Heraclitus Christianus, or, The man of sorrow being a reflection on all states and conditions of human life : in three books.

Heraclitus Christianus, or, The man of sorrow being a reflection on all states and conditions of human life : in three books.

Table of contents

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Title page

TO THE READER.

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THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST BOOK.

THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND BOOK.

THE CONTENTS OF THE THIRD BOOK.

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Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE FIRST BOOK.

CHAP. I. Of the strange Humor of Timon, and many others, in their Resentments of Human Misery.

CHAP. II. That Man in respect of many natural advantages, is inferior to the Beasts and Inanimate Creatures.

CHAP. III. The Beasts and Irrational Creatures advantages over us, further considered in respect of those many Diseases wherewith Man is Afflicted, partly by Nature, and partly by his own Intemperance.

CHAP. IV. The advantages of Beasts, and other Animals, over us, in respect of natural instinct; whereby they have recourse to proper Remedies, for their particular infirmities and distempers.

CHAP. V. That Man hath been instructed in several useful Arts and Inventions, as also in sundery points of Morality and Philosophy, by Birds, Beasts and Fishes.

CHAP. VI. That man is more miserable than other Animals, by reason of his repugnancy to the Laws of his Creator; in obedience to which, liveth all other creatures.

Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE SECOND BOOK.

CHAP▪ I. Of Man's misery, in his conception in the Womb.

CHAP. II. Of Mans miserable birth, and entrance into the World.

CHAP. III. Mans misery considered in the nurture of his Infancy.

CHAP. IV. Man's Misery further considered, in the course and Education of his Youth.

CHAP. V. Of the Misery attending the state of Manhood.

CHAP. IV. Mans Misery more particularly considered, and first of the miserable life of Mariners.

CHAP. VII. Of the Misery attending the life of Husbandmen.

CHAP. VIII. The Miserable life of Merchants considered.

CHAP. IX. Of the Miserable life of the Soldier.

CHAP. X. The Miseries of Courtiers considered.

CHAP. XI. Of the Miseries attending the Life of Kings and Emperours.

CHAP. XII. The Miseries incident to Popes and Prelates.

CHAP. XIII. Of the Miseries which attend them who Administer in Publick Affairs.

CHAP. XIV. Of the Miseries of Marriage.

Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE THIRD BOOK.

CHAP. I. Of the misery arising to Men from the Diversity of Religions.

CHAP. II. Of divers Plagues wherewith men have been afflicted.

CHAP. III. Of the Miseries which Mankind have suffered by Famine and many other Plagues.

CHAP. IV. Of divers other Distempers and Phrensies wherewith men have been affected.

CHAP. VI. Of Poysons.

CHAP. VI. Of the great Calamities which Men have suffered by the overflowing of Water.

CHAP. VII. Of Fire, and the Mischiefs which Men have receiv'd by it.

CHAP. VIII. Of Earth quakes.

CHAP. IX. Of Avarice.

CHAP. X. Of Envy.

CHAP. XI. Of Love.

CHAP. XII. Of the Misery of Old Age.

CHAP. XIII. Of DEATH.

CHAP. XIV. Of the Final Judgment.

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HERACLITUS.

Heraclitus weeps, well he may, Since ffate

Hath chain'd poor Man to such a mournfull State,

Where Crosses Croud to fill his life with pain,

And all prevention he can use▪ is Vain.

I. Oliver. Sculp.

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Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF Sorrow: BEING A REFLECTION ON ALL States and Conditions OF HUMAN LIFE.

In Three Books.

Summum hominis bonum, bonus ex hac vita exitus.

LONDON, Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Brabazon Aylmer, at the three Pigeons, over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil, 1677.

TO THE READER.

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FOR an Author to court the Reader by an Epistle into good humour, is as customary, and every whit as essential a concomitant of writing, as shadows to Bodies, or Envy to Virtue. For I am not insensible, that by the exposing of this Book, I shall expose myself too, to the censure of those who take measure of every thing by their petulant humours, and have no other way to set off their own [Page] barren inventions, but by perpetual invectives against the multitude of Books which appear every day in the world; whereas indeed the mischiefs which they complain of, have proceeded not from their number, but quality.

For should every man write an exact Narrative of the various experiences and circumstances of his Life, comprehending as well his Vices as Vertues, and them with simplicity related, how useful would this prove to the Publick, though it would much encrease the number? But this so impartial an account may rather be wished for, than expected; [Page] since men have ever preferred, their own private Reputation before the real good of themselves and others.

The Book here offered to perusal, though it be none of those before-named in particular, yet is it a true Representation of Man in General; and having found no less Profit than Pleasure in the Reading of it my self, I could not be detained by a thousand imperfections which I am sensible it labours under (as well in words as matter) from offering it to those who are willing to make the improvement which might be made, by a Prospect of Humane Misery.

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THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST BOOK.

CHAP. I. OF the strange Humour of Timon, and many others, in their Resentments of Humane Misery. Page 1

CHAP. II. That Man in respect of many natural advantages, is inferior to the Beasts and Inanimate Creatures. 10

CHAP. III. The Beasts and Irrational Creatures advantages over us, further considered in respect of those many [Page] Diseases wherewith Man is Afflicted, partly by Nature, and partly by his own Intemperance. 13

CHAP. IV. The advantages of Beasts, and other Animals, over us, in respect of natural instinct; whereby they have recourse to proper Remedies, for their particular infirmities and distempers. 19

CHAP. V. That Man hath been instructed in several useful Arts and Inventions, as also in sundry points of Morality and Philosophy, by Birds Beasts and Fishes. 22

CHAP. VI. That Man is more miserable than other Animals, by reason of his repugnancy to the Laws of his Creator; in obedience to which, liveth all other Creaturs. 37

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THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND BOOK.

CHAP. I. OF Man's Misery, in his Conception in the Womb. 41

CHAP. II. Of Man's miserable Birth, and entrance into the World. 45

CHAP. III. Man's misery considered in the Nurture of his Infancy. 48

CHAP. IV. Man's misery further considered, in the course and Education of his Youth. 58

[Page] CHAP. V. Of the misery attending the State of Manhood. 63

CHAP. VI. Man's misery more particularly considered, and first of the miserable life of Mariners. 65

CHAP. VII. Of the misery attending the life of Husbandmen. 67

CHAP. VIII. The miserable life of Merchants considered. 69

CHAP. IX. Of the miserable life of the Soldier. 73

CHAP. X. The miseries of Courtiers considered. 79

CHAP. XI. Of the miseries attending the life of Kings and Emperours. 84

CHAP. XII. The miseries incident to Popes and Prelates. 92

[Page] CHAP. XIII. Of the miseries which attend them who Administer in Publick Affairs. 95

CHAP. XIV. Of the miseries of Marriage. 100

THE CONTENTS OF THE THIRD BOOK.

CHAP. I. OF the misery arising to Man from the Diversity of Religions. 109

CHAP. II. Of divers Plagues wherewith men have been afflicted. 113

CHAP. III. Of the miseries which Mankind have suffered by Famine and many other Plagues. 119

[Page] CHAP. IV. Of divers other Distempers and Phrensies wherewith men have been affected. 129

CHAP. V. Of Poysons. 132

CHAP. VI. Of the great Calamities which Men have suffered by the overflowing of Water. 135

CHAP. VII. Of Fire, and the mischiefs which Men have receiv'd by it. 137

CHAP. VIII. Of Earth-quakes. 139

CHAP. IX. Of Avarice. 146

CHAP. X. Of Envy. 151

CHAP. XI. Of Love. 155

CHAP. XII. Of the misery of Old Age. 165

CHAP. XIII. Of Death. 167

CHAP XIV. Of the Final Judgment. 171

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Licensed and Entred according to Order.

Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE FIRST BOOK.

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CHAP. I. Of the strange Humor of Timon, and many others, in their Resentments of Human Misery.

MANY of the Ancient Philosophers, upon exact consideration, and curious inquisition into the Nature and Manner of Living of all Creatures whatsoever, have joyntly cry'd out, That amongst all those which breathe [Page] upon the face of the Earth, there's none more Miserable than Man. Others more rigorous censurers of the works of Nature, have began to Blaspheme against her, calling her a Step-dame rather than a tender and indulgent Mother. Some there have been, that have deplored all their lifetime▪ the Calamities whereunto we are subject: And such a one was Heraclitus, who perswaded himself, that whatsoever we could contemplate under the Cope of Heaven, was nothing else but a real Theatre of Sorrow and Misery, and worthy of nothing but continued Lamentation and Pity. Others there have been, who have testified their passion by an excessive Laughing: And such a one was Democritus, who should he come again upon the Earth, and should behold the disorders and confusions wherein lieth our Christian World, he would have just cause to heighten and redouble his Laughter. There has been another kind also of Philosophers, but of a humor more strange than the former, who were not contented to murmur against Nature and her effects but by a particular hatred and animosity, have set themselves against Man, their fellow Creature, imagining that Nature had set him as a mark against which [Page] she would let fly all her Arrows of rage and fury: Amongst which was Timon the Athenian Philosopher, who hath been the most affectionate Patriarch of his Sect, and who declared himself an open and Capital Enemy of all Men, and witnessed the same in the presence of every one, and in all places wherever he came; and indeed effectually confirmed it; for he would not be conversant with any man, but dwelt all his life time with brute Beasts in a Desart: neither did it suffice him to have men in hatred and detestation, and to avoid their company, but as if they were some wild and furious Beasts, he sought all means that might destroy them: and for that purpose he caused several Gallows and Gibbets to be made and set up, that all possessed with despair and weariness of Living, might hang themselves thereon; till having at last occasion to accomodate himself, and to enlarge and alter his dwelling, he was constrained to pull them down for the conveniences of his building: but before he does so; he hastneth with all possible expedition to Athens, where with piteous and lamentable complaints, Herald-wise, he gathers the people, who hearing the hoarse and barbarous Voice of this prodigious [Page] Monster, and knowing of a great while his accustomed humour, ran to him with the greatest eagerness imaginable to hear what now was the matter with him: who harangued to them after this, or the like manner: ‘O ye Citizens of Athens! If any of you have a desire to hang himself, let him hast quickly and use no delays, for I am necessitated to cut down (sore against my will and inclination) my Gallows and Gibbets.’ And having in such like terms as these expressed his Charity to them, he returned to his Desart, where he spent all his days to the last, without changing his humor; and ceased not to Philosophize and ruminate upon Human Miseries all the rest of his life time, even to the time of his expiration; and then detesting our Humanity, ordained expresly, that he should be Buried as much as could be out of the sight of any one: and to that end no place would serve him but the edg of the Sea, that by the fury and repercussion of its Waves and Billows, all Persons might be hindred from coming near him: And caused this Epitaph recited by Plutarch to be Ingraven on his Tomb-stone:

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Having my life in misery consum'd,

I here in boistrous waves do lye intomb'd;

And he that would dire Timons Corps remove,

Ten thousand Plagues confound him from above.

Here you may behold this poor Philosopher through too much consideration of Human Misery, vehemently desiring not to have been at all, rather than to have been what he was; and rather to have been a brute, or Irrational Creature, than a Man. But let us leave the Philosopher Timon making his complaints, and enjoying his Humour: And let us hearken to the just Sentiments of that great and no less Philosopher than Emperour Marc. Aurelius, who profoundly weighing and considering the frailties and miseries with which we are encompassed and besieged, cry'd out, that the battel of this Life is so perilous, the issue so terrible and affrightful, that I do assure my self, saith he, that should some Ancient man come from the dead, and should relate all the passages of his life since the hour he came from his Mothers Womb, until the day of his Dissolution; and should recount in a continued [Page] Series of Discourse, all Pains and Sorrows which he hath suffered: there can certainly be none but would stand astonished with horror and amazement at the hearing of so deplorable a relation. That which I have experienced and made tryal of in my self, saith this great and most worthy Emperour, I will freely and ingenuously confess, though it may be, that so doing may turn to my disgrace and infamy; but perhaps to the profit and advantage of future Ages. I have lived fifty years, and have tryed what delight and satisfaction is to be had in vice and wickedness: and truly saith he, upon a full experience I have found, That the more I eat, the more I hunger: the more I drink, the more I thirst; the more I sleep, the more I am desirous of sleeping; the more I repose, the more I am wearied; the more I have, the more I covet; the more I seek, the less I find: and finally, I never had any thing in my possession with which I was fully contented and satisfied, and desired not presently to have another as passionately as the former; which the great Docter St. Chrysostom observing, hath much admired; after he had bewailed the Calamities of this Life, and the hideous obscurities wherein we are involved, [Page] wished that he had such a voice that might be heard of every one, that he might inculcate that of the Royal Prophet David, O ye Sons of men! How long will ye love vanity! how long will you harden your hearts to go on in pursuit of false and killing pleasures! For whosoever shall consider the state and manner of the World, the Frauds, Fallacies, Rapes, Incests and Adulteries, Violences, and Oppressions, Ambition and Covetousness, Hatred and Animosity, which are contained therein, he may well say that we draw nigh to the time of which speaketh the Prophet Isaiah with so great earnestness and lamentation, when he saith, Your iniquities hath made a separation betwixt you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he may not hear you; for your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have uttered lyes, and your tongues deceit; no one loveth Justice; theres none that doth according to Equity. St. Bernard in a complaint and lamentation that he made concerning the Misery of this Life, teacheth man to know his infirmity and weakness, without drawing him from himself; so that by the consideration of himself, he might be moved to detest [Page] his vileness and infelicity. ‘O man! saith he, Who art blind and naked, compos'd of human flesh, and a reasonable soul, have in mind thy miserable state and condition; wherefore forgettest thou, and remembrest not thy self, and that which so nearly concerns thee? wherefore dost thou fondling-like dote on external, short, and deceitful pleasures; and dost not consider, that the more near thou approachest to the delights of this world, the farther thou estrangest thy self from the Joys of the next: the more thou thinkest to gain from without, the more thou losest from within; the more thou art desirous of temporal things, the more indigent thou art of spiritual things? thou orderest and disposest of other matters so well, and dost thou contemn and neglect thy self? There's no Creature whatsoeve but thou canst tame and master, and canst thou not rule and govern thy self; thou art vigilant and watchful in other mens affairs, and art drowzy in those which are properly thine own; thy heart boileth within thee with desire of those low things, and divine and Heavenly concerns lye altogether neglected `and despised by thee: the nearer [Page] thou approachest to death, the farther thou removest thy self from thy Salvation; thou takest so much pains, and art at so much cost to nourish and adorn this body which is but a vessel of filth, and a Sepulcher of worms and rottenness, and leavest thy poor soul, which is the Image of God, and Idea of Eternal Wisdom, altogether neglected.’

These are the complaints which this holy man made in his retirements against the Ingratitude and wickedness of this World; all which things deduced by him and others, tend to no other end, than to stir up Man to the consideration and knowledg of himself, and to shew him how vile a Creature he is, that he may at all times learn to consider that he is in the hands of God, as the clay and earthen vessel is in the hands of the Potter; which he may make, unmake, form, break, repair, and destroy even as it pleaseth him, without any injury, or suspicion of injustice; which needs but one push, and falls immediately and is broken; and yet let what misery soever light upon him, he knoweth not, nor humbleth himself under the Yoke of his Almighty Creator.

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CHAP. II. That Man in respect of many natural advantages, is inferior to the Beasts and Inanimate Creatures.

SO now, having considered Mans Estate universally, it's requisite to Discourse more largely of this matter, and to contemplate and consider him more nearly. And because that amongst all Ethnicks, Pliny hath best Philosophiz'd on our Subject, we shall produce his Testimony, That Christians to their great confusion and infamy, may receive their Instruction from a Pagan, without God, without Law, without any Ways being illuminated with the light Evangelical: ‘Let us consider, saith he, a little, how that man is forced to cover his body at the expence and charge of other Creatures, who being favoured with the Liberality of Nature, bring from the womb of their Mothers, the one Feathers, the other Hair and Hides,’—the grace and favour of whom reacheth even to the Trees and Plants, the latter of which are provided with barks and rinds, as sheilds or covers [Page] to defend them against the violence of the cold, and injury of the heat: and moreover, to show in what great contempt and disesteem she has Man in, she hath brought him forth naked upon the Earth, out of disdain as it were, as an abortive Fruit and Production: and at the day of his birth, made over and assign'd cries and tears for his Portion, which are the presages of his future Calamities and Miseries. Here you may behold the chief and principal works of Nature, for whom all other Creatures are Created; who is so frail and weak of himself, that if he be abandoned of the help and succours of others, he would certainly perish. Behold him when he cometh out from his Mothers womb, and you'l see him bound and ty'd, sprawling and graveling on the Earth: him who is alone born to Pride and Insolency, that beginneth his life with pain and sorrow: How long is it before he hath the use of his speech? When the use of his feet, to how many Maladies and Distempers is he subject; other Creatures know their natures and abilities, but Man knows nothing, except he learn and is taught it, and understandeth nothing naturally but to weep and lament: Amongst all living Creatures, he is most subject to [Page] Pain, Ambition, Avarice, boundless desire of living: he alone is born to Superstition, to fears and anxiety, in respect of future events: In short, he is subject to Anger and Enmity: other Creatures live in peace, and Amity with those of their own kind: but Man alone is enemy to Man: moreover that other Creatures might be accomodated, Nature has provided them with houses and habitations, to defend them from the injuries and extremities of the weather. As for Beasts she hath helped them to Caves and Dens. And to Birds and Fowls, the Trees and Bushes. As for the Tortois and Snail, she hath so well accommodated them; that wherever they go, they carry their houses with them. For the Herbs and Plants, she has done all for their advantage that can be done, and so innumerable others. But Man, he has nothing, except he seek it with the sweat of his brows, and insupportable labour.

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CHAP. III. The Beasts and Irrational Creatures advantages over us, further considered in respect of those many Diseases wherewith Man is Afflicted, partly by Nature, and partly by his own Intemperance.

FUrthermore, if we compare the health and strength of other Creatures with our own, we shall find that they have a marvellous advantage over us; for nature hath indued us with a temperament so weak and infirm, and subject to so many kinds of Maladies, that scarcely we are ever perfectly freed from them: She hath also charged Man with such an unsatiable Appetite of eating, that he ceaseth not continually to seek for novelties; and having found to his tast and relish, he cannot, without great reluctancy, abstain from taking in so much as may turn to his prejudice; whence proceedeth Rhumes, and Catarrhs, and innumerable company of Distempers: But as to other Animals, they content themselves [Page] with that which Nature has prepared for them, without violating their natures, that they may please their Appetite: Moreover, she has given them a temperament of body so exactly regular, that they seldom or never take more than what is requisite for their nourishment and subsistence, either as to eating or drinking: But as to Man, all the Fruits of the Earth, all sorts of Herbs, Plants and Roots, the Fishes of the Sea, and the Birds of the Air do not suffice him, but he must disguise, vary, and sophisticate, change the substance into accident, that by such irritations as these, Nature might be provoked, and as it were necessitated. The Stomach being over-charged and filled, makes all the senses so confus'd and troubled, that there's not one of them that can exercise their office; and I am asham'd that I must say, that the exceeding great Luxury which reigns at present amongst Christians, causeth many that they stick not to abandon their members to all manner of villany and wickedness, though never fo vile and abominable; and it's a wonder to me that many mens Bellies are not corrupted and putrified, by reason of their excess and Luxury! and in the mean time poor Lazarus lies in the [Page] Streets, and at Dores, being ready to perish and dye with hunger, and cannot have the crumbs, though he never so much need them that fall from the rich Man's Table. And such Gormands as these, are well call'd by the Prophet bruit Beasts; for their souls and spirits, which are the better part of them, being so perfum'd and inebriated with delight and luxury, are retain'd captive as in a dark Dungeon; and their Senses and Faculties, which are the instruments they ought to make use of, are buried and intombed as in the intrails of some brutish Animals: And against such Gluttons as these, who make their Belly their god and only deity, exclaimeth the Prophet; Wo to you that rise early to follow drunkenness unto the even, that you may stupifie your sences with wine. Which Vice is so common and familiar amongst men, that there is scarcely any Nation or Province, who are not infected with it, and who glory and vaunt not in their boundless and unmeasurable drinking. The Tartars and Persians, as also the Greeks, have celebrated Drunkenness amongst their greatest Pomps and Triumphs, and constrained either to Drink, and do as they did, or depart and leave their company. [Page] The Macedons were instructed and taught by their Emperor Alexander, to Drink without measure. But above all Nations, Italy has preceeded and gain'd the prize, from all Countries and Regions whatever; and that in Pliny's time, who writeth of Drunkenness, That it was so much in vogue and fashion in his days, that they usually drank, and pour'd it down, till they threw it up again. Paul Diacre in his History of the Lumbards, relateth a Story which seems little less than prodigious. ‘Of Four Ancient Men, who made a Banquet, or Assignation, at which they defied and callenged one another to Drink, one against one, reckoning the time of each one's years, and he that drank against his opposite Companion, must be inforced to drink as oft, and as many times as he had lived years; and the youngest was more than Fifty five, the Second Sixty three, the Third, Eighty seven, and the Fourth Ninety two; after which manner, 'tis unknown what they drank at this meeting: But 'tis certain that he that drank least, drank Fifty five Cups of Wine, the others following, and consequently as many as they had years; so that one of them drank Ninety two Cups.’ [Page] It is not without cause therefore, that the great Philosopher Plato knowing the prejudice that Men receive by Wine, said, that the gods had given it to them for their torment and punishment, that they might take vengeance of their sins and offences; making them after they are therewith infatuated, murder one another. Which Cyneas Ambassador of King Pyrrhus, considering the excessive height of their Vines in Egypt, said, that with great reason such a Mother was hang'd so high, feeing that she bore such a dangerous off-spring as Wine: Wherefore Androcides advertis'd this great Monarch Alexander, That wine was the blood of the earth, and that he ought to have an especial care in the use of it; which having not observ'd, through his intemperance, kill'd Clitus, burn'd the City of Persepolis, put to death his Physitian, and and committed many other infamous enormities.

