will Punish you for your Inconstancy But pardon this my Jealousie for Doubts proceed from Love and your Virtue is the Anchor of my Hopes and Haven of Security in which my Love lives safe Farewell A Sons Dying Speech to his Father FAther I have been an Unprofitable Son for I shall Die a Batchelour and so leave you no Posterity to keep alive your Name and Family which is a Double Grief both to your Self and Me indeed to Me it is a Treble Grief because the Fault is only Mine loving Vain Pleasures and Liberty so much as made me unwilling to be Bound in Wedlock Bonds believing that a Wife would be a Hinderance to those Delights that Pleas'd me besides I trusted to my Youth and Health thinking I had time Enough to Marry and Increase also I thought that very Young men's Children would prove but Weak and Sickly in Body and Mind thus did I bring many Arguments to Live a Batchelour untill such time as I had more Maturity of Years and then I did intend to Choose a VVife with your Consent or else Consent to Marry whom you Pleas'd but Death will alter that Design and you and I must both Submit to Heavens Decree Yet have I this to Comfort me that you did never Command me to Marry wherefore my Fault was not a Fault of Disobedience for I never Disobey'd you all my Life which makes me Die in Peace Farewell A Young Virgins Dying Speech Dear Friends I Do Perceive that Holy Angels hover about my Soul to Bear it to the Gods when parted from my Body a Virgin 's Soul it is Cloth'd with white Innocency and so fitter for their Company as also for the Robe of Glory which the Gods will give me As for my Body though it be Young yet is it only fit for Death as being Due to him for that was made of Earth and Death is Lord of all the Earth doth Form Breed and Bring forth but Souls being of an other Nature those that are Celestial Proceeding from the Gods do to the Gods Return whereas Wicked Souls that are Damned and Proceed not from the Gods but from the Damned Spirits Return to the Damned crew again for all is Good that doth Proceed from God and though the Best of Souls doth Sin yet God doth give them Purging Grace that Cleanses them from Evil which Grace hath Purified my Soul and made it Fit for Heaven where I do wish all Souls may come Farewell A Husbands Dying Speech to his Wife VVIfe Farewell for Death will Break our Marriage knot and will Divorce our Persons but not Dissolve our Love unless you be Inconstant for Death hath not that Power to Disunite our Souls for they may Live and Love Eternally but if you Marry a Second Husband you separate our Loves as Death will separate our Bodies for in that Marriage-bed you will Bury all Remembrance of me and so shall I doubly Die and doubly be Buried for your second Husband will be my second Death but if you Live a Widdow you will keep me stil Alive both in your Name and Memory where I desire to Live untill your Body Dies and then our Souls will meet with Joy Delight and Happiness till then Farewell A common Courtisans Dying Speech KInd Friends and Wanton Lovers when I was in Health you came to view my Beauty to hear my Voice and to Injoy my Person in Amorous Imbraces and all for your own Pleasures and Delights but I did Entertain such Visitors more for the Lucre of Profit than for the Pleasures of Love more for your Presents than your Persons the truth is I was more Covetous of Wealth than Amorously Affected not but that I took Pleasure in seeing my Beauty Admired and hearing my Wit Prais'd and took delight to insnare mens Affections with my Attractive Graces and was Proud of the Power I had by Nature's Favour yet that Power I only imploy'd to Inrich my Self that I might Live Bravely and Luxuriously or to Hord up to maintain me when I was Old But O those Covetous desires and Vain delights have Ruined both my Body and Soul in Grievous Pains I Live and should Despairing Die but that the Gods are Mercifull and Pardon Penitent Sinners for if I were to Live I would not Live that Life I have done not only for my Souls sake but for my Bodies for had I thought of Death or could imagine the Pains that now I feel the Pocky rotting Pains that Torture my weak Body I should have been less Covetous of Wealth and more Carefull of Health I should not have made my Beauty Wit and becoming Graces and Adornments to intice Customers to buy Sinfull Pleasures or had I thought of the Joys in Heaven I should have Despised all worldly Delights or had I fear'd the Torments of Hell I should have Spent my time in Prayers and not in Courtships But Life is almost Past with me for Death hath strucken me with his VVand so that I cannot Live to Mend but Die to be Forgiven for I do truly and unfeignedly Repent Farewell A Vain young Ladies Dying Speech Dear Friends YOu are Charitable in Visiting the Sick a Charity that I did seldome Practise for when I was in Health I was so taken up with Vanities and worldly Pleasures as I could never Spare so much time as to Visit a sick Friend neither was I Charitable to the Poor as to help to Relieve their Wants for I spent so much on my Braveries as I left not any thing to give unto the Poor indeed I did shun Visiting the Sick because they put thoughts of Death in my Mind which thoughts did disturb my Mind and obstruct my Delights but if I had thought of Death more and had Visited the Sick oftner I had never Liv'd so Idlely nor Spent my time so Unprofitably nor had been so Foolishly Vain as I have been for I regarded nothing but Beauty Fashions Dressing Dancing Feasting Courtships and Bravery I never thought of Heaven nor Read holy Books of Divinity but only lying Romances and my Contemplation was all of Wanton Love 'T is true I went Often to Church but not to Pray but to be Pray'd to not as a Saint but as a Mistress I may say as a Sinner for I went not to Church for Instruction but for Destruction more for to Shew my Beauty than to Reform my Life more to get VVanton Lovers than to get Saving Grace I listned not to what the Preachers taught but look'd which of the Gallants eyed me Thus did I increase and multiply Sins under the Veil of Devotion for which I deserve great and grievous Punishments but the Gods are mercifull and will Forgive me for now I do more Hate Vanities than ever I did Love them and all my Evil thoughts are Banished from my mind indeed Death hath frighted all such thoughts away and Pious thoughts do take their place and as the Gods come neer the VVorld shrinks from me as Guilty of these Sins
so Gracefull and Becoming as the One Delighted the Eyes of the Beholders as much as the Other the Ears of the Hearers but though his Body be Dead yet his Wit Eloquency Elegancy Honesty and Abilities are Living in the Memory of Living men which will Live by Tradition as Long as there are Men to Remember or Speak Wherefore let us Keep his Living parts in our Minds and Bury his Dead parts as his Body in the Grave there to remain in Peace as the other in Fame A Magistrates Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met here together to Mourn for our Loss for the Death of This man is not only a Loss to every Particular man but to the whole Common-wealth for he was a Wise man and an Upright and Just Magistrate he did not Serve the Common-wealth to Inrich Himself as most Magistrates do but took Pains to Inrich the Common-wealth nor did he Sell Justice for Bribes but Punished Bribe-takers neither was he Partial either to the Rich or Poor but Judged according to Right and Truth at least to Great Probability also he kept the Rich from Riot and the Poor from Idleness and he took away Superfluities to help Necessities not that he Troubled any man for Living to their Degree and Quality but he would not Suffer any man to Live Above their Degree and Quality neither would he hinder men from their Lawfull Pleasures and Delights but he would not Connive at their Disorders and Misrules neither would he Pardon their Wickednesses He Regarded not the Slanders of his Enemies nor was he Revengefull for he Suffer'd not his Enemies to be Injured but gave them all the Justice he could neither was he Unjust to his Foes nor Ungrateful to his Friends he had a tender Regard to the Old Sick Poor and Shiftless Indeed he was such a Magistrate as he was a Father a Husband a Brother a Friend a Master a Servant a Slave for the Common-wealth all which adds to our Loss and Grief but not to his Happiness for his Happiness admits of no Addition he being as Happy as can be in which Happiness let us leave him after we have Interr'd him with his Forefathers A Funeral Oration of a Student Fellow Students VVE are met together to VVait upon the Dead Body of our VVorthy Brother in Learning to be laid in Peace into the Bed of Earth whose Life was so Studious as we may say he was Partly Dead whilst he Lived for the most of his Conversation was with Dead Authors and his Study was as his Grave so that our Learned Brother hath only Changed his Habitation and Lanlord as from his Study to the Earth from his Bodily Life to Death I confess his Lanlord Death is Covetous for Death Exacts or Extorts the Flesh from the Bones as his due yet the Body is more Happy dwelling more Peaceably with Death than with Life and as his Body hath made a Happy Change so hath his Soul but his Soul dwells not now with his Body for the Soul is an Fnemy to Death and Flies from it neither can the Soul live in the Body when as the Body is turned into Insipid Earth for the Soul being of a Celestial Nature cannot Live in a Terrestrial place but when Separated being Pure in it Self it is Light and being Free as having Liberty it is Agil through which Propriety it Ascends unto the Gods on High and Lives with them Eternally Thus our Learned Brothers Body Resting Peaceably and his Soul Living Blessedly both shall meet Gloriously and so Let 's lay his Corps into the Grave Humbly Ceremoniously and Piously A Funeral Oration of a Divine Beloved Brethren THis our Dead Brother was an Holy man both in Profession and Life as for his Profession he was a Divine and his Practice was as Pious as his Profession was Pure he was Bless'd of the Gods for they Indued him with Spiritual Graces Inspired him with Spiritual Knowledge and Inabled him with Spiritual Eloquence to Inform Reform and Perform the Church of God according to the Word of God amongst men but though his time of Life is Expir'd yet his true Doctrine will remain for the Satisfaction Comfort and Salvation of the Souls in Living Bodies Wherefore let us lay his Body into the Grave and leave it to the time of Glorification A Funeral Oration of a Poet. Beloved Brethren OUr Brother whose Body is Dead and is brought to this place to be Inurned was the most Fearfull man that ever Nature made not to Die but to be Forgotten also he was the most Ambitious man not for Wealth Title or Power but for Fame In truth he was so Ambitious as his Body and Mind was Restless indeavouring to Live like as Nature or the Gods of Nature which Live and are partly Known In their VVorks and By their Works which are their Creatures especially the Chief of their Creatures which are Mankind for we cannot Perceive but that the Chief Habitations of the Gods are in the Minds of men with which Habitations they are so Pleased and Delighted as they Punish those men that Neglect or Forget them nay the Gods Made Men or such kind of Creatures to Remember them as to Speak of them Think of them and to Admire them in their Praises Contemplations and Adorations also to have Visible VVorship to their Invisible Deities as to have Altars Priests and Sacrifices to Offer Praise Prayers and Thanksgiving So that the Gods are not Satisfied to Live only To or In Themselves but in their Creatures VVherefore those men Resemble the Gods most that desire Fame which Fame is to be Remembred and Prais'd by All Men in All Ages throughout the VVorld whereas on the Contrary those that Slight Neglect or Speak against Fame as being a Foolish Vain-Glory in that it doth a man No Good to be Remembered and Praised after the Bodily Life are Irreligious Ungratefull and Unnatural Irreligious not Desirous to Imitate the Gods Ungratefull not Divulging Natures Gifts and Unnatural caring not for the Memory of their Own Kind as not caring to Live with Them which is to Live in their Minds Also they are Unjust to Themselves not desiring their Own Good as their Perpetual Name Memory and Fame But this our Brother was not of that sort of Mankind as to be Contented to be Buried in a Terrestrial Oblivion but would have a Celestial Remembrance which the Gods Perpetuate for a Reward to his Merit So let us lay his Body in the Grave and let his Praise Ring out his Peal A Funeral Oration of a Philosopher Beloved Brethren THis our Dead Brother when he had Bodily Life he was a Close Student and had a Great Library wherein were more VVorks than he had Time to Learn and they were of more Several Languages than he was Capable to Understand but he Indeavoured and was Advanced far in Knowledge his Study was Natural and Moral Philosophy his Library the Universe and his Several Books the Several Creatures
