was wished him on the birth of his son did make answer that there needed not such acclamations for nothing could be born from him and Agrippina but what should be pernicious to the Empire Not long after this unfortunate man did die consumed with diseases that attended his filthy life and left behind him his son three years of age who saw his mother banished and being destitute of means was brought up in the house of his Aunt Lepida under the discipline of a dancer and a barber who did corrupt his spirit with the first impressions of vice which from his birth he was too much disposed to receive The times changing his mother returned into favour and by her charms prevailed upon the spirit of the Emperour Claudius the successour of Caligula a simple and The perfidiousnesse of his mother a stupid man who espoused this dangerous woman who afterwards poisoned him by a potion and so placed her own son on the Throne of the Cesars And although the Astrologians had fore-told her that he should be Emperour and withall the murderer of his mother she made nothing of it and thought it no hard bargain to buy the Empire with her own bloud saying Let him reign and let him kill me By the artifice of this wicked woman Nero was saluted Emperour in the seventeenth year of his age with a marvellous applause and in the publick acclamations honoured with all great Names and specious Titles all which he received saving onely that of Father of his Countrey saying He was too young to have so many children He was very tractable in his youth upright gentle discreet well-spoken and demean'd himself for the first five years very worthily under the conduct of Seneca But when he approached to the one and twentieth year of his age the ingredients of vice which with his birth he brought into the world the base education in his infancy the heat of his youth the delights of the Court and which is the greatest of all temptations the Power to do all did weigh down the Philosophy and the Instructions of Seneca who proved by experience That there is nothing more difficult then to perswade those to virtue whom too much Power had put in the possession of all vices His deboistnesse began by the ill examples which he learned in his infancy which were altogether unbeseeming his person he became a Tumbler a Puppet-player a Comedian a Waggoner a Songster and a Minstrel not for Recreation but to make a publick Profession of it to dispute with the Masters of those Faculties and to abandon all the affairs of Peace and Warre to be vacant to those exercises insomuch that he made it more to out-act a Comedian on the stage then to gain a Battle in the field He was also a night-walker and gave and sometimes received many sore blows which did not permit him to passe unknown From hence he laid himself open to most extravagant profusenesse insomuch that he gave to Tumblers the patrimonies of Consuls and made the funeralls of some inconsiderable men to equall the Magnificence of the Obsequies of Kings he never did wear the most gorgeous garments longer then one day He did build his Palaces with so much cost as if he would dispend on them onely all the wealth of Rome When he travelled he would be followed with a thousand caroaches and his mules were all shod with silver He made his halls after the form of the firmament where the vault being of gold intermingled with azure and illuminated with counterfeit starres did roul continually over his head and rained on him showers of flowers and waters of a most exquisite smell There would he dine from noon till midnight in the riot of execrable services He had a touch in his tender age of the vices of wantonnesse luxury avarice and cruelty but being in the beginning it was with some shame concealed in private But in the end he took off that mask by an open and inordinate dissolutenesse which knew no restraint He was of belief that there was not one chaste person in the world and took great pleasures in those who did repeat their filthinesse to him There was never man more abandoned to all manner of uncleannesse without distinction of kindred sex time place or man-hood There was not one part in all his body that was not sacrificed to dishonesty his polluted spirit made him invent those abominations which are not to be indured by chaste ears and with which I will not defile my paper The excesse of his insolencies did at last render him odious to those who were most near unto him and when they gently told him of his extravagancies he would leap into a fury and made a crime of their virtue who did best advise him He filled up the apprenticeship of his enormities with the death of Britannicus a young Prince the sonne of the Emperour His cruelty towards Britannicus Claudius and brother to his wife Octavia in which he imployed the most famous Sorceresse of Rome named Locusta who prepared the poyson and made an assay of it before him on a sucking pig who died immediately now finding it for his turn caused it to be served to his brother as he dined at the table with him The malignity of the poyson was so piercing that in an hour after he fell dead at the feet of his mother and his sister who were both present at this tragick spectacle Nero to excuse himself said That it was the effect of a great sicknesse to which he had been subject from his cradle and that they ought to be of comfort But the Princesses concealing their imagination for fear of provoking his rage did manifestly perceive that he sowed those seeds of his murder which he would afterwards continue in his Family It is almost impossible to believe the tender affection The love to his mother degenerated to misprision with which he prosecuted his mother Agrippina He sometimes did give to the souldiers that did guard his body for their word The good Mother He could not live without her He did put into her hands the most delicate interests of all his Affairs and desired that all things should stoop to her Authority The mother also did indeavour by all possible artifices to tie her self unto his person even unto the using of Charms for it is most certain that she gave him the skin of a serpent inclosed in a bracelet of gold which he carried ordinarily about him and afterwards in despite did lay it by and did look for it not long before his death but could not find it The endearments of this Agrippina were too fond and her kisses more hot then belonged to a mother Seneca was amazed at the horrour of it and to Seneca by a lesse evil diverts a greater avoid a greater evil he procured a young maiden named Acta who otherwise was a slave that came from Asia but very beautifull to serve as a
War they are the Gods of Loves and battels who pronounce Edicts assemble Councels levy Arms raise fortifications correct Kingdomes move the earth and in their own imagination change the face of the Vniverse Others are so diligent that they tire all the world with their unreasonable activities others use afflicting delayes and stir so little in all their designs that they seem to be in a perpetuall Solstice You see some extreamly open breasted who tell all their thoughts and as if their heart were a sieve it keeps nothing which it sends not instantly out by the lips Some proceed to a simplicity next door to sottishnesse which makes them do many extravagancies and when it hath a mixture of vanity men of mean condition imitate the actions of the great and silly Citizens wives say my Lord and Husband as well as Sarah or the greatest Ladies There are among these some subtile Coxcombs and fortunate fools who duily deceive themselves to their own gain They who have a Magistrall aspect are much more odious when with a countenance supercilious and Tone of a voyce affected they make speeches and usurp a personage which neither age quality nor merit alloweth them Dreamers and pensive are heavie in conversation and the squeamish who make their good aspects and fair countenances to be bought are insupportable but the apprehensive who deplore all things multiply what they can the miseries of the times and ceasing not to blame the actions of those who govern raise more mischiefs then remedies Good God! what an alteration do passions make in us but it is a gift from heaven that they may be changed and that by Grace and the practice of good instructions we can despoil our selves as well of an evil habit as of an old