And 'tis not only of our time, that these guzlers have begun to lay the foundation of their Drunkenness and Luxury; but they began to do so, as soon as they began to be at all: The Luxury of our first Parents, was the cause why the Gates of Paradise were shut up and barred against [Page] us; Esau sold his birthright: The great Prophet St. John Baptist, after the Banqueting of wicked Herod, was cruelly slain. Dives was damn'd: For it is said expresly in the Text, That he fed himself deliciously, for which he was cast into hell. Noah being overcome with Wine, shew'd the subject of his shame, and was mocked by his own Children. Lot deflowred his own Daughters. It plainly appears then, how much nature hath favoured other Creatures more than us, in that they can so well bound and regulate their appetites, that they take in but just what is necessary and expedient for the conservation of their health: So that they are not vexed with an infinite of Maladies and distempers, as we are; and when at any time they are so, Nature hath taught them their proper Remedies, without need or recourse to Physitians; who under pretence of a Recipe, change R into D and make it Decipe; and we must pay very dear for the assistance of him that takes away our lives: For the most part of their Lapative Medicines, are nothing else but so many Hammers, wherewith they knock men on the head, and destroy them.

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CHAP. IV. The advantages of Beasts, and other Animals, over us, in respect of natural instinct; whereby they have recourse to proper Remedies, for their particular infirmities and distempers.

WHen it comes to pass, that other Creatures are sick, Nature hath made and taught them Remedies; as Stockdoves, Jays, Partridges, &c. who purge their superfluities with the Leaves of the Lawrel. The Pigeons, Turtles, and Pullets, with the herb Helixine. The Dogs and Cats, by eating of Grass. When the Hart is wounded, he has recourse to his Dictamum. When the Weasel would combat with the Rat, she prepareth, and fortifieth her self with Rue, that she may more vigorously set upon her enemy. The Boors Physick themselves with Ivy, The Bears with Mandragoras. The Eagles knowing the impediments which they have in their Productions, by reason of [Page] their streightness, seek every where for the Stone called Aetites, otherwise Eaglestone, which they bring into their Nests for that purpose; which is at this time made use of by several of the Italian Women, for the easing their Travel. When the Swallows perceive that by the Smoke of the Chimnies their young ones are offended, they help them with the herb Gelidon. The Snakes and other Serpents in the Spring of the year, that they may cast off their skin more easily, and feeling that their sight fails them, eat Fennel in order to their restauration. The Pellican letteth himself Blood, to heal the wounds received of the Serpent. The Stork (as Naturalists report) hath taught Apothecaries the use of Clysters, putting Moss in their seats, when they find themselves oppressed with stoppages. And Plutarch, as though ravished with admiration at the favours which Nature hath bestowed on other Animals, hath assured us, That they are not ignorant of the Three kinds of Medicines; for after he hath proved that they know the vertue of several Herbs and Simples, as we have afore noted; addeth, That they know also the second part, which we call diet: For when they feel themselves over-filed, [Page] they moderate their feeding, and use abstinence; as Wolves and Lions, who perceiving the incommodiousness arising to them by their fatness, abstain from flesh, and couch themselves, till they have all digested. And as to the Third part, which is Chirurgery, it is held for certain, That the Elephants have skill in't; for they draw out the Darts and Arrows out of the Bodies of them which are hurt with them, and that with no small dexterity.

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CHAP. V. That Man hath been instructed in several useful Arts and Inventions, as also in sundery points of Morality and Philosophy, by Birds, Beasts and Fishes.

AN Ancient Greek Philosopher named Herophilus, he with many Lamentations bewailed the miserable condition of Man, who though elevated above all other Creatures, yet in many things was he to learn of them; witness the Swallow, who hath taught him building; for when they are near the time of their breeding, they take strong twigs, and lay them for the foundation of their Nests, and soft ones on the top; and when by reason of the heat they can't get durt, which they use instead of Lime or Morter in their Edifices, they fly to some River, and therein bathe themselves tell they are well wetted, and then take dust, which they mingle with water, and so plaister their Nests, stop and fill up the holes and crannies, and build their little habitations in form of a [Page] Spire round and exact, not foursquare; knowing that to be more proper and convenient for to preserve their young from the attempts of those that would hurt them: But who wonders not when he sees and considers the admirable work of the Spider; the Scholars of whom are our Women, who learn of them to make the Linnen, and the Fisher-men their Nets: They are excellent in their labour, and exceeding advantageous in the industry, for there's no knots in their work, or superfluous cost, for all proceedeth from their little bodies; and they gently part and divide their labour betwixt them; for the Female she spins and maketh the Web, and the other he goes out upon the chase for their living, and is lying in ambushcade that he might intrap the prey, and make him fall into his Nets; and though their bodies be no bigger than a Pea, yet nevertheless they have so much vivacity and industry, that they take the greatest flies, and sometimes the little Lizard in their Nests: and observe so well the season of hunting, that they seem to have skill in Astrology; contrary to us, who stay for the fair weather: for the time of their hunting is when the Sky is cloudy, which is to us a presage of rain, as writeth [Page] Aristotle in his History of Animals. The Story of Plutarch concerning the Crow, which he saith was seen by him in Asia, is not a little wonderful: ‘Who being urged with thirst and want of water, he perceived a narrow vessel which had some small quantity in it, but by reason of its depth and straightness could not reach it, and therefore cast in stones that by that means it might rise up, that he might the better sip of it.’ But who taught this Animal this secret of Philosophy? that heavy things tend downward, and those things that are lighter ascend upward and give place? If we would consider the wisdom and prudence of men, we shall find little Beasts that are continually trodden under feet, in many things to excel and surpass man, and seem to have some natural vertue in every property, in Prudence, Force, Clemency, Rigor, Discipline and Erudition; for they know one another, they distinguish amongst themselves, they desire those things that are profitable, and avoid the contrary; shun danger, and oftentimes cozen and over-reach men: provide for the future, heap up what is necessary, as well for the time to come, as that which is present; which being attentively considered by [Page] many Ancient Philosophers, who were not asham'd to dispute and call in question, whether the Bruits were not, with us, participators of Reason? To lay aside Medicine, Chyrurgery, and Architecture, and other Melancholy Disciplines, in which, we have proved the Animals to have no small infight, and sometimes to have been the Tutors of Men:

Let us search into some more sprightly Sciences, such as is Musick and Harmony; For who is in the World, that is so stupid and blockish, dull and senseless, who is not astonished with inexpressible delectation, in hearkening to the melodious harmony of the diverting Nightingale? and that a voyce of so high a strain, and so pleasing a sound, should be heard from so little a creature? Moreover that he should continue so obstinate in his chant, that his Life should rather leave him than his voyce! So that it seemeth that he has been instructed by some exquisite Master in Musick: Sometimes he counterfeits the Bace, sometimes the Treble, and sometimes the Tennor; and when he is weary of his warbling, he counterfeits his voice, and sings like another Bird that is accustomed but to one single note; and [Page] then anon all of a sudden, he penetrateth so high, that he passionates swounds, and is as it were in a trance, with an infinite variety of division, which elevates the soul to Heaven, not only of men, but other little Birds, whom he charmeth and stoppeth with his Notes, and invites them by his melifluous Song to hearken to him, and imitate him; and not only contented with this, you'l see him sometimes instructing his young, and provoking them to the same harmony, learning to observe the tone, and carry them on at one breath, some in length, aspirating the others sometimes to curb intire notes, and duly to change and divide them into Minimes and Crotchets; sometimes to quaver his voyce, and sometimes to run by division, that no humane artifice could ever yet counterfeit: Although Aristophanes in his Comedy of the singing Birds, hath employed all the force of his wit, in thinking to imitate them: Which did not a little affect Democritus with wonder and astonishment, who publickly maintained, That the Swans and Nightingales had taught men Musick; and that all those spritely Airs wherewith we are so much delighted, are nothing else, but the Petty Larcinies which we stand guilty [Page] of to the Birds: Wherefore it was, that wise Solomon, well knowing in how many things we are surpassed and excelled, even by the very Beasts; sends us to their Schools and Universities, when he saith in his Proverbs, That there are Four little creatures on the earth, who are wiser than the wisest. The Ants who are a feeble people, and yet nevertheless, they provide and lay up in the Summer, their provision and sustenance for the Winter. The Conies who are a kind not strong, nevertheless make their houses in Stone. The Grasshoppers who have no King, and yet go out in Bands. The Spider weaveth snares with his Fingers, and is in the Palaces of Kings.

It is a thing almost beyond belief, when we consider, and behold the little Ants bearing their heavy burdens with so great and excessive a diligence, and so exact an order amongst them, biting the tops of the Corn, which they carry into their little holes, for fear they should bud and putrifie, parting them by the middle, that they may carry them more easily into their Storehouses; and if they are damped or wetted, lay them into the Sun, that it may dry them. But with what art and industry are their little [Page] lodgings composed with! The entrance and going in of which, is not foreright and straight; but is crooked and wandring, and full of circuits and turnings; to prevent the surprising entrance of any other creatures; they are not also without their different apartments and distinctions; they have one Chamber in which sits their Parliaments and Assemblies, another in which they store up their yearly sustenance and provision. The third, as saith Plutarch, is their Coemitry or burying place, wherein they interr their dead Brethren: For it's most certain, that they are great and strict observers of Funeral-Rites and Solemnities. The Philosophy of Solomon therefore is not at all unprofitable, who admonisheth us by an example and Simile, drawn from the industry and diligence of these little creatures, To fly and avoid, as much as may be, all inclinations to sloth and idleness. The Primitive Church commanded, that each one should live by his pains and labour, without licensing and permitting idle persons to consume and waste the goods of the earth; which manner, as Cicero relates, was observed by the Romans with such great exactness and severity, That no Roman in times past, durst walk about [Page] the City without a Badg or Mark, by which he might shew the Trade and occupation wherewith he got his living; that all men might know that he lived by his labour, and not by the sweat and pains of other men: for which Reason the Consul had born before him his Rods and Axes, the Priest a Hat or Chaplet, in manner of a Coif, the Tribune a Mace, the Gladiator a Sword, the Taylor his Shears, the Smith a Hammer, the Orator and Rhetorician a Book; they suffering not, that those that were Masters of the Sciences, should be the Disciples and Scholars of vices: So that Mar. Aurel. making mention of the ancient diligence and industry of the Romans, writeth, That they set themselves with so great earnestness to their labour, that a person in all Rome could not be found so much at leasure, as to carry Letters two or three days journey, though of never so great importance. Which considered, may not a little reflect upon those which make profession of Christianity; for if all the idle and useless persons were chased and banished out of our Cities; the remainder would be a very small and inconsiderable number.

And if we would consider all things [Page] whatsoever which God hath created, we shall find no one but Man who remaineth in idleness: For by how much the more the things that are created are excellent and perfect, the more is there given to them of labour and travel; you see the Sun, how 'tis never free from continual and perpetual motion; as also the Moon, how greatly unacquainted with stops and stayings! The fire can never be without some kind of operation; the Air flies continually, whirling from one side to the other▪ the Waters, Fountains and Rivers flow, and are in perpetual agitation; the earth is never at rest, but is always busied in producing one thing or other: wherefore laying all things before our consideration, we shall find that nature never ceaseth her operation. Finally, there's no plague more pernicious to the publick than idleness, for its inventions and broodings, are scarce any thing else than vice and wickedness; so that we ought to esteem idle persons far worse than the bruit Beasts, whose hides serveth us for Shoes, their flesh for Meat, their force and strength to cultivate the earth; but the idle person serveth for nothing, but to offend God, and scandalize the innocent, and eat the bread which other [Page] men have sweated for: We may therefore apprehend by what hath been forementioned, how liberally nature hath favoured other creatures, and hath been, as it were, prodigal in their behalf; so that men are constrained, when they consider the indulgences of nature to other Animals in their regular way of living, to follow, and imitate them in many things. But what Murderer can there be, though never so great an affronter of Nature, and desirous of human Blood, that will not moderate his desire of mischief and malevolency, when he considers, that there is no Animal, though never so fierce and furious, that will kill his own Kind? What Child can there be so ungrateful towards his Parents, who will not be moved to gratitude, when he seeth the little Storks feeding their ancient and decrepit Parents, in acknowledgment of the benefits that they have received from them? Aelian reports a matter not a little admirable: That their Young are so tender of them, that if provision is not at hand to relieve them; then they strain and enforce themselves to vomit, and cast up that which they had eaten the day before, lest they should perish with hunger; and with this they sustain them, till they have gotten supplies [Page] from abroad. Where is the Father, who is so cruel and unnatural, or the Mother so estranged from humanity, that dares to murder their off-spring, or be guilty of the least unkindness, if they call to mind the Dolphins zeal for the preservation of their young, who if it come to pass, that any of them are taken by Fishers, follow them continually, even to the very last extremity; and will rather suffer themselves to be taken? The which is not only peculiar to the Dolphin, but also to another Fish called Glaucus; who though not so sociable and familiar with men as the other, nevertheless he hath such great affection for his young, that whensoever he seeth any that may seem affrightful, he taketh them up into his mouth, swallowing them down alive; and when the peril and fear is over, he disgorges them whole into the water; which is indeed a thing almost incredible, that his love should be so great to his young, that he should force his Nature, and endure any pain, rather than they should be prejudiced. Who is he that will not bear contentedly the irksomness of poverty, if he considers the nature of a Fish called Polypus; who feeling himself urged with hunger, and seeing that [Page] food is wanting to him, eateth the ends of his Finns and Curtails, knowing in time that they will grow again? Where is the Man so pusillanimous and fearful, who is not in some measure comforted against the fear of Death when it presents it self to him, when he hath considered the sweet singing of Swans, and that when their end approaches, though they are without hopes or thought of living again? There is no Father can be so cruel, barbarous or unnatural, to defraud some of his Children to advantage the others, if he hath taken notice of the order which the little Swallow observeth in the nourishing of his brood; who, as saith Aelian in his Greek History of Animals, keepeth exactly to the rules of distributive justice; and because she cannot bring all at once, she goes divers times to her feeding, and violateth not in the leastwise the right of Primogeniture; for he that is first born, is first fed; the Second, the second rank; and so consequently the others: which was the cause that an Indian Philosopher named Diphilus, after having contemplated the manner and order of this little Bird and others, cryed out, That Nature had engraven in them, as it were, certain laws and formularies, [Page] for the assistance of men in the conduct of their lives. Is there any Man so stupid and blockish, that encreaseth not his knowledg, by considering the prudence of the despised Cuckoo, who being sensible by instinct of Nature, of his infirmity and excessive frigidity, so that he cannot hatch his eggs, watcheth, and at last spieth an occasion, that he may lay them in other Birds Nests, first breaking theirs that were there before? Which manner of the Cuckoo, Eulgentius observing, said, That he was not unworthy in some things to be imitated by those Fathers who have many Children, and by reason of their poverty cannot bring them up themselves; they would do well to place them out in others Houses, whereby they may get an honest subsistence. What Servant is there so dull and sloathful, that is not a little moved, when he considereth the noble generosity of the Warrhorse, who is so courageous, that he had rather dye than leave his Master in danger; so that he hath such a brisk kind of sprightfulness, that is beyond expression, with which we see him, sometimes like thunder and lightning, strike through the Armed Soldiers, murdering and trampling under his feet those who would hinder his passage; surmounting [Page] those difficult streights; and finally, ceaseth not till the Victory is gotten by him that commands him? And if Man may learn fidelity by the example of a Horse, yet is all that but little, in comparison of what we have experienced in our Dogs, who knowing their Masters, flatter, and ingeniously insinuate, accompanying them throughout all the World, and acknowledging them only for their masters that keep them; and are so faithful guardians of their goods, that they will rather dye than suffer them to be robbed: For the confirmation of which, shall only one instance be produced out of Plutarch, which▪ may be sufficient to terrifie all bloody murderers, and others, who so little set by mens lives: which vice our great Creator hath in so much detestation, that he permitteth the bruit Beasts to be executors of his justice; as it is evidently manifest by the History which follows. The Ancients who have written of the nature of Animals, make mention of a King called Pyrrhus, who marching one day with his Army, he came to a place, where a Dog kept his Master who lay dead in the highway; and having looked upon this pitious spectacle, he was given to understand by some Peasants, that it was the third day since [Page] the poor creature had not stirred from the place without meat or drink: wherefore the King caused the corps to be interred, and that the Dog should be kept for his fidelity, causing inquisition to be made sometime after concerning the murder; yet nevertheless without success in his enquiries and discovery of the Murderers: but it happened a while after, that the King mustering his Souldiers, and causing them all to pass before him, that he might see their equipage; the Dog aforementioned, always kept near to the King, sad, mute and heavy, till those that had killed his Master passed by; then with a furious impetuosity, he run and set upon them, and would have torn them in pieces, turning and frisking up and down with such barkings and howlings, such strange kind of fury and vehemency, that it was taken notice of by every one, sometimes running towards Pyrrhus, and looking on him so attentively, as if he demanded, and waited for justice; by reason of which, the King immediately▪ suspecting them to be guilty of the murder, they were examin'd, convicted, and punisht for their fault as they deserved. A thing certainly miraculous! and plainly shewing our God to be so just in his judgments, and that his hatred is so great against Murderers, [Page] that he sometimes permitteth the bruit Beasts to accuse them.

CHAP. VI. That man is more miserable than other Animals, by reason of his repugnancy to the Laws of his Creator; in obedience to which, liveth all other creatures.

