Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
earth_n day_n heaven_n let_v 5,470 5 4.6350 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A12821 Staffords Niobe: or His age of teares A treatise no lesse profitable, and comfortable, then the times damnable. Wherein deaths visard is pulled off, and her face discouered not to be so fearefull as the vulgar makes it: and withall it is shewed that death is only bad to the bad, good to the good. Stafford, Anthony. 1611 (1611) STC 23129; ESTC S106303 42,293 224

There are 7 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

read bills and ballads then my Booke And withall I must needes adde this that I neither feare a Stage nor the censure of a Woman And against the Learned and Vnlearned Iudiciall and Not-iudiciall Prudent and Impudent Women and the worlds wide Theater I bandy that of Iob Behold my signe that the Almightie will witness for mee although mine Adnersarie write a booke against mee Errata Page Line   81. 10. ioy-forioyne 81. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 99. 13. perfect imperfect for perfect or imperfect 142. 8. present for presents 154. 2. Iesuites for Iesuitas 166. 2. these for those 195. 1. gift for guest In some fewe Books Pag. 10. li. 11. men for mens STAFFORDS NIOBE OR His age of teares SAd to the very Soule bearing in my minde a discōtent that I could bee no more discontented in a worde wearie of my selfe I on a time walked forth hoping by some diuine meditation to abandon and expell this hellish disposition And being com to the place ordained by my selfe to this solemne exercise I first lifted vp mine eies to heauen to see what heauen would haue done vpon earth and then again I cast them down vpon earth to see what earth hadde done against heauen But loe in the entrance 〈◊〉 to this my sanctified contemplation my olde agonie came vpon me I meane a conflict betwixt mine vnequall disagreeing passions which forced mee to call backe the better of my thoughts to driue back the worse But finding no way whereby I might appease these implacable furies of my minde leauing my meditation I thus spake vnto my soule Soule saide I how chaunceth it that nothing can content thee so much as discontent Is not this rotten body this all corruption this worst of earth a sufficient prison vnto thee but that thou thy selfe must become a prison to thy selfe To these my demaunds shee thus makes answer that the diuell as shee thinkes hath committed incest with his daughter World who is now deliuered of an Age frō the which the sooner it should please God to deliuer her the better Then soule said I take thy flight with the sharp pearcing eyes of contemplation pry into the corners of the Vniverse and see if within this spacious Round thou canst finde out some place where thou maiest inioy a pure conuersation till the houre com wherin thou shalt leaue this thine impure mansion Shee obeyed and after long teadious search shee returned like Noahs turtle and told mee that such a deluge of sinne had ouerspread the face of the earthe that there was no place free where vertue might treade in sa●etie If earth then said I affoorde thee no comfort lett thy conuersation be in heauen laugh at the idle pleasures of these daies and let not thine vnlimited appetite so much couet as contemne them following that rule of Seneca Contemnere omnia aliquis potest omnia habere nemo potest Some one man saith hee may contemne all things but no man 〈◊〉 haue all things And indeed what is there in this world on the which Enuy may not iustlie spend all her gall For whosoeuer shal with an inten●ine and rectified Iudgem●nt look into this worst of ages shall finde that the lasciuious heathen Poets were but as wicked prophets of the wickednes to come in these accursed times wee hauing turned their lewde inuentions into more lewd actions So that it seemes wee haue anatomized vice and laied those parts of her to the open viewe which they in modesty let lie vndiscouered From the highest to the lowest from the youngest to the oldest from the Eagle to the Wren all haue corrupted their waies and are becom degenerate from the purity of their ancestours Vice hath supplanted vertue and he now a-dayes is helde the most absolute man who is the most dissolute liuer As now and then the humours of the whole bodie fall downe into the legges and there make an issue So hath the corruption of times past slidde down into the present to the annoiance and choaking of all that is good This is the time foretolde by Seneca Hab●bitur aliquando ebrietati honor et plurimummeri cepisse virtus erit The time shall come saith hee when honour shall be ascribed to drunkennes and to drinke much wine shall bee helde a vertue Pride luxury and ribauldry haue now their reigne and his happinesse is greatest who followeth them the soonest As for pride she hath so many feathers added to her wings that shee couereth all the earth with her shadowe Our men are growen so effeminate and our women so man-like that if it might bee I thinke they woulde exchange genders What modest eye can with patience beholde the immodest gestures and attires of our women No sooner with them is insancie put off but impudency is put on they haue turned nature into art so that a man can hardlie discerne a woman from her image Their bodies they pinch in as if they were angrie with nature for casting them in so gross a mould but as for their looser parts them they let loose to preie vpon whatsoeuer their lustdarting eyes shalseize-vpon Their brests they laye to the open viewe like two faire apples of which who●oeuer tasteth shall be sure of the knowledge of euill of good I dare not warrant him As for our men they equall if not surpasse this female frailtie the qualities of their mindes being as light as the substance of their bodies is heauie Light clothes and a light behauior is now your onely weare and hee your greatest gallant who canne whiffe off his gallon O that iniquitie were here limited but alas it is not For mens