A discourse of life and death: written in French, by Phil. Mornay. Done in English by the Countesse of Pembroke Excellent discours de la vie et de la mort. English Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623. 1608 Approx. 71 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 73 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A07761 STC 18141.5 ESTC S113371 99848607 99848607 13715 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A07761) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 13715) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1689:07) A discourse of life and death: written in French, by Phil. Mornay. Done in English by the Countesse of Pembroke Excellent discours de la vie et de la mort. English Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623. Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of, 1561-1621. [144] p. Printed by H. L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes, and are to bee soulde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, At London : 1608. Printer's name from STC. Signatures: A-F¹² . Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Death -- Early works to 1800. 2002-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-12 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2003-01 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2003-01 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A DISCOVRSE OF LIFE AND DEATH : WRITTEN IN French , by PHIL. MORNAY . Done in English by the Countesse of Pembroke . AT LONDON , Printed by H. L. for Mathew Lownes , and are to bee soulde at his shop in Paules Churchyard , 1608. A DISCOVERSE OF LIFE AND DEATH , WRITten in french by PHIL. MORNAY , Sieur du Plessis Marly . IT seemes to mee strange , and a thing much to bee marueiled , that the laborer to repose himself hasteneth as it were the course of the Sun : that the Mariner rows with al force t' attain the port & with a ioyfull cry salutes the descried land : that the traueller is neuer quiet nor content til hee beat the end of his voyage : and that we in the meane while tyed in this world to a perpetuall taske , tossed with continuall tēpest , tyred with a rough and combersom way , cannot yet see the end of our labor but with griefe , nor behold our port but with tears , nor approche our home and quiet abode but with horrour and trembling . This life is but a Penelopes webbe , wherein we are alwaies doing & vndoing : a sea opē to all winds , which somtime within , sometime without neuer ceas to torment vs : a wearie iourny through extream heats , & colds , ouer high mountains , steep rocks , & theeuish deserts . And so wee tearme it , in weauing at this web , in rowing at this oar , in passing this miserable way : yet lo whē death comes to end our work , when shee stretcheth out her armes to pull vs into the port , when after so many dangerous passages , and loathsome lodgings she would cōduct vs to our true home and resting place : in stead of reioycing at the end of our labor , of taking cōfort at the sight of our land , of singing at the approach of our happie mansion , we would fain ( who would beleeue it ? ) retake our vvorke in hand , we would againe hoise saile to the winde , and willingly vndertake our iourney anew . No more , then , remember we our paines , our shipwracks and dangers are forgotten : we feare no more the trauelles nor the theeues . Contrariwise , wee apprehende death as an extreame paine , wee doubt it as a rocke , wee flie it as a thiefe . Wee do as little children , who al the day complaine , and when the medicin is brought them , are no longer sicke : as they , who ( all the weeke long ) runne vp & downe the streets with paine of the teeth , and seeing the Barber comming to pull them out , feel no more pain : as those tender and delicate bodies , who in a pricking pleurisie complaine , cry out , and cannot stay for a Surgion , and when they see him whetting his Launcet to cut the throat of the disease , pul in their arms & hide them in the bed , as if hee were come to kill them . Wee feare more the cure then the disease , the Surgion thē the pain , the stroke thē the impostume . Wee haue more sense of the medicines bitternesse soone gone , then of a bitter languishing long continued : more feeling of death the end of our miseries , then the endlesse miserie of our life . And whence proceedeth this folly and simplicitie ? we neither knowe life , nor death . We fear that we ought to hope for , and wish for that wee ought to feare . Wee call life a continuall death : and death the issue of a liuing death , and the entrance of a neuer dying life . Now what good , I pray you , is ther in life , that wee should so much pursue it ? or what euill is there in death , that wee should so much eschue it ? Nay what euill is there not in life ? and what good is there not in death ? Consider al the periods of this life . We enter it in teares , wee passe it in sweate , wee ende it in sorrowe . Great and little , rich and poore , not one in the whole world that can plead immunitie from this condition . Man , in this point worse then all other creatures , is borne vnable to support himselfe ; neyther receiuing in his first yeares any pleasure , nor giuing to others but annoy and displeasure , and before the age of discretion passing infinit dangers : only herein le●●● vnhappie then in other ages , that hee hath no sense nor apprehension of his vnhappinesse . Now , is there anie so weake minded , that if it were graunted him to liue alwayes a childe , would make account of such a life ? So then it is euident , that not simply to liue is a good ; but wel and happilie to liue . But proceed . Growes hee ? with him grow his trauailes . Scarcely is hee come out of his nurses hands , scarcely knowes what it is to play , but he falleth into the subiectiō of some schoolemaster . I speake but of those which are best & most precisely broght vp : Studies he ? it is euer with repining . Playes hee ? neuer but with feare . This whole age , while hee is vnder the charge of another , is vnto him but as a prison : he only thinks , and only aspires to that time whē freed from the mastership of another , he may become master of himself ; pushing onward ( as much as in him lyes ) his age with his shoulder , that soone he may enioy his hoped liberty Inshort , he desires nothing more thē the end of this base age , and the beginning of his youth . And what else I pray you is the beginning of youth , but the death of infancie ? the beginning of manhood , but the death of youth ? the beginning of to morrow , but the death of to day ? In this sort then desires he his death , & iudgeth his life miserable : and so cānot be reputed in any happinesse or contentment . Behold him now , according to his wish , at liberty : in that age , wherein Hercules had the choise , to take the way of vertue or of vice , reason or passion for his guide , and of these two must take one . His passion entertaines him with'a thousand delights , prepares for him a thousād baits , presentes him with a thousand worldly pleasures to surprize him : and fewe there are that are not beguiled . But at the reckonings ende , what pleasures are they ? pleasures full of vice , which holde him still in a restlesse feauer : pleasures subiect to repentance , like sweete meats of hard digestion : pleasures bought with pain and peril , spent and past in a moment , and followed with a long & lothsom remorse of conscience . And this is the very nature ( if they be wel examined ) of al the pleasures of this world . Ther is in none so much sweetnes , but ther is more bitternes : none so pleasant to the mouth , but leavs an vnsauoury after-taste and loathsome disdain : none ( which is worse ) so moderated but hath his corrosiue , & caries his punishment in it self . I will not here speak of the displeasures cōfessed by al , as quarelles , debates , woundes , murthers , banishments , sicknesse , peril , wherinto sometimes the incontinency , sometimes the insolency of this ill guided age conducts him . But if those that seeme pleasures , be nothing els but displeasurs : if the sweetnes therof be as an infusion of wormwood ; it is plain enough what the displeasure is they feele , and how great the bitternes that they taste . Behold in sum the life of a young man , who rid of the gouernmēt of his parents , abandons himselfe to all liberty or rather bōdage of his passion : which , right like an vncleane spirit possessing him , casts him now into the water , now into the fire : sometimes carries him cleane ouer a rocke , and sometime flings him headlong to the bottome . Now , if he take and follow reason for his guide , beholde on the other part wonderfull difficulties : he must resolue to fight in euery parte of the field , at euery step to be in conflict , and at handstrokes ; as hauing his enemy in front , in flanke , and on the rerewarde , neuer leauing to assaile him . And what enimie ? al that can delight him , all that hee sees neer , or far off ; brieflie the greatest enemy of the world , the world it selfe : But which is worse , a thousand treacherous and daungerous intelligences among his own forces , & his passion within himselfe desperate : which , in that age grown to the highest , awaits but time , houre , & occasiō to surprize him & cast him into all viciousnes . God onely and none other can make him choose this way : God only can hold him in it to the end : God only can make him victorious in all his combates . And well wee see how fewe they are that enter into it , and of those few how many that retire againe . Followe the one way or followe the other , he must either subiect himself to a tyrannicall passion , or vndertake a weary & cōtinual combate , willingly cast himself to destructiō , or fetter himself as it were in stocks , easily sink with the course of the water , or painfully swimme against the streame . Loe here the yong m̄ , who in his youth hath drunk his full draught of the worlds vain & deceiueable pleasures , ouertakē by them with such a dull heauinesse , and astonishment , as drunkeards the morrow after a feaste : either so out of taste , that hee will no more ; or so glutted , that he can no more : not able without griefe to speak , or think of them . Loe him that stoutely hath made resistance : hee feeles himselfe so wearie , and with this continuall conflicte so brused and broken , that either hee is vpon the point to yeeld himself , or content to die , and so acquit himselfe . And this is all the good , all the contentment of this florishing age , by children so earnestly desired , and by olde folkes so heartilie lamented . Nowe commeth that which is called perfect age ; in the which men haue no other thoughts but to purchase themselues wisdome and rest . Perfect indeed ▪ but herin onely perfect , that all imperfections of humane nature , hidden before vnder the simplicity of childhood or the lightnesse of youth , appeare at this age in their perfection , We speake of none in this place but such as are esteemed the wisest , & most happy in the conceit of the world . Wee played as you haue seene in feare : our shorte pleasures were attended on with long repentance . Be hold , now present themselues to vs auarice , and ambition ; promising , if wee will adore them , perfect contentment of the goods and honours of this world . And surely ther are none but the ture Children of the Lord , who by the faire illusions of the one or the other cast not them selues headlong from the top of the pinnacle . But in the end , what is all this contentment ? The couetous man makes a thousand voiages by sea and by land : runnes a thousand fortunes : escapes a thousand shipwracks , in perpetuall feare and trauel : and many times hee either loseth his time , or gayneth nothing but sicknesses , gouts , & oppilatiōs for the time to come In the purchase of this goodly repose , hee bestoweth his true rest ; and , to gaine wealth , loseth his life . Suppose hee hath gained in good quantitie : that hee hath spoyled the whole East of pearles , and drawen drie all the mines of the West : will hee therefore bee settled in quiet ? can hee say that he is content ? All charges and iourneyes past , by his passed paines hee heapeth vp but future disquietnesse both of minde and body ; from one trauell falling into nother , neuer ending , but changing his miseries . Hee desired to haue them , and now feares to lose them : he got them with burning ardour , & possesseth in trembling cold : hee aduētured among theeues to seek them ; & hauing found them , theeues & robbers on al sides , run mainely on him : he la●oured to digge them out of the earth , and now is inforced to religge , and rehide them ▪ Finally , comming from al his voiages , he comes into a prison : and for an end of his bodily trauels is taken with endlesse trauels of the mind . And what , at length , hath this poore soule attained , after so many miseries ? This Diuell of couerise , by his illusions , & enchantments , bears him in hand that hee hath some rare and singular thing ▪ and so it fareth with him , as with those silly creatures whō , the Diuel seduceth vnder colour of relieuing their pouerty , who finde their hands full of leaues , supposing to finde them full of crownes . He possesseth or rather is possessed by a thing , wherein is neither force nor vertue ; more vnprofitable , and more base , then the least hearb of the earth : Yet hath he heaped together this vile excrement , and so brurish is grown , as therewith to crowne his head , which naturally hee shoulde tread vnder his feet . But howsoeuer it be , is hee therwith content ? Nay ( cōirariwise ) lesse now , then euer . We cōmend most , those drinkes that breede an alteration , and soonest extinguish thirst : and those meats , which in least quantitie do longest resist hūger . Now hereof the more a man drinkes , the more he is a thirst ; the more hee eates , the more an hungred : It is a dropsie ( and as they tearme it ) the dogs hunger : sooner may hee burst then be satisfied . And ( which is worse ) so strange in some is this thirst , that it maketh them dig the pittes , and painefully draw the water , and after will not suffer them to drinke . In the middest of a riuer they are drie with thirst : and on a heap of corne cry out of famine : they haue goods and dare not vse them : they haue ioyes it seemes , and doe not enioy thē : they neither haue for thēselues nor for another : but of all they haue , they haue nothing : and yet haue wāt of al they haue not . Let vs then returne to that that the attaining of all these deceiueable goods is nothing else but wearinesse of body ; & the possession for the most part , but wearines of the mind : which certainely is so much the greater , as is more sensible , more subtile , and more tender the soule then the body ▪ But the heap of al misery is , when they come to lose them ; when either shipwrack , or sacking or inuasion , or fire , or such like calamities , to which these fraile thinges are subiect , doth take and carie them from them . Then fall they to crie , to weep , & to tormēt them selues , as little children that haue lost their plai-game ; which notwithstanding is nothing worth . One cannot perswade them , that mortal mē haue any other good in this world , but that which is mortall . They are in their owne conceits not onely spoyled , but altogether slayed . And , forasmuch as in these vaine things they haue fixt al their hopes ; hauing lost them , they fall into despaire , out of the which commonly they cannot bee withdrawen . And ( which is more ) al , that they haue not gained according to the accountes they made , they esteem lost : all that , which turnes them not to greate and extraordinarie profite , they account as damage : whereby wee see some fall into such despaire , as they cast away themselues . In short , the recompence that couetise yeeldes those that haue serued it all their life , is oftentimes like that of the Diuell : whereof the end is , that after a small time hauing gratified his Disciples , eyther gee giues them ouer to a hangman , or himselfe breaks their necks . I wil not here discourse of the wickednesse and mischiefes whereunto the couetous men subiect themselues , to attaine to these goodes , whereby their conscience is filled with a perpetuall remorse , which neuer leaues thē in quiet : sufficeth that in this ouer-vehemēt exercise , which busieth and abuseth the greatest part of the world , the body is slain , the mind is weakned , the soule is lost without any pleasure or contentment . Come we to ambition , which ( by a greedinesse of honour ) fondly holdeth occupied the greatest persons : Think we there to finde more ? nay rather , lesse . As the one deceiueth vs , giuing vs for al our trauel , but a vile excrement of the earth : so the other repayes vs , but with smoke and winde ; the rewardes of this being as vaine , as those of that were grosse . Both in the one and the other , wee fall into a bottomelesse pit : but into this the fall by so much the more dangerous , as at the first shew , the water is more pleasant and cleare . Of those