יהוה Annos aeternos in mente habui Memorare nouissima tua THE SWEETE THOVGHTS OF DEATH and Eternity Written by Sieur de la Serre AT PARIS 1632. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE HENRY NEVILL BARON OF ABERGAVENY SYR YOV may behold heer a sensles Statue made to the Life but vvithout Life till the Promethean Fire of your vvell knovvn piercing Iudgment gracing it giue it a true subsistence It hath a Mouth vvithout VVords VVords vvithout Spirit till you the Mecaenas through your Honours gracious acceptation affoard it strength energy As for the Heart expressed in the pure Intentiō of this Addresse to your Honour it is vvholy yours nor needs the spoiles of feigned Deityes to giue it breath to make it more your ovvne then novv it is Or rather if you please you haue heer tvvo nevv-borne Tvvins put forth thus naked as you see into the vvide VVorld to shift for themselues and like to be forlorne vnles your Lordship pittying their pouerty take thē into your Honourable Patronage and safe Protection France hath had the happinesse to giue them their first birth your Honour shall haue the trouble to afford them a secōd That to haue bred a Spirit able to conceiue and bring forth such issues And your Lordship through your noble Fauour to make them free Denizens of this Kingdome Or lastly to speake more properly I heer present your Lordship vvith the Svveet Thoughts of Death and Eternity expressed in our tongue Not to vndertake to make that svveet vnto you vvhich othervvise vvere bitter vvho through a fayr preparation of a Christian and vertuous life haue confidence inough to looke grim Death in the face and vvith good serenity of conscience to vvayt on Eternity but rather that your Lordship vvould please to commend the same to others of like quality vvho follovving the vogue of the allurements pleasures and delights of this vvorld may haue need of such noble Reflections as Monsieur de la Serre Authour of this VVorke vvell versed vvith people of that ranke hath learnedly and piously shevved to this more free and dissolute age So shall your Honour do a charitable vvork of mercy the vvorld be edified and I vvell satisfied to haue put to my hand Your Honours most humbly and truly deuoted H. H. THE TABLE OF CHAPTERS Chap. 1. OF the sweet Thoughtes of Death pag. 1. Chap. 2. What Pleasure it is to thinke of Death pag. 6. Chap. 3. That there is no contentment in the world but to thinke of Death pag. 22. Chap 4. That it belongeth but only to good Spirits to thinke continually of Death pag. 30. Chap. 5. How those spirits that thinke continually of Death are eleuated aboue all the Greatnesse of the Earth pag. 41. Chap. 6. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Alexander the Great pag. 50. Chap. 7. He that thinkes alwayes of Death is the Richest of the world pag. 61. Chap. 8. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Cresus pag. 66. Chap. 9. That he who thinkes alwaies of Death is the Wisest of the world pag. 73. Chap. 10. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Salomon pag. 80. Chap. 11. A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Helena pag. 90. Chap. 12. That of all the Lawes which Nature hath imposed vpon vs that same of Dying is the sweetest pag. 113. Chap. 13. How Worldings dye deliciously without euer thinking thereof pag. 119. Chap. 14. Goodly Considerations vpon this important verity That whatsoeuer we do we dye euery houre without cease pag. 124. Chap. 15. The Tombe of the pleasures of the Sight pag. 127. Chap. 16. The tombe of the Pleasures of the Sense of Hearing pag. 130. Chap. 17. The Tombe of the other Pleasures that are affected to the Senses p. 132. Chap. 18. How he who hath imposed the Law of death vpon vs hath suffered all the paynes therof together pag. 135. Chap. 19. The pleasure which is found in Liuing well for to Dye content pag. 143. Chap. 20. The Picture of the Life and Death of a sinfull Soule pag. 148. Chap. 21. A goodly Consideration and very important both for lyfe and death pag. 159. THOVGHTS OF ETERNITY The Triumph of Death pag. 3. The Glory of Paradise pag. 55. Of the Infernall Paynes pag. 190. The Houre of Death pag. 145. Of the svveet Thoughtes of Death CHAP. I. THERE are no sweeter Thoughtes then those of Death Spirits being raysed to the knowledge of Diuine thinges do euer occupy themselues in counting the tyme of their banishment in this strange Land where we sigh vnder the burden of our Euils Slaues liue not but of the hope to see themselues at liberty their prisons and their irons are obiects both of horrour and dread which put their soules vpon the racke The Sun shines not for them at all and all the sundry pleasures agreable to their senses changing their nature serue but to afflict them So as in their captiuity they breath the ayre of a dying lyfe whose moments last for ages We are those slaues so enchained within the prison of our bodies as exiled from the paradise of our delights where the first innocency of our parents had established vs a Mansion so true it is their disobedience hath changed our bodies into prisons and the delightes of our Soules into thraldome What feelings then may we haue in this seruile condition whereunto we are brought but those of an extreme dolour and bitter sorrow to see our selues depriued of