doubt not of the rest Thinke thē of death you Courtiers since the Eternity both of glory payne depends of a moment O sweet and dreadfull moment And you my Dames you belieue you haue conquered an Empire straight as soone as you haue once subiected any spirit to you power to what end do you study so euery day since you learne ech moment but vanity and new lessons of nicenes be it for actiō or grace sake but therein what thinke you to do Your purpose is to wound harts you vndoe soules for when you make a mā passionately in loue with you you do euen make him a Foole. You cannot be taking away his hart without depriuing him of reason And to what extrauagancies is he not subiect the while during the reigne of his passion I would say of his folly You are al which he loues and very often all which he adores what cry me I should thinke it rather to please you then to saue himselfe If he looke vpon the Sun he is but to make comparison betweene the light of your eyes and that of this bewtifull starre which I leaue to you to imagine how farre frō truth He seemes to maynteyne very impudently in scorne of all created things that you are the only wonder of the world and the very abridgemēt of al that nature hath euer made bewtifull which yet no man belieues but he and you If he carry vp his thoughtes to Heauen he compares you to the Angells with these words That you haue all the qualities of them Iudge now without passiō whether these termes of Idolatry do not fully wholy passe sentence to conuince him with a thousand sorts of crymes And yet do you take pleasure to make the Deuill more potent then he is for to cause others to be damned Returne then agayne vnto your selfe and consider how you ought to render an accoumpt one day of all those spirits whose Reason you haue made to wander in the labyrinth of your charmes For she that on earth shall haue subiected the most shal be the greatest slaue in Hell What glory take you to ioyne your charmes with those of the Diuels thereby to draw both bodyes and soules vnto them I attend you at this last moment of your lyfe where your definitiue sentence is to be pronounced Thinke you alwayes of this moment if there be yet remayning in you but neuer so litle sparke of loue for your selues When you shall once haue enthralled all the Kings of the earth there would yet be a great deale more shame then honour in it since all those Kings were no more then meere corruption and infection Thinke of your selues my Dames you are to day no more the same you were yesterday Tyme which deuours all thinges defaceth ech moment the fayrest lineaments of your face nor shall it euer cease to ruine your beauties vntill such tyme as you be wholy reduced to ashes So passeth away the glory of the world all flyes into the Tombe That of all the Lawes which Nature hath imposed vpon vs that same of Dying is the sweetest CHAP. XII FROM the tyme that our first Father had violated the sacred Lawes which God had imposed vpon him Nature as altering her nature would acknowledge him no more for her child Anone she rayseth a tumult against him with all created things The Heauen armes it selfe with thunders to punish his arrogancy The Sunne hides himselfe vnder the veyle of his Eclypses to depriue him of his light The Moone his sister defending his quarrell resolues with her selfe to be often changing her countenance towards him to signify vnto him the displeasure she tooke thereat The Starres being orherwise innocent of nature became malignant of a sudden to powre on his head their naughty influences The Ayre keeping intelligence with the Earth exhales her vapours and hauing changed them into poyson infects therewith the body of that miserable wretch The Birdes take part with them they whet their beakes clawes to giue some assault or other The Earth prepares the mine of its abysses for to swallow him vp if the dread horrour of its trembling were not sufficient to take away his life The sauage beasts stand grinding their teeth to deuoure him The Sea makes an heape of an infinite number of rockes to engulfe him in their waues But this is nothing yet Nature is so set on reuenge against him as she puts on his fellowes to destroy their pourtraite I meane to combat with the shadow of their body in causing them to quench the fire of their rage with their proper bloud In so much as man hath no greater enemy then man himselfe Let vs go forward To continue these euils do miseries enter into the world accompanyed with their sad disastres and followed with despayre griefe sadnes folly rage and a thousand passions besides which do cleane vnto the senses for to seize vpon soules This poore Adam sees himselfe to be besieged on al sidess if he looke vp to Heauen the flash of the lightenings there euen dazles and astonishes him quite the dreadfull noyse of thunder makes him to wish himselfe to be deafe he knowes not what to resolue vpon since he hath now as many enemyes as he had vassals before Adam may well cry mercy for his syn what pardon soeuer he obteyne thereof yet will nature neuer seeme to pardon him for it Whence it is that in compasse also of these ages of redemption it self wherein we breath the ayre of grace we do sigh that same of miseryes So as if there be nothing more certayne according to the experience of our sense then that the Earth is a Galley wherein we are slaues that it is the prison wherin we are enchained and the place assigned vs to suffer the paynes of our crymes in can there possibly be found any soules so cuell to themselues and such enemyes to their owne repose as not to be continually sighing after their liberty after the end of their punishments and the beginning of an eternall lyfe full of pleasures What would become of vs if our lyfe endured for euer with its miseryes if it should neuer haue an end with our euill that it had no bounds or limits no more then we For then should I be condemning the laughter of Democritus and allowing of the continuall teares of his companion since the season would be alwayes to be alwaies weeping and neuer to laugh Then would it be that cryes and plaints would serue vs for pastimes and teares sighes should neuer abandon eyther our eyes or harts But we are not so brought to this extremity of vnhappines The Heauens being touched with compassion of our euills and of the greatnes of our miseryes in giuing vs a cradle for them to be borne in haue affoarded vs a Sepulcher also for to bury them in O happy Tombe that reduceth to ashes the subiect of our flames O happy Tombe where the wormes make an end to
