things truelie delightfull for things falsely deceitfull Oh welcome minute that shall free this body from so long an apprentiseship of woe And indeede what is there that should holde or delight me heere except to satisfie the vnordred appetites of the body and vnlawfull desires of the soule But perhaps some wil vrge that I am as yet in my spring of youth which I grant Yet am I glutted and tired as much with the troubles of this Age as a Priam as a Nestor The dayes are alreadie come vpon mee wherein I may truely say I take no pleasure in them But others will reply that I haue friends for whose sake I should desire to liue It is true indeede that I haue friends but with-all such friends as Tacitus speaketh of Et quibus deer at inimicus ab amicis sunt oppressi and they saith he to whom enemies were wanting were oppressed by their friends I long to bee acquainted with my neerer kinred to whom I shall say Corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother my sister Salomontelleth vs All pleasures vnder the sunne are vanity I take his word and therefore long to see what pleasures are aboue the sunne where the Son of God sitteth at the right hand of his father making intercession for mee and all sinners And thou Lord of hosts grant that when this my last and best day shall come and those harbingers of death summon me to appeare that then I may bee readie and grant also that as at the first my body was willing to receiue my soule so at the last my soule maie be willing to leaue my body Thou louer of soules be thou mercifull to my soule and when mine eyes shall grow dimme my lips black my mouth drawen-vp my browes knit my eares deaf my hands and feerebenummed with cold my pulse beating yet weakely and when all my senses faile me then giue me some sense of life euerlasâ—ing My good God let me at that houre thinke as I do now that it is a thing no more strange to die theâ— to be borne â—being it is an equal law of Nature which bindeth ouer all alike to their first and last appearance I knowe there is some paine in death but withal I knowe that I owe that paine with the vantage to my mother Who as she endured as great paine us euer woman did to bring me into the world so must I endure some paine to rid my selfe of this painefull life of the which I am as weary aâ— a 〈◊〉 of his â—are I shallneuer be truely merry till that day of miâ—th and releasement commeth All ioy hâ—ere belowe is sinfull and almost all delights vnlaw 〈◊〉 according to that of Austin 〈◊〉 lâ—titia est impâ—â—it a 〈◊〉 The ioy saith he of this Age is nothing else bu◠〈◊〉 â—â—punished Yeâ— will I not seeke to hasten the hourâ—â— of my deare deliuery but will attend Gods 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of life as of a gift If it will tarrie I will not thrust it soorth of doors if it make haste to be gone I will not be he that shall intreate it to abide The time I haue to liue deuotion shall dispose of and my chiefer pleasure shall bee in prayer I will first pray for Christs church militaÌ„t that it would please him to shorten the time of her warfare that so the time of her triumphing may approach Next of all I will pray for all Gods anointed ouer what Kingdomes or Nations soeuer they bee placed and in particular as by the duty of a subiect I am bound for my gratious Soueraigne Faiths great defender Thou Ancient of daies crown his dayes with happinesse and as he raignes by thee so let him raigne for thee and while he defends thy Truth defend thou him from those porte-couteaux For in these treacherous times it is to be feared that his greatest enemies are those of his ownâ— house And as for his succeeder in the throne gratious God let him be successeful in al his approued proceedings that so succeeding ages may sing say his praises Lord shield him rather from secret flatterers then from open enemies and hauing all things let him not want this one A truth-teller I will wish the same to him which Thomas Walsing hamus reporteth of Henry the fift that as he is Modest us 〈◊〉 so he may be Magnanimus in actu Last of all I will pray for my selfe that hee that made me would vouchsafe to haue mercy vpon mee Thou that art able to throw an Angell down arâ— able to raise a sinner vp Lord then raise me 〈◊〉 falâ—e 〈◊〉 the gulâ—â— of sin Thou into Lambe of OOD which dyedâ—t once for the 〈◊〉 of the 〈…〉 mercy vpon me and seeing thou hast suffered for my wickednes let not me suffer for it too nor cry for my crying sinnes lesus at thy Name my â—â—ee shall bowe my heart bend and all my soule and body be transformed into reuerence Oh blessed comfortable allpromising Nome in which the olde Age of new names and if you will haue it so the newe Age of olde names may be included Christâ—◠〈◊〉 Origen qui 〈◊〉 ill is or is 〈◊〉 apâ—d 〈…〉 Christ saith he who is in those 〈…〉 of the earth â—â—en amongst the Britannes Amen Lord Iesus and bee with vs still to the ends of the world Mercifull maister let mee with my last gaspe pronounce in confidence those words of dying Luther I haue serued thee I haue belieued thee and now I come to thee And because there is no other way to come to thee but by death Lord let me expect death euery where and alwaies not knowing where or wheÌ„ it will expect me and 〈◊〉 me thinke of that often which I must doe once Blessed Maister my will is thine but if it bee thy blessed will take me out of this Age before I bee aged and let this corruption put-on incorruption this mortalitie immortality imperfectioÌ„ perfection and then this impotency shal see omnipotency this nothing all things Oh inconceiueable ioy to behold the Apostles Patriarks and Prophets together with the Kings of the Earth doing homage to the King of Heauen and Earth And till this ioyfull appointed time come the greatest comfort I can yeeld my selfe and others is an allusion which I tooke out of an 〈◊〉 French Writer to weer that as GOD laboured six dayes and rested the seuenth so man after hee hath turmoiled himselfe through-out all the sex ages of the world shall in the seuenth Age repose himselfe in a better world Which he that created the world grant for his sake that redeemed the world Amen FINIS Iob. 31. 