that giue themselues to court ambition , some are greate about Princes , others commaunders of Armies : both sortes , according to their degree you see saluted , reuerenced , and adored of those that are vnder them . You see them apparelled in purple , in scarlet , and in cloth of golde : it seemes , at first sight , there is no contentment in the world but theirs . But men knowe not , how heauie an ounce of that vaine honour weighes , what those reuerences cost them , and how dearely they paye for an ell of those rich stufs : who knewe them well , would neuer buy them at the price . The one hath attained to this degree , after a long and painefull seruice , hazarding his life vpon euerie occasion , with losse oft times of a leg or an arme , and that at the pleasure of a Prince , that more regards a hūdred perches of ground on his neighbors frontiers , then the liues of a hundred thousand such as hee : vnfortunate , to serue who loues him not : and foolish , to thinke himself in honour with him , that makes so litle reckening to lose him for a thing of no worth . Others growe vp by flattering a Prince , and long submitting their tongues & hands to say and do without differēce whatsoeuer they will haue them : whereunto a good minde can neuer command it selfe . They shall haue indured a thousand iniuries , receiued a thousand disgraces ; and as neere as they seem about the Prince , they are neuerthelesse alwayes as the Lyons keeper , who by long patience , a thousand feedinges , and a thousand clawings , hath made a fierce Lyon familiar ; yet giues him neuer meate , but with pulling backe his hand , alwaies in feare least he should catch him : and if once in a yeare hee bites him , hee sets it so close , that he is paied for a long time after . Such is the ende of all Princes fauourites . When a Prince after song breathing hath raised a mā to greate height , hee makes it his pastime , at what time he seemes to be at the top of his trauell , to cast him downe at an instant : when hee hath filled him with all wealth , hee wrings him after as a sponge ; louing none but himselfe , and thinking euerie one made , but to serue , and please him . These blind Courtiers make themselues belieue , that they haue friendes , and manie that honour them : 〈◊〉 considering that 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honour euerie bodi●●● so others doe by them . Their superiours disdaine them , & neuer but with scorn doe so much as salute them ▪ their inferiors salute them , because they haue neede of them ( I meane of their fortune , of their foode , of their apparell , not of their person ) : and for their equals , betweene whom cōmonly friendship cōsists , they enuie each other , accuse each other , crosse each other ; continually grieued either at their owne harme , or at others good . Now , what greater hel is ther , what greater torment , than enuie ? which in truth is nought else but a feauer Hectique of the minde : so they are vtterly frustrate of all friendship , euer iudged by the wisest the chiefe & soueraigne good among men . Will you see it more clearely ? Let but Fortune turne her backe , euerie man turns from them : let hir frowne , euerie man lookes aside on them : let them once be disroabed of their triumphall garment , no bodie will any more know them . Againe , let there be apparelled in it the most vnworthie , and infamous whatsoeuer : euen he without difficulty , by vertue of his robe , shall inherit all the honours the other had don him . In the meane time they are puffed vp , and grow proude , as the Asse which caried the image of Isis was for the honours done to the Goddesse , & regard not that it is the fortune they carrie which is honoured , not themselues , on whom as on Asses , many times she wil be caried . But you will say : At least so long as that fortune endured , they were at ease , & had their contentment ; & who hath 3. or 4. or more yeares of happie time , hath not bin al his life vnhappie . True , if this bee to be at ease , continually to feare to bee caste down from that degree , whereunto they are raised : and dayly to desire with great trauell to clime yet higher . Those ( my friend ) whom thou takest so well at their ease , because thou seest them but without , are within farre otherwise . They are faire built prisons , full within of deep ditches , and dungeons : full of darkenesse , serpents and tormentes . Thou supposest them lodged at large , and they thinke their lodgings strait . Thou thinkest them very high , & they thinke themselues verie lowe . Now , as sick is hee , and many times more sicke , who thinks himselfe so , then who indeede is . Suppose them to bee Kings : if they thinke themselues slaues , they are no better : for what are wee but by opinion ? You see them well followed and attended : and euen those whom they haue chosen for their guarde , they distrust . Alone or in companie euer they are in feare . Alone they looke behinde them : in company they haue an eye on euery side of thē . They drinke in gold and siluer ; but in those , not in earth or glasse , is poyson prepared and d●unke . They haue their beds soft & well made : when they lay them to sleepe you shall not heare a mouse stir in the chamber : not so much as a fly shal come neer their faces . Yet neuerthelesse , where the countrey man sleeps at the fal of a great riuer , at the noyse of a market , hauing no other bed but the earth , nor couering but the heauēs , these in the middest of this silence and delicacie , doe nothing but turn frō side to side , it seemes still that they heare some bodie , their rest it selfe is without rest Lastly , wil you know what the diuersitie is betweene the most hardly intreated prisoners and them both are enchained , both loaden with letters , but that the one hath them of iron , the other of gold ; and that the one is tied but by the body , the other by the minde . The prisoner drawes his fetters after him , the courtier wears his vpō him . The prisoners minde sometimes cōforts the paine of his body , and sings in the midst of his miseries : the Courtier tormented in mind , wearieth incessātly his body , & can neuer giue it rest . And as for the contentment you imagine they haue , you are there in yet more deceiued . You iudge and esteeme them greate , because they are raised high : but as fondly , as who shuld iudge a dwarf great , for being set on a Tower , or on the toppe of a mountaine . You measure ( so good a Geometrician you are ) the image with his base , which were conuenient ( to knowe his true height ) to bee measur'd by it self : wheras you regarde not the height of the image , but the height of the place it standes vppon . You deeme them great ( if in this earth there can bee greatnesse , which in respect of the whole heauens is but a point ) : But coulde you enter into their minds , you would iudge , that neither they are greate ; true greatnesse consisting in contempt of those vaine greatnesses , whereunto they are slaues : nor seem vnto themselues so , seeing dayly they are aspiring higher , and neuer where they would bee . Some one sets downe a boūd in his mind ; Could I attain to such a degree , lo , I were content : I would then rest my selfe . Hath hee attained it ? hee giues himselfe not so much as a breathing : hee would yet ascende higher . That which is beneath , hee counts a toy : it is in his opinion but one step . Hee reputes himselfe lowe , because there is some one higher , in stead of reputing himselfe high , because ther be a milliō lower : & so high he climes at last , that either his breath failes him by the way , or he slides frō the top to the bottom . Or is he get vp by al his trauel it is but as to find himself on the top of the Alpes , not aboue the cloudes , windes and stormes : but rather at the deuotion of lightnings and tempestes , and whatsoeuer else horrible , and dangerous is engendred , and conceiued in the ayre : which most commonly taketh pleasure to thunderbolt and dash into powder that proude height of theirs . It may be herin you will agree with mee , by reason of the examples wherwith both histories , & mens memories are ful . But say you , such at least whom nature hath sent into the world with crownes on their heads , and scepters in their hands : such as from their birth she hath set in that height , as they neede take no paine to ascende : seeme without cōtrouersie exempt frō all these iniuries , and by consequence may call themselues happie . It may bee indeede they feele lesse such incommodities , hauing been borne , bred , and brought