its necessary sighes do pray his tongue ech one in its fashion to disclose their crymes but the same cannot speake the rigour of a thousand punishmēts makes it to be dumbe On the other side his spirit in the disorder wherein it finds it selfe can haue no other thoughts then those of sorrow for eternally abandoning that which it loues so deerly He knowes not how to expresse a last farewell to his pleasures Whatsoeuer represents it selfe to his eyes are so many obiects that renew his payne If he take heed vnto the beames of the Sun with peere into his chamber window for to take their leaue of his eyes he remembers immediately all the pleasures he hath taken through help of their fayre light in a thousand and a thousand places where it hath beene a witnes of those errors of his If the weather be foule he thinkes vpon that tyme which he hath ill spent imagining withall that the Heauens being touched with compassion of his disasters do euen weepe before hand and bewayle the losse they endure of his Soule It seemes to him that the sound of the bells doth call him to the tombe and that of the Trumpets vnto iudgement He sees nothing about him that astonishes him not He heares nothing that affrights him not He feeles nothing but his miseryes his tōgue is all of gaule wheresoeuer he layes his hand vpon himselfe he touches but the dunghill of his corruption If his spirit seeme to returne to him againe by intermission of the traunce wherein he is he quite forgets the hope of good through the ill he hath committed not being able to dispose his soule to any repentāce The sight of his friends importunes him that of his children afflicts him and the presence of his wyfe serues him as a new addition to his sorrow They behold him not but weeping he is neuer strooken with other noyse then with that of the cryes and plaints of his domestickes The Phisitian goes his wayes out of the chamber to giue place to the Cōfessour And the one knowing not how to cure the body the other hath difficulty to heale the soule by reason of the despayre wherein he is entangled Iudge now to what estate must he needs be brought His speach that fayles him by litle and litle His sight is dimme with his iudgement and all his other senses receyue the first assaults of Death They present him with the Crosse but in vayne for if his thoughtes be free he thinkes but of that which he beares of force They may cry lōg inough to him to recommend himselfe vnto God the deafnes he hath had before to his holy inspirations doth astonish him now also at this houre How many deaths endures he before his death How many dolorous sighs casts he forth into the ayre before the breathing his last All the punishments of the world cannot equall that which he endures For passing out of one litle Hel of paines he enters into a new which shall not haue end but with eternity What good then would he not willingly haue wrought But his wishes are as so many new subiects of griefe in this impotency whence he is neuer to see himselfe deliuered Into what amazement is he brought The Sunne denyes him its light so as if he behold his misfortunes it is but onely by the light of the mortuary Torches which giue him light but to conduct him to the tombe O how the Houre of these last extreames drawes forth in length Ech moment of his lyfe snatches out the hart from his bosome euery moment without putting him to death On which side soeuer he turnes himselfe both horrour and despaire beset him round He caryes Death in his soule for that which he is to incurre Death on his body for that which he now endures Death in his senses since they dye by little and little in so much as all his life is but a liuing Death that consumes him slowly to reduce him into ashes Being now brought to these streights the wicked spirits imploy the last endeauors of their power for to carry away the victory after so many conflicts had What meanes of resistance where there is no pulse no motiō no voyce no tongue His spirit is now in extremes as well as his life and his hart being hardened is now ready to send forth its last sigh in its insensibility as if it dyed in dying His eyes are now no more eyes for they see no more His eares may no more be called so for they heare not awhit and all the other senses as parts precede the ruine of their whole The Soule only resists the cruell assaults of Death in beholding its enemyes in continuall expectation of their prey but the hower presseth it must surrender O cruel necessity In fine for to finish this bloudy Tragedy the Deuils carry it away to Hell for recompence of the seruices which it had yealded to them And this is the lamentable end of synfull Soule You Soules of the world who liue not but throgh the life of your pleasures behold the fearefull Death where the life termines And since the heauens the earth the elemēts whatsoeuer els in nature moues changes without cease do you thinke to find any constancy and stability in your delights Know you not that with the very same action wherewith you runne along withall your contentments you run vnto your Death and that during the tyme it selfe that Tyme affoards them vnto you he takes euen them away from you We loose euery houre what we possesse what care soeuer we take in conseruing the same My Ladyes Keep well your gallāt beauties from the burning of the Sunne If that of the Sunne or of the fire be not able to marre them yet that of Age and Tyme doth ruine them notwithstanding all the industry of Vanity which you haue to employ about them Put your fayre Bodyes into the racke of another body of iron to conserue the proportion therof yet tyme but derides your inuentions For it assayles you within and you defend your selues but without only You haue dared the Heauens inough with an arrogant eye you must needs be stooping with the head now at last for to looke on the earth whence you are formed You must needs bow the necke to the yoke of your miseryes and resume agayne the first forme of your corruption In going to dauncing to feasts and to walke abroad you go to Death In vayne do you command your Coachman then to cary you to such a place since Tyme as I haue said conducts him also that caryes you thither In so much as on which side soeuer you turne your selues you approach vnto the tombe After you haue tasted all the pleasures of the world what shal be left you of all but a griefe of the offences in the soule the sad remembrance of their priuation in the memory this sadnes in the hart for hauing made it to sigh so after your ruine
they find the particular seates of all his Subiects before that of his dwelling The like is it in this stately Pallace of the Vniuerse which this Almighty King hath built with a word only where al his Creatures make their aboad as in certaine Tenemēts which he hath destined to them The Ayre serues them for a Cage the Sea for a Fishpoole the Forrests for a parke the Champaignes for orchards the Mountayns for their Towers and the diuers Villages are as sundry places of pleasure which Kings Princes hold as tenants of Time Walke then boldly my Soule within this vast Pallace of the world since it is the place of thy dwelling The starry Heauen is the feeling thereof the Moone the torch of the night and the Sunne that of the day the birds learne not to sing of nature but to charme thine eares through the sweet harmony of their warbling The Sunne the Aurora and the Zephyrus take paines ech one in its turne to cultiuate the Earth for to helpe it in the shouting forth of its delicate Flowers from whome beautifull Iris hath robd the pourtaite of their colours for to dresse vp her Arke whence it is that thine eyes continually admire it The trees euer stooping vnder the burden of their fruits grow not but for thy delight The woods they people their trunkes with leaues of purpose to make thee tast the pleasures of their shades in the chiefest of the heats And the Rockes though vnsensible contribute to the perfection of thy contentmēt a thousand goodly fountaynes which with the murmur of their purling fetch sleepe into thy eyes for to charme sometymes the annoyes of thy life The Meadowes do neuer seeme to present themselues to thee but with the countenance of Hope knowing well how it comforts the whole world its Champaignes as witty to