so softly as those that stood Close by her Bed could not hear her Sigh and when She was Dead her Beauty that all the time of her Mourning was Obscured in her Sorrows Appear'd in her Death only the Gloss of her Eyes were Covered with their Lids for Death had Shut her Eye-lids down and Seald up her Lips which Lips seem'd as if they had been Seal'd with Red Coloured Wax although Death had Kist them Cold for now Death is her Lover not an Amorous but a Deadly Lover to whose Imbraces we must leave her Body after we have laid it in the Bed of Earth An other Widdow's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met as Funeral or rather Marriage Guests of a Dead Widdow who is now Re-married to her Husband in Death and no question but their Souls will Joy in the Knowledge of each other for though Bodies Dye yet Souls do not but Live for ever Death having Power only over the Sensitive not over the Rational Life for Knowledge Lives though Senses Dye and if the Soul Lives no question but all that is Inherent in the Soul Lives as all the Passions Affections Thoughts Memory Understanding Judgement Conceptions Speculations Fancy Knowledge and the like which are the Parts and Ingrediences with which the Soul is Composed Form'd and Made Thus the Soul being made of such Thin Fine Pure and Rare Matter Death can take no hold of it for Death's Power is only on Gross Corporeal Substances or Matter not on Celestial Bodies but Terrestrial but this Widdows Soul was Purer than other Souls usually are for there are Degrees of Purity in Souls as well as Degrees of Grossness in Bodies The truth might easily be Perceived in her Life for there was as much Difference between her Soul and Other Souls as between Souls and Bodies at least as much Difference as between a Glorified Soul and a Soul Imbodied Nay her Soul was so Pure as it did Purifie her Body for it did Resine the Appetites which Cleared the Senses besides her Soul did Instruct the Senses which made them More Sensible so that they were kept Clean Clear and Healthfull by Temperance and made Apt Quick and Ready by Reason insomuch as Time had but a Little Power to Hurt them and was not Able to Destroy them without the Help of Death had she Lived Long but Death to shew his Power destroyed her Body without the Help of Time for she Lived not to be so Old as for Time to make a Trial yet her Body Lived Longer than she was willing it should have done desiring it might have Died when her Husband Died but the Gods Forbad it for though any Creature especially Man may Call Death when he Will and Force him to take his Bodily Life away yet the Gods are Angry if any man will not stay whilst Death comes of Himself without Inforcement Nevertheless Death did Favour this Widdow for though he did not take her so Soon as she would have Died yet he suffered her not Long to Live a weary Life for which Favour she received Death with Joy and a Smiling Countenance whereas Death for the most part is received with Fear and Sadness and since she Rejoyced at her Death we have no Reason to Mourn now she is Dead especially in that she Lived and Died Vertuously and Piously for which the Gods will Advance her to Everlasting Glory For this Glory let us Praise the Gods and Bury her Body in her Husbands Tomb or Grave that their Dust or Ashes may lye together A Young Child's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are the Funeral Guests to a Young Male Child an Infant who Died soon after it was Born and though all Men are Born to Live and Live to Dye yet this Child was Born to Dye Before it had Lived I mean in Comparison of the Age of men Thus this Child was Born Cried and Died a happy Conclusion for the Child that he had Finished what he was made for in so Short a time for he could not have had less Pain less Trouble nor less Desires to have left the World had he Liv'd longer for Life is Restless with Desires Sickly and Painfull with Diseases Troublesome with Cares Laborious with Labour Grievous with Losses Fearfull with Dangers and Miserable in all which Misery this Child hath Escap'd but had he Lived he could not have Avoided it besides he is not Guilty of Self-acting Sins and so Deserves no Punishment for neither Commission nor Omission can be laid to his Charge having no time for Either so that he is Free from Both as also from Suffering either in this World or the Next unless there be such a severe Decree as the Child shall Suffer for his Parents faults which Faults he could neither Hinder nor Annul neither did he Approve nor Allow them nor Assist them in Evil But it is not probable he shall Suffer being Innocent and Death that is Accounted the Wages of Sin may rather be taken as a Gift of Mercy also Death might be said to be a Purifier from Sin as well as a Punisher of Sin Wherefore this Child is past the Purgatory of Death and is in the Heaven of Peace Rest Ease and Happiness in which let us leave him after we have Covered his Corps with Earth An Old Ladies Funeral Oration THis Old Lady was Favour'd by Nature Fortune and Time Nature in her Youth gave her Beauty Fortune gave her Wealth and Time and Nature gave her long Life She was Courted in her Youth for the Pleasures of her Beauty and Flattered in her Age for the Profit of her Wealth but being Chast and Wise She was neither Corrupted with the One nor Deluded with the Other not Tempted with Courtship nor Coosen'd with Flattery and as She was Chast and Wise so She was Pious for the Gods gave her Grace to bestow her Wealth to Charitable uses Thus what she Got by Fortune she Gave to Heaven indeed she Bought Heaven with Fortune's Gifts for none can get into Heaven but by Faith and Good Deeds and her Faith did Believe that her Good VVorks would be as an Advocate to Plead for her and no question but they have gotten her Sute and her Charity will Live here on Earth though she be Dead and those she Relieved will make her their Saint Thus she will be Sainted both on Earth and in Heaven which is as Great an Honour and a more Blessed Condition than the Emperours had with all their Conquefts Power Pride and Vanity for the height of their Ambition was to be Deified on Earth and to be Sainted in as much They were Worshipp'd for Fear She Pray'd to for Love They had Idolatrous Worshippers She Sanctified Petitioners Their Idols lasted but a time She shall be Blest for Evermore An Ancient Man's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren AGe hath Ushered our Friend to Death and we are here met to attend him to the Grave it is an Human Charitable and Pious Service to see the
Peace and Plenty as they have done with Me to whom I leave You and Him to you Farewell A Daughters Dying Speech to her Father FAther Farewell and may that Life that Issues from My young and tender Years be added to Your Age may all your Grief be Buried in my Grave and may the Joys Pleasures and Delights that did attend my Life be Servants unto Yours may Comfort Dry your Eyes God Cease your Sorrows that though I Die you may Live Happily Why do you mourn that Death must be your Son-in-Law since he is a Better Husband than any you could Choose me or I could Choose my Self it is a Match that Nature and the Fates have made Wherefore be Content for it is not in your Power to alter the Decrees of Fate for Destiny cannot be Opposed but if you could you would Rob me of the Happiness the Gods intend me for though my Body shall dwell with Death my Soul shall dwell in Heaven and Holy Angels that are my Marriage Guests will Conduct it to that Glory for which you have cause to Joy and not to Grieve for all Creatures Live but to Die but those that are Blessed Die to Live and so do I. Farewell A Souldiers Dying Speech to his Friends Dear Friends YOu are come to see me Die but I am sorry you shall see me Die in the Bed of Sloth and not in the Field of Action for now I shall Die like a Coward whereas had I Died in the Field of Warr I should have Died as a Valiant man indeed the Field of Warr is the Bed of Honour wherein all Valiant and Gallant men should Die but Fortune hath denied me that Honour she hath spar'd my Life to my Loss for those that Die in the Warrs have Greater Renowns and Gloriouser Fame than those that Die in Chambers of Peace for whatsoever Heroick Acts men have done for the most part Die if they Out-live them for such Actions Live by the Deaths of the Actors I do not say Alwaies but for the Most part which makes me fear the Service I have done my King and Country will Die with me and be Buried in Oblivions Grave yet should the Service I have done be quite Forgotten I should not Repent my Actions for Honourable persons and Gallant men should do what they Ought to do although they were certain Never to be Rewarded for though few men are Rewarded according to their Merits and many have Favour that did Never Merit a Reward so Unjust is the World Fortune and Fame yet their Injustice must not make men Unworthy but I have done my Part and Death will do His. Farewell A Dying Speech of a Loving Mistress to her Beloved Servant SErvant This day I should have been your Wife and so Your Servant as you have been Mine but Death hath Robbed Hymen of his Rights and now he Fights with Life which he will Overcome for Death is Conquerour of All and Triumphs in his Spoils Yet Death by taking my Life Prisoner will set your Person Free to choose an other Mistress to make a Wife in whose Imbraces I shall be Buried and utterly Forgotten I speak not this in Envy to Her Happiness nor Yours for Envy dwells with Life and not with Death nor am I Loth to Die nor Grieve to be Forgotten no not by those that I Loved most and equal with my Soul for those I Love I would not have them Mourn in Melancholy thoughts and Sad remembrance of my Death I only wish that She that you Love next may return Love again with as much Truth Constancy and Purity as I have Loved you and may she be the Glory of her Sex and Honour of her Husband and may you Live to Love each Other and Love to Live for One an others Sake may Nature Time Fortune Fate and the Gods joyn in your Happiness Farewell A Forein Travellers Dying Speech Dear Friends I Have Travelled Farr and have seen Much of the World and have gone Round about the World but now I shall Travel Out of the World from which I shall bring no News I shall not come back to Relate my Journies or to tell you what Strange Creatures there are in the Other World or what Dangers I escap'd or what Adventures I have made or what several Countries there are and which is good for Plantation or what Commodities there are or what Traffick there is or may be for though all Creatures are Transported yet no Returns are Sent back in Lieu of them unless we believe New-born Creatures are sent out of the Other World into This but that is not Probable because they are Made in this World and of the same Substances of the World But howsoever those that are Sent thither as by Sickness Casualties Fortune and Age Return no more wherefore I must take my Last leave of you for though I have been at the Confines of Death and am Return'd to my Friends again yet I never was in the Region of Death a place I never was Ambitious or Desirous to go to for though I had the Curiosity to see the several Countries Kingdomes and Places in the several parts of the World yet I never had the Curiosity to Travel into Death's Kingdome no nor to see the Mansions of the Gods which may be Accounted a Sin Indeed Travellers are accounted Atheistical but if they were yet when they come to Die they would change those Atheistical Opinions and as Bad as they are thought to be yet they are not Afraid of Death for then they would not Venture their Lives so Often as they do indeed Travellers have as Great Courage as Souldiers have and 't is believed as Little Religion but not so much Hate Envy Malice Revenge nor Covetousness unless they be Merchants nor they are not Robbers and Murderers they do not Take away mens Lives nor Goods as Souldiers do but of all men Travellers have most reason to Adore and Worship God Best for they see Most of his Wonderfull works which shew his Power Might Wisdome and Majesty the which makes his Creatures Admire him Praise him Fear him Love him and Pray to him as the Great Omnipotent Infinite Eternal Incomprehensible and Everlasting God to whom I Resign my Soul and Leave my Body to Death Farewell A Lovers Dying Speech to his Beloved Mistress Dear Mistress THough I must Die I leave my Life to Live with You for You are the Life of my Love and the Love of my Life you are the Palace of my Soul wherein it Lives and will Remain though Death doth take my Body hence for Souls Live though Bodies Die yet do not Drown my Soul in Tears nor Cloud it with your Sorrows but give it Light of Joy and Please it with your Kind remembrance But O my Jealous thoughts do Torture more my Mind than Pains of Death do Torture my Weak Body lest you should Banish the Love of Me to Entertain a Stranger which if you do the Gods
Dead laid Decently and Ceremoniously into the Earth and it is an Happiness for the Dead to be Inurned with their Fore-fathers for who knows to the Contrary but that there may be a Natural Sympathetical Intermixing with their Dust and an Earthly Pleasure in their Mixture for certainly there is a mutual Society In the Earth as well as On the Earth and why may not the Earth have a Sympathetical Intermixing and Conjunction as well as the other Elements I Perceive no Reason against it but whether there be an Incorporating Associating and Friendship as Dust with Dust I know not surely there is a Peaceable Abiding having not a Sensible Feeling or Knowledge whereas Life wherein Sense and Knowledge Dwells is Restless full of Troubles Misfortunes Pains and Sicknesses to the Body and Perturbations in the Mind so that the Body is Seldome at Ease or the Mind at Quiet But Life hath tried the Patience and Death the Courage of our Friend for he was neither Impatient with Life nor Fearfull of Death he had such Great Experience living so Long as to Know there is neither Constancy Certainty nor Felicity amongst or with the Creatures in this World and Time had made him so Wise a man as he knew by Himself that there was no man Perfect nor truly Happy for Happiness and Imperfection cannot Associate together yet by his Wisdome he did Inform Reform Rule and Govern himself as well as Nature and the VVorld would give way or leave to for he would never Command any but those that were Willing to Obey and he did Obey those he Could not Command he would never make a fruitless Opposition but was free from Faction and Sedition Ambition and Covetousness for he knew there is not any VVorldly thing worth an over-earnest Desire nor any thing so Permanent as could be kept Long he would Temperately make use of what he Had and what he VVanted for his Use he did Honestly Indeavour for it and what he could not have Easily and Freely he was Content to be without Moreover he was so Moderate in his Desires as he did Scarcely desire what was Necessary and oftentimes he would Part from his Own Maintenance to Relieve the Distresses of Others believing he could Suffer want more Patiently indeed he had such a Power and Command of Himself as the Appetites of his Body and Passions of his Mind were as Obedient to his Will as Saints on Earth or Angels in Heaven are to the Gods and this VVise Government of Himself made him fit for the Company of the Gods with whom we Leave his Soul and will Interr his Body as we ought An Old Begger-Womans Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren THis VVoman that is here to be Buried was Old when she Died very Old and as Poor as Old and though she was Old yet she had Longer Acquaintance with her Poverty than Age being alwayes Poor from her Youth indeed so Poor as she was Forced to Beg for her Livelihood Thus she was a Double Begger but now she is gone to Beg at Heavens Gate both for Food and Raiment where if Heavens Porter lets her In she will be Fed with Beatifical Food and Cloth'd with Celestial Glory a great and good Change for here she was Fed with nothing but Scraps and Cloth'd with Raggs and much ado to Get them not without long Stay and earnest Intreaties so Hard are men's Hearts and Cold are men's Charities the truth is men in Prosperity feel not the Misery of Adversity and being not Sensible of their Want are not Ready in their Relief besides they think all that is given from their Vanities and Luxuries ' is a Prodigal waste and it is to be Observ'd that those that are Richest are the most Uncharitable whereas those that have but Little yet will give to those that have Nothing to Live on feeling in some sort what Want is And to shew the Hard Hearts of Mankind to their own Kind this Woman although