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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20947	Heraclitus: or, Meditations vpon the misery of mankinde, and the vanitie of humane life with the inconstancie of worldly things; as also the wickednesse of this deceitfull age described. Faithfully translated out of the last edition written in French by that learned diuine, Monsieur Du Moulin By Abraham Darcie.; Héraclite; ou, De la vanité et misère de la vie humaine. English	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Darcie, Abraham, fl. 1625.	1624 (1624)	STC 7326; ESTC S115746	58,947	176

shew it selfe in Religion for what he thinketh touching the seruice of God doth manifestly appeare by his exteriour actions In matters of newes wee doe sooner beleeue one that hath seene it then the common report But in matters of Religion it is contrarie for most doe follow the vulgar opinion which is as much as to maintaine that which is most absurd and then to hide himselfe amongst the multitude Obserue many other things which any may easily perceiue to be most ridiculous As to cloath in Silke and Gold the images of men while that a poore Begger goeth naked which is the Image of God To weare a Crosse hanging downe vpon the belly while that the belly is an enemy to the Crosse of Christ In going to a Bawdy-house or returning from some wicked fact to say certaine Pater-nosters To kneele downe at the boxe which keepeth the Host when it returneth empty from some sicke body as when it went full To adore the Host passing by a little boxe and not to respect it in a mans bodie which is come newly from receiuing it To make their Creator with words and presently to deuoure him vvith their teeth To bee insolent and deboshed one day before Lent and the next day following to bee very graue and sorrowfull To imploy their blessed Beades for to obtaine remission of their sinnes After the death of any great Personage to cloath with blacke the Image of our Lady to the end that shee may participate of their griefes To whip themselues in publique for to content God or to release a soule out of Purgatory In honour of the Saints to burne Candles in the midst of the day To conclude man hath forged many strange things in his braine and would haue God to approue them Nay he is come to that passe that hee doth assume to himselfe the distribution of Offices in Paradise making one Protector of a Countrey another a healer of some particular disease as if little Ants had power to dispose of affaires belonging to the Crowne of France This is also a vanity of vanities and an extreme imbecilitie of iudgement Our selues which haue the true Word of God for a rule to frame our actions by are not exempted and our folly and vanity doth mixe it selfe with our best actions For in our ciuill actions if we haue need of counsell wee presently addresse our selues to some friends But in matters of Gods diuine seruice we take counsell of our minds and concupiscences which are our domesticall enemies If money be due vnto vs from one we had rather alwayes haue the money then his promise in celestiall matters it is contrary For the holy Gospell is an obligation by which God hath promised vs saluation and hath sealed it with the bloud of his Sonne but we had rather keepe the obligation then receiue the paiment which is due at the day of death nay wee doe endeuour to prolong the date of it Some doe record in the Emperor Honorius a great simplicitie and childish weakenesse that hauing a Hen nominated by him Rome which he did cherish and so infinitely affect that when one came vnto him and said that his Rome was lost he answered very sorrowfully Alas she was here but euen now But the other replying said And it please your Highnes I speak not of a Hen but of your Citie of Rome which hath beene surprized and sacked by Alario Goth. The Emperor hearing this was somewhat comforted thinking that losse to bee more tolerable Such is our simplicitie wee will not suffer one to touch our riches but we will indure any to entice vs to Vice to seduce vs into errour and to poison our soules It is a great folly to refuse a medicine because the Physician is not eloquent Why doe wee not then make account and estimation of the preaching of the Gospell if the Preacher bee not eloquent seeing that the holy Gospell is the medicine of our soules Is it not then an extreme brutishnes for some vicious person to slighten the holy Writ because it is not adorned with Flowers of Rhetoricke What is the reason then that the Word of God doth please vs if it be not decked with Flowers and composed with Art seeing that it is that sacred worke and Doctrine of Reconciliation with God Wee doe not receiue willingly the correction of our Parents if it bee not very milde This is also a vanity distaste and childish humour Touching our Iudgement which we haue of others either in esteeming or contemning them it is most vaine and ridiculously ignorant For if there be a question about burthens wee account him most strong which can carry the heauiest On the contrary about quarrels wee esteeme him the most valiant which can beare nothing attributing force and valour to weakenesse