tongues are now beecome trumpets or rather strumpets to their mindes so that what soeuer they conceiue they not onely tell others of it but also intice them to doe it Lust saith Ambrose is feade with banquets nourished with delights kindled with wine enflamed with drunkennesse but streight addeth peiora tamen his sunt fomenta verborum quae vino quodam Sodomitanae vit is mentē inebriant But worse then all these saith hee is that impurity of speach which makes drunk the minde with the sweet tasting wine of the Sodomiticall vine Sodome thy sinnes were fewe in respect of ours and our iust men fewe in respect of thine Thou peraduenture hadst three or foure but happy is that citty with vs that can yeelde one yet wee raile at thee and seeke to be opposite to thee in al things but in one thing wee iump with thee by following the literal sense to weet that because one of thy sinnes was fulnes●e of bread we hold it no sinne to be full of drinke I cannot with methode proceed in this confusiō of wickednes nor with order in that wher●n is so much disorder My pen following my hearts motiō trembleth the paper waxeth wan pale the inke putteth on melancholies sad hewe when ● go about to relate that in
the mouthes of our youth Talassio becomes a watch-word And to put fier to this quick kindling fewell our poets haue put-to their helping hands who therefore are rightly taxed by that last euerlasting Worthie of the French diuine du Bartas P●u te regretter oy la perte de leur● ans Si par ces vers pipeurs leur muse trop d●serte Se perdant ne tra not● des auditeurs la perte Sous les mielleus appas●s de leur doctes●scrits Ils cachent le venin q●e lesieunes esprits Aualent a longs traicts et du vin ●'amour yvres Leur mauuais estomach aime les mauvais viures In English thus Yet would I grieue their losse of time the lesse If by their guilefull verse their too much Art Made not their hearers share with them a part The sugred baits of those their learned writs Due shroude that poyson which the younger wits Quaffe downwith breathless draughtes loues hot wine Making them homage do at Bacchus shrine Distempereth so their stomachs that they feed● On such ill meates as no good humours breed But belike our Poets think by disguising their lasciuiousnesse vnder a veile of smooth running words to take awaie not onelie the inquination but the very essence of it which they cannot doe For as whether a man writeth with a coale with chaulke or inke it is neuerthelesse writing So is vice vice vnder what words soeuer it be conueied And these men saith Scaliger call vpon Phoebus Iupiter Pallas together with the Muses and inuoke diuels in stead of the true God And the same Scaliger dooth reprehend Bembus because in a certain verse which he made he called Iesus Christ Heroa That Bembus is also censured by I. Lipsius Ipse deus rarò in stilo aut animo sed prisco ritu dij immortales idque in se●ijs maximè sententijs aut rebus GOD himselfe saith Lipsius is seldome in his stile mouth or minde but according to the ancient rights of speech the immortall gods and this doth he in his most serious sentences If for everie idle for euery vnaduised word wee shall gine account what shall we answer for premeditated sin ouer which the heart a long time sitteth ho●ering as if it were vnwilling to hatch so vgly a monster To thinke euill is a sin that mortal to speak euill is yet a greater but to write euill is in it selfe both matchlesse and namelesse no word being fit to express so vnfit a worke O that so foule a matter should be left to posteritie in so faire characters or that a man should with his owne hand write a confession to condemne his own heart What should I say or rather what should I not saie in so hopelesse so haplesse a case onelie this then I will saie that for shame men should haue som feeling some remorse in eternising their owne shame as also consider that their bodies nay the faire frame of this spacious Rounde shall be subiect to ruine onlie the soule and her actions are eternall For the soule being eternall the actions proceeding from her participate of the same eternity The bodie being spotted is quickly mundified but the soule once branded with infamy euer keeps her mark and neuer becommeth immaculate O dangerous age thou seducest many to errour but reducest none to truth thou causest manie to fall but raisest vp none And indeede how should they stand firme when their footting is so slipperie How should they resolue when euerie thing giues them occasion of doubt What shal a man decree to bee truth when hee shall see Pontius Pilate washing his handes but not his heart Caiphas pretending blasphemie to rent his garments the new Scribes and Pharisies crying out to Iesus master thou art good though they thinke him to bee most had Simon Iudas selling Simon Magus buying GOD for money holding a trinitie of benefices in vnitie of person and these three are for the most part foure Those who should tell Israell of her sins and Iuda of her transgressions doe now sooth her vp in her iniquitie nay flatter the dead to please the liuing in so much that Durus de Pascalo makes it one of his precepts that the courtier ought to giue credit neither to funerall sermons nor to Gallobelgicus or other such idle fablers I must confesse that the worde lye is vndecent to giue to a minister but verie aptly applyed to Gallobelgicus who lyeth of set purpose and telleth truth at aduenture Sure I am he hath not learned or if learned not practised that first and chiefest lawe of a lawefull historian which is Vt ne quid falsi audeat nequid veri dicere non audeat But to my purpose it were to be wished that this abuse of preaching might bee reformed that so the laudable vse of it might bee with the more applause and profit continued Mercy should be in the Preachers mouth not flatterie he should pronounce pardon to others not craue it from others and pronounce nay denounce vengeance against those who renounce the ordained meanes of their saluation Flattery thou base creeping