deceiue thee do hide their treasures vnder goulden Cases to the end to dazle thine eyes through the glittering of so goodly a shew And now my Soule if in this Pallace where the Subiects of him who hath built the same do soiourne thou seest but wonders euery where to what degree of admiration shalt thou be raysed when passing further thou discouerest the dwelling of the soueraigne Maister Thou needst but mount vp an eleauen steps onely to behold the spaciousnes of the place where is assembled all his Court Go then faire and softly because vpon euery step thou shalt be discouering of new subiects of wonder and astonishment at once The first step is the Heauen of the Moone whereby passing only thou shalt admire the clarity wherewith it is adorned to giue light to all those that mount which is noted in the Pallaces of great men where the Stayer-cases are made very light-some The Moone presids in the midst of its Heauen and within its Circle is it alwayes waxing and wayning where the diuine Philosopher Plato hath established the spring of the Idaea's of all the things heere beneath and then consider how in the space of this degree might a thousand worlds be built The second Stayre is the Heauen of Mercury The third the Heauen of Venus The fourth that of the Sunne names which the Astrologers assigne vnto the Heauens Cōtemplate heere at leasure this Stare of the day whose benigne influences do make the earth so fruitfull whose light giues pride to colours and consequently the vertue to all beautifull things to become admirable It was this very Sunne which Iosue arrested in the midst of its Course and which the Persians heeretofore haue adored not considering the while it was subiect to Eclypses how it borrowed its light and all its other essentiall qualities from a soueraigne absolute Cause which had giuen it the Being The fifth Stayre is the Heauen of Mars The sixth of Iupiter and the seauenth of Saturne They eight Stayre is the Firmament The ninth the Primum mobile Stay heere a little my Soule vpon this Step for to listen as you passe along to the sweet Harmony of the mouing of the Heauens and of al that is in nature for by the swindge of this Heauen as with a Mayster-wheele are all the springs of the world moued and are no otherwise capable of action then through its mouing But the motion is so melodious through continuance through the iustnes of the correspondency of all the parts with their ground as Plato that great Philopher was not touched with any other desire thē that of hearing this Harmony The tenth Staire is the Cristalline Heauen Heere it is my Soule where thy feeling and thy thoughts are to be attentiue This tenth Step is beyond the limits of the world Thou beginst but now to enter into the Mansion of the Glory of thy Lord mingle respect heere amidst thy ioy ioine humility with thy contentments Thou beholdst thy self now illumined with another light then that of the Sunne Moone not suffering intermission in its durance It shines alwayes and thou maiest know in the neere admiration of its diuine Clarity the price of the delights it communicats to thee Let vs finish our voyage and mount we now to the Emperiall Heauen whither S. Paul was rapt where he saw wonders which had no name where he tasted Sweetnesses whose Idaea's are incomprehēsible and where he felt pleasures whereof his very Senses could not talke euen when they had the vse of speach But thou mayest yet cry with S. Stephen how thou seest the Heauens open for now behold thee vpon the last step and at the gate of that great Emperiall Heauen It is not permitted thee my Soule to enter into a place so holy and sacred do thou only admire by order the Porch without and the infinite greatnes of the miraculous wonders there whence all the Saints incessantly publish the Glory of the Omnipotent who hath wrought them Contemplate the perfect Beauty of the Angels ech one in his Hierarchy that of the Archangels that of Powers that of the Vertues that of the Principalities that of the Dominations and that of the Seraphims with this Astonishment to behold how in clarity they surpasse the Sunne Admire all the happy Spirits ech one seated in the Throne of Glory which he hath merited the Virgins the Confessours the Martyrs the Apostles the Prophets and the Patriarches being raysed all to the degrees of Felicity which they haue purchased Represent vnto thy selfe besides the incomparable happines wherewith the Immaculate Virgin Mother of our Sauiour is accomplished Cast thine eyes vpon her Throne and euen rauished in astonishment of her Greatnesses publish with confidence how they are without comparison and that the Sun the Moone and all the Starres are of a matter to vile and profane for her to tread vpon And if thou wilt be casting thy view vpon the Tabernacle of thy God do thou shroud it from the flash of his rayes vnder the Robe of the Cherubims and being rauished as they in the dazeling where they breath accomplished withal sorts of
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
the obiects whose beauty heeretofore thou hast adored then represeÌ„t to thy selfe according to the argument thou canst draw from the nature of their being what is become of them or what are they like to be If it be some proud pallace wherin the order the riches the magnificence the industry of the workeman be in dispute about glory to know who shall carry away the prize consider that Tyme destroyes it at all howers and that it shall neuer giue ouer till it see the ruines of it If the charmes of Art do charme the sight in admiration of the fayrest colours laid on a rich subiect think but a little of the fraylty of those accidents For all the beautifullest colours that are do fetch their birrh from that of flowers And can we see any thing more changeable or of so small a date as they So as if the allurements of the beauties of Nature do rauish thy soule by thy eyes defeÌ„d thy self forth with through the knowledge thou hast of their misery since in effect the fayrest Lady in the world is but a masse of flesh which corrupts euery moment vntill such tyme as it be wholy formed to corruption and this corruption into wormes As for all other things whatsoeuer which thou mayest haue seene being no whit more noble then it thou Mayst well be iudging of their defects by the consequence In so much as whatsoeuer the HeaueÌ„s haue glittering the Earth rare Nature gay Art more admirable if thou seruest thy selfe of the touchstone of thy iudgement to know the matter which supports the image thou shalt soone find all to be no more then dust and so mayest feare least it happen to fly in thine eyes to make thee blind if thou lookest but too neere vpon it The Tombe of the Pleasures of the Sense of Hearing CHAP. XVI YOV Soules of the world who suffer your liberty to be taken away through your eares with the deceiptful charmes of Syrens You I say who sigh for ioy for delectation and extasy amidst the pleasures of a sweet harmony eyther of voyces or instruments leÌ„d your guilty eares to heare the reasons which seeme to condemne your errours I doubt not a whit but the purling of a siluer brook the sweet running murmur of a fountayne the pretty warbling of birds and the amourous accents of a delicate voyce ioyned with the sweet allurements of the melody of a Lute are of force inough to captiue your spirits vnder the empire of a thousaÌ„d sorts of delights But yet returne