felicityes adore the diuine Obiect of their Glory And while thine eyes shal be tasting in their fashion the delights which are foūd in the admiration of things perfectly fayre lend thine eares to that sweet harmony wherwith al those happy Spirits make vp a Consort in singing without cease Holy Holy Holy is our Lord the Heauens and Earth are filled with the maiesty of his Glory O diuine melody How powerfull are thy streynes since through our thoughtes they make thēselues so sensible to our harts With how many different pleasures and all perfectly extreme art thou rauished now my Soule With what rauishments of Ioy art thou transported besides thy selfe In what sweet extasies art thou not wādering After what sort of goods canst thou seeme to aspire vnto Thou beholdest all Greatnesses in their Thrones Riches in their mynes Glory in its Element and the Vertues in their Empire Thou tastest the true Contentments in their purity after a manner so diuine as thou possessest all without desiring any thing yet neuertheles not all since the obiect of thy delights is infinite which makes thee tast new Sweetnesses not in the order of increase of pleasure but in that of the accomplishment of the rest as being alwayes perfectly content Nor yet is this all my Soule to make thee admire in Idaea the Meruailles of all these diuine obiects of glory and of felicity It behoues me now to represent vnto thee besides the strayte vnion that ioynes the happy Spirit with his soueraigne Good I would say the Soule with God But how may it be done God cannot produce a Species or an Image of himselfe which is able to represent him in regard the Species and the Image are alwayes more pure more simple then is the Obiect whence they proceed Now what Species or Image may be purer and more spirituall then God Besides that all the Species and all the Images are so determined in the forme of the thing they represent as they cannot seeme to represent another And it is true that God is not a thing determinate because it hath not a particular Being separated from others in such sort as he eminently conteynes ech thing as the Apostle saith Portans omnia verbo virtutis sue There is no Species which is able to determine this God indeterminate there is no Image created or produced that can represent this God increated Hence it is that God cānot vnite himself to the Soule through a Species or Image as we do other things The Deuines say that God vnites himselfe to the Soule per se really they call this vnion per modum species But for to cleere the obscurity which is in all this mystery you must note that when as God vnites himselfe to the Soule he eleuates the same to a being which is supernaturall and diuine In so much as it resēbles God himselfe not so as it looseth its proper Essence but within the perfectiō wherto it is eleuated it deriues from the Obiect which cōmunicates to it al the glory that it possesseth 〈◊〉 relatiōs to his similitude in such sort as in regarding this happy Soule they behold God Moreouer it may be said more cleerely that God vnites himself to the Soule in such manner as the Fire is vnited to the Iron forasmuch as the Fire as agent is more noble then the Iron it conuertes the Iron into its semblance with so much perfection as one would say the Iron had chaunged its proper forme into that of the Fire yet notwithstanding the Iron looseth not awhit of its essence Now this vnion of Fire with Iron is a reall vnion per se and not through Species nor through Image So God who is called the Deus noster ignis consumens est is vnited to our Soule per se really and receyuing the same into himselfe reduceth it to a being supernaturall and deified in so much as it seemes to be no more a Soule but God himselfe A verity which S. Iohn publisheth when he saith we shal be like vnto him From the Tyme that a Soule is vnited with God he illumines it with a light of glory to the end it may see him and contēplate him at its pleasure and with him all things which are in him formally and eminently to vse the termes of the Schoole-men in so much as it is ignorāt of nothing within the perfection of its wisedome O admirable Science Then shall it be when it shall cleerely see within the Abysses of diuine secrets that which God did before he created the world How he produced eternally another himselfe without multiplication of Deities and how betweene the producent and the person produced proceeds an eternall loue of him who engenders and of him who is engendred which is this adorable Trine-vnity It shal see besides how this God being engēdred Eternally in himselfe without mother might be borne once on earth of the most glorious Virgin without Father With what Prouidence he gouernes all things with what Goodnes he created Man with what Loue he redeemed him How he iustifies inuisibly without forcing the liberty How the works of his Iustice accord with those of his mercy How he saues through his grace How he leaues them reprobate without fault How his infallible Science agrees without the Contingency of things How the Predestinate may damne himselfe and the Reprobate be saued though the Science of God remayne alwaies infallible and immutable as it is The verity of all these secrets shal be represented to its eyes more cleere then the Sunne O what Science my Soule or rather what incomparable felicity proceeds from all these sundry pleasures When shall this be that thou cryest out with the Queene of Saba speaking to thy Lord in lyke manner as she spake vnto Salomon What wisedome is thine O great King what glory and what magnificence admire they in thy Kingdome What Citty is this same replenished with so many goods what delicious meates and what precious wines do they tast at the table of thy banquets What lustre of greatnes appeares in all those that attend vpon thee Renowne may well publish thy prayses in all places of the Earth if al the Heauēs together are not large inough to conteyne the rumour of them O happy Spirits who reigne in the mansion of this immortall glory I wonder not awhit at your so trampling vnder foot the Crownes and Scepters of the world in iust pretension to the felicity you possesse What fires what torments and what new punishments would not one suffer for to purchase this soueraygne good where repose is so durable Gibbets Hangmen all the instruments of Death are as so many Trophies of the glory which succeeds shame and payne O how these diuine words of S. Augustin do cause a sweet melody to resound while he sayes Let the deuills prepare me from henceforth as many ambushes as they will let them addresse the last assaults of their power to encounter me let
if they were quite blind Needs must the charmes of their pleasures be strong to make them insensible to that which toucheth them so neere S. Augustin sayd how the greatnesses of the world aspersed a kind of leprosy on the soule which euen benummed all the senses of the greatest Potentats of the earth In effect all their sighes all their actions do but carry the countenance of Death with them yet perceyue they no whit therof A strange thing To liue and not to thinke of lyfe at any tyme or rather of Death since to liue and dy is but one thing It is yet true notwithstanding that we dye without euer thinking of death wherin do we spoile our selues of the sweetest contentments of lyfe because our whole felicity consists in dying well and the meanes to incurre a glorious death is alwaies to thinke of the miseries of lyfe to the end to be encouraged through hope to possesse the eternall glory which is promised vnto vs. We do naturally loue our selues with so strong affections that all the powers of the world are not able to burst the chaynes thereof But what more mighty proofes may we affoard of this verity then that of thinking continually of Death since the same is the day of our Triumph When shall I begin to liue not to dye for euer sayth the Royall Prophet Our lyfe is a continuall combat and the day of our Death is that of our Victorie All the Martyrs though they were in the thickest of the fight and alwaies in the action of defending themselues yet in this warre of the world thought themselues very happy to find the occasion where they might make to appeare the last endeauours of their