is no Tongue in Nature which can-furnish us with termes strong enough to expresse the miseries of Man that Man is of the race of the Gods yes surely since thy Gods are Gods of earth the cause is matcht to the effect for Man is of the same matter Plotinus thou also did'st not misse it when in favour of Man thou said'st he was an abridgement of the wonders of the world for since all it's wonders heretofore so famous are no more but dust and ashes Man may hereof be the example with good reason O how much more is expert David in the knowledge of our condition when he compares Man not onely to the Dust but to the Dust which flies away to show us that that little which he is still flies away till it be nothing in the end But how glad am I O Lord that I am but Dust to the end that I may flie towards heaven Memento homo quòd nihil es in nihilum reverteris for the earth I undervalew How I am satisfied that I am but Ashes that I may but be able to keepe in my soule some little sparkle of thy love What glory and what contentment too is it to be devoured by wormes since thou callest thy selfe a Worme gnaw O Lord gnaw both my heart and intrals Ego sum vermis non homo Psal 22.6 I offer thee them in prey and regive me new ones that may offend thee no more I know well that my life flits away by little and little but how agreeable is this flight unto me since thou art its object I see well that my Dayes slide away and passe in continuall course But O what consolation is it to be sensible of dying at all houres for to live eternally O Verities againe what ravishments have you to consolate the soules of the most afflicted I returne to my subject Humility is ever honoured by all the world Wee reade of the Priests of the Gentiles that they writ letters every yeere to their Gods upon the Ashes of the Sacrifices which they made upon the top of Mount Olympus and I beleeve that this was upon designe that they might thus be better received being written upon this paper of humility Let us fetch now some truth from this fancy All the parts of the body are as so many Characters of dust wherein may be read the truth of our nothingnesse Let us write every day to heaven upon the paper of our Ashes confessing that we are nothing else and let us make our sighs the faithfull messengers of these letters as the onely witnesses of our hearts I will hide my selfe under the Ashes O Lord to the end that thy Justice may not see me said David What Curtaine 's this This Soveraigne Justice which makes it bright day in hell cannot pierce the Ashes to find underneath a Sinner No Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himselfe I will not bring the evill in his dayes 1 Kings 21.29 no for this vaile has the vertue to reflect the beames of this revenging light within the source which produced them Remember that I am nothing O Lord and that thou hast made me of nothing Recordare quae so quòd sieut argillam feeisti me in pulveremreduces me Iob 10.9 and every moment canst reduce me to something lesse then nothing cryes out Iob in his miseries He finds no other invention to appease the mild choller of his God then putting him in mind of his infinite greatnesse and at the same time of the pitifull estate whereunto he is reduced Why should you take Armes against me O Lord pursues he when the breath of your word is able to undoe the same which it hath made me Humility triumphs over all things Remember O Remember that I am but what the benigne influence of your divine regards permits me to be for on the instant that you shall cease to regard me I shall cease to live Man remember thy beginning for thou art not made of Fire like the Starres nor of Ayre like the winds but of mire from whence it is thou soyl'st all the would Decke we then with Ashes our Body of Dust and let us cover with a new earth our owne to make Rampiers of proofe against the thunders of heaven See you not how its all-powerfull Justice finds limitation in the confession of our being nothing We need feare nothing acknowledging that we are nothing Well may the thunder make a horrid rumbling yet the Hyssope out-braves it in its lowlinesse He which can overcome himselfe shall never be vanquish't by a greater Captaine Feare and Humility ever abandon each others company The onely meanes to triumph over all things is to vanquish Ambition O Lord I durst scarce beleeve that I am if thy providence alone were not the Prop of my Being But since thy goodnesse hath drawne me from the Abysse of Nothing let thy grace cause me alwayes to keepe the remembrance of my originall Before Time was I was Nothing now Time is I am yet Nothing But what happinesse is it to be Nothing at all since thou art All-things for if I search my selfe in vaine in my selfe is it not sufficient that I am found in thee I will then forget even mine own name and muse of nothing but of the Chimera of my being since as a Chimera it passeth away and vanisheth The onely consolation What a joy is it to passe away continually with all things towards him that hath created all things that remaines me in my passage is that thou alone remainest firme and stable so that without end thou art the end of my carreere and without bounds limitest the extent of my course as the onely object both of my rest and felieity See me now upon returne With what and over to be adored lustre appeares the love of God in his day Heaven changes the sighs of the Earth into tears I meane its vapours into dew in the work of Man Would not one say that it seemes hee made him of earth that hee might strow thereon the seedes both of his blessings and graces O fortunate Earth which being diligently cultured may bring forth the fruits of eternall happinesse Boast thy selfe O Man to be Nothing but Earth Since we are of Earth let us suffer this divine Sun of Love to exhale the vapours of our siâ—hs for to meâ—amorphose them into the teares of Repentance since the heaven bedewes the Earth continually But if with a provoked eye it lancheth out sometimes its thunders upon it her selfe doth afford hereof the matter Live alwayes Innocent and thou shalt not know what 't is to feare Imploy thy selfe without cease to measure the depth of the Abysse of thy nothingnesse and though thou never pierce to the bottome hereof thy paines shall not be unprofitable because seeking thy selfe in thy basenesse thou shalt alwayes recover thy selfe againe much greater then thou art The Sunne this faire Planet
of the Day which with a continuall aspect We are all amourous of our selves not knowing for what for our defects are objects rather of hate then Love contemplates all created things cannot make reflexion of his beames to see himselfe as if his mother Nature had apprehended in making him so glorious that the Mirrour of his light might not be metamorphosed into a fire of love to render him amorous of his owne proper lustre But the Intellect this Sunne of our Soules has a faculty with which it can both contemplate out of it selfe all things A Man cannot stumble ordinarily but through perveâ—snesse since Reason enlightens him in the very worst wayes and repeale againe the same power to consider it selfe which makes a Man capable not onely of the Meditation of the miseries of the World but also of that of the afflictions and troubles which inseparably keeps him company to the grave We reade of Moses that God commanded him to frame the * The Laver which was before the Tabernacle Exod. 38.8 fore-front of the Tabernacle all of Mirrours to the end that those that should present themselves before his Altar might view themselves in this posture of Prayer O this excellent Mysterie Mortals it behooves you to view your selves in the Mirrour of your Ashes if you would have your vowes heard God hath taught us an excellent way of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread But why O Lord teachest thou us not to aske thee our bread for to Morrow There is nothing assured in Life but its continuall Death as well as for to day O how good a reason is there hereof This is because that life hath no assurance of tom-orrow besides that it is an excesse of grace that wee may be bold to crave of him the bread of our nourishment for all a whole day since every moment may be That of our Death Reader let this verity serve thee yet as a Mirrour 'T is not sufficient to muse of the necessity of dying but to consider also that every houre may be our Lost if thou would'st have thy prayers to pierce the heavens This is not all to know thy body is a Colosse of filth which is traild along from one place to another as it were by the last struggle of a Life alwayes languishing It behooves thee also to call to mind that every instant may terminate the course of thy troublesome carriere and that this suddaine retreate constraines thee to bid Adieu for ever to all the things of the world which thou cherishedst most Thoughts onely worthy of a noble spirit I have eaten Ashes as bread Psal 102. 