35. Sen Epist 62. Sen. de benef lib. 1. cap. 10 Ambros de poenit lib. 1. cap. 34. I Scalig. lib. 1. poetic cap. 2 Scal. lib. 6. poetic pa. 800. 801. Lip cent Epist 5â— Mat. 27 24 Athenaeus lib. 6 Ibidem Annâ—l li. 1 Mat. 23. 3 In Alcor Turc pag. 191. Sen. de benef li. â— cap. 34. A Coward who Mat. 5. 39. â—erâ—ins Gen. 2. 24 Prou 16 Prou. 15 24 Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Sen. Epist 29. Heb. 13. 8 Iob. 36. 14. Deut. 23. 18. Ezech. 16. 33. Prou. 22. 14. Prou. 23. 17. Prou. 26. 5 Albert. Mag. de mulier fort Reuel 14. Iob. 31. 1 Castilionaeus in suo Aulico lib. 4 De ciuit 15. 100. 23. Bernhaâ— Serm. 25 super canticum canticorum Deut. 28 53. Mal. 3. 3 Zach 5. 2. Ier. 23. 20 1. Timâ—t 6. 10. Phil. 3. 19 Lu. 12. 15 Psal 39. 6 Eccl. 5. 9 Mat. 18. 10. Mat. 19 8 Wis 7 Sen. de beat vita cap. vlt. Sen. Epist 26. Sen. Epist 7. 1. Disserâ— cap. 9. August de ciu cap. 19. Sen. lib. 4. de ben cap. 13. Sen. Epist 58. Serm. 1. Mat. 10 34 35 De Benif lib. 4. cap. 26. 27. Lipsius in exâ—mp po lib. 1. cap. 4. Idem ibidem Luk. 1. Luk. 1. Mat. 3. v. 7 Franc. de ver Con. par 2. ca. 2 Socr. in vita Iul. Baronius in paraenes ad venet pag. 9â— Colin â—â—ditionis Agust de baptis contra Donat. lib. 2. cap. 20. Acts. 17 22. Auer in 12. Metaphysi Tacit. Annal lib. 14. Ma. 20. 22 55. episto Cambdenus epist ad lectorem Mat. 5. 19 1. Ti. 3. 6 Tert. de resur carn Psal 60. 1. 2. 3. See the quotatioÌ„s of Monsieur du Plessis vpon their Thalmud in his book entituled Aduertissement aux Iuâ—fs In Alcor Turc Tacit. hist lib. 1. Ecclesiastes 12. 1. Tacit. hist lib. 1. Iob. 17. 14. Eccles. 1. August in Euang. seeun Lucam serm â—7 Mat. 10. 36
read bills and ballads then my Booke And withall I must needes adde this that I neither feare a Stage nor the censure of a Woman And against the Learned and Vnlearned Iudiciall and Not-iudiciall Prudent and Impudent Women and the worlds wide Theater I bandy that of Iob Behold my signe that the Almightie will witness for mee although mine Adnersarie write a booke against mee Errata Page Line  81. 10. ioy-forioyne 81. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 99. 13. perfect imperfect for perfect or imperfect 142. 8. present for presents 154. 2. Iesuites for Iesuitas 166. 2. these for those 195. 1. gift for guest In some fewe Books Pag. 10. li. 11. men for mens STAFFORDS NIOBE OR His age of teares SAd to the very Soule bearing in my minde a discoÌ„tent that I could bee no more discontented in a worde wearie of my selfe I on a time walked forth hoping by some diuine meditation to abandon and expell this hellish disposition And being com to the place ordained by my selfe to this solemne exercise I first lifted vp mine eies to heauen to see what heauen would haue done vpon earth and then again I cast them down vpon earth to see what earth hadde done against heauen But loe in the entrance 〈◊〉 to this my sanctified contemplation my olde agonie came vpon me I meane a conflict betwixt mine vnequall disagreeing passions which forced mee to call backe the better of my thoughts to driue back the worse But finding no way whereby I might appease these implacable furies of my minde leauing my meditation I thus spake vnto my soule Soule saide I how chaunceth it that nothing can content thee so much as discontent Is not this rotten body this all corruption this worst of earth a sufficient prison vnto thee but that thou thy selfe must become a prison to thy selfe To these my demaunds shee thus makes answer that the diuell as shee thinkes hath committed incest with his daughter World who is now deliuered of an Age froÌ„ the which the sooner it should please God to deliuer her the better Then soule said I take thy flight with the sharp pearcing eyes of contemplation pry into the corners of the Vniverse and see if within this spacious Round thou canst finde out some place where thou maiest inioy a pure conuersation till the houre com wherin thou shalt leaue this thine impure mansion Shee obeyed and after long teadious search shee returned like Noahs turtle and told mee that such a deluge of sinne had ouerspread the face of the earthe that there was no place free where vertue might treade in saâ—etie If earth then said I affoorde thee no comfort lett thy conuersation be in heauen laugh at the idle pleasures of these daies and let not thine vnlimited appetite so much couet as contemne them following that rule of Seneca Contemnere omnia aliquis potest omnia habere nemo potest Some one man saith hee may contemne all things but no man 〈◊〉 haue all things And indeed what is there in this world on the which Enuy may not iustlie spend all her gall For whosoeuer shal with an intenâ—ine and rectified Iudgemâ—nt look into this worst of ages shall finde that the lasciuious heathen Poets were but as wicked prophets of the wickednes to come in these accursed times wee hauing turned their lewde inuentions into more lewd actions So that it seemes wee haue anatomized vice and laied those parts of her to the open viewe which they in modesty let lie vndiscouered From the highest to the lowest from the youngest to the oldest from the Eagle to the Wren all haue corrupted their waies and are becom degenerate from the purity of their ancestours Vice hath supplanted vertue and he now a-dayes is helde the most absolute man who is the most dissolute liuer As now and then the humours of the whole bodie fall downe into the legges and there make an issue So hath the corruption of times past slidde down into the present to the annoiance and choaking of all that is good This is the time foretolde by Seneca Habâ—bitur aliquando ebrietati honor et plurimummeri cepisse virtus erit The time shall come saith hee when honour shall be ascribed to drunkennes