reasonable rate Such a Commodity is both rare and saleable thus and thus may he ingrosse a good parcell of it thus and thus inhaunce the price These and these sealed Bagges are in such a Chest and these and these Bonds and Bills in such another And thus lyes he counting all the night long And if you were brought into his Bed-Chamber at midnight as was Mycillus the Cobler into Grypheus the vsurers you should euen then finde him waking Nay if the Deuill should come about that time to fetch him he should hardly take him napping The Riches of the Couetous trouble and torment him on euery part whether of Body or Minde He Conscience hath no peace his Knowledge finds no truth his Desire gets no appeasment His Belly wants food his backe rayment his Heart wants ease his Eyes sleepe and his Bones want rest Sigismundus the Emperour when he could not sleepe the night throughout for taking thought what hee should doe with all his Gold was newly sent him the next day hee dealt it amongst his Captaines and Connsellours and could say afterwards Now I am rid of a Tormentour I shall now sleepe in quiet I would a Many should not so sleepe till they had done likewise Gape and yawne and turne and tosse and muse and moane and sigh and quake yee restlesse Wretches I will not pirty you since you may ease your selues if you will But if thus tired with Thoughts he fall at last into some faint Slumber Oh how short it is how vnquiet Hee dreames all the while he is posting to a Faire crouded in a Market either Buying Selling Chopping Changing Hiring Letting Writing Sealing Counting His Mind still runs vpon Mony Wares Chapmen Cheatours Theeues or Deuills Harke harke his Dog barks at Moon-shine he now wakes starts at the apprehension of Theeues and Robbers It is the Winde whiskes by his Window and he imagines he heares them whisper He hears but the Doore creake and he thinks they now are breaking in Vp he gets and loudly calls vpon lusty Dicke and Robbin and Ralfe when there is no more but little Iacke to heare him Bids bring the Pistoll Musket Sword and Speare when his whole munition is a Spirit or a Pitchforke His Colour changes Haire stands vpright Heart pants Breast throbs Ioynts quake and all this while hee suffers so much through his Feare as he feares to suffer Who would trouble themselues to get Riches that thus trouble them that haue them Trouble to get them trouble to keep them and trouble to leaâ—…e or lose them Here plodding and toyling there Watching and caring and sighing and groaning there Making a Man here sollicitous anxious there and there againe forlorne Molesting the Man that his Goods are not increased and againe molesting lest his Goods should be diminished It both vexes him that he hath no more and vexes him that he may haue lesse It troubled AHAB to adde NABOTHS Vineyard vnto his owne It troubled the RICH-MAN to conserue enlarge his Possesions It troubled the YOVNG-MAN to part with his Goods vnto the Poore HE knew well how restlesse a thing was Riches who likened them to THORNES Like Thornes in the sides they suffer not a Man to sit still Like Thornes in the Fingers they hinder a Man from labouring with his hands Like Thornes in the Eyes they blinde a Man from beholding the Truth Like Thrones in the Heart they barre a Man from embracing the Right Like Thornes in the Feet they let a Man for going about any thing that is Good To what shall I now liken the Riches of the World but to all the infesting plagues of AEGYPT Their Riuers were turned into Bloud and these haue made euen Riuers of Bloud Frogs came into mens Bed-chambers and these creepe into mens Bosomes The Dust of the Land became Lice and this Dust of the Earth is turned to such like Tormentours Swarmes of Flies infested Aegypt and these corrupt the Land The Murraine slue the Beasts of the Land This what with toyling ryoting spoyling hath slaine them the whole Earth thorowout The Men could not stand at ease by reason of Boyles and Botches nor doe these suffer men to sit at rest The Haile destroyed the Beasts and Trees and these haue done the like destructions Locusts were brought into the Land and these cause many a Caterpiller Darknesse was ouer AEGYPT so thicke that it might be felt and these while they are grop't and felt with the hand they blind the eyes All the first borne were slaine at Mid-night and these haue torne the prime Youngling from the Mohers Belly Breast and Bed Who is now the Rich man of the World that is not richer in Plagues than he is in Possessions That abounds not in Restlesnesse more than in Reuenues It was a Wise reuenge of One alwayes to inrich his Enemies and Offenders affirming it was punishment enough to make them rich meaning Wealth can want no Woe and he that hath great Riches hath little Rest withall But say the Couetous Carles of our dayes punish them so and hurt them sore Silly Asses they are burdened most and yet they thinke they are most rewarded They take it for a Blessing not knowing that it proues a Snare In the Worlds eye he is the Happy Man that hath House by House Field by Field Flocke by Flocke Bagge by Bagge and Chest by Chest He goes cloathed in purple and fine Linnen and fares deliciously euery day Fine fed and gay clad His Cates and Raiments both farre fetcht and deare bought and the Substance and Matter of neither are thought good enough for him but both are made better if Cost and Art can make them so One Backe and Belly of his how many doth it exercise and employ thus to clad and feed Besides all men seeke to him serue honour and applaud him O happy be He hath an Heauen vpon Earth that thus hath the World at will Fooles that conceit those happy whose Miseries they conceiue not They view the Painting but not the Rottennesse See the best by them but know not the worst is within them You behold laughter in the Face but you now consider not the Heart is heauy You reckon what Pleasures Profits Honours but thinke not what Feares Cares Discontents An honest poore Man would not haue the rich Gluttons Estate to haue his Mind The one hath little and wants little the other wants as much as he hath The one could eat and he had it the other hath it and cannot eat There 's health and hunger here 's plenty and paine This is alway timorous that other still secure This is Free the other Bond This sleepes while the other wakes Many a poore Man hath made merry with a belly full of Bread and Water and after slept soundly vpon an hard Cratch while many a Rich man hath sighed bitterly at a Banquet of Wine and waked carefully vpon a Bed of Downe Alas poore man and perplexed his last Nights ill