garment It is not expedient to be without passion nor is it possible to humane nature but it is much to obtein by discretion the moderation of a thing of which we by necessity have the experience These motions are given us with our bodies they are little spirits which are born and die with us some find them more mild others more wayward but every one hath his part howbeit there are very few who well understand their own portion Young people who shew no desire no affection no feeling are commonly abject spirits unlesse this come to them by grace or some notable constraint which in the end is the cause that of a young Angel an old Devil is often made we must not lose humanity saith Saint Augustine to acquire tranquility of mind nor think that that which is hard and boistrous is alwayes right or that one hath much health when he is come to the highest degree of stupidity All good spirits have delicate apprehensions and resemble the burning bush which had thorns among lights but they are none of the best who to follow nature abandon reason I assirm the Starres contribute much to our inclinations and Birth much more Education maketh another nature Bloud choler melancholy and flegme do in our passions what the elements do in our bodies Yea stature it self conduceth spirit goodnesse grace full garb and courage is very often in little bodies which have their heat moderated and well digested But if great bodies be destitute of it they are very lazy and if they have too much of it they are flaming fornaces full of violence which made S. Cyril say that greatnesse was given to Gyants for a punishment of their wickednesse But this must be understood without any prejudice to well-composed tall statures which have much Majesty There are humours so sticking that what care soever be used there is somewhat still remains behind which according to Job sleeps with us in our graves I have heard that a good Religious man having been bred with the milk of a Goat was very modest in publick by a great reflection he made on his actions But he ever had some hour in secret wherein he had his frisks and his capers Neverthelesse one cannot believe how much one gaineth upon his own nature when he will take the pain to manure it but for want of using industry therein one makes to himself a turbulent life a continuall torment a hasty death and his salvation to be doubtfull There are some who drive away one devil by another curing one passion with another and tyring them all that they may have none which was the cause that Theodosian said that they are as that possessed man who had a legion of devils in his body Some by the counsell of certain Directours would break them all at once as that souldier who thought to pull off a horses tail by strength of arm and not by drawing one hair after another Others expect remedy from time from affairs from change of life and condition and are rather cured by wearinesse then prudence Others continually flatter themselves and think they have got great victories when they have lessened their fits and left the root of the Feaver But they who will therein proceed seriously endeavour first of all to find out the enemy and as we all have one passion which predominateth in our heart above the rest and which most entertaineth our thoughts they principally assail that waging to rough battels by prayer fasting alms consideration reading of good books continuall examen of conscience flight from occasions diversion upon some better thing good company imitation of holy personages counsel of sage directours and by a thousand stratagems which the spirit of God furnisheth them with in the fruitfulnesse of their inventions After they have pulled down their chief adversary they easily prevail against the rest and continuing their progression in the list of generous souls they come in the end to a great tranquility This is it I intend to shew in this last volume wherein I treat of Passions in a new tone my purpose being rather to shew their remedies then their pictures I know Monsiour Coeseteau the eloquent Bishop of Marseilles who hath afforded immortall lights to French eloquence hath set forth the Table of humane passions I lay not my pencil upon the line of this Apelles I begin where he ends and if he be content to paint them I endeavour to cure them For this purpose having briefly explicated the nature proprieties effects and symptomes of every passion I set against it two remedies the first whereof is drawn from some divine perfection contrary to the disorder of the same Passion and because that is yet too sharp and dazling by the quicknesse of its lights I shew it sweetned and tempered in the virtues of Jesus Christ In the end of the Book I bring the examples of those who have overcome their Passions and of such as have sunk under their violence deriving profit out of all for the scope which I aim at There are certain Flies which live on Monks-hood a venemous herb and who make use of an antidote against its poyson So they who have tried the malice
with much impudence and yet it seem modestie The malediction pronounced by the Prophet Ezechiel Vae qui consuunt pulvillos sub omni cubito manus against those who have little pillows of all sorts for the nice to lean upon may now well be renewed never hath there been so many flatteries seen The children of great men are soothed by all kind Flattery inebriateth great men from their cradle of tongues and made drunk with their praises before they be throughly awakened and seeing they are always bred in curiosity it seemeth when any truth is proposed them a Phenix is brought from the other world Servile souls which bend themselves like the fishers angling-line seeing their preferment dependeth upon their impertinent prating and that the Altars of this false greatness will be served with such smoke spare it no more than one would water in a river You shall find few or none that will tell the ape he is an ape this liberty of speech is extant in histories but not at all in our manners The gout seeketh out the houses of rich voluptuous men and flatterie the mansions of the eminent that is it which the Wise-man would say in the Proverbs according to the original translation Prov. 30. Simia manibus nititur moratur in domibus Regis Apes in the Court of So lomon The Hebrews literally understand it by the apes which Solomon caused to be transported by sea with those apes came flatterers and buffons to the Court of this great King which was the beginning of his unhappiness Those which flatter and those which willingly are flattered are much of the nature of the ape and all this tattle of Court is indeed a meer apishness Behold why that learned Prelate Faius Faius in manipulo whose manuscripts have very lately been extracted out of libraries doth most natively represent this verity unto us under the veil of a fiction He feigneth two men the one an extream flatterer A prety tale of an ape the other just and a truth-speaker came to lodge in the house of an old ape at that time encompassed with a plentiful race The ape asked of the flatterer what opinion he had of him This man accommodating himself to the time gave him many specious praises saying he was a vermillion rose and those that environed him were the leaves that he was a Sun and those that were about him were the rays that he was as valiant as a Lion and all his ofspring was a race of young Lions Behold saith the ape it is well and commanded a present to be given him When it came to the truth-speakers turn to say some what he revolved with himself that he could not tell a lie that his nature was always to be true that if his companion had a reward for telling a lie by much more reason he should be wellcome delivering the truth He thereupon freely said to him he was an ape and all those that attended him were apes like himself for which cause the apes provoked assailed him fiercely with their teeth and nails Behold the condition of this Age we cannot brooke a truth our ears being always stopped with perfumed words entertained with false praises and servile complacences Truth findeth no admittance and if happily she hit upon it her words are thorns they tear the skin The most indissoluble friendships in apparence are dissolved by a little freedom of a friend Then it is nothing strange if prating and intemperance of tongue be in such force