9. Cinerem tan quam panem manducabam sayes the Royall Prophet but how is it possible I conceive his thought He entertained his soule with the remembrance of the Ashes of his body and this truth alone serv'd as object to his imagination for to satisfie the appetite of his Soule Lord give me both the same relish and desire to repast my selfe still thus of Dust and Ashes in remembrancing my selfe alwayes that I am nothing else A man to abase himselfe below that which he is being so poore a thing of nothing O sweet remembrance of my rottennesse since it steads me for eternall nourishment of my Soule O precious memorie of my Nothingnesse since able to satisfie the appetite of my heart Let this be the daily bread O Lord which thou hast taught me to aske thee to the end that all my desires together nourishment I recollect my selfe in this digression Having diverse times mused of the imbecillity and weakenesse of Man Si vitrei essemus minus casus timeremus S. Aug. I am constrain'd to cry out with St. Augustin What is there that can be more fraile in Nature If we were of Glasse pursues hee our condition might therein be better There is nothing more brittle than glasse yet man is more for a Glasse carefully preserv'd may last long time and yet what paine somever Man takes to preserve himselfe and under what shelter somever hee shrowds himselfe for covert to the storme hee breakes and is shattered of himselfe What reply you to these verities Great Princes Well may you now be arrogant The fragilitie of Glasse cannot admit of comparison with this of your nature what seat will you give to your greatnesse and what foundation to your vanity Man is fully miserable since his life is the source of his miseries when the wind alone of your sighs may shipwracke you upon the Sea of your owne proper teares what surnames will you take upon you for to make you be mis-taken That of Immortall would become you ill since every part of your body serves but as a But to the shaftes of Death Invincible A man may doe every thing with vertue without it nothing would also be no way proper since upon the least touch of mishap you are more worthy of pity then capable of defence Would you be called Gods your Idolaters would immolate you to their owne laughter Tread under foot your Crownes if rightly you will be crowned with them you onely thus render your selves worthy of those honours which you misprize for Glory consists not in the possessing it Heaven cannot bee acquâ—red but by the misprize of earth but in the meriting and the onely means to obtaine it is to pretend nothing at all to it How remarkeable is the custome of the Locrians at the Coronation of their Kings They burnt before them a handfull of Tow to represent unto them the instability of their grandeurs and the greedinesse of Time to destroy them In effect all the greatnesses of the Earth are but as a bundlet of Tow All the grandour of Kings is but as the blaze of flaming tow and then when Darius would make of them his treasure Mis-hap set fire on them and reduced 'em into Cinders and when hee had yet in his heart a desire to immortalize them a new fire seaz'd his intrals by the heat of thirst which burn'd him to the end to consume at once both the cause and the effect So true it is that the Glory of the world vanisheth away like Smoke Great Kings if you build a Throne of Majestie to the proofe both against Time and Fortune lay its foundation upon that of your miseries He which esteems himselfe the least of all is the greatest Humility takes her rise in low linesse from the lowest footing when she makes her flight into the heavens O how admirable is the Humility of Saint Iohn Baptist They would give him titles of Soveraignty in taking him for the Messias but call to you Memory how with an ejaculation oâ— Love and reverence hee precipitateâ— himselfe both with heart and thoughâ— into the Abysse of his owne Nothingnesse there to admire in all humility both Greatnesse and Majesty in his Throne I am but a voyce Vox clamantis in deserto Iohn 1.23
only which shall serve very soone for a Beere to his carkasse See in what consists the profit of his rents after their account made Another will be rich onely in Medowes and changing his hay into Gold which is but Earth he fills therewith his coffers But Foole that he is hee thinks not that his life is a Medow his body the hay thereof and Time the Mower The World is a Medow and all the objects which therein we admire are flowers which fade every houre who by his example makes publicke trafficke of the same marchandize changing by little and litle the hay of his body into Earth And is not this to be very ingenious to cheat a man's selfe Anothers ayme is onely to be rich in buildings some ' the' Country some ' th' City and assuming vanity from the number as well as the magnificence of his Pallaces hee beleeves that they are so many Sanctuaries of proofe against the strokes of fortune or the thunders of heaven What a folly 's this to esteeme ones selfe happy for having diverse Cabbins upon earth to put himselfe under couvert from the raine and wind during the short journey of life The raine ceases the wind is past and life dyes and then the tempest of a thousand eternall anguishes comes to entertaine him without possibility of discovery even from hope one onely port of safety To be onely rich then in aedifices is to be rich in castles of paper and cards such as little children lodge their pety cares in We must build upon the unshakeable foundations of eternitie if a man would be sheltered from all sorts of stormes To what purpose steads it us to be richly lodged if every houre of the day may be that of our departure Men trouble themselves to build houses of pleasure but the pleasures fade away and we also and these houses remaine for witnesses of our folly and for sensible objects of sorrow and griefe in that cruell necessity to which wee are reduced to abandon them It is to be considered that wee are borne to be Travellers and Pilgrims and as such are wee constrain'd to march alwayes straight to the gist of Death without ever resting or being able to find repose even in repose it-selfe To what then are all these magnificent Pallaces Though we say the Sunne sets every night yet it rests not and so Man though he lay himselfe to sleepe rests not from his voyage to Earth when our onely retreat beats on to the grave To what end are all this great number of structures when wee are all in the way and point to end our voyage O how well is hee housed that lodgeth his hope in God and layes the foundations of his habitation upon ETERNITIE A good conscience is the richest house that one can have Another designes his treasures in numerous Shippings traficking with all winds in spight of stormes and tempests but be it granted a perpetuall calme as heart could wish and imagine we as himselfe does that hee shall fish with Fortunes nets all the Pearles of the OCEAN what can he doe at the end with all his ventures if he trucke them away hee can gaine but stuffe of the same price if hee sell them he does but change white purified earth for yellow which the Sunne purifies as well within the mines what will hee doe now with this new marchandise or this his gold behold him alwayes in trouble to discharge himselfe of so many burdens If gold were potable hee might perhaps nourish himselfe therewith for a while but as MIDAS could not doe it in the fable he will ne're bring it to passe in the verity he