IT is evidently certain, That a harmony of Philosophy may be found in the contemplation of Animals, as well Natural as Moral; for in considering the manners and actions of them, so well ordered according to the usage of nature, their justice, temperance, fortitude, and oeconomy in their administration in their little Republicks, their continency in their works of nature, and some other parts of vertue that they exercise, by the consideration of which, Man may make a reflection on himself to great purposes: Wherefore our Lord calleth (in St. Matthew) the Scribes and Pharisees, children of Vipers. And Isaiah reproaching the Israelites of their ingratitude towards God, [Page] proposeth for their example the Ox and Ass who knew their Master; But Israel, saith he, hath not known me their Creator: And so are we tacitly admonished by the history of the Swine (who, by the permission of God, was vexed by the Devil) That those that spend and waste their lives in idleness and delicacies, shall become one day the Devils prey; for seeing that they will not be the Temple of God, and habitation of the holy spirit, they must of necessity be the habitations of Devils: Such Swine are those in these our days, who make this world their Paradise, wallowing in all manner of sensuality and voluptuousness, living like the Beast that perisheth, and irrational creatures which are void of understanding, not at all raising up their souls unto the consideration of the excellency and dignity of their natures; not remembring, or rather not believing those solid and never-ending joys, which are the rewards of vertue and true generosity; for he that shall behold the incogitancy and sloathful security▪ wherein men spend their days, must needs think, that they do not believe that which they profess, nor give credence to that which they call their Religion: For is it possible for any believing [Page] an eternal state of misery and torment hereafter, to do those things which will certainly bring them thither? As for the Law of Jesus Christ, it's too sharp and rigorous, too severe and melancholly, they will not drink of his cup, it's too bitter and unpleasant a draught for their taste; they like not the severe austerities of St. John Baptist, nor the poverty and meanness of the Disciples; but are far better pleased with the grandure and splendor of the Courts of Princes, and relish nothing but worldly pomp and greatness, and are of nothing more solicitous, than how they may live at their ease, not caring, or valuing what wickedness or impieties they are guilty of, so it be done with secrecy, and hidden from the knowledg of men; and because they see not God, nor indeed can they with mortal eyes, therefore are they so foolish to think that he cannot see them; not considering that they must one day lay aside their Masks and disguises, and appear before the tribunal of the great Omniscient Judg, who shall render to every one according to his works, and who hath told us plainly before-hand, That whatsoever a Man soweth, that shall he reap. It will be in vain then to skulk [Page] and hide our selves, as the Royal Prophet David hath well expressed, when he saith, Whither shall I fly from thy presence? if I do ascend up into heaven, thou art there; If I descend down to hell, thy hand shall there find me; if I take the wings of the morning, and fly from east to west, thou canst easily reach and overtake me; if I would cover my self with the night, as with a garment, and hide my self in the darkness thereof; the day is unto thee as the night, and the night as the day: For he that has created the ear, shall he not hear? and he that hath made the eye, shall he not see? For conclusion then, is it not horridly abominable, That man who is no more than a miserable worm of the earth, should dare, he alone, to oppose and contradict the Law and order of Nature, in obedience to which liveth all other creatures? And that he should be so bold an éffronté, to lift himself up against God, who is able in a moment to cast him down into the horrid abyss of sorrow and misery? Who cannot but admire at the audacious confidence of Man in the resistance of his Lord, to whom all other creatures, Heaven, Earth, Sea, Stars, Planets, all the Elements, Beasts, Angels, Devils obey.

The end of the First Book.

Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE SECOND BOOK.

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CHAP▪ I. Of Man's misery, in his conception in the Womb.

WE have compared Man in this our first Book, with those creatures whom we call irrational, and therein shewed, That he ought to be so far from glorying in, and exalting himself, in respect of his excellency and dignity, that he hath the greatest arguments imaginable, (every thing considered) to the contrary. Having therefore laid this slight [Page] foundation, and drawn some rude lines of human misery, it remains now to go on forward in the continuation of our tragical discourse of Mans life. First, Insisting on his generation and production, and so proceeding, till we have at last brought him to his Grave, which is the end and period of all things. In the first place considering the matter of his generation, which, what is it but corruption and putrefaction? as also the place of his birth, which is nothing else, but a vile and loathsom Prison. How long is he in the womb of his Mother, without form or resemblance to any thing, save an insensible mass of flesh? For when the Matrix hath taken in, and retained the two seeds, and warmed them by its natural heat, there is concreted a little thin skin, like unto that which we see is on the top of an Egg; and after some days the spirit and blood mingling together, they begin to boil, so that there riseth up Three little Bladders, as the bubbles which rise up in a troubled water, which are the places, where are formed the three most noble parts of thi [...] lofty Animal, the Liver, the Heart and the Brain, which is the most excellent part of the work, it being the seat of all the functions, the true [Page] fountain of sence, and magnificent palace of understanding and memory, the true arch and support, as it were, of Reason. Most wonderful also will it appear to us, if we consider likewise, particularly, the creation of all the other parts, the manner and fashion of their formation, and how the Infant being in the womb of its Mother, beginneth to Urine through the passage of the Navel, the Urine running in a little membrance separate from the Child, ordained by nature to this office, having not as yet the ejections by the fundament, by reason that it receiveth not its nourishment by the mouth; the ventricle or stomach also not as yet performing its office; so that not any thing is transported to the entrails, being for Six days as Milk, the Nine following Blood, the other Twelve Flesh, and the Eighteen following the spirit of Life and Motion is infused. There's scarce any heart, though never so hard and stony, which is not moved and ravished as it were with great admiration and astonishment, considering a thing so strange and wonderful. But what we have now said, is but little in comparison of those things which follow. For who marvelleth not, considering the manner of the Infants being nourished [Page] in the womb, seeing he receiveth nothing by his mouth? his nature is also so frail and tender, that if the Mother hath but the least shock or disaster, or scenteth but the snuff of a Candle, her fruit dieth immediately.

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CHAP. II. Of Mans miserable birth, and entrance into the World.

AFter having been long nourished as before mentioned, and being now formed and grown bigger, and having need of greater sustenance, he setteth himself with great impetuosity to search for more; which is the cause he so moveth himself, that he breaketh the Fibers wherewith he hath been all this while retained; so that the Matrix feeling it self concerned, will no longer sustain him, but forceth it self to put him out; wherefore it openeth, and by that opening, the Child feeling the Air enter, pursueth it, and draweth more and more to the Orifice of the Matrix, and entreth into the light of this World, not without great and violent dolours, and hurt to his tender body; but during the Nine months time, how much pain and sorrow doth he cause to his Mother that bears him! not to take notice of some, who whilst they are big with Child lose their appetite, [Page] and are desirous to eat of human flesh; so that we read in History, That their poor Husbands have been constrained to fly, and absent themselves; others have desired to eat Ashes, burning Coals, or other things like thereunto, according to the corrupt and depraved humours abounding in their bodies; moreover, what anguish and sorrow have their Mothers to bring them into the World! in what danger are they when they are in Travel? Some their Arms come out first of all, some the Feet, others the Knees, some double; but that which is most cruel, and which we cannot apprehend without horror, They are forced sometimes instead of the Midwives to call the Surgeon to dismember the infant and tear it in pieces; sometimes the Mother must be cut open alive, and anatomiz'd, that they may come at the Child. Some Children are born so prodigious and deformed, that they resemble not Men but Monsters; some are born with Two Heads, some with Four Leggs, as hath been known in Paris, and at the time when I was making this Book. Polydorus writeth, That before Marcellus was chased by Hannibal, that a Woman brought forth a Child, having the Head of an Elephant; another having four [Page] feet as a Beast: The modern Histories make mention of a Roman Courtizan, that was brought to Bed of a Child, who was half a Dog. They who have writ the Histories of the Indies, do assure us, That even at this present, there are found them there, who are half men and half Beasts, occasioned by the execrable bruitishness of their Parents; others are born blind, others deaf, others mute, others more infirm and defective in their members; for which their Friends are sorry, their Mothers infamous, and their Fathers shamed; so that if we consider attentively all the misery of our Nativity, we shall find the ancient saying true: That we are conceived in uncleanness, born and brought into the World with pain and sorrow, and nourished and brought up with anguish and labour.

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CHAP. III. Mans misery considered in the nurture of his Infancy.

HEre then is the first Act of the Tragedy of human Life, during the time of his imprisonment in his Mothers Womb; and being now got out of his maternal dungeon, let us contemplate a little what he is being on the Earth: And what is he else, but like to a poor worm creeping thereon? With what Garment is he covered, making his magnificent entrance into the Palace of this World, but Blood, wherewith he is all over besmeared? which is no other than the representation of sin, which in the Scripture is signified unto us by Blood. O grievous necessity! O cruel and miserable condition! That before this creature hath sinned, he is the bondsman and servant of sin; it is the bitter grape, of which speaketh the Prophet Jeremiah, that the fathers have eaten of, and the childrens teeth are set on edg. What is the first Song which Man singeth entring into this World, what are his chants, but [Page] weeping, wailing, and groaning, which are the messengers and augures of his future Calamities, which because he cannot express by words, he testifies by cries and tears: and this is the beginning of Monarchs, Kings, Princes and Emperors, and others who make such a bustle in the world.

The worm, though he be so little, as soon as Nature hath brought him forth, he beginneth to crawl on the earth, to seek his pasture and sustenance: The little Chicken as soon as it is out of the shell is clean, and needs not to be washed as man; runneth after its Mother when she calleth it, setteth to pecking, feareth the Kite, without ever having made tryal of his malice; and avoideth the danger by the sole guidance and instinct of Nature.

But behold man, as soon as ever he is on the earth, he is as a hideous monster, and mass of flesh, who letteth himself be eaten by other Animals, and knoweth not in the least how to sustain himself, being ignorant of the ways of his nourishment, and would soon starve and perish with want and hunger, was he not relieved by others: But leave we him in his little nest, where he is covered with his own dung, being so impotent that he cannot cast out his excrements, [Page] which the little Birds and other Animals easily do; and let us remember that these are the perfumes wherewith Nature hath adorned Man, who calleth himself Master and Lord of all others.

Now this wretched creature being plunged in this gulf of misery, must be brought up, and hath need of nourishment to support the infirmity of his nature, which office is assigned to Mothers, in consideration of which they have given them paps, which are as little bottles proper for that effect: But how many Mothers are there at this day, or to speak better, cruel Steptdames rather, who think it abundantly sufficient that they have brought them into the world, reserring their nursery to others, whom perhaps they never saw in their lifes before, and who it may be change them, putting others in their stead; and some of them are less ashamed for to hold little Dogs in their arms, than their own Children born of their bodies? which manner is not practised by the brute Beasts, though never so brutish; for they do not commit their little ones to the keeping of others, though the number which Nature hath given them be never so many, but nourish them themselves, and are so zealous protectors of them, that they scarce ever [Page] have them out of their arms; and that which is most wonderful, there is begotten a jealousie betwixt the Male and Female, who shall be their Guardian, and which is sometimes to them a matter of no small strife and dissention, especially to the Apes, and not only to them, but also to the Beasts who are of a Nature so fierce and cruel, and yet have they their lettle ones in so great affection, that they are not only contented to nourish them with their Milk, but as soon as they are brought forth, having scarcely any form, they lick and pollish them that they may render them more perfect: And not only they, but the Birds too; who although that they have oftentimes 5 or 6 under their wing, and have neither milk nor grain, nor any thing else to sustain them; nevertheless they spare no pains nor diligence whereby they may bring up their little ones, which is a true testimony of Human Misery; forasmuch as man is deprived betimes of that which is his due by the strict right of Nature, being forced to suck the milk of a stranger, and very often of her who hireth her self the cheapest, whatever corruption or deformity she is possessor of, which many times is so contagious to the Child, that it had been better for him perhaps to have [Page] been nursed up by some brute Beasts in a Desart, than to stand at the mercy of such Nurses; for not only the bodies are concerned and spoil'd, as was Experienced in Titus Son of Vespasian, and many others (whom as writeth Lampridus) was all the time of his life subject to a multitude of maladies and distempers, by reason of his being delivered to be Nursed by a woman troubled with divers sicknesses and infirmities; but the worst is, that there remaineth an impression in the mind and temper, by reason of this vicious Nutrition, as Dion intimateth in his 2 Book of the Caesars, when he taketh notice of Caligula the 4th Emperor of Rome, the cruel inhumanity of whom was not imputed to Father or Mother, but to her who Nursed and suckled him; who moreover as she was cruel and barbarous of her self, yet notwithstanding rubbed and chafed the end of her paps with human blood, and then caused him to suck them; which he practised so well afterwards, that he was not only contented to commit an infinite of Murders, but sucked the blood which was wont to be on his Sword or Dagger, and licked it with his tongue; and wished that all the World had but one head, that he with one blow might cut it off, and he himself reign [Page] alone on the earth. The Child then had not suffered vexations enough in the womb of his Mother, and had not been enough afflicted, unless that making his entrance in the world, there had been prepared new ones by the ingratitude of those Mothers who are so nice and delicate, that they think it too burdensom a thing for them to take it upon themselves, and therefore make them suck them whose milk is oftentimes corrupt and putrified, from whence followeth many distempers, as the Pox, Leprosie, and innumerable others, (as Physicians have observed) to the great damage of their poor Children, and eternal infamy of the Mothers: for it is most certain, that if the Nurse be squint-ey'd, or given to ebriety, and subject to maladies, or corrupt manners, the Child shall be squint, not by her milk, but by often and frequent intuition and observation of his Nurse: If she be a Drunkard, she prepareth the infant for Convulsions and weaknesses, as we read in the Life of the Emperor Tyberius: Who was excessively addicted to that Vice, by reason of his Nurse who suckled him; who her self was an excessive and unmeasurable drinker; accustoming the Child also to the eating of Toasts soaked in Wine; where we may [Page] observe how great an influence the manners and temperament of the Nurse has over the Child, so that if she be sick, she will render him infirm; if she be stupid, she will make him so too: but leaving him in the Govenrment and Tuition of his Nurse,

Let us consider how many perils and dangers he is environed with, during the time of his bringing up: what pain and vexation have they, who have the charge of him? Some do even tear and burst themselves with crying and howling, so that there needs no larum-bell to rouse them in the night that have the charge of him: Others are continually running and dashing themselves against one thing or other, and there's scarce any thing else for the most part but wounds and bruises to be seen in their poor little bodies; without reckoning many Hereditary diseases which they bring from the corruptions of their Parents.—But who standeth not astonished, to think that so miserable a creature, one so overwhelmed with poverty and malediction, so vile and mean an Object; yet in a little while should become so proud and haughty. If then the great Prophet Jeremiah, with vehement compassion hath deplored the state of Captive Babylon: If the Consul Marcellus hath lamented the [Page] City of Syracuse, when he saw it burning: And Saluste the corruptions of Rome; we may with them well deplore the miserable state of Man entring this World; his Progression and Perillous Conversation therein, and his sorrowful and woful exit; which made Job grieve and lament that he was not stifled in the womb of his Mother, and murmured that her knees had sustained him; and complaining of the breast that had gave him suck: And Jeremiah moved by the like passion, considering that man is formed of the dust, conceived in sin, and born in sorrow; and at last made the prey of Worms and Serpents: wished that the womb of his Mother had become his Sepulchre, and the Matrix his Tomb: And the same Job again saith, That man born of a woman liveth but a short time here on earth, who cometh up as a flower and fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay: What could be more forcibly and efficaciously set forth, than this Discription which this holy man makes of human Calamity? In comparison of which, all the Sentences and Treatises of the Ethnicks are but as dreams and smoke. When the Spirit of God would induce man to humble and know himself, he calleth him son of a woman; and has he done [Page] it without cause? for amongst all the Creatures which God hath Created, there is none more subject to weaknesses and infirmities than a woman, especially them who are big with child; for scarce have they one month in a year which is not spent in fear and trembling: Then afterwards he saith, Living a short time, and indeed what is more short than the life of man? when 'tis but stopping his nose or mouth, and his life is ended: For his life is nought else but a blast which is inclosed therein, by reason of which, Theophrastus and many other Ancients, murmured against Nature, that she had indued the Hart and Crow and many other Animals with such a long life, and that to no purpose: whereas to man, 'tis quite otherwise; his life being so short and of so little durance, that though he has occasions enough to imploy it, yet nevertheless is it retrenched and abreviated, and that by so many ways; as sleep, dreams, anger, and all manner of misfortunes: So that if we would reckon every thing, there remaineth less than nothing of that which we may call life; seeing that the Prophet compareth man to a shadow, what other thing then is a shadow, but that which deceiveth the sight? A phantasm, a deceitful figure without substance; [Page] which sometimes appeareth to be great, sometimes little; the very same is it of man, sometimes he seemeth to be great, when indeed he is but little, or rather nothing at all; for when he is most highly lifted up, and when he is on the greatest and most elevated degree of honour; he then perisheth suddenly, and we know not what is become of him, no more than of a shadow when the night is come: I saw the wicked, faith David, mighty and flourishing as the green Lawrel tree; but I passed by, and I saw suddenly he was not; I sought for him, but he was no where to be found.

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CHAP. IV. Man's Misery further considered, in the course and Education of his Youth.

WE have shewed through how many perils and dangers man cometh out of his first labyrinth of infancy: Let us now consider him a little more advanced in age; let us see whether there is any end of his miseries; and if we would be equitable judges, we shall find that he is so far from ending of them, that he precipitateth and rusheth himself farther into them; for that is the time wherein Nature hath provided for him a most furious combat: the blood beginneth to boil, the flesh excites and summ [...]s him to voluptuosness, sensuality guides him, the world flatters him, the Devil tempts him, youth invites him, and it is almost impossible that being beset with so many vicious allurements; that he is not at the last vanquished and cast down: for to him that hath riches, youth, liberty and delicacies, all the Vices of the world (saith Marc. Aurel.) lay siege to, and easily overcome [Page] him, and that many times through fault of his Parents, who teach him not, either by Example or Precept, the ways of Virtue and Piety, but leave him to the fury of his wicked inclinations: And if Ely was so grievously punished for not correcting his Children, what can those Fathers likely expect, who instead of being their correctors, have been their corruptors?—Such Parents may well be compared to the Ape, who so huggeth her young ones, that she killeth them; and are oftentimes the caus [...] of their shameful and untimely end: The Ancient Romans had the Fathers which chastised not their Children, in so great contempt and abhorrency, that they made a Law which they called Falcidia, by which it was ordered, that for the first fault, the party offending should be admonished, for the second he should be chastised, for the third he should be hanged, and the Father banished; the not correcting his Son being imputed to him, as if participator in the Crime.—But I would now willingly ask, what the Ancient Romans would do if they beheld the present pitiful state of many of our Republiques? what fines, what punishment, what penalty would they lay upon those Fathers, who instead of establishing a rule and government [Page] in their houses, and shewing them a good pattern for there imitation, corrupt and deprave them by their vicious and wicked Example: for the first Precept and Rule of good living they receive from them, is to Curse and Blaspheme, to be Intemperate in their eating and drinking, and to dissipate their substance in Whoring, Gaming, and all manner of debauchery? there being not also a few Mothers in the world, who do as Herodias, learning their Daughters to dance, paint, plaister, patch and disguise their Faces; to load themselves with Rings and Jewels, that they may tell every one that meets them, how inwardly barren they are of all true worth and value: But it will be with them in the end, as it was with David, the Sin of whom was punished by his Children; who were so irregular, that one of them violated his own natural Sister, Tamar, and conspired the death of his own Father, and drove him out of his Kingdom. For the Rule of the ancient Philosophers has always proved true, that man committeth many faults in this world, the punishment of which, God reserveth in the other: but this sin of not well Educating our Children, he usually punisheth in this; for the Father in begetting his Sons, gives them nothing but mortality [Page] and weakness; but by good Education, Fame and everlasting Renown: We will conclude then, that if the Children have been in great peril and misery oftentimes by the corrupt milk of their Nurses; yet nevertheless the danger is double, in respect of them who ought to instruct them; for as much as that the nutriment of the body is of far less consequence, than that of the mind. But seeing that we have not as yet mentioned Plato, who hath Divinely Philosophiz'd on Human Calamities, and so lively represented the miseries of this life, that many of his Disciples reading his Books, have cast themselves down headlong from the tops of Rocks and Mountains into Rivers, that so cutting the thread of their Calamitous life, they might have the enjoyments of the next: This great Philosopher Plato, in a Dialogue that he hath made concerning Death, and contempt of this life, introduceth Socrates, who deduceth by an admirable Eloquence the miseries and frailties of Human condition, as followeth: Knowest thou not (saith He) that Human life is nothing but a peregrination, which the wise perform and pass in joy, singing with gladness, when that by necessity they approach unto the end of it? Dost thou not well know that man consisteth [Page] of spirit, which is enclosed in his body as in a Tabernacle; which Nature has bestowed upon him, not without great vexation; and though she does bequeath some small benefits to us, yet are they nevertheless hid, and of a short durance, and consumed in sorrow and trouble; by reason of which the soul resenting the dolour, cometh to desire the Coelestial Habitation, and wisheth for the Fruition of heavenly pleasures. Consider that the going out of this world is no other thing than a mutation and exchange of evil for good; and what evil (saith He) and misery doth not man endure from his birth to his Sepulchre? What▪kind of sorrow is there that he hath not experienced, be it of heat, of cold, of torments in his body, as also of his mind? What other messenger, or more certain forerunner can he have of his misery, than his tears, sighings and groanings? But after he hath born so many evils, and come to the 7th year of his age, he must have Guardians and Tutors for his instruction in Learning; moreover growing and coming into his youth, he had need of Correctors, who with rigor must observe his actions, to tame and accustom him to labour.

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CHAP. V. Of the Misery attending the state of Manhood.