since the soft temper of spirits of this time cannot endure any the least libertie of speech As we are excessive in praises so we hold no measure in reprehension Those who are absolutely sensible of the touches of honour and cannot tolerate a truth think that all other are insensible so prodigal they are of another mans fame They cut carve chop with the tongue on every side and you may find a feast where more raw flesh is devoured than either boyled or roasted Calumny Calumny doth at this present resemble the tail of the scorpion which either stingeth or ever is ready to transfix it hath never been seen more fiercely enflamed It is the wound of frogs described in â—xodus Et ascenderunt ranae operueruntque terram Aegypti Slander the wound of frogs It was a great scourge to behold these ugly creatures issuing out of Nilus to go crawling up and down the silken furnitures and golden plate of Pharao as well as over the poor cottages of beggars And a greater punishment it is at this day to hear these slanderous tongues pour forth their venom upon all sorts of persons and to assail as well the Miters the Diadems and Scarlet as the russet coat Every one sheweth the stroaks of calumny every one demanding oyl and balm for his wounds doth notwithstanding covertly hold a sharp lancet to wound anothers estimation The honour of Magistrates of Fabius declamat Pessimum humanarum mentium malum est quod semper avidiùs nefanda finguntur affirmationem sumit ex homine quicquid non habet ex veritate Two devils breath out calumny Ladies of young virgins many times most innocent is not spared most faithful servitours are traduced by the wills of calumny men are bold to speak any thing since many are willing to believe all Verily behold the greatest malignity that can be in the minds of men which is that they are pleased to dissemble an evil and that which hath no foundation of verity findeth colour and countenance from the mouth of a calumniatour Two evil spirits ordinarily breath out calumny the one planteth himself in the tongue of the detractour the other in the ears of the hearer They are two sundry winds whereof the one cometh from the gate the other from the window When they toss this tennis-ball one to another you see terrible sport After calumny cometh likewise scoffing with immodest and wicked words which are also put into the mouths of little children to make them witty and pleasing The little creatures doe not yet Scoffing the harbinger of Atheism know whether they have a tongue or no and we perceive they already are initiated in the work of Satan This spirit of scoffing and impurity which pleaseth it self with uncleanness of language is a harbinger of Athiesm that marketh him out a lodging and as it is said that the sea-rat goeth before the whale in the same manner gross and senseless impiety such as it is maketh use I know not of what kind of silly scoffing spirits which are taken to be the wise of the world under the colour that they can compose some bald sonnet whilst they themselves readily give the word when to laugh at it These are Buffons the flies of Aegypt Exod. 8. 27. the curiosities the entertainments the Idols of meetings Aaron striking the dust with his rod madeflies to spring up the greatest scourge of Aegypt I cannot tell who
Anthony could find no other way to make Herod to be acknowledged for King while there was yet any of the bloud Royal left capable of rule so much this people loved their natural King and abhorred a stranger After these slaughters Herod mounteth to the top Entry of Herod to the crown of the wheel behold all the thorns as he thinketh pulled out of his feet he now had nothing to grapple with but an old man an infant and two women the last remainder of the noble race of the Asmodeans Hircanus was the aged man who in truth grew old among the thorns and horrible changes of his state He was as yet captive among the Parthians but the King although a Barbarian had so much commiseration of his so greatly afflicted goodness that he permitted him to live with all free libertie in his Citie of Babylon This poor Prince who had passed his whole life void of ambition bare the change of his fortune with great equalitie and temper of mind The Jews who at that time inhabited in the Parthians dominions beholding him all wounded disfigured wretched abandoned disarrayed did notwithstanding honour him as their King with so much respect and reverence that he had almost found a Kingdom in Captivitie Herod who saw this man might serve as a colour for those spirits that would aym at him in the swinge of his affairs as yet not well confirmed dispatcheth an express Embassadour to the Parthian King with many presents and letters sweetned with silken words wherein he besought him not to bereave him of the greatest contentment he could possibly have in this world which was to be grateful to those who had obliged him Hircanus said he was his benefactour his Protectour his Father and since God had given him some repose in his affairs it was an unspeakable comfort to him to share the scepter greatness and affluent content of Kings with a friend so faithful worthy to be beloved The King of Parthia willing to gratifie King Herod whom he beheld supported by the Roman Empire the power whereof he more feared than honoured the virtue gave free leave to Hircanus to go whither he would he put the business in consultation with the prime Peers of his countrie who much disswaded him But through the easiness of his singular nature which ever swallowed the bait without consideration of the hook he yielded himself to the dissembled courtesies of Herod and returned directly to Jerusalem where he was received with infinite demonstrations of amitie Behold the whole Regal familie in the hands of this Tyrant Hircanus had but one onely daughter named Alexandra a woman no whit of her fathers temper for she was extreamly haughtie and had much adoe with herself to bite the bridle in this servitude She was mother of two children one son and one daughter the son was the little Aristobulus and the daughter Mariamne married to Herod Mariamne was accounted the most beautiful Princess Marriage of Mariamne to Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Euphonie Mariamne of the earth for Gellius who went prying after all the beauties of the world to make relation thereof to Mark Anthony having well considered all the most exquisite Master-pieces of Nature when he beholdeth Mariamne in Palestine he protesteth all other beauties were terrestrial in comparison of this which seemed to have been composed amongst the the heavenly Orbs. This man saw nothing but the exteriour bark and was rapt with admiration but her form was not worthy esteem in comparison of the noble qualities of her mind She was a grandchild of the great Machabees well versed in the Law of God discreet wise stayed circumspect courteous chast as Susanna but above all couragious and patient who lived in Herods Court as Job on the dunghil Never beautie and virtue were so disgraced in any match This creature which had power to make so many brave Princesses to sigh for her and who might have beheld so many obsequious services done at her foot hath now Herod for her husband who had nothing humane in him but lineament and figure It was to match the Lamb with the Wolf the Dove with the Faulcon and to tye a living body mouth to mouth with the the dead to marrie such a Lady to so Prodigious a Monster But he who already had power in his hand passionately sought her as well for her in comparable beauty as besides for ever to establish his state considering the alliance of this little creature descended from so many Kings would cover the obscuritie of his house and gain him more reputation among the Jews Hircanus grand-father to Mariamne and Alexandra her mother seeing Herod was Master of his desires the Scepter already in his hands although by injustice and tyrannie measuring all things by his fortune not person judged this way might be yet advantagious and that his wife might mollifie him and make him favourable to the Royal bloud The generous Lady well foresaw that the putting her into Herods hands was to cast her into the Lions jaws But not to gainsay those to whom she had been taught to sacrifice her whole life and to obey the Laws of necessitie she under-went the yoke fortifying her