faist thou but another after thee may proue as lauish as thou hast beene scraping as riotous as thou sparing and may scatter that in a Yeare which tooke thee a Life to gather and what profit hast thou that thou hast laboured for the Wind T is true and iust both said and Found After a great Getter there commonly comes a Spender Goods ill gotten are ill spent The First Heire may haue them and a Second perhaps all which a Third scarce comes to heare of Nay but I now bethinke me thou hast neuer an Heire For whom is it now thou dost so toyle and irke yea and damne thy selfe Thou knowest thou must not haue them and who must haue them thou knowest not Perhaps one that neuer knew thee or will neuer thanke thee HE puts thee in minde of such thy Frailty and Folly at once Man Walketh in a vaine Shadow and disquieteth himselfe in vaine he heapeth vp riches and cannot tell who shall gather them Tush why tell you him If no Body will lay claime to it let it fall to the King Church Commons Poore of the Parish But for feare of such a Forfeit thou hast chosen thee an Heire vnto thy selfe One that thou louest well yea better it seemes than thine owne Soule One that loues thee well and well he may and it be but for the loue hee hath to thine He cannot chuse but loue thee horribly while he loues Thine so impatiently That is he could wish Thee and Thine at once both hang'd and had yea to haue Thine what cares he to curse Thee to Hell He is one of the same Name I am sure though not one of the Kinne So so Keepe the House howsoeuer in the same Name belike the Line was not worthy of it ABSOLON hath no Childe for his Name to liue in shall he rot therefore out of remembrance no not while ABSOLONS Pillar stands If he haue no Monument of his Loynes he can haue a Pillar of his Name and that 's enough to vphold his House This is one of the last but not the least follies of Men to let a Title carry it before the Right To make Kinsmen Strangers and a Kinsman of a Stranger With the whole Price of an Heiredome to buy the Name of an Heire or an Heire of the Name To purchase a lying Affinity with a costly kinde of Adoption Nay but the Heire that must be is a Poore Sisters Sonne The poore rag'd Knaue I can tell you is like to be Lord of all He shall one day owne all that is his Vncles though his Vncle now scarce will owne him Not a Farthing will he allow him to educate and maintaine him though leaue him all at last to waste perhaps or else ingrosse You shall finde him set the first in his Will which neuer was suffered to sit the last at his Table It is the manner of the Couetous to part with nothing while they liue no not to those to whom they mind to leaue all at their Death While he liues all is too little for himselfe but let him take all to him when he dies His Heire is now beholden to him not for what he hath bestowed but for what he could not keepe And will therefore thanke him when he shall not heare him will pray for him when it shall doe him no good Thou now liest gasping and thine Heire is gaping Euery looke he lets vpon thee accuses the slownesse of thy Death For he thinkes it his Wrong and Hurt that thou liuest Hee sighs and wailes before thee not that he cares for thy losse but hopes for thy Gaine How he howles and blubbers while thy hands quake Teeth guash Eyes close Breath stops Heart choaks and Soule flits all not so much that thou art now dead as that thou diedst not ere this No Mans Death is more desired than the Couetous Mans It is alwayes expected plotted often yea and sometimes vntimely effected All therefore wish him dead because like the Hog in the Pot he doth good to none but after his Death Well thou 'lt therefore shake off these Shadowes and mind'st I heare to build some Hospitall Schoole Colledge or doe some charitable Deed withall Sayes he so The Man liues poore I perceiue with purpose to die rich and dies rich to doe good after his Death Yea then doe Good when he can doe no longer hurt He hath robbed Peter all his Life and will now pay Paul at his Death That is no Liberalitie to giue when he can no longer haue no Charitie to releeue one with what he hath wrested from another no Pietie to doe Euill that Good may come thereof and no Equitie to get ill with a purpose to bestow it well I would not wish thee to goe to Hell all thy Life with an intent to win Heauen after thy Death Dost thou offend still with purpose to make amends Wealths well bestowing is not enough for the Fault in the getting Satisfaction may appease the Hurt it cannot wipe away the Guilt of Fraud or Oppression But if thou wilt doe Good withall I would aduise thee to doe it while thou hast it in thine hand to doe Doe well with it while it is yet thine What thanks is it to thee what Good is done with it when thou hast left it Doe then resigne it before thou must needs bequeath it thou hadst as good doe Good by thy selfe as others Euen now feed and cloath the Poore that their Loynes and Bowels may blesse thee before thou diest He is but a silly Traueller that so orders for his Iourney as to haue his Prouision sent after him when himselfe is already gone so farre before He may well want it ere it ouertake him Good Workes goe merrily with or before vs they follow but slowly afterwards I dreame but too well of him there 's no such matter he meanes He meanes as Hermocrates to make himselfe his owne Heire and wishes still that his Goods might fall by succession to himselfe Or else with Another will he deuoure his Gold before his Death and so bury it in him Or with such Another sow it in his Sleeue and appoint it to be buried with him Ah this bewitching Wealth ha this Gold this Gold how it ties Mens Hearts vnto it Once Couetous and alwayes so Auarice is commonly the Vice of old Age Whereas other vices then fade this grows afresh And as it begins with Age so it ends not but with Life A Couetous Man growes the fonder of his Gold the sooner he must forgoe it Yea when it must needs Leaue him euen then is he loth to leaue it I haue now said so much of thee that I had almost forgotten my selfe Who thinkst thou am I Euen no better than I would no other than thou oughtst to be Will I like thee abase mine Affections vnto Earth when I am bound to ayme at nothing vnder Heauen To what can I stoope to in a World that am aboue a World I am