must needs keep watch then day and night to the guard of his riches and well may hee keep sentinell Death comes to robbe him of them since at his going out of the world she takes them away from him What apparence is there that the treasures of the Sea should be able to make a man rich since the possession of all the world together cannot doe it A hundred thousand ships are but a hundred thousand shuttle-cockes for the winds The treasure of good workes is eternall riches and a hundred thousand objects of shipwracke Suppose they arrive to the Port the life of their Master is alwayes among rocks for 't is a kind of ship which cannot arrive at other shore but at the banke of the grave And I leave you to consider what danger he may runne if there the storme of his avaricious passion cast him The sand-blind-sighted may foresee his ruine and the most judicious will beleeve it infallible Behold in fine a man rich to much purpose Our life is a Ship which loosing from the Haven of the Cradle at the moment of our birth never comes ashore againe till it run aground upon the grave that would have drayn'd by his ambition the bottomlesse depths of the Ocean and now to find himselfe ith'end of his carreere in the abysses of hell having an eternitie of evils for recompense of an age of anxieties which hee hath suffered during his life LORD if I would be rich in wood let it be in that of thy CROSSE and from henceforth let its fruits be my revenues and my rents If I would traficke in meads Let the meditation of the hay of my life be my onely profit If I set my selfe to build houses He which puts his trust in God is the richest of the world how poore somever he be let it be rather for my soule then for my body and in such sort that my good workes may be the stones and the purity of my conscience the foundation And lastly If I would travell the Seas to goe to the conquest of their treasures let my teares be the waves thereof and my sighs the winds and thy grace alone the only object of my riches Make me then rich O LORD if it please thee by the onely misprise of all the treasures of the Earth 'T is alreadie a sufficient enjoyment of rest and quiet to set up ones rest in God onely and teach this secret language to my heart never to speake but of thee in its desires nor of other then thy selfe in its hopes since of thee alone and in thee onely lies the fulnesse of its perfect felicity and soveraigne repose Let us not rest our selves in so faire a way I cannot comprehend the designe of these curious Spirits who goe seeking the Philosophers-stone in that Spitle where an infinite number of their companions are dead of regreet to have so ill imployed their time They put all they have to the quest of that which never was and burning with desire to acquire wealth they reduce all their owne into cinders and their lungs also with vehement puffing without gaining other recompence at the end of their labours but this now to know their folly The love of God is the onely Philosopher-stone since by it a man may
hand and by which himselfe weigheth his actions to the poize of his will and consequently to the measure of his Justice What objection can be made against this truth The envious man is never in health tortured with the Hectick Peaver of this ever-burning passion Envious Maligner adore that which thou can'st not comprehend and then instead of pining for the goods which thou enjoyest not give thankes to heaven for those which thou possessest and how small someover they be they are ever great enough to amuze thee all thy life-long to the study of thankefull acknowledgment The Passion of Detraction is easily overcome by a fresh consideration of our owne proper defects for of all the Vices whereof wee accuse one another our hearts may convince us If I call a man theefe am not I a greater theefe then hee since against the Lawes of charity I rob him of his honour by this injury Suppose he be a false villaine yet in calling him by this name I betray the secret which his fault should â—n charity impose upon me But if he be nothing so loe I my selfe am now a Traytor both at once of his reputation 'T is more important to learne to hold one's peace then to hold up the talke and mine owne conscience There is no fault more unpardonable then this of Obloquie and in regard that for a just expiation of the crime it is fitting that the tongue which did the hurt should give the remedy Thou Detractour if thou canst not moderate thy passion speake ill onely of thy selfe Study thine owne vices Meditate thine owne faults and Accuse thy selfe of them before heaven which is already witnesse of thy crimes and by this way of reproaching thou shalt obtaine one day to be praised eternally Behold mee now at the end of the Chapter He which often muzes of Death will every day learne to live well After all these particular remedies with which a man may learne easily to resist the tyranny of the Passions there is none more soveraigne then this of the Meditation of Death All the rest abbut at this onely as the most authorized by daily experience Great Kings suffer your selves to be led in triumph by your owne thoughts to the grave and by the way consider how your greatnesses your riches your delights and all the magnificence of your Court follow you step by step being brought along by the same fate whose absolute Tyranny spares none And since you may dye every houre think at the least sometimes of this truth to the end that that houre of your lifes dyall surprize you not Much good doe 't you to nourish up your selves deliciously yet all these Viands wherewith you repast your selves are empoysoned as containing in 'em the * Caliditas Frigiditas Humiditas Siccitas foure contrary qualities whose discord puts into skirmish your humours and this battell is an infallible presage of your overthrow wel may you chase away Melancholy by vertue of fresh pleasures these very contentments cheat away your life for though you thinke of nothing but how to passe away the time it passes ere you think on 't Death comes before you have forseen his arrivall Well may you cocker up your bodyes content your senses and satiate the appetite of your desires the Taper of your life has its limited course Pleasures make us grow old as well as griefes as well as that of the day Every man pursues his carreere according to the inviolable Lawes of heaven which hath asigned 'em out at once both the way and the bounds Suffer Time to lead you by the hand to the Tombe Fata volentem ducunt nolentem trahunt for feare he hale you thither But in dying muze at least of that Life which never shall have end All the felicities which you have possest are vanished with the flower of your age and all those which you will yet enjoy will flye away with the rest What will remaine with you then at the last instant of your life Those pleasures cost very deare which are worth nothing but repentance but an irksome remembrance to have tasted a thousand pleasures which are past and to have lost so many meanes of having had others which would have lasted eternally Disinvest your selves then for one houre every day of all your greatnesse and in the presence of your owne selves meaning in review of all your miseries mishaps which are proper to you confesse the truth of your nullitie and of your corruption by this search you shall recover your selves and by this confession thus shall you Triumph o're your selves A PROLVSION upon the EMBLEME of the last Chapter VIewing the Ranges of a Librarie Of Dead-men's bones pil'd in a Coemitarie Great ALEXANDER findes Diogenes And thus they Dialogue Alex. Cynick among these Ruines of fraile Mortalitie what do'st looke Diog. For that wherein I feare to be mistooke I seeke thy Father PHILIP'S Scull among This pell-mell undistinguishable Throng Alex. Let 's see which is it shew me Diog. Sure 't is that Whose nose is bridge-falne Alex. Dead-men's all are flat Diog. Why then 't is that where shrowds perpetuall night Cav'd in those hollow eye-holes void of sight Alex. Still all are so Diog. Why 't is yon' skinlesse brow Chap-falne lip-sunke with teeth-disranked row Yond' peeled scalpe Alex. Thus still all are alike Diog. So shall both You and I. and