The French academie Fully discoursed and finished in foure bookes. 1. Institution of manners and callings of all estates. 2. Concerning the soule and body of man. 3. A notable description of the whole world, &c. 4. Christian philosophie, instructing the true and onely meanes to eternall life. This fourth part neuer before published in English. All written by the first author, Peter de la Primaudaye, Esquire, Lord of Barre, Chauncellour, and Steward of the French Kings house.

That wee must amend our liues, and shunne the third folly, To thinke to liue euer. Chap. 4.

1. Man naturally inclined to incredulity, and to doubt of true things, which hee de∣sireth should not come to passe.

OVr third and principall folly is, to thinke to liue euer. This at the first shew, might seeme to many, to be some paradoxe, or rather a false supposition, for who is so Ignorant as not to know, that it is ordained by God, that all men shall die once? and who seeth not this sentence daily and continually confirmed before his eies, as it hath alwayes beene, from * 1.1 the beginning of the world? yet it is most true, that although we find by experience, that the course of our life, is like a little round circle, which hauing gone about and compassed, wee are suddenly and in a moment taken out of mans sight, as if wee had neuer beene? yet the knowledge of this fragility, is not well imprinted in our harts, because that by our corrupt∣nes of nature we lift not vp our eies aboue earthly things, and againe, we are so inclined to incredulity, that the delaying, how short soeuer it be, of that, which we desire should not come to passe, easily taketh from vs, the remembrance that we ought to haue thereof, that * 1.2 we may not be surprised nor deceiued. That was the iudgement of the euill seruant, spoken of in the Gospell. And to the same end Saint Peter saith, That in the latter daies, their shal come * 1.3 mockers, which will walke after their lusts, and say, where is the promise of his comming? For since the fathers died, all things continued alike from the beginning of the creation. And as it is written, that when God by his Prophets threatned the contemners of his word, they laughed, saying, * 1.4 Let vs eate and drinke, tomorrow we shal die. And againe, we haue made a couenant with death, and with hell we are at agreement. Though a scourge runne ouer, and passe through, it shall not come at vs. In this manner, man naturally inclined to incredulity, easily doubteth of true and certayne things, if they be but a while deferred, specially when they desire not to haue them come to passe.

2. Testimonies to prooue, that man thinketh to liue alwaies.

Therefore (although we othewise confesse, and acknowledge with our mouthes, that we must once die, and proceed further (according to christian faith) to beleeue that death is the entry and gate, either into paradise, or into hell) it happeneth vnto vs, as vnto them, where∣of wee haue already spoken, who with their lips acknowledg a God, and deny him in their workes. For who is it that liueth here on earth, and thinketh as he should, and ought to do vpon the course which he ought to hold, to enter into the place of heauenly loy, and eter∣nall blessednes, or to the contrary, on the other way, that he ought to leaue, which is to go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth? When we doubt, or beleeue that we shall die within a day or two, there is none of vs, but will bee sorry and grieue that wee haue offen∣ded God, that we haue liued sinnefully, in adultery, in deceite, disorderly, with an euill con∣science, and vncharitably with our neighbours. And then we will desire to liue a while lon∣ger to amend our liues. And we will not want no vowes, nor promises to God, to liue the rest of our liues holily, and in feare and obedience vnto him. If he will be pleased to prolong our liues. And I am sure euery man will truly confesse, that if he should feele himselfe ready to die, he would willingly with sorrowfull heart, make the like vowes, promises, and protesta∣tions. God grant vs daily, and howerly time, leyser & meant, to liue according to such vowes and desires. Why then doe we nothing? why do we not make hast to order the course of our liues in that manner, which we desire and wish we had liued in when we are ready to die? It is because we thinke not to die, and are so dull and insensible, that we thinke and esteeme twenty or thirty yeeres to be an eternity. For from thence proceedeth, this so great stupi∣dity, that addicting our mindes wholy to the pleasures of this present life, we take order and prouide for the affaires of this world, as if we should dwell therein, two or three thousand yeeres. As a Pagan very well noteth, saying. That there is no man, how old soeuer he be, that is not in hope to liue an other yeere: which is as much, as to thinke neuer to die: for when such a man shall haue liued an hundred yeeres, or two, he will perswade himselfe, that