the Soueraygne God where Soules do find the accomplishment of their rest The harts being holily enamoured speake so sweet a language both of sighes sobbs in the absence of that they loue as if the Angels were touched with enuy they would desire to learne it to make therof a new Canticle of glory in their Eternity Of all the dolours that may tyrannize a soule such as know what it is to loue find not a more intollerable then that of the absence of the Subiect with they loue perfectly indeed And if it be true that affections draw their force from their merit what should our loue be towards this Sauiour whose perfection so wholy adorable cannot brooke comparison but with thēselues And how be it this great God be infinitly louely yet would he needs be borrowing a hart of nature to resent the draughts of our loue to dye on the Crosse of their woundings What excesse of goodnes How may they resist the sweet strokes of his mercy He espouses our Condition for to suffer all the miseryes therof sinne and ignorance only remayning without power agaynst his person in so much as dying he changed the countenance of death and makes it so beautifull as generous harts at this tyme sigh not but in expectation of their last sigh since euen the selfsame moments that lead vs to the Tombe conduct vs also to immortality The paynes which my Sauiour hath suffered on Mount Caluary haue beene fruitfull to bring forth diuers punishments in fauour of the infinite number of Martyrs who
grow in him He would feygne haue found some rocke within this sea of loue but the Pilot who steeres the ship of his life is a Port of assurance for all the world since he cōmands the winds and tempests What pleasure needs must this great Saint take to see himselfe thus smitten with the selfe same woūds of his Maister The Crosse fayles him howsoeuer yet he hath it in the hart The Crowne of Thornes he misseth but what say I he weares it in his Soule But then at least he seemes not to be depriued but of Nayles and Gaule I deceiue my selfe For as for the nayles he caryes the markes thereof as well in hands feet as side and for gaule the tongue takes very greedily the sweet bitternes therof O great Saint thrice happy Tel vs the pleasure which is to dye since you dy so sweetly in the extasies of your felicities How irksome needs must life be to you and the earth be in contempt with you in this trāsportation of ioy wherunto you are raysed S. Stephen hath beheld the Heauens opened and you his hart who hath created them S. Paul hath seene so admirable things as might not be tould and you felt such delicious as cannot be expressed S. Peter hath beene dazeled through a beame of glory you by one of loue whose light hauing pierced your darksome body hath made it transparent to the eyes of all the world so communicating it's diuine qualityes thereinto as the markes therof remayne eternal S. Iohn hath slept vpon the bosome of his Maister and by a sweet transport your hart got through and sought within the bosome of his hart your most assured repose This same disciple hath beene a witnesse of his torments and you participant of his paynes with this glory yet moreouer of bearing as well the wounds in the Soule as the markes on the body So as your fauours are so deare as none dare enuy them for fear of presumption though otherwise they be most worthy of enuy I wonder the thoughts of Death should be displeasing since we dye with pleasure in the life we lead There are none so blind in the knowledge of themselues that know not how they dy euery houre were it not iust then that we should thinke vpon that which we are continually a doing And wherefore shall we not take pleasure at this thought if it be the most profitable sweet that we are able to conceiue It is impossible to thinke of death but we must needs be thinking of Eternall life which succeds the same or rather say we It is impossible to thinke of the Soueraigne God and not to thinke of the imaginary euill of death And where shall we be finding of thoughts both sweeter and deerer then those of our Soueraigne Good So as if for the raysing of our spirits thither we are to passe into the imaginations and idea's of death the light of the Sunne which shal serue vs for obiect shall disperse all those vayne shaddowes which subsist not but through a false opiniō The starre of the day neuer shewes more bewtifull thē when it hath escaped through flight from a shole of clouds which do hide its light Those obscure clouds so strongly relieue the flash of its light as thence it appeares to be radiant in excesse The like may we say of our Reason being as the Sunne of our life that from the tyme it escapes from all these vayne shadowes of feare and dread which do veyle its brightnes it appeares so shining as it serues for a torch to passe very confidently withall from this life to the other The Will loues but the Good it is the Needle that is alwayes a pointing at this Pole It is the Iron which incessantly followes this Adamant as its only obiect In such sort as we are not capable of loue but to purchase the good which is presented vnto vs be it false imaginary or true And therin is iudgement giuen vs to know the difference that is from the one and the others Now that life is a false good there may no doubt be made since it hath no