and to drinke much wine shall bee helde a vertue Pride luxury and ribauldry haue now their reigne and his happinesse is greatest who followeth them the soonest As for pride she hath so many feathers added to her wings that shee couereth all the earth with her shadowe Our men are growen so effeminate and our women so man-like that if it might bee I thinke they woulde exchange genders What modest eye can with patience beholde the immodest gestures and attires of our women No sooner with them is insancie put off but impudency is put on they haue turned nature into art so that a man can hardlie discerne a woman from her image Their bodies they pinch in as if they were angrie with nature for casting them in so gross a mould but as for their looser parts them they let loose to preie vpon whatsoeuer their lustdarting eyes shalseize-vpon Their brests they laye to the open viewe like two faire apples of which whoâ—oeuer tasteth shall be sure of the knowledge of euill of good I dare not warrant him As for our men they equall if not surpasse this female frailtie the qualities of their mindes being as light as the substance of their bodies is heauie Light clothes and a light behauior is now your onely weare and hee your greatest gallant who canne whiffe off his gallon O that iniquitie were here limited but alas it is not For mens tongues are now beecome trumpets or rather strumpets to their mindes so that what soeuer they conceiue they not onely tell others of it but also intice them to doe it Lust saith Ambrose is feade with banquets nourished with delights kindled with wine enflamed with drunkennesse but streight addeth peiora tamen his sunt fomenta verborum quae vino quodam Sodomitanae vit is menteÌ„ inebriant But worse then all these saith hee is that impurity of speach which makes drunk the minde with the sweet tasting wine of the Sodomiticall vine Sodome thy sinnes were fewe in respect of ours and our iust men fewe in respect of thine Thou peraduenture hadst three or foure but happy is that citty with vs that can yeelde one yet wee raile at thee and seeke to be opposite to thee in al things but in one thing wee iump with thee by following the literal sense to weet that because one of thy sinnes was fulnesâ—e of bread we hold it no sinne to be full of drinke I cannot with methode proceed in this confusioÌ„ of wickednes nor with order in that wherâ—n is so much disorder My pen following my hearts motioÌ„ trembleth the paper waxeth wan pale the inke putteth on melancholies sad hewe when â— go about to relate that in
this behalfe it is so much the more intollerable by how much of the twaine shee should bee the more shamefaste She ought euer to prize a bashful countenaunce before a paynted one that cannot blush and should be so farre from proffering these vnseemely loue-trickes as rather at the least lewde looke or touch to present the beholders eyes with modesties red badge in waie of mislike To the same ende did the Romanes of olde carrie before the married couple fier and water the former representing the man the later the woman what else signifying then that the woman should expect till heate bee infused into her by her husband it being as much against the nature of an honest spouse as of the coldest water to boile of her selfe and on the contrarie side that the bridegroome should distill warmth into his water and heate it but not ouer-heate it The bashfull and well disposed wife should repose her selfe on her pallet and there with emulation contemplate that answer of the Lacedemonian lasse who being asked in the morning by her friend whether or no in the night she had infolded her husband in her armes replied Good words good man not I him but he me Oh diuine song of a refined creature whose tongue vnlocked the treasure of her hearts chastiric The next vice in women is pride arising from the lauish and lasciuious praises of men which women knowing too well how to applie to themselues becom so proud that they scorne earth and are scorned by heauen For euery one that is proude in heart iâ— abhomination to the Lord. And in another place it is said The Lord will destroy the house of the proude But hearken you miserable vnfortunate Dames to that which the Lord saith in the third of Esay Because the daughters of Sion are hautie and walk with stretched-out necks and with wandering eyes walking and minsing as they goe and make a tinkâ—ing with their feete therefore shall the heads of the daughters of Sion be balde and the Lord shall discouer their secret parts In that day shall the Lord take-away the ornament of the slippers and the calls and the round tiers the sweete balls and the bracelets and the bonets the tires of the head and the slops the headbands and the tablets the eare-rings the rings and the mufflers the costly apparel and the veiles and the wimples and the crisping pinnes and the glasses and the fine linnen and the hoodes and the lawnes and in stead of sweet sauour there shall be stink in stead of a girdle a rent and in stead of dressing of the haire baldenesse and in stead of a stomacher a girdle of sackecloth and burning in stead of beauty Then shall her gates mourne lament and she being desolate shall sitte vppon the ground Amongst these menaces of GOD some haue already lighted vpon our women as baldenesse and burning many of our men gaining burning in stead of beautie and the restare as yet to fall whose weight will bee so heauie as that it will crush these tender offenders O! I could lash pride and bee bitter towards these sweets but that I knowe my words would goe into winde and be rather scoffed at then regarded I could tell them of setting borrowed teeth into their pale bloudless gums how they ouerlaie yellowe with white in so much that in an howres space they will make a man belieue that the yellowe Iaundies is turned into the greene sickenesse how they turne their blacke bloud â— into faire crimson and set that Baude Art to bedaube