a little from this wandering of yours Content your selfe with the losse of liberty and saue your reason to repayre your domage At such tyme as you stand listening to the humming noyse of this riuer to the murmur of this fountayne imagine this truth the while That all passeth away that all slides along like to the waues Their language preacheth nought els Those birds euen call for death at the sound of their chaunting like the Swan And if the harmony of a voice or Lute so charme you coÌ„sider awhile how the pleasure of this melody is formed of the ayre and that in the same instant it resolues into ayre agayne so as the delights euen dy in their birth You let your eares be tickled with the charmes of EloqueÌ„ce imagine you that since it is true that as neither Cicero nor Demosthenes were exempt from the Tombe or corruption with al their fayre elocution so shall you neuer be able to perswade death with al your gallant discourses to prolong the terme of your life but a moment True Eloquence consists in preaching Vertue and true Harmony to hould reason alwayes at accord with the Will for to desire nothing but what is iust The Tombe of the other Pleasures that are affected to the Senses CHAP. XVII OPEN your eyes you worldlings to discouer playnly the truth of your crymes You take your pleasures to cherish daintily your bodyes as if you knew not their miseryes But why say I your pleasures Can you take any contentment to stuffe your putrified body with a new matter of corruption Whatsoeuer you eat is a symbole of Death so shall you dy in eating You do nothing but heape dung vpon dung add but infectioÌ„ to infection I graunt that your life passeth euer its dayes in continuall banquetting But I would fayne haue you let me see the pleasure which is left you of all this good cheere at the latter course Is this a contentment trow you to haue the Belly stuffed with a thousand ordures to put your spirit on the racke with the stinking fume of meates not well concocted which arise vp in the brayne Is it well with you to haue the head drousy the pulse distempered the spirit benummed reason astray Behold heere a part of the delights which succeed your delights and you haue no care but to pamper your bodyes as if you lyued but onely for them not considering the meane while how the same very food which affoards them lyfe euen brings them to death Inebriate your selfe with these brutish pleasures and by the example of the new Epicures haue no passion but to conserue them yet of necessity must the imaginary paradise of your lyfe conclude in a true Hell on the day of your death For all these roses shal be changed into thornes in that last moment Glut you and crumme your bodies for to satiate the wormes withall But this is nothing as yet Your soules being the companions of your euills must needs be euerlastingly punished in an eternity of paynes O dreadfull Eternity It seemes in a fashion that those men of the world may well be excusing their vanity that causes them to carry both amber and muske about them since they are all full of of infection and corruption which makes me belieue that they feare least men come to sent the stench of their miseries so engage them or rather inforce them to serue themselues of this cunning In effect all these odours and these perfumes smell so strong of earth as we cannot loue the smoke without runing into danger of the fire So as those who tye their spirit to these vayne idea's of pleasures are in loue with shadows and despise the bodyes They smell very well that smell not ill and such as habituate their bodyes to Perfumes can neuer endure the stinke of the mortuary Torches which shall encompasse their bâ—d at the houre of death I speake to you my Ladyes who doe so passionately affect these foolish vanityes I remit you euer to the instant of Death for to receyue the iudgement of your actions full of shame and reproach Deale you so as your soule may sauour well rather then the body since the one may euery moment be cited to the presence of God and the other serues as a prey for the worms It were better your teeth should sauour il then your actions for those are subiect to corruption and these heere shall liue eternally
I doubt very much least death do astonish you but if you neuer do thinke vpon it it will astonish you a great deale worse when you shall see it indeed If to liue and dy be but one and the selfe same thing make the Thought of death while you liue so familiar to your selfe that you neuer thinke of any other thing since you neuer do other thing but dy So as if to feare it and neuer to thinke of it do make its visage the lesse hideous I would counsayle you to banish this Thought out of your spirit but so as you be in good estate But on the contrary the forgetfulnes you haue of it makes it so dreadfull vnto you at the least remembrance therof that comes into your mynd as you seeme almost to be in danger of dying by the only feare of dying I cannot abide the weaknes of those spirits who apprehend an euill so much which they cānot auoyd whereas the euill of the feare which they haue is often tymes a great deale more bitter then that which they feare But the only meane to be cured of this feare is to liue alwayes in that of God For the strōgest apprehension of Death proceeds from the great number of the Offences which one hath committed in his life A good man feares rather to liue too long then to dy too soone because he hopes for the recompence of his trauayles at the end of his course whiles the wicked can attend but for the chastizement of his sins So as for to banish this feare from our soule we had need to haue banished the offences thence The innocēt hath no feare but for the iudgement of God this feare is inseparable frō his loue he feares him not but through loue so as this very feare produceth contētment and banisheth sadnes in the meane tyme. I leaue you this truth to meditate vpon that a life of Roses brings forth a death of Thornes Let vs say now for Conclusion of this worke that if one will auoyd this manner of Death he must alwayes be thinking of Death There is nothing more sweet then these thoughts nothing more welcome thē this remembrance Without the thoughts of Death there is no pleasure in life without the thoughts of Death there is no comfort in anoyes without the thoughtes of Death there is no remedy for our euils In fyne to finish all he who is alwayes thinking of Death doth thinke continually of the meanes of attaining eternal life O sweet thoghtes I would not haue my spirit to be capable of a thought but onely to thinke euery moment of death since it is the onely good the onely contentment and the only Repose of lyfe A goodly Consideration and very important both for lyfe and death CHAP. XXI I SHOVLD thinke there were no greater pleasures in the world then to contemne thē all at once since in effect the best spirits do neuer find repose but in the contempt thereof I know well there are certayne chast Pleasures which we cannot misse but as the soule hath its senses affected lyke vnto the body we are to hinder our spirit from mixing its feelings with those of Nature euer feeble and frayle therby not to tast its delights too deliciously Our iudgement hath beene giuen vs as a Torch to guide our steps by our actions and our thoughtes in this sea of the world wherein we are as Slaues in the Galley of our bodyes and the pleasures we seeke therein