and impatience In matters of ornament we doe not iudge of the goodnesse of a sword by the beauty of a scabberd nor of the metall of a Horse by the fairenesse of a Bridle and Saddle Why doe we then measure our estimation of a man either by his good or bad apparell And if it be necessary that we salute one for the stuffe of his cloathes which he weareth why doe wee not salute the same stuffe in the Shops Why doe wee iudge discreetly in the estimation of vaine and triuiall things when as in a matter of such importance as of the estimation of man we are most voide of reason So some doe respect a Merchant or Rent-gatherer because hee summeth vp exactly his accounts when hee liueth in such fashion that he cannot giue an account vnto God Some labour to till their Gardens and other grounds and by it winne much praise when as themselues are barren bring forth no fruit of good workes Wee are much vaine and childish in our feares as in any other thing For as little Infants doe play with fire burne themselues but feare when they see their Father comming masked with a frowning countenance towards them So men desiring to dally with pleasures because of their lustre at the length lose themselues amongst them yet notwithstanding they feare God their Father when he commeth vnto them vnder the maske of afflictions or death Also man doth ingender in himselfe either foolish or pernicious feares Some one being iealous that his wife doth affect others endeuoureth to espy and search out that which he feareth to finde and by this meanes angreth her so that she seeketh to be reuenged in such nature which hee formerly suspected Some other fearing to liue without honour committeth such things as subiect his body to some cruell torment and staineth the memory of him with perpetuall infamy Some other feareth the want of riches but hee shall want it and dye without it Some againe feareth he shall die before marriage but God well obserues that time and by wedlocke will make him twice miserable When I consider what humane wisedome is I finde it

HERACLITVS OR MEDITATIONS vpon the Misery of Mankinde and the vanitie of Humane life With The inconstancie of worldly Things as also the wickednesse of this deceitfull age described Faithfully translated out of the last Edition written in French by that learned Diuine Monsieur Du Moulin By ABRAHAM DARCIE LONDON Printed by G. P. for Thomas Pauier and are to be sold at his shop in Iuie Lane M.DC.XXIV TO THE ILLVSTRIOVS IOHN Earle of Bridgewater c. And to the Princely Lady FRANCES his Noble Countesse As also to the Honorable Ladies the Lady FRANCES HOBART and the Lady ARABELLA St IOHN their worthy Daughters And to the Honor of the Right Honorable The Lord St IOHN Baron of Bletso the Illustrious Lady ELIZABETH His Noble and Vertuous Wife with their Honorable Sonne Mr St IOHN The Lord HOBART L. Chiefe Iustice of the Common-Pleas and to the Religious Lady his worthy Wife to their Generous vertuous Son Sir IOHN HOBART True Patternes of Vertue and Pietie Noble Patrons and Patronesses of Honor and Learning ABRAHAM DARCIE wisheth to these Noble Families all internall externall and eternall Happinesse and prosperity in Christ Iesus Right Honorable Most Worthy THat great and wise Monarch King SALOMON said long since that there is no end of making Bookes and much studie is a wearinesse of the flesh Which Paradoxe was neuer more verefied then in these degenerate dayes of Vanity when ignorant as well as wise men will bee still writing of themselues whereby the Presse is euen oppressed with multiplicitie of such idle Treatises more light then vanity it selfe But for such Bookes as doe either affoord direction to the Church or a way to reforme and better our Life those are most worthy to bee read and carefully obserued This excellent Worke first penned in French by one of the most learned Diuines in France clearely shewing vs the Vanity Misery and Inconstancie of this World doth warne and admonish vs to take heede how we trust to it and that we must not build our happinesse vpon so deceitfull grounds as Riches and Earthly possessions but to direct our Hearts leuell and lift our mindes and thoughts to HEAVEN to that Eternal and blessed Habitation of CHRIST IESVS Considering these things what greater abomination can there be then to see the people of this miserable age delight to vndoe one another enuie despise curse warre and finally kill one another For a thing so vaine as this World deceitful miserable inconstant and damnable which sometimes honors vs and presently contemnes vs cals vs to high Callings and sodainly debases and degrades vs lifts vs to high prosperity and immediatly flings vs headlong into lowe aduersity Therfore PHILIP King of Macedonia acknowledging the worlds great inconstancie hauing receiued many good newes in one day prayeth the immortall Gods to stop the course of so greatioyes fearing lest some sinister actions and mournefull euents should ensue them Right Honourable this Booke hauing past many Impressions in FRANCE is now arriued newly reuiued and augmented here in England and though it bee little in shew yet it containes many good things yea matters of weight and