sinne thou seducer of Princes thou obseruer of noddes thou impudencie clad in modesty thou fawning diuell when shall thy dominion haue an ende I would my ende might procure thine But what should I talke of thine ende who art now in thy prime We haue our Clisophi who will imitate Philip whether hee halt in minde or in bodie neither want we Courtiers who though they see that Dionisius cannot see yet they counterfait the like infirmity Temporibusque Augusti dicendis they bee the words of Tacitus non defuere decora ingenia donec gliscente adulatione deterrerentur Neither wanted there saith he worthy and singular wits to deliuer Augustus exploits vntill they were by the ouerswarming of flatterers vtterly discouraged But what base meanes will not ambition vse where the proposed end is honour with her there is no impossibilitie no difficultie with her things to come are as present and what shee aspires to she makes no doubt to attaine to Thou mother of discontent thou Goddesse of m●tabilitie dwell still in the Courts of Princes but insinuate not thy selfe into the hearts of Prophets for if they be tainted all the worlde is deceiued Their tongues perswade where force cannot auaile if in a bad cause then mischiefe followeth From their tongues for the most part Princes frame their actions so that the former being bad the latter are worse in as much as a bad deede out-strippeth a bad word Yet shal they one daie answere both for the word deed of which they were procurers Is it possible that a man should looke vp to heauen not thinke who gouernes earth and heauen or who is so foolish as to thinke that God wil answere an eye of dissimulatiō with the eye of mercie No no a true God cannot awaie with a false heart Lord that a man should think with all his ●ratory
which most men are addicted to by nature and fewest freed from by grace For though God hath separated the male frō the female and disioyned them yet I know not how they will still desire a coniunction The Cedars of Libanus haue fallen this way the Patriarehs Prophets Fathers and our forefathers haue here gone astray Many a Saint hath fallen at the feet of these saints and hath adored their adorned beautie Yet for men to prostrate their bodies to euerie dung-hill and sinke into euerie sink-hole was neuer so common as in these later licentious times wherein money can buy affection Beautie offering her selfe to hire But to keepe yout seruant brisk and spruse that the towne maie take notice of him for a neate compleate gentleman and to feede vpon the answerable report the world giues of him tush this is no sinne No no it is no offence at all to allow him so much for euerie course so causing him to spend flesh for siluer till he become so lank and leane that his legs are scarce able to support their late portly young master going still as if hee were sitting occasioned through the imbecillitie of his hamme-strings and so dry that a marrow-bone-man if hee should boile his bones could scarce get out two droppes of moisture his eyes so hollow that they runne backe to salute his memory least she should forget them and his cheekes dentingin as if he were still sucking at a bottle And now my braue slaue beeing a neighbour to death beginneth to find that all this while he hath mistaken and worshipped a false deity for a true and that therefore though ceasing through weaknes to burne here in lust hee shal euer burne in neuer consuming fire Where is his mistresse now whose praises should bee written with pennes of Angels wings whose drinke should bee Nectar and Ambrosia Hee now must leaue her behinde him common to men that shall one day bee common to diuels It breedeth astonishment in mee to heare a man stile a woman Diuine creature of a heauenlie feature goddess of my thoughts natures vtter most indeuour c. whose body he knoweth to bee compos'd of putrefaction and shall one day come to that degree of rottennels that as she now in the nostri's of God it shall stink in the nostrils both of men and beastes Reason and Religion teach a man as her remembrancer thus to court his Mistress Faire Queene of dust and durt will it please your eueryhower-decaying maiestie after some fewe yeares or moneths or daies to haue th●se star-shining eyes of yours eaten out with wormes and the holes become cages for cankers when your delicate mooth body shall be enfolded in earths rugged armes and your soft swelling moist ruby lippes be kissed by her mouldy mouth whē your pure red and white shall be turned into poore browne and blacke and that face which hath driuen so many into consumptions shall it selfe bee consumed to nothing Yet for all this our young gentlemen will not forbeare their amorous profane louediscourses but yeelde as much honour to women as to their Maker These men are rightly taxed by a late writer where he saith Quorum sermonis venus ipsa Venus Reason thou bright star which directest the wise man to the god of wisedom thou eye of the soule why dost thou suppress thy clear-shining beames and leauest the soule of man in darknes Wert thou truelie mistress of the minde thou wouldest neuer suffer a commandresse of elaie and clods to subdue and conquer it For take this for an infallible position that Sinne neuer enters the will of man till defect his reason Mens liues together with the states of their soules now-adaies depend vpon the voice of a woman and they are more penitent for one duty omitted towards her then for a thousand offences committed against God For the one they craue mercie for the other they care not but mock at iustice Mors et vita saith Salomon in manibus linguae death and life saith he are in the hands of the tongue Surely saye these doating doltes Salomon in this place m●an●th the tongue of a womā O stupidity of man to come at the becke of a woman stoop at her frownes hold his 〈◊〉 ●rom ●ence 〈◊〉 those 〈…〉 For the first they finding through their daily discourse with men that their words are esteemed Oracles nay articles of faith do challenge to themselues