HIS youth being past over, hair begins to cover his chin, and then he grows man, and then is the time that he entreth into greater anxiety and vexation of spirit; he must then frequent publick places, keep up a conversation in company; if he be of a Noble and Illustrious Extraction, he is forced to undertake a thousand warlike stratagems and enterprises, and expose himself to an infinite of perils; and hazard his life, and spill his blood, that he may dye in the bed of honour, or else he shall be looked on as of a cowardly, mean and dastardly spirit: If he be of a low condition and ordinary Fortune, and be called to the exercise of mechanick Arts, that hindreth him not from enduring a thousand vexations, infinite labour and travel, as well of body as mind; he must work night and day, must sweat blood and water, for to get that which is necessary for the maintenance and suppor of his life; [Page] and what labour or diligence soever he useth, he can scarcely procure himself that which is necessary. It is not therefore without cause that Marc. Aurel. considering the miserable condition of Human life, was accustomed to say, I thought in my self whether there could be found any State, any Age, any Land, any Kingdom in which there could be found a man, who durst vaunt, that he never tasted in his life what was adverse Fortune; this would be such a monster, that both the living and dead would have desire to see him: and then he concludes in the end, I have found my reckoning, saith he, that he that was yesterday rich, is to day poor; he that was yesterday whole, is to day sick; he that laugh'd yesterday, to day I saw cry; he that I saw yesterday in prosperity, I saw to day in adversity; he that I saw yesterday amongst the living, I see him now amongst the dead.

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CHAP. IV. Mans Misery more particularly considered, and first of the miserable life of Mariners.

REturn we then to our Subject, deducing things in particular: and who is he among men, who hath betaken himself to any State or Trade, and way of living, that has not at last complained, and been weary of it? And that this may more evidently appear, consider we the principal states in particular. Begin we then at them who swim on the water, and who gain their livings on the Sea; and in how many perils are they night and day? What is their habitation, but a nasty and stinking prison? the same is their diet. What are their garments, but as it were a Sponge of water? They are always as vagabonds, and in continual exile, without any rest; agitated by the Winds, Rain, Hail, Snow, at the mercy of Pyrats and Rovers, Rocks and Tempests, in continual hazard of being intomb'd in the bellies of fishes: Wherefore Byas that Sage Grecian Philosopher [Page] knew not whether he should reckon these sort of people amongst the Terrestrial creatures or Aquatils, and doubted whether he ought to number them amongst the living or the dead. And another called Anacharsis, said, That they were no farther distant from the dead, than the breadth of two or three fingers, as much as the timber contained in thickness upon which they swam.

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CHAP. VII. Of the Misery attending the life of Husbandmen.

AND if the manner of living of Mariners seemeth terrible to us, what greater sweetness think we to find in Agriculture and Rustical labour? which at first look seemeth sweet, happy, quiet, simple and innocent; and that which many Patriarchs and Prophets have chosen, as that in which there was the least of fraud and cousenage, and that for which many Roman Emperours have forsaken their Palaces, Theatres, and other Pompous and Resplendant Edifices, that they may retire themselves into the fields, and cultivate their Lands with their hands, and enjoy that innocent pleasure which they imagined might be found in a Country life; but to them who would consider every thing more exactly, it will appear that these Roses are not without their thorns and prickles. God having driven man out of Paradice, he sent him as an exile or banished man, and declared to him that the [Page] earth should be accursed for his sake, and that in the sweat of his brows he should eat of the Fruits of it, for it should produce thorns and thistles until he returned to the earth from whence he came. And indeed who is it that has had fuller experience of this malediction than the poor Husbandman, who many times after he hath laboured, sowed and dunged the earth, and all the day long spent himself with pain and trouble, and endured the parching heat of the Sun, and the rigorous severity of the cold; and sometimes the biting of Serpents, and sweated and tired themselves all the year round in expectation of the Fruits of their labour, and straight there cometh tempestuous and unseasonable weather, and cuts him off from all his longing expectations, and he receives the unwelcome news of the death of his Cattel: another, the Souldiers whilest he has been occupied in the fields, have pillaged his house and carried away whatsoever he has there, so that when he returns from his labour, instead of being comforted and receiving rest and consolation, is met by his Wife and Children with lamentable relations of the spoil of his substance: in short, the rustick occupation cannot be more fitly compared than to a continual runningsore [Page] or ulcer, having a perpetual cause of sorrow, sometimes of one thing, sometimes of another, sometimes of too much Rain, some times of too much Drought.

CHAP. VIII. The Miserable life of Merchants considered.

BUT leaving the poor Husbandmen making their complaints: Let us seek farther and inquire into the business of Merchants, which at first view seemeth exempt and void of Miseries, promising some repose upon the account of the Riches wherewith it aboundeth: which employment many wise men, as Solon, Thales, Hippocrates and others have exercised, which is a great cause of the Amity and Friendship which we have with Forreign Princes, transporting to one City what aboundeth in another; but we cannot so well disguise the matter, but that at first sight almost we may discern with how great disquiet the lives of Merchants are accompanied; to how many dangers are they subject, and that continually, as well by Sea as Land? [Page] without reckoning, that for the most part of time they are as Fugitives and Vagabonds out of their Towns and Countries, and are unlike in nothing to banished men, but only that their banishment is voluntary, because that they would steal, ransack and ravish, burn and spoil every thing, as well by Sea as Land, and all for that they might satisfie their covetous desire of gain; and are contented to be deprived of the rest and comfort that they might receive from their Wives and Children, Lands and Possessions, and be every minute in hazard of their lives, and all for an unsatiable avarice, which torments them, without taking notice that the first Sanctuary of their Confraternity, is no other thing than to swear, forswear, cheat, and deceive their Neighbour; so that scarce any one Trafficking, can enrich himself but by fraud and cousenage: and they have a common Proverb amongst them, That there needs but only turning their backs towards God for two or three years, and a little straining their Consciences, for to enrich themselves and make up their Fortunes: With which also we may reckon many evils and vexations which belong thereunto; when they bring Merchandize from other Countries, which are not any [Page] ways necessary to the life of man, hut only for the amusement of women and children, as if our nature of it self was not enough infirm and inclinable to dote on fopperies, but we must by such fooleries as these whet and stir it up, whilest that there is neither Kingdom nor Province which they cheat not by these novelties; and the worst is, having received an impression of strange manners, they communicate them to us with their Merchandize: and that's not all neither; for under pretence and colour of Traffick, they hold Intelligence and Correspondency with Forreign Princes, discover our secrets, lend them Money, and in the end sell and betray their Country; which hath been experienced in France, to the great detriment and desolation of many people: But letting pass thousands of their frauds which they use, as Sophisticating and disguising their Drugs, though mens lives are concerned in them, yet nevertheless their art depends so much upon't, that they instruct their Factors and Servants in their Minority, and to them who can with most cunning falsify, forswear, lye, aequivocate, counterfeit the Genuoise, Florentine, Venetian, they will give greater wages. And the matter is brought now to that pass, [Page] that you durst scarcely go out of a Shop, after having bid money for a Commodity, but returning presently, you shall find it changed and another offered to you as the same by these youngsters, who make it no matter to engage their souls to the Devil, that they may enrich their Masters.

There is another sort also of Merchants, whom we have not as yet taken notice of, who set forth their Shops with other mens estates, and borrow of one and the other, and after that they have by such artifices as these amassed great sums of money, turn Bankrupts, and fly far enough from their Creditors finding them, where they live at their ease on that which they have cheated and defrauded, leaving their Creditors oftentimes in such poverty, that there has been them so desperate as to hang themselves, seeing that they are frustrated of that which they thought as sure, as in their own possession: Which things being seriously considered by the Athenians, they would not permit that Merchants should dwell with other Citizens, but ordered them certain places a-part, where they exercised their Merchandize: There hath been many Ancient Common-Wealths where the Merchants were not received [Page] into Dignities and publick Offices, nor admitted to the Councel of the Citizens.

CHAP. IX. Of the Miserable life of the Soldier.

NEXT let us consider the Tragical Life of them which serve in the Wars, which is so severe and rigorous, that even the brute beasts would have it in horror, who lie close and hid in the night in their Holes and Caves: but the Soldier he watches always, and lodgeth himself at the Sign of the Moon; indureth the Rain, Wind, Hail, Snow, suffers hunger, heat and cold; and when he heareth the sorrowful sign of Battel, he must resolve with himself, either to receive present Death, or else to Murder his Neighbour: and offereth himself to be killed for five-pence a day. But wouldest thou know how piteous and deplorable a Spectacle War is? Have you ever seen the Conflict of the Bear with the Lyon, or other like furious Beasts? what roaring, what rage, what cruelty they use in tearing and dismembring one another? But [Page] how much greater cruelty is it when we see Man against Man, transformed as it were into brute Beasts, exercising their passionate humours against their fellow Creature? But not to take notice of an infinite of evils which thereon depend.—It is the poor people who have Built so many Famous Towns and Cities, and who by their pains and labour have enriched them, Fortified and maintained them; but they see them demolished, wasted and spoiled; their Cattel driven away, their Corn burnt up and destroy'd, and many times their selves▪murdered; always in fear and perpetual anxiety. There's no Family that lamenteth not: The Arts and ingenious Sciences are neglected, and lye altogether disregarded; the poor people hindred, and are forced to starve and perish with hunger, or fly and betake themselves to unlawful ways, that they may sustain their poor and miserable lives.—The Virgins they are Violated, the Chaste Matrons are Forced and Ravished, the Laws are Silenced, Humanity and Affability are Extinguished, Equity is Suppressed, Religion is Contaminated, Holy Places Prophaned, the Ancient Men carried away Captive, and see oftentimes their Childrens brains dashed out before [Page] their Faces,—Women made Widows; Children, Orphans; and an infinite of evils and Calamities too long to be recounted. The Kings, Princes and Monarchs envied for the Subsidies which they Levy from the people; there's scarce any thing save murmurings, hatred, cursings and imprecations.—Strangers must be courted and entertained into service; great sums of Money must be disbursed for the carrying on the design, whether by Sea or Land.—Must Fortifie Bulwarks, Ramparts, set up Tents, Train Machins, Cannons, Armed Chariots, clear Ditche, set Watches and Sentinels, and the like exercises of War. But alas, Is it not sufficient that Nature hath created Man so miserable and abject a Creature, and subject to so many evils, but that over and above, he must be plagued with the miseries of War! a pest so strange and pernicious, that it comprehendeth and surmounteth all other kind of evils: So cruel and contagious, that it flicteth not only the wicked, but many times the harmless and innocent. Moreover, If that our rage exerted it self only against the Stranger, or Barbarian, the Victory over whom being gained, might bring some contentment to the Victor.—But good God! Would we know what are the [Page] Glories and Trophies of the Wars amongst Christian Princes? Their saftey and conservation is the ruin of their Neighbours, their riches are the poverty and spoils of others, their joy is the lamentation and tears of others; and for the most part, their Victories are not so Fortunate, but that the Victor and Vanquished do lament both together: for there was never any Battel so happy, but the Conquerour himself repented, if touched with the least Humanity. Some Heathens there have been that have freely confessed it, as the great Emperour Marc Aurelius, who after many glorious Victories obtained of his Enemies; as he was received in Triumph in Rome, resenting in his soul the injury which he had done his fellow Creatures, begun to cry out as he was drawn in his Triumphant Chariot: What greater foolery or vanity can a Roman Emperour be guilty of, because that he has forced many Towns and Cities, altered and disturbed their Pacifick Government, destroyed and raised their Forteresses and Castles, robbed the poor, and enriched the Tyrants, made an infinite of Widows and Orphans, and for the amends of all this waste and damage, we are received with Triumph and Magnificence? Many are dead, many have laboured, [Page] and one alone has the glory; To which he adjoyns, By the immortal gods (saith he) when they conducted me to Rome in such Triumph, and I saw the poor Captives led in Chains, and heard the lamentation of the Widows, I remembred the dead, and beheld an infinite Treasure ill gotten; if I rejoyced in publick, I wept and lamented in private; ond began to exclaim against Rome, saying, Wherefore dost thou rejoyce at others Misfortunes? Art thou more Ancient than Babylon, Fairer than Hely, Richer than Carthage, Stronger than Troy, more Peopled than Thebes, more surrounded with Ships than Corinth, more Delicious than Tire, more Fortunate than Numance, which are all ruin'd and decay'd, though guarded with so many Vertuous? and dost thou think to abide continually, that art stuffed up with so many Vicious? [...]elieve it as a thing certain, that that glory which now is with thee, was formerly with them; and the destruction which is now with them, will certainly be with thee also.—Are we not afraid and ashamed, we who are brought up in a better School, and Illuminated with the Divine Spirit, That this Pagan shall rise up in judgment against us, who set at so low a rate mans lives, seeing that War already hath so many years disturbed Christendom, that you scarce find a Country [Page] in Europe which is not tainted with Humane Slaughter?

Halaricus King of the Goths having Sacked Rome, (as recounteth Paul. Orosius) made Proclamation, That there should be no violence or hurt done to them who had betaken themselves for refuge to the Churches; but the matter is come to that pass in our days, that there is no security in the Temples and Holy Places, in which Virgins and Matrons have been Deflowred and Violated, and the Sheep of Jesus Christ Slaughtered: so much have men exceeded the bounds of Justice and Piety, who without favour or respect to Age, Sects, or Dignity, Massacre all, and seem to fight and ruin Nature it self: But how come we so inclinable and ready to destroy and ruin them, for whose conservation the Lord hath died? Why are we so prodigal of their lives and blood, for whom Jesus Christ has shed his? Why have we not as muc [...] compassion of our Brethren and Fellow-Creatures, as the brute Beasts have one of another? who exert not their rage, nor shew▪forth their cruelty against them of their own kind; or if that it happen that they fight and combat, it is then when they are pressed with hunger, or for the defence of their young, and t [...] defend [Page] themselves with those arms which Nature has bestowed on them, without joyning Thunders and Machines invented by the Devils; there being nothing on earth which is not quelled and vanquished by the force and fury of the Cannon: so that this Invention is not only more dangerous and mischievous than all other Arms, but is also more pernicious than venom or poison.

CHAP. X. The Miseries of Courtiers considered.

WE have before discoursed on the business of War, and the gain and advantage which accrues to men thereby: Let us look now into the Palaces of Princes, and see what is the Felicity of the Courtier: and to him who looks that way, can there seem to be any greater happiness than to be favoured by his Prince? have always his ear ready?—Be caressed, honoured, and sought to by every one? but you shall find them there who are crafty as the Fisherman, who as soon as ever his Net is filled, up he draws, and is gone with all: and others who play at put-out; some stay till [Page] they are full as Sponges, and in the end are squeezed themselves out of all they have: Others do nothing else but invent Subsidies, and seek means whereby they may fill the Treasury of their Kings, and enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor people: and the Princes sometimes deal with them as we do with our Hogs, letting them fat themselves, that we may eat and devour them, and then preferring new ones in their places. Behold how these poor miserable Courtiers sell their liberty to enrich themselves. They must obey all commands, whether just or unjust; forcing themselves to laugh when their Prince laugheth, and cry when he cries; to approve what he approves, to condemn what he condemns; must subject his humor to every ones, alter and wholly change his nature: be severe with those that are severe, sad with the sorrowful, and transform himself almost into the nature of them whom he would please: If the Prince be incontinent, he must be so too; if he be cruel, he must take delight in effusion of blood: In short, he must sympathize with the humor of the Prince whom he serveth, though oftentimes a small offence wipes out all the services which he has done in all his life before. Which they who served [Page] the Emperour Adrian experienced, who after having been by him raised up to the highest Estates and Dignities, by the means and reports of some flatterers, were not only divested of that honour which was given them, but were also declared his Capital Enemies: Which Plato having considered and foresaw in the Court of the Athenians, left them their delicacies, yet howsoever could not so well rule himself, but that he returned to Denis, Tyrant of Sicily, who in the end sold him to Pirates; and worse fared it with Zeno the Sage Ancient Philosopher, whom Phalaris for satisfaction of his Services, put cruelly to Death: In the like manner did the King of Cyprus to Anacreon, and the Noble Philosopher Anaxagoras, and Nero to his Master Seneca, and Alexander to Calistenus, because he would not adore him, cutting off his feet, ears and hands, and plucked out his eyes, leaving him to the mercy of an austere Prison, where he miserably ended his days: and this hath been oftentimes the reward of many Learned men, who not willing to obey the unreasonable desires of their Princes, lost their lives for the recompence of their Services and wholesom Counsels. Not to take notice of many other evils which do ordinarily [Page] follow them which haunt the Court, where the most part of things are carried on corruptly; many at the Court seeing thee, take off their Hats to thee, who would willingly take off thy Head; he bows his knee to thee, that would willingly break his Leg that he might carry thee to thy Grave: Such a one is there called Worshipful, who better deserves the name of Hangman: If you would be an Adulterer at the Court, you shall not want associates; if you have Quarrels with any one, you shall there find assistants for carrying them on; if you would Lye, you shall find them that will swear to it; if you would Steal, they will learn you a thousand subtilties and Inventions; if you would Game, you shall there find more cheats than at Gaming-Ordinaries; if you would Forswear and bear false witness, you shall be hired and paid for it: In short, if you would give your self over to all sorts of wickedness and villany, you shall find there true Examples and Formularies: and this is the Life of a great number of Courtiers, and this is that wherein they employ their youth, which is not youth but a transitory death: as for old men, know you what they get, Gray-heads, their Feet full of Gouty humors, their [Page] Mouth Tooth-less, their Reins full of Gravel, their Hearts full of Pensiveness, and their Souls full of Sin: In short, Of the Court there is little to write, but much to murmur and complain of; but to him that desires more of that Subject, let him read the Book of De Guevara Bishop of Mondovent, and Chronicler to the Emperour: And Aeneas Silvius, who have composed Two most Excellent Treatises on that Matter; where they have so perfectly set forth the Courtier, that they have cut off all hope from them who will write after them, of adding any thing.

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CHAP. XI. Of the Miseries attending the Life of Kings and Emperours.

BUT leave we the Courtiers with their restless and miserable Life: And let us now consider the Life of Monarchs and Emperours, for whom it seemeth as it were that Felicity was created: for if you would set before you every thing which may make the Life of Man happy, joyful and content, you shall find, that Fortune, amongst all other mortals, hath been abundantly Munificent to them: What maketh man more admirable than plenty of Riches, Dignities, Kingdoms and Empires? Licence and Power to do either good or evil, without Contradiction or Correction? means to exercise Liberality, all forts of Voluptuosness and Pleasures, as well of the mind as the body? all that may be wish't for, or any ways conducible to the delight of man, whether it be in respect of eating or drinking? as also in their Magnificent Services, Utensils and Vestments, which may tickle the [Page] Senses, and cajole Humane Concupiscence? all which are prepared from the Cradle, that they might lead their lives with greater Content and Felicity: Which Discourse if we will only consider externally, there's none but would confess that they Triumph alone in that which all others languish after; but if we would consider things a little more near, and weigh them in a just balance, we shall find that those very things which we think degrees whereby to reach Felicity, are the true instruments of Vice and Misery. What signifies their costly Robes, their Honourable Attendance, and delicate Meats, when that they are in continual fear of being poison'd, and betray'd by those that Serve them? Have we not had experience of this in our time? Does not Platinus write of a certain Pope who was poyson'd by his Servants that presented him with paper coming off from his stool: Others with the smoke of Flambo's and Torches. 'I is a thing horribly strange, that humane malice is so much increased; there having been found them that have mingled poyson with the Sacred Host, as did a certain Sienois, who caus'd the death of many persons; and effected in this manner the death of the Emperour Hen. 7th, as may be seen in Fuschius in [Page] the 1st Book of his Composition of Medicaments. Histories make mention of certain Emperours, who durst not repose themselves at night on their Beds, till there had been search made in all the parts of their Chambers for fear of being Murdered whilst they slept: others would never permit that Barbers should ever touch their Faces, lest that taking off their Hair, they should take away their lives; and are moreover so fearful, that they dare not put the meat which they have before them in their mouths, till essay be made whether it be poyson. Were it not better, saith Julius Caesar, to dye once, than to live always in such a continual fear? And what felicity can he have, though chief of all, having so many under his protection, who must watch for them all, and hear all their complaints, and the particular grievances of every one, endeavouring the safety of every individual: inviting some by liberality to do well, others by fear and terror.—He must not be less solicitous for maintaining peace amongst his people, than to defend them from the Incursions and Invasions of Foreigners. Pogge Florentin hath made a particular Treatise concerning the Infelicity of Princes (he means wicked ones), where he saith, That usually [Page] three sorts of people are to them most agreable and familiar: the flatterers hold the first rank, who are the Capital enemies of truth, empoysoning their souls with so pestiferous a venome, that it is contagious to all the world; their rashness and foolishness they term wisdom and prudence; their cruelty, justice; their luxury and lascivousness, gayeties and pastimes; if they are covetous, they call them thrifty and frugal; if prodigal, free and liberal: so that there can be no Vice with which their Prince is not infected, but they'l disguise and palliate it under pretence of some Vertue. The second are the inventors and contrivers of new Subsidies, who rest never a night, but that in the morning they bring some new project to the Prince, how he may draw Money from his poor people; causing new Laws to be composed, abrogate, form, reform, diminish, adjoyn, demand confiscations and proscriptions: so that their whole study is nothing else but to encrease the calamities and miseries of the Subject. There are also another kind, who under pretence of honesty, and love of virtue and goodness, have always their eyes on the lives and manners of others; espying and watching their miscarriages, that they may give notice of them to their Prince, that they may get their Estates, and build [Page] up their own Fortunes upon the ruins of other men, and care not if they make them lose their lives, so that they may go away with what they have.—Wherefore the Ancients (as writeth Heroditas) if that their Kings and Princes were born away by injustice in publick administrations, they condemned them for Devils after their death: assembling themselves with their Priests in their Temples, and publickly prayed their gods that they would not receive them into happiness, recommending them to the Infernal furies, that they might condignly torment them. Which has not been only observed of the Ancients, but also of the Moderns of our time, who have used such like imprecations, as recounteth Don Antonine de Guevara, Chronicler to the Emperour, in his Epistle, where he saith, That to the Viceroy of Sicily, for vengeance of the Tyrannies that he exercised towards his Subjects, they put after his death on his Sepulchre the Epitaph which follows:

Qui propter nos homines,

Et propter nostram salutem,

Descendit ad inferos.