consequence worthy to bee read knowne and obserued As also very fit and needfull for a Christian to meditate The exquisite worth thereof hath mooued mee to translate it but the fame of your rare vertues hath the more imboldened mee to publish it vnder the banner of your Noble protections Accept it most Honorable as courteously as officiously it is Dedicated and Consecrated to the perpetuall Honour and Honourable vse of your Illustrious Houses and Noble Families by Your Honours and Worthinesse humble and deuoted obseruant ABRAHAM DARCIE A Table of the Contents of this Booke CHAP. 1. THe vanity and misery of the Nature of man fol. 6 CHAP. 2. The vanity and inconstancy of man in his action 10 CHAP. 3. Of mans Ripe Age. 16 CHAP. 4. The life of Courtiers 27 CHAP. 5. The life of Magistrates and wicked Iudges 31 CHAP. 6. Of mans estate being in Wedlocke 36 CHAP. 7. The vanity and inconstancie of Women 42 CHAP. 8. Of Couetousnesse Enuie and Ambition 45 CHAP. 9. Of Petty-fogging strifes and law-contention 53 CHAP. 10. Of Philosophy and the knowledge of diuers tongues 55 CHAP. 11. Of Pilgrims and Ciuill vertues 59 CHAP. 12. Of old and decrepit Age. 77 CHAP. 13. Of Death 69 CHAP. 14. Of the terrible Iudgement seat of God 74 CHAP. 15. Of Heauen 79 CHAP. 16. Of Hell 81 CHAP. 17. The misery and vanity of our Life and the wickednesse that now raigneth HERACLITVS TEARES OR THE MISERY OF HVMANE LIFE WITH The vanity and inconstancie of worldly things IF we doe but seriously consider this besotted World how like a turbulent torrent it is ouerflowne with all sorts of impertinent and importunate affaires which cut our time into a thousand pieces wee shall finde that each of them takes from vs one part of our life leauing vs no time but that which wee gaine by theft subtracting some houres for to examine our selues in secret and to entertain our mind with religious thoughts These solitary meditations haue sufficient in them to employ our wits For the first Subiect which doth present it selfe to our perusall is a consideration of the vanity and misery of humane life not for to molest vs any way while we are in it but to prepare our selues to depart well out of it No man can aspire as hee ought to the future life which doth not contemne this present neither can any man contemne this present which doth not well know it and the way truely to know it is to remoue it farre from vs to withdraw it from our heart and to banish it from our affection For worldly goods beeing neere at hand doe both dazell the Minde and distract the Iudgement But let vs first enquire before we proceede of some one that hath passed this way King Salomon in the beginning of Ecclesiastes entring into that meditation doth write that vanity is most vaine all is vanity That great and mighty King who had riches without example peace without trouble glory without enuy who was obeyed of his Subiects respected of his Neighbors and raigned forty yeeres which was a sufficient time to content his minde in sumptuous buildings in multitude of Horses in all variety of studies and Sciences who had trauersed his spirits through all the secrets of Nature euen from the Cedar vnto the Hysop Neuerthelesse in the conclusion of all considering how these sweets are confected with bitternesse how there is little constancie in these things how there is small content in all this trauell hee makes this the cloze of all his actions That all is vanity and affliction of spirit But before that Solomon had proued these things hee learned that lesson of Dauid his father which is written in the 39. Psalme Truely euery man is nothing but vanity he walketh in a

vaine shadow and disquieteth himselfe in vaine hee heapeth vp riches and knoweth not who shall gather them Let vs therefore according to the rules of such excellent men enter into that meditation and taking that Instrument out of their hands make an Anatomie of our selues There is no discourse more serious then that which treateth of vanity Nor contemplation more high then to reason of our owne infirmities seeing by that meanes man mainteining himselfe is eleuated aboue himselfe This vanity linked with misery is to be considered First in the Nature of man Secondly in his actions And thirdly in his thoughts and desires CHAP. I. The vanitie and miserie of the Nature of Man MAN being the image of God and the chiefe worke of Nature is miserable euen in his originall For the most noble of them yea if he be the sonne of an Emperor doth receiue his forme betweene the two excrements of nature and there hee is nourished for a time with the most impure bloud of all hee is there subiect to be bruised by the least fall of his Mother His birth is shamefull insomuch that women blush to bee publiquely seene in child-bed The beasts and birds are brought into the world either couered with haire feathers or wooll not so much as the seedes and corne of the ground but nature hath cloathed them with eares and huskes man onely excepted for hee being once come from his mothers wombe seemeth no other thing then the similitude of a poore worme that commeth creeping out of the earth his cloathing is bloud onely wherein he is bathed and couered