let this strike Thy knowledge ALEXANDER and Thy sence 'Twixt King and slave once Dead s' no difference L'envoy Mors seeptra ligonibus aequat Hor. THere is no diff'rence Death hath made Equall ' the Scepter and the Spade Noe Dreader Majestie is now I' th' Royall Scalp then Rustick brow Faire NEREVS has no beauteous grace More then Thersites ' ugly face Now both are dead odds there is none Betwixt the fair'st and fowlest One. Tell me among'st the hudled pile Of Dead-mens bones which was ere while The subtil'st Lawyer 's or the Dull And Ignoramian Empty Skull Was yond' some valourous Samsons arme Or one that ne're drew sword for harme Or winke and tell me which is which Irus the poore or Croesus rich What are they now who so much stood On Riches Honours and high Blood Ther 's now no Difference with the Dead Distinctions all are buryed Onely the Soule as Ill or Well Is Diffrenc't or in Heaven or Hell Alexander and Diogenes discoursing among the Sepulchers of the Dead the Cynick tells the King That in the Graue Monarchs and Meaner Men are all alike THE MIRROVR WHICH FLATTERS NOT. CHAP. IV. WHat a horrid spectacle is this what a frightfull object See you not this great number of Dead Mens sculls which heap'd one upon another make a mountaine of horrour and affright whose balefull and contagious umbrage insensibly invites our bodies on to the grave What a victorie is this over these but what an inhumanitie what a defeate but what a butchery May wee not say that
of miseries Remember that you are Men I will not say any more Conceiv'd in Corruption brought forth by it and also destroyed by it But rather I say born for the glory of God If a man should consider his worth by that which he cost hee would love himselfe perfectly Living for to acquire it and Dying for to possesse it Remember that you are Men I will say no more slaves of Sinne the Flesh and the World but rather free for resistance to the first A man may doe every good thing which hee desires since in his impuissance his will is taken for the deed strong enough to vanquish the next and more powerfull yet to give a Law to the third Remember that you are men I will no more say the pourtract of Inconstancy the object of every sort of ill and the pasture of Wormes But rather the Image of God the subject of every sort of good and the sole aliment of eternity as created for it alone Remember that you are men I will not say made of clay animated with mis-hap Man is sure a thing something divine which is not seene even to it selfe and metamorphosed a'new into rottennesse but rather made by the proper hand of God animated by his bounty and redeemed by his Grace I wonder at this that they should call man a little world since the least of his thoughts is able to signe out it 's expansion beyond a thousand worlds True it is that he was made of Earth Though hee bee made of clay the workmanship is yet all divine but the Master which hath made him having also drawne himselfe in the middle of his worke as did Phidias renders him more admirable than the Heavens One might also judge at first view that the greatest part of the creatures have many more Prerogatives then he But contrarily the heavens the Stars and all that nature hath most precious have in no sort correspondence or equivalence to his grandeurs let us see the proofe on 't I grant that the Sea may make us admire equally both it's vastnesse of Empire and efficacy of power the least teare of repentance which a Man sheds is a thousand times more admirable since it remounts even to the source of that grace which produc't it and consequently beyond the Heavens I grant that the Aire fils all and its emense nature permits no vacuity The heart of man is so vast and spacious that God onely can fill it through the whole universe The heart of man carries him farre higher being never able to find satisfaction in it's desires if it's Creators-selfe though without measure be not its measure Let the Fire alwayes greedy and ambitious scale the heavens in apparence with continual action by the vain attempts of its ejaculations The least sparckle of the fire of divine love wherewith man may be enflamed is so pure and so noble A man who loves God with all his heart lives upon earth in the same fashion as they live in heaven that one can not conceave an example of its perfection Suppose the transparent heavens have no matter then that of other forme and they render themselves thus wonderfull in their simplicity as in their course still equall and still continuall the spirit of man is infinitely more excellent in its nature and much more noble also in its actions since it workes without selfe-motion but with a manner so divine that its thoughts carry it every where without change of state or place Bee it that the Sun all marvellous in himselfe and his effects produceth nothing but wonders The Sun of reason wherewith man is illuminate is wholly miraculous since it operates in a divine semblable manner The reason of man is a ray beaming from the Sunne of Divinity the vertue of other creatures vegetable and sensitive is inseparably adioyned also to the body of man as its materiall Insomuch that he containes in a degree of eminence above all the creatures of the world Man hath some titles of Nobility to which the very Angels themselves cannot pretend more perfections himselfe alone then all they together have ever possessed And I shall well say more yet That Man hath certaine puissances of disposition to elevate himself so high in his humility that the Angels shall be below him If man were againe to bee sold who could ransome him as hee cost But if I shall yet moreover poize Man in the ballance of the Crosse of his Saviour and set him at the price of the blood wherewith hee was redeemed which of the creatures or rather which of the Angels will be so bold to dispute the preeminence Great Kings Remember then that you are Men but more admirable in your governments then the Sea in its vastnesse Remember that your are Men but also capable to purifie the Ayre by one onely sigh though even that sigh be made of nothing else A man makes himselfe above all things if hee vnder value them with misprize Remember that you are Men but a thousand thousand times yet more noble then the Fire since the Seraphins burne incessantly with those divine Fires wherewith your hearts may bee enflamed Remember that you are Men but more perfect then the Heavens since they were not created but to powre upon heads their benigne influences Remember that you are Men Man is an abridgement rather of the marvels of heaven than of the miracles of earth but more marvellous without comparison then the Sunne since your Reason is a divine light which can never suffer Eclipse but by opposition from a â—oluntary depravednesse Remember that you are Men but also destin'd to command over all other living creaâ—ures Remember that you are Men but also kneaded as it were by the hand of one All-powerfull formed after his Image and redeemed by his blood what can one say more If a man did often muse of the end for which he was created hee would therein set up his rest for all the inquietudes of the world Unto what a point of Glory hast â—hou then elevated me O sweet Saâ—iour in abasing thy selfe even to the grave After thou hadst formed me of â—arth thou hast also taken the same â—orme for to resemble me in all things Thou I say O my God whose infinite greatnesse cannot admit onely the very admiration of the Separphins â—ut through the Traverse of the Vaile of their ordinary submissions What â—rodigie of bounty is this Cause â—e then O Lord if it please thee that may estimate my selfe at the price which thou hast ransomed me for and that in such sort that I may live no more but in loving thee to dye also one day of the same disposition Let me be humbly-haughty carrying the lineaments of thy resemblance that I may alwayes follow thee though not able to imitate thee This is that which I will continually implore thee for untill thou hasâ— heard my vowes I advow now O
