by practise as by age he durst boldly sweare that it was nothing but the temperature of the bodie And therefore calling Plato out of his graue hee demands of him how it is possible the soule should be immortall Answer The heate of a feuer and the corporall force cannot worke vpon the soule neither can she suffer and although the actions which the soule doth by meanes of the Organes of the body be depraued or interrupted by the deprauation and interruption of the Organes yet for all that the soule loseth nothing of her vertue nor of her habilitie He that euen now played excellently well on the Lute must not be held to haue lost his cunning if taking a Lute ill mounted and with 〈◊〉 stringâ—… hee play ill or if hauing no strings at all he ceaseth to play It is euen so of the spirit in the body for in the sinewes flowing from the braine there distills a certain vital spirit as a beame of the Sun of whose force the soule makes vse first to handle the sinewes and by them the Muscles which being afterwards moued reuiue euery member apart and altogether Now if any maligne disease come to depraue this subtile humor the functions of the soule feele it but not the soule Moreouer as certaine vncleane spirits remaining in some darke and filthy house by reason of the vapors agreeing with their dispositioÌ„ if it be clensed the doore windowes set open if a good aire a comfortable Sun and wholsome wind enter into it if it be inhabited by many who passe the time ioyfully and especially if they play vpon many Instruments these spirits quit the place So by a contrary analogie the soule is kept and entertained in the bodie by certaine spirituall qualities and fit for her exercises which comming in time to change to the contrarie they chase away the soule being glad vpon that occasion to dislodge from a place which was not to be held Thirdly if the temperament bee nothing but the Quintâ—…ssence of the mixtion of the foure elements whereof mans body is compounded as the harmonie is the fift sownd rysing from all the parts in Musicke and if Gallen meanes not to speake but of this soule which hee hath felt in the touching of the pulse in the Anatomie of the body I say of the vegetatiue and the sensitiue soule wee may yeelde vnto him But of the reasonable soule which contaynes these two within her compasse as the fift angle doth a triaÌ„gle quadrangle which makes vse of the temper to the bodie as of an instrument to rule and gouerne it as the Pilot doth the Helme to conduct his ship that cannot be for to confound the instrument with the principal agent the Pilot with the Helme were no reason In the actioÌ„s of a vegetatiue sensitiue life although there be a mature teÌ„perature required yet shall they neuer proue that this temper is necessary to vnderstand and contemplate seeing that out of all question the most exquisite contemplation consists in the sequestratioÌ„ of the soule from the communion of the body for that contemplation is the more certen the more it is sequestred from grosse circumstaÌ„ces of matter place and time things which with their accidentarie attires are perceiued by the seÌ„ses do often deceiue How often hath our sight and our hearing deceiued vs thinking to see heare one thing which proued another But the sciences as the Mathematicks which extract the Essences out of bodyes are neuer deceiued following their art and much lesse the Metaphisicke which coÌ„templates the pure spirits free from any contagion of matter But if the reasonable soule were nothing but the temperament of the body it could not bee but among a millioÌ„ of beasts which are in the world some one should bee found which had the same mixture of the the foure first humors which are in man and by consequence the same reasonable facultie and if any reply that the chiefe difference is in the braine I will answer that the Anatomy doth not shew any difference of the braine of men and beasts The 2. Obiection If the soule liued out of
These are the differences which distinguish a liuing Creature from a plant the sensitiue life from the vegetatiue If sensible things perceiued by their sence were of themselues to bee desired without doubt the more excellent they were in their kind the more pleasing they should be yet contrariewise we see that the thing that is most sensible offends that sence most which is proper vnto it The fire burnes with touching and doth stupefie and takes from it his sensitiue vertue the thunderclap dulls the hearing troubles the braine and by a long continuance of a great noise makes him deafe and so of the other sences Moreouer if the reason of life consisted in the sences who would beleeue that man were the more perfect creature seeing that many exceed him in sence for the spider in the subtiltie of touching the Ape in the bountie of tast the Vulture in the force of smelling the Boare in the ventue of hearing and lastly the Linx in the seeing facultie exceeds him farre Thirdly these Organs of the sences are ordained only by nature for the vegetatiue life that is to say either for the preseruation of the Indiuiduum by eating and drinking or of the Species by generation It is true that man applyes them also to other ends then we haue obserued but those Creatures which haue nothing but the two first degrees of life whereof we treat imploy their sences to no other end but to entertaine themselues or for generation So the Lyon will start at the sight of a stag but it is for that he sees his preie prepared and not simply for that the stag hath such varietie of colors The Nightingale will answere with a melodious sound hearing another sing it is not for any delight it hath for in a true declaration it sufficeth not that the sence take pleasure in the obiect