beene of such a worth as every day you descry they had powerfully resisted against the assaults of Ages but as they had nothing admirable in them but the Name Memorials have preserved that and let them perish But yours MADAME which are too perfect for a sutable Name shall not cease to survive the revolutions of Times as being enlivened by Vertue which alone can exempt from Death Let it not seeme strange then if I hazard the perils of the Sea to render Homage to a QUEENE whose Greatnesse perforce humbles the most arrogant spirits being not able so much as in thought to reach to the first degree of her Glory The GRACES themselves are hers and the VERTUES have allianced their owne and her Name and all the adorable qualities which are found here below are admirable in her alone as in their Source I am constrained to be silent MADAME being over-charged with too much subject of speech The number of your Perfections astonishes me the greatnesse of your Merit ravishes me the splendour of your Vertue dazles me And in this dazle this transport this excesse of admiration wherein my senses and spirits are all alike engaged I am compell'd to cast my selfe at the feet of your Majestie and demand pardon of the boldnesse which I assume onely to enjoy the stile of MADAME Your MAIESTIES Most humble and most obeysant Servant P. De la SERRE TO THE QVEENE OF GREAT BRITAINE Vpon the Mirror which flatters not of Le Sieur de la SERRE SONNET PRINCESSE this perverse Ages glorious gemme Whose least of Vertues seemes a prodigie â—â—ustrious Sien of the fairest Stemme â—â—at Heaven e're shew'd this Vniverse's eye â—â—ough Fate with thousand hind'rances averse â—â—rres me the place to which my duty 's bent â—annot cheere my soule from selfe-torment â—â—it by designe to pourtray you in Verse But since that SERRES shew's in this true Mirrour The Vertues of your Mind 's eternall splendour As lively as your Body's beautious measure My heed to view you here lets others passe So well I here agnize all your rare treasure That I ne're saw a better Crystall-Glasse Par le Sr C. To the AUTHOR upon the same subject STANCES DIvine Spirit knowing Soule Which with lovely sweet controule Rank'st our soules those good rules under Which thy Pen layes downe with wonder Whil'st the sweetnesse of thy Voice Breathes oracular sacred noise All thy Workes so well esteem'd Thorough EUROPE proofes are deem'd Of thy Gifts which all admire Which such Trophies thee acquire And with these thy Muse invested ORPHEUS is by thee out-crested Also since blind Ignorance Makes no more abode in FRANCAE Seldome can wee meet with such As the workes of thy sweet t'uch Such immortall straines of spirit As doe thousand Laurels merit But although thy active Muse Wonders did before produce As wee seldome see the like This doth with amazement strike 'T is a MIRROUR that doth shine More with Fire then Crystaline 'T is a MIRROVR never flatters On my eyes such rayes it scatters That therewith I daz'led am Searching for thee in the same By some charme or stranger case I see thy spirit not thy face This strange fashion doth amaze me When I ne're so little gaze me I am streight all on a fire The more I looke more I admire 'T is a MIRROVR sure of flame Sparkling more wee marke the same Yet not every prying eye Shall it-selfe herein espie 'T is not for so commune use Free from flattering abuse None so clearely here are seene As King CHARLES and his faire Queene Therefore thus the AUTHOR meant To the World it to present Since it is a thing so rare And unparalelled faire That it should a Tablet bee For the fairest hee could see SERRES this thy worke-man-ship Doth my spirit over-strip With such judgement and such grace Thou do'st shew in little space Three strange Wonders without errour Two bright Sunnes in one cleare MIRROVR And by this thy rare composure Shall thy Name beyond enclosure Of this present Age obtaine Eternall honour for thy paine Writing to these Princes Graces Thou art prais'd in thousand places Par le mesme Vpon the BOOKE SONNET HEre undisguis'd is seene in this true Mirrour The glory or the shame of mortall storie As Reason or the misse-led Senses errour Doe winne the day or yeeld the Victorie SERRES doth here lively delineate Our every-dayes vaine wretched passages And what is destin'd after Funerall state To innocent purenesse or black wickednesse Such diverse subjects in this one enclosed Such various objects to the view exposed Thou little Monarch MAN small Vniverse Thy Soule it lessons thus and thee informes As thou art Soule with heavenly fires converse As thou art Flesh thou art a Bait for wormes To the READER IT may perhaps seeme strange that I treat so often in my Works of the same matter as of the contempt of the World and meditations of Death But if the importance of the subject be considered and the profit to be derived thence a Man will never be wearie of seeing such faire truths under different presentations Besides the conceptions of spirit upon the same matter are like the productions of Nature in the Species's of Tulips Every yeere shee gives a Change both to their Colour and Array And though they be still Tulips shee renders them so different from their first resemblance that they can hardly otherwise be knowne but by name The Mind doe's the same upon the same subject its Fancies which are its ornature and embellishment render it by their diversitie so different from it selfe that 't is hardly knowne but by the Titles which it beares to particularize each Conceit So that if once againe I represent unto thee the pourtrait of Vanitie and the Image of Death my spirit which hath steaded me for Pencill and colouring in this Worke hath rendred it so rare in its Noveltie and so excellent in difference from those which have preceded that thou shalt finde nothing in it commune with them but my name Thou mavest consider moreover that I dedicate Bookes to KINGS and QUEENES â—ot every day and that these objects of such eminent magnificence doe so nobly 〈◊〉 the faculties of my Soule that I could not have pettie thoughts for such high Personages 'T is that which without ostentation makes me beleeve that if thou buy once againe this Booke and tak'st the paines to reade it thou wilt regreet neither the Time nor Money which thou shalt employ therein ADIEU If thou bee'st of so good an humour to pardon the Faults excuse those of the Impression APPROBATIO LUTETIAE PARISIORUM QVi moribundam vitam qui edacem vitae mortem in hoc Speculo Liber exprimit te Lector tibi objicit tam felici veri specie tam clara sublimis styli Luce ut temet fugere nequeas Frequens contuere ne tetra haec tua species aeternûm tua sit Ita apprecor MART. LUENKENS Sanctae Theol. Lic Prof. Ordin Apost
and ret orts upon it's own paces Man may be sayd to be happy in being subject to all mishaps But Man contrarily being setled upon the declining stoop of his ruine rouls insensibly without intervall to the grave his prison Death is a grace rather than a paine O deare ruine 〈◊〉 O sweet captivity since the soule recovers her freedome and this Sepulture serves but as a Furnace to purifiâ—â— his body The Aire although it corrupt is not for all that destroyed thâ— corruption of Man destroyes its materiall O glorious destruction since iâ—steades him as a fresh disposition to render him immortall The Fire thougâ— it fairely devoure all things is yet preserved still it selfe to reduce all thâ— World into Ashes But Man perceive himself to be devoured by Time with out ability ever to resist it Oh benâ—ficiall Impotence since hee findes hâ—â— Triumph in his overthrow The â—elâ—citic of man in this world consists in the necâ—ssity of death the Sunnâ— causeth alwayes admiration in its oâ—dinary lustre but Mans reason is impaired in the course of Times Oh weâ—come impairement since Time ruinâ— it but onely in an Anger knowing thâ— it goes about to establish its Empire beyond both time and Ages In find the Heavens may seem to wax old 〈◊〉 their wandring course How happy is man in decaying evermore since he thus at last renders himselfe exempt from all the miseries which pursue him they yet appear the same still every day as they were a thousand yeeres a'gon Man from moment to moment differs from himselfe and every instant disrobes him somewhat of his Beeing Oh delightfull Inconstancy since all his changes make but so many lines which abut at the Center of his stability A long life is a heavie burthen to the soule since it must render an account of all its moments How mysterious is the Fable of Narcissus the Poets would perswade â—â—s that Hee became selfe-enamoured â—â—ewing Himselfe in a Fountaine But 〈◊〉 am astonish't how one should become amorous of a dunghill though â—overed with Snow or Flowers A face cannot be formed without Eyes Nose â—nd Mouth and yet every of these â—arts make but a body of Misery and Corruption as being all full of it This Fable intimates us the repreâ—ntment of a fairer truth since it inâ—â—tes a Man to gaze himselfe in the â—ountaine of his teares thus to become morous of himselfe not for the liâ—eaments of dust and ashes whereof â—s countenance is shap't but rather of â—ose beauties and graces wherewith his soule is ornamented and all these together make but a rivelet If a man could contemplate the becauties of his soule in innocence he would alwaies be surprized with us love which leads him to the admiration of that source from whence they tooke their originall Oh how David was a wise Narcissus then when hee made of his Teares a Mirrour If a man would of en view himselfe in the teares of his repentance be would soon become a true selfâ—over so to become enamour'd of himselfe for he was so selfe-loving in his repentance that in this Hee spent both dayes and nights with unparelleled delights But if Narcissus ship-wrack't himselfe in the fountaine of his selfe-fondnesse This great King was upon point to Abysse himselfe in the Sea of his tâ—eres All the vaine objects of the world are so many fountaines of Narcissus wherein prying men may shâ—pwracke themselves for their liquid Crystalline shewd him to himselfe so beautifull that hee burned with desire thus to drowne himselfe Ladies vieâ— your selves in this Mirrour since you are ordinarily slaves to your owne selve love You will be faire at what price soever see here is the meanes The Crystall Mirrour of your teares flatter not contemplate therein the beauty of this grace which God hath given you to bewaile your vanities This is the onely ornament which can render you admirable All those deceitfull Chrystals Teares are the faithfullest Mirours of penitence which you weare hang'd at your Girdles shew you but fained beauties wherof Art is the work-mistresse and cause rather then your visages Would yee be Idolaters