such a freedome of speach as to vtter that without shame which the standers-by are both ashamed abashed to hea● You shall see a wench a● thirteene haue more au●●city then a man at thirtie 〈◊〉 him to the encounter and 〈◊〉 ●●thes with him by the douzen They haue so little grace that they 〈…〉 it a great disgrace to blush and that which in those formor purer times was the badge of modesty is now thought to bee the onely marke to knowe a foole by Besides this there is a lasciuious impudency or rather vndecency borne and bred in this our natiue soil which no other Nation is acquainted with I meane a wanton sport in publike betweene man and wife Let mee perish if more soules of our youth perish any other way then this For there are but two estates of men the one married the other vnmarried the one bound the other free so that the one cannot abuse his owne calling without giuing the other occasion on to transgresse in his But whether this kissing and lap-dalliance be through the default of the husband or the wife it is a great offence in either It pleaseth not me though spoken by an Emperour Giue me leaue by the lust of others to exercise mine owne though a witty yet a wicked speech Wife is not onelie a name of pleasure but of honour though our men cannot discerne this but rather answere with Aristippus who being tolde that Lais loued him not no more saith he doth ●●in● nor fish and yet I 〈◊〉 be vvithout them A true beast respecting more the sensuall pleasure and appetite of the body then the harmonie and vnion of the minde A man ought not to imbrace his wife without a flattering kinde of s●●●●itie for this publike billing sheweth the way to vnexperienced youth to commit riot in priuate And Cato accused one before the Senate for that he had kissed his wife before his neighbours daughter A short yet wise speech and of a hidden vse Neither by this often and open smacking is shame onelie diminished but by little and little chastitie abolished The verie Elephāts crie-out against them who as Pliny writeth make not the least loue one to another except they be couered with boughes Wherefore when the scripture saith Therefore shall a man leaue his father and his mother and shall cleaue to his wife and they shall bee one flesh the literall and sensuall sense is not here to bee followed for beasts can cleaue to one another in this obscene maner as well as man and wife But if the woman be culpable in
sweare to an vsurer that it lyeth in his power to oblige them to him he will reply againe that it lyeth not in his power to doe it without an obligation for he will haue a gage and yet engage them too This man is too wise to be caught by his neighbour and yet hee catcheth at his neighbours substance Co●etonsnes saith Saint Paul is the roote of all euill The same Apostle saith that the ende of all such as minde earthly things is damnation They doe not rightlie vnderstande those words of Christ when hee saith Though a man hath aboundance yet his life consisteth not in the things that he hath Doubtlesse saith the Prophet Dauid man walketh in a shadowe and disquieteth himselfe in vaine he heapeth vp riches and cannot tel who shal gather them But they haue a sufficient torment laied vpon them heere in this world which is implied in these wordes Hee that loueth Siluer shall not bee satisfied with siluer Hee carkes and cares hee hoordes and rakes-vp yet no satietie can cloy him He hath wealth yet hee will scarce vse it though to purchase his owne health but sterues his poor hide-bound carcasse and impouerisheth his bodie to enrich his purse He is neuer secure hee cannot heare the winde whistle but he thinks it to bee the call of a thiefe if a storme com he straight diuines the ruine of his ship at sea or of his house on land But God were not iust if he should giue content to that conscience which makes warre against Widdowes and Orphanes and insults ouer pouertie Thou sterne-fronted hard-hearted man thou terrour of the poore thou that sufferest the image of God to decay when one penny of thine may repaire it thou that lettest one of those little ones sterue for a morsell of bread thou little thinkest that their Angels behold the face of their heauenly Father and pleade for iustice against thee vniust The voice of the beggar beggeth for reuenge against thee Which God will heare and pay thee with Sulphur whē that bodie of thine shall render-vp it selfe to neuer-consuming flames thy mercilesse soule which being voide of pittie did depriue the needie of comfort shall be depriued of the presence of him whose absence possesseth the soule with more horrour then the fier can the bodye with torment Who shall receiue then the Interest of thy money these that laugh at thee for keeping thy coyne that they might inioie it It is better bestowed vpon them then vpon thee for they reioice in it thou hadst not it but it had thee Vsurie thou bane to manie a distressed gentleman thou deuourer of the oppressed thou nipper of mirth thou vnpleasant toyle thy sinne is so weightie that it makes passage for it selfe through earth into hell Yet knowe I their common caution with which they vse to cloake these their intolerable wrongs to weet that a man may let out money to vse so he giue it not in morsum when I le be sworne they giue it in dorsum and laye on such loade that they breake the backes of manie decayed men Sure it was auarice which first made theft so capitall a crime it hauing in this our Land a greater punishment allotted to it then adultery and many more enormous hainous crimes I knowe no reason why adulterie should not be rewarded with death as well as theft but onelie this that whereas man accounts of his wife but onely as flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone he esteems of his coyne as soule of his soule It is Auarice that makes greedie fathers force their children to seeme to like what indeed they loath and to take vnto them one for better for worse then whome indeede they can like nothing worse From hence it