Mercurie Trimegistus that thou hast reason to publish that Man is a great miracle The magnificence of man hath neither bounds nor limits since God is his end since God himselfe hath been willing to espousâ— his condition to shew us in its miseâ—ries the miracles of his Love I confesse Pythagoras that thou hast had no lesse ground to maintainâ— that Man was a mortall God Though a man still fade away hee is yet a lively pourtray of immortallitie since except this sweet necessitie which subâ—jects him to the Tombe hee has thousand qualities in him all immoâ—â—tall I should finally have beene 〈◊〉 advise with thee Plato then when thoâ— preachedst every where that Maâ— was of the race of the Gods since 〈◊〉 piece of work so rare and so perfect could not proceed but from a hand Omnipotent All the creatures are admirable as the effects of a soveraigne and independant cause but man has attributes of an unparalleld glory I meane this Rivelet of admiration could not proceed but from a source most adorable I am of thy opinion Plotinus henceforth will maintaine every where with thee that Man is an abridgement of the wonders of the world Since that all the Univers together was created but for his service pleasure Say we yet moreover that those wonders of the world so renowned are but the workes of his hands so that also the actions of his spirit can take their Rise above the Sun and beyond the heavens and this too now in the chaines of its servitude Great Kings Be it supposed that you are living pourtraits of Inconstancy Man flies away by little little from one part of himselfe shat hee may entirely into himselfe The perfection of your Nature lyes in this defect of your powers for this Vicissitude which God hath rendred inseparable to your condition is a pure grace of his bounty since you wax old onely that you may be exempted from the tyranny of Ages since I say you dye every moment only to make acquisition of that immortallity to which his love has destin'd you This defect of inconstrancie is the perfection of man since he ischangeable to day to bee no more so to morrow O happy Inconstancy if in changing without cease we approach the poinâ— of our soveraigne felicity whose foundations are immoveable O dear Vicissitude if row ling without intervall in the dust of our originall we approach by little and little to thosâ— Ages of glory which beyond aâ— time assigne at our End the beginninâ— of a better Carreere O Gloriouâ— Death since terminated at that crueâ— instant A man is onely happy in the perpetuall inconstancie of his condition which separates us from Immortality It is true I confesse it againe Greâ—â— Kings that you are subject to all thâ— sad accidents of your subjects The greatest miserie that can arrive to a man is to offend God Buâ— what happinesse is it if these misfoâ—tunes are as so many severall wayeâ— which conduct you into the Port. Bâ—â— it granted that you are nothing bâ—â— Corruption in your Birth Miserie 〈◊〉 your Life and a fresh infection 〈◊〉 many attributes of honour to yoâ—â— since you disroabe your selves in tâ—â— grave of all your noisomnesse for 〈◊〉 Decke your selves with the ornamenâ— of Grace of felicity and glory whiâ—â— belong in proper to your soules as being created for the possession of all these Good Things Heaven ' Earth Nature the very Divels are admirers of the greatnesse of man Who can be able to dimension the greatnesse of Man since he who hath neither bounds nor limits would himselfe be the circumference of it Would you have some knowledge of Mans power heare the commandement which Iosuah made to the Sunne to stop in the middest of his carreere Would you have witnesses of his strength Samson presents you all the Philistins buried together under the â—uines of the Temple whose foundations he made to totter Require you some assurances of his courage Iob offers you as many as he has sores upon his body In fine desire you some proofes of his happinesse Heaven has sewer of Starres then of felicities to give him Man may bee whatsomever hee will be What name then shall we â—ttribute him now that may be capable to comprehend all his glory There â—s no other then this of Man and Pilate did very worthily no doubt to turne â—t into mockage before the Jewes Iohn 19.5 hee â—hews them a God under the visage of Ecce homo Behold the Man a Man Let the world also expose the miseries of Man in publicke The name Man is now much more noble than that of Angels His Image of Earth is yet animated with a divine spirit which can never change Nature Well may they teare his barke the Inmate of it is of proofe against the strokes of Fortune as well as the gripes of Death The Man of Earth may turne into Earth but the Man of heaven takes his flight alwayes into heaven With what new rinds some-ever a man hee covered he beares still in his sorehead the markes of his Creator That Man I say fickle and inconstant kneaded and shap't from durt with the water of his owne teares may resolve into the same matter But this stable and constant Man created by an omnipotent hand remaines uncessantly the same as incapable of alteration Rouse then your selves from sleepe great Princes Hee that would alwayes muse of Eternitie would without doubt acquire its glory not for to remember Death but rather to represent unto your selveâ— that you are immortall since Death hath no kind of Dominion over youâ— Soules which make the greatest as being the Noblest part of you Awake then great Monarchs not foâ— to Muse of this necessity which draweâ— you every houre to the Tombe buâ— rather to consider that you may exempt your selves from it if your Actions be but as sacred as your Majesties Man ia a hidden treasure whose worth God onely knowes Great PRINCES Awake and permit mee once more to remembrance You that you are Men I meane the Master-pieces of the workes of God since this divine worke-Master hath in conclusion metamorphosed himselfe into his owne worke My feathered pen can fly no higher Man only is she ornament of the world Those which have propounded that Man was a new world have found out proportionable relations and great correspondencies of the one to the other for the Earth is found in the matter whereof hee is formed the Water in his â—eares the Aire in his sighes the Fire â—n his Love the Sunne in his reason â—nd the Heavens in his imaginations But the Earth subsists and he vanisheth 〈◊〉 Sweet vanishment since he is lost 〈◊〉 himselfe that he may bee found in is Creator But the Earth remaines â—â—me and his dust flyes away O hapâ—y flight since eternity it it's aime The â—ater though it fleets away yet returns â—e same way
upon these Thrones of magnificence but as it were to take leave of the assembly All the speeches of Men are but discourses of adieu leave-taking since every day be marches straight forward toward Death continuing still to give your last God-bwyes like a man who is upon point to depart continually since he dyes every moment Insomuch that all this Pompe which accompanyes you and which gives shadow to the luster wherewith you are environed vanishes away with you and all those who are its admirers and idolaters runne the same fortune being of the same nature Be it from me granted that the report of your glory admits no vacuity no more then the Ayre does and that your name is as well knowne as the Sunne and more redoubted then the thunder This voyce of renowne is but as the sound of a Bell To what purpose doth the renown of a Man make a noyse in the world the noyse â—eâ—seth the renowne passeth which redoubles a noyse to its owne detriment to advertise those that doubt on 't and this name so famous and dreadfull finding no memory here below to the proofe of ages buryes it selfe at last in the nothingnesse of its beginning Be it againe that all the Gold of the Indies can be valewed but to a part of your Estate and that all the world together possesse lesse treasure then you alone what advantage thinke you to beare away more then the most miserable of the world that in this you should be vaine Enjoyes not he the same Sunne which lights you hath not he the same usage of the Elements The tranquillity of tâ—e mind and the health of body are the only riches of the world whereof you make use But if you have more then he a gloriousnesse of apparell and a thousand other superfluous things which are altogether estranged to vertue as being imaginary goods