Nature I could tel them also of their prodigalitie in apparell but that it concerneth not all in generall but onely some in particular Honour as of her selfe shee is bright and glorious so wee allow her like raiment correspondent to her splendour to the end that shee may be discerned from the base vulgar But that euerye blurt who is only a gentlewoman of two moneths standing should be clad like a Queene this I thinke is more then any wise man will yeeld to Another kinde of base pride hath possessed our womeÌ„ so that they think a man poor in spirit that is not rich in cloathing Bring me a gentleman of a great far-famed family whose mightie ancestours haue spent their bloud to crowne their bloud with vertues diademe and left behinde them triumphant trophees of their vncontrouled greatnes and to associate this Pirocles bring mee a Dametas who hath of late extracted gentility out of dung if this foist be more fine then the former his entertainement shal bee rich and sumptuous the others poore and beggerly But this is not onelie a fault in this frailer sexe but also in men of eminency who though they should be the eyes of our Iland yet their sight is dimmed with this foggy mist If one man excell another as farre in height of knowledge as heauen earth in distance yet hee that is the best able in purse shall be iudged worthiest of preferment and imployment Seneca had lied in his throate if he had saide in our time Nemo sapientiam paupertate damnauit for as the world goes now the inversion would be most true Quiuis sapientiam opulentia approbaâ—it Pouerty thou veile of wisedome curbe to the minde thou common enemie to vertue through thee Natures greatest gifts passe vnrespected and the best deserts vnrewarded How many braue spirits â—urke and become pliable to wretched seruitude and all for want of meanes to declare their meaning I haue seene a decayed merchant put-on the spurs of him who in times past made clean his shooes man him whose master hee was once but he did it not without an eye of indignation Why pouertie fashioneth a man to any thing Nobilium familiarum posteros egestate venales in seenam de duxit saith Tacitus Wherefore I cannot but meruaile at the sottishnesse of the Papists who teach men to vow pouertie which in it selfe is euill as Beckermane a late dutch writer very wittilie proueth against the Stoickes where he saith that a free praeâ—lection is not but of good nor a free shunning but of euil If then they grant saith hee as indeede they doe that health riches libertie are to be chosen and on the contrary diseases pouertie griefe to bee auoided they yeeld perforce these to bee bad those to be good For my part would riches come for the vowing it should be the first vow I would make and bless God for them as blessings bestow'd vpon the blessed the want of them being as a punishment laied vppon man to bring him vnto God and to the knowledge of himselfe which if a man do attain-to in prosperitie what needeth humiliation O penury through thy perswasions kings think Cottages Kingdomes and subiect themselues to their owne subiects Thou monster thou cunning Artist thou transformer of men that of a gentleman canst make a scullian of a prince a pesant craule along with plebeians but mount not the backe of vnsaddled honour nor
to them that their learning placeth them almost as farre aboue ordinarie men as ordinarie men aboue beasts but that they must also clip truth to enlarge their triumphes They inueigh deadly one against another as being at deadly enmity and striue to draw others to their parties employing inuention onely to feede contention Their reasons would make a reasonable man to laugh and their Motiues would moue a man to be of no religion and think Christianity a meere delusion The Papist firmely affirmes that the Protestant is dāned the protestant doubts of the saluation of the papist yet in my weake opinion it should not bee so with the latter For though the papists iudge vncharitablie of vs yet wee should censure more fauourably of them It is a dangerous doctrine which the purer sort of our diuines haue of late diuulged to the world to weet that all these are blotted out of the book of life that die absolute papists To this end saith an Eng. writer of the forementioned sect where is saith he Cyrus Darius Xerxes Alexander Caesar Pompey Seipio and Haniball Where are the Valiant Henries and Noble Edwards of England The wormes eat them and what is become of their soules is most of all to be feared See the indiscretion of this man in mingling Christianitie and Paganisme together The Valiant Henries and Noble Edwardes of England are with him in no better taking then Cyrus Darius c. and hee maketh their case common GOD send the poore idle man to come to the place which the Valiant Henries and the Noble Edwards of England inhabite Hee and the rest of his faction need not as they doe complaine of their pouertie since their owne rashnesse procures it Rash in Hebrewe signifieth Pauper in Latin in English A poor man For my part I neuer knew a rash man that dyed rich Their tongues are theirs who shall controll them Audacitie leads them and out of an assumed libertie or an ill gouerned zeale they speake they care not what without either feare or wit Many things are spoken GOD hee knowes from the heart which neuer came neere the head and many things are thought to be vttered ex animo which indeede issue ex animi morbo That most of our auncestours are damned I dare not beleeue but I had rather determine of my successours who liuing in the later times are more subiect to sinne the reward of temporall and eternall death Though our ancestours were gally-slaues to the pope as being chained fast to Ignorance yet their Works leaue a sufficient testimonie of their faith Sunt saith Cambden vi audio qui monasteria et eorum fundatores à me memorari indignantur dolenter audio sed cum bona illorum gratia dixerim ijdem indignētur imò fortasse obliuisci