vp among them : as one borne neere the downefals of Nilus becomes deafe to the founde : in prison , laments not the want of libertie : among the Cimmerians in perpetuall night , wisheth not for dave : on the top of the Alpes , thinks not strange of the mists , the tēpests , the snowes , and the stormes . Yet free doubtlesse they are not , whē the lightening often blasteth a flowre of their crownes , or breakes their scepter in their hands : when a drift of snowe ouerwhelmes them : whē a mist of heauinesse , and griefe , continually blindeth their wit and vnderstanding . Crowned they are indeed ; but with a crowne of thornes . They beare a scepter : but it is of a reed more then any thing in the world pliable and obedient to all windes : it being so far off that such a crowne can cure the maigrims of the mind , & such a scepter keepe off and fray away the griefs and cares which houer about them ; that it is contrariwise the crown that brings them , and the scepter which from al parts attracts them . O crowne , said the Persian Monarch , who knew how heauie thou sittest on the head , would not vouchsafe to take thee vp , though hee found thee in his way . This prince it seem'd gaue for tune to the whole world , distributed vnto men haps and mishaps at his pleasure could in show make euery mā cōtent : himselfe in the meane while freely confessing , that in the whole world , which he held in his hād there was nothing but griefe , & vnhappinesse And what wil al the rest tell vs , if they list to vtter what they foūd ? We will not aske them who haue concluded a miserable life with a dishonorable death : who haue beheld their kingdomes buried before them , & haue in greate miserie long ouerliued their greatnesse . Not of Dionyse of Sicil , more content with a handfull of twigs to whip litle children of Corinth in a choole , then with the scepter , wherewith he had beaten al Sicil : nor of Sylla , who hauing robbed the whole State of Rome , which had before robbed the whole world , neuer found meanes of rest in himselfe , but by robbing himselfe of his owne estate , with incredible hazard both of his power & authority . But demand we the opinion of king Salomon , a man indued withsingular gifts of God , rich and wealthy of all thinges . who sought for treasure from the Iles : He will teach vs by a booke of purpose , that hauing tried all the felicities of the earth , he found nothing but vanity , trauell , & vexation of spirit . Aske wee the Emperour Augustus , who peaceably possessed the whole world : Hee will bewaile his life past , and amonge infinite toyles wish for the rest of the meanest mā of the earth : accountinge that daye most happie , when he might vnload himself of this insupportable greatnes , to liue quietly amōg he least . Of Tiberius his successor , he wil cōfesse vnto vs that hee holds y● Empire as a wolf by the eares , and that ( if without danger of biting he might ) he would gladly let it goe , complayning on Fortune for lifting him so high , & then taking away the ladder , that he could not come down again . Of Dioclesian , a Prince of so great wisdome and vertue in the opinion of the world : he wil prefer his voluntarie banishmēt at Salona , before al the Roman Empire . Finally , the Emperor Charles the fift , esteemed by our Age most happie that hath liued these many ages : hee will curse his conquests , his victories , his triumphes : and not be ashamed to confesse that farre more good in comparison he hath felt in one day of his Monkish solitariness , then in all his triumphant life . Now , shall wee thinke those happy in this imaginate greatnesse , who themselues think themselues vnhappy ? seeking their happinesse in lessening themselues , & not finding in the world one place to rest this greatnesse , or one bed quietly to sleep in ? Happie is he onely who in mind liues contented : and hee most of all vnhappie , whome nothing he can haue can content . Then miserable Pyrrhus king of Albany , who would winne al the world , to win ( as he said ) rest and went so farre to seeke that which was so neere him . But more miserable , Alexander , that being borne King of a great Realme , and Conqueror almost of the earth , sought for more worldes to satisfie his foolish ambitiō , with in three daies content with sixe foot of groūd . To conclude , are they borne on the highest Alpes ? they seeke to scale heauen . Haue they subdued al the Kinges of the earth ? they haue quarelles to plead with God , and indeuour to treade vnder foote his kingdome . They haue no ende nor limite , till God laughing at their vaine purposes , when they thinke themselues at the last step , thunderstriketh al this presumption , breaking in shiuers their scepters in their handes , and oftentimes intrapping them in their owne crownes . At a word , whatsoeuer happines can be in that ambition promiseth , is but suffering much il , to get ill . Men thinke by dayly climing higher to pluck themselues out of this ill : and the height wherunto they so pamfully aspire , is the height of misery it self . I speak not here of the wretchednes of thē , who all their life haue held out their cap to receiue the almes of Court fortune , and can get nothing , often with incredible hart griefe , seeing some by lesse pains takē haue riches fal into their hāds : of thē , who iustling one another to haue it , lose it , and cast it into the handes of a third : Of those , who holding it in their hands to hold it faster , haue lost it through their fingers . Such by all men are esteemed vnhappie , & are indeed so , because they iudge thēselues so . It sufficeth that al these liberalities , which the Deuill casteth vs as out at a window , are but baits : all these pleasures but ambushes : and that hee doth but make his sport of vs , who striue one with another for such things , as most vnhappy is hee , that hath best hap to finde them . Well now , you will say , the Couetous in all his goods , hath no good : the Ambitious , at the best hee can bee , is but ill . But may there not be some , who supplying the place of Iustice , or being neere about a Prince , may without following such vnbridled passions , pleasantly enioye their goods , ioyning honour with rest and contentment of minde ? Surely , in former ages ( ther yet remaining among men some sparks of sinceritie ) in some sort it might bee so : but being of that composition they now are , I see not how it may be in any sort . For , deale you in affaires of estate in these times , either you shal do wel , or you shall do il . I fil , you haue God for your enemy , & your owne conscience for a perpetually tormenting executioner . If well , you haue men for your enemies , and of men the greatest : whose enuy & malice wil spie you out , & whose cruelty & tyrāny will euermore threaten you . Please the people , you please a beast : & pleasing such , ought to be displeasing to your selfe . Please your selfe , you displease god : please him , you incur a thousād dangers in the world , with purchase of a thousand displeasures . Wherof it grows , that if you could hear the talke of the wisest and least discontent of this kinde of men , whether they speake aduisedly , or their wordes passe them by force of truth , one would gladly chāge garment with his tenāt : another preacheth how goodly an estate it is to haue nothing : a third , complaining that his braines are broken with the noise of Court or Palace , hath no other thought , but as soone as he may to retire himself thence . So that you shall not see any but is displeased with his own calling , & enuieth that of another : readie neuerthelesse to repent him , if a man should take him at his word . None but is wearie of the businesses wherunto his age is subiect , & wisheth not to be elder , to free himselfe of them : albeit otherwise he keepeth off old age , as much as in him lyeth . What must wee then do in so great a contrariety & cōfusiō of minds ? Must we , to find true humanitie , flie the societie of men , & hide vs in forrests among wild beasts ? to auoyde these vnruly passions , eschue the assēbly of creatures supposed reasonable ? to plucke vs out of the euils of the worlde , sequester our selues from the world ? Could wee in so doing liue at rest , it were something . But alas ! men cannot take heerein what part they would : and euen they which doe , finde not there all the rest they sought for . Some would gladly do : but shame of the world recals them . Fooles , to bee ashamed of what in their harts they condemne : & more fooles , to bee aduised by the greatest enemie they can