other foundation in it then misfortunes myseries That it is an imaginary good we are enforced to belieue whiles its pleasures are but of fancyes and dreames But that death is a true good we are to hould for certaine since it is the end of the terme of our exile of our captiuity of our sufferances For we cannot enter into glory but by the gate of the tombe where being reduced to our nothing we returne to our first beginning Sweet then are the thoughtes which make the life fastidious and death pleasing yet more sweet the desires that termine all our hopes in Heauen Such as know not the Art of dying well diliciously are vnworthy to liue Impatience in the expectation of death is more sensible to a holy Soule then the greatest pleasures to a man of the world We cannot loue life but in cherishing the fatall accidents that are inseparable from it which made Terence to say That he loued not any thing of all that which was in him but the hope of a speedy dying In effect there is no greater consolarion in life then that of death For were it immortall with all the encombrances that cleaue vnto it of all the conditours that are found in nature that same of man would prooue to be the most vnfortunate The afflicted loue not but by the sweet expectation of death and the others of the hope of a second life with reason imagining with themselues that if on earth they be touched with some pleasure they shal be one day accomplished in Heauen with al desirable delights And through the good of our death it is that we possesse the soueraigne good of eternall life It is the entry of our felicity the passage from the false and imaginary to the true and alwayes permanent He is yet vnborne whose hart being glutted with al sorts of contentments hath neuer gaped after new pleasures There is not a Soule in the world how happy soeuer it thinke it selfe that points not its pretensions beyond that same which it possesseth We hold it good to be rich our desires are alwayes in chase of Good We are raysed to the top of the greatest dignities we build new Thrones in our imagination not finding on earth scope inough to satisfy our Ambition withall In so much as mā hath alwaies vnrest in the repose which he hath once proposed to himselfe which makes vs sensibly to perceiue that the obiect of our desires is forth of nature and that if we sigh in the midst of our felicityes it can be but of the hope we haue to possesse some greater then they We haue lyued long inough then in Tantalus his Hel where we are continually a thirst without being euer able to drinke We must be vsing of some violence with our selues and go couragiously before death since it is that which
withhouldes this second life from vs wherein abides the accomplishment of our happines To dye is but to cast into the wynd the last sigh of our miseries To dye is but to make a partition of our selues commending the body to the Earth the Soule vnto Heauen To dye is but to bid a last adieu to the world preferring the company of Angels before that of men To dye is to be no more vnhappy To dye is to despoyle vs of our infirmities and to reuest vs with a nature exempt from sufferances O sweet death since it leades vs to the spring of life O sweet death since it giues vs the Eternity of glory in exchange of a moment of dolour O sweet death since it makes vs to reuiue for euer in a felicity immortall O yee Soules of the world thinke then alwayes of death if you will tast with pleasure the sweetnes of life For it shal be euen in this last moment where you shal receiue the Crowne of all the others you may sigh long inough in your chaynes you are neuer like to be delyuered thence if death come not to breake the gates of your prison Go before it then and carry in your countenance the desire of meeting it rather then a feare to be touched with it We should suffer with a good cheere that same which we must of necessity endure What say I endure Were it a payne to approach to the end of ones euils Were it a payne to become for euer exempt from their sufferances Let vs rather say a Contentment since thereby do we get forth of sadnes to enter into ioy Let vs call it a Happines since so we do abandone the dwelling of misfortunes to liue eternally in that of the felicities of Heauen That there is no contentment in the world but to thinke of Death CHAP. III. DEATH hath it's delights as well as Lyfe Iob was neuer more happy nor more content then at such tyme as he saw himselfe vpon the Throne of his dunghill oppressed vnder the burden of his miseries He dyed so deliciously in the depth of his dolours as he would haue suffered alwayes and haue dyed incessantly in that manner His wounds serued him as a mirrour to his loue For in looking thereinto he became amourous of himselfe but yet loued he not himselfe but to dye continually so pleasing was death vnto him therby to obey him who had imposed that law vpon him Loue changes the nature of things From the tyme that a Soule is chastly taken with this passion it neuer suffers for the subiect which it loues The paynes and torments therof are changing the name quality within the hart They are Roses rather then Thornes For if it sigh it is of ioy and not of payne if it be necessary to dy to conserue this louely cause of its life it is no death to it but a meere