velint et Maiores nostros Christianos fuisse nos esse They had fidem formatam we fidem informem they did more then they knew we know more then wee doe Their ignorance was the greatest fault they had which if it did condemne them woe be to little knowing yet well meaning mindes If Christ prayed for those that crucified him saying Father forgiue them they know not what they doe will hee not pray for them also that praise magnifie and glorifie his euer-glorious name yet in so doing know not what they doe Those that teach them shall answere for it according to those words of Christ Whosoeuer therefore shall breake one of these least commandements and teach men so hee shall bee called the least in the kingdome of heauen c. where we see a punishment alloted to false teaching Let vs defer then to censure what shall become of them till wee know what shall become of our selues which is onelie knowen to GOD. If all the Diuines in the world auouch that Hell is my portion if That Diuinity whisper to me the contrarie I will deride them It were a braue thing if one man could dispose of anothers soule and reward it with either paine or pleasure according to his owne will Yet I must confesse this ingenuously that I put so great a difference betweene the ancient and moderne papists as that I resolue rather that the former are taken to mercy then that the later either are or shall be The former instructed no men to destruction with king-killing doctrine the later teache◠to make-away an Hereticke yet an Hereticke of their owne brain by any meanes whatsoeuer God renounce me if I had not rather bee an Heathen then a Christiā and holde this mercilesse Axiome for currant for I had rather bee an honest Turke then a knauish Christian Papistrie and Treason now are growen to be Accidentia concomitantia and they giue mutuall attendaunce one on the other Neither did the auncient Priests so worke vpon the frailtie of silly women as these doe neither were they so lecherous as these are These are they whom Saint Paul pointeth at saying For of this sort are they which creepe into houses and leade captiue simple women laden with sinnes and led with diuers lusts Yet for all this our Puritans ought not to giue definitiue sentence against them but referre it to him who will haue mercie on whom he will haue mercie These men whose puritie hath made them vnconformable to the present Discipline of the Church though they bee guiltie of Schisme yet they are not dangerous but liue and dye without thought of slaughter yet is there a tatling Treatise entituled Herode and Pilate reconciled wherein the author striueth very hard to proue that the Papists Puritans are both alike dangerous as holding the same treacherous tenents He spetteth-out the venome of his tongue in the faces of Caluin and Beza men whose names his mouth should not vsurpe without reuerence Hee may well wrest their speeches but well I know hee can neuer inferre any pretended treason from them His booke is well laboured and hee manifesteth to the world that hee hath read some thing hee lacketh nothing but the iudgement of Tertullian that is that a man ought to imploy all hee hath or knoweth in testimonium veri non in adiutorium falsi Sir Francis Bacon saith that the way to dimmish bad bookes is not not to burne or teare them but with plentie of good bookes to make scarcitie of bad whereas I for my part thinke that the dailie encrease of triuiall trifling books wil at the length consume and annihilate the weighty and serious ones Now-a-daies almost euery Sect hath a seueral exposition of the Text and a diuerse application We may well crie-out with the Prophet Dauid O God thou hast cast vs out thou hast scattered vs thou hast beene angry turne againe vnto vs. Thou hast made the Land to tremble and hast made it to gape heale the breaches thereof for it is shaken Thou hast shewed thy people heauy things thou hast made vs to drinke the wine of Giddines It fatteth the soule of the Iewe to see
the mouthes of our youth Talassio becomes a watch-word And to put fier to this quick kindling fewell our poets haue put-to their helping hands who therefore are rightly taxed by that last euerlasting Worthie of the French diuine du Bartas Pâ—u te regretter oy la perte de leurâ— ans Si par ces vers pipeurs leur muse trop dâ—serte Se perdant ne tra notâ— des auditeurs la perte Sous les mielleus appasâ—s de leur doctesâ—scrits Ils cachent le venin qâ—e lesieunes esprits Aualent a longs traicts et du vin â—'amour yvres Leur mauuais estomach aime les mauvais viures In English thus Yet would I grieue their losse of time the lesse If by their guilefull verse their too much Art Made not their hearers share with them a part The sugred baits of those their learned writs Due shroude that poyson which the younger wits Quaffe downwith breathless draughtes loues hot wine Making them homage do at Bacchus shrine Distempereth so their stomachs that they feedâ— On such ill meates as no good humours breed But belike our Poets think by disguising their lasciuiousnesse vnder a veile of smooth running words to take awaie not onelie the inquination but the very essence of it which they cannot doe For as whether a man writeth with a coale with chaulke or inke it is neuerthelesse writing So is vice vice vnder what words soeuer it be conueied And these men saith Scaliger call vpon Phoebus Iupiter Pallas together with the Muses and inuoke diuels in stead of the true God And the same Scaliger dooth reprehend Bembus because in a certain verse which he made he called Iesus Christ Heroa That Bembus is also censured by I. Lipsius Ipse deus rarò in stilo aut animo sed prisco ritu dij immortales idque in seâ—ijs maximè sententijs aut rebus GOD himselfe saith Lipsius is seldome in his stile mouth or minde but according to the ancient rights of speech the immortall gods and this doth he in his most serious sentences If for everie idle for euery vnaduised word wee shall