Contemplating Mortality and Immortality, Title page
CONTEMPLATIO MORTIS, ET IMMORTALITATIS.
LONDON, Printed by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings moſt Excellent MAIESTIE: and by the Aſſignes of Iohn Bill. Anno Dom. 1631.
CONTEMPLATIO MORTIS ET IMMORTALITATIS.
PHiloſophers, Statesmen, & Diuines do all hold, that in this world there are but tria genera vitae: Vna eſt actiua: Altera Contemplatiua: Tertia voluptuaria.
Which of theſe is beſt. Quaeritur:
Actio Contemplationis expers, is but vita impolita; Contemplation, if it take vp all a mans time makes vitam ſterilem.
Voluptuaria vita, though it bee not otioſa, becauſe it is in actu: yet is but deſidioſa occupatio. Amongſt theſe, who ſo tryes all as I hauehave done, ſhall finde; that Action profits moſt, but Contemplation pleaſes beſt: ſpecially that which indebts a man to action. For man was not made for Contemplation onelyonly. It is true, retiredneſſe is is more ſafe then buſineſſe, yet as hee is not happy that is alwayes buſie: ſo a publike man ſhould not alwayes bee ſhut vp in thoughts pleaſing his life in the ſweetneſſe of thinking.
The ſweetneſſe of thoughts, and vertue of Contemplation, lyes in the right choice of the ſubiect: eueryevery knowing man being ſo inquiſitiue by nature, and of ſo buſie a fancie, as it is happy for him in this way to fall vponupon a fit ſubiect.
Some ancient Fathers, and ſome late Writers hauehave fixed vponupon the louelove of God, ſome vponupon the Paſſion of Chriſt, ſome vponupon the ioyes of Heauen, ſome vponupon contempt of the World. So ſeuerall others vponupon ſeuerall other ſubiects. All opining, that ſome one is to bee choſen. For who ſo will viuere ſibi, muſt vacare Deo.
Ego in meo ſolito receſſu in quo à negotijs publicis vacans, mihi ipſi vacaueram (which was but ſeldome) found it fruitfull, vſefull, and delightfull, cogitare de Nouiſſimo.
Quatuor ſunt Nouiſſima, ſay the Fathers; Death, Iudgement, Heauen and Hell, ſubiects large enough.
But conſidering I had paſſed ſo much imployment, ſo many offices in ſeuerall profeſſions, I was ſome while muſing whether any of theſe fitted me to contemplate. In the reuolution of many things, I found, that when Meditation had produced Deuotion, then it applyed it ſelfe to Contemplation. And that true Contemplation required a ſettlement vponupon ſome diuine obiect. Hereupon I made choice of Death and Immortalitie for the ſubiect of my Contemplation.
But firſt my thoughts did beate to finde a difference betwixt Meditation and Contemplation.
Meditation or recogitation, I ſaw was but a reiterated thought, proper to production either of good or euill. Day and night hauehave I meditated on thy Law, ſaith Dauid in one Pſalme: in an other, Why hauehave they meditated vaine things? But Diuines doe now dedicate Contemplation to diuine myſteries. Which affecting our ſoules, and exciting our wils, produceth ſome holy reſolution. We meditate, ſaith one, to know God; wee contemplate to louelove God. Meditation is the mother, Contemplation the daughter. Yet as Ioſeph was the crowne of his father, and brought him encreaſe of honour and contentment: the like doth Contemplation to her mother Meditation. When God himſelfe had ſeene the things created in ſeuerall peeces, hee ſaid, they were good. But when hee conſidered the Vniuerſe (as it were in Contemplation) then hee ſaid, Lo, they were exceeding good.