she had Begg'd almost Fourscore Years yet she got so Little as she had nothing to Leave not so much as to Bury her But as she Lived on Cold Charity so now she Lies with Cold Death a Cold Condition both Alive and Dead the first Cold she Felt to her Grief this last Cold she is Insensible of to her Happiness in which Happiness we will leave her and put her into the Grave of Peace A Young Brides Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren THis Young Virgin that lies here Dead ready to be Buried this very day had she Lived she had been Married for so her Lover and She had Design'd at which designed time she little thought Death should have been her Bridegroom and that her VVinding sheet should be her Wedding Smock and her Grave her Bride-Bed there to lye with Death but doubtless Death was as far from her Thoughts as her Lover neer to her Heart for had she Believ'd she should have Died so soon or but Fear'd it she would not have made such Preparations as usually Young Maids do for their Wedding daies indeed Young Maids have Reason enough to Esteem much of That day for it is the only Happy day of their Life it is a day which is wholly Consecrated to Love Joy Pleasure Bravery Feasting Dancing Mirth and Musick on that day their Hearts are Merry and their Heels are Light but after their Bridal Shoos are off their Dancing daies are done I mean they are done in respect of Happiness for though Married Wives keep more Company and Dance and Feast oftner than Maids having more Liberty yet they are not so Merry at the Heart nor have they so Lively Countenances nor are so Galliard after they have been Married some time as they were Before they were Married or as they were on their VVedding day for their Mirth is Forced and their Actions more Constrain'd though not so much Restrain'd whereas Maids and Brides their very Thoughts as well as their Persons Dance Sport and Play in their Minds But this Young Virgin and Dead Bride can neither Dance nor be Merry neither hath she Cause to Weep or be Sad nor she hath no Amorous Thoughts towards her Bridegroom she takes no Notice of him his kind Imbraces do not make her Blush neither doth she Hate or Fear him she Grieves not for the Change nor Thinks she of her Living Lover that should have been her Living Husband but is now her Living Mourner whose Tears like Raining Showers have all Bedewed her Hearse and though she was not led with Bride-maids to the Church yet she is brought by Virgins to the Grave her Hearse is Crown'd though not her Head and Covered with white Satin like as a Marriage Gown and all her Tomb is Strew'd with Flowers sweet like to a Bridal-Bed in which Tomb let us lay her and then Sing Anthems instead of Epithalamiums and so leave her to her Rest. A Child-Bed Womans Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met together to see a Young Dead Woman who
have Terrestrial Shapes why should they believe them to have Mens Shapes and not the Shapes of other Creatures it might be Answered the Belief Proceeds from the Son of God who did Take upon Him the Shape of Man but then we may believe that Angels are of the Shape of Doves because the Holy Ghost which is Co-equal and Co-eternal with the Son did Take upon Him the Shape of that Bird. Also what Reason hath man to Believe that the Devils Shapes are partly of the Shape of Beasts as to have Tails Horns Claws and Cloven feet do they believe that the Shape of Beasts is a more VVicked or Cursed Shape than any other Animal Shape But these Opinions or Beliefs proceed from Gross Conceptions made by Irregular Motions in Gross Terrestrial Bodies or Brains in Mankind who make Hell and Heaven God Angels and Devils according to their Fancies and not according to Truth for Man cannot Know what is not in his Portion of Reason and Sense to Know and yet man will Judge and Believe that which he cannot possibly Know which is Ridiculous even to Human Sense and Reason But to Conclude Dearly Beloved men's Thoughts are too Weak their Brains too Little their Knowledge too Obscure and their Understandings too Cloudy to Conceive Gods Celestial Works or Workings or his Will or Decrees Fates or Destinies Wherefore Pray without Forming Obey without Censuring Fear his Power Love his Goodness and Hope in his Mercy and the Blessing of God be amongst you An Oration to a Sinfull Congregation Beloved Brethren YOu Live so Lewdly Riotously and Wickedly as if you did not Believe there are Gods or Devils Heaven or Hell Punishment or Bliss and as if there were none other Life after this Life but you will find you shall be so Punished for your Wickedness unless you Amend as you will Curse your Birth Life and Death for so Bad and Wicked you are that the Seven Deadly Sins are not sins enough for you but Daily nay Hourly you Study to make more Deadly sins nay you are so Ingenious in Devising Sin as you are the most subtil Artisans therein that ever were you are a Vitruvius for Desigining Sins a Pygmalion for Carving out Sins an Apelles for Painting out Sins a Galileus for Espying out Sins an Euclid for Numbring and Multiplying Sins so that your Sins are now past all Account an Archimedes for Inventing Sins an Aristoteles to Find out Sins a Cicero in Pleading for Sins an Alexander in Fighting for Sins an Homerus in Describing Sins and your Lives and Actions are the Foundations and Materials the Stones and Chisals of Sins the Boords and Planks the Light Shaddows and Colours of Sins the Perspective Glasses of Sins the Figures of Sins the Instruments and Engins of Sins the Lines Circles and Squares of Sins the Bodies Parts and Lives of Sins the Tongue and Speech of Sin the Arms of Sin the Brains and Wit of Sin Thus you are nothing but Sin Within and Without for Life Soul Thoughts Bodies and Actions are all Sin Indeed you seem as if you were neither Made by Nature nor God but Begotten or Produced from Devils for Nature Exclames against you and God Abhorrs you the Devils will Own you but God of his Mercy give you Grace to Repent and Amend your Lives that what Sin is Past may be Blotted out and that your Lives Thoughts and Actions may be such as may Gain upon Eternal Blessedness and Everlasting Glory for which let us Pray An Oration which is an Exhortation to a Pious Life Beloved Brethren YOu come here to be Instructed but yet you do not Amend your Lives for you Live Idlely and Wickedly you make no Profit of your Instructions or Exhortations for it seems by you that the more you are Taught the more Ignorant you are like those that become Blind or their Sight Dazled with Too much Light Indeed you Live as if you had not Rational Souls or that you thought Souls Die as Bodies do but you will find you have Souls that shall Live to indure Torment if you do not Reform your Lives 'T is true many have Strange and some Atheistical Opinions concerning the Soul for Some have had Opinions that Man hath no other Soul but such as Beasts have and Others that the Souls of all Creatures Go out of one Body into an other and that Death doth but Change the Souls Lodging and Some have had an Opinion that there is no such thing as a Soul but that which is called a Soul is only Animal Life and Others believe there be Souls but they Die as Bodies do Others that there is but One great Soul which is the Soul of the World but the Right and Truth is that men have Particular Souls which not any other Creature hath which are called Rational Souls and shall Live for Ever either in Torment or Bliss according to their Merit But the Best and Wisest men make no question of the Rational Soul of Mankind though many Learned men Trouble their Heads to prove What the Soul is for some believe the Soul is Corporeal others it is Incorporeal Also many Trouble themselves to know When the Souls of Mankind Enter into their Bodies some think Before the Body is Born others hold it enters not Untill the Body is Born and some think that the Body receives the Soul so soon as it receives Life in the Womb and some think Before as when it is newly Conceived but those that are of an Opinion that Life and Soul enters into the Body together believe their Departs together by Death and those that think the Soul enters not into the Body untill it be Born believe the Soul is but a Weakling at first and grows Stronger as the Body grows Older Thus they Trouble their Heads and Exercise their Wits concerning the Soul to know What it is and How it is but never take Thought as how it Will be when they Dye like the Dog that left the Substance to seek for the Shaddow so men leave the Salvation and Dispute about the Creation But my Exhortation is that you would Pray more and Dispute less for what shall we need to Trouble our Minds whether the Soul be Corporeal or Incorporeal or if Corporeal of what Matter it is made of so that it be Capable of Glory nor shall we need to Trouble our Minds When it Enters the Body so it Enters Heaven Wherefore those that are Truly Wise and Wisely Devout will Indeavour with all their Power Faith and Industry of their Minds Thoughts and Life to Do such Charitable Deeds and to Think such Pious Thoughts in Holy Contemplations and Pray with so much Zeal and Faith Penitence and Thanksgiving as God may be so well Pleased with them as to Glorifie their Souls in Heaven where there is all Joy and Happiness which Joy and Happiness I Pray the Gods may give you MARRIAGE ORATIONS PART IX A Marriage-Oration to a Congregation and a Young Bride and
summ of Money to mend the one and to relieve the other who deserve not only Pay but Reward to encourage them An Oration for Contribution Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men IT seems you are Covetous but not Prudent that you are so loath to raise and so slow to pay Contribution-Money towards the maintenance of the Army which is to fight not only for your Lives and Liberties but to protect your Goods and that every man may without Disturbance injoy his own but you are so Covetous that rather than you would part with Some you will endanger the Whole and as you are Covetous so you are Fearfull for you will neither maintain poor Souldiers that are willing to fight for you nor yet go to the VVarrs to fight for your selves you Fear your Enemies and yet will take no care to Overcome them And give me leave to tell you that your Covetousness and Fear doth make you Treacherous for if you will neither help with your Purse nor your Person you betray your Country to the Enemies power also your old Parents tender VVives and young Children that cannot help themselves all which you betray to Slavery leaving them for a prey to the Enemy and not only your fertil Country and shiftless Friends and neer Allies but your own Lives for it seems by your Covetousness and Cowardliness that you had rather have your Throats cut than part with your Money or fight in your own Defence which is a strange Madness as to be afraid to Dye and yet to take no care to provide for your Safety nor to have Courage to fight for your Lives The best that can be said or thought of you is that you relie upon base hopes as that the Enemy may spare your Lives to inslave your Persons But I can only say this that either you must Fight your selves or Maintain others or else others will take what you have to maintain themselves to defend their Country An Oration to perswade a City not to yield to their Enemies Worthy Citizens I Do not doubt your Courage in Resisting and Fighting your Enemies nor your Patience in Sufferance nor your Care in Watching nor your Industry in Labouring nor your Prudence in Ordering and all for the defence of your City which is besieged by your Enemies which you indeavour to keep out by all possible means sparing neither your Limbs nor your Lives nor do I fear the power of your Enemies for whilst your Courages Strengths Patience and Industries be united together it is more probable you will raise the Siege than the Enemies take this City for though your Victuals be scarce and your Ammunition wasted yet your Temperance doth supply the scarcity of the one and your Courage the want of the other Only that I fear will make you yield upon any conditions is the Love to your Wives Daughters Mothers Kinswomen and femal Friends and not so much their safety for so long as your Lives last you will defend them but if you yield to your Enemies by yielding to the Womens Effeminate fears if your Enemies do not say or think you base Cowards they will say or think you facil Fools For give me leave to tell you that though men of Honour as Valiant men will Fight for the safety and protection of Women not only for those that are neer Allied to them but for those that are neither of their Country nor Kinn Yet no man that would keep the Reputation of Valour will quit that Honour for a Womans sake no although it be to save his Daughter Wife or Mother from their Enemies for a Gallant man dreads more the name of a Coward than any thing in the world and it is no dishonour to a Man to have his Wife taken and abused by his Enemy when he could not Honourably help her for Force is no Dishonour but a Base free Act for a man cannot be forced to be a Coward nor a chast Woman to be a Whore they may both have Misfortunes Injuries and Hatefull abuses done to them but not Wicked Base or Ignoble minds VVherefore let me perswade you for your own Honour's sake not to yield through the VVomens desires let not their tears move you nor their intreaties perswade you for if you yield though upon the assurance of your Lives and Liberties where will you wander to seek an Habitation for if you could not keep your own City and Wealth it is not likely you will get the like from other men alas your Neighbours will shut their Gates and Doors against you for Poverty and Misfortune hath not many Friends or Hosts for few are so Hospitable as to entertain either and you will not only find Charity cold but those that have envied you in your Prosperity will despise you in your Adversity and what Masculine spirits can bear such misery as Neglect Want and Scorn and the Infamy of yielding Courages Wherefore it is better to Dye in the Defence of your own City and be Renowned for your Valour and Constancy in after-ages wherein your Lives Acts and Deaths will be mentioned to your Honour and Renown An Oration for those that are slain in the Warrs and brought home to be Buried Worthy Citizens YOu lament over the Corps of your Friends slain in the Warrs shedding your tears and breathing your sighs on their Hearses 'T is true they are natural Showers and Zephyrus's airs of loving Affections and passionate Hearts yet give me leave to tell you you have more cause to Rejoyce than Grieve First that their Death begets their Renowns and is an Honour to their Memory to Dye in the Service of their Country for all men that have Worth and Merit would willingly nay gladly Dye to save their Country or for the Honour of their Country and all Wise men will gladly quit a present frail and uncertain Life to live Eternally in the memory of the present and future Ages in whose memories their Actions live like Glorified bodies and Purified souls for thus they become from Terrestrial to be Celestial The next cause you have to Rejoyce is that their Bodies are brought home as a witness of their Victory and their Deaths are their Triumphs which are adorned and set out with numerous and glorious Praises besides they have the happiness to be inurned with their Fore-fathers where by a natural Instinct or Sympathy they may mutually intermix and perchance transmigrate together and since they Fought Valiantly and Died Honourably they shall be buried Happily and will be remembred Eternally and have an everlasting Fame rejoyce with Musick Bells and Bonfires and offer unto the Gods Oblations of Thanksgiving ORATIONS IN THE FIELD OF WARR PART II. An Oration from a Besieged City ready to yield or else to be taken I Am come here to intreat you that are our Over-powerfull Enemies to be our Mercifull Saviours that though you are determined to destroy our City and possess our Goods yet you would be pleased to spare the Lives of