Royal heart against all the stormy tempests which seemed already to menace her Behold her married Herod loveth her as the hunter venison for his appetite and advantage his love being not of power to make him loose one sillie grain of his ambition or crueltie This perverse Herod depresseth the Royal stock and violent spirit who held the Kingdom as a wolf by the ears ever wavering yea even in the secure safetie of his affairs endeavoured nothing but to rid himself of those whose spoils he possessed the respect of this good Queen being not able to sweeten or soften his savage humours He well shewed how little affection he bare towards her allies when it might any way import his pretended interest even at that time when there was question to substitute a High-Priest in the place of Hircanus who having his ears cut off with much deformitie necessarily fell into the irregularity ordained by Law which forbad him Altars Herod daily saw the Aristobulus the brother of Mariamne put from the High-Priesthood young Aristobulus in his Palace son of Alexandra and sole brother of his wife a most accomplished Prince to whom every one destined the Myter He sets his eyes a-wandering and finds out on the further side of Euphrates in the Citie of Babylon an unknown Jew named Ananel and createth him High-Priest This was a pill which Alexandra the mother of Aristobulus and Mariamne could not swallow yet thought fit to dissemble it She saw her house manifestly dejected in that her son after so many obligations was dispossessed of an honour to which bloud nature and the consent of the whole world called him to give it to a man of no value she could not so well digest her choler but that she thundred more lowdly than
is when men of quality who affect the reputation of being judicious prostitute their wits to these gods of straw and dung and for the tuneable cadence of a rime loose all harmonies of faith and conscience All hereticks who make boast to assail the Church Their ignorance for so many Ages have likewise made a shew to bring with them into this combat some recommendable qualities Some came with points of logick other with knowledge of things natural other with eloquence some vaunted profoundness in Scriptures the rest to be versed in the reading of Councels and holy Fathers They who have had no excellent thing in them have brought an austere countenance and semblance of moral virtues But such kind of men have nothing but ignorance with bruitishness but scoffing sycophancy but language and the wind of infamous words How can it then become them to talk of the Bible and to argue upon holy Scripture and the mysteries of our Religions Shut up your ears against these Questions if you be unable to stop their mouthes Is it handsom think you to see a wretched and infamous Tertul. l. 2. advers Marc. c. 2 Censores divinitatis dicentes sic non debuit Deus sic magis debuit c. Tert. de praescript contra haeres l. 1. fellow to make himself the censurer of Divinity and correctour of Scripture God should have done this and that in such and such a fashion say they as if any one knew what is in God but the spirit of God himself who is never so great as when he appeareth little to humane understanding There is but one word saith Tertullian to determine all disputations with such kind of men do but ask them whether they be Christians whether they renounce their Baptism and Christianitie If so let them wear the turbant or go into the Countrey of God-makers and Gentiles But if they make profession of one same Christ and one same Religion with us why do they bely their profession by the impudence of their unbridled speeches Faith saith S. Zeno is not faith when it is sought S. Zeno serm de fide Non est fides ubi quaritur fides Tertul. Nobis curiositate opus non est post Christum nec inquisitione post Evangelium We stand not in need of curiosity after Jesus Christ nor to search for the Gospel said S. Cyprians great Master Should an Angel from Heaven speak unto us we are to change nothing in our belief We have betaken us to the side of truth we have a law which the Word declared unto us which ten millions of Martyrs have signed with their bloud which the best part of mankind professeth the wisest heads of the world have illustrated by the light of their writings To whom would we abandon it To a caytive spirit which hath nothing great in it but sin nothing specious but illusion nothing undoubted but the loss of salvation Effects of Libertinism and punishment of the Impious 5. THe neglect of God is the root of all wickedness nor can there be any thing entire in a soul despoiled of the fear of God Impiety causeth most pernicious effects in States First for that it maketh havock of all good manners leaving not one spark of virtue Secondly in that it draweth on the inevitable vengeance of God upon Kingdoms and Common-wealths which suffer this monster to strengthen it self to their prejudice Philo in the Book he made that no salary of an unchast The table of Philo of the manners of Libertines woman should be received in the Sanctuary very wisely concluded when he shewed that he who is a Libertine and voluptuous having no other aim in the world but the contentments of nature is unavoidably engaged to all manner of vice He becomes saith he bold deceitfull irregular unsociable troublesom chollerick opiniative disobedient malicious unjust ungratefull ignorant treacherous giddie inconstant scornfull dishonest cruel infamous arrogant insatiable wise in his own judgement lives for himself and is unwilling to please any but himself one while profuse presently covetous a calumniatour an impostour insensible rebellious guilfull pernicious froward unmannerly uncivil a great talker loud vaunter insolent disdainfull proud quarrelsom bitter seditious refractory effeminate and above all a great lover of himself Nay he goes further upon the like epithets very judiciously and sheweth us the seeds of all evils spring from this cursed liberty Now I leave you to judge if according to the saying Tunishments of God upon Libertinism of Machiavel himself the means quickly to ruin an estate be to fill it with evil manners who sees not that Libertinism drawing along with it all this great train of vices of corruptions tendeth directly unto the utter desolation of Empires But beside there have been observed in all Ages hydeous punishments from God caused by impiety over Cities Provinces Kingdoms and Common-wealths which have bred these disorders And that you may be the better satisfied upon this point I have at this time onely two considerations to present unto you drawn from two models In the first you shall see God 's justice exercised before the Incarnation upon the sins of infidelity and irreverence towards sacred things In the second you shall behold the rough chastisements of those who after the Incarnation lifted themselves up against the worlds Saviour When God was pleased to correct the infamous Balaam who was a Patriarch of atheists and wicked ones he commanded not an Angel to speak unto him because he was a Doctour much unsuitable to a carnal spirit but he raised a she-ass to instruct him in so much as he was become worse than a beast It is likewise loss of time to deal with Libertines by proofs derived from Schools or from the invention of sciences Men as bruitish as themselves must be made to speak to them who will put them in mind of the way they have held and the salary they have received of their impieties First I establish this Maxim for such either who are not yet hardened or are too yielding and consenting to evil company that there are not any sins which God hath so suddenly and more exemplary punished than such as were committed against Religion The Prophet Ezechiel a captive in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar discovered among tempests and flames that marvellous chariot which hath served for matter of question to all curious digladiation for the learned and admiration for all Ages I say the great S. Justine Martyr touched the sense very near when he said S. Iustin in Epist ad Orthodox q. 44. An observation upon the chariot of Ezechiel that in four figures whereof the one was of an ox the other of a man the third of an Eagle the fourth of a Lion God signified the divers chastisements he would exercise upon King Nebuchadnezzar in that from a reasonable man he should become bruitish eating grass as an ox and that his hair should grow as the shag of a