courage in the midst of torments for that they found in Death the crowne of immortall lyfe O sweet lyfe and cruell the attendāce As often as we carry our thoughtes beyond nature and euen to Heauen our spirit remaines wholy satisfyed therewith because that in this diuine pitch where it sees it selfe eleuated aboue it selfe it begins to liue the lyfe of Angells The earth is in contempt with it and when the chaynes of it's body fall off in their first condition it suffers their tyranny through constraint So that if it be permitted vs at all moments to abādon the world in thought to haue thereby some feeling of heauenly delights should we be our enemies so farre as to contemne these diuine pleasures in groueling without cease in our miseryes while the only meanes to be touched with it is to thinke on Death since there is no other way in lyfe to fynd the felicity we seeke for We may piously say that the Virgin purest most holy liued on earth a lyfe litle differing from that lyfe which is liued in Heauen her spirit all diuine intertayned it selfe alwayes with the Angels or rather with God himself while she had the glory of bearing him within her sacred wombe or in her armes In so much as her life was a voluntary Death all of loue seeing that through loue she tooke no pleasure but to dye so to possesse more perfectly the onely obiect of her lyfe She prized not her dayes but in the expectation of their last night as knowing its darknes was to produce the brightnes of an eternal day wherof herselfe had beene the Aurora O how sweet would it be to be able to liue in that sort for to dye deliciously It is not a life truly immortall to be alwayes thinking of death if death afford vs immortality How fastidious is the life of the world the Prophet cryes Let vs now then be ioyning our voyce to his cryes and say that death only is to be wished for All the holy Soules which in imitation of my Sauiour haue adorned thēselues with thornes haue been turning the face to the tombwards there to gather Roses With death it is where they termine their dearest hopes So as if they liue content it is not but through the sweet hope which they haue to dye O yee prophane Spirits who sacrifice not but to voluptuousnes pull off the hood of passion that thus blinds you to destroy those aultars of Idolatry whereon you immolate your selues without thinking of it for punishment of your crymes If you will know the true pleasure indeed it consists of thinking of Death as of the Spring that produceth our delights Our Crownes are at the end of their cariere nor shall we euer come to possesse the Soueraygne God to which we aspire with so much feruour and vnrest but by the way of Death When shall I cease to lyue with men sayth Dauid He is euen troubled amidst the greatnesses of the earth His Scepter and his Crowne are so contemptible to him as he would willingly change his Throne with the dunghill of Iob on condition to dye with his constancy To liue is no more then to be sequestred from that which one loues and after God what may we loue After him what may we desire So as if now these holy affections these diuine wishes cannot looke on glory but in passing by the Sepulcher let vs thinke continually on Death as of the way we take which we are yet to make This is the onely meane to render vs content for that these thoughtes are inseparable from the eternall felicity which is promised vs. That it belongeth but only to good Spirits to thinke continually of Death CHAP. IIII. SVCH as know the Art of familiarizing death with life through continual remēbrance of their end do neuer change the countenance in any perils They looke to resume both their bloud and life at once with the same eyes they behold the things which are agreable to them so as they remayne inuincible in their miseryes through the knowledge they haue of their condition Wounds neuer hurt their soules and all the maladies wherewith they may be touched afflict but their body only Their good Spirit habituated with the ordinary encounter of a thousand sad accidents inseparable from life tasts their bitternes in its turne and feeles their thornes without any murmuring The end of all actions ought to be the first ayme of the iudgement that conceiues them if it will shun the griefe of hauing done them So as from the tyme that we are capable of reason are we to serue our selues of it to consider the necessity of our mortall and transitory condition that the continuall obiect of our end may serue as a condition meanes to arriue happily thereunto The wiser sort are those who repent at least for that which they haue done true wisedome consists in not cōmitting folly And what more great may a man admit thē that to neuer thinke of death since it is the end where all our actions receiue their prize or payne Remember thou Death the Wisemā sayth and thou shalt neuer syn O glorious remembrāce who raisest vs to so high a degree of honour as neuer to offend God which is the only
belieued that he was Inuincible yet could Death know wel how to find the defect of his Armes like as that of Achilles Nero would needs be adored but he was sacrificed in punishmēt of his crime Cresus the richest of all men carried nothing into his Tōbe but this only griefe of hauing had so much Treasure so little Vertue his riches exempted him not ◠whit from the euils wherof our life is full and at the end of his terme he dyed as others with the Pouerty incident thereunto Cesar Pyrhus and Pompey who had so many markes of Immortality had the worse sort of Death since they al three were vnhappily cōstrayned to render their lyues to the assaultes of a most precipitous Death The which doth let vs see very sensibly how things that seeme to vs most durable do vanish as lightning after they haue giuen vs some admiration of their being The wise men as well as the valiant all slaues of one and the selfe same fortune haue payed the same Tribute to nature Plato Socrates Aristotle may well cause a talke of them but that is all for with their learning they haue yet beene ignorant of the Truth They haue loued their memory a great deale more then themselus following a false opinion for to please that of others wherewith they were puffed vp in all their Actions They are passed away notwithstanding and their diuine Spirits haue neuer beene able to obtaine this dispensation of the Destinies to cōmunicate their diuinity to bodies which they haue viuified so as there is nothing left of them but a little dust which the aire and wind haue shared betweene them The seauen Sages of Greece are dead with the reputation of their worldly wisedome which is a Folly before God They were meere Idolatours of their wordly Prudēce which is a Vertue of the phantasy more worthy of blame then prayse when it hath but Vanity for the obiect As many Philosophers as haue studied to seeke the knowledge of naturall things without lifting the eye a little higher haue let their life runne into a blindnes of malice and haue left nothing behind them but a sad remembrance of their pernicious errours Let vs speake of those meruailous works wherin Nature takes pleasure to giue forth the more excellent essayes of her power I would say of those beauties of the world which rauish hearts before they haue meanes to present them to them As of a Helena of a Cleopatra of a Lucretia of a Penelope and of a Portia All these beauties truely were adorable in the East euen as the Persians Sunne but in the South the feruour of their Sacrificers began to extinguish and in the West they destroyed the very Aultars that were erected to their glory Their Baytes their Charmes their Attractions following in their Nature the course of Roses haue lasted but a day of the Spring they haue vanished with the Subiect wherunto they were tyed nor doth there remaine any more of them then a meere astonishment of their shorte durance Thus it is that the best things run readily to their end Time deuoures all and his greedines is so great as it cannot be satisfied but with deuouring it selfe Who were able to number the men to whome the Sunne hath lent its light since the birth of the world and by that meanes keepe accompt of the proud Citties of the magnificent Pallaces whereof Art hath giuen the Inuention to men to the