which is proper and proportionable vnto it but this proportion must also be inwardly apprehended cōceiued the which is neither found in the Nightingale nor in any other creature destitut of reason And whence then comes will you say the cause of this sodaine answer to the voice heard It proceeds from the complexion of the Nigh tingale to the point wherof it mounts when as the sound which beates the ayre strikes his eare and enters thereby into his head as we finde by experience in our selues whenas hearing any one yaune we are moued to doe the like hearing one sing we sing seeing the world runne we runne after it yet know not whither the Quaile by example wil be moued at the singing of the masle not for any delight shee takes but from the motion to generation which she feels kindled in her selfe The Dog will faune and leape vpon his master whom he had lost and yet this doth not proceed from any naturall instinct tends to no other end but to be kept defended and fed by his sayd master Finally hee that will duly obserue it shal finde that all the sences of vnreasonable creatures haue no other end but preseruation generation an end intimated in the vegetatiue life a life we saw had no sufficient reason to moue our desire how then shall the sensitiue haue Moreouer if reason and the desire of life consisted in the pleasure of the sences why haue they which were most giuen vnto it had wretched ends and ignominious liues the Emperour Vitellius Spinter thinking to find his felicitie in it incountred his ruine hee was giuen to lust and gormandize so excessiuely as at one supper hee was serued with 2000 sorts of fish and 7000 of fowle And what was the end of this life He was sodainely slaine pierced through with small darts drawne naked through the streets and cast into Tiber after the eight month of his Empire and before the sixtieth of his age To this wee will adde one in our fathers time Muleasses King of Tunis who although hee were banished from his Realme and had succours denyed by Charles the fift yet he was so drowned in the delights of sensualitie as hee spent a 100 Crownes for the sauce of a Peacocke and the more to bee rauished with musicke he caused his eyes to bee banded and to delight his smelling hee was continually perfumed with Muske What happened He was defeated in battaile by his own Sonne Aminda and as hee fled disguized he was followed by the sent of his perfumes discouered and taken and his eyes put out with a hot Iron by his owne Children O crueltie but a iust iudgement of God for his voluptuousnesse Then comes the sight so piercing and passionate after the faire faces of women and stayes not there onely but O shamefull sight it will see the bodies naked the which is condemned both by God and man Romulus condemned that man to death which suffered himselfe to bee seene naked by a woman how much more is that woman to bee condemned which layes aside all modestie with her smocke as Giges said in Herodotus The Emperours Valentinian Gratian Theodosius religious obseruers of chastitie did forbid vpon great penalties that none should shew themselues naked in publike but to Tiberius Caligula Heliogabalus others who tooke no delight but to defile their eyes and bodies with such shamefull spectacles God did shew his horrible Iudgements in their deaths Finally voluptuousnesse hath not only bene the cause of the ruine of men alone but of whole Estates Sybarides a Towne seated betwixt two riuers in old time strong and flourishing did rule ouer foure bordering people had vnder their obedience 25. Townes and could bring to field 300. thousand men armed yet by the dissolution of the Sybarites in two moneths ten dayes shee was spoiled of all her felicity and greatnes drowned and quite ruined The like excesse was the ouerthrow of that mighty Romaine Empire as wee may easily reade in them that haue written of that subiect As long as Curius and Fabricius led The Romaine Armies that for dainties fed On boiled turnops and the cresses were Amongst the Persians th' only delicate cheare In peace both led their liues retired still And fear'd in warre did with their Trophees fil Almost all earth But when of th' after seede Of Syrian Ninus Persians learn'd to feede On sugar delicacies and that Rome With pleasure of their bellies ouercome In Galba's Rule Vitellio's Nero's liuing No lesse for glory in their dishes striuing Then if in conflict they the field had won Of Mithridates and Alcides son All iustly saw themselues by nations spoy'ld That they long since had fought withall and foil'd Warning those Realmes that take their courses now Lest they their earth with equall ruines strow The Obiection The moderate vse of the sences in worldly things is pleasant and lawfull Therefore it is reason to desire life ANswer The word moderate shewes of it selfe that this reason is verie moderate and weake yea that there is contradiction in the adioinct as they say true pleasure admits no moderation it