whose appearance alone is the onely foundation hee may answere you with Seneca that with whatsomever coverture a Man hides the shame of his nakednesse he shall passe for well-clothed among wise men And to come to the point a Man hath alwayes enough wherewith to follow his way and to finish his voyage The surplus is but a burden of cares which are metamorphosed into so many bryars when Death would discharge us of them Besides Riches consists but in opinion though their treasures be palpable and sensible A man is Rich equall to that which he beleeves himselfe to be He is the most rich who is most conient And though hee hath nothing this Grace wherewith hee is treasured to finde rest in his miseries is above all the Gold of the world What difference thinke you there is betwixt the Rich and the poore both the one and the other are equally pilgrims and travellers and goe alike to the same place Then if the Rich passe through the fairer way they rencounter when they dye All Mortals togethâ—r make a dance of blind men who in dancing runne to death without sâ—â—â—g the way they passe all the thorns of those roses which they have past upon There is no arrivall to the Haven of the grave without being tempested sooner or later in the storme of those miseries which accompany us And me thinks it is a comfort to suffer in good time those evils which we cannot avoyd Rich-ones how miserable doe I hold you if the goods of the earth be your onely treasures Rich-ones how unhappy are you if your felicities be but of Gold The treasure of good workes only inriches us eternally and Silver Rich-ones how you compell my pity of your greatnesses if you have no other titles then those of your Lord-ships Rich-ones how frightfull only at the houre of Death are your names since the misery wherein you are borne accompanyes you in the sepulchre True it is that the Ayre of the Region where you dwell may be very temperate the Seasons of it faire and the lands fertile but you consider not that while you live you often sigh backe the ayre which you receive that this sweet time which smiles on you entraines you in flying to the season of teares The content of riches is like an odor ferous fume but it passes and so doth their enjoyment also and there is all and that very soone the dunghill of your bodyes shall perhaps render the lands yet more fertile The Rich Men of the world have done nought but passe away with the ages that gave them birth you are borne in this and this very same goes away and leads you with it and all the rest of Men without skilling what you are or in what fashion you are vested well may you possesse an infinite number of treasures you must alwayes trot and rise as soone i' the morning as others but if you play the slugs and sleep too long 'T is strange whether we shift place and sâ—at or no we yet runne incessantly to Death Death comes in the end to awake you and interrupt your repose with an eternall disquiet What will you say to this The fable of Midas comprehends in it important verities Apollo grants him all that hee demands he satiates the appetite of his unmeasurable ambition by the vertue which he gives to his touch to be able to turne all things into gold See him now rich for a day his hands are as new Philosophers-stones which make the grossest and most impure metals change both nature To what purpose is it to be environed with riches they are a strange kind of good whereof one can enjoy the usage but for a moment onely and price he sees himselfe enrounded in a moment with so great a number of treasures that he begins to apprehend the enjoyment of those goods which he desired with so much passion and from feare hee comes to astonishment then when prest with hunger all the Viandes which he touches with his hands lips or tongue are metamorphosed into Gold O inseparable amazement from a mortall griefe caused by a semblable regreet that hee could not limit his ambition but to the desire of his owne ruine Rich-men you are as so many Midasses since with all your treasures you never importune heaven for any other thing but to increase their number to which effect you destinate your cares your watchings and your labours But make no more imploring vows behold your selves at last heard The glistering of your riches dazles me your greatnesses and magnificences give you cheerefull tincture yet let us see the reverse of the Medall After your so many strong wishes for Gold and Silver The covetous growes poore in measure as hee growes rich since in encreasing his treasures encreases the famine of his insatiable avarice and thus of what he possesses he enjoyes nothing their treasures remaines to you for to satiate at least in dying the unruled appetite of the ambition of your life Riches I say environ you on all sides after your so passionate covetize
acquire eternall treasures but the Sun sets the candle goes out the bed of buriall is prepared there must be their Enter at the Exit of so many unprofitable pains To what purpose serves it now to know they are fooles having no more time to be wise What cruell Maladie of spirit is it to sacrifice both ones body and soule in an unluckie alymbicke for to nourish a vaine ambition whose irregular appetite can never be satisfied Is not this to take pleasure in kindling the fire which consumes us to burne perpetually with desire of being rich in this world An inclination toward the misprize of Earth is a presage of the getting of Heaven and yet get nothing by it And then to burne againe eternally in hell without possibility to quench the ardour of those revenging flames is not this to warp ones-selfe the web of a fate the most miserable that ever was Produce we then of nothing the creation of this Philosopher-stone grant we it made at present to the hearts of the most ambitious I am content that from the miracles of this Metamorphosis they make us see the marvels of a new gallery of silver like to that which bare NERO to the Capitoll I am content that they make pendant at the point of a needle as SEMIRAMIS the price of twenty millions of gold I am content that after the example of * Atabali King of Peru. Atabalipas they pave their halls with Saphirs I am pleas'd that imitating Cyrus they enround their gardens with perches of gold I am content The World is aptly compared to the Sea since as the stormes of this so are the miseries of that and like the flitting billowes ever rolling so are all the objects which we here admire that the Dryades of their fountaines be composed of the same materiall following the magnificences of Cesar I am content that they erect with Pompey an Amphitheater all covered with plates of Gold I am content they build a Pallace of Ivory there to to lodge another Melaus or a Louvre of Christall to receive therein an other Drusus and let I am content still this Louvre be ornamented with court-cupboards of Pearles equal to those of Scaurus and with coffers of the same price as that of Darius To what will all this come to in the end What may be the reverse of all these medals The scortching heat of Time and the Suns-beames have melted this gallery of silver its admirers are vanisht and its proprietary Even Rome it selfe hath runne the like fate and though it subsist yet 't is but onely in name its ruines mourne at this day the death of its glory That so pretious Pendant of Semiramis could not be exempt from a kind of Death 'T is a Rule without exception that all that is included in the revolution of Time is subject to change though it were inanimate I mean that in its insensibility it hath received the attaints of this Vicissitude which alters and destroyes all things since it now appeares no more to our eyes All those Saphir-paved halls are passed away though Art had enchained them in beautifull Workemanships They have had otherwise a glittering luster like the Sunne but this Planet jealous of them hath refused in the end its clearenesse so much as to their ruines insomuch that they are vanished in obscuritie These gardens environed with railes of gold have had like others divers Spring-times to renew their growth but one Winter alone was enough to make them dye Those Dryades which enricht these fountaines are fled upon