comes to passe that age is matched with youth fairenes with foulnes beautie with deformitie which doubtlesse is farre from the first institution for In the beginning as Christ replyed concerning wiues to the Scribes and Pharisies it was not so GOD at first created man and woman in their full vigour that they might be full of loue one to the other What an vnseemlie sight is it to see an olde grandsire as frostie in flesh as haire whose eyes are readie to set in his head and whose rotten lungs scarce afford him breath march to the Church with his young spouse whose eyes roule in her head whose marrow burnes in her bones whose heate scornes colde and in whose heart disdaine of age dooeth breede desire of youth According to GODs ordinance Youth should honour and reuerence Age but wee no where reade that Youth should solace it selfe in Age or affect it Those women that thus marry in my iudgement differ little or nothing from common ones for both sel their affection What wil you giue me saies one what will you giue me sayes the other Hauing now traced Vice by her footing as farre ●s hell we will there leaue her to accompanie her blacke sinnefull sire And now let vs suppose man to be without all notorious actuall transgressions onely considering him in his originall corruption and wee shall finde that for all he is thus eased hee is yet miserable euough and that for one comfort he hath millions of crosses Hearken to Salomon I my selfe saith he am also mortall and a man like all other and am come of him that was first made of the earth And in my mothers wombe was I fashioned to be flesh in tenne moneths I was brought together into bloud of the seede of man and with the pleasure that commeth with sleepe And when I was borne I receiued the common ayre and fell vpon the earth which is of like nature crying and weeping at the first as all other doe I was nourished in swadling clothes with cares for there is no King that had any other beginning of birth All men then haue one entrance into life a like going out Thus farre Salomon It were too tedious a thing here to vnfolde the mystery of mans conception which in Philosophy is no lesse pleasing then strange and wonderfull The first gift man receiues from Nature after his conception is feeling the next is moouing and after he hath receiued the vttermost of his perfect imperfect forme shee giues him birth He is no sooner borne but his reasonablesoule as di uining his troubles to com makes him bawl and crie and hauing nothing but humour wherewith to vent his passion he sheddeth teares Well as comming from a woman he is referred to the care of a woman who spends all her time yet all little enough to dresse him to still him to watch him and to wipe awaie the excrements of this excrement The first word hee speakes bewraies vanitie and as soone as his legs are able to vnderprop the burthen of his body he goes to vanitie He waxeth Idolatrous and beholdes a baby made of clouts a woodden puppie or a paper birde with an eye of
calles all his Courtiers Iannes and Iambres Vnlimited Luther thou verities chiefe champion I am altogether as vnable to censure thee as to equall thee yet my neuer dying zeale to my euer liuing Princes● forceth mee to tell thee that these thy misse-beseeming words did not proceede from diuine inspiration but from humane passion This is a thing rare with Luther and vnexpected from him but nothing is more vsuall with the defenders of the Papacie They not onlie allow to reuile and mocke a a King but also to murther him Which damnable doctrine François de Verone Constantine mainetaineth when he saies L'Action de Clement est loysible et le coup qu'il a donnè à Henrie 3. estoit du mesme endroict que celuy de lulian l'apostat c'est a dire du ciel The Actiō saies he of Clement is lawful the blowe which he gaue to Henry the 3. was sent from whence that of Iulian the Apostate that is frō heauen Is there then no difference to be put betweene a persecutour and a professour of Christ Of the former of which it is said Iaculabatur sanguinem in Galilaeum of the latter it may besaid effusit sanguinem pro Galilaeo The same Writer after he hath railed his fill at Henry the 4. in saying that he was not l'oingt de Dieu who was loing de Dieu nor more rightly king of France then he who in the Gospell is called Prince of this World at last he bursteth out into these wordes which point at murther C'est vne chose louable de sauuer tant de milliers d'hommes tant presents qu'auenir de la damnation eternelle It is saith he a thing praise worthy to saue so many millions of men as well present as to come from eternall damnation Hee saith also that Gerard who killed the Prince of Orange did that act Pour le bien de la vertu for vertues good and againe he saies Gerard le coeur luy estant arrachè rendit ainsi son ame à Dieu Gerard saith he his heart being torne frō out of his body rēdred his soule vp vnto god But what will not this author vndertake whose book is written in defence of Chastelet who essayed to slaye the late murthered King of France What odious enterprise will not a bad impudent spirite seeke to make good I thinke there would not bee wanting a seditious turbulent soule to write against GOD for his vniust throwing downe of Lucifer Surely some penne or other wil paint forth that accursed Rauilliake for a Saint on earth and of a monster make a Martyr That rauenous Rauilliake glutted himselfe with the bloud of that king in whom were eminently contained all the vertues of all the French kinges since Pharamond The minutes of that houre the houre of that day the day of that weeke the weeke of that moneth the moneth of that yeere wherin that nothing-fearing Phaetō had his downfal France shall euer holde both ominous and odious Griefe gripes my heart when I think that the Mars of men receiued his deaths blowe from a pen-maker a Pedagogue A late French Writer hath composed a short Treatise to prooue that the sword is more proper to the French Nation than to any other Which though