more worthy than to welcome base Pelfe vnto me so as to worship it My Minde came from Heauen My Gold comes but from Earth I doe not meane to set Earth aboue Heauen in letting my Gold ouerrule my Minde If it will dwell with me it shall be my Seruant I intend to bee no Slaue vnto it Riches can I contemne and not desire and vse can vse the World as though I vsed it not can passe by this present Life because I am to passe through it to another to a better Life Yea can content me with a present Scantnesse for hope of the Fulnesse I am to haue hereafter It is not an Earth that I would nor can an Earth suffice and appease my Will My Heart is a true framed Triangle a coyned Circle cannot fill it Nothing can satisfie my Soule but All things He only is enough vnto it in whom it is Nothing lesse than God can suffice the Soule that is capable of God Euery Creature is but vile to him that knowes but his Creator A whole Earth is too strait for him that lookes as wide as Heauen The whole Ocean of the World is but as a drop to a thirstie Soule to whom one drop of the riuer of Paradise is plenteous refreshment Hee counts Mammon but base that prizes God And the wise Merchant cares not to part with all to purchase the pretious Pearle vnto him Did my Will embrace a World it would still aske more A World is not enough to my Will What then should I desire but what onely and fully can answer and appease my Desire I haue but little t is true and the best is I want but little I haue but little yet enough and that can neuer be little that is enough and what is not enough when it is at the most is not much I lacke but little I haue chosen the better part than so to be carefull for many things when one thing is necessary Godlinesse with Contentment is great Gaine said One that for his Knowledge knew both how to want and how to abound and for his Experience Hauing nothing yet possessed all things Godlinesse with Contentment saies he Why that 's enough for Man or Christian Nature inuites the one to be content with a little and Grace aduises the other Hauing food and Raiment therewith to be content A Man will Content him with Natures lot and limit so will a Christian bee content with what measure God hath mett out vnto him Content is all The least Portion is enough the lowest Condition happy with the aequanimitie of the Bearer The Man is likest to God that lacks the least whose propertie it is to haue need of Nothing and to be sufficed with himselfe The Contented Man is rich in the midst of Pouertie whereas the Couetous is poore in the midst of Riches He that can be content with what he hath wants not what he hath not he that is not so wants what he hath The Patriarch cared for no more but Bread to eat and Raiment to put on The Wise Man craued neither Pouertie nor Riches but Conuenience onely I will make that enough to mee which God hath giuen mee with a sparing hand God saw no more was good for mee he therfore gaue mee no more Whether God giues little or much he giues for the best Better is a little with the Feare of the Lord than great Treasure and trouble therewith Or say my Estate be not enough to my Will I can make my Will enough to mine Estate Namely while it answers not mee accordingly I can accordingly apply my selfe to it Hee that cannot make his owne enough will neuer haue enough though all were his owne Mee thinks I yet see how Crates threw his Gold into the Sea And heare how Phocion told Alexander that himselfe was richer who needed not his great Gift than was hee who gaue it And thinke how Fabricius thought it a Kingdome to contemne the Wealth of a King These knew Gold and Siluer was but an elaborate Dust Wealth was but a toylsome Heape and all manner of Riches not such as their owne Worth but the Errours of men had prized and brought into request This vnnecessary Trash they knew proued was but an impediment to Vertue and an inticement to Euill They therefore whose best Vertues were but the best Vices despised that for Vertues sake which they knew to be the matter and meanes to Vice Did the Nations abhorre and doth Israel adore the Golden Idoll Is Mony lesse Earth and Drosse than it was of old or are Mens Affections now become more vile and earthy Haue Christians more neede of Wealth than had Pagans Nay haue they not a nearer safer fuller Prouidence within than haue they that were and are without How is it now they preferre the things of this Life before them that had neither the Knowledge nor Hope of another and better Life To leaue and contemne the Wealth of the World is an ordinary Lesson of Philosophie To heape and adore them then can be no good Diuinitie If Nature could teach Them to neglect them because they did them no Good Grace mee thinkes should the rather instruct mee not to regard them because they doe mee hurt Yea as I fay doe me hurt and more hurt then for which a World can make amends Both staine my Soule and damne my Soule and can a World now both wipe and quit this both Guilt and Losse What shall it profit a Man if hee shall gaine the whole World and lose his owne Soule saith HE that doth as much as quite deny what hee doth thus demand or what shall a man giue in exchange for his Soule An whole World belike is not worth a Soule I were vnwise then to hazard my Soule though it were for a world I will tell the Worldling what I know and what hee finds Riches staine the Soule For a Man doth not lightly and easily become rich without his Euill and Sinne. Why doth he call it the Vnrighteous Mammon but because Riches and Righteousnesse seldome goe together But it is common to haue Wealth and Wickednesse at once How gets a Man his Wealth but by Fraud and Oppression how spends a Man his Wealth but vpon his Pride and Lusts That must needs be bad outright which is purchased by bad meanes and imployed to bad Ends Riches are but base in their Nature but are euen bad in their Effects He might haue beene Poore and Innocent together that is now growne both Guilty and Rich. Is a man to more good for his Goods I will neuer thinke Man the better for his Meanes since I see it is the meanes to make him worse But I must tell him withall what I feare and what hee would loth to finde Riches damne the Soule It is woe ah woe too true Before he beginne his Gaine he hath quite lost himselfe yet considers not how he loses all in the losse of himself The acquisition of his Pelfe