shame of Nature the imagination is too seely to reach vnto this But. And yet how great soeuer the Name therof be the shadowes of their bodies appeare no more to the light of our daies the steps of their foundations and the memory of their being are buried within the Abysses of Tyme and nothing but Vertue can be said to be exempt from Death All things of the world hauing learned of Nature the language of change neuer speake in their fashion but of their continuall vicissitude The Sunne running from his South to its West seemes to preach in its lāguage nothing els vnto vs but this cruell necessity which constraynes it to fly repose and to cōmence without cease to warpe the lightsome webbe of dayes and length of Ages I admire the Ideas of that Philosopher whiles he would mantayne that all created thinges do find their beginning within the concauity of the Moone without doubt the inconstancy of this Starre afforded him those thoughtes since euery thing subsisting heer beneath is subiect to a continuall flow and ebbe The Heauens tell vs in running round their circles how they pull all with them The Starres illumine not the night but to the comming of the last which is to extinguish their light The Elements as opposits reygne not but within the tyme of the truce which nature afforded them since the ruine of the Chaos and their emnity therefore is yet so great as they are not pleased but with destructiō of all the workes they do If they demaund the Rockes Forests what they are doing they will answere they are a counting their yeares since they can do nothing but grow old The fayrest Springes and the youngest Brookes publish aloud with the language of their warbles and of their sweet murmur that euery thing in the world inseparably pursues the paces of its Course yea the Earth it selfe which is immoueable as the Center where all concludes being not able to stirre to fly far from it selfe lets it selfe to be deuoured by the Ocean the Ocean by Tyme and Tyme by the soueraygne decrees which from all Eternity haue limited its durance S. Augustine endeauouring to seeke out the soueraigne God within Nature demaūded of the Sunne if it were God and this Starre let him see that it borrowed its light from another Sun without Eclypse which shined within the Bower of Eternity He made the like demaūd of the Moone whose visage alwayes inconstant made answere for it and assured this holy Personage that it had nothing diuine but light within it which yet it held in homage of the Torch of day He enquired of the Heauens the selfe same thing but their motion incompatible with an essence purely diuine put him out of doubt How many are there seene of these feeble spirits who seeke the soueraygne God within Greatnesses but what likelyhood is there to find it there Thrones and Empires subsist not but in the spaces which Fortune affords them her bowle serues them as a foūdation Alas what stability can we establish in their being Crownes haue nothing goodly in them but the name only nor rich but apparence for if they knew how much they weighed and if the number of cares thornes which are mingled with the Rubies Pearles wherwith they are enriched could be seene the most vnhappy would be trampling them vnderfoot to auoyd the encounter of new misfortunes Kings and Princes are well the greatest of the Earth but yet not the happiest for that their Greatnes markes their ruyne in
after the light This fatall Mansion is fertile onely but with thornes and troubles let vs get forth of it's bounds to fynd the true tranquillity and according as we shall approach to the good of death so shall we distance our selues froÌ„ the euils of lyfe O sweet death where our miseries termine themselues O cruell life where our disasters take their begining O welcome death where our annoyes do find their sepulcher O dread life where our dolours find their cradle The most afflicted draw al their coÌ„solation from the hope of death Are we not of this number as subiect to all the disgraces of Lot and to the cruell lawes of Fortune With what sweeter hope may we mitigate our paynes then with that of a speedy breaking the chaynes of our captiuity If we dyed not euery houre there would be no contentment to liue For what likelyhood is there that a trauailour should take any pleasure to stop in the midst of his way during the tyme of a storme Now the world is neuer without tempests What remedy were it to make a stop at a flash of lightening or a cracke of Thunder in the midst of the way of our life Being pressed with a storme and encompassed with Rockes shall we not be seÌ„ding our desires before hand to the port with this griefe for not hauing wings to fly more swiftly thither So as if the ship of our life cannot land but at the shore of the sepulcher is it not at this port whither we are to aspire euery moment to put vs in the Lee from Shipwrackes whereof so many wise Pilots haue runne hazard I haue no feare but of old age said Zenon For of all euils that of life is the most intollerable In effect if we thinke on the diuers torments that pull away our life by little and little from vs we should be of Socrates his opinion who of all the momeÌ„ts of our life prizeth none but the last O happy moment irkesome to those that go before I am troubled said Dauid in the house of men when shall I arriue into that of my Lord He was alwaies going thither but the way seemed so long and tedious to him as he sighed continually after the end of his iourney All things tend to their Center the Stones being raysed from the earth do borrow wings to their weighty nature to descend downe beneath where they alwayes haue their looke The Riuers though insensible are touched with this amourous curiosity to reuisite continually their Mother And the Piramidall flames of fire do witnes they burne but with desire of ioyning theÌ„selues with their first beginning And howbeit their endeauours are vnprofitable yet haue they neuer other scope The Heauen is our Center with what more violent passions may we be quickned then with that of being rauisht from our selues to ioyne as Atomes to their vnity as rayes to the body of their light Those Torches of the night whose number is infinite and beauty incoÌ„parable not so gallaÌ„tly shew vs their twinckling baytes but to enthrall vs with their wonders They shine not to vs but to shew vs the way of their Azure vaults as being the only place of our repose And it seemes the galloping course of the Sunne goes not so turning the great globe of the Heauens but to shew the way from aloft vnto the Inhabitants of the Earth If some one had the gift of prophecy that it were foretold vs in a certaine tyme set downe that we were to possesse an ample fortune be it of goods or greatnesse all transitory a like were it not credible the day of this attendance would be to vs of a long put-off How many sighes as witnesses of our languours should we be sending forth before this felicity so promised The greatest dolour we could possibly suffer would be but of impatience for through force of passionately desiring this good all sorts of euils would be insensible to vs. The Sunne that posts so swift would then go sluggishly and its diligence could not stay vs a whit from accusing it of slouth as often as we gazed vpon Heauen Let vs now consider the mystery of this Proposition and say that our Sauiour and the King of Prophets hath giuen vs this assurance from his mouth that the last instant of our lyfe shal be the first of our immortality and so on the day of our death should we possesse an infinite number of felicityes be they in immortall goods be they in the greatnesses of nature it selfe From what sweet disquietnesses might we seeme to be exempt in the expectation of this happines The holy Soules who breath in this world the ayre of grace liue not but of the ioy they haue of continually dying With how many sighes of loue and languour smite they Heauen at all houres All the fayre dayes the Sun affoards them to their eyes seeme to be so sad lowring as hardly do they marke the differeÌ„ce between the light and darknes because they loue but the eternall dayes which are to shine to the birth of their felicity And this is the day of death where ceasing to be men we begin to be as Angels