I deny yet I would easily yeelde vnto him that the sworde was more proper to the late French king then to any of his ancestors or to his liuing equalls He was a king of the sword and of his word whose word was his sword whose sword was his word for where his word could not warrant his sword bore sway Out of the ashes of this Phoenix another bird is risen whose feathers I feare me will not bee able to beare him the flight and pitch his Sire sored Well France hath lost her Soueraigne we were neere losing ours How often hath God pulled our King out of Treason's murthering mouth and out of the iawes of death When that Powder-plot a treason at the which Fiction her selfe stoode affrighted was readie to lay holde on him then God deliuered him But I do not think if Faux or rather Fax had giuen fire to the powder that it could haue deuoured that sacred assembly What he that deliuered the children of Israell out of Egypt hee that led them through the red sea without wetting of their feete he that fed them without any ordinary bread for the space of fortie yeares in the wildernesse he that caused the Sunne to stand still hee that caused the Sun to goe backewardes at the prayers of king Hezechiah he that raised the dead hee that did so many wonders and miracles could not hee also haue changed the propertie of Powder No doubt but hee could and would haue sent the force of it down-wards making a passage through the earths hollow wombe into hell there haue blasted the black Diuell with his vnhallowed Senate of Popes the inuentours and fautours of this vnheard-of attempt It can be none other but the diuel that biddeth a traitour pick out GODS chosen to butcher If the Diuell vpon my soules altar I sweare it would take me vp to the pinacle as hee did my heauenly Maister and saie to me all this will I giue thee to kill thy earthly Maister had hee power to performe his promise I would not doe it but rather then tentation should win this fraile flesh to spill the numbred drops of that royall bloud I would first let out all mine owne Me thinks my Sauiour whispereth in mine eare and telleth mee that his bloud shall not cleanse the polluted soule of that man that dies with that bloudy thought But the Iesuites are the ring-leaders to this troop of king-slayers which whosoeuer readeth their bookes shall soon perceiue For mine owne part I had with no small paines gathered together their doctrines concerning this point meaning indeed to printit but I was preuented by Anticoton who made a discouerie of the slaughtering ambush they lay for Princes Which book is turned into English the Translatour being in nothing inferiour to the Authour But it is nothing strange if these Iesuites bee bloudy seeing the first of their Order was a souldier He was a Spaniard by birth which makes them loue that soile so well his name Ignatius so called ab igne as one that should incense subiects against their Soueraignes and set the whole world on fire with sedition and dissension Incredible things are reported of this man by those of his owne coat Ribadeneira who hath written his life sayes that this Ignatius kneeling on a certaine daie before the Image of the spotlesse Virgin Mary there arose an earthquake Surely the earth trembled to feele the weight of such a Monster One thing the Authour reports of this Ignatius whereunto I giue credit since his succeeders do the same this it is Ignatius disputauit cum Mauro de Maria Virgine cùm ex verbo Dei hominem refutare non potuit pugione confodere voluit
Christianitie torne in peeces by schisme and heresie He scorneth the head the more because hee sees the members of the bodie so wound one the other Oh that wee could with the harmony of an vnseparable vnion charme the eares of this Christianities serpent But surely hee will stop his eares to our charming who disobeyeth the voice of that great charmer charme hee neuer so wiselie Thou seede of Abraham thou house of Iacob thou disposer of the graces and promises of the all-puissant I bewaile from my soule thy heauie condition and lament that thou canst not repent What grosse absurdities haue seized on thee of the which beliefe is not capable As for example that God before he built this world exercised himselfe a long time in setting-vp and pulling-downe before hee could learne to finish the frame hee hadde conceiued Thou further sayest that God hath certaine appointed daies wherein he afflicteth himselfe because in choler he defaced thy citty with thy temple and tokens of this his felt sorrow thou makest to be lightning and thunder Thou saiest also that God ordeined a sacrifice amongst the Iewes euery new Moone to recompence the wrong he did to the Moone in taking light from her to giue it to the Sunne Thou farther sayest that he is angrie once a day and then the crimson combes of the Cookes waxe pale and bloudlesse Thou hast also a prophane fable that on a day there being a disputation betweene certaine Rabbins and R. Eliezer God gaue sentence on Eliezers side for which the Rabbins excōmunicated him and then God smiling said My children haue ouercome me Thou sayest also that he that gainsayeth the words of the Scribes deserues more to be punished then he that contradicts the Law of Moses the one may be absolued the other must absolutely die Thou saiest also that he is no good Rabbin which doth not hate his enemy nay that doth not pursue reuenge euen vntill death And hee that disalloweth of any thing in these bookes denieth God himselfe What God will doe with thee I know not this I know that no Nation hath kept her integritie but thou Oh would thou hadst also kept thy sinceritie in religion It is more then a miracle to mee that feare doth not weigh-downe the eye-lids of the Iewe when he offers to looke-vp to heauen Neque enim saith Origen deberent vltra coelum aspicere qui in creatorem coeli pe●●auerunt et dominum Maiestatis Neither indeed saith he ought they to beholde heauen who haue sinned against the Creatour of heauen and the Lord of Maiesty The