was at the first sealed with the damnation of his Soule Who but THEY the Deuill and his Angels were to fetch away the Rich mans Soule He bids you vnderstand how headlong he hurries downe to Hell that tells you how hardly he gets vp into Heauen Saying Jt is easier for a Camell to goe thorow the eye of a needle than for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdome of God Briefly He tells plainely of their Blemish and Vengeance together They that will be rich fall into temptation and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtfull Lusts which drowne men in destruction and perdition Ah but t is a miserie me thinkes to bee poore And there is we say No Woe to Want The Parenthesis was well put in both for the pith and Truth of the Saying Pouerty is a Misery but it is to them that so make it because they take it so Pouertie is no burden to him that can beare it out None feeles the weight of it but he that feares to vndergoe it Not trouble some is it to him that beares it but to him that will not beare it Nothing is hard to a willing Mind to an vnwilling is nothing easie Pouerty is grieuous to no man but rather many a Man is so to it This is the misery of it that a man will needs make it so to himselfe I am worthily wretched when I will not be otherwise perswaded but that I am so In my Minde Hee 's not poore that would not be rich and hee lacks nothing that craues not many things Tush tush No man is poore indeed and but in conceit is no Man rich He is Poore indeed that cares to be rich Hee 's rich enough that feares not to be Poore Reach indeed to the Opinion of Men and who is Rich But stoope to the Condition of Men and who is Poore Nature hath limited a Man to liue with little And shall a Man thinke him Poore when he hath not wherewithall to transgresse Natures Bounds There is a kinde of Meannesse and Scantnesse to many a Man It is their pecuishnesse to call it Basenesse and Beggery and to reproach it so and abhor it Men doe miscall what they know not how to esteeme And as Children are skarred at Bugge-beares and fabled or fained Hobgoblins so Fooles flie this Ghostly and gastly appearing Pouerty by Fire and Water Sea and Land Let others thinke Pouerty a wofull misery I will deeme it as I well proue it an happy Security The Poore Man he does no hurt he feares no hurt Hee is not enuied not hated not cursed incures not the treacherous Enmities of Men He sings and dances before the Theefe sleepes safe and sound vnder euery Hedge Nothing hath he he feares to lose and lies so low as whence he cannot fall I should therefore like Pouerty the better because it is lesse obnoxious to Feare and Losse Who would still trouble him to possesse Riches that must once be more troubled in their Losse It is safer a great deale not to Haue than to Lose And hee farre merrier whom Fortune neuer respected than whom she hath now forsaken The Lesser I am I am Greater than whom Change or Chance may indammage But say Pouerty were worse than it is and I poorer than I am I am ot other than Others yea and my Betters haue likewise beene What should I tell of poore Kings Prophets Apostles Fathers Saints CHRIST himselfe was Poore borne of a poore Woman brought forth in a poore Stable lapt in poore Clouts laid in a poore Manger liued a poore Life HE euen he hungred he wanted he had not wherewith to pay the Due he had not whereon to lay his Head Now Worme of Earth how is it thou couetest so to be rich sith the God of Heauen and Earth was so willing to be Poore What was there in the World was worthy of God What cared he then for the worth of a World Why would hee want these Things of ours but to tell vs that we our selues might well bee without them Why contemne them but to teach vs not to desire them My SAVIOVR cared not to bee rich feared not to bee Poore to bid me not trouble my selfe with so needlesse Feares and Cares One thing is let the World goe the worst with me I cannot liue poorer than I was Borne and so must Die. Naked said the Poore man came J out of my Mothers Wombe and naked shall I returne thither And the wise man As hee came forth of his mothers wombe naked shall he returne to goe as he came and shall take nothing of his Labour which bee may carry away in his hand Jn all points as he came so shall hee goe and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the Wind Come naked Goe naked Bring nothing Carry nothing To what purpose then doe Men get and gather those things which they once had not and once must not haue These things of ours here only we haue them and wee leaue them here Said I of Ours How are they Ours which at first were not so and at last shall not so be That is ours which we bring with vs but that anothers which we get vnto vs That is Ours which we keepe with vs but that anothers which wee leaue behind vs. That is a mans Owne which is not added to a Man which is not taken from a Man which is not one mans more than anothers A Mans Soule is a mans owne Riches are not so Oh hazzard not your owne to haue the Things that are not yours He fitly called them vncertaine Riches They vncertaine to vs and we likewise to them They Vncertaine Now ours now others now gotten now gone Nothing is Certaine in Riches but vncertainty So He expresly Riches Certainly make themselues Wings They fly away as an Eagle towards Heauen An Eagle flies suddenly flies swiftly So are Riches gone instantly gone irrecouerably These things of ours they goe from vs by more wayes than one Either thy Fade of themselues or we Consume them or others Depriue vs of them Our Food is subiect to putrefaction our Garments to the Moth and fretting our Gold and Siluer to the rust and canker our Lands to barenesse and barrennesse and our Houses to rottennesse and ruine Fire may deuoure them Water swallow them Enemies spoile them or Theeues purloyne them O vaine Man How is it thou now trustest in a Thing so vaine Trust not in vncertaine Riches Set not thine eyes vpon the Thing that is not Yea let mee say to One and All of you Lay not vp for your selues Treasures vpon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Theeues breake thorow and steale But lay vp for your selues Treasures in Heauen where neither Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Theeues do not break thorow and steale We also are vncertaine Did not Riches leaue vs yet must we leaue them at last Death is not drawne to partialitie nor can she be corrupted Gold