against you your Acquaintance to shun you your Friends to Grieve for you your Posterity to be Ashamed of you and Disgraced by you for when After-ages shall mention you your Posterity if they have any Worth or Merit will hang down their heads for shame to hear of your Evil Deeds all which will be if you be Mutinous Conspirers Traitors or Cowards but if neither Honour Honesty Fidelity nor Love can disswade you from your Base Treacherous and Wicked designs or that your Design is against Me here I offer my Self to you to dispose of my Person and Life as you please for I am neither asham'd to Suffer nor afraid to Dye knowing I have not done any thing that a man of Honour ought not to do and as Fear hath no power over my Mind so Force hath no power over my Will for I shall willingly Dye An Oration to Souldiers who have kill'd their General BArbarous Souldiers or rather Cruel Murderers you that have inhumanely Kill'd your General your Carefull Painfull Prudent Valiant Loving and Kind General ought to be generally Kill'd but Death would be too great a Mercy and Happiness for such Wretches as you are for you deserve such Torments and Afflictions as are above all expressions and your Bloody Action hath made you appear to me so Horrid that me thinks Life is Terrible because you Live and Death is Amable since our General is Dead and Honour lives in the Grave with him and Baseness lives in the World with you Devils possess your Souls in your living Bodies when as Angels have born away his Soul from his liveless Corps to be Crown'd with Everlasting Glory You shall not need to Fear your Enemies now for surely they will Flye you not for fear you should Kill them but for fear you should Infect them they fear not your Courage but your Wickedness neither shall you fear Oblivion for you will be Infamous and the very report of your Murdering act will cause a trembling of Limbs and chilness of Spirit to all the hearers and you will not only be Scorn'd Hated and Curs'd but Prayers will be offer'd against you and Men will Bless themselves from you as from a Plague or Evil Spirit Thus your Enemies will despise you your Friends renounce you Honest men exclame against you men of Honour shun you good Fortune forsake you Heaven shut all mercy from you your Conscience torment you insomuch that you will be asham'd to Live and afraid to Dye An Oration to Souldiers which repent the Death of their General PEnitent Souldiers for so you seem by your Tears Sighs Groans and sorrowfull Complaints I cannot forbid you to Weep for your Fault requires great and many showers of Tears to wash away your Crime indeed there is no other way to purge your Souls and to cleanse your Consciences from the stains of your Generals Blood but by Penitent Tears Wherefore let me advise you to go to his Urn and there humbly on your Knees lamenting your Sorrow pray to Heaven for Pardon then make him a Statue and carry his Image in your Ensigns and set his Statue under your Banner Thus make him that was your General your Saint and let his Memory be famous by your Valour that his Enemies may know the power of his Name is able to Destroy them so will you make him Victorious in his Grave and appease his Angry Ghost An Oration to Distressed Souldiers Dear Country-men YOu know we are a people that have been Conquered and made Slaves to our Enemies which Slavery we did Patiently indure a long time but at last we had an Impatient desire of Liberty and had our Prudence been according to our Desires no doubt but we should have Gain'd it but our Over-hasty Desires have put us into a greater Misery for now we are not only like to Lose our Liberties again but our Lives or to Live in worse Bondage than we did before which we had better Dye than Indure but since we were not so Wise for our selves to Prevent our Danger as we were Just to our selves to Indeavour our Liberty yet we must not leave Indeavouring our own Good so long as Life lasts Wherefore we must consider what is best to be done in this Extremity First we have of our selves a Great Body though not so well Armed as I wish we were yet so as we are not left Naked to our Enemies but though we have a great Number yet our Enemies have a greater Number and though we be Arm'd yet our Enemies are Better Armed the worst of all is that we are in a place of such Disadvantage as either we must Starve or Yield our selves or Fight it out at all Hazards As for Starving it is a lingring and painfull Death and to Yield will be a miserable and painfull Life wherefore to Fight it out at all Hazards will be best for us to choose for Death is the End of Misery and Pain is not felt in a Raging or Acting Fury and if we Resolve let the worst come to the worst we can but Dye and that we must do in time had we no other Enemies than what are Natural as Sickness and Age and these Hopes we have that Desperate Men in Desperate Adventures have many times Good Fortune and those that are Desperate want no Courage but they are apt to be Careless of Conduct Wherefore let me advise you to Listen to Direction and be carefull to Obey your Instructions for if we should Overcome our Enemies we should not only save our Lives which we give for lost but we should have our Liberties and also Honour Power and Wealth too whereas our Enemies only venture their Lives to keep us in Subjection which will cause them to Fight but Faintly for where there is neither Profit nor Honour to be gain'd they will sooner Run away than Venture their Lives in the Battel so that our Poverty will Defend us and our Necessity help to Fight for us Prudence shall Guide us and then perchance Fortune may Favour us Wherefore let us Assault our Enemies before they Expect us and indeavour to Overcome them before they are ready to Fight with us for if we take them Unprepar'd we shall find them without Defence and in such Disorder as we shall Destroy them without Hazard ORATIONS TO CITIZENS IN THE MARKET PLACE PART III. An Oration to a dejected People ruined by Warr. Unfortunate Citizens and Country-men YOu now seem to be as much cast down and dejected in your Misery as you were puft up with Pride in your Prosperity in which Prosperity you were so Confident and so Careless of your Security as you would neither believe your Danger nor provide for your Safety insomuch that you Murmured and Mutined against all Assessments and Payments although it were to keep the Kingdome in Peace and to strengthen it against Forein force but now you do not Murmur at small Taxes but Mourn for your great Losses not for your Security but
your Ruine your Vanity is vanished your Pride humbled and Plenty and Prosperity fled from you Where are your brave Furnishings your gay Adornings your far-fetch'd Curiosities and your curious Rarities your Numerous Varieties and Rich Treasures all plunder'd and gone Where are your Chargeable Buildings your Stately Palaces your Delightfull Theatres your Pleasant Bowers all Burnt to ashes Where are your Races of Herses you Fleecy Flocks your Lowing Herds your Feather'd Poultry and your full-stored Barns all Ruined and gone Where are your Rich Merchandises and your Thriving Trades all Spoiled Where are your Wife Laws all Broken your Sporting Recreations all Ceased your Ancestors Monuments all Pull'd down and your Fathers Bones and Ashes dispersed Where are your Camerads Companions and Acquaintance most of them Kill'd where are your Beautifull Wives Daughters Sisters and Mistresses the Enemy injoyes them and your Country is Desolate Ruined and Forlorn and you that are left are Miserable but what was the cause of your Misery your Pride Envy Factions Luxury Vanity Vice and VVickedness for you would neither be Instructed Advised Perswaded nor Ruled you Neglected the Service of the Gods Disobeyed the Orders of your Governours Trampled down the Laws of the Nation and Despised your Magistrates and did all what you would which brought this Confusion and so a Destruction in which Destruction you must have patience for Patience will Mediate and Qualifie your Misery A Conforting Oration to a dejected People ruined by Warr. Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men I Confess our Condition is miserable and our Lives unhappy in that we are so unfortunate as to be Overcome by our Enemies and Impoverished by our Losses but yet it was Uncharitable nay Inhumane for the former Orator to open our Wounded thoughts with Repetition of our Losses and to rub our sore Minds with bitter and salt Reproaches for if we have Committed faults I am sure we have been sufficiently Punished for them and if the Gods be Just as we believe they are our Loss and Misery hath made them a Satisfaction for which I hope they are Pacified and though we ought to Repent of our past Disobedience to the Divine and National Laws yet we have no reason to Repent of our past Lawfull Pleasure for who that is Wise will not make use of his Riches and Liberties whilst he hath them for were it not a madness for fear of a Dearth to Starve our selves Slaves in Plenty for fear of an Enemy to make our selves Slaves in Prosperity this were as much as if we should take away our own Lives before their Natural time because we know we shall Dye No Dear Country-men it is soon enough to quit Pleasure Liberty and Life when we can Injoy them no longer and since our Fortune is bad we must indeavour with Industry to amend it and if we cannot we must Suffer Patiently and please ourselves with Hopes for Hope is a Food the Mind delights to feed on and entertains it self with Pleasing Imaginations and those are Fools that will trouble their Minds for that which cannot be help'd for shall we have not only Enemies without us but also within us shall we Torture our Minds with Grief Sorrow Fear an Despair for our misfortunes No Dear Country-men let us wipe the Tears from our Eyes and defie Fortune's malice and when she knows we regard not her Frowns She may chance to Favour us for she is of the Femal gender whose Nature is such as the more they are Neglecte or Despised the Kinder they are An Oration for Rebuilding a City ruined by Warrs UNfortunate Citizens for so I may call you having been ruined by Warrs and spoiled by our Enemies for our City is not only Burnt to the ground and all our Goods Plunder'd but many of our Citizens and Country-men Kill'd and we that remain are preparing with our Wives and Children to seek new Habitations and Acquaintance in Forein Countries from which I would if I could disswade you since our Enemies are Gone and not like to Return for though they had the Victory and won our City yet it was with such Loss to them as will force them to keep Peace for a long time not being able to make Warrs any longer for their Valiant'st and most Experienc'd Souldiers are Kill'd and most of the Flour of their Youth besides they have spoiled and lost many of their Horses and have wasted and spent abundance of Ammunition and Arms all which considered they have not Gain'd much by this Warr Indeed Warr makes more Spoil than Profit for though we are Ruined yet our Enemies are not much Inriched but leaving them let us Consider what is the best for our selves in these our Misfortunes and to be Industrious to Repair our Losses my Advice is not to Separate but to keep in an United Body together and to Rebuild our City for shall we be worse Citizens than the Ants or Pismires which will Rebuild their Hill or Mount over their Heads whensoever it is pull'd down either by Beast Men or Birds and though it be often pulld down and the Dust dispers'd yet they will bring new Earth or gather up the Relicks of the former Farth to Rebuild and will never leave Rebuilding so long as they Live and certainly they are very wise in so doing The like for Men for it is better as the wisest way to Unite in a Common-wealth than to live Disperst and to Wander about like Vagabonds or to live with Strangers in Forein Lands or to be Governed by Unknown or new Laws or to Marry with Strangers that mix or corrupt their Generations for those Men are happiest that Live in their Native Countries with their Natural Friends are Govern'd by their Ancient Laws Marry into their own Tribes or Natives increase their own Breed continue their own Races uphold their own Families and are Buried with or by their Forefathers Wherefore Good Citizens be Industrious to Rebuild your City whereby and wherein you may be as Happy and Flourishing as formerly you were but if through a dejected Discontent you leave your City in its Ruins 't is probable you will Live unhappy and in Slavery all your Lives as also your Posterity after you An Oration for Building a Church Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men YOu have Built many Streets of Houses but never a Church which shews you think more of the World than you do of Heaven you take more care for your Bodies than your Souls for you build Stately Palaces to Live in but not a Church to Pray in Rooms to Feast in not Churches to Fast in to Unite in Riot not to Unite in Religion to Talk Extravagantly not to Pray Piously to Rejoyce in Evil not to Rejoyce in Thanksgiving But the Nature of Mankind is such that they Spend Foolishly and Spare Foolishly they will Spend to their own Hurt and Spare to their own Hurt they fear Evil but never indeavour to avoid Punishment they Repent what is Past but never take