Turke conceiueth more reuerently of Christ then the Iewe for he accounteth of him as of a great Prophet the Iew as of a false Prophet Neither hath the Turke so grosse abuses and absurdities as hath the Iewe which whosoeuer listeth to compare shall finde The Turke hath many riddles which rather merite laughter then loathing and for example sake we will set-down some fewe of them What is that which is first wood and afterwards receiueth a spirit into it It is there answered Moses Rod. What woman is that which onely came from a man and what man is that which onely came from a woman It is there saide the former to be Eue the later to be Christ The rehearsall of more of these friuolous fooleries would cost mee much time and yeeld the Reader little profit and therefore I will onelie heere insert one or two things remarqueable in the Turkish Phisiques They hold that the starres hang by golden chaines Againe they saie that a Bull beares the earth vpon his hornes so that when the Bull shakes his head an earth-quake ensues Modesty wil not let me enter into the Turkes paradise where all things are vncleane and beyond measure baudy Oh my God! who is there that rightlie vnderstandes the courses of mans life the curses due to it for the vices of it and withall considereth the variances of religion as also that Turkes inhabite the better halfe part of the world Iewes and Atheists a quarter of the other halfe Schismatickes Heretickes three quarters of that quarter who is there I say that weighing all these things will not welcome if not inuite death specially in this age in which that of Tacitus is right true et propter virtutes certissimum exitium And vertues saith he are rewarded with certaine destruction Vertue looke to thy Essence for thou hast almost lost thy Existence thou hast a Being of thy self but scarce any Being in any other Wherefore I exhort all those who either haue or loue vertue to desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ Let them contemplate this that death is the Orient of Weale and the Occident of Woe that is the rising of all comforts and the fall and setting of all crosses Death is the sole sanctuary for sorrowe the freedome from feare hope 's harbour faith's faire field the ending of a bad beginning of a better life Death is not so vgly as the world would make her her lookes are louely and when all the world disdaines desert shee rewardes it Wherefore wee should not with such a fond childish griefe bewaile the death of our friends whom mercy hath taken from miserie As when we see the sunne eclipsed wee grieue not knowing it shall come to his former forme againe euen so 〈◊〉 it is heere we should not fall into womanish lamentations for the losse of them whose bodies wee know shall rise againe who shal see God with those eyes with which they leaue to see the world For though they die to vs they liue to the Lord. Wherefore wee must not thinke that Dauid lamēted the temporal death of his sonne Absolon but that his propheticke soule fore-sawe that eternall death due to Diuells and their ministers for to them death bringes damnation The wicked man dares not in his greatest passion call to God for compassion but hides himself from his face hauing all his time beene glutted with forbidden fruite If hee looke vp hee sees Gods iudgement hang ouer him if downeward he meditates his graue vnder him and hell vnder it if on both sides of him at each hand sitteth horrour and confusion if before him he beholdeth Perdition his hangman dragging him on to his slaughter if behinde him Vengeance doggeth him at the heeles the least noise makes him expect his pursiuants At last he withdraweth himselfe into his cabine thinking to lock-out Death who in a moment locketh-vp his eye-lids neuer more to open till they shall see heauen gates shut against their master Oh foole reuolt from thy irreligious superstition to a religious pietie neither quake at that whose power it is in thy power to conquer by an heartie penitence and feruent prayer Shrinke not at thy fatale blowe thy death shall be life and that a blessed and eternall one I for my part will account of death as of that which helps me to an vnualued bargaine things eternall for things momentarie
things truelie delightfull for things falsely deceitfull Oh welcome minute that shall free this body from so long an apprentiseship of woe And indeede what is there that should holde or delight me heere except to satisfie the vnordred appetites of the body and vnlawfull desires of the soule But perhaps some wil vrge that I am as yet in my spring of youth which I grant Yet am I glutted and tired as much with the troubles of this Age as a Priam as a Nestor The dayes are alreadie come vpon mee wherein I may truely say I take no pleasure in them But others will reply that I haue friends for whose sake I should desire to liue It is true indeede that I haue friends but with-all such friends as Tacitus speaketh of Et quibus deer at inimicus ab amicis sunt oppressi and they saith he to whom enemies were wanting were oppressed by their friends I long to bee acquainted with my neerer kinred to whom I shall say Corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother my sister Salomontelleth vs All pleasures vnder the sunne are vanity I take his word and therefore long to see what pleasures are aboue the sunne where the Son of God sitteth at the right hand of his father making intercession for mee and all sinners And thou Lord of hosts grant that when this my last and best day shall come and those harbingers of death summon me to appeare that then I may bee readie and grant also that as at the first my body was willing to receiue my soule so at the last my soule maie be willing to leaue my body Thou louer of soules be thou mercifull to my soule and when mine eyes shall grow dimme my lips black my mouth drawen-vp my browes knit my eares deaf my hands and feerebenummed with cold my pulse beating yet weakely and when all my senses faile me then giue me some sense