are the rockes where we find our shipwracke I know well also that we are to be strongly armed for to defend our selues while our proper senses do so warre vpon vs. But in this manner of combat the excesse of payne produceth the excesse of glory let vs breake the crust to see this verity discouered The greatest Saynts and the wisest men haue beene forced to confesse after a thousand proofes of experience that we can not tast any manner of contentment without the grace of God Thou Couetous man in vayne thou rests thy vn-rests on the coffers of thy treasures I deny thee to be held content for if thou reasonest euen reason condemnes thee If thou seruest thy selfe of thy iudgement to be able to do it what argument soeuer thou makest it but fully concludes agaynst thy opinions So as thou cāst neuer enter into the knowledg of thy vayne pleasures without departing from that of thy selfe In a word thou canst not be a man and be content togeather in thy miserable condition since reason and thy contentmēt can neuer subsist in one subiect Thou Ambitious man I would lend thee wings for to fly to the heauens of fortune it seemes to me already that I see thee seated in her throne but looke what greatnes soeuer thou possessest thou dar'st not say for al that thou wert well content for feare the truth should happē to bely thee And knowest thou not how Ambition and Repose do alwayes breake fellowship the one with the other That Pleasure and Feare cannot couple together and that desires as well as hopes do make the soule to be thirsty Represent to thy selfe then the disquietnes which thou findst in thy greatnesses since thy Ambition cannot limit its ayme within their fruition How the pleasures of thy possessiōs are mixt with the feare of their short durance that by vehemently wishing more more thou makst thy selfe vnhappy In such sort as thou maiest not dare to cal thy selfe happy without flattering thy selfe or rather without blushing for shame You Courtiers let me see the pictures of your felicities bring to light what seemes most to afford it the lustre and splendour it hath I graunt that in the midst of the spring tyme of your life loue and fortune with a prodigall hand haue bestowed vpon you what they had most rare beautifull with them yet would you dare to maynteyne with al this that you are content during the reigne of your Empire Whereas if any one haue the boldnes to perswade weake spirits thereunto let him truly recount vs the history of his pleasures I know that he will streight be shewing vs some Roses but I know withall that he wil be hiding the Thornes vnder their leaues as frayle as his contentments though they were of the flowers of a restles remembrance gathered in the sad memory of things past since delights are of the same nature alwayes dying and subiect to receiue their tombe frō the very same day they first sprong vp As for the presents of Fortune if she giue them with one hand she takes them away agayne with the other So as her fauorites are ordinarily the most vnhappy of all because that in snatching away the goods from thē agayne which she hath once bestowed vpon them she dragges them often along for to bury thē vnder their ruines And will you call that a pleasure My Dames you have but one fayre wedding day in all your lyfe whose feast you do secretly celebrate in
of the Soule and al the dolours wherwith our life is touched Now then if it be true that we dye euery moment is not euery moment I pray a Death to vs Let vs go then my soule to God since he cals vs the Sunne lends vs not its light but to shew vs the way to him The Starres shine not in heauen but to let vs see the pathes trackes therof So as if the Moone do hide her self frō our eyes by Interstitions it cannot be but of choler as sensible of the contempt we shew of her light Let vs go to this holy Land of Promise and passe the Red Sea of sufferance and punishments in exāple of our Sauiour who with no other reason then that of his Loue would purchase through his bloud the Glory he atteyned to The world can afford vs but Death Death but a Tombe and the Tombe but an infinite number of wormes which shal be fed with our carcasse They runne after the world the world is nought but misery they do loue then to be miserable What blindnes my Soule to sigh after our mishaps passionately to cherish the subiect of our losse Let vs go to this Eternity where the delights euer present raigne with in the Order of a continuall moment Let vs get forth of this mouing circle and breake the chaynes of this shameful seruitude wherein to Syn hath brought vs. Away with the world since whatsoeuer is in it is but myre and dust it is but smoke to the eyes putrifaction to the nostrills the noyse of thunder and tempests to the eares thornes to the hands smart to our feeling All those who put any trust therein are vtterly deceyued All those who follow it are absolutely lost All those that honour it are wholy despised and all those who sacrifice to its Idols shal be one day sacrificed themselues in expiation of their crimes Besides we see how all that know it do abandon it for if it promise a Scepter it reaches vs a Shephooke Thrones are seated on the brimme of a precipice nor doth it euer affoard vs any good turne but as the vigill of some misfortune Away then with the world and all that is within it since all its wōders now are but dust Whatsoeuer it hath more rare is but Earth whatsoeuer it hath more fayre is but wind Euery King is no more but a heape of Worms where Horrour Terrour and Infection astonish and offend the senses that approch vnto it Corruption sayth the Wiseman speaking of man vaunt thou as much as thou wilt behould thy selfe brought vnto the first nothing of thy first Being Let vs not liue my Soule but for Eternity since it is the true spring of lyfe Out of Eternity is there no repose out of Eternity no pleasure out of Eternity all hope is vayne Who thinkes not of Eternity thinkes of nothing since out of Eternity all things are false Let vs behould but Eternity my Soule as the onely obiect of glory All flyes away except Eternity it is it alone which is able to satiate our defires and termine our hopes I will no other comfort in all my annoyes then that of Eternity I will no other solace in all my miseryes then that of Eternity After it do I desire nothing after it do I looke for nothing I lyue not but for it and my hart sighes not but after it All discourses are displeasing to me except those of Eternity It is the But and end of all my actions it is the obiect of my thoughtes I labour but to gather its fruits al my vigils point at the pretensions of its Crownes My eyes contemne all the obiects except those that conuey my spirits to its sweet Idea's as to the only Paradise I find in this world Whatsoeuer I do I iudge my selfe vnprofitable if I refer not my actions to this diuine cause whatsoeuer I thinke whatsoeuer I say and whatsoeuer I imagine all is but vanity if those thoughtes if those words those imaginatiōs rely not in some fashion on Eternity In fine my Soule if thou wilt tast on Earth the delightes of Heauen thinke continually of Eternity for in it only it is where the accomplishment of all true contentments doth consist The Glory of Paradise AATER that rich Salomon had a thousand tymes contented his Eyes in admiration of the fairest obiects which are found in Nature That his Eares euer charmed with a sweet Harmony had