Who for us men,

And for our salvation,

Descended into Hell.

[Page]These then are some of the miseries which accompany the Scepter; the Thorns which they have for counterpoise of their Royal Dignity, which ought to be as a Lamp to light all the world; but when 'tis obscured with Vice, it is more signally reproachful than in any private person: for they sin only (as writeth Plato) through the fault that they commit, but these by the ill example which they give. If it be hard then and difficult to be good (as writeth Hesiod), yet is it harder and more difficult for Kings to be so: For the great Honour and Deliciousness which they see themselves possessors of, are as so many inducements to evil. What was Saul before he was chosen King? how greatly was his Virtue celebrated in holy Writ, whom the Lord himself had chosen? yet nevertheless was it soon eclipsed. How admirable was the beginning of the Reign of Solomon? but being plunged in Kingly delights, he gave himself wholly a prey to women. Of twenty two Kings of Judah, there was but five or six found who persisted in virtue and goodness. As for the Kings of Israel, if you would search into their Lives, from Jeroboam Son of Nebat, even to the last, they being nineteen in number, have all of them ill governed and managed the affairs [Page] of their Kingdoms. If you consider the Estate of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Egyptians, they will present more bad than good. What have been the Kings and Roman Emperours, who have governed one of the most flourishing Empires of the world? have they not been devoted to all kind of vice and cruelty? so that we cannot read their scandalous Lives in History without horror and detestation. What was the State of the Roman Republick, before that Sylla and Marius maimed it, before Cataline and Catullus troubled it, before Julius Caesar and Pompey confounded it, before that Augustus and M. Anthony destroyed it, before Tyberius and Caligula defamed it, before that Domitian and Nero corrupted it? for although they enriched it with many Countries and Kingdoms, yet nevertheless the Vices that they brought with them, are greater than the Kingdoms that they Conquered: for the riches thereof are lost, but the Vices continue. What remains are there now of the memory of Romulus, to whom the Roman City owns its Foundation? of Numa Pompilus, who erected so high the Capitol? of Ancus Marcius, who environed it with walls? of Brutus, who delivered it from Tyrants? of Camillus, who drove [Page] out the French? Do they not yield us the knowledg, how little felicity there is in Principality, which is more subject to the assaults of Fortune, than any thing else in the world; for oftentimes the thread of their lives come to break in the hour that they hope most; and the infamy of their actions is set down in Historical Record: which Kings and Princes, and others constituted in Authority, ought a thousand times more to fear, than the slanderous tongue that can defame only the living; but writing makes ignominious those that are dead: Which things being exactly weigh'd by Dioclesian and other Princes, they abandoned their Scepters and Empires, and betook themselves to solitary retirements; and were contented with little, rather than luxuriously to enjoy the volatile pleasures of the world.

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CHAP. XII. The Miseries incident to Popes and Prelates.

BUT leave we Kings and Emperours: And let us come to the Ecclesiasticks, beginning at their chiefs, which are the Popes and Prelates: And are they not happy and fortunate in this world? Their Dignities being the Supreme of all, and acquired without pain and labour; without Wars, Weapons, and effusion of blood, and conserv'd without perils; they command and controul all: Monarchs reverence and honour them; being rich and impal'd with Honour and Dignities. But if you will consider the end of the Tragedy, you will be so far from judging them happy, or envy their high Estates, that you would rather pity them. For if they would well govern the Ship of St. Peter, according to the Command of God, they must become as a publick Vassal, whose life is exposed for the common good: they watch alone whilest others sleep, being as it were the Sentinels of the people, without [Page] relief or repose, all the minutes of their lives being employed for the publick safety, lest any of their Flock be seduced and led away by Satan.—For if it be so as St. Chrisostome observes, (treating on the First of the Hebrews) that he that is regent of one Church only, may hardly be saved, so great a charge hath he: In what danger then shall we say are the Popes, who are Guardians and Protectors of so many Churches? which Pope Adrian (being a man of a good life) was accustomed to say with tears to his private Friends, That amongst all the States in the world, there seemed none to him more miserable than that of the Papacy and Prelacy: For although the Throne where he sits be richly adorned, yet was it beset with Thorns and Prickles: the costly Robes with which they were covered being so weighty, that it wearied the shoulders of the most strong and vigorous; and as for the Diaper'd Mitre which they wore on their heads, it was a real flame, which burned to the inmost recesses of their souls. And certainly so great is their charge, so great and strict is their account which they must render to the Great Shepherd of the Fold, that it would make a man tremble with [Page] horror to think of it: and yet notwithstanding all this, and the particular and positive Prohibition of the Church to the contrary; yet how many are there that heap up Parsonage upon Parsonage, and ioyn Living to Living, and are more solicitous for the encrease of their Benefices, than they are for the Souls of their people? committing them to their Curates, and to them oftentimes that will be hired the cheapest; who as they serve God by their Procurator, will if the Lord prevent not, be damn'd in their own proper Persons. I know and am fully perswaded that there are some, who as they are called to greater Offices and Dignities in the Church than others, so likewise they have need of greater Revenues than others to support them: I mean our Reverend and Sacred Hierarchy; but with the others it is not so, the case being quite otherwise.

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CHAP. XIII. Of the Miseries which attend them who Administer in Publick Affairs.

BUT leaving the Popes and Prelates: Let us come to consider the Lives of those who Administer in Publick Affairs, as the Judges and Statesmen; and we shall find them too, as little free from misery as the others: and if there seem to arise any pleasantness from the honour of the Imploy, yet is it transitory and inconstant; their actions also passing before the eyes of the vulgar, who although they cannot perfectly understand the reasons of things, yet will they censure and defame them whose doings are ahove their capacities: And therefore Plato well compared them to a Monster with many heads, Fraudulent, Mutable and Uncertain; prone to Anger, to Praise, Dispraise, Esteem, Vilifie, without Judgment or Discretion, Inflexible, Unlearned; and the Lives forsooth of them who are the Rulers, must be conformable [Page] to their Opinion: for as they Judg in publick, so will they judg them in private; and not only concerning matters of Importance, but of those which are of little consequence (and as Plutarch hath well taken notice of), they will always have something which will be the matter of their contradiction. The Athenians murmured against Symonides, because he spoke too loud. The Thebans accused Paniculus for his often spitting. The Lacedemonians noted their Lycurgus, because he went with his head stooping. The Romans found great fault in Scipio, by reason of his snoring in sleeping. The Ʋticenses defamed good Cato, because that in eating he chewed on both sides of his mouth. Pompey seemed to them uncivil, because he scratched himself only with one finger. The Carthaginians blamed Hannibal because he went unbuttoned. Others reprehended Julius Caesar, because forsooth he wore his girdle carelessly. Yet is all this but little in respect of what they have done to other Famous Worthies; Banishing and putting them to Death for the good Service which they have done them. The great Grecian Orator Demosthenes, who was so Loyal a protector of the Athenian Republick, was Banished by them as a person guilty of some [Page] notable crime. Socrates was likewise poysoned. Hannibal was so ill treated by his own, that he was forced to wander up and down miserably through the world. The Romans handled Camillus after the same manner. The Grecians served far worse Lycurgus and Solon, one of whom was stoned, the other having his eyes pull'd out, was as a murderer drove into exile. And as we have set before us the faults and miseries which arise from the peoples part, so likewise must we put in counterpoize the errors and corruptions which abound in wicked Judges; some of whom are overaw'd by fear, lest they should displease some great Personage, and therefore violate Justice, and are as Pilate who condemned Jesus Christ for the fear which he had of displeasing the Emperour Tyberius: Other Magistrates are corrupted by affection, as Herod the Tetrarch, who that he might foolishly comply with the love which he bore to the dancing Girl, adjudged to death St. John the Baptist, notwithstanding his being sensible of his Vertue and Innocency. Some are withheld from the doing of Justice through hatred and particular animosities, some by gifts and presents, as were the Sons of the Prophet and High-Priest Samuel: They love gifts, [Page] saith the Prophet, and seek after retribution; they do not justice to the Orphans and Fatherless, and hear not the cause of the Widow: and in another place, Cursed be all ye who are led away by money and intreaties, by love or hatred, that judg evil good, and good evil; making light darkness, and darkness light: Cursed be ye who have respect not to the merit of the Cause, but the Person; who have not regard to the equity of the matter brought before ye, but the Gifts and Presents; who mind not what reason suggests, but only affection. You are diligent in the causes of the rich, but put away them of the poor; you are to them austere and rigorous, but to the rich affable and tractable; the poor cryeth out, but no one regardeth; the rich speaketh, and all the world hearkeneth, extolling his words to the heavens: and yet this is not enough, for when they are in the height of honour, they have another worm that gnaws them, like the Mother of Zebedee, that their Children might be placed in their honours and dignities, although they be never so ignorant and uncapable. They are exalted and enriched, saith the Prophet Jeremiah, They are become fat, they have had no regard to the Father less, and have not executed judgment for the poor: [Page] Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall I not take vengeance on such a people? you have condemned and put to death the innocent, saith St. James, you have lived in delights on the earth, taken your ease, filled your hearts: And now saith the Lord of Hosts, Weep and howle in you misery: Your riches are corrupted, your costly and sumptuous garments are full of moths, your gold and silver is everspread with rust, and the rust of it shall witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire: For the tears of the Widows have pierced even unto my Throne. These are the complaints which the Prophets and Apostles poured out against mercenary Judges; these are the censures which the Lord hath thundred against them.

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CHAP. XIV. Of the Miseries of Marriage.

LET us now consider the happy or unhappy state of Marriage: and it is most certain, that if we would forge in our minds the Idea of an excellent and accomplisht Marriage on every side, as Plato hath made in his Republick, and St. Austin in his City of God; There's nothing in this world which may equal that state in delight: it being the consummation and real comfort of all our hopes and desires, and the end of all our travel: That this is true, will more certainly appear, if we consider every thing: their Fortunes as well prosperous as adverse, are common; the bed common, the children common; and which is more, there's so great commonality of body and union of souls, that they seem as two transformed into one: and if the pleasure seemeth great to us, of conferring our affairs and secrets to our Friends and those that are nearest us, how much greater is the delight which we receive from the opening of our hearts to [Page] her, who is linked to us in such bonds of love and duty, who is even as our selves, & to whom we discover the most intimate recesses of our souls? What greater testimony can there be of vehement and indissoluible amity, than to abandon and forsake Father, Mother, and all Relations, and to be as it were an enemy to ones self, for to follow a Husband whom she wholly cleaves to; and having all other things in méprision, depends alone on him? If he be rich, she keeps his wealth; if poor, she employeth all the artifice which nature hath given her to share with him in his adversity; if he be in prosperity, his felieity is doubled in her, seeing her participate in it; if he be in adversity, he beareth but half of the evil; and moreover he is comforted and assisted by her; if he would dwell retired and solitary at home, he hath one that will bear him company, who will comfort him and make him digest more easily the incommodiousness of solitude; if he will go into the Country, she conducteth him with her eye as far as the sight of it can reach; she desireth and wisheth for him being abfent, sigheth and complaineth, lamenting as if he was always near her; being returned, he is welcomed and received into her imbraces: so that it [Page] seemeth to speak the truth, that the Woman is a Coelestial gift bestowed upon man, as well for the refreshment and contentment of his Youth, as the repose and solace of his old Age. Nature can give us but one Father and one Mother, but Marriage representeth many to us in our children, who reverence and honour us, and have us more dear unto them than their own lives; being young and little, they toy and prattle about us, and prepare us an infinite of pleasures: so that they seem as it were amusements and play-things which nature hath given us to deceive and pass away part of our miserable life. Are we besieged with old Age (a thing forced and common to all), they mitigate the irksomness of it, close our eyes, and take care of our decent burial; they being our flesh and blood, in seeing them we behold our selves; so that the Father seeing his Children, seeth himself as it were young again in them, who immortalize him in procreating of others after him.

I would not for fear of being accused of inconstancy, despise that which I have so much exalted; but because my Subject which treateth of all States of Life, requires that I should not excuse this no more than others: I shall therefore in [Page] short, recapitulate that which I have read in many Authors, who confess with me that there is much of sweetness and deliciousness in Marriage; but if one did well consider and weigh in a just balance the great and insupportable vexations which are found in it, it will appear to be replenish'd no less with miseries than others. The Athenians, a people famous for their wisdom and prudence, observing that the wives could not well accord with their Husbands by reason of an infinite of strifes and dissentions which arose ordinarily betwixt them, were constrained to establish in their Republick certain Magistrates, whom they called Reconcilers of those that were Married, the office and only business of whom was to reduce them to concord by all ways and means that were possible. The Spartans in their Republick had likewise ordered certain Magistrates, whose charge it was to correct the insolencies of women, repress their arrogancy, and curb their audaciousness towards their Husbands. The Romans would not ordain Magistrates (thinking with themselves (perhaps) that men were not able to bridle the unbridled temerity of women) but they would have their refuge to their gods, and to that purpose they Consecrated [Page] a Temple to the goddess whom they called Viriplaca, where they in the end made up their Domestick and private quarrels: But who can patiently endure the charges of Marriage, the insolency and arrogancy of women, the yoke of so imperfect a Sex? Who can furnish and satisfie their lustful appetite, their insatiable pomp? Saith not the Ancient Proverb, That Women and Ships are never so well fitted, but that one shall find some thing or other that lacks mending. If thou takest her being poor, she will be despised, and thy self less esteemed; if rich and wealthy, thou makest thy self her slave and servant; for thinking to espouse an equal companion, thou shalt betroth thy self to an insupportable Mistress; if thou takest her deformed, thou canst not love her; if comely and handsome, she will be as a bush at thy door to draw in company; beauty is a Tower which is besieged and assaulted by all the world: and indeed that thing is difficult to keep and preserve, of which every one pretends to have the Key. Behold the hazard, saith De la Perriere, of thy round-heads being made forked, which indeed were a fearful Metamorphosis if it were visible and apparent: The conclusion then is, That riches makes a woman [Page] proud; beauty, suspicious; deformity, odious, &c. Wherefore Diponates having experimented the torments of Marriage, said, That there was but two good days in it, one the wedding day, and the other in the which the wife died; the one whereon they were Married and in which they feasted and made good chear; the other day (which he said was good) was that on which the woman died, by the death of whom the Husband was freed and delivered from servitude. History makes mention of a Noble Roman, who the next morning after he had lain with his Wife, was very sad and pensive; and being questioned by some of his Friends and familiars of the reason of his sadness, seeing that his wife was comely, rich, and of a Noble Extraction: shewing them his foot, he saith, Friends, my Shooe is new, neat, and well made, but you know not what part of my foot it rings me in. Philemon was wont to say, That a woman was a necessary evil: that there was nothing more scarcer in the world than a good woman: Following the ancient Proverb, That a good Woman, a good Mule, and a good Goat, were three wicked Beasts. Is any thing, saith Plutarch, nimbler than the tongue of an unbridled woman? any thing more sharp [Page] than her outrages? more rash than her audaciousness? more execrable than her malignity? more dangerous than her fury? and more dissimulative than her tears? not to take notice of every thing which he reckons up, that is more vexatious in a Conjugal state; where oftentimes one is forced to bring up children of other mens getting; or if our own, we are in danger of their being wicked, and they are oftentimes the dishonour and destruction of their Family, and a reproach to all their Generation. The Emperor Augustus was fully sensible of this, when he wished that his Wife had been Barren, and oftentimes called her and his Niece two blood-suckers.

Marc. Aurelius knowing well the advantages of Marriage; as he was importuned by some to marry his Daughter, Trouble me no more, faith he, with that matter, for if all the consultations and advices of all the wise men in the World were met in one, yet would they not suffice in the business of Marriage; and do you think that I can do it alone, and that so suddenly. It is six years since, saith he, that Antonius Pius chose me for his Son-in-law, and gave me the Empire for a Dowry with his Daughter; [Page] and yet notwithstanding both of us herein deceived, I in taking his Daughter for my Wife, and he in taking me for his Son. He was called Pius, by reason of his mildness and Clemency to every one; but to me, saith he, he hath been hard and cruel, for in little flesh he hath given me a great many bones, which are as Gall and Aloes, which we find mingled in the sweets of Marriage; which (to speak the truth) we cannot so well mask or disguise with artificial words, but that we shall be constrained to confess, that if we would put in counterpoize the Eclipses and misfortunes, (especially in second Marriages) with the pleasures and delights thereof, that the one will weigh down and far surpass the other; and indeed he that hath Children by his first wife, and hath thoughts of a second Marriage, ought above all things to consider (if so be his Children are beloved by him, and doth desire that they should so continue), that he now betroths himself to one whose ends and designs run in a channel quite contrary to his; and should we suppose her to be a woman of an even and pious temper, and one who in almost all things else would steer by the rules of impartial justice and good nature, [Page] yet in this case would she cry out with Julius Caesar, In aliis pietatem colam, and with Rebecca, That the Son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my Son, how well soever outwardly she may pretend to the contrary.

The end of the Second Book.

Heraclitus Christianus: OR, THE MAN OF SORROW. THE THIRD BOOK.

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CHAP. I. Of the misery arising to Men from the Diversity of Religions.

BUT leaving the miseries of Marriages, whether first or second, they being enough to fill up whole Volumes: let us betake our selves to the consideration of other matters, which help to compleat mans misery; and as if it were not enough that all other things were full of sorrow and anguish, and yielded us nothing [Page] but thorns and thistles, yet we must add and create to our selves more misery, and which indeed is the greatest and comparatively the only misery of all, I mean, the dissentions and differences in Religion; for, seeing there is but one Verity amongst so many variety of Opinions; and but one way to Happiness, though people have fancied thousands: what do the poor ignorant sort then think, what straits and fears are they in, when they behold wiser than themselves crumbled into as many Sects as Men? nay every little pretender to have gotten the keys of Heaven, and they therefore must come over to them if ever they think to get in there: and upon that account it is we see them flock (poor wretches, being willing to be happy) to these Mountebancks, who assure no less, than to make them so, and indeed it would make a man think no less, by their sawcy communions which they pretend to have with the Divinity▪ making as if they were as privy to the inmost Counsels of Heaven, and knew its decrees as perfectly as their own dissimulations; and have power to censure, if not to damn all that oppose them, though they tell them nothing but that which they will at last certainly find [Page] true; that 'tis not words, nor looks that will make a man a favourite of Heaven, but a vertuous and pious temper; neither can any man judg of his Relation to God, but by his unwearied diligence in making himself like him: and though men of corrupt minds and various interests cry up Religion to be another matter, yet the foundation of God standeth sure, and will do, against all the restless underminings of its adversaries, who for the vain-glorious Epithetes of Guide & Leader, and the keeping up their reputation amongst the seduced Rabble, will continue to lead them on (notwithstanding the dictates of Piety and Reason) into remediless and endless destruction; who were they really virtuous, and as much lovers of God as they are of their own private humours, the mischiefs arising from the diversity of Opinions, would be for the most part, if not altogether extinguished. How easie were it for men, did they love themselves and others, in a real religious respect, to centre altogether in union and concord in this World, and in endless repose and happiness in the next? But alas, men love to be miserable and humoursom, and will prefer the Butterfly of their own private fancy, before the quiet and preservation [Page] of the whole race of Mankind; would men spend half that zeal and emulation in endeavours after Humility, and Charity, and contempt of the World, as they do in opposing Government and Order: Would men be as ready and as willing to gratifie and meet Truth, as they are ready to cry out they are so: Would they be as willing and as ready to hearken to its suggestions, as they are to those of pride and conceitedness: we should then have no cause to complain of Humame miseries upon this account, nor indeed upon any other.