S. Frauncis wounded on all sides with a thousand darts of loue sighes in the presence of his Mayster for griefe that he cannot dye of his wounds He contemplates the wounds of his Redeemer and his lookes haue this Diuine vertue with them as â—o make his soule to ressent the smart And through the force of his sweet torments the amorous passion wherewith he is taken makes him to ressent the dolours of his Mayster in so much as the markes thereof themselues are imprinted in his stigmatized Body â—hen it is that soowning with ioy extasied with pleasure and rauished with a thousand â—orts of felicityes wholy Diuine he sequesters himselfe from the earth to approach vnto Heauen He feeles himselfe to dye of loue without being able notwithstanding to loose his lyfe for though his wounds be mortall since all termine at the hart yet their cause is immortall So as dying in his lyfe and liuing in his death he dyes he lyues without dying and without lyuing Of dying what apparence since he is sunke in the spring of lyfe Of lyuing who would belieue it Let vs then say that if he dye it is of a Death a thousand tymes more sweet then lyfe and if he liue it is of a lyfe of extasy which feeles nothing of the humane This sweet Saint seeing himselfe vnder the wound of the bloud of his Maister belieued verily he should make shipwracke through force of desiring the same in so goodly a sea whose tempests were so much the more gratefull to him as loue serued it selfe of his sighes to driue away the storme And in truth how could he loose himselfe in the presence of his Sauiour whose Crosse serues him as well for a watch-tower as for a Hauen in the midst of the torments which his wounds haue caused to
perfection of the Soule next to the knowing him and louing him withall O glorious remembrance which changest our frayle and guilty Nature into one which is wholy innocent O glorious remembrance that makest vs deliciously to breath the ayre of Grace since they liue in the estate to dye euery hower for to liue eternally O glorious remembrance which on earth makest vs the inhabitants of Heauen O glorious remembrance where the Spirit finds both its Good and repose When I represent to my selfe the pittiful estate of our Condition I am afrayd of my selfe for disasters and miseryes do so attend vs at the heeles as there is almost no medium betweene dying and lyuing We sigh without cease the whole ayre we breath our very being that so tumbles alwayes towards its end wisheth not but it s not being whither euery instant leades it without intermission What better thoughtes may we now conceiue then of these verities since it is too true that we are borne vnhappy for to liue miserable vntill the point of dying And the only meane to change this misery into happines is euery moment to thinke vpon it for feare of falling euer into neglect or forgetfulnes of our selues There are feeble Spirits who dare not carry their thoughts vnto the end of the cariere of their life they euen faynt in the mid way their shadow affrights them they feare euery thing they imagine without considering the obiect of their feare subsists not but in their fancy only and how by that meanes to become ingenious to torment themselues To feare death is to feare that which is not since it is but a mere priuatiō and to haue a further feare of the thought is to fly the shadow of his shadow which is nothing Wherein these Spirits do but feed their owne weaknes liuing in death and dying in their life without dreaming once of Death But what goodly matter will they say so to mayntaine their errour for one to thinke of that which naturally all the world abhors Is it not to be miserable inough to be borne and to lyue dye in myseries without one be burying his spirit before his Body through the continual memory of his end It is euen as much as to make ones selfe vnhappy before hand so to dreame of the euils which we cānot auoyd It is inough to endure thē constantly when they arriue without going to meet with thē as if it could euer arriue too late Feeble apparences of Reason Admit that Nature abhorres Death as the ruine of this strait vniō of the body with the soule know we not also how this nature blind in all its passions and brutish in all its feelings takes alwayes the false good for the true not being able to worke but by the Senses which as materiall take its part To belieue now that our miseryes augment by this thought that we lyue dye miserable were much while on the cōtrary we do blunt the point of their thornes in so thinking of them in regard this continuall consideration of our misfortunes in this life makes vs to take the way of vertue for the attayning one day the glory and felicity of the other To imagine it also to be a griefe to dreame assiduously of Death as of an ineuitable euill is a meere imaginatiō which cannot subsist but within it selfe For we are neuer to thinke of Death but as of a necessary good rather then of an infallible euill since otherwise it i◠nothing of it selfe We should only represent to our selues that we are to change both condition and life and how this change can be no wayes made but at the end of our course whither we are continually running and that without pause awhit Our being of it selfe destroyes it selfe by little and litle withall things els of the world besides It is a funerall Torch burning by a Sepulcher that shines as long as the wax of our body lasts while euen the least blast of disaster is able to extinguish it for euer For howbeit the earth be large and spacious yet hath it noe voyd place in its whole extent but where to point euery one his Tombe euen as nature which though fruitfull of it selfe to produce many wonders yet finds an impotency withall to engender twice its lyuing workes The Fables informe vs well how Euridice was delyuered from her chaines in Hell but not from her prison she had the power to approach vnto the bounds of the dismall place of her captiuity but not to set her selfe at liberty So as if the Poets within the Empire which they haue established to themselues haue religiously held this inuiolable law of not to be able to dye twice with what respect ought we to adore the truth so knowne to euery one and so sensible to all the world And the knowledge which we haue thereof should vncessantly draw our pirits to these thoughtes to the end they sstray not in the labyrinths of sin which is the only Death of the Soule When I represent to my selfe the faces which these men of the world do make when they are spoken to of Death I haue much ado to belieue they are capable of reason since they faile thereof in the consideration of this important verity that they are but meere putrefaction and a little dust ready to be cast into the wind in the twinckling of an eye That walke they where they will they but trample their Tombe vnderfoote since the earth seemes to chalēge its earth whereof they are moulded and framed They shut their eares to the discourses that are made to them of Death which they are one day to incurre and open them to hearken to the Clocke whose houres minutes insensibly cōduct them into the Sepulcher whither willingly they would neuer go In so much as howbeit they are hasting euery moment to death yet they dare not be casting their eyes on the way they hould as if the sight could forward their paces wherin truly I can not abide nor excuse their pusillanimity since the danger whereinto they put themselues produceth an irreparable domage This same is an infallible maxime That such as neuer dreame of death do neuer thinke of God forasmuch as one cannot come at him but by Death onely On the other-side not to thinke euer of the end which should crowne our workes were as much as to contemne the meanes of our Saluation and so to forget our Sauiour who with his proper lyfe hath ransomed ours The eye cannot see at one and the selfe same tyme two different obiects in distance one from the other The lyke may we say of the Spirit though it's powers be diuerse yet can it not fasten its affections vpon two subiects at once vnequall and seuerall one from the other If it loue the Earth then is Heauen in contempt with it if it haue an extreme passion of selfe-loue to its lyfe the discourses of death are dreadfull to it And by how much it sequesters it selfe