deliciously tasted in their fashion the most sensible repasts they are affected to That his Mouth had relished the most delicate meates where the Tongue finds the perfection of its delight after I say he had quenched the thirst of his desires in the sea of all contentments of the world and satisfied the appetite of his senses in the accomplishment of the purest delicacies he cries out aloud That all was full of vanity The Pompe of these magnificences may well represent themselues to his remēbrance but he cryes out before it That it is but vanity His riches his Greatnesses his Triumphes all his pleasures serued him as a subiect within knowledge of their Nature for to exclayme very confidently that all was full of vanity What pleasures now after these delights may mortalls tast What Riches may they now possesse after these Treasures To what Greatnes may they aspire which is not comprized within that of his Empire To what sort of prosperities may they pretend which is not lesse then his happines And yet neuertheles after a long possession of honours delights which were inseparable to his soueraigne absolute power he publisheth this truth that all is full of smoke and wind and that nothing is sure heere beneath but death nor present but miseries Soules of the world what thinke you of that you reason not somtimes in your selues to discouer the weaknes of the foundation whereon your hopes are piched You loue your pleasures but if it be true that knowledge should alwayes precede Loue why know you not the nature of the Obiect before it predominate the power of your affections Agayne you loue not thinges at any tyme but to possesse them Ah what know you not the delights of the world do passe before our eyes as a lightning that in their excesse they incessantly find their ruyne you thinke your selfe content to day because nothing afflicts you do you cal that pleasure to runne after pleasure for it is impossible for you to possesse that imaginary contentment but in running after it since it flyes so away without resting Let them represent to themselues the greatest contētments that may be receyued in the world at the same tyme let all the diuers Spirits who haue tasted the vayne Sweetnesses appeare to tell vs in secret what remaines to them thereof Thou Miser tell vs I pray thee what pleasure hast thou to shut vp thy goulden Earth within thy coffers to lend it to the interest of thy conscience and to make it
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
influences make them to blow forth At last they lay you on a bed most refulgent all gorgeous in riches and whereon it seemes as if the happy Arabia had powred forth a part of its odours and to attract the sleepe more sweetly into your eyes you cause to be sent for some pleasing Musike of a Voyce which rauishes your senses with so much sweetnes as they dye with ioy without dying notwithstanding Are not these great pleasures trow you if they could last I speake to Soules who seeke their Paradise on Earth But the common calamity so preuailes as these delights euē dy in their birth their priuation affords them a great deale more torments then doth their presence produce sweetnesses Let vs cast now our eyes at the last on the backside of this Medall consider the cruel Metamorphosis of these contentments in the intollerable punishments which Eternally torment a damned Soule Let vs behould the cruell exercise of its paynfull progresse in Hell You must take no great heed to the terms of Day of Mattins of Euening or Morning-calles whereof I serue my selfe in this ensuing description for that I am forced thereunto to keepe some order in my discourse The deuils in the morning then come to awake this damned Soule howbeit indeed she sleepeth not a wincke through the dreadfull noyse of their howlings These are the Chambermaydes which fetch her out of her bed all of fire for to conduct her into a Cabinet all of Ice not of Myrrors for she durst not haue lookt thereinto for feare of the feare of her selfe so hideous and dreadful she is These wicked Spirits do help to dresse her after they haue made her take a draught of Sulphure within a rotten Vessell where the worms do breed in sholes One combes her head and that with a combe of iron with sharp points which makes the bloud to follow Another colors her cheekes with the red of Spayne with a pensill of fire He there washes her face with puddle water scalding hot withall and he heere puts on a robe of liuing coales on her backe and in this equipage a new Deuill more hideous then death presents himselfe to her serues her as an Vsher to conduct her to a burning Chariot to conuey her not to a Temple but to the foote of a dreadfull Aultar where she is cruely sacrificed without loosing her life They lead her afterwards in the same chariot into a dismall Pallace where she finds the tables couered and set with all sorts of poysonous and contagious Serpents wherwith they feast her All that dinner while a hideous noyse of howlings and dreadful cryes serues for the Musike to charme her eares withall After repast is she brought backe agayne to her Cabinet where all the obiects of horrour and amazement are assembled togeather for to afflict the sense of her sight And after that a Deuill sings her an Ayre whose ditty is the Sentence of her condemnation and this verity the burden of it How the paynes she endures shall be eternall What a Song The tyme of her walking approaches they bring then the fyery Chariot before the gate of her darkesome Pallace She mounts into it and thence rage despayre fury and cruelty draw her into an obscure forrest of Cypres where the Owles and Rauens do screech incessantly so as she heares but the noyse of death not being able to procure death She is now returned she finds the same Table spread agayne and with the like Cates whereof she feeds of force to the noyse of a like Musike to that of dinner Being risen from Table the Deuill that hath the charge to wayte vpon her comes againe into her Cabinet and sings her likewise the same Canzonet of her dreadful Sentence with the selfe same burden as before How the paynes which she endures shal be eternall In the meane tyme they bring her to a bed of thornes whereinto they cast her at such tyme as she was wont to take her rest in the world and thus passeth she ouer the night in these torments without euer seing any end thereof Is not this a fearefull life Behould my Dames the exercise of those who haue imitated you in your pleasures Behold the employments of their whole progresse These are no fables I tell you for like as the noise of the swindge of the world doth hinder you from hearing the sweet harmony of the motions of the Heauens so the selfe same noyse seemes to hinder you likewise from vnderstanding the hideous cryes of a Cain of a Pharao of an impious Richmā and of a thousand of others your like who haue hitherto after so lōg a tyme beene burning in Hell and so shall burne for euer without hope to see any end of their panes That depends now on you my Dames to chuse to you one of these two liues heere If you be tasting of hony in your youth you shall haue but bitternes in your old age If you gather the Roses in your spring the Thornes shal be reserued for your winter Chuse hardly behold your selues expressed as Vlisses at the entrance of two wayes far different the one from the other That of Vertue is stwowed with Nettles and couered