Warning for what is to Come As for Spending their Means they will spend so much as to make themselves Sick and Poor with Surfeiting Feasting Drunken Drinking Pocky whoring Covetous Gaming Vain Shews Idle Sports and the like and when they Spare they are so miserable as not to allow themselves Necessaries so that they make themselves Unhappy through Want and yet have more than enough to Spend also they fear Pain and Sickness but will not indeavour to Avoid either for men Drink so much as they are sure to be so sick as to Vomit and will Eat such Meat or Drink such Drinks as they are sure to have painfull fits of the Gout after them But it may be said that the inticing Appetite is so Perswading and Over-ruling as they cannot Forbear but some men will Drink when they are not Dry and Eat when they are nor Hungry or have any desire thereto but will Drink meerly for Company or being perswaded by Others or out of a Humour and so for Eating Which is strange that men should be perswaded to suffer and indure great pain for the sake of idle Company or through the perswasion of Fools or out of a foolish or mad Humour Likewise all men are loath to Dye and yet most Men will Venture their Lives unnecessarily or for very small occasions and all men are Afraid of Damnation and yet they will not Indeavour Salvation nay they will venture Damnation for a trifle yea for nothing as for Example they will Lie Swear and Forswear when they are not Provoked or have any occasion to Swear Lie and Forswear and for Worldly Riches men are so Covetous and Greedy as they will Extort Coosen Steal Murder and venture Soul Body and Life for it yet when they Have it they Spend it as if they did not Care for it nay as if they did Hate such Riches and not any man would willingly be Poor yet they will spend their Wealth so Foolishly as neither to have Pleasure Thanks nor Fame for it The truth is that by mens Actions it could not be believed that Mankind had Rational Souls for though many men will Speak Wisely yet most Act Foolishly or rather Madly so that mens Rational Souls Live more in their Words than in their Deeds But if you have Rational Souls and a Saving Belief you ought to Build a Church wherein you may Gather together to Repent your Sins to Pray for Forgiveness to Promise Amendment and to Reform your Lives also to Hear Instructions and to give good Examples to each other and to accustom your selves to Devotion so shall you become Holy men Besides Churches ought to be Built not only for the Souls of the Living but for the Bodies of the Dead wherein they may be inurned Decently Humanly and Religiously An Oration perswading the Citizens to erect a Statue in Honour of a Dead Magistrate Noble Citizens N. N. who is now Dead was the Wisest Justest and Honestest Magistrate that a Common-wealth could Desire or Have and as he Served the Common-wealth Justly so he ought to be Rewarded Honourably for he did well Deserve it But his Death must not be an Excuse for Ungratefulness for Honours are given to the Dead as well as to the Living for mens Good Works Live after them although their Bodies Dye and Living men are Benefitted thereby but should the Benefit cease with their Death yet men ought not to Forget the Good they have Received for those are very Unthankfull Unworthy and Base men that will not acknowledge what they Have had but only respect the Present good indeed such men are worse than Beasts and ought to live and dye like Beasts as to live in Slavery and to dye in Oblivion whereas Virtuous Worthy Honourable and Noble men ought to live Free and be Remembred after their Lives and those that have done Wise or Ingenious or Good or Profitable or Valiant or Great Works Deeds or Acts ought to be remembred in the Minds of men mentioned by the Tongues of men and figured by the hands of Art so as to Live in the Minds Ears and Eyes of Living men as for their Merits to be Praised their Acts Recorded and their Bodies figured to the Life not only Pencilled but Carved or cast in Moulds as Carved in stone or cast in Metal that all Ages may not only hear of their Name read of their Acts but see their Figures all which are due Rights and right Honours to the Memory of Worthy deceased men Wherefore this Worthy Deceased man who was a VVife and Just Magistrate ought at the Common-wealth's charge to have his Statue in Stone or Metal and to be set up in the most Publick place in the City that every Particular Person may think of Him and remember his Acts when they see his Figure which will not only be a due Honour to him that is Dead but an Incouragement to those that Live after him to imitate and follow his Example and that such Magistrates and Ministers of State that are imployed after him may do as he hath done as to be Just Prudent Carefull and Industrious which the Gods grant for the sake of the Common-wealth An Accusing Oration for Refusing the Office of a Magistrate and so Neglecting the Service of the Common-wealth Noble Citizens I Have assembled you at this time to make a Complaint against D. D. who being chosen a Magistrate as believing him to be one of the Ablest men for his Wisdome amongst us and so Fittest to be imployed in the Service and Affairs of the Common-wealth hath refused the Office and Imployment choosing rather to live Idlely than to take Pains and Labour to do Good for which he ought to be Punished either in Body or Estate for it is not only an Obstruction to the affairs of the Common-wealth but a Dangerous Example for if all the Wisest men should refuse the Imployment and Management of State-affaris leaving the Government only to Fools the Common-wealth would be quickly brought to Ruine in which Ruine the Wise men would suffer as much as other men Wherefore for their Own sakes as well as for the sake of their Country they ought to imploy their Bodies and Minds in the Service of the Common-wealth otherwise Foolish Statesmen and Magistrates will make such Disorder as no particular family or Man could live Safely much less Plentifully for Peace and Plenty would be utterly destroyed with Civil Warr were there no Forein Enemies whereas Wise men can keep Peace and make a Common-wealth or Kingdome Flourish for it is as difficult and hard to keep a Common-wealth in Peace and Order as it is easie to cause Warrs and Ruine and more difficult to make Peace when Warr is begun Wherefore the best way to keep a Common-wealth in Order Peace when Warr is begun Wherefore the best way to keep a Common-wealth in Order Peace and Plenty is to choose Wise and Able Magistrates and not to let the VVise men follow their own Pleasures
in Flattering Free in Protesting and Earnest in Vows and Promises all which hath such force with Females who are Credulous and Believing Creatures as she had no Power to deny him his Desire But both these Lovers desire these Most Noble and Just Judges to Consider their Crime is not caused through Spite Envy Malice Revenge Scorn Pride Hate or the like Sins but through Love Kindness Friendship Charity Generosity Humility and such like Vertues which caused this Crime namely Adultery so that it is the only Sin that is Built upon Vertues besides this Sin namely Adultery hath a Well-pleased Countenance a Courtly Behaviour and an Eloquent Speech which is the cause most Men and Women are in Love with this Sin the Gods forgive them for it for this Sin doth not appear with Terrible and Horrid Aspect as Murder as to cause the very Soul as much as the Senses to be Maskered with Fear not it doth not appear of so Foul an Aspect as Gluttony and Drunkenness as to cause Hate or Aversion but it hath so Amiable an Aspect as to cause Love and so Fruitfull an Effect as to cause Life and Living Creatures They implore Mercy and beg your Favourable Sentence and since it is a Natural effect for Males and Females to be Adulterers at least Lovers you may as soon destroy all Animal Creatures as this Sin if it be one and if there be some Men and Women purely chast those are of Divine Compositions and not Perfect Naturals their Souls and Bodies having more of the Purity of the Gods than the gross Corporality of Nature but these two Offendants confess they have proved themselves Nature's Creatures and the Woman says she is Eve's Daughter but if you will Spare her Life she hopes to be as great a Saint as Mary Magdalen for she will beg Pardon by Repentance and wash out her Sin with her Tears Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges This Pleader ought to be Condemned not only for a Corrupt Lawyer but a Wicked Man and may very well be believed to be Guilty of the same Crime he Pleads so well for for if he were not Guilty of the Crime he would not Plead for a Pardon Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am no more Guilty of the Sin than the Interceding Saints in Heaven for Sinners on Earth but if the Pleader should be Condemned for the Cause of his Client neither Truth would be Heard nor Right Decided so that all Justice would be Overthrown with Malicious Accusers and False Witnesses But howsoever Most Reverend Judges I am not to Decide the Cause though I Plead in the behalf of my Clients and it is the Profession of a Lawyer to speak for his Clients and not Against them whatsoever their Cause be for this is the part of their Opposites and I am not to fling the first Stone Plaintiff Most Reverend Judges Howsoever he be Affected whether evil or not yet the Cause he Pleads is a Wicked Cause and the Offenders ought to be severely Punished according to the Punishing Laws for such Offences and Offenders and if Adultery should be suffered Propriety and the Right of Inheritance would be lost in the Obscurity of hidden Adultery or in the Uncertainty of the Right Children or Fathers A Cause Pleaded at the Barr before Judges concerning Theft Most Reverend and Just Judges Plaintiff HEre is a man which is Accused for Stealing privately and Robbing openly against all Law and Right the Goods of his Neighbours for which we have brought him before your Honours appealing to the Laws for satisfaction of the Injuries Wrongs and Loffes leaving him to your Justice and Judgement Defendant Most Reverend Judges I am come here to Plead for this poor man my Client who is Accused for Stealing which is a silent obscure way of taking the Goods of other men for his own use also this Poor man for so I may say he is having nothing of his own to Live on but what he is Necessitated to take from other men is accused for Robbery which is to take away the Goods of other men in a Visible way and Forcible manner All which he confesseth as that the Accusation against him is true for he did both Steal and Rob for his own Livelihood and Maintenance of his Old 〈…〉 Past Labouring and for his Young Children 〈…〉 are not Able to help themselves and for his Weak Sick Wife that Labours in Child Birth For which he appeals to Nature who made all things in Common She made not some men to be Rich and other men Poor some to Surfeit with overmuch Plenty and others to be Starved for Want for when she made the World and the Creatures in it She did not divide the Earth nor the rest of the Elements but gave the use generally amongst them all But when Governmental Laws were devised by some Usurping Men who were the greatest Thieves and Robbers for they Robbed the rest of Mankind of their Natural Liberties and Inheritances which is to be Equal Possessors of the World these Grand and Original Thieves and Robbers which are call'd Moral Philosophers or Common-wealth makers were not only Thieves and Tyrants to the Generality of Mankind but they were Rebels against Nature Imprisoning Nature within the Jail of Restraint Keeping her to the spare Diet of Temperance Binding her with Laws and Inslaving her with Propriety whereas all is in Common with Nature Wherefore being against Nature's Laws for any man to Possess more of the World or the Goods of the World than an other man those that have more Wealth or Power than other men ought to be Punished as Usurpers and Robbers and not those that are Poor and Powerless Therefore if you be Just Judges of Nature and not of Art Judges for Right and not for Wrong if you be Judges of the most Ancient Laws and not Usurping Tyrants you will not only quit this Poor man and set him free from his Accusers which are His and such Poor men's Abusers but you will cause his Accusers who are Rich to Divide their Wealth Equally with Him and all his Family for which Judgement you will gain Natures favour which is the Empress of Mankind Her Government is the Ancientest Noblest Generousest Heroickest and Royalest and her Laws are not only the Ancientest for there are no Records before Nature's Laws so that they are the Fundamental Laws of the Universe and the most Common Laws extending to all Creatures but they are the Wisest Laws and yet the Freest also Nature is the most Justest Judge both for Rewards and Punishments for She Rewards her Creatures that Observe her Laws as they ought to do with Delight and Pleasure but those that Break or abuse her Laws as in destroying their fellow Creatures by untimely Deaths or unnatural Torments or do Riot and oppress her with Excess She Punishes them with Grief Pains and Sicknesses and if you will avoid the Punishment of Remorse Grief and Repentance Save this Poor necessitated man from