displeaseth All which hath contented them discontenteth one knows not into what posture to put himself to give satisfaction Good words vex them services distast them submissions torment them contradictions make them mad It seemeth Sauls devil possesseth them and that they 1 Reg. 18. 10. know not themselves they hate by humour as if they had loved without consideration of merit But we must say that of all the plagues of Amity there is none so fatall to it as the discovery of a secret by Treason and Infidelity That is it which Petrus 8. Infidelity Petrus Blesenfis l. de amie c. 6. Plutarch in Julio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blesensis called the blow without noise under the shadow of Amity It is that which Brutus gave to great Cesar and which was the cause that the valorous Emperour long tumbled to and fro among his murderers and defending himself from every blow they gave him covered his eyes with his garment not enduring the treachery of a man whom he had loved and obliged above all other But saying Ah son art thou then one of these He suffered himself as a victime to be butchered ashamed to behold the day light which made him see so black a mischief And what is there more to be deplored then to behold a generous heart which dilates it self in the presence of a pretended friend and powreth out unto him all he hath in his soul whilst the wretch shooting back envenomed shafts against all the raies of Amity maketh a prey of his goodnesse and a trophey of his sincerity abandoning him to the discretion of such as persecute him There are some who suffer themselves to fall into these Infidelities by the surprizall of some wicked spirits who wholly govern them and who draw out of them all they have in their hearts either by craft or power which rendreth them lesse culpable but not innocent Others run to it with the malignity of a Devill and joyfully triumph Sient novatulla acut◠fecisti dolum propterea Deus destructte when they have prospered in an Act so base and barbarous Do not these kind of people deserve to be accounted the horrour of nature the scorn of Ages the execration of mankind And shall we not believe that if Pythagoras Metempsychosis were in being their souls would put on no other bodies but of Hyena's Rats or Owls to fly in an eternall night and never to be illustrated with one sole ray of the bright day of Amity Now if you desire to know the things which are Psal 51. 4. Six perfections which preserve Amity of power perpetually to uphold Amity I must tell you it subsisteth in honesty good disposition communication Bounty Patience and Fidelity Assure your self you will not long be a good friend if you study not to be ever virtuous The heart of a wicked man saith the Prophet is a Cor impurum quasi mare servens Isa 57. turmoyled sea which never rests it hath as many changes as the waves in the Ocean as many agitations as Tempests which with Amity is incompatible of its own nature peacefull and which enterteins the mind in a constant situation What is the cause the blessed are never weary of loving but that they perpetually find in God new beauties and perfections The body is finite and quickly thrusts forth all its qualities which with time rather fade then flourish but our spirit is profound as an abysse and our soul tendeth in some sort Dum unusquisque se sub umbra alterius obscurare volebat tan quam res percussa claritas utrumque radiabat S. Hilar. In Honorat to Infinity Hence it comes that two friends seriously disposing themselves to perfection daily receive some new lustre which rendreth them lovely so that increasing in goodnesse by degrees they insensibly love some better thing Saint Hilary of Arles said of two good friends that they sought to hide themselves in the shadow of one another but that thence their humility was reflected as from a solid bottome which made its lights the more resplendent Yet would I not that your virtue should be austere Humour and unmanaged but seasoned with a good disposition and a certain cordiality which is the best temper of Amity There are some who love so coldly that their love is as a day in winter when the Sun is involved in grosse vapours and shews nothing but sadnesse which is extreamly troublesome for it is better to receive a manifest Correction then to endure a hidden Amity to speak with the Wiseman Melior est manifesta correptio quam amor absconditus Prov. 27. and you shall find many women who better love harsh men then such as are neither one nor other He is no good friend who rejoyceth not at the presence of his friend who is not sorry for his absence yet not opposing the conformity we should have with Vid. Chrys ep p. 715 716. 1 Thes 2. 3. the divine Providence S. Chrysostome in the letters he wrote to his dear Olympias observed these sensible affections in S. Paul for he was much troubled at the absence of his best friends and desired to see their faces as he saith where this great Prelate insisteth upon Tertul. de velandis c. 12. Quis audebit oculis suis premere faciem clausam faciem non sentientē faciem ut ita dixerim tristem on the word face and sayes it is good right that we desire the face of our friend because it is the place where the soul sheweth it self in all its senses There is not any man saith Tertullian unlesse he hath little to do delighteth to hold long discourse before a face shut up a visage sensible of nothing and which to say truly cannot but be melancholy in this posture This hindreth not but that the use of veils is very laudable in time and place among religious women who make profession of penance and the fore-alledged Authour who ardently urgeth virgins to this observance gives them an example of Arabian women who were so veiled that they had but one eye free to guide them and to Contente sunt dimidiatâ fruiluce quà m totam faciem prostituere Idem de velandis Virg. cap. 14. receive a half light which caused a Roman Queen to say that they were miserable women who went so because they might take in love but not give it out again But contrariwise they were most happy to be delivered from a thousand importunities of wanton eyes which do nothing but court beauties Howsoever true amity is necessarily accompanied with some tendernesse and sensibility which causeth one to be perpetually anxious for such as he loveth Love in the heart is an exhalation in a cloud it cannot continue idle there It daily formeth a thousand imaginations and brings forth a thousand cares It findeth out an infinity of inventions to advance the good of the beloved It openeth it self in his prosperities it shuts it self up in
the heart by the Garb the Humour the smiles the speech the silence the courage the discretion of a man layes a plot with her passion to betray her reason The poison of love by little and little spreads it self throughout all the veins the presence of the object begins to cause blushing palenesse unquietnesse disturbance of the mind so that she cannot tell what she desireth nor what she would have Absence awakeneth the Imagination which makes an Eccho of all the discourses of all the actions that past in presence This man is presented unto her in a thousand shapes there is not a lineament a word a gesture but is expressed The understanding quickly creates to it self too many ill lights the will too much fire and the soul wholly propendeth to the thing beloved Yet the fire of God awakeneth her and suffers her to have good respites which makes her ashamed to tell her own thoughts to her proper heart Conscience and Honour make some resistance and glimmering flashes and if there be found some good directour who may help them in this first battell they many times get the victory But if a soul be deprived of good counsel abandoned to it self and which is worse soothed in its malady by some soft and complying spirit it is an unhappinesse which cannot sufficiently be deplored Reason is weakned shamefac'tnesse flies away passion prevaileth there is nothing left but wandering of the soul a feaver a perpetuall Frenzy a neglect of works of affairs of functions sadnesse languour Impatience Confidence and affrightment Shall she say so shall she do so God forbids it the law menaceth it and honour cries vengeance The pleasure of