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CHAP. II. Of divers Plagues wherewith men have been afflicted.

THE City of Constantinople hath been afflicted with so great and such an unheard of Pestilence, that they that were struck with it, imagin'd that their approaching deaths were not occasioned by the maladies they groaned under, but that they were kill'd by others, and died furiously with these apprehensions. In the time of Heraclee, there sprung up such a contagion in Italy, that in a little time it swept away thousands; and the violence of the distemper was so great, that many through impatiency in their sickness, precipitated themselves into the River Tiber that they might obtain some refreshment in that extream heat which inwardly parched them. Thucidides a Greek Author writeth, That in his time the Air was so corrupted in Greece, that there died an infinite number of people, without finding the least remedy. Moreover, he addeth a thing more [Page] strange, That those who returned to their former health, lost their memory and knowledg so far, that they knew not one another: the Father not knowing his own Son. Marc. Aurelius, an Author worthy of Credit, assureth us, That in his time there was such a Mortality in Italy, that the Historians who wrote of those times, found less difficulty in counting the small number of those that were alive, than in counting the great number of those that were dead. The Soldiers of Vidius Cassius being in Selucia a City of Babylon, entred the great Temple of Apollo, where they found a Cabinet, which having opened, and hoping therein to find a great and inestimable Treasure; there came out such an infectious air, that it corrupted first all Babylon, afterwards Greece, and then Rome, where it excited so many Pestilences, that it destroy'd almost the third part of the World. But leaving the Ancient Histories, let us descend to them which have past under our own age, as it were; that we who are Christians may learn by these great miseries and afflictions which God sends us, to know the great weakness and infirmity of our Humane Condition. For when his anger is inflam'd against our [Page] sins, he makes us feel the smart of his Justice so rigorously, that there is no kind of torment and vexation with which he does not afflict and persecute his Creatures: What experience have we had of this in the Year 1528, that when the Pest invaded the French Camp during the Siege of Naples, the violence of the Distemper was so sharp and sudden, that one was sooner dead, than thought to be so. And this unhappy Disease afflicted not only the Vulgar (who were by it almost extinguished) but also the Nobility and Commanders, the Lords of Lautrec, of Vaudemont, De la val, De Moleac, the Chateignary, Grandmont, and other notable personages, the memory of whom cannot be rehears'd without sorrow; which happened also to the English when they had taken Boulon. In which City was ingendred so great a Pestilence, that the living could scarce bury the dead: so that the King of England could not find in his Countrey any that would go and inhabit it: and was necessicated to carry them thither by force, bound and Manicl'd, for the more they carried, the more they died: so that the Cantons of the City were corrupted and putrified, through the Exhalations [Page] and Vapors that proceeded from the dead Carcasses.

The Year after that the defunct French King espous'd Queen Elenor, Germany was assaulted with a new kind of Malady, of which the Infected died in less than 24 hours in a pestilential Sweat; and this distemper having taken its original from the Ocean, spread in an instant throughout all Germany, as a sudden conflagration which wasteth and consumeth every thing; for before there could be found a Remedy, there died so many thousands of men, that many Provinces became as Desarts and waste places through the putrefaction of the Air that consum'd all that did touch it; and that the Air was so much infected, that their Garments were stain'd as it were with a red Cross. Joachim Scilerus writeth, That when the Pestilence so vehemently tormented England for so long time, the vigour of the Poyson was so strong, that not only Men were suffocated and extinguish'd by it, but also [...]he Birds left their Eggs, Nests, and little ones; the Beasts their Dens and Caverns, the Serpents and Moles appear'd in Troops upon the Earth, leaving their proper abodes for vexation of the venomous Vapor contain'd [Page] in the Earth, so that they were found dead under the Trees in the Fields, with Pustules and Sores on their little members.

In the Year five hundred forty six, the last day of May, arose a Plague which lasted nine Months, so great and terrible in Aix, a City of Province, that the people died at their Victuals, so that the Churchyards were so full of dead Corpses, that scarce any place was to be found for the interring of those that were brought thither: the most part of the sick, the second day fell into a Frensie, and cast themselves into Wells: Others threw themselves out at Windows; Others were troubled with a Flux of Blood at the Nose, which ran down night and day like a Flood, and with this effusion of Blood they ended their lives: nay, the matter came to that extremity and desolation, that the Women with Child miscarried in four days time, they and the Children which they went withal perishing, who were found afterwards changed to a Violet and Azure colour, as if the blood was scattered through the whole Body. In short, the affliction was so great, that the Father regarded not his Son, nor the Husband his Wife, and with [Page] Gold and Silver in their hands oftentimes died through hunger and thirst: and if it happen'd at any time that they had wherewith to satisfie Nature, the Distemper was so severe and violent, that oftentimes they were found dead with the meat in their mouths; and the fury of the Malady was so enflam'd, that scarcely could there be found a person free from it. And indeed, people were by one single look infected, a thing wonderfully strange; and their breath was so venomous, that thence immediately arose pestilential Buboes. That which a Phisician hath left us in writing, is a thing wonderful and monstrous in Nature, who being deputed by them of the City for to help and succour the sick, recounteth, That this Distemper was so cruel and malign, that notwithstanding all Medicines, it ceas'd not to destroy all them that were therewith surprized, having no other hope of easement in their pains than by death; and were so opiniated and resolute in this, that as soon as they found themselves therewith seized, they themselves put an end to their miserable lives. Which the same Physician asserts, as having seen and experimented it in many, especially in a Woman whom be called at a Window, in order that she [Page] might take some Remedies, whom he perceived through the same, sowing up her self in her Winding sheet: so that those that interred the infected, entring into her house a little while after, found her dead, and stretch'd in the middle of it with her Winding-sheet half sewed about her.

CHAP. III. Of the Miseries which Mankind have suffered by Famine and many other Plagues.

WHEN our God is angry with us for our sins, he usually punisheth us in this World, with Sickness, Wars, Fires and Famines: all which, the last excepted, we have to our sorrow, I wish I could say to our amendment, in these our days experimented: and that so severely, that former Ages cannot parallel it; Let us fear therefore, and not only so, but deprecate and avert Gods anger by our Repentance, lest that we feel likewise the effects of those menaces which he by his Prophets in Holy Writ hath threatned us: When he saith, That he [Page] will make the Heavens as Brass, and the Earth as Iron: that is to say, barren and fruitless. And for this cause, our Lord declaring to his Disciples the evils that should come to pass; after having foretold, That Nation should rise up against Nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom: He immediately addeth (as if one depended on the other) That there should be great Pestilences and Famines throughout the Regions of the Earth.

After Totillus had besieged Rome, they of the City fell into such scarcity and want of Provision, that having nothing left them, they began to eat all sorts of Animals: as Horses, Dogs, Cats, Rats and Mice, and all other manner of Vermin, and in the end one another. A thing certainly most dreadful, that when the Justice of God presseth us, we are reduced to such necessity, that we spare not our own Kind, nor the Mothers their own Children, which happened likewise in the ruine of Jerusalem, as Eusebius noteth in his Ecclesiastical History. When Grand Scipio besieged the great City of Numantia, having taken from them all means of provision, they were reduced to such Extremity, that they went every day to chase after the Romans as the Hunter [Page] doth after the prey, and eat the Flesh, and drunk the Blood of those they took, as ordinarily then as at other times a quarter of Veal or Mutton, and so spared none; for as soon as ever he was taken, he was kill'd, skin'd, pull'd in pieces and sold in the Shambles; so that he was worth more being dead, than living and Ransom'd. There is mention'd in the Holy Scripture a Famine which was in Samaria, in the time of Elisha, which I think surpassed the precedent; for, there was so great a dearth and scarcity of provision, that the head of an Ass was sold for four score pieces of Silver; and the fourth part of the measure of Pigeons dung, five pieces: and when all was consum'd, the Mothers eat their own Children; so that a poor Woman of that City formed her Complaint to the King of Israel (seeing him on the Wall) That her Neighbour would not observe the Contract and Agreement betwixt them; For we have, saith she, dressed and eaten my Son, and she hides and conceals hers. And when the King heard this which the Woman had said, his heart had like to burst and split with sorrow, and he began to rent his Garments, and cloathe himself with Sackcloth.

Josephus in 3d ch. 7 Book of the Wars [Page] of the Jews, relateth a story like the precedent, where he saith, That there was a Rich and noble Woman when Jerusalem was besieg'd, who had g [...]t together the rest of the great Riches which she had in a certain house of the City, and lived frugally on that little which she had left; but the Soldiers in a short time took all from her: so that as soon as ever she had begged a morsel of meat for her sustenance, they devour'd it: so that in the end, she finding her self pressed with hunger, and bereaven of Victuals and Counsel, she began to arm her self contrary to the Laws of Nature; and looking on her little Child which she suckled, and held in her Arms, she thus cryed out, O unhappy Infant, and more unhappy Mother! what shall I now do with thee? 'tis come to that pass, that if I should save thy life, thou wilt remain in the perpetual servitude of the Romans: Come then my Child, be thou as food unto thy Mother, and terror to the Soldiers who have left me nothing, and to the Ages to come a memorial of horror and pity; and after she had spoke these words, she kill'd it, and put it on the Spit and roasted it, eating the half of it, and setting up the rest. Immediately after she had acted this deplorable Tragedy, the Soldiers returned again to her, who smelling the savour of the roasted [Page] meat, began to threaten her with death if she shewed them not where her food was; but she being resolute in her rage, and seeking nothing but how she might accompany her Son in death, without being the least astonished, said to them, Hold your peace, my Friends, I have not been unjust to you, having saved you exactly your part: and ending these words, she produced the Child on the Table; at which the Soldiers were so amazed and confounded, that they stood as mute and vanquish'd: but she on the contrary with a furious and undaunted look, said, What, my Friends, 'tis my Child, 'tis my doing, why feed you not? I am glutted already: Are you more scrupulous than the Mother that bore it? Disdain you the meats which I have us'd before you, and will now shew you by eating the same, the great distress you have drove me to? But they who could not suffer or endure so piteous a spectacle, fled away and left her alone with the other part of her Child, which was in short all the remainder which they had left her. See the History of Josephus, the very place; which I have the rather transcribed Verbatim, for what was contained in it. But because there are some who are never moved by reading Histories and ancient Examples, unless they experience it in their own [Page] Age, and see it with their Eyes, and touch it as it were with their Fingers: I would therefore now shew that our God spareth us no more than the Ancients, when he's angry with us for our sins, as shall be amply manifest by the History which follows, written by Paradin, a man of great Industry, in that which concerneth History; in his Treatise of the memorable matters of our time, where he saith, That the Kingdom of France was so greatly afficted, that it was thought that all was reduced to the last end and period: For during the space of five whole years, which began in 1528, the Season was in such indisposition and disorder, that the four Elements left their natural courses, and shewed themselves confus'd, perverted and preposterous: the Spring beginning in Autumn; that in the Spring; the Summer in Winter, the Winter in Summer; but above all, the Summer had the dominion over the rest, and quite against its nature; so that in the heart of Winter (viz.) in December, January and February, when the Earth expected its repose and ripening by Frost and cold, there was so great and vehement a heat, and the Earth was so scorched, that in five Years there happened no Frost that dured above a day or two: that which did, was so weak, [Page] that it could not freeze the water; and by this great and unaccustom'd heat, was maintained and nourished the Vermin of the Earth: as Snails and Caterpillars, and them in such quantity, that the young and tender bud of the stalk coming out into the blade, it was immediately gnawed and devour'd by them, which was the cause that the Corn which should have multiplyed and spread, withered and shrunk up, all into one and the same stalk, and produced only one or two blades, and they steril and blasted; in so much, that when they came to thrash it, they found only their seed, and scarce that. And this Famine dured five years without ceasing, which was the cause that an Horse-load of Corn was sold in Lyons, Foret, Auvergne, Burgundy, Savoy & Dauphin, and many other Countreys, at the value of 14, 16, 17, 18 French Pistols: and the poor people who lived competently enough before, were then constrain'd to abandon and forske their dwellings, going up & down begging their bread for Gods sake. And the number of the poor Mendicants encreas'd after such a manner, that it was dreadful to behold them in such crouds, & imposible to relieve them, there issuing out also of their bodies great stinks and infectious vapours, occasioned by their filling their bellies with [Page] all sorts of Herbs good and bad, wholsome and venomous; so that there were no Herbs in the Gardens, even to the very roots, which they devoured not; and when there were no more left to take thence, they had recourse to those that grew by the high-way side; boyling great Chaldrons of Maloes and Thistles, mingling therewith sometimes a little Bran, and so stuffed themselves like Swine, making bread of Acorns and any corrupted root; so much were they constrained by eagerness of Appetite: and remembring that the Hogs loved Fern-roots, they gather'd of them to make bread to feed themselves, defrauding the Swine of their proper food: whereupon ensued an infinite number of Maladies: the richest of the people fell into great fear and trouble seeing such troops of men and women, young and old trembling in the streets, having their skins swoln as if they had the Dropsie; others being half dead, on the ground drew their last gasps, and with such people were the stables and out-houses filled; others were so faint, that they could scarce tell their necessities, and had hardly breath left in their bodies, staggering up and down more like ghosts and shadows than men: After all this, [Page] that which was more to be lamented than the rest, was to see great number of poor Mothers surrounded with many little Children, who for want of Victuals cried and howled to them, and that after such a manner, that it would have melted the most obdurate heart into pity. The aforesaid Paradin writeth, that he himself hath seen in Burgundy a poor woman who by a great purchase and importunity had obtained a morsel of bread, the which was suddenly snatch't away by her little child which she suckled in her arms; who did eat the hard and dry bread with so strong an appetite, that it surpassed imagination; and the Mother being willing to gather up the little crumbs which fell from the mouth of the child, the said infant set it self as it were to debate and cry out of despite to see its Mother gather up the remainders, being afraid of not having enough. The same Author reciteth moreover, that in a Village thereabout were found two women, who finding nothing to asswage their hunger, fed on a venemous Herb called Scyla, much like the Leek, knowing not the property or vertue of the said Herb, they therewith poysoned themselves, so that their feet and hands became as green as Lizards, [Page] and there ran such a venom from under their Nails, that notwithstanding all the help that was administred to them, they died suddenly: So much were all creatures animated and busied in the execution of Gods anger: finally, this misery and calamity of the Season, being of long and intollerable duration, the Country people whose livings lay all in Lands, were constrained to have recourse to rich Merchants (some of whom had amassed great quantities of Corn) that they might buy of them as long as their money would last; and when that was gone, the poor people were fain to Mortgage their Lands and Livings, some selling them out-right, at a very low Rate, that they might have wherewithal to satisfie their hunger.

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CHAP. IV. Of divers other Distempers and Phrensies wherewith men have been affected.

PLiny, and very many other Physicians, Greeks and Arabians, have written, That since two thousand years, there has been discovered more than three hundred several sorts of Diseases to which men are subject: Not to reckon those new ones which appear every day on the stage, I leave the common ones, wherewith many times those that are troubled, are enforced to suffer the burning and Cauterizing of their bodies, Sawing their bones, the taking out of splinters, raking in their sculls, drawing out the very bowels out of their bodies, as if they were to be Anatomiz'd alive. Others have been tied up to so strict a diet, and small quantity of food, by reason of the violence of their Distempers, that they have been constrained to drink their own Urine to quench their thirst, and eat their Plaisters, that they might [Page] moderate their hunger. Others there have been, who have perswaded themselves that they have swallowed Serpents, the cure of whom could not be any ways wrought, but by putting in Serpents into the Bason in which they vomited, making them believe that they came out of their bodies, as Alexander Tralianus relateth of a Damosel whom he healed after this manner, who thought she had swallowed a Serpent in her sleep. Others have been so strangely affected, that they thought themselves transformed into irrational Creatures, as he of whom Galen maketh mention, who thought himself really transformed into a Cock, and conversed ordinarily with them of that kind, he imagined himself to be one; and when he heard them crow, he began to counterfeit and crow with them; and as they clapped their wings against their brests, so did he his arms. Others have thought themselves to be transformed into Wolves, and ceased not all night to run up and down on Mountains and Deserts, following the howlings and other gestures of the Wolves: The Greeks call this kind of Malady Lycanthropia, which may seem fabulous to them who are not acquainted with ancient Histories, or the holy Writings, [Page] wherein we have the Story of Nebuchadnezzar, who was changed into the shape of an Ox for the space of seven years. Others, saith Galen, have thought themselves transformed into earthen Vessels, and stirred not out of the Fields lest they should be dashed in peices. Others have been full three years without sleeping or closing their eye lids, as it happened to good Maecenas. Some have been so distempered, that they have knocked their own heads against the wall, as did a Learned man of our time called Ange Politian. Some have been constrained in their sickness to eat Serpents, as do those who are infected with the Leprosie. From the bodies of others have issued out great number of Serpents, as did out of the body of the Philosopher Pherecides. Some there have been in whose bodies have been ingendred such great quantity of Lice, that they have been eaten up with them.

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CHAP. VI. Of Poysons.

NEither are these evils enough, but Man hath invented of himself more, to set forward his own death as well as his Neighbours; as if those which Nature had prepared for him, and were born with him, were not sufficient to crush him. Such are the poysons which men make now-a-days, and that so dexterously, that there can be no preservation from them, unless men should shun all Society, and betake themselves to Desarts with the brute Beasts, in the company of whom he is more certain of safety than with men. Some Ancient Authors, as Orpheus, Orus, Medesius, Heliodorus, and Aratus, have taught the Composition of five hundred sorts of Poysons; and some others have since augmented the number; but if they were now alive, they would be reputed as dull and insiped; so much is humane malice increased. In former Ages they made use of certain Drugs which are of their nature so venemous, that a Grain weight of them would kill a man immediately, [Page] and was sold at an hundred Crowns an Ounce; so great a Tribute paid he that used them: yet nevertheless they had this consideration, that they made him Swear who bought them, that he should not use it in their Province, nor against their Friends and Allies, but only against strangers: but men are grown in these our times so ingeniously industrious to do evil, that they have found out ways to poyson men by scent only, as did a certain Sienois to his Corrival, presenting him with a Nosegay of Flowers, the smell of which struck him dead immediately. Another▪ a Florentine Cavalier, having taken off his Head-piece that he might refresh himself, was espied by his Enemy, who rubbed on the inside of it so deadly a poyson, that as soon as ever he put it on his head, made him give up the Ghost immediately. They spare not in Italy so much as their Flamboies and Torches, but corrupt and sophisticate them, and that so artificially, that the smoak of them poysoneth; so that you dare scarcely light your Torches for your conduct in the night, if you have suspicion of an Enemy. 'Tis a small matter to apply poyson to meats and drinks, as in time past: for men have found out means now-a-days to poyson the very Horssaddles, [Page] Boots and Spurs; and that which seemeth more pernicious, is, that some have lost their lives by shaking hands with them, whose pretence was Friendship. Some have been poysoned by Letters and Papers sent them, which when opened, there flies out such a poysonous vapour, which rising upward, penetrateth to the brain: And so artificial are they in these Compositions, that the venom killeth according to the intention of the Murderer: for if he pleases, the party shall live three months, six month, a year, or longer; so that death shall answer the time of the design of the Composition: Moreover, if they please they can so order the effects of the poyson, that it shall hurt but one member at a time. An experiment not much unlike to this we now speak of, hath been found too true, to their cost, who drank of a poysoned Fountain on this-side the Rhine, which caused their teeth to fall out of their heads who tasted of it: but mens malice hath extended farther yet, and hath given greater testimony of their execrable wickedness, in that they have not stuck to mingle poyson with the blessed Sacrament.

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CHAP. VI. Of the great Calamities which Men have suffered by the overflowing of Water.