and millions of other Sins besides but Death will stay no longer for Blessed Angels bear away my Soul Farewell A Fathers Speech to his Son on his Death-Bed Son I Have Lived a Long time so Long that were not you a Good Son you would have Wished my Death before Nature had Ordained me to Die but as Heaven hath blest me with Long Life so with a Good Loving and Dutifull Son which hath been a Help and Comfort to my Old Age and as Heaven hath given you Grace and Nature a Good Disposition to Love and Obey your Father so Heaven and Nature hath given you Health and Ability to beget Posterity in which I shall Live in Name and Fame though I Die in Body But Son as you have been a Helpfull and Dutifull Son so I have been a Loving and Carefull Father for I have been more Prudent for my Sons Good than Vain for my Own Pleasure I have been more Industrions to Advance and Inrich my Son than to Please or Delight my Self and I have thought my Self Happier in my Sons Life than I have done in my Own Thus Son I have and do Love You better than my Self and all the Desire and Request I have to you is that as I have been a Father to You so you to be a Father to Yours and so I Pray the Gods to Bless you Fortune to Favour you Wisdome to Help you Nature to Strengthen you Time to Prolong you and when your Time comes to Die that we may meet in the other World with Joy and Happiness The Gods have Mercy of Me and Bless You. Farewell FUNERAL ORATIONS PART VIII An Oration to the People concerning the Death of their Soveraign Dear Country-men and Loyal Mourners WE may see our Loss by our Love and our Love by our Grief and our Grief by our Tears but we have reason for our General Mourning and Sorrow in every Heart that our Dread Soveraign is Taken from us He was our Earthly God as our Protector Defender Assister Subsister Ruler and Governour he Protected us with his Justice Defended us with his Arms Assisted us with his Prudence Subsisted us with his Love Ruled us with his Power and Govern'd us by his Laws and such a Prince he was as he was Dreadfull to his Enemies Helpfull to his Friends and Carefull of his Subjects he hath Inlarged his Dominions with the Sword and Inriched his People with the Spoils and hath Increas'd his Power both by Sea and Land and so Strengthned and Fortified his Kingdomes as his Subjects have no cause to Fear any Forein Invasion but may safely sit with Pleasure under their own Vines And so Wise and Good a Prince he was that though he be Gone yet he hath left Peace and Plenty amongst his People and Power Dominion and Strength to his Successors with which Heaven grant they may Inherit his Wisdome Moral Vertues Divine Graces Heroick Spirit Good Fortunes and Great Fame that though our Old Soveraign is gone to the Gods above yet our New Soveraign may be as a God to us here for which let us pray to our Soveraign Saint to intercede for us to the Gods on High to indue their Deputy on Earth with Divine Influences and Humane Wisdome to Govern and Rule us as he did A young Noble man's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met together as Funeral Guests to a Dead man who died in the Flower of his Age and whilst he Lived was Favoured of Nature Birth Breeding and Fortune for he was Handsome of Body Understanding in Mind Noble of Birth Knowing in Learning and Rich in Wealth He was Generous Valiant and Courtly he had a Pleasant Speech and a Gracefull Behaviour He was Beloved of the Muses Admired by the Sciences and Attended by the Arts he was Entertained with the Pleasures of the World and Feasted with the Varieties of Pleasures yet all could not Save him from Death Indeed Death appears more Cruel to Youth than to Age because it takes Youth from the most Flourishing time of their Life although Youth Fears Death less than Age not that Youth hath more Courage but Youth doth not Think of Death so often as Age doth for if Youth had Death in their Mind they would Fear Death more than Age doth by so much more as they are Younger and know the World less but Youth thinks Death a Long time off from them although to many he is so Near as ready to Seize on them Wherefore if those that are Young did think they should Die Soon they would not be so Eager and Fond of the World as they are nor be so Vain and Intemperate as many Young Persons be the brave Gallants would take little Pleasure in New Modes Gay Cloaths and Fair Mistresses a Young Gallant would be but a Dull Courtier a Melancholy Lover not Melancholy for his Mistress disfavour but at Death's approach not for Love but for Life neither would he take Pleasure in Musick or Dancing for the thoughts of Death would make him Dance false and put his Hearing out of Tune and the Musick would Sound to his Ears as his Passing Bell neither would he Eye Beauty but if he did the Freshest Beauty would appear Faded In truth all his Senses would be as Rough and troubled VVaters disturbed by the Storms of Fear raised in his Mind for the most Valiant minds are somewhat Disturbed with the thoughts of Death by reason the Terrors of Death are Natural to all mankind not so much to Feel as to Think of not only for the Parting of Soul and Body and the dark Oblivion in Death but for the Uncertain condition after Death for though Death is not Sensible of Life yet Life is Sensible of Death so that it is the Thoughts of Death that are Fearfull and not Death it self that is so Terrible as being neither Painfull to Feel nor Dreadfull to Behold because Invisible and Insensible having neither Shape Sound Sent Tast nor Touch But this Noble Person is past Thinking and therefore past Fearing also past Wishing for he doth not Desire to live in this VVorld again he Thinks not of the World or of any thing in the World he is free from all Trouble of Mind or Body in which Happiness let us lay him in the Tomb with his Forefathers there to rest in Peace and Ease A Generals Funeral Oration Beloved Friends THis Noble Person that lies here Dead was once our General a Valiant man he was a Skilfull Souldier a Wise Commander and a Generous Giver he Loved his Souldiers more than Spoil and Fame more than Life he was full of Clemency and Mercy he would give his Enemies their Lives Freely when he had Overcome them Valiantly and he was so Carefull of his Own Souldiers Lives as he would never Adventure or put them to the Hazard but when he saw great Probability of Victory Yet this Gallant man this Excellent Souldier whom his Enemies could never Overcome Death hath Taken Prisoner with whom
therein As for Moral Philosophy he knew well how to Compose Common-wealths and to Settle and Govern them also he knew well the Natures Humours Passions and Appetites amongst Mankind as also to Divide and Distinguish them and to Order Form and Reform them As for Natural Philosophy he did not only Study the Outward Forms of several Creatures but their Inward Natures In truth his Conception was so Subtil and Peircing his Observation so Dilative his Reason so Strong his Wit so Agil his Judgement so Solid his Understanding so Clear and his Thoughts so Industrious as they went to the First Cause of several Effects and he did not only Converse with the Body but the Soul of Nature indeed he was Nature's Platonick Lover and She rewarded him in Discovering to him her most Hidden and Obscure Secrets by which he begot Great Wisdome and Everlasting Fame for though his Body be Dead yet his Good Laws VVise Sciences Profitable Arts VVitty Experiences Graces Vertues and Eloquence will Live for the Benefit and Delight of Living men in all Nations and Ages and though we have great reason to Mourn for his Bodily Death yet we have more reason to Rejoyce for his Glorious Fame but leaving his Merits to Life and his Body to Death let us lay him into the Grave to Transmigrate as Nature pleases A Funeral Oration of a Dead Lady Spoken by a Living Lady Dearly Beloved Sisters in God VVE are met as Sorrowfull Mourners to attend this Dead Ladies Corps to the Grave She was in her Life the Rule of our Actions and will be in her Fame the Honour of our Sex She was Favoured of Nature the Gods and Fortune Nature gave her Wit and Beauty the Gods gave her Piety and Charity and Fortune gave her Wealth and Education She was Adorned by the Graces Beloved by the Muses and Attended by the Arts She was Sociable in her Conversation Just in her Promises and Generous in her Gifts She was Industrious in all Good Actions Helpfull to all Distress'd Persons and Gratefull for all sorts of Courtisies She was Humble in her Own Prosperities and full of Magnanimity in her Own Adversities her Mind had no Passage for any Evil nor no Obstruction against any Good But to repeat or summ up the Number of this Ladies Merits is beyond my Rhetorick or Arithmetick for certainly she was Composed of the Purest Effence of Nature and the Divinest Spirits of Heaven She had the Piety of Saints the Chastity of Angels and the Love of the Gods in which Love let us leave her Soul and lay her Body in the Grave till the time of Glorification A Foreiners or Strangers Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu shew your Charity and Humanity and that they are not Bound up to Particulars or to your Friends and Country-men but that they Extend to Strangers in coming to see this Stranger who Died out of his Native Country Decently to be Buried in a Forein Land I mean Forein as from his Native Country although the truth is that all the World is Common to Mankind for Nature hath not assigned Men to any Particular place or Part of the World but hath given All the World freely to them as if she made the World and all other Creatures only for Man's sake for all other Creatures are not so generally Disperst or rather so Spreading and Branching throughout the World as Mankind is by reason they Belong Breed Prosper or Increase in Particular Climates as some in Cold and others in Hot and some in one Part of the World and some in Another for some Creatures will be so farr from Increasing in some Particular Climates as they cannot Live in them but in all Parts of the World that are Habitable there be Men. 'T is true Different Climates may cause men to be of Different Complexions but what Complexions soever they have they are all of the same kind as Mankind and of the same sort of Animals for though all Beasts are of Beast-kind yet a Fox and an Ass is not one and the same sort or kind of Beast but there is no such different sort amongst Mankind for there is no difference of men in their Natural Shapes Proprieties Qualities Abilities Capacities Entities or the like unless some Defects to some Particulars which is nothing to the Generality for all the kind of Mandkind is all alike both in Body and Mind as in their Shapes Senses Appetites Speech Frowning Laughing Weeping and the like as also alike in their Rational Parts as Judging Understanding Conceiving Remembring Apprehending Considering Imagining Desiring Joying Grieving Loving Hating Fearing Doubting Hoping Believing and the like And therefore since not any man can be accounted as a Stranger in any Part of the World because he hath by Nature a Right as a Natural Inheritance to Inhabit what part or place of the World he will But all Mankind are as Brethren not only by Kind but by Inheritance as being General Sharers and Possessors of the World so this Dead man ought not to be accounted as a Stranger but a Brother VVherefore let us Mourn as we ought to do for a Dead Brother and Accompany his Hearse to the Grave with Religious Ceremony there leaving it in Rest and Peace A Post-Riders Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren YOu have Exprest your Humanity and Charity in coming to this Poor Unfortunate man's Burial which though he was a Poor man yet he was an Honest man and therefore is much the more Worthy to be Praised for Poverty and Necessity is a great Temptation to Knavery as much as Riches is a Temptation to Foolery which is Vanity nay Riches is not only Guilty of Vanity but Vice as Luxnry Pride and Wantonness whereas Knavery is Cheating Coosening Stealing and the like of all which this Poor man was Free And as he was an Honest man so he was a Laborious man for his Profession of Life was a Post-Rider an Unfortunate Profession for him for he Riding fast upon a Stumbling Jade fell down and Broke his Neck Thus we see that Misfortunes as well as Sicknesses bring many to their Lives ends and many times to a Miserable end for Misfortunes take Life away Unawares and sometimes Unprepar'd to Dye so this man did not Think when he got on the Horses back he should Ride Post to Death for had he thought so he would have Chosen to Run a-Foot a Safer though a Slower pace But could his Soul Ride Post on Death to Heaven as his Body Rid Post on a Horse to Death he might Out-strip many a Soul that is gone before him for though his Soul as all Souls are Light and of no Weight yet Death is no nimble Runner being Cold and Numb and nothing but Bare Bones a Hard Seat for a Tender Soul Besides the way to Heaven is so Narrow and Steep as Death cannot Get up for should he Venture his Soul would be in Danger to be Overthrown and cast into Hell which is a Deep Dark
Terrible and Dreadfull Pit wherein is no Hope of Getting out The truth is Death carries many Evil Souls down into Hell but Good Souls he leaves at the Bottom of the Hill that leads up to Heaven from which those Souls Climb and Clamber up with great Difficulty for whatsoever is Excellent is Hard to Get or Come to whereas that which is Bad is Easie to be Had. But howsoever this Poor man is Dead and we shall see him Buried leaving his Soul in its Journey and his Body in the Grave A young Virgins Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren and Sisters in God VVE here meet not only as Funeral Mourners but as Marriage Guests to Attend and Wait upon a Young Virgin to see her Laid into her Nuptial-bed which is the Grave 'T is true her Husband Death is a Cold Bed-fellow but yet he makes a Good Husband for he will never Cross Oppose nor Anger her nor give her Cause of Grief or Sorrow neither in his Rude Behaviour Inconstant Appetite nor Lewd Life which had she Married any other Husband might have made very Unhappy whereas now she will know no Sorrow for there is no Whoring Gaming Drinking Quarrelling nor Prodigal Spending in the Grave for Death Banishes all Riot and Disorder out of his Habitations there is no Noise nor Disturbance in his Palace Indeed Death's Palace is a place of Peace Rest Quiet and Silence and therefore all are Happy that Dwell there for there is no Envy Malice Slander nor Treachery there Men are not Tempted with Beauty nor Women Flattered into Wantonness they are Free from all Tentation or Defamation neither are they Troubled or Tormented with Pain or Sickness for Death hath a Remedy for all Diseases which is Insensibility the truth is Death is not only Charitable to Help all Creatures out of Misery but Generous as to be so Hopitable that he sets Open his Gates for all Comers insomuch as the Meanest Creatures that are have a Free Entrance and the Same Entertainment with the Noblest for there are no Ceremonies of State All is in Common there is no Pride nor Ambition no Scorn nor Disgrace and Death's Palace is so Spacious as it is beyond all Measure or Circumference being sufficient to Receive all the Creatures Nature makes and since there is such Store of Company in Death and Death so Generous and Hospitable why should we Fear or be Loath to Dye nay why should not we Desire to Dye and Rejoyce for those Friends that are Dead especially Considering the Unhappiness of Life wherein Man is most Miserable because he is most Sensible and Apprehensive of what he Suffers or what he may Suffer But this Young Virgin is Happier by Death than many Others are because she hath not Liv'd so Long to Suffer so Much as those that are Older Have done or as those that Live to be Old Will do Wherefore let us Rejoyce for her Happiness and put her into the Grave the Bed of Rest there to Sleep Quietly A Young New-Married Wif's Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren VVE are met together at this time to see a New-Married Wife which is here Dead to be Buried She hath made an unequal Change from a Lively Hot Husband to a Deadly Cold Lover yet will she be more Happy with her Dull Dumb Deaf Blind Numb Lover than with her Lively Talking Listning Eying Active Husband were he the Best Husband that could be for Death is far the Happier Condition than Marriage and although Marriage at first is Pleasing yet after a time it is Displeasing like Meat which is Sweet in the Mouth but proves Bitter in the Stomack Indeed the Stomack of Marriage is full of Evil Humours as Choler and Melancholy and of very Evil Disgestion for it cannot Disgest Neglects Disrespects Absence Dissembling Adultery Jealousie Vain Expences Waste Spoil Idle Time Laziness