For Meditation conſiders her obiects peece by peece; but Contemplation ſummes them vp all together, and ſees as in a groſſe, all the ſeuerall beauties of meditations obiects. Meditation is with a man as hee that ſmels the Violet, the Roſe, the Ieſſamy, and the Oringe flowers, one after the other, diſtinctly. But Contemplation is a ſweet water compounded of them all, wherein you ſhall ſmell all theſe odours together, extracted from the ſeuerall ſents, which before you ſmelt diuidually. Which extract is farre more fragrant, then were any of the ſimples, though eueryevery one was ſweet alone. This is more elegantly denoted in the Canticles; where the Spouſe pleates vp her hayre, truſſing it vp in one knot, to ſhew that wee ſhould not diffuſe our thoughts into varietie of conſiderations, but recollect them by contemplation.
The end of all is, after many changes of meditations and diſcourſes, to reduce all cogitations to one concluſion. Which is, contemplation of things diuine. Here with a mans ſoule being once affected, hee ſhall hardly obtaine leaue of his thoughts to returne againe to imployment.
Now to returne ad meum Nouiſſimum. What man liueth (ſaith Dauid) and ſhall not ſee death? And if after death Iustus vix ſalnabitur, as the Goſpel ſaith; Then wee may well bee fearefull, and had neede be carefull, that wee be not taken vnprepared.
When I was a young man (ſaith Seneca) my care was to liue well. I practiſed Artem bene viuendi: when age came vponupon me, I ſtudied Artem bene moriendi, how to die well.
It is true, Iter vitae occupatis non apparet, niſi in fine: yet when I was occupatiſſimus, hoc me dulci oblectabam ſolatio, aliquando me victurum mihi. And this at laſt I am come to, diſponendo, non mutando me.
The couenant of the graue is ſhewed to no man, ſaith the Wiſeman: But the watch-word is giuen to all men: Sint lumbi praecincti, Lucernae ardentes, ſemper vigilantes. Lord let me be found in this poſture, when I ſhall bee to dye.
Nunquam ego fortunae credidi, etiamſi videretur pacem agere. I hauehave had my portion as another man, of the worlds fauours: yet did they neuer ſo delight mee, or abuſe mee, as to make mee neglect, or to deferre this worke of preparation. I conſidered this, Guttatim per horas & dies fluit vita. And although the houre bee not paſt till all the glaſſe be runne, & nemo multum ex ſtillicidio poteſt perdere: yet the glaſſe then runnes moſt faintly, when it drawes neereſt to effluxion. Carefull Martha was full buſie about many things, but was well admoniſhed, there was onelyonly vnum neceſſarium.
Phyſicians exclaime, Vita breuis, Ars longa eſt. But Diuines teach, Ars optima est, vsuendo diſcere artem bene moriendi. If this Science bee to learne, when prae foribus Mors eſt; Thy ſin-ſicke Soule will ſay, Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit à corpore mortis huius? But if thou haſt learnt it betime, then it will reioyce to ſay, Mihi viuere Chriſtus eſt, & mori, lucrum. Welcome death, more bleſſed then my birth.
In the whole courſe of my life I hauehave alwayes thought the right way to die, was to liue well; and the way to liue well in the world, was to dye betimes to the world.
Mihi Mundus Crucifixus, & ego Mundo: yet I found it rem difficilem; In mundo viuere, & mundi bona contemnere. Therfore for aſſiſtants, I tooke three coadiutors; Faith, Hope, Charity. Charitatemex corde puro, ſpemex conſcientia bona, fidem non fictam. And for my ſoules health often vſed this preparatiue; Examen conſcientiae meae. Nam quicun que cordihabet ſalutem ſuam, let him eueryevery day, mane & vespere, examine his heart. Quid nocte vel die praecedente, hath hee thought, hath he ſaid, hath he done? Et in quo peccati labem inuenerit? Let him mend it, cum propoſito efficaci, ſimili non peccare. This if it be done daily, I dare boldly ſay, Vix fieri poterit, vt quis moriendo peccet, aut peccando moriatur.
Inter theſe thoughts, I had theſe things in Contemplation.
1. Firſt, what Death was, and the kinds of death.
2. Secondly, what feares or ioyes death brought.
3. Thirdly, when death was to be prepared for, and how.
4. Fourthly, death approching, what our laſt thoughts ſhould then be.