both hard and harsh I am sorry for Heraclitus that was so Sad himselfe because others hee saw were Bad. Shall euery Bad man make mee a Sad man When I maruell shall hee be Merry whom others Euill may afflict This were to hurt my selfe and doe them no good Alas too tender Philosopher himselfe was to be wept for that so wept for others I laugh in like manner at Democritus that mocking Philosopher that made such lests at mens Earnests How should I thinke him serious that thought all ridiculous I rather like with Lampsacus to mix both and fall a Madding to put vpon mee the very Face of a Fury and as a Spie come from Hell to giue the Deuils notice of mens mischieuousnesse There are Euils in the world to be Sad at Merry at Mad at Wee cannot but waile at mens Miseries but smile at their Vanities but rage at their Iniquities Errours may prouoke vs but Impieties will inrage Aske now no more with Achish I answer you at once You haue all need of Mad men The Diuine Fury is ready against you The Furies of Hell are ready for you a yelling Fury of your owne is within you Oh suffer another Fury shun the other an Holy Fury An Holy Fury to spie out your Euils in your Hearts to tel them to your Teeth to curse them before your Faces to rend them from your Soules to damne them to their Hell Neuer more need of Mad men than now adayes No Fiercenesse of men can be enough to curse and damne the now Sinnes of men No Fury vnder Heauen none aboue Hell is enough to plague them I will as disorderly reckon the Disorders of our dayes Now are the Euill Dayes the Perillous Times for now The whole world lieth in wickednesse Since the World was neuer was the World so wicked as now It was once the Wickednesse of a World but is now a World of Wickednesse The Wickednesse that once was was concluded in a Garden but the whole World cannot containe the Wickednesse that now is Nay the Wickednesse that now is can containe a whole World For so he sayes The whole World lieth in wickednesse And not Wickednesse only in a World The World was a Seat of Wickednesse but Wickednesse is become a Continent of the World Quite against the Rule of Reason the Accident is the receptacle for the Subiect Wee are now the worst Generation of Men Euen they vpon whom the Euill Dayes are come indeed Our Fathers haue left their Faults behind them which of Euils in them at first are become Examples to vs after them Wickednesse is now not onely Done but Taught Vngodlinesse is growne to a Fashion Iniquitie and Euill is so generally customarily publikely taken vp that to be Wicked now is not onely made pardonable but thought commendable amongst vs. Wee haue exceeded our Forefathers Euill and for our Time haue set vp Sinne at so high a Pitch that it were impossible to thinke how Posterity should adde vnto our Iniquities And this is the woe of all that Men are irrecouerably Euill Their corruption hath brought them to a custome their custome to an Obstinacy their Obstinacie to a Necessitie of being Euill and that Necessity of being Euill to an impossibility of being otherwise As a Diuine Philosopher to his Friend When thou shalt see said hee a Multitude in a Market Theatre or like frequented place thinke with thy selfe there are as many Vices as Men. I say besides in a Play-house Exchange Hall Court and Church there is euer a greater throng of Sinnes than Men. For amongst the throngs of Men euery Man hath his throng of Sinnes Not to the Heads of Men only but to the Haires of their heads may their Sinnes bee numbred Men were neuer so many but one man might reckon all the rest But the Sins of one man are more than he can count much more than for which he can giue account What say we of men and their Sins You cannot reckon more Nations than you may Abhominations Besides the Barbarous People whose Religion it is to doe Deuils worship whose Law to doe Men Wrong Wee speake of these more Ciuill more Christian Parts Loe here Euery Nation as I said and I cannot say more fitly his Abhomination The Germane Gluttonous the Italian Irefull the Spaniard Proud the Frenchman Effeminate the Dutchman Deceitfull the Irishman Idle the Scottish-man Soothing and the Englishman alas the Englishman Euil Obserue all manner of Men and their Manners Turks are Barbarous Iewes Malicious and Christians ah Christians Hypocriticall I may say of Any or of All. Iniquity abounds in all both Nations Persons Actions In all which Innocence is not onely rare but none at all Hee spake but too true of these Times and Crimes of ours In the last dayes perillous Times shall come For men shall bee louers of their owne selues Couetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to Parents Vnthankfull Vnholy without naturall Affection Truce-breakers false Accusers Jncontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are Good Traitours Heady High minded Louers of Pleasures more than louers of God Hauing a forme of Godlinesse but denying the Power thereof In these Dayes Men are Borne Liue and Die vnto themselues And are become such strange Louers of themselues that beside themselues loue they neither God nor Man Their owne Lusts only loue they as their liues Those vices of theirs that please them they maintaine Will out-face rather than acknowledge them rather approue than forsake them Euery man now for himselfe Nay euery man now one against another All wilde and sauage Ismaels His hand against euery Man and euery mans hand against him His Brothers Knife at his Brothers Throat his Brothers Sword in his Brothers side Stranger is not safe with Stranger Nor is Kinne secure with Kinne And louing Brethren are as Blacke Swans The Godly man most of all is in this world of wickedones as a Lilly amongst Thornes as a Sheepe in the midst of Wolues With IOB a Brother to Dragons and with EZEKIEL a Neighbour to Scorpions A LOT in Sodome a IOSEPH in Egypt an ISRAEL in Babylon Must either be drawn to doe Euill or forced to endure it All that is in this World is either Snares or Preyes There is no way for vs to escape our selues but by seeking to intrap others The world is come to such a passe that wee must either doe Wrong or take Wrong Kill or be Killed Deceiue or be Deceiued Religion it is manifest is but taken vp vnder hand while Pietie and Honesty lie so vnder foot They make some Profession that so they may wrong with losse Suspition Men walke like Foxes in Lambes skins that they may the rather deceiue and come like Wolues in Sheeps Cloathing that so they may the sooner deuoure Pharisee like Cleane Outsides painted Sepulchers whited Walls they deuoure Widowes Houses vnder pretence of long Prayers And what more foule Iniquitie than this so fained Sanctity How horribly doe men belie their Vices