of the Earth which you tread on your bodies are but of Durt but if you will have them endeared where shall I find tearmes to expresse their Noysomnesse Leave to Death his Conquest and to the Wormes their heritage If Ladies would take as much care of their souls as of their bodies they would not hazard the losse both of one and to'ther and search your selves in that originall of Immortality from whence your soules proceed that your actions may correspond to the Noblenesse of that cause This is the most profitable counsell which I can give You It is time to end this Chapter Great Kings I serve you this Morning instead of a Page to awake You and remembrance You that you are Men I meane Subjects to Death and consequently destinated to serve as a Prey to the Wormes a Shittle-cocke to the Windes and matter for to forme an object of horror and astonishment to you altogether Muze a little that your life passeth away as a Dreame The meditation of our nothingnesse is a soveraigne remedie against vanitie thinke a little that your thoughts are vaine consider at the same time that all that is yours passes and flies away You are great but this necessity of Dying equals you to the least of your subjects Men are so neare of blood together that all beare the same name Your powers are dreadfull but a very hand-worme mocks at 'em your riches are without number but the most wretched of men carry as much into the grave as you In fine may all the pleasures of Life make a party in Yours yet they are but so many Roses whose prickles onely remaine to you at the instant of Death Man hath nothing so proper to him as the misery to which hee is borne The horror which environs You chaseth away your greatnesses the weakenesse which possesseth you renders unprofitable your absolute powers and onely then in that shirt which rests upon your backe are comprised all the treasures of your Coffers Are not these verities of importance enough to breake your sleepe If the earth be our mother heaven is our father I awake you then for to remembrance you this last time that you are Men but destined to possesse the place of those evill Angels whose Pride concaved the Abysses of Hell that you are Men but much more considerable for the government of your reason then your Kingdome That you are Men but capable to acquire all the felicities of Heaven if those of the Earth are by you disdained That you are Men but called to the inheritance of an eternall Glory if you have no pretence to any of this world Lastly that you are Men but the living images of an infinite and omnipotent one Though the body and soule together make up the man there is yet as
of the Day which with a continuall aspect We are all amourous of our selves not knowing for what for our defects are objects rather of hate then Love contemplates all created things cannot make reflexion of his beames to see himselfe as if his mother Nature had apprehended in making him so glorious that the Mirrour of his light might not be metamorphosed into a fire of love to render him amorous of his owne proper lustre But the Intellect this Sunne of our Soules has a faculty with which it can both contemplate out of it selfe all things A Man cannot stumble ordinarily but through perveâ—snesse since Reason enlightens him in the very worst wayes and repeale againe the same power to consider it selfe which makes a Man capable not onely of the Meditation of the miseries of the World but also of that of the afflictions and troubles which inseparably keeps him company to the grave We reade of Moses that God commanded him to frame the * The Laver which was before the Tabernacle Exod. 38.8 fore-front of the Tabernacle all of Mirrours to the end that those that should present themselves before his Altar might view themselves in this posture of Prayer O this excellent Mysterie Mortals it behooves you to view your selves in the Mirrour of your Ashes if you would have your vowes heard God hath taught us an excellent way of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread But why O Lord teachest thou us not to aske thee our bread for to Morrow There is nothing assured in Life but its continuall Death as well as for to day O how good a reason is there hereof This is because that life hath no assurance of tom-orrow besides that it is an excesse of grace that wee may be bold to crave of him the bread of our nourishment for all a whole day since every moment may be That of our Death Reader let this verity serve thee yet as a Mirrour 'T is not sufficient to muse of the necessity of dying but to consider also that every houre may be our Lost if thou would'st have thy prayers to pierce the heavens This is not all to know thy body is a Colosse of filth which is traild along from one place to another as it were by the last struggle of a Life alwayes languishing It behooves thee also to call to mind that every instant may terminate the course of thy troublesome carriere and that this suddaine retreate constraines thee to bid Adieu for ever to all the things of the world which thou cherishedst most Thoughts onely worthy of a noble spirit I have eaten Ashes as bread Psal 102. 9. Cinerem tan quam panem manducabam sayes the Royall Prophet but how is it possible I conceive his thought He entertained his soule with the remembrance of the Ashes of his body and this truth alone serv'd as object to his imagination for to satisfie the appetite of his Soule Lord give me both the same relish and desire to repast my selfe still thus of Dust and Ashes in remembrancing my selfe alwayes that I am nothing else A man to abase himselfe below that which he is being so poore a thing of nothing O sweet remembrance of my rottennesse since it steads me for eternall nourishment of my Soule O precious memorie of my Nothingnesse since able to satisfie the appetite of my heart Let this be the daily bread O Lord which thou hast taught me to aske thee to the end that all my desires together nourishment I recollect my selfe in this digression Having diverse times mused of the imbecillity and weakenesse of Man Si vitrei essemus minus casus timeremus S. Aug. I am constrain'd to cry out with St. Augustin What is there that can be more fraile in Nature If we were of Glasse pursues hee our condition might therein be better There is nothing more brittle than glasse yet man is more for a Glasse carefully preserv'd may last long time and yet what paine somever Man takes to preserve himselfe and under what shelter somever hee shrowds himselfe for covert to the storme hee breakes and is shattered of himselfe What reply you to these verities Great Princes Well may you now be arrogant The fragilitie of Glasse cannot admit of comparison with this of your nature what seat will you give to your greatnesse and what foundation to your vanity Man is fully miserable since his life is the source of his miseries when the wind alone of your sighs may shipwracke you upon the Sea of your owne proper teares what surnames will you take upon you for to make you be mis-taken That of Immortall would become you ill since every part of your body serves but as a But to the shaftes of Death Invincible A man may doe every thing with vertue without it nothing would also be no way proper since upon the least touch of mishap you are more worthy of pity then capable of defence Would you be called Gods your Idolaters would immolate you to their owne laughter Tread under foot your Crownes if rightly you will be crowned with them you onely thus render your selves worthy of those honours which you misprize for Glory consists not in the possessing it Heaven cannot bee acquâ—red but by the misprize of earth but in the meriting and the onely means to obtaine it is to pretend nothing at all to it How remarkeable is the custome of the Locrians at the Coronation of their Kings They burnt before them a handfull of Tow to represent unto them the instability of their grandeurs and the greedinesse of Time to destroy them In effect all the greatnesses of the Earth are but as a bundlet of Tow All the grandour of Kings is but as the blaze of flaming tow and then when Darius would make of them his treasure Mis-hap set fire on them and reduced 'em into Cinders and when hee had yet in his heart a desire to immortalize them a new fire seaz'd his intrals by the heat of thirst which burn'd him to the end to consume at once both the cause and the effect So true it is that the Glory of the world vanisheth away like Smoke Great Kings if you build a Throne of Majestie to the proofe both against Time and Fortune lay its foundation upon that of your miseries He which esteems himselfe the least of all is the greatest Humility takes her rise in low linesse from the lowest footing when she makes her flight into the heavens O how admirable is the Humility of Saint Iohn Baptist They would give him titles of Soveraignty in taking him for the Messias but call to you Memory how with an ejaculation oâ— Love and reverence hee precipitateâ— himselfe both with heart and thoughâ— into the Abysse of his owne Nothingnesse there to admire in all humility both Greatnesse and Majesty in his Throne I am but a voyce Vox clamantis in deserto Iohn 1.23