Queene of Nations falsesly held to be eternall where art thou destroied ruined burnt and drowned in vaine do they seeke thee for thou art not where thou were built And you Constantinople Venice and Paris your day will come and why not Seeing that whole Monarchies runne swiftly to their ruine the Assirian Persian Grecian and Romaine are perished You Turkes you florish for â—…lme but behold 〈◊〉 Scâ—…thians prepare to wrest the reines of the world out of your hands and what wonder if that riues which by nature is apt to tiue if that which is easie to melt melt if that which is corruptible decayes and if that which is of a mortall condition dies Without doubt if there be any thing to be amazed at it is how we are borne how wee subsist amiddest a thousaÌ„d deaths which reigne vpon vs we haue but one narrow entry into life but wee haue an infinite number to go out which are very large and slippery And yâ—…t o strange brutishnesse we wonder how we die and not how we liue Let vs then conclude with the Spirit of God That euery man is dust and shall returne to dust for such is his condition The 13. Argument taken from the benefit which the thought of death brings Whatsoeuer doth multiply life should be precious to them that loue life The Meditation of death multiplies life Therefore the meditation of Death should be precious to them that loue life A Great Philosopher obseruing the vncertenty of the time of death and finding that life must infallibly fall by a bullet by iron by a dart a stone a haire as Fabius the Pretor was choakt in drinking milke with a kernell as the Poet Anacreon with a flie as Pope Adrian 4. with a splinter be he neuer so well armed as Henry 2. the French King whom a splinter of Captaine Lorges lance flying into the beuer of his caske wounded in the head whereof he dyed by the rush of a doore as Iterenius the Sicilian in the Venerian act a ridiculous death as Gallus Pretorius and Titharius a Romane Knight who were smothered in the bed of lust By the holding of their breath without constraint as it happened to Comon by delight as to Chilon who hearing his sonne commended for that hee had wonne the prized the Olimpike games was so moued with affection as he dyed yea in laughing as old Philemon who hauing seene an Asse eate sigges vpon his table he commanded his seruant to giue him drinke whereat hee did so laugh as hee fell into a hickeâ—… and so dyed Yea life is ruined by the pricke of a needle as in Lucia the daughter of Marcus Aurelius who pricking her selfe dyed By the tooth of a combe like to Rufynius the Consull who combing himselfe hurt his head and ended his life That great Philosopher I say considering that so many accidents and ten thousand others not to bee foreseene might in an instant take away life gaue this wholsome counsell That wee must dispose of euery day in such sort as if it should close vp our life within the compasse of the twelue houres Consider saith hee how goodly a thing it is to consummate life before death and then to attend without care the time that may remayne and the better to induce vs thereunto let vs remember the aduice which Iesus Christ gaue vnto his Disciples of him selfe I must doe saith hee the workes of him that sent me whilst it is day the night comes and then no man can worke Ioh. 9. By the day hee signifies life by night death and his will is that whilst we liue we should doe our duties without any procrastination for that night is neere that is to say death But when a well setled soule saith the same knowes there is no difference betwixt a day and an age shee then beholds as it were from aboue the dayes and successe which shall follow her and laughs at the course and continuance of yeeres The same Seneca doth also make a pleasant discourse of Pacuâ—…ius the vsurper of Syria who being at night buried in wine as as if he had prepared his owne funerall caused himselfe to bee carryed from the table to his bed in the meane time his friends clapping their hands danced and sung He hath liued hee hath liued and there passed no day but this was done And the Authour addes what he did in an vnseemely manner let vs doe with reason that night approching and ready to lay vs in bed let vs sing with ioy I haue runne the course of my prefixed life and if God doth adde an increase of tomorrow let vs account it for gaine In doing so euery day shall bee a life vnto vs and by the multiplication of dayes our life shall be multiplyed and why not seeing that in what day soeuer we dye we dye in our owne proper day as the fame Seneca saith calling the present day that proper day seeing the dayes that are past are no more ours being so lost for vs as they can bee no more restored As for the future we cannot call them ours being not yet come and may bee wrested from vs in an instant by many accidents Moreouer what is there in an age that wee find not in one day the heauen the earth the inhabitants thereof the day and night by the reuolution of the heauens But you will say This pensiue thoght of death hammering continually in our heads doth hasten our death Answ. You are deceiued a wiseman thinkes quietly of it and in thinking of it aduanceth nothing no more then the marriner in seeing the sayles still and the wind to blow it is by the wind and sayles not by his looking that he is carried into the Port So by the waues of this life not by the meditation of death wee are carried to the graue Let vs then end with the saying of the Philosopher Musonius That he imployes not the day rightly who resolues not as if it were his last The 14. Argument taken from a Simile Euery sweete and sound sleepe is pleasing Death is a sweete and sound sleepe Ergo. A Naxagoras sayed there were two excellent instructions in Death the one in sleepe the other in the time going before our birth Let vs now consider of the first instruction We see that most of the heathen Philosophers haue saluted death with the name of sleepe Plato in the end of his Apologie of Socrates Tully in his booke de Senectute Obsenie fayth hee there is no thing so like vnto death as sleepe Homer faith that sleepe death are brother and sister twinnes Let vs obserue with Plutarque that Homer shewes their similitude terming them twinnes for they that are so doe most commonly resemble And in truth wee cannot denie but there is betwixt them great affinitie It is one of the causes of death the cold vapour vndigested and quenching the naturall heate a vapor which appeares vpon the superficies of the bodie which they also