a dream and beyond it nothing but Abysses Love notwithstanding urgeth and strikes at all considerations they impute to starres to destiny to Necessity what is nothing but folly They think businesse is done when it is but thought on that they must be audacious and that there are crimes which are sanctified in the worlds opinion by the good hap of their succestes They come Prosperum ac foelix seclus viâ—tus vocatur Senec. Diversities of Love to that passe that they no longer sinne by method but through exorbitancy In some Love is sharp and violent in others dull and impetuous in others toyish and wanton in others turbulent and cloudy in others brutish and unnaturall in others mute and shamefac't in others perplexed and captious in others light and tradsitory in others fast and retentive in others fantastick and inconstant in others weak and foppish in others stupid astonished in others distempted in some furious and desperate It enflameth the bloud it weakens the body it wanneth Moechia affinis Idololatriae Tertul. de pudicitia the colour it halloweth the eyes it overthrows the mind it hath somewhat of being possessed and witchcraft something of Idolatry For you behold in those who are entred farre into this passion flouds and Ebbs of thoughts Fits and Countenances of one possessed and it is in all of them to deifie the creature of whom they are so passionately enamoured and would willingly set it in the place where the Sun and starres are yea upon Altars All which proceeds from it is sacred chains and wounds are honourable with them if they come from this beloved-hand They would die a hundred times for it so it throw but so much as a handfull of flowers or distill but a poor tear on their Tombe It is to deceive to say that love excludeth all other passions it awakeneth them and garboileth them and makes them all wait on it it causeth Aversion Hatred Jealousie envie hope sadnesse despair anger mirth tears scorn grief songs and sighs and as it is thought that evil spirits shuffle in storms to stirre up lightning flasks and make the thunder-stroke the more terrible and pernicious So is it likewise true that the Evil Angels intermeddle in the great tempests of love angell of darknesse involveth himself in these great tempests of love many times making use of the abominable minestery of Magicians and acteth Treasons furies fierings poysonings murders and ransackings And how should it spare its enemie since it Cruelty of love on the persons of lovers is cruell to it self It maketh some to sink in the twinkling of an eye drinking their bloud and insensibly devouring their members It confineth others into regions of Hobgoblins and darknesse It kils and murdereth those who have the most constantly served it It sharpned the sword which transfixed Amnon It shaved and blinded Samson It gave a Halter to Phyllis A downfoll to Timagoras A gulph to Caleazo and caused Hemon to kill himself on the tomb of Antigone Volumes would not be sufficient for him who should write all the Tragedies which daily arise from this passion all pens would be weak words be dryed up and wits lost therein § 8. Remedies of evil Love by precaution I Leave you now dear Reader to argue within your self whether one who hath never so little humane judgement for his comportment and quiet ought not to bend all his endeavours to banish the fury which plungeth his whole life in so great acerbities and such horrible Distrust ofones self recourse to God calamities But if you desire to know the way the first thing I advise you while you are yet in perfect health is seriously to consider that one cannot be chaste but by a most singular gift from God as the wise-man saith and therefore it is necessary to have a particular recourse to the most blessed Trinity which according to S. Gregory Nazianxen is the first of virgins humbly beseeching it by the intercession of the most pure among creatures and by the mediation of your Angel-guardian to deliver you from the reproches of the spirit of impurity in such sort that you may passe Love is sometimes the punishment of pride Climachus de castitate your life innocently and it may become inaccessible to the pollutions of flesh If you feel your self free from this vice yet enter not into any vain complacence of your self as if it proceeded from your own forces and not from heavens benignity Above all take heed of pride for the most illuminated Fathers have observed that God oft-times permitteth arrogant spirits to fall into carnall sinnes to abate the fiercenesse of their courage by the sensible ignominy of the stains of luxury and this is so proper to quail the exorbitance of humane arrogance that God had not a better Counterpoise to make S. Paul humble in such heighth of revelations then the sting of the flesh Pardon not your Et ne magnitudo revelationis extollat me datus est mihi stimulus earnis meae Angeâ—us Satanae qui me colaphizet Cor. 2. 12. self any thing no not so much as the shadow of this sin but onely excuse such as fall through some notable surprisall or pitifull frailty Think if you have not experienced the like falls you are beholding to
give a sergeant leave to bring him a summons in the midst of the pleasures of his Table The two most triumphant daies of his mortall life seem to be that of his Transfiguration and that whereon he made his magnificent entrance into Jerusalem And yet on this he wept as moistning his triumph with tears from his eyes and on rhe other Moses and Elias who appeared by his sides to serve as Oratours in his praises spake of that he was to fulfill in Jerusalem to wit of his excessive sufferings as if one had proclaimed to Cesar the sentence of his death at the instant when he entred into his Ivory chariot to be drawn by four white horses Jesus Christ was at that time in a body all resplendent with lights which was as a chariot to his soul and he would to be enterteined with his passion mingle the Cypresse with the lawrell I do not wonder the Fathers have applyed to him the passage of Genesis I will put my Bowe in the clouds This verily was the Rainbowe of the Celestiall Father Arcum meum ponaâ—â— in nubibes Gen. 9. which shone and showred both at one time For we see this goodly Meteor all composed of clouds of glory which serve as a Mirrour for the sun ceaseth not to pour down it self in rain upon our heads so the Saviour of the world in the pavillion of the Beatitude of his soul all covered over with fires and lights had eyes weeping over the sins and miseries of men Where think you were his joyes S. Augustine will tell you the soul of Jesus Christ was perpetually content because Aug. l. de Incarnatio ne Verbi it was drenched in God his father as a drop of dew in the Ocean It was ever in the place of pleasures which were born with it All it thought all it did all it aimed at was nothing but God and from this so perfect union waited on by immortall ardours of his love it derived its Immutability The soul besides these delicious Torrents of beatifick vision which overflowed it drew its consolations from the very sufferings it endured for the glory of the Divine Majesty It drew them from the destruction of Idols and from the confusion of devils which yelled being now despoiled under its feet from the exaltation of the Church in sufferings and persecutions from the glory of so many souls who sailed from the red sea of their bloud to eternall rewards from so many holy Virgins who were to follow the standard of the purity which his Mother did first of all place on his Altars from so many Doctours who should be born to beat down heresie in so many battels which were to be waged throughout the revolution of Ages from so many Confessours who should bedew themselves with tears of penance and burn themselves in a Holocaust of sweetnesse All was presented unto it as in a burning-glasse the rayes whereof reflected in diametre upon its heart to set it all on fire in such sort that it was then like to the great Angell of whom the Prophet Zachary Zach. 1. 