them without them in their absence Thou madst profession to teach mē the language of reason and thou hast neuer beene speaking with thy selfe thereof therby to bring thee into the contempt of the earth and desire of heauen Thy light hath dazeled thee thine armes haue vanquished thee the greatnes of thy Spirit hath made thee miserable For with endeauouring to merit Crownes thou hast raysed thy selfe aboue all the Empires of the world to make thy selfe to be adored that thy Example might serue as a law vnto others thou hast beene the first Idolatour of thy selfe Thou wouldst not belieue that there was one God in heauen because thou saidst thy self to be a God on earth Thou wouldst not speake of the other lyfe as knowing wel that he who distributes the good the euill to ech one should seeme to prepare there a Hell for thee to punish thy arrogācy So as if it were once affoarded thee to re-begin thy course againe thou wouldst doubtles forget the vanity of all thy learning to be thinking continually of Death whiles these only thoughts do learne vs all manner of sciences The glory which is left thee for hauing spoken of the world is shut vp in the world and though it should last as long as it yet shall it alwayes dye with it Thy reputation is reuereneed on earth and thou art trod on vnder foot in Hell Men do honour thy name and the deuils torment thy soule Behold all the recompence of thy trauailes Let vs say boldly then that he who is alwayes thinking of Death is ignorant of nothing and that for to be esteemed wise he should liue with his thoughts as the only obiect of the glory we hope for and of the felicity we attend euery houre Plato to what purpose serues thee that faire Renowne which thou hast caused to suruiue thy ashes They speake euery one of thee but if they fetch any argument of thy wisedome they conclude vpon thy folly while Death dishonours thy lyfe We may compare thee to Hanniball for after he had triumphed ouer others he let himselfe be vanquished by himselfe hauing receyued a law from his passions a seruitude from his vices In lyke māner may we say of thee that thou hadst couragiously triumphed ouer all thy popular errours which are thy chiefe domesticke enemies after I say thou hadst left thy goodly actions for so many examples of morall vertues thou buryedst the richest Crowne within thy Sepulcher and that which surmounts all tyme and the inconstancy thereof for at thy Death thou adoredst many Gods as repenting thee of the opinions yea of the beliefe thou hadst in the course of thy lyfe Thou tookest a great deale of paynes to procure the surname of Deuine through thy diuine thoughtes but in the highest of thy soaring pitch thy spirit as an illegitimate yong Eagle not being able to endure the splendour of the sun of faith was cast down headlong from the top of the heauens to the lowest of the earth where dying alwayes in punishments and reuiuing euery momēt in their dolours it shall liue for euer in eternall paynes Let vs say then agayne once more that all sciences are but meere vanity except such as teach vs to liue well and dy happily And that after this manner who thinkes continually of Death is the wisest of the world A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Salomon CHAP. X. RETVRNE yet once agayne O great Queene of Saba to behold this wise Salomon come attended with your magnificent trayne that euen the selfe same subiects who were the witnesses of your ioy may be the same likewise of your sadnes in this cruell change both of tyme fortune You haue passed through many a sea and happily beene quit of a thousand dangers on the land for to visit this great Monarke as the onely Abridgement of the wonders of the world Put your selfe once more into the perils of the same rockes and into a new danger of so long a voyage to see the setting of this Sun the ashes of this Phonix I would say the Tombe and corruption of this incomparable of this inimitable of this mighty King of Sages What metamorphosis The splendour of his Riches had once dazeled your eyes now the horrour of his pouerty doth begg euen teares of your compassion Heeretofore you cōtemplated his power with astonishment and now see into what plight of feeblenes haue miseries brought him You admired the greatnes of his Empire that likewise of his spirit ioyned with the perfection of his wisedome but now consider how all these goodly qualityes haue not beene able to exempt him from the Sepulcher where he serues as a prey vnto the worms You haue adored him on the Theater of his Vanities at such tyme as he represented the personage of the greatest King that euer wore a Crowne and turning the leafe within the twinckling of an eye is this very King no more then a loathsome carkasse whome horrour amazement hold in pledge vntill such tyme as he be conuerted into dust which he hath beene indeed but that is all And hardly dare we now maintaine him to be he since that in seeking him out within himselfe is he not to be found So vanisheth the glory of the world all flyes into the Tombe Solon since thou hast borne the surname of all the seauen Sages of Greece come visit this tombe of the wisest of the world of this incomparable Salomon He was great of birth great in happines great in power great in riches most great in knowledge But behold now how his rich cradle is chāged into this poore Sepulcher How his felicity hath taken the visage of misfortune How his power is bounded in the impotēcy thou seest him in He is not great but in miseries he is not rich but in wormes and in the knowledge of the follies which he hath wrought Among so many goodly lawes which thou hast gyuen to the Athenians remember thy selfe of that which nature hath imposed vpon thee to dy at all howers vntil such tyme as thou be quite dead Thou dost in vayne command thy bones to be cast into diuers places after thy Death for if they putrify not all at once ech one of thē shall produce a stench from the marrow in the place where it shal be buryed Thou must necessarily follow the lot of this great Sage since you are brothers both of the same condition Thou hast taught others long inough learne thou that which as yet thou knowest not Thou teachest all the world to liue learne thou thy selfe to dy well Thy knowledge is but vanity For though thy precepts be engrauen in marble and brasse time which deuoures all things shall deface the remembrance of them to so bury thy glory If thou lyuest not for thy soule rather then thy body they will scarce belieue thou hast lyued at all Periander come behould thy Companion of renowne so as if thou knowest
you Dames neere vnto this Tombe to make the Anatomy of your beauties of your sweets of your allurements of your charmes of your baites of your wātonesse and of all your vanities together It is tyme for me to vnmask your Spirit to let you manifestly see the truth of your miseryes You make a shew to all the world of your body painted and washed euery day with the bathes of a thousand distilled waters and I will shew you the infection and putrefaction which is within You say that a woman is then faire when she hath a good body with a handsome garbe the haire flaxen and naturally curled a soft skin and as white as snow a large and polished brow the eyes blew or black and pretty bigg the chyn short and somewhat forked the rest of the parts of the body equally proportioned one to the other But this is nothing yet This goodly peece must needes be accompanyed with some Graces to be quickened with Maiesty Her flaxen and curled haire had need to be trimly dressed her skyn how soft soeuer should be nourished in water like a fish for to cōserue it in its bewty lustre The brow had need be taught to hide its pleights and wrinckles to appeare alwayes most polite Those fayre eyes must learne the art of charming harts to haue this secret industry with them to wound in their sweetnes and to kill in their choller That little mouth of Roses should be alwayes sounding in the cares the sweetest harmony of eloquence for to calme the harshest Spirits In fine ech part of the body is to learne its lesson of quaintnesse and the spirit that animates the same to teach it euery day some vanity or other and some new instructions