or ought to haue . Others are borne in hand that they ought to serue the publicke ; not marking , that who coūsel thē , serue onely them selues : and that the more part would not much seek the publicke , but that they found their owne particular . Some are told , that by their good exāple they may amend others : and consider not that a hundred sound men , euen Physicians themselues , may sooner catch the plague in an infected Towne , then one bee healed : that it is but to to tempt God , to enter therein : that against so contagious an ayre there is no preseruatiue , but in getting far from it . Finally , that as little as the fresh waters , falling into the sea , canne take from it his saltnesse : so little canne one Lot or two , or three , reforme a Court of Sodome . And as cōcerning the wisest , who ( no lesse careful for their soules , then bodies ) seek to bring them into a sound and wholesome ayre , far from the infection of wickednes : and who ledde by the hand of some Angell of God , retire themselues in season , as Lot into some little village of Segor , out of the corruption of the worlde , into some Countrey place frō the infected townes , there quietly employing the time in some knowledge and serious contemplatiō : I willingly yeelde they are in a place of lesse danger , yet because they carrie the dāger in themselues , not absolutely exempt from danger . They flie the court ; & a court follows them on all sides : they endeuour to escape the world ; and the worlde pursues them to death . Hardly in this Worlde can they finde a place where the Worlde findes them not : so greedily it seekes to murther them . And if by some speciall grace of God they seem for a while free from these dangers , they haue som pouertie that troubles them , some domesticall debate that tormēts them , or some familiar spirit that tempts them : briefly , the world dayly in some sort or other makes it selfe felt of them . But the worst is , whē we are out of these externall warres and troubles , we finde great ciuill warre within our selues ; the flesh against the spirit , passion against reason , earth against heauen , the world within vs fighting for the world , euermore so lodged in the bottome of our owne hearts , that on no side we can flie from it . I will say more : hee makes profession to flie the world , who seekes thereby the prayse of the world : hee faineth to run away , who according to the prouerbe ; by drawing back sets himselfe forwarde . hee refuseth honours , that would thereby be praied to take them : and hides him from men , to the end they should com to seeke him . So the world often harbours in disguised attire among them that fly the world . This is an abuse . But follow we the company of men , the world hath his Court among thē : seek wee the Deserts , it hath there his dens & places of resort , and in the Desert it selfe tempteth Christ lesus . Retire we our selues into our selues , wee finde it there as vnclean as any where . We cannot make the world dye in vs , but by dying our selues . Wee are in the world , and the world in vs , and to separate vs from the world , we must separate vs from our selues . Now this separation is called Death . We are , we think , come out of the contagious City ▪ but wee are not aduised that we haue sucked the bad ayre , that we carrie the plague with vs , that we so participate with it , that through rockes , through deserts , through mountaines , it euer accompanieth vs. Hauing auoyded the contagion of others , yet we haue it in our selues . We haue withdrawen vs out of men , but not withdrawn man out of vs. The tēpestuous sea tormēts vs : we are grieued at the heart , & desirous to vomit : and to be discharged therof , we remoue out of one ship into another , from a greater to a lesse : wee promise our selues rest in vaine : they being alwaies the same windes that blowe , the same waues that swell , the same humors that are stirred . To all , no other port , no other meane of trāquillitie but onely death . We were sicke in a chāber neer the street , or neere the market : wee caused our selues to bee carried into some backer closet , where the noise was not so great . But though there the noyse was lesse : yet was the feauer there neuer the lesse : and therby lost nothing of his heate . Change bed , chamber , house , countrey , againe and again : we shal euery where find the same vnrest , because euery where we finde our selues : and seeke not so much to be others , as to bee other wheres . Wee follow solitarinesse , to fly carefulnesse . We retire vs ( so say wee ) from the wicked : but cary with vs our auarice , our ambition , our riotousnesse , all our corrupt affections : which breed in vs 1000. remorses ▪ & 1000. times each day bring to our remembrance the garlike & onions of Egypt . Daily they passe the Ferrie with vs : so that both on this side , and beyond the water , we are in cōinuall combat . Now could we cassere this company which eates and gnawes our mind , doubtlesse we should be at rest , not in solitarinesse onely , but euen in the thicket of men . For the life of man vppon earth is but a continuall warrefare . Are wee deliuered from externall practices ? wee are to take heede of internall espialles . Are the Greekes gone away ? wee haue a Sinon within , that wil be tray them the place . We must euer be waking , hauing an eie to the watch , and weapons in our hands , if wee will not euerie houre be surprised , and giuen vp to the wil of our enemies . And how at last can wee escape ? Not by the woods , by the riuers , nor mountains : not by throwing our selues into a presse , nor by thrusting our selues into a hole . One onely meane there is , which is death : which in the ende separating our spirit frō our flesh , the pure and cleane part of our soule from the vncleane , which within vs euermore bandeth it self for the world , appeaseth by this separation that , which conioyned in one & the same person could not , without vtter choaking of the spirit , but be in perpetuall contention . And as touching the contentment that may be in the exercises of the wisest men in their solitarines , as reading diuine or prosane books , with all other knowledges and learnings : I holde well that it is indeede a farre other thing , then are those mad huntings , which make sauage a multitude of mē possessed with these or the like diseases of the mind . Yet must they all abide the iudgement pronounced by the wisest among the wise , Salomon , that al this neuerthelesse applied to mans naturall disposition , is to him but vanitie and vexation of minde . Some are euer learning to correct their speech , and neuer think of correcting their life . Others dispure in their Logique of reason , and the Arte of reason : and lose therby many times their naturall reason . One learnes by Arithmeticke to diuide , to the smallest fractions , and hath not skil to part one shilling with his brother . Another by Geometrie canne measure fieldes , and townes , and Countreyes : but cannot measure himselfe . The Musician can accord his voices , and soundes , and times together : hauing nothing in his heart but discords , nor one passion in his soule in good tune . The Astrologer lookes vp on highe , and falles in the next ditch : foreknowes the future , and sorgoes the presēt : hath often his eye on the heauens ; his heart long before buried in the earth . The Philosopher discourseth of the nature of all other things : & knowes not himselfe . The Historian canne tell of the warres of Thebes and of Troy : but what is done in his owne house can tell nothing . The Lawyer will make lawes for all the worlde , and not one from himselfe . The Physician will cure others , and be blind in his owne disease : finde the least alteration in his pulse , and not marke the burning feauers of his minde . Lastly , the Diuine wil spend the greatest part of his time in disputing of faith , and cares not to hear of charity , wil talke of God , & not regarde to succour men . These knowledges bring on the minde an endlesse labour , but no contentment : for the more one knowes , the more he would know . They pacifie not the debates a man feeles in himselfe , they cure not the diseases of his mind . They make him learned but they make not him good : cunning but not wise . I say more : The more a man knowes , the more knowes he that he knowes not : the fuller the mind is , the emptier it findes it selfe : forasmuch as whatsoeuer a man can know of anie science in this world , is but the least part of what he is ignorant : all his knowledge cōsisting