8. speaketh who sat upon a red horse among gardens of Myrrhe which are the Hieroglyphes of love his red horse was the ardour of his celestiall affection and the branches of Myrrhe so many elect souls which were even then in the Book of Prescience wherein he took unspeakable delight § 5. Against the Stupidity and Cruelty of worldly pleasures ANd now O disloyall soul to be called to the society of the joyes of the celestiall Father and of the sonne of God and to despise them for a miserable fansie of pleasure Ah illusion Ah witchcraft What sense is there to feast perpetually and to live in the profuse excesse of Taste and gourmandize which you shall one day have more cause to curse then cherish whilst so many poor Widows so many little Orphans and people heretofore fortunate now necessitous even to the extremity of penury have not dry bread to moisten it with their tears before they eat it When have you enquired after their Calamities When have you opened an eye to behold them When have you so much as made a ray of mercy to reflect on so pressing and deplorable miseries Go O thou ungratefull to God traitour to thy own salvation enemy Ingrate Deo tibi ne quam hostis panperum divitum nota carcer naturae Chrysol serm 104. of the poore scorn of the rich and prison of humane Nature who keepest it shut up in thy bowels of brasse not suffering it so much as to behold its like What wilt thou answer to the voice of the bloud of so many poor who will plead against thee at the day of judgement if thou from this time resolvest not to cut off thy superfluities to comfort their afflictions where wilt thou find any to receive thee into those celestiall mansions if thou dost not visit the poor in their Hospitals and Cabbins abandoned by all the world Where wilt thou find rewards from heaven if thou sowest not liberalities on earth O thou nice wanton who wiltst perpetually be observed according to the giddy fancies of the exorbitant spirit and the many sufferings which have covered and swallowed up the third part of man-kind never to enter into thy thoughts Of what flesh of what bloud of what bones dost thou think thou art made to desire here to be served like a demy-God and to walk on the heads of men Ignorant of thy self nay Hangman of thy self who canst not live without so much prodigality superfluities and services not knowing that the first imitation of God is to depend little in the world on ought which concerneth the service of the body O thou old raven of the Deluge who still art tied with a long chain of servitude to a wretched piece of Carrion which hath exhausted the wealth of thy purse and brain Is it then infamous pleasure for which thou hast renounced the delights of heaven for which thou hast betrayed thy salvation and trampled under foot the bloud of the Testament and thou not yet so vouchsafe to open thy eyes to see the headlong ruine which threatneth thee Unhappy Bacchanalians who make Temples to be consecrated among Christians to Idolatrize you where will you find any place to lodge you in unlesse you mean to leap and skip upon the bloud of the lamb Hence with riot curiosity sports feasts and dissolute delights I pronounce it I publish it aloud They are the Apostacies of Christianity if you daily go about to countenance their libertismes Traiterous pleasures pleasures enemies of the Crosse Num. 11. 34 see see at the door of the house of these Syrens the sepulchres of Concupiscence which stink and smoke still with the disastrous carrions of those unsatiable bellies which made warre against heaven to have dainties which they no sooner received into their throats but the anger of God fell on their criminall heads and do you think that following
hour of the day to remain shut up in the enclosure of a palace walls as old owls and to have no other pleasure but to make fire and bloud rain upon the heads of men What contentment to wax pale at every flash of lightning to tremble at every assault of the least disease to prepare poisons and haltars for every change of fortune to live for nothing but to make men die and to die for nothing but to make the devils a spectacle of their pains Is this it that deserves the name of felicity and the admiration of the world After that Josiah had drawn tears from the eyes of all the Kingdome the people honouring his memory set his son Jehoahaz upon the Throne who reigned but three moneths because that Nechoh puft up with his victory that would not suffer them to think of making a King without his consent came and fell upon Jerusalem and carried him away prisoner into Egypt where he died of displeasure and bad usage He took his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim to put him in his place and to make him reign under his authority But Nebuchadonozor who esteemed himself the God of Kings could not endure that the Egyptian should intermeddle with giving Crowns came to besiege Jerusalem with great forces and having won it carried away the miserable Jehoiakim captive into Babylon with the flower of the city and the sacred vessels of the Temple when he reckoned yet but the third year of his reign It was a pitifull thing to see this infortunate King in chains after a dignity so short and so unhappy but this so lamentable a change moved his adversary to compassion who released him upon condition of a great annuall tribute He discharged it for the space of three years by constraint his heart and inclinations leaning alwayes towards Egypt and never ceasing tacitely to contrive new plots Besides he so forsook the service of God and abandon'd himself to the impiety of the Idolaters that the admonitions and menaces of the Prophet Jeremy that had foretold him of a most tragicall issue had no power upon his spirit And therefore Nebuchadonozor returned the eleventh year of the reign of this unhappy King and having conquered him again caused him to be assassinated and his body to be cast on the dunghill for a punishment of his rebellion He permitted his son Jehoiachin otherwise Jechonias to succeed him but scarce had this disastrous Prince reigned three moneths before this terrible Conquerour transported him with his mother his wives and servants and made him feel in Babylon the rigours of Captivity after he had robbed him of all his treasures and drawn out of Jerusalem ten thousand prisoners of the principall men of all Judea so that this deplorable Realm was then between Egypt and Babylon as a straw between two impetuous winds incessantly tossed hither and thither without finding any place of consistence Nebuchadonozor made a King after his own fancy and chose Zedekiah the uncle of Jehoiachin who was at last the most miserable of all the rest Here it it that Jeremy received a good share of the sufferings of his dear countrey and found himself intangled in very thorny businesses in which he gave most excellent counsels that were little followed so resolute were the King and Nobles to their own calamity He had been very much troubled under the Reign of Jehoiakim for as he was prophecying one day aloud of the ruine of the city of Jerusalem and the entire desolation of the Temple the Priests seized upon his person and caused the people to mutiny against him out of a design to make him be torn in pieces But it chanced by good hap that some Lords of the Court ran to appease that tumult before whom Jeremy justified himself and protested that it was the Spirit of God that moved to fore-tell those sad disastres for the correction of the sins of Jerusalem and that the onely means to shelter themselves from the wrath of heaven was seriously to embrace repentance and told them that it was in their hands to do him Justice and that if they used him otherwise they would shed innocent bloud that would rebound against them and the whole city Those Courtiers judged that there was nothing in him worthy of death and delivered him from the hands of those wicked Priests that were ready to assassinate him there being no persecution in the world like to that which comes from sacred persons when they abuse their dignity to the execution of their revenge After this shaking command is given him again to hold his peace and to remain shut up in a certain place without preaching or speaking in publick which was the cause that he dictated from his mouth his thoughts and conceptions to Baruch his Secretary commanding him to read them in a full assembly of the people which he did without sparing the great and principall men to whom he communicated them so that this passed even to the ears of King Jehojakim who would needs see the book and when he had read three or four pages of it he cut it with a penknife and cast it into the fire commanding that Jeremy