Mercurie Trimegistus that thou hast reason to publish that Man is a great miracle The magnificence of man hath neither bounds nor limits since God is his end since God himselfe hath been willing to espousâ— his condition to shew us in its miseâ—ries the miracles of his Love I confesse Pythagoras that thou hast had no lesse ground to maintainâ— that Man was a mortall God Though a man still fade away hee is yet a lively pourtray of immortallitie since except this sweet necessitie which subâ—jects him to the Tombe hee has thousand qualities in him all immoâ—â—tall I should finally have beene 〈◊〉 advise with thee Plato then when thoâ— preachedst every where that Maâ— was of the race of the Gods since 〈◊〉 piece of work so rare and so perfect could not proceed but from a hand Omnipotent All the creatures are admirable as the effects of a soveraigne and independant cause but man has attributes of an unparalleld glory I meane this Rivelet of admiration could not proceed but from a source most adorable I am of thy opinion Plotinus henceforth will maintaine every where with thee that Man is an abridgement of the wonders of the world Since that all the Univers together was created but for his service pleasure Say we yet moreover that those wonders of the world so renowned are but the workes of his hands so that also the actions of his spirit can take their Rise above the Sun and beyond the heavens and this too now in the chaines of its servitude Great Kings Be it supposed that you are living pourtraits of Inconstancy Man flies away by little little from one part of himselfe shat hee may entirely into himselfe The perfection of your Nature lyes in this defect of your powers for this Vicissitude which God hath rendred inseparable to your condition is a pure grace of his bounty since you wax old onely that you may be exempted from the tyranny of Ages since I say you dye every moment only to make acquisition of that immortallity to which his love has destin'd you This defect of inconstrancie is the perfection of man since he ischangeable to day to bee no more so to morrow O happy Inconstancy if in changing without cease we approach the poinâ— of our soveraigne felicity whose foundations are immoveable O dear Vicissitude if row ling without intervall in the dust of our originall we approach by little and little to thosâ— Ages of glory which beyond aâ— time assigne at our End the beginninâ— of a better Carreere O Gloriouâ— Death since terminated at that crueâ— instant A man is onely happy in the perpetuall inconstancie of his condition which separates us from Immortality It is true I confesse it againe Greâ—â— Kings that you are subject to all thâ— sad accidents of your subjects The greatest miserie that can arrive to a man is to offend God Buâ— what happinesse is it if these misfoâ—tunes are as so many severall wayeâ— which conduct you into the Port. Bâ—â— it granted that you are nothing bâ—â— Corruption in your Birth Miserie 〈◊〉 your Life and a fresh infection 〈◊〉 many attributes of honour to yoâ—â— since you disroabe your selves in tâ—â— grave of all your noisomnesse for 〈◊〉 Decke your selves with the ornamenâ— of Grace of felicity and glory whiâ—â— belong in proper to your soules as being created for the possession of all these Good Things Heaven ' Earth Nature the very Divels are admirers of the greatnesse of man Who can be able to dimension the greatnesse of Man since he who hath neither bounds nor limits would himselfe be the circumference of it Would you have some knowledge of Mans power heare the commandement which Iosuah made to the Sunne to stop in the middest of his carreere Would you have witnesses of his strength Samson presents you all the Philistins buried together under the â—uines of the Temple whose foundations he made to totter Require you some assurances of his courage Iob offers you as many as he has sores upon his body In fine desire you some proofes of his happinesse Heaven has sewer of Starres then of felicities to give him Man may bee whatsomever hee will be What name then shall we â—ttribute him now that may be capable to comprehend all his glory There â—s no other then this of Man and Pilate did very worthily no doubt to turne â—t into mockage before the Jewes Iohn 19.5 hee â—hews them a God under the visage of Ecce homo Behold the Man a Man Let the world also expose the miseries of Man in publicke The name Man is now much more noble than that of Angels His Image of Earth is yet animated with a divine spirit which can never change Nature Well may they teare his barke the Inmate of it is of proofe against the strokes of Fortune as well as the gripes of Death The Man of Earth may turne into Earth but the Man of heaven takes his flight alwayes into heaven With what new rinds some-ever a man hee covered he beares still in his sorehead the markes of his Creator That Man I say fickle and inconstant kneaded and shap't from durt with the water of his owne teares may resolve into the same matter But this stable and constant Man created by an omnipotent hand remaines uncessantly the same as incapable of alteration Rouse then your selves from sleepe great Princes Hee that would alwayes muse of Eternitie would without doubt acquire its glory not for to remember Death but rather to represent unto your selveâ— that you are immortall since Death hath no kind of Dominion over youâ— Soules which make the greatest as being the Noblest part of you Awake then great Monarchs not foâ— to Muse of this necessity which draweâ— you every houre to the Tombe buâ— rather to consider that you may exempt your selves from it if your Actions be but as sacred as your Majesties Man ia a hidden treasure whose worth God onely knowes Great PRINCES Awake and permit mee once more to remembrance You that you are Men I meane the Master-pieces of the workes of God since this divine worke-Master hath in conclusion metamorphosed himselfe into his owne worke My feathered pen can fly no higher Man only is she ornament of the world Those which have propounded that Man was a new world have found out proportionable relations and great correspondencies of the one to the other for the Earth is found in the matter whereof hee is formed the Water in his â—eares the Aire in his sighes the Fire â—n his Love the Sunne in his reason â—nd the Heavens in his imaginations But the Earth subsists and he vanisheth 〈◊〉 Sweet vanishment since he is lost 〈◊〉 himselfe that he may bee found in is Creator But the Earth remaines â—â—me and his dust flyes away O hapâ—y flight since eternity it it's aime The â—ater though it fleets away yet returns â—e same way
only which shall serve very soone for a Beere to his carkasse See in what consists the profit of his rents after their account made Another will be rich onely in Medowes and changing his hay into Gold which is but Earth he fills therewith his coffers But Foole that he is hee thinks not that his life is a Medow his body the hay thereof and Time the Mower The World is a Medow and all the objects which therein we admire are flowers which fade every houre who by his example makes publicke trafficke of the same marchandize changing by little and litle the hay of his body into Earth And is not this to be very ingenious to cheat a man's selfe Anothers ayme is onely to be rich in buildings some ' the' Country some ' th' City and assuming vanity from the number as well as the magnificence of his Pallaces hee beleeves that they are so many Sanctuaries of proofe against the strokes of fortune or the thunders of heaven What a folly 's this to esteeme ones selfe happy for having diverse Cabbins upon earth to put himselfe under couvert from the raine and wind during the short journey of life The raine ceases the wind is past and life dyes and then the tempest of a thousand eternall anguishes comes to entertaine him without possibility of discovery even from hope one onely port of safety To be onely rich then in aedifices is to be rich in castles of paper and cards such as little children lodge their pety cares in We must build upon the unshakeable foundations of eternitie if a man would be sheltered from all sorts of stormes To what purpose steads it us to be richly lodged if every houre of the day may be that of our departure Men trouble themselves to build houses of pleasure but the pleasures fade away and we also and these houses remaine for witnesses of our folly and for sensible objects of sorrow and griefe in that cruell necessity to which wee are reduced to abandon them It is to be considered that wee are borne to be Travellers and Pilgrims and as such are wee constrain'd to march alwayes straight to the gist of Death without ever resting or being able to find repose even in repose it-selfe To what then are all these magnificent Pallaces Though we say the Sunne sets every night yet it rests not and so Man though he lay himselfe to sleepe rests not from his voyage to Earth when our onely retreat beats on to the grave To what end are all this great number of structures when wee are all in the way and point to end our voyage O how well is hee housed that lodgeth his hope in God and layes the foundations of his habitation upon ETERNITIE A good conscience is the richest house that one can have Another designes his treasures in numerous Shippings traficking with all winds in spight of stormes and tempests but be it granted a perpetuall calme as heart could wish and imagine we as himselfe does that hee shall fish with Fortunes nets all the Pearles of the OCEAN what can he doe at the end with all his ventures if he trucke them away hee can gaine but stuffe of the same price if hee sell them he does but change white purified earth for yellow which the Sunne purifies as well within the mines what will hee doe now with this new marchandise or this his gold behold him alwayes in trouble to discharge himselfe of so many burdens If gold were potable hee might perhaps nourish himselfe therewith for a while but as MIDAS could not doe it in the fable he will ne're bring it to passe in the verity he must needs keep watch then day and night to the guard of his riches and well may hee keep sentinell Death comes to robbe him of them since at his going out of the world she takes them away from him What apparence is there that the treasures of the Sea should be able to make a man rich since the possession of all the world together cannot doe it A hundred thousand ships are but a hundred thousand shuttle-cockes for the winds The treasure of good workes is eternall riches and a hundred thousand objects of shipwracke Suppose they arrive to the Port the life of their Master is alwayes among rocks for 't is a kind of ship which cannot arrive at other shore but at the banke of the grave And I leave you to consider what danger he may runne if there the storme of his avaricious passion cast him The sand-blind-sighted may foresee his ruine and the most judicious will beleeve it infallible Behold in fine a man rich to much purpose Our life is a Ship which loosing from the Haven of the Cradle at the moment of our birth never comes ashore againe till it run aground upon the grave that would have drayn'd by his ambition the bottomlesse depths of the Ocean and now to find himselfe ith'end of his carreere in the abysses of hell having an eternitie of evils for recompense of an age of anxieties which hee hath suffered during his life LORD if I would be rich in wood let it be in that of thy CROSSE and from henceforth let its fruits be my revenues and my rents If I would traficke in meads Let the meditation of the hay of my life be my onely profit If I set my selfe to build houses He which puts his trust in God is the richest of the world how poore somever he be let it be rather for my soule then for my body and in such sort that my good workes may be the stones and the purity of my conscience the foundation And lastly If I would travell the Seas to goe to the conquest of their treasures let my teares be the waves thereof and my sighs the winds and thy grace alone the only object of my riches Make me then rich O LORD if it please thee by the onely misprise of all the treasures of the Earth 'T is alreadie a sufficient enjoyment of rest and quiet to set up ones rest in God onely and teach this secret language to my heart never to speake but of thee in its desires nor of other then thy selfe in its hopes since of thee alone and in thee onely lies the fulnesse of its perfect felicity and soveraigne repose Let us not rest our selves in so faire a way I cannot comprehend the designe of these curious Spirits who goe seeking the Philosophers-stone in that Spitle where an infinite number of their companions are dead of regreet to have so ill imployed their time They put all they have to the quest of that which never was and burning with desire to acquire wealth they reduce all their owne into cinders and their lungs also with vehement puffing without gaining other recompence at the end of their labours but this now to know their folly The love of God is the onely Philosopher-stone since by it a man may