to win loue withall or rather folly as if there were not fooles inough in the world Besides this fayre peece had yet need to be decked vp with the richest habits that may be found to giue lyfe to her grauity This gallant hayre had need to be wreathed with chaynes of pearle and diamonds to allure the eyes more sweetly in admiration of them and harts vnto their loue This delicate skin should be heightened through the shaddow of a fly This paynted visage should be daubed anew with a huge number of trumperyes and instruments of vanity be it in Rebato's of all fashions in Pendants for the eares of all colours in Carcanets of diuers inuentiōs in Veyles of different stuffes This body thus quickened with folly rather then with reason should be euery day tricked vp with new habits to the end the eyes might not be so soone weary to cōtemplate the vanityes of them In fine she should haue a magnificent traine with her of Horses Caroches and Lakeys to maintayne the greatnesse of her house But let vs now breake the crust of these wily bayts that blind our spirits so and charme our reason for to make vs run into our ouerthrow This rich peece is but a fagot or a bundle of putrifyed bones of nerues and of sinewes full of infections and whose Cemeter serues for a theater to let vs see the miseries of them Those frizled lockes are but the excrements of nature engraffed in a soyle full of lice That delicate skyn is but a peece of parchment pasted vpō bloud Her frayle beauty but that of flowers subiect to the parching of the sunne the scorcching of fire one dropp of the serene and the onely alteration of the pulse and but one night of vnrest only are inough to ruine it quite That large polite Brow is notable to saue it selfe from the assaults of the wrinckes which from moment to moment take vp the place whatsoeuer resistāce be made against them Those faire eyes are but as waterish holes subiect to 60. seuerall maladies all different being so many mischiefes disposing to their ruine a little Rheume makes them so ghastly as they are constrayned to hide them for feare they make vs not afraid That Nose and mouth are two sincks of corruption from whence infections issue at all moments And for the rest of the parts of her body being all of the same stuffe one may wel iudge of the whole peece by a patterne only On the other side the action that animate this peece is but a breath of wind which fils vp the sayles of our Arrogancy in this sea of the world where vanity serues for Pilot to hazard vs in the Shipwracke Those flaxen lockes in vayne are tricket so on the face through an art of nicenesse the inuention is as guilty as the matter frayle and contemptible Let her wash her delicate skyn day by day the selfe same water that nourisheth doth putrify it no lesse for according as the sleight therof makes her apparence to seeme yong anew nature causeth the being to wax ould That smooth Brow to no purpose hides its furrowes so whiles Age discouers them by little and little If those eyes haue the skill to charme the harts yet haue they not the tricke to charme their miseries I graunt that little mouth of Roses for a tyme may yield oracles of Eloquēce yet we must cōsider that as the words are formed of ayre so into ayre agayne do they resolue their glory is but wind and their harmony but smoake In fine let the spirits which quickē these fayre bodyes know all the lessons of vanity and quaintnesse that are may it not be said yet that the art is blacke and as pernicious as the instructions are As for the habits which decke vp this rich Peece they are but the workemanship of wormes since they haue wrought the silke Those pearles Diamonds so enchased in the hayre are of the treasures of the Indies where the Riches of Vertue are vnknowne but they are as so many subiects of contempt to holy Soules who know that Heauen is not bought with the gold of the earth And for all these toyes that serue thus for ornaments to women they are but as so many veyles to shroud their defects with all while they are so full of them Let them shew themselues as beautifull as they will yet will I count more imperfections in their bodyes then they haue hayres on their heads They appeare not abroad till Noone to shew that they employ one halfe of the day for to hide the halfe of their miseryes and during the small tyme they are seene abroade in if we looke neere into all their actions they giue forth a great deale more pitty then loue One shal be alwayes holding a napkin in her hand for to voyed a part of the corruption which she hath in her Another shal be forced in company to step aside vnto the chimney to spit forth at her pleasure the infection she holds in her breast There she shal be houlding her muffe vpō her cheeke swolne with Rheume for to couer the ill grace it hath Heere will she neuer pull of her gloues for feare of discouering the itch of her
where those of Luxury reduce the chastest harts into Ashes whence it comes that that great Saint demaunded wings to carry him into the desert Hope is heere vncertayn despayre assured Happines appeareth but as a lightning and Misfortunes establish their dwelling with Empire They can desire nothing heere but in doubt of successe they can expect nothing but with feare to loose their tyme. Felicityes euen while they are possessed do free themselues by litle and litle from this seruitude of being tyed to vs So as if they destroy not themselues in their sublimity time snatches them from vs at all houres and leades vs away with them What is the world but a denne of Theeues but an Army of Mutiners but a myre of Swyne a Galley of Slaues A lake of Basiliskes and therfore the Prophet sayth shall I neuer leaue a place so foule so filthy and so full of treasons and deceipts Needs then my Soule must thou lift vp thine eyes to Heauen since the Earth is meerly barren of thy contentments Thou seekest the Soueraigne good and it hath but springs of Euill Thou seekest Eternity and whatsoeuer is therein is but vnconstancy Change thy thoughtes the treasures which thou seekest for are not heere beneath since this is the ordinary mansion of Pouerty and Misery The obiects heere most frequent are but Tombes nor do we euer open our eyes but to see them layd open Our eares are touched with no other sound then with that of Sights and Playnts The sents of our putrifaction occupy the smelling and the gaule of a nourishment dipt in our sweat vnfortunately feeds the tast of our tongue So as turne we which way soeuer we will the gulfes the rockes the fires the punishmens and mischiefes follow vs as neere as the shaddow doth the body Consider attentiuely my Soule the importance of these verities and make thy profit of anothers harme Represent to thee the horrour and amazement whereto the world was reduced with all those meruailes at such tyme as the Sunne withdrew from it his light All those proud buildings so enriched with Brasse Marble those famous Temples where Art is alwayes in dispute with Nature striuing to set forth their works appeare to be no more but Collossus's of shaddowes that strike thine eyes aswel with astonishment as with terrour during the reigne of darkenes and imagine how the pourtraite of this horrour drawes before hād its being from the Originall since in the latter day the world shall take vpon it the visage of horrour of terrour and of ruine Represent vnto thy self besids in order of these verityes how the shadowes which couer but halfe of the earth by respits shall very shortly be filling vp the space of the whole Circle according to the decree which hath beene made thereof before all ages In so much my Soule as since the day must end at last quenching its torch within the most ancient waters of the Ocean seeke betymes another Sun aboue all the Heauens that may not be subiect to Eclypses and whose light being alwayes in the East may make thy happines to shine within his splendour not for a day for a yeare or for an age but for an Eternity O sweet Eternity with how many delights enchauntest thou our spirits while we addresse our thoughtes to thee They may not tast thy baytes and not be rauished from themselues with incomparable contentmēts We wander I confesse whiles we seeke thee but thy Labyrinthes are so delicious as we