in knowing his ignorance , all his perfection in noting his imperfections ; which who best knowes and notes , is in truth among men the most wise and perfect . In short , we must conclude with Salomon , that the beginning and ende of wisedome is the feare of God : that this wisedome neuerthelesse is taken of the world for meere follie , and persecuted by the world as a deadly enemie : and that as who feareth God , ought to feare no euil , for that all his euils are conuerted to his good : so neither ought hee to hope for good in the world , hauing there the diuell his professed enemy , whom the Scripture tearmeth Prince of the world . But with what exercise soeuer wee passe the time , behold old age vnwares to vs comes vpon vs : which whether we thrust our selues into the prease of men , or hide vs some where out of the way , neuer failes to finde vs out . Euerie man makes account in that age to rest himselfe of all his trauailes without further care , but to keep himself at ease & in health . And see contrawise in this age , there is nothing but an after tast of al the foregoing euils : and most commonly a plentifull haruest of all such vices , as in the whole course of their life hath held & possessed them . There you haue the vnhabilitie and weakenesse of infancy , and ( which is worse ) many times accompanied with authoritie : there you are payed for the excesse & riotousnes of youth , with gowtes , palsies , and such like diseases , which take from you limme after limme , with extreame paine and torment . There also you are recompenced for the trauels of mind , the watchings & cares of manhoode , with losse of sight , losse of hearing , and all the senses one after another , except only the sense of paine . Not one parte in vs but death takes ingage to be assured of vs , as of bad pay masters , which infinitely feare their dayes of payment . Nothing in vs that will not by and by bee dead : & neuerthelesse our vices yet liue in vs ; & not onely liue , but in despite of Nature dayly growe young againe . The couetous man hath one foote in his graue , and is yet burying his money : meaning belike to finde it againe another day . The ambitious in his Will ordaineth vnprofitable pōps for his funerals , making his vice to liue and triumphe after his death . The riotous , no longer able to daunce on his feete , daunceth with his shoulders : all vi●es hauing left him , and hee not yet able to leaue them . The childe wisheth for youth and this man laments it . The young man liueth in hope of the future : and this feeles the euill present , lamentes the false pleasures past , and sees for the time to come nothing to hope for ; More foolish then the child , in bewailing the time hee cannot recall , & not remembring the euill he had therein : and more wretched then the young man , in that after a wretched life not able but wretchedly to d●● hee sees on all sides b●● matter of despaire . As for him , who from his youth hath vndertaken to combate against the fleshe , and against the World : who hath taken so great paines to mortifie himselfe and leaue the World before his time : who besides those ordinary euilles findes himself vexed with this great and incurable disease of olde age , and feeles notwithstanding his fleshe , how weake soeuer , stronger oftentimes then his spirit : what good I pray can hee haue but onely herein ; that hee sees his death at hand , that hee sees his combate finished that hee sees himselfe readie to depart by death out of this loathsome prison , wherein all his life time hee hath beene racked and tormented ? I will not here speak of the infinit euils wherewith men in all ages are annoyed , as losse of friends and parents , banishments , exiles , disgraces , and such others , common and ordinarie in the world : one cōplaining of loosing his children , another of hauing them ▪ one making sorrow for his wiues death , another for his life : one finding fault , that he is too high in court another that he is not high enough . The world is so full of euills , that to write of all , wold require another world as great as it selfe . Sufficeth , that if the most happie in mens opinions doe counterpo●z● his haps with his mishappes , hee shall iudge himselfe vnhappie : and hee iudge him happie , who had hee beene set three dayes in his place , woulde giue it ouer to him that came next : yea , sooner then hee , who shall consider , in all the goods that euer he hath had , the euils he hath endured to get thē , and hauing them to retaine and keepe them ( I speake of the pleasures that may bee kept , and not of those that wither in a moment ) will iudge of himselfe , and by himselfe , that the keeping it selfe of the greatest felicitie in this world , is full of vnhappinesse and infelicitie . Conclude then , that Childe-hood is but a foolish simplicity ; youth a vaine heate ; manhood , a painefull carefulnesse ; and olde age , a noisome languishing : that our playes are but tears , our pleasures feauers of the minde , our goods , rackes , and tormentes , our honours heauie vanities , our rest , vnreste : that passing from age to age , is but passing from euill to euill , and from the lesse vnto the greater : & that alwayes it is but one waue driuing on another , vntill we be arriued at the hauen of death . Conclude I say , that life is but a wishing for the future , and a bewailing of the past : a loathing of what we haue tasted , and a longing for that wee haue not tasted : a vaine memorie of the state past , and a doubtfull expectation of the state to come : Finally , that in all our life there is nothing certaine , nothing assured , but the certaintie & vncertainty of death . Behold , now comes death vnto vs : Behold hir , whose approache wee so much ●eare . Wee are now to consider whether shee be such as we are made belieue : and whether wee ought so greatly to flie hir , as commonly we doe . We are afraid of her : but like little children , of a vizor , or of the Images of Hecate . We haue hir in horror ; but because we cōceiue her not such as shee is , but ougly , terrible , and hideous : such as it pleaseth the Painters to represent vnto vs on a wall . Wee flie before hir : but it is , because ( foretaken with such vaine imaginations ) we giue not our selues leisure to marke hir . But stay wee , stand we stedfast , looke we hir in the face ▪ wee shall finde hir quite other then shee is painted vs , and altogether of other countenaunce then our miserable life . Death makes an end of this life . This life is a perpetuall miserie and tempest : Death then is the issue of our miseries and entraunce of the port where wee shall ride in safetie from all windes . And should wee feare that which withdraweth vs from misery , or which drawes vs into our hauen ? Yea but you will say , it is a paine to dye . Admit it bee : so is there in curing of a wound : Such is the Worlde , that one euill cannot bee cured but by another ; to heale a contusion , must bee made an incision . You will say , there is difficultie in the passage : So is there no hauen , no port , whereinto the entraunce is not straite and combersom . No good thing is to bee bought in this World with other thē the coyne of labour & paine . The entrance indeed is hard , if our selues make it hard , comming thither with a tormented spirit , a troubled minde , a wauering and irresolute thought . But bring we quietnes of minde , constancie , and full resolution , wee shall not finde any danger or difficultie at all . Yet what is the paine that death brings vs ? Nay , what can shee do with those paines we feele ? Wee accuse hir of all the euils we abide in ending our life , and consider not how manie more woundes or grieuous sickenesses we haue endured without death : or how many more vehement paines we haue suffered in this life , in the which wee called euen hir to our succour . All the paines our life yeeldes vs , at the last houre wee impute to death : not marking , that life begun and continued in al sorts of paine , must also necessarily ende in paine . Not marking ( I say ) that it is the remainder of our life , not death that tormenteth vs : the end of our nauigation that paines vs , not the hauen wee are to enter : which is nothing else but a safegarde against all windes . We complaine of death , where wee should complaine of life : as if one hauing beene long sicke , and beginning to bee well , should accuse his health of his last paines , and not the reliques of his disease . Tell me , what is it else to bee deade , but to bee no more liuing in the world ? Absolutely and