acquire eternall treasures but the Sun sets the candle goes out the bed of buriall is prepared there must be their Enter at the Exit of so many unprofitable pains To what purpose serves it now to know they are fooles having no more time to be wise What cruell Maladie of spirit is it to sacrifice both ones body and soule in an unluckie alymbicke for to nourish a vaine ambition whose irregular appetite can never be satisfied Is not this to take pleasure in kindling the fire which consumes us to burne perpetually with desire of being rich in this world An inclination toward the misprize of Earth is a presage of the getting of Heaven and yet get nothing by it And then to burne againe eternally in hell without possibility to quench the ardour of those revenging flames is not this to warp ones-selfe the web of a fate the most miserable that ever was Produce we then of nothing the creation of this Philosopher-stone grant we it made at present to the hearts of the most ambitious I am content that from the miracles of this Metamorphosis they make us see the marvels of a new gallery of silver like to that which bare NERO to the Capitoll I am content that they make pendant at the point of a needle as SEMIRAMIS the price of twenty millions of gold I am content that after the example of * Atabali King of Peru. Atabalipas they pave their halls with Saphirs I am pleas'd that imitating Cyrus they enround their gardens with perches of gold I am content The World is aptly compared to the Sea since as the stormes of this so are the miseries of that and like the flitting billowes ever rolling so are all the objects which we here admire that the Dryades of their fountaines be composed of the same materiall following the magnificences of Cesar I am content that they erect with Pompey an Amphitheater all covered with plates of Gold I am content they build a Pallace of Ivory there to to lodge another Melaus or a Louvre of Christall to receive therein an other Drusus and let I am content still this Louvre be ornamented with court-cupboards of Pearles equal to those of Scaurus and with coffers of the same price as that of Darius To what will all this come to in the end What may be the reverse of all these medals The scortching heat of Time and the Suns-beames have melted this gallery of silver its admirers are vanisht and its proprietary Even Rome it selfe hath runne the like fate and though it subsist yet 't is but onely in name its ruines mourne at this day the death of its glory That so pretious Pendant of Semiramis could not be exempt from a kind of Death 'T is a Rule without exception that all that is included in the revolution of Time is subject to change though it were inanimate I mean that in its insensibility it hath received the attaints of this Vicissitude which alters and destroyes all things since it now appeares no more to our eyes All those Saphir-paved halls are passed away though Art had enchained them in beautifull Workemanships They have had otherwise a glittering luster like the Sunne but this Planet jealous of them hath refused in the end its clearenesse so much as to their ruines insomuch that they are vanished in obscuritie These gardens environed with railes of gold have had like others divers Spring-times to renew their growth but one Winter alone was enough to make them dye Those Dryades which enricht these fountaines are fled upon their owne water-trils and scarce remaines us their remembrance That proud Amphitheater of Pompey could not eternize it selfe but in the memory of men yet we scarce know what they say when they speake on 't That Ivory Palace of Melaus goes for a fable in histories being buried in the Abisses of non-entitie That famous Louvre of Christall having been bustled against by Time is broken Meditate here a little how oft the face of the Earth hath been varied since its first creation and shivered into so many peeces that not so much as the very dust on 't subsists but in the confus'd Idea of things which have beene otherwhile All those high cup-boards of Pearle and all those coffers of great price have indeed had an appearance like lightning but the thunder-bolt of inconstancy hath reduc't them into ashes and the memory of 'em is preserv'd in ours but as a dreame since in effect it is no more at all But if the precious wonders of past Ages There is nothing so certaine in the world as its uncertaintie have done nothing but passe away together with their admirers and owners is it not credible that those covetous rich ones did runne the same fortune with all the treasures of their Philosopher-Stone and at the end of their Carreere what device could they take but this very same of SALADINE since of all their riches there remaines them at their Death but onely a poore Shirt * Fui nibil ampliu I have beene saies this great Monarch and behold heere 's all Why Rich-ones of the World doe you trouble your selves so much to establish your glory here below for to perswadeus at the end of the journall onely this That you have beene An atome has the same advantage for this creating power which we adore after he had ta'en it out of the Abysses of nothing wherein you also were buried made it to subsist in nature Yet thus is it a blessednesse of our condition thus to escape by little and little the miscries which are incident unto us Bee it that you have beene the greatest on Earth yet now the faire light of your faire dayes is extinguish't for ever The Sun of your glory is eclips't and in an eternall West And that your fate which interloomed the web of your greatnesses together with your lives lyes entomb'd with your Ashes to shew us that these are the onely unhallowed reliques which your Ambition could leave us You have bin then otherwhile the only Minions of Fortune like Demetrius but he and you are now no more any thing not so much as a hand full of Ashes for lesse then with an Infinite power 't were impossible to any to reunite into a body the parcels of the Dust whereof your Carkasses were formed behold in what consists at this day the foundation of your past glory You have bin then otherwhile the same as SALADINE the onely Monarch of the East and have possest as he treasures without number and honours without parallel If vertue eternize not our memorie our life passeth away like the wind without leaving any trace But as He also you have done nothing else but passe away and like him againe you have not beene able to hide your wretchednesse but under a Scrap of Linnen whereof the Wormes have repasted to manifest you to all the World In fine you have beene otherwhile the
but for that time and as you are not the owners they take them away againe when they will and not when it pleaseth you So then I will have no Scepters for an houre nor no Crownes for a day If I have desire to raigne 't is beyond Time that I may thus be under shelter from the inconstancy of Ages Trouble not your selves to follow me This world is a Masse of mirâ— upon which a Man may make impresse of all sorts of Characters but not hinder Time to deface the draught at any time Ambitious Spirits faire leave have you to draw the Stell of your designes upon this ready prim'd cloth Some few yeeres wipe out all Some ages carry away all and the remembrance of your follyes is only immortall in your soules by the eternall regreet which remaines you of them SCIPIO made designe to conquer Carthage and after he had cast the project thereof upon mould he afterwards tooke the body of this shadow and saw the effect of his desires But may not one say that the Trophies of his valour have beene cast in rubbidge within that masse of durt whereof the world is composed since all the marks thereof are effaced Carthage it selfe though it never had life could not avoyd its Death Time hath buried it so deep under its owne ruines that we seeke in vaine the place of its Tombe I leave you to ruminate if its subduer were himselfe able to resist the assaults of this Tyrannie If ALEXANDER had sent his thoughts into heaven there to seeke a new world as well as his desires on earth there to find one he had not lost his time but as he did amuze himselfe to engrave the history of his ambition and triumphs upon the same masse of clay which he had conquered he writ upon water and all the characters on 't are defaced The Realmes which hee subdued There is more glory to despise the world then to conquer it for after its conquest a man knewes not what to doe with it have lost some of them their names and of this Triumpher there remaines us but the Idea as of a Dreame since men are ready to require Security even of his Memorie for the wonders which it preacheth to us of him May wee not then againe justly avow that of all the conditions to which a man may be advanced without the ayde of vertue either by nature or Fortune there is none more infortunate then to be to these a favorite nor any more miserable then to be a Great-one This inconstant Goddesse hath a thousand favours to lend All those who engage themselves to the service of fortune are ill payd and of this every day gives us experiâ—â—â—â— but to give none but haltars poysons poniards and precipices 'T is a fine thing to see Hannibal begging his bread even in view of Scipio after he had cal'd into question the price of the worlds Empire-dome Is it not an object worthy of compassion to consider Nicias upon his knees before Gillippus to beg his owne and the Athenians lives after he had in a manner commanded the winds at Sea and Fortune ashore in a government soveraignly absolute Who will not have the same resentiments of pity reading the history of Crassus then wheÌ„ by excesse of disaster he surviv'd both his glory reputation being constrained to assist at the funerals of his owne renowne All those who hound after fortune are well pleased to be deceived since her deceits are so well knowne and undergoe the hard conditions of his enemies attending death to free him from servitude Will you have no regreet to see enslav'd under the tyrannie of the Kings