are alwayes in feare to get forth therof The harts which are taken with thy loue without knowing thee sigh after thy pleasurs howbeit they haue neuer tasted its sweetnesses but by way of Idaea yet find they no repose but in hope to possesse them one day O sweet Eternity what feelings of ioy and happines dost thou breed in Soules created for thy glory How tedious is the way of this mortall and transitory life to them that liue in expectation of thy pleasures They resemble the Marriner being tossed with stormes tempests who through teares measures with his eyes a thousand tymes in a moment the humide spaces of the waues for to discouer the Port he aspires vnto for they sayling in like māner in this Sea of the world and continually dashed with tēpests of misfortunes do coūt the houres the dayes and the moneths of their annoyes in the long pretension of landing at the port of the Tombe to be reborne from very Ashes in the mansion of thy glory O sweet Eternity what sensible repasts haue thy contentmentes with them The more I thinke vpon thee and the more I would be thinking of thee my Spirit rapt in this diuine Eleuation is so violently pulled from it selfe as it liues of no other food then that of thy diuine thoughtes O how happy is he who establisheth in thee for an Essay the foundation of his felicity My Soule if thou wilt be content in the midst of thy pleasures thinke of Eternity The onely imagination of its delights shal be stronger then thine annoyes What griefe soeuer thou endurest imagine with thy selfe how it is but for a tyme and that the ioy of Eternity can neuer end The Fastings the Hayrecloth and al the sufferances of an austere life can neuer shake thy constancy if thy desires haue Eternity for obiect What accident soeuer stayes thee in the way of thy pilgrimage lift vp thine eyes to Heauē for to contemplate the Beauty of the mansiō whither thou aspirest Thou seest how for the purchase of a little glory of the world men expose their liues to a thousand dāgers and to possesse one day that same of Eternity wilt thou not hazard thy body which is nought els but corruption to the mercy of torments and paynes Consider my Soule the instability of all created things and put not thy trust in the earth since the waters snow sandes are the foundations therof As often as the meruailes of the world attract thee insensibly to their admiration breake but the crust of those goodly apparences and thou shalt see within how it is but a Schoole of Vanity a Faire of Toyes a Theater of Tragedies a labyrinth of Errours a Prison of darknes a Way beset with Thornes and a sea full of stormes and tempests That it is but a barren Land a stony Feild a greenish Meadow whose flowers do shroud Serpēts a Riuer of teares a mountaine of annoyances a vale of Miseries a sweet Poyson a Fable a dreame an Hospitall of febricitāts where euery one suffers in his fashiō Their repose is full of anguishes and their vnrest is replenished with despaire Their trauels are without fruit and their Ioyes are but counterfet where no content is found aboue a day all the rest of the life is nothing els but wretchednes So as if the euils wherewith it is propled could be counted they would surpasse in number the atomes of Democritus who could reckon the maladies of the body the passions
my Soule too well to preferre the pleasures of my Body before thy cōtentmēt Take then thy pleasure in the Thoughtes of Eternity since for thy entertaynement they are able to produce the true Nectar of Heauen and the purest wine of the Earth And you profane Spirits who sacrifice not but to Voluptuousnesse confesse you now that Lazarus was a great deale more happy in his Misery then was the impious Richman in his Treasure The one dyed of Famine in the world and the other dyes of Thirst in Hell Agayne what a thing were it that all wedding-feasts should be held on the Sea where the least tempest might troble the solemnityes metamorphize them into a funerall pompe And yet neuertheles is it true that the soules of the world giue themselues to banquet vpon the current of the water of this life where rockes are so frequent and shipwracks so ordinary One drinkes a dying to the health of another who drownes in his glasse some moments of his life and so all Companions of the same lot approch without cease to the Tōbe which Tyme prepares them O how sweet it is said that Poet to banquet at the Table of the Goddes because in that of men the last seruice is alwayes full of Alöes But I shall say after him what contentments without comparison receyue they at the Angels Table It is not there where the soule is replenished with this imaginary sweet wyne nor with these bitter sweetnesses of the world The food of its nourishment is so diuine as through a secret vertue it contents the appetite without cloying it euer Sigh then my Soule after this Celestiall Manna alwaies fruitful in pleasures so sweet as desire and hope are alike vnprofitable in their possession if what they possesse in thē may be imagined to be agreable to them nor suffer any more thy body since thy reason may mayster its senses to heap on its dunghill corruption vpon corruption in the midst of its banquets and Feasts where they prepare but a rich haruest for the wormes If thy body be a hungry let it feed as that of Iob with the sighes of its Misery If it be a thirst let it be quenching its thirst with the humide vapour of its teares as that of Heraclitus And if it reuolt let them put it in chaynes and fetters for so if it dy in torments it shall be resuscited anew in Glory Sardanapalus appeare thou with thy Ghost heere to represent in Idaa those imaginary pleasures which thou hast taken in thy luxuries O it would be a trimme sight to see thee by thy lasciuious Elincea disguised in a womans habit hauing a distaffe by thy side and a spindle in thy hand what are become of those allurements which so charmed thy Spirit What are become of those charmes that so rauished thy soule What are become of those extasies which so made thee to liue besides thy self those imaginary Sweetnesses those delicious imaginations those agreable deceipts and those agreements of obiects where thy senses found the accomplishment of their repose Blind as thou art thou cōsiderest not awhit that Time seemes to bury thy pleasures in their Cradle and euen in their birth how they runne Post to their end through a Law of necessity fetched from their violence The profane fire wherwith thou wast burned hath reduced thy hart into Ashes with thy body and the diuine Iustice hath metamorphized the imaginary paradise of thy life into a true Hell where Cruelty shall punish thee without cease for the cryme of thy lust I confesse that the Sunne hath lent thee its light during an Age for thee to tast very greedily the pleasures sweetnesses of transitory goods But that age is past the sweetnesses vanished thy pleasures at an end and all thy goods as false haue left thee dying but only this griefe to haue belieued them to be true Brutish Soules who sigh without cease after the like passions breake but the crust of your pleasures and cry you out with Salomon how the delights of the world are full of smoke and that all is vanity He lodged within his Pallace 360. Concubines or rather so many Mischiefes which haue put the saluation of his soule in doubt I wonder not awhit that they hoodwincke Loue so to blind our reason for it were impossible our harts should so sigh at all houres after those images of dust but in the blindnes whereto the powers of our soule are reduced O how a Louer esteemes himself happy to possesse the fauours of his mistresse He preferres this good before all those of the earth besides And in the Violence of his passion would he giue as Adam the whole Paradise for an Apple his Crowne for a glasse of water I would say that which he pretends for a litle smoke He giues the name of Goddesse to his Dame as if this title of Honour could be compatible with the Surname she beares of Miserable He adores notwithstanding this Victime and offers Incense to it vpon the same Aultar where it is to be sacrificed His senses in their brutishnes make their God of it and his spirits touched with the same error authorize their Idolatry without considering this Idoll to