gine account what shall we answer for premeditated sin ouer which the heart a long time sitteth hoâ—ering as if it were vnwilling to hatch so vgly a monster To thinke euill is a sin that mortal to speak euill is yet a greater but to write euill is in it selfe both matchlesse and namelesse no word being fit to express so vnfit a worke O that so foule a matter should be left to posteritie in so faire characters or that a man should with his owne hand write a confession to condemne his own heart What should I say or rather what should I not saie in so hopelesse so haplesse a case onelie this then I will saie that for shame men should haue som feeling some remorse in eternising their owne shame as also consider that their bodies nay the faire frame of this spacious Rounde shall be subiect to ruine onlie the soule and her actions are eternall For the soule being eternall the actions proceeding from her participate of the same eternity The bodie being spotted is quickly mundified but the soule once branded with infamy euer keeps her mark and neuer becommeth immaculate O dangerous age thou seducest many to errour but reducest none to truth thou causest manie to fall but raisest vp none And indeede how should they stand firme when their footting is so slipperie How should they resolue when euerie thing giues them occasion of doubt What shal a man decree to bee truth when hee shall see Pontius Pilate washing his handes but not his heart Caiphas pretending blasphemie to rent his garments the new Scribes and Pharisies crying out to Iesus master thou art good though they thinke him to bee most had Simon Iudas selling Simon Magus buying GOD for money holding a trinitie of benefices in vnitie of person and these three are for the most part foure Those who should tell Israell of her sins and Iuda of her transgressions doe now sooth her vp in her iniquitie nay flatter the dead to please the liuing in so much that Durus de Pascalo makes it one of his precepts that the courtier ought to giue credit neither to funerall sermons nor to Gallobelgicus or other such idle fablers I must confesse that the worde lye is vndecent to giue to a minister but verie aptly applyed to Gallobelgicus who lyeth of set purpose and telleth truth at aduenture Sure I am he hath not learned or if learned not practised that first and chiefest lawe of a lawefull historian which is Vt ne quid falsi audeat nequid veri dicere non audeat But to my purpose it were to be wished that this abuse of preaching might bee reformed that so the laudable vse of it might bee with the more applause and profit continued Mercy should be in the Preachers mouth not flatterie he should pronounce pardon to others not craue it from others and pronounce nay denounce vengeance against those who renounce the ordained meanes of their saluation Flattery thou base creeping sinne thou seducer of Princes thou obseruer of noddes thou impudencie clad in modesty thou fawning diuell when shall thy dominion haue an ende I would my ende might procure thine But what should I talke of thine ende who art now in thy prime We haue our Clisophi who will imitate Philip whether hee halt in minde or in bodie neither want we Courtiers who though they see that Dionisius cannot see yet they counterfait the like infirmity Temporibusque Augusti dicendis they bee the words of Tacitus non defuere decora ingenia donec gliscente adulatione deterrerentur Neither wanted there saith he worthy and singular wits to deliuer Augustus exploits vntill they were by the ouerswarming of flatterers vtterly discouraged But what base meanes will not ambition vse where the proposed end is honour with her there is no impossibilitie no difficultie with her things to come are as present and what shee aspires to she makes no doubt to attaine to Thou mother of discontent thou Goddesse of mâ—tabilitie dwell still in the Courts of Princes but insinuate not thy selfe into the hearts of Prophets for if they be tainted all the worlde is deceiued Their tongues perswade where force cannot auaile if in a bad cause then mischiefe followeth From their tongues for the most part Princes frame their actions so that the former being bad the latter are worse in as much as a bad deede out-strippeth a bad word Yet shal they one daie answere both for the word deed of which they were procurers Is it possible that a man should looke vp to heauen not thinke who gouernes earth and heauen or who is so foolish as to thinke that God wil answere an eye of dissimulatioÌ„ with the eye of mercie No no a true God cannot awaie with a false heart Lord that a man should think with all his â—ratory
and not to sinne good and better And therefore Hierome in his exposition of the Psal Homines et iumenta saluabis domine Per homines inquit intelliguntur solae virgines per iumenta reliqui omnes Him followes Albertus Magnus Continentia inquit habet fructum triplicem scilicet â—entesimâ—m in virginibus sexagesimum in viduis et tricesimum in coniugatis Continence saith he hath a threefolde degree or condition iâ— virgins it bringeth forth aâ— hundred in widdowes threescore and in the wedded thirtie Scripture runneth cleane and cleare on our side which the passages following demonstrate 1. Corinthians 7. 1. Kings 2. Wisedome the 3. Matth. 