simplie not to bee in the World , is it any paine ? Did wee then feele anie paine , when as yet wee were not ? Haue wee euer more resemblance of Death , then when wee sleepe ? Or euer more rest , then at that time ? Now if this be no paine , why accuse wee death of the paines our life giues vs at our departure ? vnlesse also wee will fondly accuse the time when as yet we were not , of the paines wee felt at our birth . If the comming in be with teares , is it wonder that such bee the going out ? If the beginning of our being , bee the beginning of our paine , is it maruell that such be the ending ? But if our not being in times past hath beene without paine , & all this being contrariwise full of paine : whom should we by reason accuse of the last paines ? the not being to come , or the remnant of this present beeing ? Wee thinke we dye not , but when we yeelde vp our last gaspe . But if wee mark well , wee dye euerie daie , euerie houre , euery moment . Wee apprehende death as a thing vnusual to vs : and yet haue nothing so cōmon in vs. Our liuing is but continuall dying : looke how much wee liue , we dye how much we increase , our life decreases . We enter not a step into life , but wee enter a step into death . Who hath liued a third part of his yeares , hath a third part of himselfe dead : VVho halfe his yeares , is already halfe dead . Of our life , all the time past is dead , the present liues and dyes at once , and the future likewise shall dye . The past is no more , the future is not yet , the present is , and no more is . Briefly , this whole life is but a death : it is as a candle lighted in our bodies : in one the wind makes it melte awaie , in another blowes it cleane out , many times ere it bee halfe burned : in others it endureth to the ende . Howesoeuer it bee , looke howe much it shineth , so much it burneth : hir shining is her burning : her lighte is a vanishing smoke : her last fire , her last wike , and her last droppe of moisture . So is it in the life of man , life and death in man is all one . If wee call the last breath death , so must wee all the rest : all proceeding from one place , and all in one manner . One onely difference there is between this life , and that we call death : that during the one , wee haue alwaies whereof to die : and after the other , ther remaineth only whereof to liue . In summe , euen hee that thinketh death simply to bee the end of man , ought not to feare it : in asmuch as who desireth to liue long , desireth to dye longer : and who feareth soone to dye , feareth ( to speake properly ) least he may not longer dye . But vnto vs , brought vppe in a more holie schoole , death is a far other thing : neither need we , as the Pagans , of consolations against death : but that death serue vs as a consolation against all sorts of affliction : so that we must not onely strengthen our selues , as they , not to feare it , but accustom our selues to hope for it . For vnto vs it is not a departing from paine and euill , but an accesse vnto all good : not the ende of life , but the ende of death , and the beginning of life . Better , saith Salomon , is the day of death , then the day of birth : and why ? because it is not to vs a last day , but the dawning of an euerlasting day . No more shall wee haue , in that glorious light , either sorrowe for the past , or expectation of the future : for al shal be there present vnto vs , & that present shall neuer more passe . No more shall wee powre out our selues in vaine and painfull pleasures : for wee shal bee filled with true , and substantiall pleasures . No more shall we paine our selues in heaping togither these exhalatiōs of the earth ; for the heauēs shall be ours : and this masse of earth , which euer drawes vs towardes the earth , shall bee buried in the earth . No more shall we ouer-wearie our selues with mounting from degree to degree , and from honour to honour : for wee shall highly bee raised aboue all heights of the world ; and , from on high , laugh at the folly of all those wee once admired , who fight together for a point , & as little children for lesse then an apple . No more ( to be briefe ) shall we haue cōbats in our selues : for our flesh shal be dead , and our spirit in full life : our passion buried , and our reason in perfect libertie . Our soule , deliuered out of this foule and filthie prison , ( where , by long continuing , it is growen into an habite of crookednesse ) shall againe drawe her owne breath , recognize her auncient dwelling , and againe remember her former glory and dignity . This flesh ( my friend ) which thou feelest , this body which thou touchest , is not man. Man is from heauen : heauen is his countrey and his ayre . That hee is in his body , is but by way of exile and confinement . Man indeede is soule & spirit : Man is rather of celestial and diuine qualitie , wherein is nothing grosse nor material . This body , such as now it is , is but the barke and shell of the soule : which must necessarily be broken , if wee will be hatched : if we will indeed liue and see the light . Wee haue , it seemes , some life , & some sense in vs : but are so crooked and contracted , that wee cannot so much as stretch out our wings , much lesse take our flight towardes heauen , vntill wee bee disburthened of this earthly burthen . Wee looke , but through false spectacles : wee haue eyes , but ouer growen with pearles : wee thinke we see , but it is in a dreame , wherein we see nothing but deceit . All that wee haue , and all that wee knowe , is but abuse and vanitie . Death onely can restore vs both life and light : and we thinke ( so blockish we are ) that she comes to rob vs of thē . We say we are Christians : that we beleeue , after this mortall , a life immortall : that death is but a separation of the bodie and soule : and that the soule returnes to her happie abode , there to ioy in God , who onely is all good : that at the last day it shall againe take the body , which shall no more bee subiect to corruption . With these goodly discourses wee fill all our bookes : and in the mean while , when it comes to the point , the verie name of death as the horriblest thing in the World makes vs quake and tremble . If we beleeue as we speak , what is that wee feare ? to bee happie ? to bee at our ease ? to bee more content in a momēt , thē we might be in the longest mortall life that might be ? or must not we of force confesse , that we beleeue it but in part ? that all wee haue is but wordes ? that all our discourses , as of these hardy trencher-knights , are but vaunting and vanitie ? Some you shall see , that will say : I knowe well that I passe out of this life into a better ; I make no doubte of it : onely I feare the midway step , that I am to step ouer . Weake hearted creatures ! they will kill themselues , to gette their miserable liuing : suffer infinite paines , and infinite woundes at another mans pleasure : passe infinite deathes without dying , for things of nought , for thinges that perish , and perchance make them perish with them . But when they haue but one pase to passe to bee at rest , not for a day , but for euer ; not an indifferent rest , but such as mans minde cannot comprehend : they tremble , their harts fail them , they are affraide : and yet the grounde of their harme is nothing but feare . Let them neuer tell mee , they apprehend the paine : it is but an abuse ; a purpose to conceale the little faith they haue . No , no , they would rather languish of the gowte , the sciatica , anie disease whatsoeuer : then dy one sweet death with the least paine possible : rather pyningly dye limme after limme , out-liuinge as it were , all their senses , motions , and actions , then speedily dye , immediatly to liue for euer . Let them tell mee no more that they would in this worlde learne to liue : for euerie one is thereunto sufficiently instructed in himselfe , and not one but is cunning in the trade . Nay rather they should learne in this Worlde to dye ; and once to dye wel , dye dayly in themselues : so prepared , as if the end of euerie dayes worke , were the ende of our life . Now contrariwise there is nothing to their eares more offensiue then to heare of death . Senselesse people ! wee abandon our life to the ordinarie hazardes of warre , for seauen frankes pay : are formost in an assault , for a little bootie : goe into places whence there is no hope of returning , with daunger manie times both of bodies and soules . But to free vs from all hazards , to winne thinges inestimable , to enter an eternall life , wee