it That hast beene so Bad. The Proud GOe to then and what 's He I haue seene the Man but of late and how suddenly is he altered True Embleme of his owne Mutabilitie Hee shewes it but he heeds it not To Day hath chang'd him from Yesterday both in Face and Fashion Nor shall you see him the Same to Morrow that he is to Day The Man seemes but as he is a very Changeling Nay he so adapts his Humour also to his Habit that you shall neuer take him but in as many Minds as Suits How he grudges at the stinted Course of Nature as but niggardly that at first allotted him but one Face and Skinne and Bulke and Shape but admires the Liberall Inuention of Art that can still so trimly and newly proportion him He thinkes himselfe I warrant him a farre comelyer Creature of a Taylors shaping than of Gods making As the one therefore he shames to be seene but as the other hee glories to shew himselfe He is one of ADAMS owne Sonnes and hath it by Kinde to blush at his bare Selfe Ah! we could not thus irke our selues were not our selues conscious of some thing other than good Wee see some vglinesse which wee would haue none to seâ— Had we not defaced the Image of God in vs we had neuer bin ashamed to let it haue bin seene Truth desires to beseene naked as she is And the Purest things abhor to be couered or coloured Painted Wals painted Sepulchres you conceiue what they are beside their Painting Oh but I see he hath quite altered the Fashion and hath made him a new kinde of Catchcredit of his old Couer-shame His sightly Ornament hee counts it which was once but his Fore-Fathers beggarly Shift Ah! that Men can now glory in that Superfluity whose very Necessitie was but the Badge and Liuery of their Shame We know t was ADAMS Shame that he was so driuen to haue them And wee thinke it our shame when we are so driuen that we haue them not He is not I see by him a little proud of himselfe now beclad in a varnisht Excrement so bedawbd in a glittering Rubbish Who thinkes himselfe the better Man for what he is glad to borrow of Beasts and Earth Is hee the more Man for what they before him were not the lesse Bruits Dung See see A Sheepe in a golden Fleece Howsoeuer hee thinkes of his Fleece I will thinke him but a Sheepe Hee prances most statelily in his gay Trappings But I would be loth to buy or vse an Horse that is only so valued It is for him to prize a faire Outside that knowes nor hath nothing within worthy more esteeme How curiously hee glances vpon himselfe Hee thinkes hee is for other eyes than his owne to be so broadly gazed at Why cringes he so to his Coat vnlesse he would in good earnest which the Philosopher did in iest Honour that that honours him Bucephalus is now royally trapt and flings at all but Alexander himselfe disbarbe but the Iade and euery Stable-Groome may bestride him Many Men as Proud to seeme what they are not It only debases them to be seene and knowne what they are The Asse carries painted and polished Isis vpon his backe and Lord how the Vulgar Worship him A wise man will iudge of the Tree by the Fruit or Bulke he is a Foole that doth value it by the Barke or Huske A proper Squire hee seemes neere at hand and you marke him well dight vp Beside a spruce shape and gay Glosse hee hath about him see what a lofty Port and Gesture hee carries with him Hee stalkes on in state I should say he marches most maiestickly All his Pace is Measures and his Hands accordingly keepe Time to the Tune of his Feet His Beuer cocks Feather waggs Locks houer and Beard stands in print his Band spreading like a Net about his necke his Cloake displayd as a Flagge vpon his arme his Doublet hanging by Gimmers vpon his shoulders and his Breeches button'd about him His Boots ruffle Spurrs gingle and his long Rapier which he is often tied to confronts him at the hilt and toward the point answers his heeles with a grace What a supercilious Looke he hath I warrant you the very blast or sound of his Speech would make you start How he reares in the Necke struts at the Stomacke and traces with his Armes a kemboll he trips with his Toes on the Earth waues his Hand as hee would touch the heauens with his Finger He hath one part and propertie of a Man which is to looke vpwards Hee thinks this same doth preferre him with Reasonables when we know it doth but distinguish him from Bruits Hee le set his Leggs vpon the Last rather than lose an inch of his height I will say one good word for him and t is the best I know by him Than this Man in his way no man walkes more vprightly Marke how he heaues as though hee almost scorn'd to tread Hee casts vp his Nose into the Wind looks beyond the Clouds mantles against the Moone and busies himselfe wholly to build Castles in the Aire What an Aldermans pace hee comes Hee prolongs the Pageant for the Beholders take and hurries nor on too hastily lest most Eyes finde no leisure to looke vpon him See see he stops and turnes in the mid way at but the apprehension of a lost labour Oh doe him not the wrong to looke beside him for if you see him not hee comes by to no purpose The Proud man is not more haughty in his owne than ridiculous in a wise mans eyes whereas others looke at him hee lookes thorow him and sees plainly the vanitie of his Minde in that bodily shaping Hee but smiles at that Carriage of his which others learne And thinkes what Folly there is in Pride that faines to it selfe as it would and flatters it selfe as it hath fained Hee tels her his eyes are purer than her painted glory can dazle nor are they stinted to behold that only which shee would haue him see Hee cals her the Ape of Nations and Fashion-monger of the World and tels her plainly shee hath more Followers of her Fashions than are either Wise or Good Doe you heare Sir Surely his eares are taken vp to listen only to his owne fantasticke Suggestions Hee is wholly busied about himselfe and heeds not others while he thinkes others cannot choose but heed him At him once more I pray you Sir Now he squints at mee ouer the left shoulder as though he deemd mee at a glance scarce worth the most carelesse peece of his notice Perhaps hee likes not the fashion of my phrase t is too homely for his quaint rellish and sounds not correspondent to the scraping of his whole acquaintance I am not wonted to the fine Flourishes of his Fashionall Rhetoricke Hee would haue heard mee sooner had I bespoke him in his owne Dialect which hee heeds most and best vnderstands I