19. Esay 56. Syrach 26. But amongst all these places this one in the ReuelatioÌ„ is most of all to be noted And they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the foure beasts and the elders and no man could learn that song but the hundreth forty and foure thousand which were bought from the earth These are they which are not defiled with women for they are virgins these followe the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth these are bought from men beeing the first fruits to GOD and to the Lambe And in their moâ—ths was found no guile for they are without spot before the throne of God These are words that would inforce any sober soule to imbrace that single simple and sincere kinde of life approued by God Saints and Angels as beeing free from all vncleannesse and voide of all cankering cares Yet how many now-adaies would be ranked among virgins who indeede are ranke whoores how manie are courted who deserue to be carted Had Iob liued in our houres he neuer should haue needed to haue made a couenant with his eyes least at any time they should looke vpon a maide for he should scarce haue found any to looke vppon So farre is Chastitity exiled so much is shame empaired as that impudency and women are almost become Relatiues And the cause of this is vaine periured man who notvsing his tongue to glorifie him that made it imployes it to flatter deceiue dissemble And when hee hath obtained his purpose what is his victory That he hath seduced a woman A hot conquest surely to enter and ouercome a citty whose gates stand open day and night Yet barre I not anie man from admiring the Creatour in the creature nor from beholding beauty which as one saith is radius diâ—inae pulchritudinis a beâ—â—e darted into man from that diuine beautie The Platonians were so enamoured of this amiable goddess that they thought beautie to bee like a circle whose center they made goodness and they were of opinion that as a circle cannot bee without a center no more can a faire and comely bodie be without a maiesticall mind The Hebricians confound fairenesse with goodnesse in calling that faire which is good that good which is faire And therefore when it is said that Sara seemed very good in the eies of the Aegyptians the meaning of the text is that shee seemed very faire Neither did the Graecians separate this beautifull yoke but ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 August saith Consuetudo scripturae est etiam speciosos corpore bonos vocare It is an ordinary thing in the holie scripture saith he to call the faire of body good of minde Columella saith that the Bees choose the fairest and the best formed to be their king Pythagoras was led by beautie beyond reason so that he falsely imagined the frame of the bodie to represent the state of the minde and that the crookednesse of the body was a signe of a wracked conscience so that he could not be of an vpright minde who was not vpright of body and therefore hee caused to bee written ouer his schoole that no disproportioned fellow should enter there for he would not giue countenance to any deformed countenance Which sentence of his is wiselie and iudicially contradicted by S. Bernarde Est inquit nigredo quaedam foelix quae mentis candorem coniunctuÌ„ habet There is saith he a certaine foulenesse of complexion which is accompanied with fairenesse of disposition I I the gifts of the minde are able to shadowe the defects of the bodie but the perfection of the bodie is no way able to hide the imperfections of the minde Although I thinke obstinacie her selfe will confesse that that of virgill is most true Gratior est pulchro veniens è corpore virtus Yet as true it is that virtus et forma rarò coÌ„ueniunt vertue beauty seldom shake hands One onlie haue I seene since first I could see admirable for both in whome they so sweetly kissed each other as that it would make Hatred her selfe loue to see them When I first beheld this glorious Architecture this Natures choisest Art I straight concluded that heauens fairest Iewell was there locked vp in earths richest cabinet Now resteth it after a long digression that we examine the third property of a drunkard to weet Swearing This vice of all other carrieth the most detestation with it because it bringeth least delight of all other For all other vices a man may wring out some excuse from Nature to lessen their greatnesse but this admitteth no veile at all What a desperate case is it for a man in mirth to sweare by that bloud the remembraunce of which would strike sorrow to the most obdurate hearts that bloud I say the losse of which gained redemption to the whole world A good ChristiaÌ„ would shed teares to thinke that that bloud was shedde a drop whereof is able to clarifie an Ocean of disturbed sinne Mee thinkes relenting thoughts should wound the heart of a Christian in naming the wounds of Christ But where reuerence is laied aside there deuotion is cold God saith that if we doe not feare and dread his glorious and fearefull name Iehoua he will make our plagues wonderfull Hee saith also by his Prophet Malachy that he will be a swift witnesse against swearers The Prophet Zachary saith that the flying booke of Gods curse and vengeance shall enter into the house of the swearer and he shall be cut off Wee may well take vp the olde complaint of the Prophet Ieremy who saith that in his time the Land did mourn because of oathes The tongue alone of man is able to worke mans condemnation without any notorious action And let vs consider the ingratitude of man to God God blesseth man man curseth God God blesseth the earth to man man blasphemeth against God and heauen God reuealeth himselfe to man man reuileth the name of God in a word God made not man in vaine man taketh Gods name in vaine And yet these swearers when they haue searched the very entrailes of God for an oath they can hardly gaine beliefe except it be from some plaine meaning man or weake woman They may couzen all sorts of men with this their damned Art but one and him they cannot cheate Lett them