be a worke of Art couered with a crust of Playster full of putrifaction and which without intermissiō resums the first forme of Earth in running to its end Would they not say now this louer were a true Ixion who imbraceth but the Clouds for in the midst of his pleasures death changes his Body into a shadow full of dread and horrour He belieues he houlds in his Armes this same Idoll dressed vp with those goodly colours which drew his eyes so in admiratiō of her he sees no more of her then the ruines of the pourtraite where the wormes begin already to take their fees Away with these pleasurs of the flesh since all flesh is but hay that death serues not himselfe of his Sith but to make a haruest of it which he carryes to the Sepulcher What Glory is there in the possession of all the women in the world if the fayrest that euer yet haue beene are now but ashes in the Tombe All the flowers in their features are faded as those of the Meadowes and the one and other haue lasted but a Spring Soules of the world demaund of your Eyes what are become of those obiects which so often they haue admired Aske your Eares to know where are those sweet Harmonies which haue charmed them so deliciously make you the same demaund of all your other Senses and they shall altogeather answere you in their manner how their pleasures are vanished in an instant as the flash of a lightening and that they find nothing durable in the world but griefe for the priuation of the things which they loued Admit you haue all sorts of pleasures at a wish for how long tyme are they like to last It may be a moment it may be an houre and would you
away with a trice the eyes of thy memory from those little Brookes of a transitory Honour admire this inexhaustible Ocean of the immortall Glory of the Heauens where all the happy Soules are engulfed without suffering shipwrack Be thou the Eccho then my Soule of those diuine words of the Prophet Dauid when he cryed out so in the extremity of his languor Euen as the Hart desires the curreÌ„t of the liuing waters so O Lord is my soule a thirst after you as being the only fountaine where I may quench the same Thou must needs my Soule surrender to the Assaults of this verity so sensible as there is nothing to be desired besides this soueraigne good whose allurements make our harts to sigh at all howers How beautifull are your Eternall Pauillions and how exceedingly am I enamoured with them saith the same Prophet My soule faints and I am rapt in extasy when I thinke I shall one day see my liuing God face to face O incomparable felicity â—o be able to coÌ„template the adorable perfections of an Omnipotent To behould without wincking the diuine Beauty of him who hath created all the goodly things that are To liue alwaies with him and in himselfe Not to breath but the aire of his Grace and not to sigh but that of his Loue Shall I afford the names of pleasures to these contentments whiles all the delights of the world are as sensible dolours in comparisoÌ„ of them For if it be true that a flash of a feeble Ray should cause our eyes to weepe in their dazeling for the temerity they haue had to regard very stedfastly its light is it not credible that the least reflexion of the diuine brightnes of the Heauens should make vs blind in punishment for glauncing on an obiect so infinitely raysed aboue our Power In so much as whatsoeuer is in Eternity can admit no comparison with that which is coÌ„prehended in Tyme The Felicities of Paradise cannot be represented in any fashion because the Spirit cannot so much as carry its thoughtes to the first degre of their diuine habitation Hence it is that S. Paul cryed out That the eye hath neuer seene the Glory which God hath prepared for the iust Whatsoeuer Saints haue said heerof may not be taken for so much as a meere delineation of its Image And when the Angels should euen descend froÌ„ the Heauens to speake to vs therof whatsoeuer they were able to say were not the least portioÌ„ of that which it is It is wel knowne that Beautitude coÌ„sists in beholding God and that in his vision the Soule doth find its soueraigne good yet for al that were this as good as to say nothing for howbeit one may imagine a thing sweet agreeable and perfectly delicious in the contemplatioÌ„ of this diuine Essence yet were it impossible this good imagined should haue any manner of relation with the Soueraigne which is inseparable to this Glory Let vs search within the power of Nature the extreme pleasures which it hath produced in the world hitherto from our Natiuity and their Flowers shal be changed at the same tyme into thornes if but compared to those plants of Felicity which grow in the Heauens Gold Pearles the Zephyrus the Aurora the Sunne the Roses Amber Muske the Voyce Beauty with all the strang allurements that Art can produce for to charme our senses with to rauish our Spirits are but meere Chimera's and vaine shadowes of a body of pleasure formed through dreames in equality to the least obiect of contentmeÌ„t which they receiue in Paradise Which makes me repeate againe those sweet words with S. Paul When shall it be Lord that I dy to my selfe for to go liue in you And with that great other Prophet I languish o Lord in expectation to see you in the mansion of your Eternall glory What Contentment my Soule to see God! If the only thought of this good so rauish vs with ioy what delights must the Hope produce and with what felicities are they not accomplished in its possession The Spirit is alwaies in extasy the Soule in rauishment and the senses in a perfect satiety of their appetits Dissolue then O Lord this soule from my body for I dye alwaies through sorrow of not dying soone inough for to go to liue with you When as those two faithfull Messengers brought equally betweene their shoulders that same goodly bunch of Grapes from the land of Promise the fruit so mightily encouraged the people of Israell to the Conquest thereof which had produced the same that all fell a sighing in expectation of the last Triumph Let vs turne the Medall and say that S. Stephen and S. Paul are those two faithfull Messengers of this land of Promise since both of them haue tasted of the fruit haue brought to Mortals the happy newes thereof So as if in effect we would behold another Grape let vs mount with S. Peter vp to the Mounth Thabor where our Sauiour made the Apparition through the splendour of the Glory which enuironed him And it is to be noted they were two to bring this fruit since there were two Natures vnited to one Person only So as my Soule if curiosity and doubt transport thy Senses to behold the body of those beautifull Shadowes of Glory which I represent to thee harkeÌ„ to S. Stephen while he assures thee that he saw the Heauens open Lend thine eare to the discourses of S. Paul when he saith How all which he had felt of sweets and pleasures in that bower of felicity cannot be expressed because it cannot be comprehended The desire which S. Peter had to build three Tabernacles vpon this mountayne all of light enforceth thee to giue credit and belieue through this shew of fruit that the soyle that beares it abounds in wonders And that thus we are to passe the Red-sea of torments and of paynes within the Arke of the Crosse of our Sauiour for to land at the Port of all those felicities They are put to sale my Soule so as if thou shouldest say to me what shold be giuen to buy the same demaund them of thy Creatour since he it is that first set price vpon them on the mouÌ„t Caluary The money for them is Patience in aduersity Humility in Greatnesses Chastity in presence of prophane obiects and finally the Exercise of all vertues together in the world where Vice so absolutely reigneth And if thou wilt buy theÌ„ with that Money which is most currant and wherof God himselfe made vse thou art to take thee to the Scourges the Nayles the Thornes and the Gaul and by a definitiue sentence to condemne thy lyfe to the sufferance of a thousand euills But let it not trouble thee awhit to pronounce this Sentence agaynst thy selfe for if thou cast thy selfe into the burning fornace of diuine loue thou shalt find the three Innocents there in coÌ„pany with the sonne of God where for to sing forth his glory thou shalt beare thy