he shal liue a yeere longer, and that ended, that he shal liue another yeere, & so to liue euer. This is a wonderfull inconsideratenes. When a man is committed to prison, and hath re∣ceiued his iudgement to die, he thinketh vpon nothing else, but on the way that hee must goe, and detesting his former lewdnes, humbleth himselfe before God, abandoning all desire or care to lie soft, to eate and drinke of the best, or to weare costly and rich apparrell: And if he be a man wel instructed in piety and godlines, he thinketh vpon nothing els, but eter∣nall life, & forgetting the world and earthly vanities, reioyceth in hart, that hee is ready to enter into, and to take possession of the kingdome of heauen. Now, wee haue receiued the Iudgement and sentence of death, from the first day and hower, that wee came into this world, and our soules are in our bodies, as in a prison, still expecting the hower and time of the execution. And accordingly, we all confesse, that we must die, and that we know not, whether it shall be within a day, or an hower, or lesse, and which of vs neuerthelesse, doth feele, and sheweth himselfe disposed or prepared to die, as he doth, that is condemned to dy by a terrestriall Iudge? from whence proceedeth this dangerous carelesnes? But onely from this, that we thinke not to die, but rather to liue alwayes. If a woman, or a maide, preparing and making ready her best and richest clothes; and other ornaments to goe to a wedding, should feele her selfe sicke & ill at ease, & the Doctor hauing felt her pulse, should tel her for certen, that she should die within fiue or sixe dayes after, she would presently forget her go∣ing to the wedding, to weepe, to pray vnto God, to do Almes, to cry out vpon, and to blame the vanities of this world, and would aduertise and aduise her friendes, and companions, to leaue and forsake them, and in steade thereof, to doe good workes. Now God the soue∣raigne phisition of our bodies and soules, that knoweth the time and space of our liues, hath already warned vs of our deathes: he hath sayd that it shall bee very shortly, and giueth vs no assurance, respect, nor delay of fiue or sixe daies: no not of one day, nor yet of an how∣er. It is a common saying, that those that saile on the seas, are within two or three fingers breadth, of their deathes, that is as much as the thicknes of the planckes and wood of the ship is wherein they saile: for if those planckes were taken away, they should drowne, if they could not swimme like fishes. But without sayling on the Seas, or on the water, death is nee¦rer vnto vs, when we beare, both about vs, and within vs, infinit causes and means, which put vs in danger, euery moment of time, to bee stifled, and swallowed vp, waking, or sleeping, eating or drinking, at home or abroad, and at all times, and in all places, wheresoeuer we bee. In such manner, that in what good, and prosperous estate soeuer, a man thinketh or iudgeth himselfe to be, we many times wonder, and are abashed to heare that he is dead, before wee knew that he was sicke. Then wharefore doe we settle our mindes, our whole thoughts & our cogitations, to liue here according to the Iusts and pleasures of the flesh? why are wee lesse aduised & carelesser then a woman or a maide that expecteth death euery hower? why do we take so much pleasure in vanities, excesse and disordered life, like fooles? why doe we not addict our minds otherwise to the meditation of heauenly and eternall riches? wherfore doe we not imploy our time in such workes, as will be a comfort vnto vs, at the hower of death? and to bee short, why doe wee not amend our liues? because wee thinke to liue e∣uer.

3. The breuity and vanity of our liues, most necessarily to bee considered of by man.

We read of Antigonus, one of Alexander the greats successors, in a part of his Empire, that being healed of a certaine disease, said, That hee had thereby among other things * 1.5 learned, that he was mortall, therein discouering and shewing the aforesaid common opi∣nion of man, to thinke to liue euer. Whereunto that also tendeth, that Philip King of Mace∣donia, euery morning when he rose out of his bed, caused one of the Gentlemen of his Chamber to say vnto him, Oh King remember that thou art a mortall man. And to the same purpose also, serueth the common sentence, which we see many times written and set vp in tables, and vpon walles, and elsewhere, Remember to die. But as the intent and purpose of that diuine prouerbe, and of many the like notable instructions and auertisments, which wee finde in the holy Scriptures is to aduise and instruct vs, to liue in such sort, as that wee should alwaies haue in remembrance, that wee must die. So they are as many reproofes and reproaches vnto vs, thereby to condemne vs, that there is so great folly, and carelesse∣nesse in vs, that wee thinke not to die. An extreame folly indeede: Seeing that experi∣ence, which is the Schoole of fooles, cannot prouide a sufficient remedy against it. For the