of Egypt the great Agesilaus whose valour was the onely wonder of his Time What will you say to the deplorable Fate of Cumenes to whom Fortune having offered so often Empires gives him nothing in the end but chaines so to dye in captivitie You see at what price Men have bought the favours of this Goddesse when many times the serenity of a happy life produceth the storme of an unfortunate Death You may judge also at the same time of what Nature are these heights of honour when often the Greatest at Sun-rise find themselves at the end of the Day the most miserable And suppose Fortune meddle not with 'em to what extremitie of miserie thinke you is a man reduc't at the houre of his departure All his Grandeurs though yet present are but as past felicities he enjoyes no more the goods which he possesses griefes only appertaine to him in proper and of what magnificences so'ere hee is environed this object showes him but the image of a funerall pompe I wonder not if rich men be afraid of death since to them it is more dreadfull then to any his bed already Emblemes the Sepulcher the sheets his winding linnen wherein he must be inveloped So that if he yet conceit himselfe Great 't is onely in misery Since all that hee sees heares touches smells and tasts sensibly perswades him nothing else Give Resurrection in your thoughts to great Alexander and then againe conceive him at last gaspe and now consider in this deplorable estate wherein hee finds himselfe involv'd upon his funerall couch to what can stead him all the grandeurs of his life past they being also past with it I grant that all the Earth be his Fortune sells every day the glory of the world to any that will but none but fooles are her chap-men yet you see how the little load of that of his body weighs so heavy on his soule that it is upon point to fall groveling under the burden I grant that all the glory of the world belong to him in proper hee enjoyes nothing but his miseries I yeeld moreover that all Mankind may be his subjects yet this absolute soveraignety is not exempt from the servitude of payne Be it that with the onely thunder of his voyce he makes the Earth to tremble yet he himselfe cannot hold from shaking at the noyse of his owne sighs I grant in fine that all the Kings of the world render him homage yet hee is still the tributary of Death O grandeurs since you fly away without cease Omnis motus tendit ad quietem what are you but a little wind and should I be an Idolater of a litle tossed Ayre and which only moves but to vanish to its repose O greatnesses since you doe but passe away what name should I give you but that of a dreame Alas why should I passe my life in your pursuite still dreaming after you O worldly greatnesses since you bid Adieu to all the world without being able to stay your selves one onely moment Adieu then your allurements have none for me your sweets are bitter to my taste and your pleasures afford me none I cannot runne after that which flyes Worldly Greatnesses are but childrens trifles every wise man despises them I can have no love for
things which passe away and since the world hath nothing else 't is a long while that I have bidden adieu to it It had promised me much and though it had given me nothing yet cannot I reproach it finding my selfe yet too rich by reason of its hardnesse But I returne to the point Men of the World would perswade us that it is impossible to finde any quiet in it to say a firme settling of Spirit The onely meanes to be content is to settle the conscience in peace wherein a man may be content in his condition without ever wishing any other thing And for my part I judge nothing to be more easie if wee leave to reason its absolute power What impossibilitie can there be to regulate a mans will to God's And what contradiction in 't to live upon earth of the pure benedictions of heaven What greater Riches can a man wish then this to be able to undergoe the Decrees of his Fate without murmuring and complaint If Riches consisted onely in Gold Diamonds Pearles or such like things of like raritie those which have not of 'em might count themselves miserable But every man carryes his treasure in his conscience Hee which lives without just scandall lives happily and who can complaine of a happy life Riches are of use to humane life but not of necessitie for without them a man may live content But if to have the hap of these felicities of this life a man judge presently that hee ought of necessity to have a great number of riches This is to enslave himselfe to his owne opinion abounding in his proper sense and condemning reason for being of the contrary part I know well that a man is naturally swayed to love himselfe more then all things of the world Philautia that this love proceeds from the passion of our interests seeking with much care and paine all that may contribute to our contentments and whereas Riches seeme to be Nurses of them this consequence is incident to be drawne that without them is no contented living But at first dash it is necessary to distinguish this love into Naturall and Brutall and beleeve that with the illumination of reason When Reason reignes the passions obey wee may purifie the relishes of the first even to the point of rendring them innocent without departing from our interests and consequently the enjoyment of our pleasures giving them for object the establishment of our setled content in misprision of all those things of the world which may destroy it As for this brutish Love which estranging us from God separates us also from our selves the passion of it becomes so strong by our weaknesse that without a speciall grace wee grow old in this maladie of Spirit of contenting our Senses rather then obeying our Reason making a new God of the Treasures of the Earth But in conclusion these Gods abandon our bodies to the Wormes and our soules to the Devils And for all their riches the greatesâ— Great ones can onely purchase a glorious Sepulture Is not this a great advantage and a goodly consolation He whose will submits to Gods will lives ever content Maintaine we boldly that a man may finde quietnesse of life in all sorts oâ— condition with the onely richenesse of â—tractable Soule resign'd to take the time as it comes and as God sends it without ever arguing with his providence There is no affliction The Spirit of a Man will beare his infirmitie whereto our Soule cannot give us asswage There is no ill whereto it selfe is not capable to furnish us a remedie A man how miserable somever may finde his contentment amidst his miseries if he lives for his soule more then for his bodies behalfe God makes us to be borne where he will and of what Parents hee pleases if the poorenesse of our birth accompanie us even to death hee hath so ordained it what can wee else doe but let him so doe Can he be accounted miserable that obey's with good grace his soveraignes decrees 'T is a greater danger to be very rich then very poore for riches often make men loose their way but povertie keepes 'em in the streight path O how is it farre more easie to undergoe the burthen of much povertie then of great riches For a man extremely poore is troubled with no thoughts more important then onely how to finde meanes to passe his life in the austerities whereto hee is alreadie habituated without repining after other fortune as being estranged equally both from his knowledge and reach in which respects hee may well be stil'd happie But a man very rich dreames of nothing but to eternize the continuance of his dayes although this fancie be in vaine in stead of letting them quietly slide away insomuch that being possest with no passion more then love of life hee thinkes alwayes to live and never to die Death cannot be said to deceive any body for it is infallible and yet the world complaines of it But Death comes ere hee thinks on 't and taking from him all to his very Shirt constraines him to confesse that riches are onely profitable by misprision since by the contempt a man makes of them he may become the richest of the world O what a sensible pleasure 't is to be Rich say wordly men alwayes but I would faine know in what consists this contentment what satisfaction can there be had to possesse much treasure knowing what an infinit number of our companions are reduc'd to the last point of povertie Some in Hospitals where they lye in straw o'rewhelmed with a thousand fresh griefes Others at the corner of a street where a piece of a Dung-hill serves them at once both for bed and board Some againe in Dangeons where horrour and affright hunger and despaire tyrannize equally over their unfortunate spirits And others in some Desert to which ill fate has confined them to make their ills remedilesse as being farre removed from all sorts of succours There is no emptinesse in nature for miseries fill all How with the knowledge of these truths a man shall be able to relish greedily the vaine sweets of wordly riches it must needs be for want of reason or pity and consequently to be altogether brutish or insensible I shall have suppose a hundred thousand crownes in rents and all this revenue shall serve but to nourish my body and its pleasures without considering that a hundred thousand poore soules sigh under the heavy burden of their miseries every Day and yet men shall esteeme me happy in being rich in this fate O how dangerous are the treasures which produce these felicities 'T is a brave generositie to be sensible of other mens miseries Is it possible that the Great-ones of the world doe not thinke at all in the middle of their Feasts of the extreame poverty of an infinite number of persons and that in themselves they doe not reason secretly in