faint in the passage of one pase , wherein is no difficultie , but in opinion : yea , wee so faint , that were it not of force wee must passe , and that God in despite of vs will doe vs a good turne , hardly should wee finde in all the World one , how vnhappie or wretched soeuer , that would euer passe . Another will say , had I liued till fiftie or sixtie yeares , I should haue beene contented , I should not haue cared to liue longer : but to dye so young is no reason . I should haue knowen the world before I had left it . Simple soule ! in this worlde there is neither young nor old . The longest age in comparison of all ▪ that is past , or all that is to come , is nothing : and when thou hast liued to the age thou nowe desirest , all the past will bee nothing : thou wilt still gape for that is to come . The past will yeelde thee but sorrow , the future but expectation , the present noe contentment . As readie thou wilt then be to redemaund longer respite , as before . Thou fliest thy creditour from moneth to moneth , and time to time , as ready to pay the last day , as the first : thou seekest but to bee acquitted . Thou hast tasted all which the worlde esteemeth pleasures : not one of them is new vnto thee . By drinking oftener , thou shalt bee neuer a white the more satisfied : for the body thou cariest , like the bored paile of Danaus daughters , will neuer be full . Thou mayst sooner weare it out , then wearie thy selfe with vsing or rather abusing it . Thou crauest long life to cast it away , to spende it on worthlesse delights , to misspend it on vanities . Thou art couetous in desiring , and prodigall in spending ▪ Say not thou findest fault with the Court , or the Palace : but that thou desirest longer to serue the Common wealth , to serue thy Countrey , to serue GOD. Hee that set thee on worke knowes vntill what day , and what houre , thou shouldest bee at it : hee well knowes how to direct his worke . Should hee leaue thee there longer , perchance thou wouldest marre all . But if hee will pay thee liberally for thy labour , as much for halfe a dayes worke , as for a whole : as much for hauing wrought till noone , as for hauing borne all the heate of the day : art thou not so much the more to thanke and prayse him ? but if thou examine thine owne conscience , thou lamentest not the cause of the widow , and the orphane , which thou hast left depending in iudgement : not the dutie of a sonne , of a father , or of a friend , which thou pretendest thou wouldest perform : not the ambassage for the Common wealth , which thou wert euen readie to vndertake : not the seruice thou desirest to doe vnto God , who knowes much better how to serue him-selfe of thee , then thou of thy selfe . It is thy houses and gardens thou lamentest , thy imperfect plots and purposes , thy life ( as thou thinkest ) imperfecte : which by noe dayes , nor yeares , nor ages , might be perfected : and yet thy selfe mightest perfecte in a moment , couldest thou but thinke in good earnest that where it ende it skils not , so that it ende well . Now to ende wel this life , is only to ende it willingly : followinge with full consent the will and direction of God , and not suffering vs to bee drawen by the necessitie of destinie . To end it willingly , we must hope , and not feare death . To hope for it , wee must certainely looke , after this life , for a better life . To looke for that , wee must feare God : whom whoso well feareth , feareth indeede nothing in this world , and hopes for all things in the other . To one well resolued in these points , death canne be but sweete and agreeable : knowing , that through it hee is to enter into a place of all ioyes , The griefe that may bee therein shall bee allaied with sweetnesse : the sufferaunce of ill , swallowed in the confidence of good : the sting of Death it selfe shall bee dead , which is nothinge else but Feare . Nay , I will say more , not onely all the euilles conceiued in death shall bee to him nothing : but hee shall euen scorne alll the mishappes men redoubt in this life , and laugh at all these terrours . For I pray what can he feare , whose death is his hope ? Thinke wee to banish him his coūtrey ? Hee knowes hee hath a Countrey otherwhere , whence wee cannot banish him : and that all these countreyes are but Innes , out of which hee must part at the will of his host . To put him in prison ? a more straite prison he cannot haue , then his owne bodie , more filthie , more darke , more full of rackes and torments . To kill him and take him out of the world ? that 's it he hopes for : that is it with all his heart hee aspires vnto . By fire , by sworde , by famine , by sickenesse ? within three yeares , within three dayes , within three houres , all is one to him : all is one at what gate , or at what time he passe out of this miserable life . For his businesses are euer ended , his affaires all dispatched ; and by what way he shal go out , by the same hee shall enter into a most happie and euerlasting life . Men canne threaten him but death , and death is all hee promiseth himselfe : the worst they canne doe , is , to make him dye , and that is the best hee hopes for . The threatninges of tyrants are to him promises , the swordes of his greatest enemies drawen in his fauour : for as much as hee knowes that threatning him death , they threaten him life : and the most mortall woundes can make him but immortall : Who feares God , feares not death : and who feares it not , feares not the worst of this life . By this reckening , you will tell me , death is a thing to bee wished for : and to passe from so much euil , to so much good , a man should ( it seemeth ) cast away his life . Surely , I feare not , that for any good wee expect , wee will hasten one steppe the faster : though the spirit aspire , the body ( it drawes with it ) withdrawes it euer sufficiently towards the earth . Yet is it not that I conclude . Wee must seeke to mortifie our flesh in vs , and to cast the World out of vs : but to caste our selues out of the world is in no sort permitted vs. The Christian ought willingly to depart out of this life , but not cowardly to runne away . The Christian is ordained by GOD to fight therein : and cannot leaue his place without incurring reproach and infamie . But if it please the graund Captaine to recall him , let him take the retrait in good part , and with good will obey it . For hee is not borne for himselfe , but for God : of whom hee holdes his life at farme , as his tenant at will , to yeelde him the profites . It is in the Land-lord to take it from him , not in him to surrender it , when a conceite takes him . Diest thou young ? prayse God , as the Mariner ▪ that hath had a good winde , soone to bring him to the Port. Dyest thou Olde ? prayse him likewise : for if thou hast had lesse winde , it may be thou hast also had lesse waues . But thinke not at thy pleasure to go faster or softer : for the winde is not in thy power ; and in steade of taking the shortest way to the Hauen , thou maiest happely suffer shipwracke . God calleth home frō his worke , one in the morning , another at noone , and another at night . One hee exerciseth till the first sweat , another hee sunne-burneth , another hee roasteth & drieth throughly . But of all his hee leaues all to rest , and giues them al their hire , euerie one in his time . Who leaues his worke before God call him , loseth it : and who importunes him before the time , loseth his reward . Wee must rest vs in his wil , who in the middest of our troubles sets vs at rest . To ende , wee ought neither to hate this life for the toyles therein ; for it is slouth and cowardise : nor loue it for the delights ; which is folly and vanitie : but serue vs of it , to serue God in it , who after it shal place vs in true quietnesse , and replenish vs with pleasures which shal neuer more perish . Neither ought wee to flie death ; for it is childish to feare it : and in flying from it , wee meete it . Much lesse to seeke it , for that is temeritie : nor euerie one that would die , can die . As much despaire in the one , as cowardise in the other : in neither any kinde of magnanimitie . It is enough that we constantly and continually waite for her comming , that she may neiuer finde vs vnprouided . For as there is nothing more certaine then death , so is ther nothing more vncertain then the houre of death , knowne onely , o God , the onely Author of life & death , to whom wee all ought endeuour both to liue & die . Dye to liue : Liue to Dye . The 13. of May , 1590. AT WILTON .