rap◠of contentment which seuers it from it selfe in fauour of another selfe which its loues more then it selfe In such wise as it begins to liue content from the point it begins to dye in or rather to take its flight towards the obiect it hath proposed to it selfe of the full perfection of its loue From this goodly verity do I draw this lyke consequence That the hearts wounded with diuine loue do neuer sigh in their torments but of the apprehension they haue of their short durance Death which to vs seemes so foule and deformed vpon the sudden changing it's countenance in their respect appeares a thousand tymes more beautifull then lyfe Whence it is that they are alwayes thinking thereon to to be alwayes content since it is the point where their paynes do termine where their felicityes begin The most pleasing thoughtes which our spirit can tell which way to conceyue can haue no other obiect then that of contentment of profit and of vertue in so much as they are the three sorts of goods whereto our will is tyed Now where shall we find more pleasure then in the thought of death since it is the great day of our Fortune where we take possession of the delights of Heauen Where more profit then in the selfe same thought since the soueraygne good which is promised to vs is the But the End and Obiect thereof And where more vertue then to thinke alwayes of Death whilest with the armes of these sweet thoughts we triumph ouer vice I belieue it is impossible to tast pleasures without thinking of death in regard these delights are continually a flying away and incessantly dy with vs in such wise that if we cannot ressent the contentments but within their fruit in running alwayes after them they are rather displeasures then pleasures and therefore we hold there are no greater delights thē those of thinking of Death as being the only meane to make them eternall When I resent vnto my selfe S. Laurence extended vpon the deuouring flames but yet more burned with the fire of his loue then with that of his punishment how he cryes out with a cheerefull voyce in the midst of the heates which consume him to be turned on the other side as if he thought he should not dye but by halfes being so but halfe burned I do feele my selfe rauished with the same iumps of ioy that transported him Death is so welcome to him as he deliciously roles his body on the coles as if they were very beds of Roses So as if he be touched with any payne at all it is for not suffering it for that his life being all of loue finds its element in the fire that consumes it and therefore he sighes of gladnes in the height of his torments In effect how shall he expire admidst those heats if his hart be all aflame already his Soule of Fire For if he were to be turned into ashes the stronger must needs preuayle So as he cannot be consumed but through the fire of his loue O sweet encounter O welcome combat And yet more deere the Triumph Death assayles him with flames it assaults him with heats but the fire wherewith he is holily burned triumphes reduceth him to ashes so to render them as cōsecrated This great Martyr neuer tasted in his life more sweet pleasures thē that of feeling himselfe to dy vpon this bed of flames because resenting death he felt the delights of immortall life wherof he made himselfe a crowne Kings Princes and all those who are raysed to some great fortune confesse it to be a great pleasure to dy since they dy euery hore so sweetly amidst their greatnesses I say so sweetly for their spirits and their senses are so strongly occupyed with their continuall ioyes as the Clocke which keepes accompt of the houres of our lyfe may sound long inough its 24. houres a day and they heed it no more then if they were starke deafe And the night full of horrour which represents to vs the same of the Sepulcher cānot fright them any more then
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
fastings macerate my body let Sackcloth and Cilices torment my flesh let tribulations oppresse me vnder their weight let the long vigills shorten my lyfe let him there giue affronts of his contempt and heere of his cruelties let cold freeze the bloud within my veynes let the scorching of the Sun tanne me let its parching reduce me into ashes let aches cleane my head in peeces let my hart reuolt agaynst my Soule my visage loose its colour all the parts of my body stoope to their ruine let me yield my lyfe to the suffering of diuers torments let my dayes slide away in weeping continuull teares and let the wormes in fine take hould of my flesh and the corruption of my bones All this would be nothing to me so I might enioy Eternall Repose in the day of Tribulation I will belieue it O great Saint for what is it to endure al the euils of the world within Tyme for to possesse all desirable goods in the bower of Eternity O sweet residence where Ioy eternally endures and where delights are immortall Where nothing is seene but God where they know nothing but God! If they thinke it is of God if they desire it is God himselfe And howbeit the harts do there sigh without cease for loue those sighes proceed not but from the contentments of fruition where Loue alwaies remaines in its perfection Let Antiquity vaunt as much as it will of the Temple of Thessaly of the Orchards of