Charge them that are rich in this World that they be not high minded Not know my Lady Goe-gay the sprucest Dame in City or Court Her father was frugall forgetting he was Caesar but shee flaunts it out remembring she is Caesars daughter Me thinkes I now see her as I saw her last how trimly deckt in her purple and fine linnen Shee ware vpon her backe to what shee neuer laid her hands Earth and Wormes and Beasts and Nations these are and liue and labour for what she soyles and teares and spends Their Excrement and Sweat take care to proude her what shee scarce takes paines to put on The good Huswife and applauded seeketh Wooll and Flax she layeth her hands to the Spindle and her hands touch the Distaffe and so cloaths both her and her houshold Out vpon these home-spunne Threeds These signe like Habit like Condition Farre fetcht and deare bought are for our Ladies One Country and Nation must breed another kemb another spinne another weaue another dresse another shape out and another trim vp their wearings Alas weake Creatures they see not their Beggery in these sundry Borrowings nor mind how fraile a Carkasse and vile is shrouded vnder so gorgeous Happings Womens supplimentall Art does but the rather bewray Natures Defects Perfuming Painting Starching Decking these make some Annoyance and Vncomelinesse though lesse apparant yet more suspected Wee gaze with greedinesse and delight vpon a curious and glorious Sepulchre and yet notwithstanding we conceiue and abhorre what is within Me thought she bare her Selfe so nicely and demurely as though her Body had beene starcht gumm'd according to her Cloaths Perhaps shee carries them so answerably shee tooke aime by her Glasse at once to set both her Vesture and Gesture in the right Fashion Ah their silly Folly that Metamorphize Nature into Art and carry themselues more like Pictures than like Creatures Oh blot not out the louely Image of God in faining and framing so vaine a shaping to your selues How she glittered Forehead Eares Bosome Wrists and Fingers in her Gems Iewels Bracelets and Rings She likened her Lustre to the Moone and Stars and thought her lesse clay when so bedaubed with a polished Rubbish Who might then prize her Worth that bare many Good Mens Estates vpon her little Finger Shee little considered how many Fingers were worne and wearied to make that one Finger shine This is not only one of our Vanities but one of our Superstitions That we can against our Reason and Knowledge beleeue that the whole substance of a great Patrimony may be valuably transubstantiated into the Quantity of a little Stone Gemmes what are they but Gums or the accretions or congelations of brighter Water and Earth They come but from a more subtile compacted Sulphur and Mercury and yet we thinke the very Heauens concurred with the Earth to their commixtion and so the Sunne left part of his shining in them Meere notionall is their value which is in the Opinion not in the Thing They are worth nothing only if you can but thinke them so The Merchants Aduenture hath transported them the Lapidaries Craft hath polished them the vaine Mans Credulity hath esteemed them and the Rich Mans Superfluitie hath enhaunced them These be but rich Mens gawdy Trifles as the painted Gew-gawes bee for their children CHRIST is not put on with these Toyes and Ragges It is for such as wax wanton against CHRIST to fashion themselues according to this World For Godly Matrons the old Fashion is best Modest apparell with shamefastnesse and Sobrietie not with broidered haire or gold or pearles or costly aray Who Sir Lofty-lookes the Courtier I saw him tother day in his golden Fetters and heard him make great boast of me thought but a glorious Miserie Hee hath gotten he thinkes to bee more happie than he was and hath quite forgotten what he was Fortune hath exalted him and how he exalts himselfe Cleane contrary to the Rule the Man thinkes his Place hath graced him and looks chiefly to be obserued according to his place He is growne to be better clad than his Master yea and beares an higher minde It is hard to be chaste in company with a Woman to bee sober at a Banquet to be patient in a Fray as hard to be humble in the midst of new heaped Honours Preferments How rarely doth he stoope so low that so suddenly is rapt so high Like a Moth or Rat of the Palace hee hath oft and much inquired after this mans Life that mans Office the other mans Estate and after long and earnest gaping some or all these are fallen into his mouth And now hee hath climb'd so high on a sudden that you would wonder hee wrought not himselfe out of breath To say all of such an one in summe Many hee scornes his Inferiours Hee enuies Many his Fellowes One he soothes his Lord One he loues Himselfe But what of Captaine Scape-skarre How hee stalkes vp and downe the streets in his Shamoyse and a Truncheon that neuer ware an Harnesse nor scarce can wield a Sword O but take heed how you wrong him Hee hath more Badges of his Art and Valour about him then a side Belt or a Buffe Coat Haue you not heard of his Wounds and Skarres so many haue beene told of He bids you see the Gash he gat in his Forehead and feele the Bullet that lies in his Calfe and you must now thinke how hee then hazarded whereas perhaps hee gat the one as he look't backe the other as hee ran away It is a maruell he tells you not how he stood like a Giant amidst the Pigmies how with the blast of his first Volley he made the Enemy quake like leaues made them flie like Feathers and scattered them like dust before the Wind. And you must now beleeue him or else you doe him the dishonour as if you should either gainsay or disproue him He tels you what a monstrous leape he tooke when he was last in Rhodes and if you will be pleased for experience sake to suppose the Place where he is to be Rhodes he will also giue you leaue to suppose the Leape Souldiers bee they the most valiant and fortunate that euer lifted hand or foot for God and their Country lose so much of their glory by how much their owne mouths are the Trumpets of their Victorie Modesty is not lesse noble in a Warriour than is valour If he haue taken the City let his works praise him in the Gate not his words only when hee hath now got the Towne vpon his backe He hath wonne the Field perhaps with a greater losse and why boasts hee of a Prize when all is too little to make amends How sayes he his Enemie is vanquished when his owne are not recouered The Day is his it might haue beene the Aduersaries and why insults he where he might haue couched With what Glory can he boast where he might haue complained with shame enough Ah but there 's