and his Secretary Baruch should be apprehended But God made them escape ordaining that that deplorable King that had despised his Word and the admonitions of his Prophet should fall into that gulf of miseries that had been fore-told him The same abominations ceased not under the Reign of Zedekiah and Jeremy resumed also new forces to fight against them and to publish the desolations that should suddenly bury that miserable Nation then Pashur one of the principall and of the most violent Priests caused the Prophet to be brought before him to reprehend him for that he ceased not to fore-tell evils and to torment all the world by his predictions Whereupon he entred into so great a wrath against the innocent that without having any regard to the decency of his dignity he stroke him and not content with that caused him to be clapt in prison and chains to be put upon him This Divine personage seeing himself reduced to that captivity for having brought the Word of God and being left as it were to himself to do and suffer according to nature and humane passions was seized with a great melancholy and made complaints to God which parted not but from the abundance of love that he bare to him Ha! what said he my God have you then deceived me And who doubts but that you are stronger then I Who am I to resist you You have made me carry your word and to speak boldly your adorable truths to Kings and Peoples and for this I am handled as an Imposture and as the dreg of nature and the reproach of the world Behold what I have gained by serving you with so much obedience and fidelity Often have I said by my self I will obey the Magistrates I will hold my peace and remember no more the thoughts that God
report of the Hereticks themselves as it appeareth in the Book of Cambden who hath wrote the Life of Cambden pag. 493. Elizabeth and who doth not deny but that Walsingham did open and make up the letters again which Gifford brought him counterfeiting in them what he thought good And he himself confesseth that it was the judgement of the most rational men that the Secretaries of the Queen of Scotland were seduced and corrupted with money And it is certain that Amanuensium absentium qui pretio corrupti videbantur testintonio oppressa est they demanded a Recompence of Walsingham who told them that they ought to content themselves with their lives And added that in condemning their Mistress without producing the Witnesses they had not proceeded according to the Rules of Justice Observe here the judgement of the Hugenots themselves her most cruel Enemies I speak of those who have some sparks of a good conscience and not of those Incendiaries who write Rapsodies full of ignorance and folly All this may serve for an invincible proof of her innocence but her evil Judges The unjust Judgement who had sold themselves to iniquity did not cease to proceed further even to the Sentence of Condemnation which they carried to the Queen of England and was presented to the Parliament for the publication of it Thither Elizabeth did come in person with a studied Speech where she gave thanks to God for the Deliverance from this danger and thanks to her Subjects for the affection to their Queen Afterwards coming to the work in hand she shewed her self to be extreamly afflicted for the Queen of Scotland that a Person of her Sex Estate and Bloud should be convicted to have conspired against her Adding that she was most willing to pardon her and to abandon her own life if it would render the affairs of England more flourishing but in this effect she would neither prejudice her self nor the good of her Kingdom In this action she came with a heart full of vengeance however she would put upon it the reputation of Sweetness and of Clemency imitating the Herods and Tyberius Caesar who never did worse than when they spake best and laughed in their hearts when they distilled the tears of Crocodiles from their eyes With joyned hands she desired that her Parliament would but demand that thing of her which most willingly she would not grant Sometimes she would flatter them with the Respects and cordial Affections they did bear her on purpose to incite them to pursue this business Sometimes she seemed to be weary of their too much zeal Sometimes she said she would preserve her self And sometimes she said she would abandon her own preservation to exercise her clemency Her spirit which was greatly given to dissimulation made never more leaps nor daunced more Rounds than in this business And to speak the truth she perplexed her self in her own labyrinth and endeavouring too much to hide her self she laid her self more open saying unto those who demanded the death of the Queen of Scotland I pray and conjure you to content your self with an Answer without an Answer I approve your judgement and comprehend the reasons but I pray you excuse the carefull and the doubtfull thought which doth torment me and take in good part the gracious affection which I bear you and this Answer if it be of that worth as you esteem it for an Answer If I say I will not do what you demand peradventure I shall say more than I think If that I will do it I shall precipitate my self to my ruin whom you are willing to preserve In the end the Sentence of Death was confirmed by the Authority of Parliament and Beal was sent to the Queen of Scotland to carry her the news of her mournfull Condemnation and to acquaint her that the Estates demanded the Execution to be dispatched for Justice Security and Necessity Her great heart was no way dejected at this so violent a Rigour and damnable Injustice but listing up her eyes and her hands to Heaven she gave thanks to God demanding immediately a Priest to administer to her the Sacrament and to dispose her to die Paulet Execrable indignity who had the guard of her did use her after this most barbarously commanding the Officers of her house to beat down the cloth of State that was in her chamber but when he observed that no man would touch it and that they onely answered him by tears and lamentations which would have softened the heart of any man he performed the Execution by the Guard and took from the poor Prisoner all the marks of Royalty to make her behold her Funeral alive and to make her heart to bleed with a mortal wound before the bloud were drawn from the veins of her body by the hands of the Hang-man But Elizabeth did yet deferre the Execution whether it were for the fear of sorreign Princes being not able to see clear enough into their power and protection or whether it were to gain the imaginary Reputation of Mercy or whether by degrees she would consume this poor sacrifice by a small fire prolonging the languors of her imprisonment The other was resolved to write unto her not in a base and begging stile to crave her life but to demand an honest Burial Behold her letters to that effect MADAM I Give thanks to God with all my heart who by the Sentence of Death hath been pleased to put an end to the tedious pilgrimage of my life I desire not that it may be prolonged having had too long a time to trie the bitterness of it I onely beseech your Majestie that since I am to expect no favour from some Zealous Ministers of State who hold the first place in your Councels I may receive from You onely and from no other these following favours In the first place I desire that since it is not allowed me to hope for a Burial in England according to the Solemnities of the Roman Church practised by the ancient Kings your Ancestours and mine and that in Scotland they have forced and violated the Ashes of my Grand-fathers that my Bodie when my Adversaries shall be satiated with my innocent bloud may be carried by my own servants into some holy Land and above all if it may be into France to be there interred where the Bones of the Queen my most honoured Mother are lodged to the end my poor Bodie which knew no rest whiles joyned to my soul might now find rest being separated from it Secondly I beseech Your Majestie in the apprehension which I have of the tyrannie of those to whose power You abandon me that I may not suffer in any private place but in the view of my servants and other people who may give a testimonie of my faith and of my obedience to the true Church and defend the remnant of my life and my last sighâ— against the false Reports which my Adversaries may contrive