of life euerlas●ing My good God let me at that houre thinke as I do now that it is a thing no more strange to die the● to be borne ●being it is an equal law of Nature which bindeth ouer all alike to their first and last appearance I knowe there is some paine in death but withal I knowe that I owe that paine with the vantage to my mother Who as she endured as great paine us euer woman did to bring me into the world so must I endure some paine to rid my selfe of this painefull life of the which I am as weary a● a 〈◊〉 of his ●are I shallneuer be truely merry till that day of mi●th and releasement commeth All ioy h●ere belowe is sinfull and almost all delights vnlaw 〈◊〉 according to that of Austin 〈◊〉 l●titia est imp●●it a 〈◊〉 The ioy saith he of this Age is nothing else bu● 〈◊〉 ●●punished Ye● will I not seeke to hasten the hour●● of my deare deliuery but will attend Gods 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of life as of a gift If it will tarrie I will not thrust it soorth of doors if it make haste to be gone I will not be he that shall intreate it to abide The time I haue to liue deuotion shall dispose of and my chiefer pleasure shall bee in prayer I will first pray for Christs church militāt that it would please him to shorten the time of her warfare that so the time of her triumphing may approach Next of all I will pray for all Gods anointed ouer what Kingdomes or Nations soeuer they bee placed and in particular as by the duty of a subiect I am bound for my gratious Soueraigne Faiths great defender Thou Ancient of daies crown his dayes with happinesse and as he raignes by thee so let him raigne for thee and while he defends thy Truth defend thou him from those porte-couteaux For in these treacherous times it is to be feared that his greatest enemies are those of his own● house And as for his succeeder in the throne gratious God let him be successeful in al his approued proceedings that so succeeding ages may sing say his praises Lord shield him rather from secret flatterers then from open enemies and hauing all things let him not want this one A truth-teller I will wish the same to him which Thomas Walsing hamus reporteth of Henry the fift that as he is Modest us 〈◊〉 so he may be Magnanimus in actu Last of all I will pray for my selfe that hee that made me would vouchsafe to haue mercy vpon mee Thou that art able to throw an Angell down ar● able to raise a sinner vp Lord then raise me 〈◊〉 fal●e 〈◊〉 the gul●● of sin Thou into Lambe of OOD which dyed●t once for the 〈◊〉 of the 〈…〉 mercy vpon me and seeing thou hast suffered for my wickednes let not me suffer for it too nor cry for my crying sinnes lesus at thy Name my ●●ee shall bowe my heart bend and all my soule and body be transformed into reuerence Oh blessed comfortable allpromising Nome in which the olde Age of new names and if you will haue it so the newe Age of olde names may be included Christ●● 〈◊〉 Origen qui 〈◊〉 ill is or is 〈◊〉 ap●d 〈…〉 Christ saith he who is in those 〈…〉 of the earth ●●en amongst the Britannes Amen Lord Iesus and bee with vs still to the ends of the world Mercifull maister let mee with my last gaspe pronounce in confidence those words of dying Luther I haue serued thee I haue belieued thee and now I come to thee And because there is no other way to come to thee but by death Lord let me expect death euery where and alwaies not knowing where or whē it will expect me and 〈◊〉 me thinke of that often which I must doe once Blessed Maister my will is thine but if it bee thy blessed will take me out of this Age before I bee aged and let this corruption put-on incorruption this mortalitie immortality imperfectiō perfection and then this impotency shal see omnipotency this nothing all things Oh inconceiueable ioy to behold the Apostles Patriarks and Prophets together with the Kings of the Earth doing homage to the King of Heauen and Earth And till this ioyfull appointed time come the greatest comfort I can yeeld my selfe and others is an allusion which I tooke out of an 〈◊〉 French Writer to weer that as GOD laboured six dayes and rested the seuenth so man after hee hath turmoiled himselfe through-out all the sex ages of the world shall in the seuenth Age repose himselfe in a better world Which he that created the world grant for his sake that redeemed the world Amen FINIS Iob. 31. 35. Sen Epist 62. Sen. de benef lib. 1. cap. 10 Ambros de poenit lib. 1. cap. 34. I Scalig. lib. 1. poetic cap. 2 Scal. lib. 6. poetic pa. 800. 801. Lip cent Epist 5● Mat. 27 24 Athenaeus lib. 6 Ibidem Ann●l li. 1 Mat. 23. 3 In Alcor Turc pag. 191. Sen. de benef li. ● cap. 34. A Coward who Mat. 5. 39. ●er●ins Gen. 2. 24 Prou 16 Prou. 15 24 Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Sen. Epist 29. Heb. 13. 8 Iob. 36. 14. Deut. 23. 18. Ezech. 16. 33. Prou. 22. 14. Prou. 23. 17. Prou. 26. 5 Albert. Mag. de mulier fort Reuel 14. Iob. 31. 1 Castilionaeus in suo Aulico lib. 4 De ciuit 15. 100. 23. Bernha● Serm. 25 super canticum canticorum Deut. 28 53. Mal. 3. 3 Zach 5. 2. Ier. 23. 20 1. Tim●t 6. 10. Phil. 3. 19 Lu. 12. 15 Psal 39. 6 Eccl. 5. 9 Mat. 18. 10. Mat. 19 8 Wis 7 Sen. de beat vita cap. vlt. Sen. Epist 26. Sen. Epist 7. 1. Disser● cap. 9. August de ciu cap. 19. Sen. lib. 4. de ben cap. 13. Sen. Epist 58. Serm. 1. Mat. 10 34 35 De Benif lib. 4. cap. 26. 27. Lipsius in ex●mp po lib. 1. cap. 4. Idem ibidem Luk. 1. Luk. 1. Mat. 3. v. 7 Franc. de ver Con. par 2. ca. 2 Socr. in vita Iul. Baronius in paraenes ad venet pag. 9● Colin ●●ditionis Agust de baptis contra Donat. lib. 2. cap. 20. Acts. 17 22. Auer in 12. Metaphysi Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Ma. 20. 22 55. episto Cambdenus epist ad lectorem Mat. 5. 19 1. Ti. 3. 6 Tert. de resur carn Psal 60. 1. 2. 3. See the quotatiōs of Monsieur du Plessis vpon their Thalmud in his book entituled Aduertissement aux Iu●fs In Alcor Turc Tacit. hist lib. 1. Ecclesiastes 12. 1. Tacit. hist lib. 1. Iob. 17. 14. Eccles. 1. August in Euang. seeun Lucam serm ●7 Mat. 10. 36