the Creatures bound to serue Man longer than Man serues God If he will be so proud as to kicke against him that is his Maker they will bee so bold as to striue against him that should be their Master The bigge and lofty Creatures Buildings Trees Mountaines Rocks these all are obnoxious to euery Tempest and Thundering while the low and little shrimps and Shrubs shroud and stand secure These are dasht and These incouraged by him that putteth downe the Mighty from their Seat and exalteth them of low degree Pride we say will haue a Fall This is but the Ladder by which Men climbe to Ruine This but lifts men vp to cast them down the more violently desperately When you see a Proud Man neare thinke Iudgement not farre off Where there is Pride in the heart there is certainly a plague at his heeles Yet a little while and the Flourishing Bay is gone Bigge Trees stand seldome till they wither but are rather blowne or hewen downe before Yea but I am humble Nor is it thanks-worthy that I am little in mine own eyes since One greater than I made himselfe of no account How can we make vs low enough since He whose shooe latchet we are not worthy to vnloose humbled himselfe at our Feet How can vilenesse be puffed vp since He that was Great beyond estimation made himselfe of no esteeme It is humilitie enough with vs that we subiect vs to our Superiours and preferre vs not before our Equals but too much we count to subiect vs to our Equals and not preferre vs fore our Inferiours But O wondrous Humility He subiected him to Inferiours who among Men and Angels had no Equals He bowed the Heauens when he humbled himselfe to our Life Hee bowed the Head when he humbled himselfe to our Death Odious was our Pride the Pride of the Sonnes of Men That could not be cleansed not be healed but by so rare Humility the Humility of the Sonne of God Why are we puffed for whom our Sauiour was so emptied why so lifted for whom he became so prostrate What Worme of Earth can be lifted vp when the God of Heauen was brought so low We that are base to what can we be abased when Hee was humbled that was so high Oh Dust and Ashes learne to contemne thy selfe for whom the God of Spirits was despised Learne of him that was humbled not onely for thy Pride but to make thee humble Oh learne of him that saith Learne of me for J am meeke and lowly in heart I wonder not that the Deuill was so proud for he was an Angell bright and perfect But it makes me start and gaze to see Man so that is but Dung vile vanishing away The Deuill had more to be proud of than hath Man yet Man will be as proud as the Deuill What is Man thus to forget thus to transgresse his owne Condition Did he seriously consider himselfe this would make him keepe warily within himselfe at least not step so lauishly beyond himselfe Why liftest thou vp thy selfe O Man when thy selfe is enough to pull thee down Art thou not wretched mortall euill Thy blacke Feet will bow thy stiffe necke notwithstanding thy white Feathers What art thou but a Shadow a Sepulcher a Statue a Glasse a Bubble a Blast Dung Dust and Ashes Wormes-meat a crazy Body and full of Corruption a cankred Soule and Fraught with euill whose Being no Being whose Life no Life whose Life is gone or going whose Death is comming and will come And now Earth and Ashes how art thou puffed vp whose Nature and Lot it is to settle and sinke What should a Giant doe in a Dwarfe or so high a minde in so vile a carkasse The Sergeant Purseuant Catch-poll of the Great King that knocketh at the doore of Young and Old high and low rich and poore that equals Scepters and Spades Iron and Straw Bookes and Babbles She turns Beauty into Blacknesse Strength into weaknesse Wisdome into Folly and layes Honour in the Dust Digge vp the Beggers Graue open the Princes Tombe view well both their Skuls and see how like they looke compare their Dust and thou shalt finde no difference Why doth Man in his life so proudly preferre himselfe to the Most and Best whom Death shall once equall to the Least and Last No man is proud but he that is ignorant of himselfe Know then O Man at once and contemne thy selfe Know whence thou wert what thou art and whither thou must Whence thou wert from a muddy Slime What thou art a rotten Dung Whither thou must to the place of Dust and Wormes In all that was or is or is to come here 's nothing to be proud of How can he be proud of himselfe whose Birth is a pollution whose life is a Desolation whose Death is a Corruption our Life is but a step to Death or many Deaths to one Death Youth is the death of Infancie why then are we proud in the Toyes of our Infancie Manhood is the Death of Youth why then are we proud in the pleasures of our Youth Age is the Death of Manhood why then are we proud in the strength ofour Manhood Decrepitnesse is the Death of Age why then are we proud in the wisdome of our Age Lastly Death is the Death of all why then are we proud of any Tush what of all this Thou now thinkest neuer the worse of thy selfe for what thou shalt be Tell thee thou faist not what thou wert or must be but what thou art It s all one for that what thou hast thou mean'st to make much of it while thou hast it Goe to Great-Heart thou wilt ere long be lessened Bee proud yet awhile of thy selfe where shall once be thy Selfe or Pride Doe doe Out-gaze Heauen till Earth gape for thee and spurne Men till Men tread vpon thee Then shall they perceiue thee to be as vile as thou couldst conceiue of them Yea when thine Honour Wisdome Beauty Strength shall be sowne in Weaknesse Horrour Folly and Dishonour Thus shall they entombe and intitle thee at once GOod Reader know That commest nigh Here lies he low That look't so high Both poore and nak't That was gay cloath'd Of all forsak't Who others loath'd He once thought all Enui'd his Worth Nor Great nor Small Now grudge his Turfe The Heauenly Cope Was his Ambition Three Cubits scope Is his Fruition He was aboue all God aboue him He did not lone all Nor God loue him He that him taught First to aspire Now hath him caught And payes his hire The Jrefull OR Angrie BVt whither Sir Hotspur what al in haste A word I pray and you will yet not as you vse a word and a blow Come prethee let me walke thee a while to coole thee Spur not on too fast thou l't either jade or stable thy selfe I conceiue thee and can prescribe Perhaps thou hast not the wit to reckon the Greeke letters not the Grace perhaps to repeate the