their owne water-trils and scarce remaines us their remembrance That proud Amphitheater of Pompey could not eternize it selfe but in the memory of men yet we scarce know what they say when they speake on 't That Ivory Palace of Melaus goes for a fable in histories being buried in the Abisses of non-entitie That famous Louvre of Christall having been bustled against by Time is broken Meditate here a little how oft the face of the Earth hath been varied since its first creation and shivered into so many peeces that not so much as the very dust on 't subsists but in the confus'd Idea of things which have beene otherwhile All those high cup-boards of Pearle and all those coffers of great price have indeed had an appearance like lightning but the thunder-bolt of inconstancy hath reduc't them into ashes and the memory of 'em is preserv'd in ours but as a dreame since in effect it is no more at all But if the precious wonders of past Ages There is nothing so certaine in the world as its uncertaintie have done nothing but passe away together with their admirers and owners is it not credible that those covetous rich ones did runne the same fortune with all the treasures of their Philosopher-Stone and at the end of their Carreere what device could they take but this very same of SALADINE since of all their riches there remaines them at their Death but onely a poore Shirt * Fui nibil ampliu I have beene saies this great Monarch and behold heere 's all Why Rich-ones of the World doe you trouble your selves so much to establish your glory here below for to perswadeus at the end of the journall onely this That you have beene An atome has the same advantage for this creating power which we adore after he had ta'en it out of the Abysses of nothing wherein you also were buried made it to subsist in nature Yet thus is it a blessednesse of our condition thus to escape by little and little the miscries which are incident unto us Bee it that you have beene the greatest on Earth yet now the faire light of your faire dayes is extinguish't for ever The Sun of your glory is eclips't and in an eternall West And that your fate which interloomed the web of your greatnesses together with your lives lyes entomb'd with your Ashes to shew us that these are the onely unhallowed reliques which your Ambition could leave us You have bin then otherwhile the only Minions of Fortune like Demetrius but he and you are now no more any thing not so much as a hand full of Ashes for lesse then with an Infinite power 't were impossible to any to reunite into a body the parcels of the Dust whereof your Carkasses were formed behold in what consists at this day the foundation of your past glory You have bin then otherwhile the same as SALADINE the onely Monarch of the East and have possest as he treasures without number and honours without parallel If vertue eternize not our memorie our life passeth away like the wind without leaving any trace But as He also you have done nothing else but passe away and like him againe you have not beene able to hide your wretchednesse but under a Scrap of Linnen whereof the Wormes have repasted to manifest you to all the World In fine you have beene otherwhile the
this sort What in this instant that we satiate the appetite of our senses with all that Nature hath produced most delicious for their entertaine a million and many more poore soules are reduced to this extremitie as not to have one onely crumme of bread And in this serious thought what relish can they find in their best-cook'd cates and in their sweetest condiment does not this important consideration mingle a little bitternesse But if their spirits estrange themselves from these meditations and fasten to objects more agreeable O how hard of digestion is the second service of their collation Hee which cannot love his neighbour ha's no love for himselfe To speake ingenuously every time when I consider in that condition exempt from want wherein God hath given me birth and wherein his goodnesse which is no other then himselfe keeps me still alive I say when I consider the misery to which the greatest part of the world is reduced I cannot be weary of blessing this adorable Providence All in God is adorable and all incomprehensible we must then adore and be silent which grants me to see from the haven the tempests wherein so many spirits are tossed which grace to me alone me thinks is all extraordinary to see my selfe under shelter from so many evils wherewith so many persons are afflicted By what meanes could I deserve before the Creation of all things that this soveraigne Creator should designe mee from the Abysses of nothing to give me Being and a being moreover of grace making me to be borne in a Golden age in a Christian Kingdome and in a City of the Catholike Faith for to be instructed and brought up as I have beene in the only Religion wherein a man may find his Salvation and with all these benefits moreover to elevate me above the temptations of poverty and misery Are not these most pure favours which would require of this Eternall ONE who hath bestowed them me the tearme of an Eternity that I might be able to arrive to some small condigne acknowledgement of them The most miserable wretch of the world wherein did he differ from me in way of merit of some portion of these favours which he possesseth not since that before time was hee and I were nothing at all and yet from all eternitie God hath bestowed these things on me in precedencie rather then on him At least say I it did behoove me that since the first moment I was capable of reason I had employed all those of my life past in the continuall meditation of so many and so great benefits whereof to reach the reason 't were to find the bottomes of the Abysses of this infinite mercy to which I remaine infinitely indebted And comming to the point ought not I in this preheminence of mine contribute all my power to the succour of him The neerest way from Earth to Heaven is by Charitie who enjoyeth not my happinesse to the end thus to deserve in a manner some partie of them under the favour of merits from this great God who onely gives reward to those good actions which he makes me doe Can I refuse to be charitable to him who onely begges some good of me but to render me worthy of that which I have received from heaven I shall have all things to my wish amidst my pleasures when Death it selfe is deafe to his plaints in extremitie of his paines And shall not I give him some sort of consolation either in good office or in pity being thereunto obliged by yet more powerfull reasons Earthly greatnesse is the least gift of Heaven Great-ones of the World you are more miserable then these miserable-ones even in the mid'st of your felicities if the recite of their evils give you not some touch You have riches more then they but God hath given you these but to cheere their poverty As well also though they now are yours shall they take leave of you at the Even of your depart and if of them you carry any thing away it shall be onely the interests of that which you have lent these Poore-ones Great worldly-ones how is your fate worthy of compassion rather then Envie if you have no other Paradise then your riches Grandees of the World how soone will the source of your contentments dry up if onely your treasures give it spring-head He whose hopes are onely on the world must needs at last despaire Great Worldly-ones of how short endurance shall be your prosperities though an Age should bee limit to their course since at the end of that tearme you must dye eternally and dye in a paine alwayes living Suggest to your selves often these importancies Visit and turne over the leafe to reade more of them When I consider the great number of Emperours Kings Princes and Lords which have governed the World and the Battels which they have given for its conquests since the moment of its creation I remaine all amaz'd nor able to find bounds nor measure in this amuzement Houres Dayes Yeares and Ages may well be different but the world is still the same How many severall Masters may a man imagine then that the World hath had and how many times conquered dividing it into divers Empires Kingdomes and