which signifieth no other thing but the image and figure of sinne The beginning of his life is with sorrow for at comming into the world weepings and wailings doe accompany him which are as messengers and fore-shewers of his calamities to come the which because hee cannot expresse in words he witnesseth by teares Hee is borne immoueable and tumbleth into his owne filth Other liuing creatures are no sooner out of the wombe but they fall on their feete and are ready to goe nor out of the shell but they runne for meate The worme be hee neuer so little as soone as nature hath brought him out of the earth beginneth to crawle and creepe and to seeke for foode The little Chicken as soone as hee is out of the shell is found cleane runneth after the Hen knowing when he is called hee picketh and eateth hee feareth the Kite and flyeth danger being guided onely by nature But behold Man so soone as hee is come into the world is like vnto a little Monster and a lumpe of flesh which will let himselfe bee eaten of other beasts if he be not seene into and dye for hunger before he can finde his mothers brest and will as soone eate poison as good meat and handle hot iron before hee can discerne the good from the euill Thus Man beeing brought into this miserable world and plunged in the gulph of miseries he then requireth to haue nourishment and cloathing to comfort the infirmity of his nature but behold he is subiect vnto such necessitie that hee is glad to gaine it with the sweate of his browes Whereas other liuing creatures do finde all things readie prepared for them Man onely hath need of habiliments for he that is the most noble in the world is ashamed to shew his nakednesse and therefore hideth himself vnder the spoiles of other creatures Hee is subiect to more maladies then all the beasts together to which the obscurest fogges or euening dewe doe no hurt They neuer bleed at the nose although they goe alwayes declining towards the earth They are ignorant what the Catarre Calcull and diuers sorts of Agues meane Man onely is capable to discerne these differences and to feele their effects for if there be any beasts which are more afflicted with diseases they are such as liue limited within the precinct of some house and so receiue it by contagion But some will obiect that Man hath reason aboue the beasts which is indeed the reason of his torment in winning him to practise dangerous and pernitious designes to bee subtle in contentions to ioyne himselfe into other mens affaires and being once satisfied to stirre vp an artificiall appetite and a desire to drinke without thirst I am ignorant what the reason is but we are much more sensible of ill then good and that griefes doe more disturbe vs then pleasures can content vs. Scarce can we thinke of an absolute health but some torment or other doth presently possesse vs as the Tooth-ach or paine in the fingers end One drop of gall will distaste a whole vessell of sweets How much then of happy fortunes is required to digest one affliction CHAP. II. The vanity and inconstancy of Man in his actions MAn being borne so poore and base into this world how many yeeres steale from him before he receiue abilitie to conduct himselfe How long and laborious is his instruction What time is consumed while hee trembleth vnder Masters for to gaine vnprofitable words some little superficiall knowledge Also who doth not discerne in this part of his age an vntoward peruersitie a contradicting humour and in one infant spirit all the vices of Man as buds and graines of some future infelicitie The onely meane to appease children is to correct some one before them If any do but touch one of their toyes they ouerturne all the rest for despite The loue respect which they giue to their puppets are eminent seeds of Idolatry Such are the infants that are begotten of the best of men A graine of corne winnowed from the chaffe produceth corne with chaffe a man circumcised begetteth an infant vncircumcised Therefore you may see by the peruersitie of your children the image of your corruption Wee haue already discoursed vvhat perils and dangers man hath at his first comming into the world and in his infancie Now therefore let vs consider vvhat he is when he is sprung vp and vvhether that there be an end of his miseries or no. Of which if we be equall Iudges we shall finde that he doth rather increase then decrease in miseries for this is the time of mans life wherein Nature doth raise against him a more furious combate for now his bloud beginneth to rise the flesh prouoketh him to his owne pleasure the vvicked world espieth him the Diuel tempteth him his selfe-will'd youthfulnes leadeth him into all dangers and induceth him to reiect all instructions insomuch as it is impossible but that which is assailed with so many vices and succoured of none in the end is discomforted and ouercome For in the body of youth ryot libertie and deliciousnesse aboundeth for all the vices in the world saith Marcus Aurelius doe there plant their siege O how many persons in this age are corrupted vvith too much pleasure lulling themselues asleepe in the lap of such as seeke to strangle them O traitrous Dalilah which