whole world what Courage is this to assaile and combate That which none could ever yet resist and what a power is it to tame That which never yet yeelded Echo her selfe hath not rebounds enow to resound aloud the wonders of this Victorie This is not the Triumph of Alexander when he made his entry into Babylon mounted upon a Chariot as rich as the Indies and more glistering then the Sunne In this we see no other riches but the rich contempt which ought to be made of them no other lustre but of Vertue This is not the Triumph of Caesar then when he was drawne unto the Capitoll by forty Elephants after he had wonne twenty foure battels In this we see nought else but a funerall pompe but yet so glorious that Death her selfe serves for a Trophie to it This is not the Triumph of Epaminondas where the glorious lustre of the magnificence sham'd the splendour of the day which yet lent its light to it The marvels which appear'd in this here seem'd as celebrating in blacke the Exequies of all the other braveries of the world since nothing can be seene more admirable then this To triumph over vice is the noblest Trophie This is not the Triumph of Aurelian where all the graces are led captive with Zenobia In this are to be seene no other captives but the world and all its vanities and their defeat is the richest Crowne of the Victor This is not the Triumph of that pompeous Queene of Egypt entring into Cilicia where shee rays'd admiration to her selfe in a Galley of unutterable value but in this wee contemplate the more then humane industrie of a Pilote who from the mid'st of the stormes and tempests of the world recovers happily to the Port the ship of his life though yet but in the way to approach to it In fine this is not the Triumph of Sesostris whose stately Chariot foure Kings drew Passions are the onely slaves of this and Death being here vanquisht this honour remaines immortall and the name of the Triumpher All the glory of men van sheth away with them Say we then once againe O how glorious a Triumph is this over Death O how brave is the victorie over our selves and the onely meanes thus to vanquish a mans-selfe is to bury his ambition before his body be ensepulchred preparing ne'rethelesse the tombe of both to the'nd that the continuall remembrances of Death may serve for temperament and moderation to the delights of life We reade of Paulus Aemilius that returning to Rome laden with wreaths of Laurell after the famous victorie over the Persians he made his entrance of triumph with so great pompe and magnificence that the Sunne seemed to rouze it selfe many times as if upon designe to contemplate these wonders Pompey desirous to expose to the view of day all the magnificent presents which Fortune had given him in his last conquests entred now the third time in Triumph into the City of Rome where the noyse of his valour made as many Idolaters as admirers gayning hearts and now conquering soules as well as before Realms and Provinces But it seemes that the glory which accompanyed him in this action had this defect not to be sufficiently worthily knowne even of those that were witnesses of it as surprizing by much all that they could possibly expresse of it There was seene advanc't before his Charriot in ostentation Vanitie is a dangerous enemie it flatters onely to surprize a Checker-worke composed of two sorts of precious stones whose beauty set them beyond all price But yet me thinks their sparkling might have in good time beene a light to him if by a feeling of fore-sight touching the inconstancie of his fortune hee had caused to have beene graven thereon the historie of his mishaps There was admired in sequell a Statue of the Moone all of Gold in forme of a Crescent and I am astonisht that this Image of change and Vicissitude made him not fore-see the deturning of the Wheele I meane the storme that was to succcede the calme of his happinesse He caus'd moreover to be caried before him a great number of Vessels of Gold never thinking that Death might soone replenish some part of them with his ashes There was seene to follow a Mountaine all of Gold upon which were all sorts of animals and many Trees of the same matter and this mountaine was enrounded with a Vine whose golden glittering dazled the eyes of all that considered its wonders Ambition is an incurable disease of the soule if in good time it be not lookt too This proud Triumpher was the Orpheus which to the Lyrick sound of his renowne attracted this Mountaine these Animals these Trees this Vine But as Orpheus so him also Fortune destinated a Prey to the fury of Bacchinals I meane the Eunuchs which put him to Death Three Statues of gold first Iupiters then Mars and then of Pallas came after These were his Gods and his Goddesse what succours could he expect from these Deities which had no subsistence but in statue and the copy of whose portraict had no principall There was had in admiration moreover over thirty Garlands all of gold and Pearles A man had need to have an excellent memorie not to forget himselfe among his honours but these Crownes were too weighty for his head from whence it came to passe that hee fell under the burden A golden Chappell followed after dedicated to the Muses upon which was a great Horologe of the same materials And as the Index still turned ought not he to have considered that the houre of his triumphing began to passe away and that of his overthrow would presently sound being sequell to the Lawes of that vicissitude to which Fate hath subjected all things His statue of gold enrich't with Diamonds and Pearles whereof nor hee himselfe nor hee that enwrought them knew the value followed in its course and in fine this his shadow was more happy then the true body as having never beene scuffled with but by time and the other was van quisht with miserie Then appeared the great Pompey seated upon a Throane where hee and Fortune seemed to give Laws to the whole world for his Triumphall Charriot was so richly glorious so magnificent in rarities so splendide in new and ne're-before-seene wonders that a ravishment surprized mens spirits elevating them at once from admiration to extasie not giving them leasure to make reflection upon the present realties Be it our constant meditation of the inconstancie to which all worldly things are subjected But this Triumphall Charriot still roul'd about and though the Triumpher remain'd seated in his place yet his Fortune turned about likewise Insomuch that in going to the Capitoll hee approach't by little little to the bank where his life and happinesse were equally enterred In fine for the fulnesse of Glory These proper names of the conquests which he had made were read in golden Characters The
Conquerours of Sea and Land A Man hath no greater enemy then himselfe Their Crownes are now metamorphosed into dust their renowne into wind themselves into corruption and for a surplusage of mishap after the conquest of the whole World they dye in the miseries whereunto they were borne Cyrus could not bound his Ambition lesse then to the vast extention of the Universe and yet a * TOMYRIS simple woman onely prescrib'd him an allay and placed his head in the range of his owne Trophies Arthomides playes Iupiter upon Earth his portraict is the onely Idoll of his subjects and yet one turne of the wheele casts him a sacrifice upon the same altar which hee had erected to his Glory his life glistering with triumphs but his death in such a ruine clouded even the memory of his name All those stately Triumphers There is nothing more vaine then Vaine-glory 't is a body without soule or life having no subsistance but in Imagination of whom Antiquity trumpets-out wonders have had no other recompence of their labours but this vaine conceipt that one day men would talke of them But what felicity is it to be praised in this world to which they are dead and tormented in the other wherein they live even yet and ever I care very little that men should talke of me after my Death the esteeme of men is of so small importance that I would not buy it so deare as with a wish onely It behooves to search reputation in the puritie of the conscience if a man would have the glory of it last for ever The renowne of a good man is much greater then that of Caesar or Alexander for this has no other foundation then the soyle where it was sowed and where the goodlyest things display themselves like flowers and like flowers also have but a morning-flourish But the other having for a firme stay Eternitie this object ennobleth it to perfection The renowne of a good man onely lasts alwayes and thus desiring nothing else but heaven it remaines to us at the end for recompence Blondus in his Treatise of Rome in its triumphant glory reckons up three hundred and twenty triumphs all remarkable but where are now these pompes these magnificences this infinite number of Trophies and a thousand other ornaments which rattled out their glory Where are I say these Conquerours where are their slaves their Idolaters their admirers These pompes have but flash't like lightning 'T is some comfort yet to a wise man though himselfe fade away to see that all things else doe so too and so passed away with the day that accompanyed their lustre These magnificences have beene but seene and so tooke their passage in flight These trophies being onely bravadoes of the time times inconstancy made them vanish in an instant all those other ornaments made but ostentation of their continuall vicissitude as being an inseparable accident of their nature These vanquishers onely had the name on 't since Death led them away also in triumph for all their triumphings Their captives were rather slaves of the miseries whereunto they were borne then so by the absolute power of him who captived theÌ„ Their Idolaters have beene immolated to the fury of yeeres which spare none and their admirers have incurred the same fate with the subject which they admired Insomuch that of all together remaineâ— nothing but a faint remembrance which as it waxeth old is effac't by little and little out of memory and scarcely will it subsist so much in the imagination as to be in the end buryed among fables Since Eternitie onely triumphs over Time wee should onely strive to attaine that Behold here the Anatomie of the glory of the world see the true portraict of its false Image Contemplate meditate you will avouch with me that All is full of vanitie O how stately and magnificent is the Triumph of Ages what trophies may a man see at their ever-rowling Chariot what Conquerours are not in the number of their subjection what soveraigne power can resist their violence what newer can Triumph then this of yeares Who can give in account the number of their victories and â—esse the captives which Death serves â—n for their trophies What newer triumph againe evermore then of moâ—eths of dayes of houres and moâ—ents For consider to your selfe how many Kings Princes and Lords die â—n one age in all the places of the world All these vanquishers are vanquisht â—nd led in triumph to the grave Every Yeare makes its conquest a part gives â—attell and carryes away the victory over so many A righteous man onely stands exempt from the terror of death and so many men that hardly can one conceive so lamentable a truth Months Dayes Houres and Moments triumph in their courses who can number all those who dyed yesterday out-right or are dead to day Nay more how many dye at this houre and at this very instant that I entertaine you with this discourse And all these defeats of mortalitie mark out to us the Triumphs whereof time onely beares away the glory But let us not pretend to share in 't 't is not worthy our Ambition Let Ages Yeeres Moneths Dayes Houres and Moments triumph over us A good conscience is ever under shelter from all the inconstant tempests of ages Vertue alwayes limits their puissance and with it wee may prescribe a bound to all these Triumphants Faire leave may they take to ruinate out-ward beauty but that of innocence is of proofe ' gainst all their strokes Well may they impaire outward graces but those of heaven contemne their assaults No doubt they may change the visage of all the marvels of Art and miracles of Nature Our Resolution is a rocke in midst of all their stormes and may remaine alwayes it selfe without undergoing other rules then its owne So that thus wee may lead Time it selfe along in triumph if wee live for nothing more then for Eternitie He which lives for eternitie dreads no death I scorne the Tyranny of Ages my ayme is beyond 'em all I despise the power of yeeres my Ambition raignes already out of their reach Let Months Dayes Houres and Moments entraile all things along with 'em I for my part franchise their carreere since my scope is much more farther yet Let them triumph fully my very defeat shall lead them in triumph at the end of their terme for the eternity whither I aspire already assignes out their tombe Let us stay no longer in so cragged a way The Emperour Trajan caused his Sepulcher to be enfram'd in the midst of Rome's greatest place as upon a stateâ—y Theater on which his successors were to act their parts Every man dies â—or himselfe Seriùs aut citiùs metam properamus ad unam sooner or later wee must â—rrive to the place to which uncessantly â—ee walke Be it to morrow or today â—t the end of the terme all 's equall Nor old nor yong can