veriest fooles and ideots in the world such as are not capable of discourse or reason, at the least learne by experience, that apples and peares rot, that greene trees die, being cut downe, that grasse whithereth, when it is mowed, and that flowers fade and die when they are ga∣thered. This instruction, which by experience, sheweth and pointeth out things by the ef∣fects is so certaine and true, that if a Phylosopher would take on him to shew, and prooue the contrary, by reason and discourse: as for example that fire is colde, and snowe hotte, hee should bee woorse then a foole, and might be sent to the Schoole of experience, and tolde that he should put his finger in the fire, and his hand into the snow. The holy Ghost presenting vnto vs many registers and tables, since the beginning of the world, to shew that wee are mortall, and borne necessarily to die, speaking of death and of the liues of the first Auncient Fathers, saith, that if those that liued 900. yeares and more, were not at the last exempted from death. Now when the strongest and stoutest man, liueth not aboue 70. or 80. yeares, and that not very many, how comes it that wee thinke to liue alwaies? The world hath continued 5500. yeares and vpwards: and yet experience * 1.6 sheweth, that there was neuer any man (of so many millions that haue liued vpon the earth) that escaped death, but onely Enoch and Elias, that were transported without see∣ing death, (as the Scripture saith.) Besides all this, wee haue many mirrors concer∣ning * 1.7 this passage of death, which God setteth before our eies, as Church yardes, graues, tombes, and dead mens heads and bones, gathered and laid together in the Church-yeards; which are specially as many testimonies, that wee also must die. And euery time that we see a dead body borne to the graue to be buried, or that we heare a bell toll to a buriall, it is vnto vs as it were a herault, that crieth out and saith (oh man re∣member that thou art mortall.) Is it not then, a double folly in vs, and which sheweth vs to be more fooles, then fooles, when in this schoole of vniuersall and continuall experience, since the Genesis of the world; we cannot nor we will not learne that we must die? But be∣hold an other greater and more euident testimony of our brutishnes, which is, that this life which we esteeme and thinke to be immortall, is not of any long continuance. Wee liue, as beleeuing that we shall liue eternally in this world, and wee cannot stay therein but a very short time. Moses in his song reckoneth our daies, as I said before, to be seuenty or eighty * 1.8 yeeres, & yet of a thousand that are born here on earth, hardly two or three of them attain to that age. And the Prophet in the same Psalme, and verse, sheweth how that long life, of 70. or 80. yeeres, is quickly cut off, and will fly away. Then, what is 40. 30 or 20. yeeres in comparison therof, which the most part of men neuer attaine vnto? Let vs here then speak, (in the booke of Wisedom••) that neuer thought to die, liuing in delights, honours, plea∣sures, and riches, and we shall plainely see, how they truely confesse their folly and abuse, say∣ing (What hath pride profited vs? or what profit hath the pompe of riches brought vs? all these thinges are past away like a shadow, and as a post that passeth by, as a shippe that passeth ouer the waues of the * 1.9 water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof can not bee found, neither the pathes thereof in the floods. Or as a birde flyeth through in the aire. Or as when an arrow is shotte at a marke.) In how * 1.10 many places, also doth the holy Ghost compare the life of man to a shadow, that fadeth away? how many times to the grasse, which yester day was greene, and this day is cutte downe and withered?? how often to a flower, which yesterday flourished; and this day is gathered and dried away? how oftentimes to a dreame, and as a watch in the night? and as Iob saith, that wee are but as yesterday, and that his dayes are swifter then a weauers shuttle, and that they are spent without hope. Which made Saint Iames, liken our life to a vapor, which appeereth for a little time, and afterwards vanisheth away. The Pagans in times past, marking this, one of them said, That being borne wee die: an other, That our life is a path way, from one mother to another; that is, from the body of a woman, to the bowels of the earth: another, That man is but a water bubble. Another being asked, What hee thought of mans life, without making any answere, went into his chamber, and presently came out againe, therby signifying, that the life of man is but an entring into the world, and a sudden going out againe. Iacob hauing liued 130. yeares, said vnto Pharao, That the daies of his life, had beene short, in regard of those of his Auncestors, that had * 1.11 liued 8. or 900. yeares. What is 70. or 80. yeares then, which the strongest and stoutest men liue now adaies, If they bee compared to the eternitie which shall follow and ensue this temporall life? It is not a drop of water in comparison to the Sea, nor a graine of sand, in comparison to that, which is in all the earth. Saint Iohn calling the time since the comming of Christ in the flesh, to the end of the world, The last houre, seemeth to deuide * 1.12