WHAT remaineth more for the perfecting of Man's Misery, seeing the very Elements rise up against him, and are as Witnesses and Ministers of Gods vengeance for his sins? what is there more necessary to Humane Life than Water, seeing that neither Man, Beast, nor Herb can subsist without it? (not to reckon the Ornament and Beauty which it bringeth to the Universe) it is the most ancient and mightiest of all the Elements, as saith Pliny and Isidore. It ruineth and layeth low the Mountains, predominateth and governeth the Earth; puts out the Fire, turneth it self into Vapours, surpasseth the Region of the Air, from whence afterwards it descendeth to engender and produce all things on the Earth: and yet nevertheless, what Chastisements hath Antiquity experimented from the vigor [Page] of this Element, when the Deluge of Water overflowed and covered the whole Earth? when the Veins of the Heavens were opened, that the Waters surpassed the highest Mountain by fifteen Cubits, as Moses describeth it in Genesis? How many times hath Egypt been drown'd by the overflowing of the River Nilus? How many thousands of men have lost their Lives and been buried in the bellies of Fishes? How sensible has Greece been of the fury of the Waters, when the greatest part of Thessaly was drown'd, all the Inhabitants expecting nothing but the entire ruin of mankind by the violence of this Element? What mischief received the Romans by the overflowing of the River Tiber, which swelled after such a manner, that the waters mounted above the highest Towers and Pinacles of the City? the Bridges were broken down: their Gold, Silver, Corn, Wine, Cloth, Silk, Stuff, Oiles, Wool and other Goods, to the value (as was computed) of two or three Millions of Gold, lost and consumed; above 3000 Men, Women and Children were destroyed by the violence of the Flood. Jasper Contaren writeth in his Book of the four Elements, That in our time, Valence a City of Spain, lacked but little of being [Page] drowned with all its Inhabitants by the violence, and before unknown eruption of Water: so that if it had not been speedily succoured with Ramparts, they had all undoubtedly perished.

CHAP. VII. Of Fire, and the Mischiefs which Men have receiv'd by it.

WHAT is there more admirable in Nature than the Fire, by the benefit of which all our Meats are seasoned, the Lives of many preserved, the Metals Calcinated and made flexible, the Iron softned, macerated and vanquished; the Stones which we use in the structure of our Buildings, baked and hardened in the belly of the Earth by its aid and assistance? and yet nevertheless, how many famous Cities have been burned and reduced to Ashes? the most ancient Testimony of this is in the Sacred Writings concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, upon which the Lord rained Fire and Brimstone from Heaven. The last Conflagration and Universal ruin of the Earth must be executed by the fury [Page] of this Element, as is written by the Prophets and Apostles. In the time of Lucius Marcus, and Sextus Julius, Consuls, there broke out such a great Flame from two Mountains, that all the Cities, Towns and Hills thereabouts, with their Inhabitants, were consumed by the violence thereof, which issued out with unconceivable vehemency. I could likewise make mention of Thunders and Lightnings, and how many Noble Personages have been destroy'd by this sudden and violent Death, as Joroastus, King of the Bactrians, Captain in the Thehan Wars. Ajax, after the destruction of Troy. Anastasius, Emperour, after the 27th Year of his Empire. Carius also, and many other Kings and Emperors, who have come to an untimely end by this kind of Death.

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CHAP. VIII. Of Earth quakes.

THE Air is so requisite for the Conservation of Man, that there is no Creature can live without it; and yet nevertheless it's so pernicious to mankind when it is corrupt and putrified, that the most part of the forementioned Pestilences take their first original from it. The Earth, which is the most sweet and tractable of the Elements, being the common Mother and receptacle of us all; being born, it nourisheth and sustains us, and at last takes us into her entrails as in our Couch, and keepeth us until our God shall call us to appear before his Tribunal: and yet nevertheless she produceth all the venom and poison with which our poor life is continually assaulted; and sometimes by her quakings and agitations, many Towns have been demolished, and many thousands of Men swallowed down into the depth of her Abyss. In the Reign of Mithridates the Earth began to be moved with such an impetuosity, that there was [Page] not only many Cities ruined, but there was above a hundred thousand people swallowed up in it. In the Reign of Constantine, there was such a great number of Cities and their Citizens ruined in Asia, that with great difficulty could the Historians number them: In the time of Isocrates and Plato, the Earth so opened in Europe, that two great Cities with all their Inhabitants, were in an instant overthrown and ruined. There was never since the memory of man read of a more terrible Earthquake than that which was in the time of Tiberius Caesar, by which in the space of a night, twelve great Cities were swallowed with all their Inhabitants: amongst which was Rollonia, Ephesus, Caesarea, Philadelphia, and many others. Marc. Varro, one of the most worthy Authors that have written in Latin, saith, That in Spain there was a great Town scituated in a Sandy-placc, which was so hollowed and digged by the Connies▪ that finally the Inhabitants for sook it for fear of being buried in its Ruins. The same Author writes, That there was a City in France, which was rendred uninhabitable by reason of the great number of Frogs: The same happened in Africa, by means of the Grashoppers. Theophrastus makes [Page] mention of a certain Province made desolate by innumerable companies of Worms. Pliny makes mention of a Province that borders on the limits of Ethiopia, where the Ants and Scorpions and other Vermin, have drove into exile the Men that inhabited there. The Flies drove away the Magarenses in Greece. The Wasps chased the Ephesians. Anthenor writeth, That great swarms of Bees drove from a City its Inhabitants, and made their Nests in their Houses. What testimony have we here of Humane frailty? what a School and Discipline to learn Man to know himself in? what evidence of the Power of God over his Creatures, whose Judgments are so terrible and affrightful, that as soon as ever Man beginneth to glory and raise himself against his God, he knoweth well how to depress him: and therefore he sendeth him Heralds and forerunners of his Anger, War, Famine and Plagues: But moreover, there's no Element nor living Creature though never so contemptible, which seeketh and worketh not his ruin, and who are not as Ministers and Executors of the Divine Justice, as is manifest not only by the testimony of Ethnicks, but also by the Sacred Writings, when the Frogs and Grashoppers abandoned their [Page] proper Elements, to ascend up even to the Chamber and Bed of obstinate Pharaoh.

We have hitherto deduced a strange Philosophy of the misery of Man; for if he were of Iron or Steel, or harder than a Diamond, it would be notwithstanding miraculously wonderful how he could last the one half part of his life-time without being shattered and broken, seeing the pain, anguish, travel and Martyrdom which he must every minute endure: and yet notwithstanding the many misfortunes wherewith he is continually afflicted, he humbleth not himself under the Almighty hand of his Creator; which thing being not well understood by Plato and Pliny, seeing this great Gulf of misery in which Man is plunged from his Birth even to his Sepulchre, they have called Nature, Step-dame and cruel Extortioner, who causeth Man to pay so much for his Excellency and Dignity; But both the one and the other have under the name of Nature unreasonably accused God of cruelty and injustice: for all these evils, and this Sea of Misery wherewith Man is overwhelmed, cometh not from the hatred of God, but from the malice and corruption of Man; for he equalling himself [Page] with his Maker, declined and fell from his pristine Nobility, defacing in himself the Image of God, and imprinting instead thereof the Image of the Devil. Arrogancy and Audaciousness is the cause of all the wounds and maledictions which he receiveth: for, had it not been for Ambition and desire of being great, we had been as the Angels; we had remained and been now what we shall be in the Resurrection, crowned with Glory and Honour. Neither is this all, but what is worse, and far more vexatious, are the distempers of our minds, they being far more dangerous than those of our bodies: for they of the Body shew themselves by signs, either by the bad colour of the Visage, or by the unequal beating of the Pulse, or some other intemperature, or signs of disorder; and having known them, the Remedy is presently sought after: but he that is distempered in mind, is render'd uncapable of judging of his own Condition; so that the Patient knowing not his distemper, seeketh not after Remedies; and yet is there also a greater abuse of them which have their bodies afflicted, for we call them by the names of the Diseases wherewith they are tormented: as them who are troubled [Page] with Phrensie, we call them Phrenetick; them who are vexed with the Palsie, we call them Paralytick; them who labour under Joint-evil, we call Gouty. But we do quite otherwise in the maladies of the Mind: for those who are angry and Cholerick, burning in their Passion, murthering one another, we call them Valiant and Magnanimous, and look on them as persons having their Honour in great Recommendation; Those who seduce Women and Maidens, immersing themselves in Lust and lasciviousness, we term them Lovers, and persons endued with Kindness, Hmility and sweetness of Disposition: Those who are Ambitious, and do endeavour by all illicite means to make themselves Great and Honourable, we call them Noble, Gallant, and Persons of▪ Noble and active Spirits: Them who are Covetous, and make themselves Rich in a short time, circumventing their Neighbours by a thousand Subtilties and Inventions, we call them thristy and good Husbands, who manage well their affairs: and so of all the others, calling those things Vertues, which are really Vices; making those things worthy of Honour which merit nought else but blame and misprision. And now if we [Page] would in order pursue the infinite Maldies with which the minds of Men are for the most part at this day tormented, as we have done those of the Body; What Eloquence, what Words are there that can reach it? What Majestick Sentences can comprehend it? seeing the Age wherein we are, is for the most part involved in so many Vices, that it seemeth, as if all the Vices of the precedent Age were met together in this.

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CHAP. IX. Of Avarice.

LET us begin at Avarice; and whoever saw any thing more rooted and setled in the Earth than this is now? for what are all the Cities, Republicks, Provinces and Kingdoms of this World (if we could rightly consider them) but meer Shops and Magazines of Covetousness? This is the time of which the Prophet Isaiah speaks, The Earth is full of Gold and Silver, there is no end of their Treasure: they joyn House to House, Field to Field, as if they alone would inhabit in the middle of the Earth. And out of this pestilent root of Covetousness, proceedeth (as from a Fountain) all the Evils which are disgorged on the whole World: from thence is the original of the most part of the War and effusion of Blood wherewith the Earth is bathed: From thence spring Murthers, Treasons, Sacriledges, Pillages, Usuries, Frauds and Perjuries, corruption of Judges, and perversion of Witnesses: from thence proceed Poisonings, prolongation [Page] of Law-suits, with which the Christian Courts are replenished: and yet nevertheless, this Vice is so frequent and common amongst men, that you can scarcely tell any state or condition that is not therewith tainted. Judas and Simon Magus planted the first Root, which hath since so well encreas'd, that there's scarcely a Province in Christendom which can be said to be free from it. In the time when the Gospel was first planted in the World, and its Professors were harassed by a continued and uninterrupted persecution, then were the indigencies of poor distressed people, taken care of, and provided for; but now in these last and worst times wherein men have fallen into formality and hypocrisie, their wants are so far from being relieved, that they only serve for Objects whereon to exercise our scorn. I am almost ashamed to relate a monstrous History of the Avarice of an Italian Prelate, named Angelot, who was exalted to the dignity of a Cardinal, and was so poisoned with this unhappy venom of Covetousness, that when the Groom had at night given Oats to his Horses, he came down by a false Door into the Stable alone without light, and being there, robbed his own Horses [Page] of their Provender, and continued so to do, and that for so Iong a time, that at last the Groom perceiving them grow leaner and leaner, hid himself one night in the Stable, where catching his Gentleman in the very act, gave him so many blows with the Fork, that he was fain to be carried into his Chamber, receiving this Treatment as a worthy recompence of his base and greedy Humour; which story would seem fabulous, had not Phil [...]lphe, and Jovian Pontanus, in his Book concerning Liberality, and many other Authors, made mention of it. These are the fruits, this the profit of these unhappy Riches, which are gotten and obtained with so much pain and labour, and kept and preserved with so much Solicitude, and parted from with such groans and Exclamations. The ancient Romans, when their Republick was governed by poor people, had all the prosperity desirable; but through great Riches and Victories obtained by their Predecessors, as the destruction of Corinth, Achaia, Antioch, France, Italy, Egypt and Spain, their Empire began to decline: for their Victories, Prey and Plunder, were the corruption of their Manners and of their ancient Government and Discipline, and [Page] the occasion and original of cruel War: for they which could not be brought down and subdued by force of Arms, were vanquished and overcome by softness and luxury, so that their Riches have taken vengeance on themselves: and it has been with them as it is with Cloth which corrupteth and engendreth Moths; and as it is with Corn, which breedeth worms that eat it; which the great King Solomon experimented in himself, when he had amassed such great Treasures, that his Riches surpassed the Glory of all other Kings of the Earth: and who hath made a full experiment of the delights which arise from the enjoyment of the goods of this world, and leaveth us his advice and judgment, as followeth: I made me, saith he, great Works, I builded me Houses, I planted me Gardens and Orchards, I set Trees of all sorts of fruit; I made me Cisterns of Water for the refreshing the Forests of green Trees: I got me Men servants and Maidservants, great herds of Cattel, greater than any before me in Jerusalem; I amassed great quantity of Gold and Silver; I got me Men-singers, and Women-singers, and all the delights of the sons of Men; I made my self great, yea, greater than was any yet before me, I denied my self nothing, [Page] and had all which my heart desired: and after all this, I began to contemplate all the works which my hands had made, and all the labour which I had taken under the Sun: and I considered and saw all that I had made, and behold it was nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit, and that there is nothing lasting under the Sun. Let us hearken a little to the Prophet Baruch, whom we shall find to be a more sharper reprover of those who are so affectionately given over to their delights and pleasures: Where, saith he, are the Princes, and such as rule and have dominion over the Beasts on the Earth? they that have their pastime with the Fowls of the air, and they that hoarded up Silver and Gold wherein men trust, and made no end of ther gettings? are they not vanished and gone down to the grave, and others come up in their steads? they have seen light and dwelt on the Earth, but the way of knowledg have they not known.

But let us leave these Idolaters and their treasures, with Aristophanes Patroclus, Virgil's Pigmalion, the Polymnestor of Propertius and Horace's Midas, with the cruel Rich Man mentioned in the Gospel: seeing that the spirits of men (which are of a Coelestial and Divine Nature) have nothing to do with Gold and Silver, [Page] which is nothing else, but but a real excrement of the Earth.

CHAP. X. Of Envy.

BUT let us come to another Vice, which they call Envy; which (as Aristippus assures us) is of as near kin to the precedent, as is the Mother to the Daughter, for one begetteth the other: How many are there afflicted with this Evil? the season is come that the World is nothing else than a Family of envious Persons: 'tis the most ancient and eldest of all, yet nevertheless is it the most practised in our age, and seemeth to return to its first insancy. The Ancients have had experience of it in Adam and the Serpent, in Abel and Cain, in Jacob and Esau, in Joseph and his Brethren, in Saul and David, in Ahcitophel and Cush, who persecuted one another: not so much for the Riches which either of them possessed, but for Envy and Hatred which they had one towards another: but this is little in respect of what we experience [Page] every day amongst Christians: for our age is come to that pass, that if there could be one found amongst us who had the beauty of Absalom, the strength of Sampson, the wisdom of Solomon, the Agility of Azael, the Riches of Cresus, the Liberality of Alexander, the Vigor and dexterity of Hector, the Eloquence of Homer, the Fortune of Augustus, the Justice of Trajan, the zeal of Cicero: yet let him be certain of this, that the number of his Vertues shall not be greater than the number of those who will envy him; and this cursed Vice seizes not only on them who are of a moderate Fortune, but those who are of a higher Condition; for when they are on the top of the Wheel, and think themselves in a peaceable possession of the favours of Kings and Princes: some one or other through Envy gives them a cast down from their height and greatness. Wherefore the Sage Emperour Marc. Aurelius was wont to say, That Envy was such a venomous Serpent, that there was scarce ever any Mortal but has been bitten with her teeth, and scratched with her claws, and trampled on with her feet, and poysoned with her venome. I have read, saith he, many Books, and conversed with many knowing men, in order to the [Page] finding out a Remedy against Envy; And after much debate and consultation, I have found no other means of privation, than for one to banish himself from a prosperous Fortune; the reason is, because that we are the sons of Envy, born with Envy; and he that shall leave the most goods behind him, shall leave the most of Envy. And for this cause the Ancients counselled the Rich, that they should not dwell near the Poor, and the Poor that they should not dwell near the Rich; for from the Riches of the Rich sprung the seed of the envy of the Poor.

Consider we now the Ambition and Pride which reigneth this day amongst us: for, whoever saw such excessive Pomp in all Estates as we see now? so that we may well call our time the age of Satin, Plush, Purple and Silk, wherein is such care and sollicitude taken to adorn and set out this Carcass: and in the mean time think not upon, nor make no reckoning of our poor Soul, which is full of ulcerous sores and wounds, and torn and shattered with a great number of sins and enormities with which it is beset and surrounded: but let us have a care, that after all these things there cometh not that upon us which the Prophet threatned the Women of Jerusalem with; who [Page] after having reproached them of their proud Gate and D [...]marche, their impudent and lascivious Looks, the motions of their Eyes, their Head-dressings, their Chains, Bracelets, Rings, Girdles, Pendants, and other their gaudy pompous Dresse: He telleth them plainly, That instead of Perfumes and sweet Smells, they should have stinking and noisom Odours; instead of Girdles, Cords; instead of Curled locks, baldness; and that their comliest men should pass on the edg of the Sword, and the strong and valiant should be slain in the War.

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CHAP. XI. Of Love.