Lordships Well yet the World hath still remained the same and in the same place still but its Emperours Kings Princes and Lords are vanished away one at the heeles of other and all their conquests have served them only as matter of Passe-time since all their combats and battels have had no other price of Victory but upon the same earth where their glories and bodyes remaine together enterred O goodly childish sport to amuze themselves about conquering some little point within the limits wherewith the Universe is bounded Ask but Alexander what hee hath done with the bootyes of his Conquest When he had ta'en away all he had yet nothing and of himselfe now remaines there nothing at all Ambition behold the reverse of thy Medall LORD Preserve to me alwayes if it please thee this humour wherein I now finde my selfe Why should any love the world which deceives all that trust in 't to misprize all the things of the world and It too with passion Give me a heart wavering and inconstant to this end that it may uncessantly change from all worldly Love till it be subjected to the sweet Empire of thy Love Render render evermore my spirit unquiet untill that it hath found its repose in thee alone the foundations of such a rest are unremoveable I will give for nothing all my pretentions on earth for thereto pretend I nothing at all Heaven onely is my marke and ayme Now you shall see soone the end of the Chapter How was it possible that the glory of those brave Romanes of former time could any way arrive to that point though they aym'd it whereto the renowne of Rome it selfe could never attaine What a folly was it These
the window and thou shalt see carryed to the grave some not so old as thy selfe If thou relye upon the health which thou now enjoyest 't is but a false going-dyall The calme of a perfect health Saepe optimus status corpotis periculâ— susimuuuml s. hath oftentimes ushered the Tempest of a suddaine Death What hopest thou for Hip. hope is deceitfull what stayest thou soâ— Sera nimis Vita est crastina vive hodie A wise man ought never to defer till to morrow what should be done to day Lastly what desirest thou The peace of conscience is the only desirable good Goe on then right forward thou canst not misse the way which I have chalk't thee FINIS PERLECTORI The TRANSLATOVR'S COROLLARIE SO Now 't is done although it be no Taske That did much Braines or toylesome Study aske The meaning I ' vouch good but Merit small In rendring English the FRENCH PRINCIPALL It is but a Translation I confesse And yet the Rubs of Death in 't nerethelesse May trippe some cap'ring Fancies of the Time That Domineere and Swagger it in Rime That Charge upon the Reader and give Fire On all that doe not as they doe admire Either their rugged Satyrs cruell veine Or puffe-paste Notes 'bove Ela in high straine Then in prevention quarrell like a curst Scold who being guilty yet will call Whore first When any dyes whose Muse was rich in Verse They claime Succession and prophane his Herse They onely are Heires of his Braine-estate Others are base and illegitimate All but their owne Abettors they defie And LORD-it in their Wit-Supremacy Others they say but Sculke or lye i' th' lurch As we hold Schismaticks from the true Church So hold they all that doe decline their way Nor sweare by Heaven Al 's excellent they say T were well they 'd see the fing'ring on these frets Can neither save their Soules nor pay their Debts Or would they they thinke of Death as they should doe They would live better and more honourd too T is base to doe base deeds yet for false fame To Keepe a stirre and bustle into Name Whilst each applauds his owne contemnes an others Becons his owne deserts but his he smothers They feare Fame's out of breath and therefore they Trumpet their owne praises in their owne way Or ioyne in Tricke of Stale Confed'racy Cal'd Quid pro Quo Claw me and I le claw thee Marry at others Tooth and Naile they flye That do not tread their Path but would goe bye Farewell to these my ayme not here insists Leave we these wranglers unto equall lists To Nobler Natures I my brest expose The Good I bow to in an humble Cloze To such as knowing how vaine this Life is Exalt their thoughts to one better then This. 'T is the best Method to be out of Love With things below and thence to soare above To which effect my soules integrity In L'envoy thus salutes each courteous eye L'ENVOY INgenuous READER thou do'st crowne The Morall active course layd downe By De la SERRE what is pen'd If thy ACTIONS recommend Relating to the first EMBLEME WHen haughtie thoughts impuffe thee than Dictate thy selfe Thou art but Man A fabricke of commixed Dust That 's all the prop of humane trust How dares a Clod of mouldring Clay Be Proud decaying every day And yet there is away beside Wherein may be a lawfull Pride When sly Temptations stirre thee Than Againe the Word Thou art a Man Rouze up thy Spirits doe not yeeld A brave resistance winnes the Field Shall a soule of Heavenly breath Grovell so farre its worth beneath Fouly to bee pollute with slime Of any base and shamefull crime Thou art a Man for Heaven borne Reflect on Earth disdainefull scorne Bee not abus'd since Life is short Squander it not away in sport Nor hazard heavens eternall Joyes For a small spurt of wordly Toyes Doe Something ere thou doe bequeath To Wormes thy flesh to Aire thy breath Something that may when thou art dead With honour of thy name be read Something that may when thou art cold Thaw frozen Spirits when t is told Something that may the grave controule And shew thou hadst a noble Soule Doe something to advance thy blisse Both in the other World and This. Relating to the second EMBLEME WEre both the Indias treasures Thine And thou LORD of every Mine Or hadst thou all the golden Ore On Tagus or Factolus Shore And were thy Cabinet the Shrine Where thousand pearles and Diamonds shine All must be left and thou allowd A little linnen for thy Shrowd Or if 't were so thy Testament Perhaps a goodly Monument What better is a golden Chase Or Marble then a Charnell place Charon hence no advantage makes A halfe-penny a soule he takes Thy heires will leave thee but a Shirt Enough to hide thy rotten Dirt. Then bee not Greedy of much pelfe He that gets all may lose himselfe And Riches are of this Dilemme Or they leave us or we must them Death brings to Misers double Woe They loose their Cash and their soules too Change then thy scope to heavenly gaines That wealth eternally remaines Relatory to the third EMBLEME BE not curious to amaze With glitt'ring pompe the Vulgar gaze Strive not to cheat with vaine delight Those that are catcht with each brave sight How soone will any gawdy show Make their low Spirits overflow Whose Soules are ready to runne-ore At any Toy nere seene before Rather thy better thoughts apply For to addresse thy selfe to dye Bee ne're so glorious after all Thy latest pompe's thy Funerall Shall a dresse of Tyrian Dye Or Venice gold Embroyderie Or new-fash'on-varied Vest Tympanize thy out-strutting brest There 's none of these will hold thee tacke But thy last colour shall be Blacke Bee not deceiv'd There comes a Day Will sweepe thy Gloryes all away Meane while the thought on 't may abate Th' Excesses of thy present ' state Death never can that Man surprize That watches for 't with wary Eyes Doe Soe And thou shalt make thereby A Vertue of Necessitie And when thy Dying-day is come Goe like a Man that 's walking home Heav'n Guard thee with Angelicke pow'r To be prepared for that houre When ev'ry Soule shall feele what 'T is To have liv'd Well or done Amisse Relating to the fourth EMBLEME LEt not the Splendour of high Birth Bee all thy Glosse without true worth Let neither honour nor vast wealth Beautie nor Valour nor firme health Make thee beare up too high thy head All men alike are buried Stare not with Supercilious brow Poore folkes are Dast and so art Thou Triumph not in thy worldly Odds They dye like men whom we count Gods And in the Grave it is all one Who enjoy'd all or who had none Death cuts off all superfluous And makes the proudest One of us Nor shall there diffr'ence then betweene The dust of LORDS or slaves be seene Together under ground they lye