Ioshuah Yet for all this men shall say no more of you then was said of ADAM HEE IS DEAD They are dead and there is all The Epitaph of David composed by some from consequence of Scripture is worthy remarke Here lyes the invincible Monarch who in his child-hood o'recame Beares in his adolescency Lyons in his youth Gyants and in his age himselfe Travellour envie not his repose for thou art in the way to it thy selfe These words are expresse in a neere regard to the sense of those which are couch't in Scripture upon this subject and I thereto can adde no more then this discurse of my astonishment and rapture What! so great a Prince as David favoured by heaven and redoubted upon earth and so endowed by Nature shall he glympse out a little but like a flash of lightning and passe away like a puffe of wind where then shall a man find constancy and assurance Inconstancy is the onely foundation of created things What can be the site and foundation of all these our new wonders of the world whose beauty seemes to contest for luster with the very Sunne O LORD to me it is a most agreeable consolation to see in my race to the tombe how all things follow me I am well apayd that there is nothing here below durable but thy Word alone since this makes me hope for an Eternitie which shall never be subject to the inconstancy of times Let all things LORD change with me and thus I love this change for in rowling along from time to time toward the grave I still approach towards thee and consequently to my soveraigne repose and last felicitie Let us follow our first traces The first Epitaph which was put upon Tombes was that of the faire RACHEL as is partly remark't from Scripture Gen. 35.20 and Borchardus assures us it was a Pyramide which Iacob erected sustained upon a dozen precious stons with this inscription _____ HERE LYES BEAVTIE AND LOVE Ladyes let your sweetnesse and blandishments now change language and let 'em tell us no more that you are faire since Beautie is buried in the Tombe of the faire Rachel But if you make bravado of your crisped haires whose glistering charmes dazle the eyes captivatemens soules at once Her bright lockes dispersed into a thousand golden wreaths had the power to enchaine mens hearts and yet her vertue was to despise this power But for all this Ladies if you be sairâ— to day there is a to morrow when you shall not notwithstanding Nature was never able to exempt from rottennesse this Mistris or Master-piece of the workes of her hands Suppose that Majestie it selfe has no better Mirrour then from the cleere reflections of your ivorie fore-heads Rachels was so perfect that 't is in vaine to seeke termes to expresse its accuratnesse and yet now 't is nothing but ashes if so much Let your Eyes suppose be more cleere and beautifull then the Sunne able to make a rape upon mens liberties and enamourate the sternest hearts those of Rachel were so admirable and bewitching that she her selfe â—edoubted their force and power Looking her selfe in a Miriour her owne eyes enflamed her â—â—ll the tenures of bodâ—lâ— perfectâ— us are held of time whâ—â—e 〈◊〉 â—â—slanâ—y â—leases away with they every moment and of this pleasing heate shee apprehended the iustuâ—nce being her selfe even tempted to desire it But for all this those two sparkling wonders quickned with Natures sweetest and most aymiable graces are now nothing but rottennesse and corruption Be your Cheeks halfe Lilyes halfe Roses your lippes Carnation-Gilly-flowers your teeth Orient Pearle your bosome purest Alabaster and all these lovely parts enlivened with a spirit divine faire Rachel possest all these perfections soveraignely and more then e're you saw or wisht as elevated above your knowledge But O mishap she herselfe in whom all these rare beauties were united and assembled is now no more ought at all or if she be somewhat it can be but a little dust and earth and ashes Every thing fades sooner in us then vanity and sinne which the wormes keepe possession of in deposite O fearefull metamorphosis Ladyes will you yet presume your selves faire after you have thus now assisted in imagination and thought to the funerals of Beautie it selfe after you have read I say the Epitaph which Truth it selfe hath written upon her Sepulture I grant you have a thousand sweets and graces yet now at least confesse yee that these blandishments are but of so thinne aeriall worths that the wind carryes them away as if they were composed of nought else for scarcely have they birth but you see them decay and then the misprise that each one makes of them renders 'em more capable to produce pity then love 'T is remark't in the life of the happy Francis Borgia of the Societie of the Jesuites that being engaged in the world to seeke a fortune although the greatnesse of his birth and merits were of very great consideration the Emperour Charles the fifth committed to his charge the dead body of his deare Spouse to be conducted and carryed to the Sepulcher of her ancestours which he vnder tooke holding for an excesse of honour the commandement which hee had received and the particular choise which his Majestie had made of his person But then when being arrived to the place where were to be performed the last Exequies of this Princesse they were desirous to visit the corps according to the ordinary formallities accustomed to be practised in an action so important Never was seene so much horrour and dismay as upon overture of the Coffin on the countenances of the Spectators They looke for the body of this Princesse in his presence There is no object more affrightfull then mortall miserie but the daily habit of our sad experiences takes away the horrour and 't is not to be found for none can know it her visage heretofore full of blandishments and all the graces both of Majestie and sweetnesse is now but a heap of filth whereof the worms in swarms and still encreasing keepe the Court of guard upon the putrefaction And the rest of her body is still a fresh stocke for these vermine But O the worme of conscience is to weake soules much more dreadfull then those which devoure the body who have now already reasonably well satisfied their hunger with this prey Even those that enwrap't this Princesse in her winding linnen dare not maintaine t was shee and hee to whose care the body was deposited knowes not what to say finding himselfe so confounded and astonish'd with so suddaine and affrightfull a Metamorphosis that hee streight resolved at that instant to quit the world and devest himselfe of all his greatnesses since they are not able to exempt the body from corruption Ladyes suffer your selves to be no more surprised by vanity you see to what extremitie of horrour and miserie All beauties but of vertue are still
without cease The contentments which men receive here below Contentments causein their privation as extreme discontents are like the pleasures of the Chace which are onely rellish't running I draw to an end Belon in his Monuments of the Kings of Egypt sayes that they were enterred with such a splendour of pompe and magnificence that even those who had diverse times before beene admirers of it were for all that often in doubt whether the people went to place the corps in the Throne againe rather then in their Sepulcher O how ill to the eyes is the luster of this sad kind of honour For if vanitie be insupportable barely of it selfe these excesses of it put the spirits upon the racke Diodorus Siculus speaking of the Tombe which Alexander caused to be erected for his favorite Ephestion assures that the magnificences which were there to be admired were beyond as well all valew as example Marble Brasse Gold and Pearles were profusely offered to most cunning Artisans to frame thereof such workes wherein sadnesse and compassion might be so naturally represented that they might affect the whole world with the like Diamonds Rubies and all other precious stones were there employed under the Image of a Sunne Moone and Stars It seemes this Monarch blinded with Love thought to hold the Planets captive in the glorious enchainments of those faire Master-pieces A Man should never be angry with his 〈◊〉 fates the dâ—â—â—â—â— on 't are â—â—â—â—â—lable as if hee would revenge himselfe of them for their maligne influences which they had powred upon the head of his deare Ephestion But this conceite was vaine for the same starres whose captivity hee ostented upon this Tombe conducted him also by little and little to his grave The Romanes transported with passion to honour the memory of the Dictator Sylla caused his statue to be framed of a prodigious height all composed of perfumes and cast it into the funerall pile where his body whereof of this was also but a shadow was to be burn't to ashes Being desirous by this action to give to understand that as the odour of his statue disperst it selfe through all the City of Rome the much more odoriferous savour of his peculiar vertues would spred it selfe through all the world But to goe to the rigour of the literall sense it is credible they had not cast in this aromaticall statue into the stacke but only to temper the excesse of the stench of the body which was