with Stones that of Vice is enamelled with flowers and bordered with brookes whose sweet murmur inuites you to follow the traces of their course So as if you would needs know where both these ways do termine themselues the one in eternall Death and the other in Life And herein the example of an infinite number which haue beene saued by the one lost by the other may seeme to put you out of doubt All the Saints in word all those who are in Paradise haue held the first al the dāned haue wretchedly followed the other Demaund you of the Rich-man what way he tooke he will answere you that he hath alwayes walked vpon Flowers that he neuer met with Thornes till the arriuall at his Sepulcher Make you the same demaund of Lazarus you shall heare of him that he hath neuer trod but vpon the Earth all couered with bryars nettles and sharpe stones and that euen at the end of his trauailes he found the beginning of his glory Thinke not my Dames to be gathering of the Flowers in this world and then to be reaping of the Fruits in the other All things are created in a Species of Contraries which serues as a Ciment to hould them togeather The faire weather of your life seemes to menace Rayne at your Death and God graunt it be not a Floud of vnprofitable teares where without thinking thereof you find not your Shipwracke The calme of your daies presages the storm of your nights and take heed you find not some rocke in the tyme of the tempest I must needs confesse how the Poets haue hid very excellent verities vnder the veyle of their Fables that Cerberus with three heades whome they figure to vs in hell is nothing els but the
this contagious malady which we haue taken of our parents were to expect that same which shall neuer come to passe So as indeed we should be throwing al these Crownes at her head and make vse of the Scepter she presents vs with as of a staffe to be auendged of her for her perfidiousnes to testify to her that our constancy scornes her leuity and that our contentment repose depends not awhit of the rowling of her wheele if we learne euery day to liue forth of her Empire Let vs conclude then and say that spirits that know wel the art of thinking of Death do marke out the thrones of their glory in heauen not being able to find any thing on Earth that were worthy of their greatnes Hence it is they take such pleasure to dy without cease and to increase their contentment yet further that they alwayes are thinking vpon it O sweet remembrance of death a thousand times more sweet then all the delights of life O cruell forgetfulnes of this necessity a thousand tymes more cruell then all the paynes of the world O sweet memory of our end where begins our only felicity O glorious obliuion of our mortal conditiō the only cause of our disasters Let vs not liue then but to thinke on the delight of Death let vs not dye but to contemne the pleasure of lyfe let vs forget all but the remembrance of Death Let vs loue nothing but its thoughtes and neuer essteeme but the only actions which haue relation to this last since this is that alone whence we are to receyue eyther price or payne A Contemplation vpon the Tombe of Alexander the Great CHAP. VI. O ALL yee Great Kings Loe I heere sommon you to appeare about this Tombe to behould therein the wormes the corruption and infection of the greatest the happyest the mightiest the most dreadfull Monarch of the world to say all in a word of Great Alexander whose Valour could neuer admit comparison whose Victories haue had no other bounds then those of the Vniuerse and whose Triumphes haue had all the Heauens for witnes all the Earth for Spoyles for slaues all Mortalls for Trumpet Renowne Fortune for Guide Descend then from your thrones vpon this dunghill where lyes the companion of your glory and your greatnesses Behould and contemplate this Pourtrait of your selues drawne to the lyfe after the originall of your miseries Cyrus approach you vnto this vnlucky place vpon your Chariot al of massy gould and come attended with that magnificent pompe which made all the world idolatrous in admiration of it that the infinite number of your subiects may be an infinite number of witnesses to conuince you of vanity and folly in behoulding this Victorious Prince heere beseiged by all sorts of miseryes with in a litle hole which serues as bounds and limirs to his power Cōsider how this great Taker of Townes is surprized himselfe by the wormes how this Triumphant souldier is defeated by thē how this Inuincible captaine hath beene vanquished by death and brought into this deplorable estate wherein you see him Are you not ashamed to be seated in that glittering Chariot since needs you must descend thence to enter into this dismall dwelling where the wormes attend your corruption This great number of subiects which enuiron you on all sides to set forth your glory is a troup of the miserable For they dye in following you and on which side soeuer you go Tyme conducts you all togeather into the Tombe Impose your lawes vpon al the people of the Earth yet needs must you receiue those same of Death Build you as long as you wil a thousand proud Pallaces in your Empire you cānot hold them but in fee-farme though you be the proprietary thereof because euery moment you are at the point of departing Well may you decke your selfe vp with the richest robes of vanity and play the God heere beneath with Crowne on the head and scepter in the hand yet looke what you are consider what you are like to be contemplate your miseries at leysure in the mirour of this sepulcher To day you loure on Heauen with an arrogant eye and to morrow you shal be seene metamorphozed into a stinking peece of earth To day you make your selfe adored of such as haue no iudgment but in the eyes only and to morrow shall you be sacrificed in the sight of all the world for expiatiō of your crimes and hardly shall be found a handfull of your ashes so true it is that you are nothing Xerxes descend you a little from the top of that mountayne of annoyes where they sad thoughtes do hould you besieged within this Vale of disasters and of miseryes to behold therein the pittifull ouerthrow of the proudest Conquerour of the world Spare your teares to mourne vpon his Tombe if you will but acquit your selfe of the iustest homage you may yield to his memory You weep before hand for the Death of your souldiers in foreseeing their end with that of the world What will you say now of the death of this great Captayne who for a last glory after so many triumphes is deuoured of wormes and metamorphosed into a stuffe al of corruption encompassed all with horrour and amazement So as if you will needs be satisfying your selfe afford your teares for your owne proper harmes since you are to incurre the same lot without respect eyther of your greatnes or power All your armyes are not of force inough to warrant you from Death you must bow your necke vnder the yoke of this necessity whose rules are without exceptiō whose law dispenseth not with any Alexander is dead Cyrus his predecessour hath dyed also after a thousand other Kings who haue gone before him and you runne now after them but to me it seemes you carry too great a port of Greatnes with you The earth wherof you are moulded framed demaunds but her earth you must quit your selfe of all and your scepter and crowne shall not be taken for more at that last instant then as sheephookes for that if we be different in the manner of liuing we are yet all equall in the necessity of dying Now therfore it is a vanity to say you are of the race of Gods Come see heere the place of your first begining for as you are borne of corruption so you returne to putrefaction If you doubt thereof as yet approach with your infected flesh to these rotten bones with your clay to these ashes If they differ in ought it can be but in coulour only Tell me to what end serue all those Statues of your resemblance which you caused to be erected on the lands of your Empire since tyme destroyes ruines the original Thinke you belike they dare not medle with those pourtraits which are but vayne shadowes of a body of smoke You trouble your selfe too much to make it credulous to the world that you are immortall as if