ADD we now to the preceding Miseries, another Malady and affliction of spirit, which they call Love; but so contagious, that all States in the World are therewith tainted: an Evil so pestilentially venomous, that it mingles and plunges promiscuously with all Ages, like the Devils who are in all the Elements, without sparing any person either old or young, wise or foolish, weak or strong: and the great danger of this Distemper is, that they become in the end frantick and transported from their Senses, if they are not well looked to, and diverted. Wherefore Paul Aeginetain, in his third Book, prescribeth to them who are affected with this Malady, the same Physick and Rules of living as he does to Fools, Ideots and Mad-men: which Empiricles (following the counsel of Plato) ordained also: who defined two sorts of madness: one of which he calls Erotakin, which signifies in English, Love; I have [Page] seen some persone anatomiz'd who died of this Distemper, having their entrails shrivled and shrunk up, their Hearts burned, their Liver smoaked, their Lungs, roasted, all the ventricles of their Brain damnified: their spirits exhausted and dryed up by the excessive heat which they endured when the Feaver of Love had surprized them; and as the cure of this Malady is hard and difficult, so also is the original doubtful amongst them who have writ of it. The Thysicians say, That this fury of Love which rageth so vehemently, and which so entangleth the whole World, proceedeth from the correspondent quality of the blood, and that the affection engendreth this Distemper. The Astrologers would be a party, and have also put their Sickle in the Harvest of Lovers, saying, That Love proceedeth when two meet, having the same ascendant, or when they conform in some Constellation: for then they are constrained to love each other. Philosophers say, That when we come to cast our eyes on the thing which we desire, suddenly the spirits which are engendred of the subtilest and most perfect part of the Blood, part from the heart of the thing which we love, and suddenly ascend and mount up to the Eyes, and afterwards burst themselves [Page] into invisible vapors, and so enter into our Eyes, which are disposed to represent them just as a spot on a Looking-glass, which being looked on, from thence penetrateth even to the heart, and by little and little dilateth it self every where: the miserable Lover being drawn by these new spirits which desire continually to joyn themselves and approach to their principal and natural abode, and is constrained to grieve and lament his lost liherty. Others after a thousand conceits and guesses, were fain to give over their Enquiries, as not being able to find out the source and original of so furious a Malady; saying, That Love was I know not what, and came I know not how: was enflamed after an unknown manner: A thing perhaps not untrue. For whosoever shall consider the gestures, countenances, and behaviour of these poor passionate wretches, he will confess that he never saw a more strange Metamorphosis, nor a more ridiculous Spectacle. Sometimes you shall see them altogether melted into Tears, making the air sound with their shreekings and lamentations, murmurings and imprecations. Sometimes you see them frozen, benumb'd, pale, despairing, sliding up and down like-Larves and Phantasms. Other times, when they have received [Page] some comfortable Speeches, good and favourable Looks, and kind reception from them whom they love; you shall see them gay, jocund and airy, in so much that you'l think they are changed into some other shape: Sometimes they love private and solitary places, that they may talk alone, reason, design and dispute with themselves. Sometimes you'l see them pass five or six times in a day through the same street, to espy and watch that they may have a favourable look from them whom they Love: and the poor Varlets have their Skins broken with running, their Arms wearied and aking with serubbing, rubbing, dressing and adorning their Master, and if there happens to them any sparks of Jealousie, then they mount up to the highest degree of fury, and are then in inexpressible peril and danger, there being no sensible part about them which is not ulcerated, becoming rash, bold and ventursom; there being no Art, Invention or Machine which they produce not; becoming Lycanthropes, and running up and down in the Nights like howling Wolves: and although the Malady be of it self fantastical enough, yet according to the humour which it meets withal, it worketh [Page] strange and wonderful effects: For if the Lover be poor, there shall be no office of Humanity which he employeth not, even to the sacrificing and cutting himself in pieces, if need be: If he be Rich, His Purse (as say the Greeks) is tied and fastned by a hair; If he be Covetous, he becometh immediately prodigal and open-handed, which moved Plautus to say, That Love must be the first Invention of the Wallet. If the Person affected be a man of Letters, and has any measure of Spirit and Fancy, you shall then see him feigning a Sea of Tears, a Lake of Miseries, redoubling his Cryes, accusing the Heavens, anatomizing his Heart, freezing the Summer, burning the Winter, adoring, idolizing, admiring, feigning of Paradises, forging of Hells, making himself a Sisiphus, Tantalus, Titius; and if it happen that he would extol that which he loves, then her Hair is nothing but fine Gold, her Eye-lids, Arches and Vaults of Ivory; her Eyes stars, her Looks Lightning, her Mouth Coral, her Teeth Eastern Pearls, her Breath Balm, Amber and Musk, her Throat Snow, her Breasts Alabaster; and generally, all the rest of her Body is nothing else but the prodigality and Treasure [Page] of Heaven and of Nature, who had reserved her as a choice Vessel, wherein she would pour in those eminent and incomparable perfections, for which he loves and adores her; and thus this cruel Malady of Love torments those who are therewith affected: and yet nevertheless there is so many People, Nations and Provinces troubled with these furious assaults, that were there an Army to be raised of all the Lovers which are in the World, there's no Emperour, Monarch or Potentate whatsoever, but would tremble at the sight of so many fools in a Company; and this Pestilent evil (by custom and habit) hath gained and prevailed so far on mankind, that there cannot be found any Remedy, although that many Greek and Arabian Physicians have employed all their most excellent Medicines to deliver them from their Martyrdom. Samocrasius, Cigidus and Ovid, have written many great Tomes and Volumes of the remedy of Love, in which they shew Remedies for others; but the mischief on it is, that they could not find any for themselves, they all three dying, pursued and destroyed, not for the hurt or ill which they did at Rome, but for the Amours which they invented at Capua. [Page] The Emperour Marc. Aurelius, knowing that Faustina his wife was enamoured with a Fencer, and that so ardently, that she was ready to die and pine away for the love of him, assembled together a great number of Learned men in all Faculties and Sciences for to advise with, and counsel him how he might put out that Fire wherewith his Wife was enflamed; but after many consultations, some Empericks counselled him, That he should cause him on whom she so much doted, to be killed, and the blood of him to be secretly given her to drink, which was speedily executed. This indeed was a great Remedy, for her affection was cooled; but yet was it not of so great efficacy (as writeth Capitolin) but that Anton. Com. whom they begot afterwards, was bloody and cruel, and more resembled the Fencer than his Father, and conversed ordinarily with those sort of people, and delighted more in their, than in any other Company: so that the passion of the Mother seemed to be translated into the Child. But yet is all this but little in respect of what I have read in many Histories: the matter coming to that pass, that when this foolish Frenzy seizeth and taketh hold on our spirits, it maketh us brutish [Page] and sensless, as is evidently and manifestly shown in a Youth of one of the richest Families in Athens, and well known by all the Inhabitants of that City; who having oftentimes contemplated an excellently well-made Statue of Marble, which was fixed in a publick place in Athens: He was so exceedingly taken with it, that he could not part from the sight of it, as if it had been endued with Life and motion; and was so greatly affected, that when he was out of the sight of it, he cryed and lamented with so great passion that 'twould have moved the most harden'd to pity; and in the end this passion gained so much upon him, that he was reduced to such extremity, that he desired the Senate to sell it him at what prize they pleased, that he might carry it about with him, and have it at home, and all places wherever he went: Which they would not agree to, because it was belonging to the Publick, and that their power extended not so far. At which being much troubled, He caused a Crown of Gold, with other rich and sumptuous Ornaments to be made, and went towards the Statue, putting the Crown on its Head, and adorning it with rich Vestments: and then began to contemplate [Page] and adore it with such obstinacy and pertinaciousness, that the Vulgar being scandalized with his foolish and ridiculous Amours, he was at last deterred by the Magistrates from coming near it. At vvhich he vvas so grievously cast down and troubled, that at the end he killed himself. For the operations of this passion is so great, that since it hath made entrance into the hearts of Men, it vvalketh incurable through all the vital and sensible parts of the Body: and being in full possession of us, causeth an infinite of trouble and sorrow, and that so sharply, that it many times puts an end and period to our lives: vvhich the great Philosopher A Pollonice Thiance confirmed to the King of Babylon, vvho vvith importunate Entreaties desired him that he would tell him vvhich vvas the most cruel and painful of all Torments which could be invented by all the secrets of Philosophy, that therewith he might punish and chastise a young Gentleman vvhom he had found in Bed vvith a beautiful Damosel whom he affected; The greatest Torment, saith the Philosopher, which can be invented for to punish him, is, To let let him live; For you shall see, saith he, That by little and little the vehement Fire [Page] of Love will gain so much on him (as it hath already begun, that the pain which he will endure will be so great, that it cannot be conceiv'd and imagin'd; for he shall find such Emotions within his Soul, that he shall burn and consume in this Flame, as doth the Fly in a Candle: so that his life shall be no more life, but a real Death, and that more cruel than if passed through the hands of all the Tyrants and Hangmen in the World.

I have been somewhat tedious in treating on this Subject; but indeed the thing requires it, being the entire Corruption and ruin of the most part of the Youth of our Age: for when they have never so little wetted their feet in the delights of this World, it is the hardest thing in nature for them to retrieve themselves; Youth, Liberty, and Riches, being the greatest Pimps and Bawds in the World.

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CHAP. XII. Of the Misery of Old Age.

AND then when we should sing a Requiem from all our Troubles, cometh upon us Old Age with its infirmities, and then our sorrows are renewed and grown young again, and we must then pay a rigorous Interest for all the faults and excesses of our Youth; the Heart, that is miserable, sad and heavy by the gloomy reflections of a mis-spent Life; the Spirit, that is languishing; the Breath, that is stinking and loathsom; the Face so furrowed and wrinkled, and generally the Body so curbed, that it seemeth to be some lump of Lead or Iron, rather than a Man; the Nose hath lost its faculty of smelling, the Eyes of seeing, the Hair falls off, the Teeth falls out of the Head by stink and rottenness: in short, he resembleth some dry Anatomy, or the picture of death, rather than the Man he was; and this is only of the Body; but alas, the mind of aged people is as much out of order, or rather more; for they are then continually disposed [Page] to anger, hard to be appeased, light of belief, and long a forgetting injuries; praise the Ancients and former Ages, and despise and contemn the Modern, are sad, languishing, malancholy, covetous, hard and suspicious: In brief, 'tis the retreat and rendezvouz of all the Vices and incommodiousness of our nature; which being considered by the Emperour Augustus, he was wont to say, That when men had lived fifty years, they ought to dye, and desire to be killed, for asmuch as to that time they felt none of the grievances of old Age, which is unavoidably past over in sorrow and misery, and in insupportable pains and sickness, death of Children, loss of Goods, Law Suits, paying Debts, and an infinite of other troubles, which it were better with eyes shut, wait for at the Sepulchre, than to experiment them with open eyes in this frail and sorrowful life. Which the Prophet apprehending, cried out unto the Lord, saying, Withdraw not thy self from me when I am in years, nor for sake me when assailed with old age.

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CHAP. XIII. Of DEATH.

AFTER Man hath groaned and sighed under the insupportable burden, and heavy weight of his miserable Life; he is forced to live always in the fearful expectation of the division of the Soul and Body, which is for the most part accompanied with inconceivable and inexpresible torments: Which St. Austin considering and bewailing, breaks out into this querulous Lamentation: O Lord God, saith he, how miserable a creature is man, who after having sustained so many vexatious evils, yet must endure the terrible assaults of Death; which oftentimes cometh so violently, that it burns and tares all in pieces, and hath more ways to destroy us, than can be related, or thought of. Sometimes oppressing by Feavers, sometimes by Hunger, sometimes by Thirst, sometimes by Fire, another by Water; one with the Sword, another with Poyson, some are torn in pieces with the teeth of Wild-Beasts, some are made meat for Fishes, [Page] some of Worms; and yet nevertheless man knoweth not the end; and when he thinketh himself permanent and lasting, he falleth and perisheth. What an affrightful Spectacle is it to behold a man on his bed of Sickness, pressed with the agonies of Death? what trembling! what horror! what alteration and change in all the bands of Nature! the Feet become cold and benum'd, the Face waxeth pale, the Eyes hollow, the Lips and Mouth draw themselves inward, the Pulse diminisheth, the Tongue grows black, the Teeth shut, and press one against another, the Breath fails, and a cold sweat appeareth over the whole Body; which is a certain sign and demonstration that Nature is overcome and vanished: And when it comes to the sorrowful departure of the Soul from its ancient Habitation, all the vessels and ligaments of Nature are broken; then the Hellish Host, as so many Vultures, surround the Sick-mans Bed; for there is no invention or subtilty which they practise not, to induce us to settle our thoughts and hopes on our good Living, on false Opinions, and destructive Presumptions, or else setting before us such an infinite number of our sins and offences (with such horrid aggravations), that the consideration [Page] of them might drive us into rage and despair, and blasphemous defiances of Heavenly Justice: then's the hour, then's the moment, then's the point, in the which the Devil with all the powers of darkness attacks us, and that so much the more fiercely, because he well knows then we shall escape out of his claws, or for ever remain in them: And so now when our bodies lye inanimate and sensless, and an eternal night of darkness sits brooding on our Forheads: Where are all our officious friends and attendants, who in our lifetime did so honour and reverence us, and were so passionately disirous of our company?—Do they not all forsake us, and abhor and detest the sight of us? do they not all leave us to the cold earth, to be made a prey to Worms and Serpents? and thus it is with all men; thus fares it with his Holiness, his Majesty, his Grace, his Excellency, his Honour, and his Worship too: they all receive the same usage with the poorest mortal that grovels on the earth: And what will it then signifie to them that they have been esteemed for their Birth, for their Riches, for their Beauty, or for their Wit, or for any thing else, save Virtue and true Goodness? For as for all other things, they are passed away [Page] as a Shadow, and as an Arrow drawn from a Bow, and as the smoak scattered with the wind, or as a Ship that passeth ever the waves of the water, which when it is gone, the trace thereof cannot be found: or as a Bird which flyeth through the air, there being no sign left of her way which she hath made, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings, and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, she flyeth through, and there is afterwards no mark to be found where she went.

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CHAP. XIV. Of the Final Judgment.

HOW comparatively happy would Men be, could they here end their Misery? might their Souls moulder away as their Bodies, and both one and the other return into their Primitive nothing? But alas! they both must unite and appear before the Great Tribunal of an Allknowing and Impartial Judg, Who will render to every man according to his works, and they that have done good shall go into everlasting life, and those that have done evil into everlasting destruction. What horror and confusion will this Day strike into the heart of the most resolute sinner? When the Sun shall be turned into dark ness, and the Moon into blood: when the Stars shall no more produce their light, nor be any more seen shining in the Heavens: when the Elements shall melt with servent heat, and the Earth be burnt up with fire. And as it was in the time of Noah, so shall it be then, for there shall be eating and drinking, Marrying and giving in Marriage, [Page] and immediately the Trumpet shall sound to call them to Judgment; then shall the People and Nations of the earth, howl and lament, and hide themselves in the holes and caves of the earth, and shall call upon the mountains to fall down upon them, and cover them from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne. Sound the Trumpet, and cry a loud (saith the Prophet Joel) and let all the Inhabitants of the earth tremble, for the day of the Lord draweth nigh, the day of darkness and obscurity, the day of clouds and trouble, when all the Inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, the fire shall devour before his face, and flames of fire shall follow him. And after this Execution of the Divine Justice, the dead which are in their Graves, having heard his voice, shall arise and come forth. The bones and other parts shall seek for their joynts in order to their union with the body; all those that the Beasts and Birds have devoured; all them whom the Sea has swallowed; all that is evaporated into Air; all that the fire hath consumed, shall be reduced into its essence and pristine state; all the blood which the Robbers, and Pirates, Murderers, Tyrants, and Mercenary Judges have unjustly shed, shall be then found without [Page] the diminution of a drop of it. And if it was a cruel spectacle to behold the Beasts leave the earth (which is their proper Element), following the anger of God, and entring into the Ark with Noah, and as it were imploring his aid and succor; how much more dreadful will it be to them who have lived unjustly, to appear before the great and dreadful Judg? When the Books shall be opened, that is to say, the Sins and Enormities of our poor ulcerated Conscience, shall be at that time manifested and laid open to the sight of Men, Angels, and Devils. If the Vail of the Temple was rent, if the Earth trembled, and the Sun was darkned and obscured for the injury which was done to our Saviour on the Cross, although he had in nothing offended; with what countenance can poor sinners look, who have offended and blasphemed so many times? If that the Vision of an Angel is so terrible to us, that we cannot endure it, as testified St. John, who was not able to behold such splendor and brightness, but fell to the earth for dead. And the Children of Israel had such terror, that they earnestly desired Moses to speak unto them himself, saying, We will hearken to thee when thou speakest; but we [Page] cannot bear this voice coming from Heaven, which causeth us even to give up the ghost (although that the Angel spake favourable): How will the poor sinner then endure the Voice and Splendor of the Majesty of God, being in his Throne of Glory? When he shall say, as speaketh the Prophet Isaiah, Now is the hour wherein I will avenge my self on my enemies, and my anger shall be accomplished; and they shall know that I am the Lord, who have so often admonished, wooed, beseeched and entreated them; for I will stand before them as a Bear, who is robbed of her whelps: I have been still for a long time and kept silent, but now I will cry out as she that is in labour, I will scatter, I will swallow up all together: I will reduce the Mountains to Deserts: I will cause the Herbs to wither, the Rivers and Floods to be dried up, and hinder the course of the Spring, and turn the darkness into light. I have called them, but they have refused; I have stretched out my hand, but they have not regarded: They have rejected my counsel, and would not hearken to my reproof; therefore will I laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh; and when their torment and anguish draweth near to them, they shall call, but I will not answer; [Page] they shall seek me, but I will not be found; and if the Heavens are unclean in his sight, and if he hath found fault in his Angels, what will he find in us, who are houses of clay, and whose foundations are in the dust?

How shall we be able to stand before him, whose countenance is as Lightning, and before whom there goeth a consuming Fire? and yet stand we must, and give an account of all the various circumstances and cases of our Life; then we must come to a reckoning concerning the good we have received, and the good which we our selves have done; then 'tis that we must give an account of the improvement which we have made of all those wholsom instructions, and Fatherly chastisements wherewith we have been corrected; then will it be exacted of us how we have entertained those good motions and suggestions which the Divine Spirit hath put into our hearts; how we have withstood the suggestions of Satan, and the temptations of the world, and our own carnal inclinations; then shall we be examined how we have employed all the faculties of our souls, and members of our bodies; then shall we give an account not only of all our wicked words and actions, but also of our impure thoughts and filthy imaginations, [Page] which shall all be laid open to the sight of Men and Angels; then must we give an account of all filthy and nasty speeches, prophane writings, and unsavoury jests, nay of every idle word; so strict a tryal shall we then be put upon.

Lastly, Of sins of omission and commission, of the time which we have spent in Eating, Drinking, Sleeping, Revelling, Dancing, Gaming, in haunting Taverns, Play-houses and Brothel-houses: then must we give an account of the spending of our Youth, and of our seasoning of those tender years with Prophaness and Debauchery, and offering the first and best of our time unto the Devil, which should be dedicated unto God and his Service.

Then must we give an account of the employing of our Man-hood, and whether that has been grounded and setled in Piety and Devotion, or passed over in resolved enjoyments of sensual and worldly Pleasures.

Then also must we give an account of our demeanour in old Age, and whether or no, then drawing nearer the time of our departure out of this world, we have quietly and willingly resigned up our souls into the hands of our God, as unto a Faithful Creator.

[Page]The world has not been unfitly resembled to a Stage or Theatre, on which every man has his different part as an Actor, the one that of a Prince, the other that of a Beggar: now he that acts his part well, though it be but that of a Peasant, gains as much applause, and deserves as great commendation, as that other that acts that of the most dignified Personage.

So that then 'tis that every man must give an account of his behaviour in his particular Calling.

'Tis the hour wherein the Mariner must give an account of the advantages which has been put into his hand, of his being extraordinary Religious, by going down into great waters, and seeing the wonders of the Lord in the deep.

'Tis the hour in which the Husbandman must give an account of the Pious improvements which he might have made, by a continual Observation of Gods blessings springing out of the Earth.

'Tis the hour wherein the Merchant and Tradesman must give an account of the justness and honesty of their dealings.

'Tis the hour wherein the Soldier must give an account of his Cruelty and Rapine, of his insulting▪violence over the conquered Enemy.

[Page]'Tis the hour wherein the griping Usurer must himself pay the rigorous Interest of his unjust acquisitions.

'Tis the hour wherein the Physician must give an account of his willingness and readiness to administer his Skill to the poor and mean, as well as to the rich.

'Tis the hour wherein the Lawyer must give an account of his Pleading the Cause of the Fatherless and Widow, of his obstructing of Justice by an Eloquent and Mercenary Tongue.

'Tis the hour wherein the Divine must give an account of his Flock and of his Doctrine, and whether he himself hath lived as he Taught others.

'Tis the hour wherein the Judges and Magistrates must themselves be judged concerning their partial administration of Justice.

'Tis the hour wherein Kings and Princes shall give an account to the King of Kings, how they have Govern'd themselves and their Subjects, and of their Sacrificing mens lives to an ambitious desire of enlarging their Territories.

'Tis the hour wherein many poor and despicable Beggars shall be preferred to Kings and Princes.

[Page]'Tis the hour, saith St. Hierome, wherein many dumb persons shall be made more happy than the Fluent and Eloquent, and many Plow-men and Shepheards shall be preferred before Philosophers.

'Tis the hour wherein both Soul and Body shall in a blessed union pass over into endless and unspeakable Felicity, into the sweet and glorious fellowship of Saints and Angels, or else for ever be cast down into the horrid Regions of wo and misery; and seeing that one of these will be the end and certain portion of every man, Let us not be solicitous for Honours, for Beauty, for Riches, for Strength, or the rest of those things which we falsly call Good, seeing that they will not deliver in the day of wrath and eternal vengeance, nor at least-wise mitigate our then ensuing wretchedness; but let us be contented with a mean and low Fortune, to be despised and rejected of men, to be esteemed as Unlearned, Deformed, Ignoble, as Fools or Madmen, rather than Worldly-wise, or Learned. Let us consider now what Opinion we shall have then of those things which are at present the Object of our so passionate wishes and endeavours, and whether or no the acquisition and past enjoyments of them will make amends for the sorrow [Page] and anguish which we shall then go to be for ever possessors of; let us therefore now whilst we have time and space, break off our sins by Repentance, and not rest a moment longer in our present security and indifferency; but let us by our sighs and tears penetrate Heaven, and put out the flames of Hell; and by our earnest and constant intreaties, move the Judg to pity and compassion, to a willingness to pardon and pass by all our former miscarriages, and to give us again such a measure of his Grace, that by it, and the concurrence of our own earnest and uninterrupted resolutions, we may so live now as to avoid the great and only misery; in comparison of which, all humane miseries by me related, are easie and supportable: the misery which I mean, is the effect of the Sentence made mention of by St. Matthew, Go ye cursed into everlasting burnings, to remain for ever with the Devil and his Angels.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

Heraclitus Christianus, or, The man of sorrow being a reflection on all states and conditions of human life : in three books.

Edition statement

1677

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Text Creation Partnership,

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2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A43357

ID [STC]

Wing H1487

ID [STC]

ESTC R12496

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12846111

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12846111

ID [VID]

94417

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A43357)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 94417)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 383:15)

Source

— Heraclitus Christianus, or, The man of sorrow being a reflection on all states and conditions of human life : in three books.,

Extent

[13], 180 p. : port.

Printed by A.M. and R.R. for Brabazon Aylmer ...,. London :: 1677.. (Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York.)

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