to be consumed with it And I proceed to imagine beside that the odour of this statue the cinders of his body and all the glory of the actions of Sylla had all the same fate since the winde triumph't o're 'em altogether Behold the reverse of the Medall of Vanitie 'T is remark't in the life of the Emperour Severus by the report of DION that hee made to be set at the gate of his Palace an Vrne of marble and as oft as he went in or out hee was accustomed to say laying his hand on it Behold the Case that shall enclose him whom all the world could not containe Great Kings have often the same thoughts in your soules if you have not the like discourses in your mouths the smallest vessell of earth is too great for the ashes of your bodyes which shall remaine of them after the wormes have well fed on them for the wretchednesse of your humane condition reduceth you at last to so small a thing that you are nothing at all But if I must give a name to those graines of corrupted dust which are made of your deplorable remaines I shall call them the Idea's of a dreame Man onely is considerable in respect of his noble actions since the memory of your being can passe for no other together with the time Behold a fresh subject of entertaine Some of our Ethnicke Historians report to us that the Troglodites buryed their kindred and friends with the tone of joyfull cries and acclamations of mirth The Lothophagi cast them into the Sea choosing rather to have them eaten of fishes in the water then of wormes in the earth The Scythians did eate the bodyes of their friends in signe of amitie insomuch that the living were the Sepulchers of the dead The Hircanians cast the bodies of their kindred to the Dogges The Massagetes exposed them as a prey to all manner of ravenous beasts The Lydians dryed them in the Sun and after reduced them to powder to the end the wind might carry them away Amongst all the customes which were practised amongst these strange Nations I find none more commendable then the first of the Troglodites looking for no hell they had good reason to celebrate the funerall of their friends and kindred with laughter and acclamations of cheerefulnes rather then with teares and lamentations For though that Life be granted us by divine favour There is moâ—e of temâ—â—ent in die thâ—â— to live if we â—â—nsider the end which man was created yet we enjoy it but as a punishment since it is no other thing then a continuall correction of our continuall offences Besides the sad accidents which accompany it inseparably even to the grave are so numerous that aâ— man may justly be very glad at the end of his journey to see himselfe discharged of so ponderous a burthen The body of Man being made of earth is subject to earth but the soule holds onely of its soveraine Creator Not that I here condemne the teares which we are accustomed to shed at the death of our neerest friends for these are ressentments of griefe whereof Nature authorizeth the first violences But neither doe I blame the vertue of those spirits who never discover alteration upon any rencounter of the mishaps and miseries of the world The living are more to be bemoned then the dead they being still i th' midd'st â—f this lifes tempest but these are aâ—â—eady arrived to their Port. how extreme soever they be And what disaster is it to see dye either our kindred or friends since all the world together and Nature it selfe can doe nothing else What reason then can a man have to call himselfe miserable for being destinated to celebrate the funerals of those whom he loves best since the divine Providence hath soveraignely established this order and since moreover in this carreere of Death to which all the world speeds the Present on 't being not distinguish't but by Time it will appeare when all is come to the upshot that one hath lived as long as another since all ages though different during their continuance are equall then when they are past Change wee the discourse I advow once againe There is no remedie more soveraigne to cure the passion of arrogance then this the of consideration of Caemitaries and Tombes The most vaine-glorious and ambitious are forced to yeeld themselves at the assaults of these sad objects For a spirit ne're so brave and valourous cannot but be astonish't when
he sees at his feet the bones and dust of an infinite number of persons To what purpose is Courage against those perils which cannot be avoyded who were as valiant as he what thoughts can he have but of submission and humilitie considering that one part of himselfe is already reduced into dust and filth I say a part of himselfe since he himselfe is but a piece of the same matter which now serves him for object and to the same last point will be extended one day the line of his life When Virgil tells us of the fate of Priam Aeneid lib. 2. lacetingens litore truncus Avulsumque humeris caput sine no mine corâ—uâ— hee bring in Aeneas astonish't at it that so great a Monarch should leave to posteritie no other Monument of his greatnesse but a Tronck of flâ—sh a head separated from the shoulders and a carkasse without name or shape He which makes himselfe rightly sensible of his miseries is partly in way to be exempted from their tyranny Great Kings This truth is a Mirrour which flatters not Gaze here often in these meditations and you will surely at length consider that All is full of vanity and that this glory of the world whereof you are so strongly Idolaters is but a Phantasie and Chimera to which your imaginations give that beauty which charmes you and that delicacie which ravishes you What thinke you is it to be the greatest of the world 'T is an honour whereof miserie and inconstancy are the foundations for all the felicities which can arrive us are of the same nature as wee are and consequently as miserable as our condition and as changing This Earth whereon you live is the lodging of the dead what eternitie beleeve you to find in it Eternitie of honours riches and contentments there was never any but in imagination and this Idea which wee have of them is but a reflection from the lightning of Truth where-with heaven illuminates noble soules thus to guide them to the search of the true source of all by the ayde of these small rivolets There is nothing eternall in this world but this scope of truth It is time to finish this worke I have made appeare to you in the first Chapter the particular study which a man ought to take to come to the * Hoc jubet illa Pyrhicis oraculis adscripta vox Nosce Te. Knowledge of himselfe Seneca wherein lyes the accomplishment of perfection And herein the precept is The Consideration of the miseries which are destinated to our Nature as being so many objects capable enough to force up the power of our reason to give credence to the resentments of frailty which are proper to us But this is not all to be meerely sensible of our wretchednesse Serious Consideration must often renew the Ideas of them in our soules more then the hard experience of them And this to the end that vanitie to which wee are too incident may not surprize us He that searches into himselfe shall not lose his labour during the intervals of a meditation so important Wee must often dive into our selves and seeke in the truth of our nothingnesse some light to make us thus to know our selves Afterwards making a rise a little higher it is necessary to consider the End for which wee were created and in this consideration to employ all the powers of the severall faculties of our soules to the generous designe of getting possession of that glory Behold the Corollarie of my first Argument or Chapter The second instructs us a new meanes to resist powerfully the hits of the vanities of the world from the example of the wretchednesse of * Saladine one of the greatest Monarchs of the world Fortune had refused him nothing because she meant to take all from him for in the height of his glory he finds himselfe reduced to the poorenesse of his shirt onely which is all he carryes with him into the grave Povetty and Riches depend upon opinion and a noble soule is above his fortune in what condition somever he be And this makes us sensibly perceive that the greatnesses of the earth are Goods as good as estranged from humane nature since in this mortall and perishing condition wee can onely possesse their usance and the terme of this possession is of so short endurance that wee see as soone the end as the beginning Reader represent unto thy selfe how thou shalt be dealt with at thy death both by Fortune and the world since the Minion of this blind Goddesse Et quae veneraris quae-despicis unus exae quabit cinis and the greatest of the Universe is exposed all naked in his shirt in sight of all his subjects to be given in prey to the wormes Sen. as well as the most miserable of the Earth The Third Chapter where Life leads Death in Triumph teaches us the Art to vanquish this untamable by considering its weakenesse for in effect if Death be but a privation The horrour of Death is purely in the weakenes of imagination 't is to be deprived of reason and judgement to give it a being since it cannot subsist but in our impaired imaginations The fantosme of an Idea is it whose very forme is immateriall as having no other subsistance I say but that which the weakenesse of our spirit gives it And againe to come to the most important point Let this be the close of the recapitulation that you may have meanes not to stand in feare on 't Sen. * Incertum est quo te loco Mors expectet itaque tu illam omni loco expecta Muze on it alwayes looke for it in all places and o'recomming your selves you shall triumph over it Never did an unblemisht life feare Death The last Chapter where the object of Caemiteries and Sepulchers is laid before your eyes may now againe serve for the last touch since it is a Theater where you must play the Tragedie of your lives All this great number of Actors Hodie mihi Cras tibi Thinke on that Reader it may be thy turne to morrow whose bones and ashes you see there have every one playd their part and it may be that the houre will soone Knell that you must act yours Reader live ever in this providence a Man cannot too soone resolve to doe that well which howsomever must be done of necessitie God grant that these last lines may once againe reproach thee the bad estate of thy Conscience delay not too long this Check to thy selfe least too late the regreets be then in vaine Thy salvation is fastned to an instant Momentum est unde pendet aeteâ—nitas consider the infinite number of them which are already slip't away when perhaps at that moment thou wert in estate if dying to incurre the punishment of a second Death and that eternall If thou trust to thy youth put thy head out of