Adonis of the Gardens of Hesperides of the pleasures of the fortunate Ilands Let Poets chaunt the pleasures of their Elizean fields and let humane Imagination assemble in one subiect whatsoeuer is more beautiful and delicious in nature they shall find in effect that all is but a vayne Idaea in comparison of the immortall pleasure of this Seat of Glory Let them imagine a Quire of Syrens and let them ioyne therto in Consort both the harpe of Orpheus and the voyce of Amphion Let Apollo and the Muses likewise be there to beare a part all this melody of these consorts were but an ircksome noyse of Windes Thunders in competency of the diuine harmony of Angels Let them make a Perfume of all what Sweets soeuer that Arabia Saba hath had let the Sea cōtribute therto all its Amber and the flowers all their Balme such a perfume notwithstanding would be but a stench infection in regard of the diuine odours which are enclosed in the Emperialll Heauen O how S. Paul had reason to dye of loue rather then griefe in his prolongation to reuiew the felicity which he admired in his rauishment I desire to dye in my self for to go to liue in him whom I loue a great deale more then my selfe sayd he at all seasons O sweet death to dye of Loue but yet the lyfe more sweet that makes this Loue eternall Me thinkes the sad accēts of that great King Dauid strike nine eares when he cryed out aloud This life to me is tedious in the absence of my Lord. This Prince possessed the goods of the Earth in aboundance and Greatnesses and Pleasures equally enuironed the Throne of his absolute Power in such sort as he had all things to his harts content But yet for all that he could not choose but be trobled in the midst of the delights of his Court since so we see his hart to send vp sighs of Sorrow vnto Heauen to liue so long a tyme on Earth What sayst thou now my Soule of the Greatnesses Magnificences of this diuine Pallace where Honour Glory and all the Maiesties together expose to view whatsoeuer els they haue more precious and more rare where Beauty appeares in its Throne in company of its graces of its sweetnesses of its baytes of its allurements and of its charmes where with power alwayes adorable it attracts the eyes to its admiration through a vertue borne with it subdues their lookes to the empire of its perfections In such sort as the eyes cannot loue but its obiect after admiring it they are so taken with the meruailes wherwith it abounds where Goodnes exercising its soueraigne power forges new chaines of loue to attract the harts vnto it and after hauing made a conquest of them it nourisheth them with a food so delicious as they neuer breath but of ioy transporting them wholy in the accōplishment of their felicity In such sort my Soule as all the pleasures together being eleuated in their first purity are there found to be collected in their origē to the end the Spirit might neuer be troubled to seek its desires Consider the difference that is betweene the Contentments of the Earth and those of heauen I would say those of the Pallace where Creatures make their aboad and of those where the Omnipotēt lodgeth Thou hast seene within this first Pallace the Meadowes enamelled with flowers the Champaygnes couered with rich haruests and the Valleys peopled with a thousand brookes but these spring vp at the peeping of the Aurora and wither at its setting These haruests fetching their being from corruption returne in an instant to their first beginning after they haue runne daunger to serue as a prey to tempests and disport to the winds And these Brookes feeble in their vertue may well moderate the ardour of a vehement thirst but not quench it wholy since the fire thereof alwayes renewes from its ashes On the contrary within this celestiall house the Lyllies wherewith the Virgins are crowned and the Roses which the Martyrs weare equally on their head remayne alwayes disclosed as if they grew continually The haruests there are eternall in behoulding them their diuine nature hath this property that it satiates the Soule through the eyes after so perfect a manner as it is rauished in its repose The Fountaynes are of bottomlesse Springs of all the immortall delights that may fall vnder the knowledge of the vnderstanding howbeit they quench not thirst yet haue they power to do it but to make their sweetnesses more sensible they entertayne the drougth within their Soules without disquietnes to the end that being allwayes a dry with a thirst of loue full of pleasure they may alwayes drinke that so without cease they may rest contented Within that first Pallace the chaunting of the Birds did charme thine eares and within this heere the sweet musicke of the Angels rauisheth Spirits Within that terrestriall dwelling the Spring the Summer Autunme were incessantly occupied in producing thy pleasures in this celestial bower an Eternity accomplisheth thee withall the goods wherto imaginatiō may attain There beneath had you diuers houses of pleasure for to walke in and heere on high the first thought of a desire is able to build a number without number within the spaces of the Heauens with a perfection of an incōparable Beauty So as if thou be delighted with the Courts of the Kings and Princes of the world to behold the Greatnesses that attend vpon them turne