Examinations Cross Answers Peevishness Frowardness Frowns and many the like Meats that Marriage Feeds on As for Pains Sicknesses Cares Fears and other Troubles in Marriage they are Accounted as wholesome Physick which the Gods give them for the Gods are the Best Physicians and Death is a very Good Surgeon Curing his Patients without Pain for what Part soever he Touches is Insensible Death is only Cruel in Parting Friends from each other for though they are Happy whom he Takes away yet those that are Left behind are Unhappy Living in Sorrow for their Loss so that this Young New-Married Wife that is Dead is Happy but her Husband is a Sorrowfull Widdower But leaving Her to her Happiness and Him to be Comforted let us put her into the Grave there to Remain untill the day of Judgement which Day will Imbody her Soul with Everlasting Glory A Widdows Funeral Oration Beloved Brethren THis Widdow at whose Funeral we are met Lived a very Intemperate and Irregular Life all the time of her Widdow-hood for which not only Nature but the Gods might be Angry with her for though She did not Surfeit with Feasting yet She Starved her self with Fasting and though She did not Drink her self Drunken as many Women in this Age will do yet She did Weep her self Dry She grew not Fat and Lasie with overmuch Sleeping but became Lean and Sick with overmuch Watching She VVatch'd not to Dance and Play but to Mourn and Pray nor did She waste her Wealth in Vanities but She did waste her Life in Sorrow She Sate not on the Knees of Amorous Lovers but Kneeled on her Knees to God Her Cheeks were not Red with Paint but Pale with Grief She did not wear Black Patches on her Face but Black Mourning on her Body She was Adorned with no other Jewels than her Tears She had no Diamond Pendents in her Ears but Transparent Tears in her Eyes no Oriental Pearls about her Neck but Drops of Tears lay on her Breast Thus was She Drest in Tears She suffered not Painters to Draw the Picture of her Face but her Thoughts did Form her Husbands Figure in her Mind She hung not her Chamber with Black but her Mind with Melancholy She Banished all Stately Ceremonies and Ceremonies of State and set her self Humbly on the Ground She past not her time with Entertaining Visitors but Entertain'd her Self with the Remembrance of her Husband She did not Speak much but Think much In short She was so Intemperate in her Grief as her Grief Kill'd her it may be said she was Murdered with Grief and no kind or manner of Murder is Acceptable either to Nature or the Gods but some sorts of Murders are Hatefull to both Yet this Widdow howsoever she Offended in her Over-much Grieving She had Pardon for her Praying and to prove the Gods did Pardon her they Granted her Request which was to take her out of this World without Painfull Sickness and so they did for She was so free from Pains as She parted with Life with a Smiling Countenance and lay as Still as if She lay to Sleep She breathed out her last Breath
Satisfied in a Spiritual manner as thus The Sight shall have the most Beautifull Splendorous Pleasant and Glorious Objects not that those Objects are Corporally Without them but only in their Sight and such Varieties of such Sights as they shall see each Sight Fully to Admire them but not to Tire them and being Satisfied they shall have New and with every New Sight a New Admiration and after every Admiration a New Sight The like for the Sense of Hearing which shall be Fill'd sometimes with Eloquent Language Witty Expressions and Fancy Exprest both in Verse and Prose sometimes Rational Discourses Wise Sentences Oratory Speeches and Learned Arguments also Harmonious Musick Melodious Voices and Pleasing Vocal Sounds with such Variety and Delight as Art nor Nature never knew yet nothing shall Come from Without to the Ear or be Conveyed into it but be Within it And as for the Sense of Sent such Sweet Perfumes and Ravishing Sweets shall it Smell as every Sent shall breed a New Desire and every Desire a New Sent and have in all a Satisfaction yet nothing of these Various Sweets or Sweet Perfumes shall enter from Without into the Nostrils but be Within them And as for Taste Delitiously and with Gusto shall it Feed and Satisfie the Stomack not with Food but Taste for Taste shall be the Food and every Appetite shall bring a New Taste and every Taste a New Appetite and every Appetite shall be Satisfied yet in the Mouth shall not any Meat be The like for Touch which is a kind of Taste there shall be a Feeling Pleasure where every Touch shall be a New Pleasure and every Pleasure shall bring a New Touch there shall Touch feel a Comfortable Heat from a Freezing Cold and a Refreshing Cold upon great Sultry Heats and yet no Fire nor Frost shall Touch their Bodies there shall it feel a Scratching Pleasure to take off Itching Pain yet nothing Hurt the Body there shall it feel a Soft and Downy Touch as from a Hard Rough Pain yet nothing Press the Body and all the Body shall feel such Ease as if it came from Hard Labour and such Rest as from a Tedious Travelling and Infinite of other Pleasurable and Delightfull Touches as are not to be Exprest Thus every Sense shall be Satisfied in a Spiritual way without a Gross Corporeal Substance and the Blessed Souls of these Glorified Bodies and Spiritual Satisfactions of Glorified Senses and Appetites shall be fill'd with all Perfection as a Clear Understanding a Perfect Knowledge a Pure Wit a Sound Judgment and a Free Will and all the Passions Regulated and Govern'd as they ought to be into Love and Hate as Hate to the Wicked and Damned and Love to the Bless'd and Glorified and such Delights shall they have not only in the Pleasures of their Glorified Bodies but in Themselves such as God himself Injoys thus shall Souls and Bodies be Bless'd and Glorified in Heaven And after the same manner and way as Blessed Souls and Bodies have Delight and Pleasure and Fulness of Joy in Heaven so shall the Souls and Bodies of the Damned have Terrour and Torments and Fulness of Horrour in Hell for as the Senses and Appetitces have Variety and Satisfation of Pleasures in Heaven so shall the Senses and Appetites have Variety of Terrour Dread and Horrour and be Surfeited with Aversion Loathing and Reluctancy and fill'd with Misery and Evil As for the Sense of Touch in Damned Bodies it is not probable they are Burnt with Elemental Fire as many Think but their Sense of Touch hath such a Burning Feeling as is so far beyond the Elemental Burning as that Burning is a Pleasure to it and such Excessive Variety of Pains it is probable they have as Art could never Invent nor Nature make nor Sense Feel in this World nor Thought of man Imagine And for the Sense of Sent it is not probable there is the Smell of Brimstone and Sulphur for that may be indured without a great Dislike but it is Probable and to be Believed that their Sense of Sent smells Varieties of filthy Stinks yet not from Without them as of the Devils making but Within themselves And as for their Sense of Hearing it is not probable that the Devils do Vocally Roar or Verbally Curse but that the Damned have in the Sense of Hearing Infinite Confused Fearfull and Dreadfull Noises Reproaching Exclaming and Cursing Words and Speeches And as for the Sense of Sight it is not so much the Devils Ugly and Monstrous Shapes which they see but their Sense of Sight is fill'd with Infinite Varieties of Ugly Deformed Monstrous and Terrible Sights Thus it is probable the Damned are Tormented Also 't is probable that both the Damned and Blessed are Fixt to their Places for the Blessed having Fulness of Joy and a Fruition of Desire have no Occasion or Desire to VVander from Place to Place for it is Restless Desire and Unsatisfied Appetite that Moves and Removes seeking for that they would Have and cannot Get or for Something they know not VVhat for which the Damned may desire to Remove but as the Bless'd Saints are Fixt with a Fulness of Joy and Admiration not caring to Remove therefrom so the Damned are so Strucken with Fear and Terrour as they Dare not Remove if they Could and as the Satisfaction Variety Pleasure Delight and Joy of the Blessed begins and continueth without End so the Variety of Aversion Terrour and Torments begins and continues for Ever But the most Probable Opinion is that the Fulness of Joy is the Love of God and the Fulness of Pleasure the Glory of God and the Horrour and Torments of the Damned is the Want of that Love and Glory An Oration to a Congregation Dearly Beloved Brethren MAn hath not only Vain or Erroneous Imaginations or Opinions but Beliefs being without Ground or Foundation which is without Sense and Reason for what Sense and Reason hath Man to Imagine or Believe that Heaven which is Celestial should be Composed of Terrestrial Materials as of Pure Gold Crystal and Pretious Stones and not rather Believe it to be only the Beatifical Vision of God and what Sense and Reason hath man to Believe that Hell is Hell for Want of the Presence of God whereas the Omnipotent God must Necessarily be all Fulfilling and is it not a strange Contradicting Opinion or Belief that Hell is Dark and yet that in Hell is Elemental Fire and Terrestrial Brimstone and what Sense and Reason hath Man to believe that Celestial Bodies have Terrestrial Shapes whereas we may easily Perceive that all outward Shapes Forms or Figures are according to the Degrees of the Purity or Grossness of the Substance or Matter they are Composed of Wherefore Man hath not any Reason to Believe that Angels which are Celestial Substances can have Terrestrial Shapes and what Reason hath Man to Believe that Angels in Heaven have the Shapes of Men on Earth but if they should believe they
in a Short time besides Open House-Keeping in Christmas time All which makes Gentlemen Beggars and Beggars Gentlemen for the Servants and Tenants grow Rich but their Masters and Landlords become Poor the one sort Buyeth the other sort Selleth and the Title of a Gentleman is Buried in the Ruine of his Estate III. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last spoke rather like a Cottager than a Gentleman or rather like a Miser than a Noble Hospitable Person for he Spoke as if he would have Gentlemen rather to Follow the Plough than the Race the Cart rather than the Deer the Puttuck rather than the Hawk to Eat Cheese instead of Venison Sour Curds instead of Patridge Fried Pease for young Leverets Rusty Bacon for Chines of Beef Rye Bread instead of White Manchet all which is to Live like a Clown and not like a Gentleman Burying his Birth in the Dung of his Earth But Noble Gentlemen I have Observed that a Gentleman although of Small Fortune if he Live Wisely may Live Plentifully and Honourably without his own Personal Drudgery the Wisdome is to Look into his Own Estate Industriously to Know and Understand the Value of his Lands Justly to Indeavour to have his Rents Paid Duely and not Suffer his Servants to Coosen him either by Flattery or Excess all which will Cause a Country Gentleman to Live as the first Gentleman said like a Petty King yet not like a Tyrant but like a Generous Prince with Delight and Pleasure Generosity and Magnificence amongst his Tenants Servants and Acquaintance also he will be an Assistance to Travellers and a Relief to the Poor and his Fame and Name will not only Sound Loud but Long. IV. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last spoke well for those Gentlemen that can Content themselves in that Condition their Fore-fathers left them in but Gentlemen of great Estates desire great Titles Offices and Authorities which cannot be had in the Country but from the Court which Ambition perswades them to Leave the Country to Live neer the Court where they may be Seen and Known unto the Grand Monarch in which Courts are such Delights and Pleasures as the Country is not Capable to have as Masks Playes Balls Braveries and Courtships which Ravish and Transport their Thoughts beyond the Country Region indeed they are as if they were Transported into the Third Heaven untill such time as their Money is Spent their Land Sold and their Creditors are Numberless and then they are Cast out as Evil Angels into the Hell of Poverty and become Poor Devilish Sharks Living upon their Wits which is to Live upon their Cheats which cannot last Long. Thus Gentlemen in the Country are Proud in the Court Vain in the City Base and at last Unfortunate as being much Indebred and Miserably Poor V. Noble Gentlemen THe Gentleman that Spoke last Declares our Ambitions at Court but not our Luxury in the Country and though we have not Court Ladies and City Dames to our Mistresses yet we have Country Wives and Tenants Daughters for our Wenches and we Eat and Drink our Selves into Surfeiting Diseases and our Expences are far more in Riotous Hospitalities than the Courtiers in their Foolish Flattering Vanities for the Natures of Gentlemen and Noble men are for the most part Prodigal whether they be in Court City or Country and they will never Rest untill such time as their Money is Spent and their Land Sold and then they become Idle Drones for want of Stings which is Wealth to Imploy them VI. Noble Gentlemen VVE have Argued much of our Humours Actions and Estates of our Follies Vanities and Vices but we have not Concluded what is Best for us to Settle in as for the Course of our Lives there are but three wayes as to be either Meer Clowns or Perfect Gentlemen or Between both To be Meer Clowns is to be Drudges in our Estates To be Perfect Gentlemen is to be Careless of our Expences and to be Between both is to be Carefull Overseers and Moderate Spenders and of these three I judge the Last best as not to be so much a Gentleman as to be a Beggar nor so much a Clown as to be a Beast VII Noble Gentlemen VVE agreed to meet in this Town for Pastime and Mirth and not for Study and Disputation we came not hither to Learn Good Husbandry but to Spend our Money Freely our Intention was not to meet with Formality and Gravity but with Freedome and Jollity our Design was not to Return to our Dwelling houses with Heavy Hearts but Light Heads Wherefore Leave of Arguing and Settle to Drinking and let our Tongues Cease and the Musick Play and when we are Dead Drunk let the Fiddles Ring out our Knells and let our Coaches as our Hearses carry us to our Home-Beds as to our Designed Graves where after our Long Sleeps we may Rise and in our Resurrections be like either Saints or Devils In short let Good Wine and Good Brains be our Good Fortune VIII A Speech of a Quarter drunk Gentleman Noble Gentlemen YOu have made Eloquent Orations before you did Drink but let that Pass for now you must Speak only Witty Expressions and give me Leave to Tell you that Logick and Wine are as great Enemies as Poetry and Water Wherefore let the Orators Drink Water and Poets Wine for VVine begets Fancy and VVater Drowns Reason which is the cause Orators Speak so Much and Long untill they Speak Non-sense But O Divine Wine whose Sprightly Vapour doth Manure the Brain to a just Highth of VVit it is the Serene Air of VVit the Quint-essence of VVit the Sun and Light of VVit the Spirit and Soul of VVit for were it not for Wine the Mind would be as in a dark Hell of Ignorance and the Brain would be Lethargically Stupified for want of Lively Heat for Wine is the Food of Vital Life and Animal Reason IX A Speech of a Half drunken Gentleman Noble Gentlemen YOu have made Eloquent Speeches but of what I am a Rogue if I can Tell but that they were Full of VVords I did hear Many Words but I do not Remember any Sense or Reason in them the truth is that the Spirits of Wine have Burnt out the Sense of your Discourse and have Rarified my Memory so much as no Substantial matter will Remain therein so that your Oratory is Dead and Buried in the Vapour of Wine a Blessed Death and a Happy Funeral and may it Rest in Peace and Silence and not Rise to Disturb our Drinking to which Wish and Hope I begin a Health and Desire you all to Pledge it ORATIONS IN The Field of Peace PART XIII A Peasants Oration to his Fellow Clowns Fellow Peasants FOr we are all Fellows in Labour Profit and Pleasure though not Fellows in Arms Spoils and Danger and though we Live in the Fields of Peace and not in the Fields of Warr yet our Fields of Peace resemble the Fields of Warr for