transmigration of soules certaine which opinion as Caesar saith the ancient Brittish Druidae imbraced I would thy soule had flitted into my body or would thou wert aliue again that we might leade an indididuall life together Thou wast not more admired at home then famous abroade thy pen and sworde being the Heraldes of thy Heroicke deedes A worthy witnesse of thy worth was Lipsius when in amazement he cried out Nihil tibi deest quod aut naturae aut Fortunae adest nothing saith he to thee is absent that either to Nature or Fortune is present And in another place he addeth O tu Britanniae tuae clarum sidus cui certatim lucem affundunt Virtus Musa Gratia Fortuna O saith he thou bright star of thy Brittany whose light is fedde by Vertue the Muses Fortune and all graces The verses which are extant in S. Pauls Quire at London made in a gratefull memory of this king of knights sufficiently declare his deserts which verses valour and honour command me heere to insert England Netherland the heauens and the Arts The souldiers the world haue made sixe parts Of the Noble Sydney for who will suppose That a small heap of stones can Sydney inclose England hath his body for she it fedde Netherlande his bloud in her defense shed The Heauens haue his soule the Arts haue his fame All souldiers the griefe the World his good name Lord I haue sinned against thee and heauen and I am not worthy to be called thy childe yet lett thy mercy obtaine this Boone for me from thee that when it shall please thee that my name bee no more it may ende in such a man as was that Sidus Sydneyorum What grace is it to me when men report that a grasier of the same name the very sound of whom leaues rust behind it in Fames trumpet scraped vp together thousands a yeere whose greasy dignity in some two generations wii be Fly-blowne And therefore I doe not enuie but emulate the happinesse of the late Iosephus Scaliger who being descended from Princes and hauing all his race in his reines fledde the societie of wanton women fearing least he should beget one who might one day destroy his family and take from the lustre of it and so he himselfe like a Semi-god gaue a Period to his Parentage O! if a man had all his linage in his loines it were braue smothering it there rather then hereafter to let any crooked branch deform the beauty of the whole stocke or any disorderlie person either in 〈◊〉 or death to purchase infamy to his whole family Yet doe not I cleerely see how a man by neuer so hainous a fact cantaint his whole bloud or kindred since it is euident to all men of vnderstanding that alia est cognatio culpae alia sanguinis neither could Esau any way disparage Iacob But it is not a thing any way strange if the yong gentlemen of this kingdom leaue dishonor in their houses since their maintenance is too little to maintaine any honest course You shall see an elder brother stalke before his traine like Pharaoh before his host and his younger brother of the same bloud and of a greater spirit come sneaking after him as if hee were the basest of his brothers retinue What minde can frame it selfe to such meanes what will not a daring spirit vndertake rather then bee a bondslaue to his owne brother Non seruiam said that Laconian lad et praecipitem se dedit vpon which Seneca writing saith Qui mori didicit seruire dedidicit he that hath learned to die saith hee hath forgot to serue And the same Seneca saith Sapiens viuit quantum debet non quantum potest Epictetus talking of the care men haue how they shall liue hereafter crieth-out Mancipium si habuer is habeb is si non habuer is abibis Aperta est ianua Which seÌ„tences we will not English because the doctrine is not safe and sound No no that soule which leaues her tabernacle without a licence from her Emperour merits condemnation As a man who escapeth out of prison doth not thereby cleer himselfe of his fault done but augmenteth his punishmeÌ„t euen so that soule which stealeth out of her fleshy Iaile without a coÌ„mand froÌ„ that supreame magistrate in flying temporall miserie falleth into eternall anguish and layeth her selfe open to all that seueritie can inflict Hoc fecit illa saith Augustine illa sic praedicata Lueretia innocentem castam vim perpessam Lucretiam Lucretia insuper interemit Proferte sententiam leges iudicesque Romani This did saith he that so much renowned Lucretia innocent chast violated Lucretia murthered Lucretia Giue sentence O yee lawes and Iudges of Rome Hauing a little wandered let vs now at last take a view of man in his last oldestage As he brought diseases with him from his last mother so he must carry them with him to his first mother the earth Now commeth the Physician with his mish mash an hundred Simples in one Compound and powreth it into this leaking vessell If hee recouer he standeth bound to his Doctour for his life and acknowledgeth him next vnder God his preseruer Good Iesus that a man should bee obliged to him for breathing who deteines the breath in bondage and prolongeth the houre of the soules releasement Seneca saith that there are some men who though they saue another mans life yet they doe not any way engage him whome they saue amongst which hee placeth Physicians and maketh this his reason Quia ad alienum commodum pro suo veniunt because they seeke another mans profit for their owne Moreouer an olde man groweth a young childe againe his limbs faile him and all the faculties of his body fade Nay which is worse his diuine part beginneth to nodde and is depriued of that subtility which runneth through all things in and aboue nature that is conceiueth all that is not inconceiueable And therefore Seneca thought that it was lawfull for an aged man of an imperfect minde to kill himselfe Non relinquam senectutem si me totum mihi reseruabit totum autem ab illa parte meliore At si coeperit concutere mentem si partes eius conuellere si mihi non vitam reliquerit sed animam prosiliam ex aedificio pâ—trido aâ— ruenti I will not leaue Age saith he if it leaue me whole and entire to my selfe that is perfect in my better and perfecter part But if age distract my minde and deface her fairest parts if it leaue me a soule and as I may so saie no life to solace that soule I will then leape out of this ruined and lothsome lodging But this is more acutely handled in Stobaeus where Musonius or some other saith in this manner Sicut è domo exigi videmur cum locator pensione non acceptâ fores reuellit tegulas aufert puteum obstruit itâ— et hoccorpusculo pelli videor cùm natura quae