the world into three or foure houres, whereof two or three of them were past vnder the time of Moses Law, and before, and we are now in the last houre. If 1500. yeares and more, are reckoned to be but an houre (how much lesse are they then being compared to the eternity) the longest life of man cannot be a minute of an houre.

4. Conclusion of this Chapter.

Seeing that this false opinion to thinke to liue euer, maketh vs forget heauen for earth, the soule for the body, and heauenly, for terrestriall treasures: That wee may amend our liues, let vs change opinion, and being well perswaded that we must die, and that soone, and that our life is but as it were the length of a day, or of an hower, yea of a minute of an houre, let vs liue so, as if we should die euery day, or rather euery houre in the day. Let vs liue as we wish we had liued, when wee lye on our death beds: and employ that day or houre, that we breath our last, in the workes of pietie and vertue, which vndoubtedly will be a ioy vnto vs, when wee die, and glory and eternall blessednesse in the life to come. Let vs remember the tenne Virgins, in the Scriptures, that wee may haue oyle ready in our * 1.13 lampes, to enter into the Bride chamber, at the day of the comming of the Sonne of man, to iudge the quicke and the dead. Let vs not (for a daies, an houres, or rather a minute of an houres carnall pleasure, which the longest life of man, can or may taste, haue or feele:) depriue our selues of that spirituall ioy, which can neuer bee taken from vs. Let vs not * 1.14 loose the fruit of the tree of life, for an apple that beginneth to rotte. To be short, seeing we must die, and know not the houre, and that it will soone come, let vs liue like men con∣demned to die, and that stay but for the time of execution. And to frame and fashion our selues vnto that wise course, Let vs say with Moses that great man of God, Lord teach vs to number our daies, that we may apply our hearts vnto wisdome. For this praier is of no small im∣portance, although it seemeth no difficult matter, to know how to number and tell 70. or * 1.15 80. yeares, which the Prophet doth limit our daies to be. But therein hee sheweth the dulnesse of man, in not being able to comprehend the shortnesse of our life, by reckoning it to be of so small continuance, and that the holy Ghost must necessarily, by his secret wisdome worke in vs to teach vs to know and finde out, so necessarie a doctrine, to the ende (as hee addeth) That wee may apply our hearts vnto wisdome. That is, that leauing and forsaking the vanities of the world and of the flesh, which lightly fade away, wee may addict our selues to that, whereof the blessed fruit will remaine with vs for euer. That is, that we should renounce and forsake this folly, to thinke to liue alwaies in the world, and that when wee die, wee may happely enter into the ioies of the kingdome of heauen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Heb. 927.
• * 1.2

  Psal 5.
• * 1.3

  Math. 24. 48. 2. Pet. 3. 3, 4.
• * 1.4

  Psay 21. 13. & 28. 15.
• * 1.5

  Plut. in Apopht.
• * 1.6

  Gen. 5. Psalm. 90. 10.
• * 1.7

  Gen. 5. 24. Hebr. 11. 5. 2 King. 2. 11.
• * 1.8

  Psal. 90. 10.
• * 1.9

  Wisd. 5. 8.
• * 1.10

  Psal. 102. 11. 1 Chr. 29. 15. Psal. 144. 4. Iob. 8. Psal. 105. 15. Exod 104. 16 Esay. 40. 6. Psal 73. 20. Iob 38. 9. & 7. 6. Iam 4. 14.
• * 1.11

  Gen. 47 9.
• * 1.12

  1. Ioh 2 18.
• * 1.13

  Matth. 25. 1.
• * 1.14

  Iohn 16. 22.
• * 1.15

  Psal. 90. 12.