we are an Army of Clowns though not of Souldiers and our Commanders are our Landlords who often Deceive us of the Increase of our Labours as the Warring Commanders Deceive their Common Souldiers of the Profit of their Spoils also we have our Infantery and our Cavallry for all those that belong to the Keeping and Breeding of Beast as Shepherds Grasiers Herdmen Goat-herds Swine-herds and Carters are of the Cavallry but all they that belong to the Earth as Sowers Planters Reapers Threshers Hedgers Ditchers Diggers Delvers are our Infantery also we have Arms and Ammunition for we are Arm'd with our Beast Skins and our Arms of use are Pikes Forks Cutting Sickles Mowing Sithes Pruning Knives Thrashing Flails Plough-sherds Shepherds Hooks Herd-mens Staves and the like and our Match Powder and Bullets are Puddings Pease and Porradge and our Granadoes are Eggs of all Sorts and Sizes our Carts are our Waggons our Cottages our Tents and our Victuals and Country Huswives our Bagg and Baggage and the Lowing of our Herds and Bleating of our Sheep are our Drums and Trumpets not to Alarm us to Fight but to Feed also we have Enemies which are Unseasonable Seasons Rotting Moistures Drowning Showres and Over-flows Chilling Frost Scorching Heat and Devouring Worms all which we Fight against not with Force but with Industry And our Army of Clowns is more Skilfull to Destroy our Enemies than an Army of Souldiers is to Destroy their Enemies nay our Army is an Army wherein is Peace and Plenty whereas in their Army is Warr and Want we become Rich with Safety they become Poor with Danger we be Gentle to Beast they be Cruel to Men they Thrive by Blood we by Milk we get Health by our Labours and Long Life by our Temperance and they get Diseases in their Riots and Death in their Warrs Thus they Live Painfully Die Violently and only Leave their Bare Name to their Posterity and Beggarly Race we Live Healthfully Die Peaceably and Leave our Goods to our Posterity who by their Wealth come to be Gentlemen A Peasants or Clowns Oration Spoken in the Field of Peace concerning Husbandry Fellow Peasants I Must tell you we Live in a Happy Age where Peace Sows and Plenty Reaps for whereas VVarrs Destroy our Increase now Peace Increases our Stores also I would have you Know that our Profession which is Husbandry is one of the Noblest and Generousest Professions which is to Imploy our Selves like as the Gods and Nature for though we cannot Create Creatures as Nature doth yet we by our Industry Increase Nature's Creatures not only Vegetables that we Produce in our Fields and Store in our Barns but Animals which we Breed in our Farms and Feed in our Fields But as Nature Commits Errors and Defects in Producing her Creatures so we for want of Knowledge have not the Good effect of our Labours for though we are Bred up to Husbandry yet we are not all so Knowing in Husbandry as to Thrive and Grow Rich by our Labours for as all Scholars are not Learned that have Lived and Spent most of their time in Studies in Universities but are meer Dunces or as Artisans are not all Excellent VVorkmen although they have been Bound to their Trade and have Wrought long in it yet are but Bunglers So for Husbandry all Husbandmen are not so Knowing in their Profession as to Thrive but they Labour at Randome without Judgement or Observation and like those that Learn to Read by Rote may Understand the VVords or Letters but not the Sense and Meaning So we may be brought up to Labour but not Understand to make a Profitable Increase not Knowing the Nature of the several Soils as what for Pasture or Meddow or Tillage nor to Fore-see the Change of VVeather nor to Take the most Seasonable Times nor to Observe the Course of the Planets all which is very Requisite for the Breed of our Animals and Increase of our Vegetables VVherefore in my Opinion it were very Necessary for us to Choose the most Observing and Experienced men amongst us that Understand Husbandry best to be our Publick and General Teachers Instructers Informers and Reformers in our Profession of Husbandry For as there are Divine Teachers for the Souls of Men Moral Teachers for the Manners of Men Human Teachers for the Bodies of Men and Physicians for the Lives of Men so there should be Natural Teachers and Informers for the Profitable Increase for Men such as have not only Experience by Practice and Judgement by Observation but have both Learning and Conceptions of Natural Philosophy as to Learn and Search into the Causes and Effects of Natures VVorks and to Know and Observe the Influences of the Heavens on Earth and on the Diverse and Sundry Creatures In and On the Earth also the Sympathies and Antipathies of the several Creatures to Each other as also the Natures and Proprieties of every Kind and Sort of Creature so shall we know how to Increase our Breed of Animals and our Stores of Vegetables and to find out the Minerals for our Use for as Learning without Practice is of No Effect so Practice without Knowledge is of Small Profit yet many will Take upon them to Instruct Others that want Instructions Themselves but such Instructers Instructions are more in Words than for Use as Plutarch's Common-wealth or Virgilius Georgics two Famous Men the One a Moral Philosopher the Other a Poet the One did Form such a Common-wealth as Men would nor could not Live in it and so not fit for Use the Other could better set his Wit to VVork than his Hands for if Virgil had left his Husbandary in Verse to Practise it in Prose he had Lived Poorly and Died Obscurely as having more VVit and Fancy to VVrite of Husbandry in his Georgics than Knowledge or Experience to Practise it in his Farms Thus Poets get Fame and Farmers VVealth the One by their VVit the Other by their Experience the One by Imagination the Other by Practice for a Clown or Peasant Gains more Knowledge by his Practice than a Poet by his Contemplations but when Practice and VVit are joyned together they beget Wisdome and Wealth the One being Adorned with Gold the Other Inthroned with Fame for Emperours have Ascended from the Plough and Kings from the Sheep-coats Converting their Plough-sherds to Thrones their Sickles to Crowns and their Sheep-hooks to Scepters Thus Clowns Boors or Peasants by Name are become Princes in Power and Princes in Power are become Beasts by Name and Nature witness Nebuchadnezzar A Peasants Oration to his Fellow Peasants Fellow Peasants GIve me Leave to Tell you we are the most Unhappy People in the VVorld for we Live to Labour and Labour to Live and we are not only the Unhappiest but the Basest men in the World for we are not only Bred with Beasts and Live with Beasts and Dye like Beasts but we are the Bawds and Pimps too to bring Beasts to Act Bestially together also we
for so all the Chief Commanders in our Army being United together may be this whole Person in this Aristocratical Government in which the whole Power of the Kingdome will be in Us and so we may Govern as we shall Think good An Other Souldiers Oration contrary to the Former Dear Country-men and Fellow Souldiers VVE are Disputing with our Selves what Government we shall Agree upon whether Democraty or Aristocraty or Monarchy and I perceive you are Inclin'd to Aristocraty because that Government gives Room for all the Chief Commanders to Share in the Government but give me Leave to tell you that we shall never agree in that Government for though we should be Fellow States-men as we be Fellow Souldiers yet if we be Fellow Governours we shall Ruine the Common-wealth and our Selves for we shall be like as a Kingdome Divided in it self which the Holy Writ says cannot Stand so we shall be Divided amongst our Selves striving which shall bear Sway Wherefore I am of the Opinion that Monarchy is the Best and Safest Government for as there be Many Dangers and but One Courage many Miseries and but one Patience many Appetites and but one Temperance many Injuries and Wrongs and but one Justice many Cheatings and Coosenages and but one Honesty many Falshoods and but one Truth many Creatures and but one Creator so where there are Many Subjects there ought to be but One Governour which is a King and he to have the Soveraign Power An other Oration Different from the two Former Fellow Souldiers THe two former Orations were One for Aristocraty the Other for Monarchy but I am of an Opinion as to have neither an Absolute Aristocraty nor a Monarchical Government but a Government that shall be Mixt of the two Former as neither to have it Perfect Monarchy nor Perfect Aristocraty but mixt of both for as the Nobles are as the Head to Guide Direct Rule and Govern the Common People which are as the Body so a King or a Chief Governour is as the Brain to that Head for without a Brain the Head would be but as an Empty Scul and without a Head and Brain the Body would be but as a Senseless Block Wherefore a King or Chief Ruler Joyn'd to a Grand Counsel is the Best Government of all for the Grand Counsel is the Eyes Ears Nose Mouth and Tongue for and in the Common-wealth to spie our Errors to see Advantages to hear Complaints to smell out Dangers and to Advise Counsel and Speak For and Of that which will be Best for the Common-wealth The King as the Brain is to Consider Reason Judge Approve and Conclude of what the Council hath Seen Observed Heard Found and Spoken Wherefore let us Choose out One amongst us to make an Elective King and he to give Judgement drawing all the several Opinions Debates and Disputes to a Conclusion otherwise we shall have a Division amongst us for we shall Reason and Discourse of Many Things but Conclude not any An Oration which is a Refusal of an Absolute Power Kind Country-men YOu have Exprest not only your Good Opinion of me but your Extraordinary Love by the Honour you Intend me in making me your Absolute Governour and Ruler which is to be your King in Effect though not in Name which Honour I neither Desire nor Deserve for I never did my Country so much Service as to Merit such an Honour neither have I those Abilities or Capacities of Knowledge Understanding Ingenuity and Experience as are Required for to Manage and Govern a Kingdome and to Conform the Divers and Different Humours Extravagant Appetites Unruly Passions Various Dispositions and Inconstant Natures of a Numerous People and Head-strong Multitude to a Setled Order and Obedience as which is apter to Set up Authority and Pull down Authority than to Obey Authority but had I those Abilities and Wisdome to Govern and were the whole Nation as Ready and Willing to Obey and as Industrious and Carefull to Perform all my Commands and were Devoted wholly to my Rule and Government yet Considering the Trouble and Continual Labour in the Imployment and Affairs of the State and the Cares and Perturbations in the Mind concerning those Affairs as the Maritime Martial and Judicial as also the Civil Common and Canonical besides the Forein and Home Affairs as Trade and Intelligence and the like I should not Willingly take upon me that Power for a Kingly Power is a Slavish Life especially if he Governs as he Ought to do as to be the Chief Actor and Over-seer Himself not Trusting those Affairs to the Government and Ordering of some whom he Favours only Keeping the Name and Title to Himself quitting the Labour and Trouble to Others for he will not have much Spare time for Himself either for Soul or Body the truth is a Good Governour is to be a Trusty Industrious Laborious Royal Slave but if he be a Tyrant he Inslaves the People And though I am willing to Take any Pains and to Imploy all my Time or to Lose my Life or Liberty for the Sake or Service of my Country yet by Reason I am not Capable to Govern nor fit to Rule so large a Nation and many People I cannot take this great Charge upon me but most Humbly Desire you to Excuse me and Choose some other who may better Deserve it and may more Wisely Govern it that it may Flourish in it Self with Peace and Plenty and be Renowned and Famed through all the World to which End let me Advise you to Choose one that is Born a King and Bred a King who will Rule and Govern Magnificently Majestically Heroically as a King ought to Do. An Oration concerning Disorders Rebellion and Change of Governments Dear Country-men YOu know well without my Repeating that Monarchy is a Government of One Aristocraty of Some and a Republick of Most or rather All also you have found by Wofull Experience that this Kingdome hath been Toss'd from One Sort of Government to an Other that it is now so Exhausted as to be almost Expir'd It was at first Monarchical where in a Long Peace Flattery Vanity and Prodigality got into the Monarchical Court all which caused Poverty and so Injustice for Poverty and Necessity is all times a Page to Prodigality which Caused the Selling of all Offices and Places of Judicature for those that Buy Dear are forced to Sell Dear and this Caused Exactions and Extorsions besides Bribes given and Bribes taken insomuch that no Justice was done for Justice Sake but Bribes Sake and they who gave the greatest Bribes had their Sute or Cause Judged of their side whether Right or Wrong Nay many Judges and Officers were so Ignorant as they Knew not how to Judge Rightly or Execute any Publick Affairs as they should have done had they a Will to do Honestly but how should they do either Wisely Knowingly or Honestly being not Chosen for Parts Abilities Understanding or Merit but by Paying so much Money