this beliefe could affoard you immortality If you haue but neuer so litle knowledge in you know you not your owne misfortunes If you haue sense haue you no feeling of your miseries I know well you are a King but a King of the dead since al those to whome you giue the law do receyue it from Tyme which makes them to dye euery houre Admit you be the chiefe of men yet if they be miserable all of them together as subiect to a thousand sorts of accidents may we not well say that you are the vnhappyest of them all You play the omnipotent when you are set vpon your Throne of snow not considering the while that within your Pallace as well as without you are but a heap of dust which euery litle blast of wind may scatter on the ground to dissolue it into nothing Apelles thou took'st a pride to be called the Paynter of Alexander come then and see the subiect of thy glory if thy heart serue thee to endure the horrour of it This same is that Alexander whose Maiesty so dazeled thee heertofore and whose stench at this tyme so infects the whole world I mistrust thy audacious pensill to be able to represent the greatnes of his miseryes to the lyfe Dost thou remember him at such tyme as thou drewest him armed at all points vpon his Bucephalus euen vpon the point of his forcible retayning the last crowne of his Triumphes not hauing ought to conquer els besides And sometymes agayne sitting on his Throne with the Crowne of a Conquerour on his head and with the Scepter of the Empire of the world in his hand Durst thou maintayne now these ashes are the draughts of thy originall if thou wilt saue thy credit from reproach do thou imitate Thymantes draw the curteyne ouer Alexanders face that he may not be knowne so is he no more himselfe And thou Lisyppus who employed so oft hast made vse of such rich materials to mantaine this great Monarch on foot these rotten bones which make vp this Carkasse which thou seest haue beene the subiect both of thy glory and thy labours If it be true that water eates into the stone then weep thou freely on thy owne workes to destroy them thy selfe since their obiect is buryed while tyme prepares their Sepulcher Cesar Mark-Antony Pompey Annibal and Scipio step you a little aside from the way of your Triumphs to come and see as you passe the miserable spoyles of this great King alwayes victorious of this great Monarke alwayes triumphant Approach you vnto his Tombe behold contemplate smell the horrible corruption would you say this carkasse heere that stinkes so abhominably were the body of that inuincible Alexander whose valour hath despoyled the earth of its Laurelles and who being not able yet to bound his ambition with the compasse of one world goes seeking him another howsoeuer in digging the earth he hath found but the place of this Sepulcher where he is buryed with all his greatnesses All those gallant Courtiers that followed him are changed into wormes and are nothing els but meere putrefaction and their proud Pallaces into this litle trench and all their ornaments into these spiders webbes which encompasse him round Cast your eyes vpon these images of horrour This is the draught of him who stiled himselfe the sonne of Iupiter-Ammon who exacted Aultars from men to make himself adored Iudge you now of the perfection of this Idol Go your wayes into all places where your ambition guides you conquer all triumph vpon all and for a last victory make Fortune herselfe as your Tributary that the rouling of her wheele may receaue its motion from that of your wills al these Victoryes and all these Triumphes accompanied with all the glory of the world shal not warrant you awhit from Death nor shall all the perfumes of Arabia exempt your flesh from putrefaction Cesar dispute no more with Mark-Antony about the Empire of the earth Nature would haue you to take vp this difference betweene you since neyther of you both cā iustly pretend but to seauen foot thereof And if you can hardly belieue it measure you the spaces of Alexanders Tombe who hath worne the Crowne vpon his head which you desire This is the onely meane to finish your quarrell rather then to quenh your fury in the bloud of your subiects Cesar play not the proud man so in the midst of thy felicityes it is now a long while since that death hath stood waiting vpon thee vnder the Throne where thou sittest in the Senate for to let thee know and perceaue at once that he mockes at thy greatnesses and contemnes thy power by drowning thy lyfe within thy bloud Stoope a little to the pitch of thy vanity Mark-Anthony there is no likelyhood at all thou shouldst euer be triumphing ouer thin enemy since thou canst not so much as vanquish thy passions which is the best victory that we can possibly obteyne of our selues Thou shalt euen loose the Empire of all the Earth where thou shalt find so shamefull a Tombe as they shall not dare to speake of thy lyfe by reason of thy Death Anniball thou gloriest much in entring in Triumph within thy proud Citty of Carthage after so many and so great victories which rayse thee to the highest Throne of Honour but takst not heed the while that if thou leadest thine enemies in triumph vices seeme to triumph vpon thy soule fitter that miseries do the like with thy body And againe if Fortune fauour thee to day as king she will dregg thee to morrow as a slaue To day the Lawrels grow on thy head and to morrow thorns shal grow beneath thy feet to let thee see that nothing is certaine in the world but change since it changes euery houre in making all things else to change their countenance withall I do euen flout at thy vanity for the witnesses of thy glory very Carthage it selfe which is the theatre therof shal follow soone after the course of of thy ruine Pompey flatter not thy selfe thus in thy prosperities the very same Sunne which hath seene them grow vp shall see them wither ere long It is true that all the world euen trembles at thine armes Renowne hath no voyce but to publish thy valour but how then knowest thou not how the self same fate which affords thee Crownes Scepters takes them away againe when it pleaseth Victory pursues thee euery where both on sea and land but this is but for a while After the moment of thy birth death aymes at thy head to pull off all the Lawrells thence wherewith thou hast so often crowned it and knowing that the sea hath no rockes for thee it hath scored out thy Sepulcher already on the shore Weepe weepe you great Kings at the sight of these miseries or rather at the feeling of your owne If the greatest of the world be nought but corruption what shall become of you If this inuincible