A span-long .

TO weigh the miserie of things transitory , Pars prima . with the glory of others more permanent and solid , is the most exact way to iudge of either ; the life of opposites is in Comparing them , when the good seeme better ; and the bad worse . Our Prophet therefore , in a deepe speculation of the Almighty , and the fraile rarities of his creatures here below , looking vp at length to the beautie of the Celestiall hoast , Sunne , moone , and starres , brings vp man vnto to them ; not to riuall their perfection , but to question his ; and , after some stand , and pause , in steed of Comparison , makes an enquiry ; a double one ; first , what man is ? and then , what is the sonne of man ? in his eighth Psalme , the fourth verse .

Here is Homo , and filius hominis , and both , in the text , haue their energia , and weight of emphasis . The word enosc , or enosh , translated , man , sign fles miserum & calamitosum hominem ( saith Musculus ) a man of calamitie , and sorrow ; Musc. in Psal. 8.4 . and ' ●● giu●n to all men as a remembrance of their mortality ; so Psal. 9.20 . Let the Heathens know that they bee Enose , men , mortall men . Moreouer , sonne of man , hath in the roote . Adam ; vt primae originis admoneamur , Musc. ibid. to minde vs of our carnall pedigree ; and that our source and ofspring is but Adamah , and so all man-kinde , earthie . And therefore some translations , following closely the tracke of the originall , Aynsworth . Psal. 8.4 . read thus ; what is sorry man that thou remembrest him , and the sonne of Adam , that thou visitest him ? not what is man , that rare creature indued with wisedome , and vnderstanding , the Almightie's Master-piece , the Image of his maker , and modell of the vniuerse ? But , what is Enose ? what is Adam ? What , the sonne of calamitie and sorrow ? the sonne of earth and frailite ? what is he ? nay what is he not ? what not of calamitie and earth ? insomuch that the patient man , vnder the groane and sense of humane imperfections , and the dayly bruise of his manifold affliction , is driuen to his expostulation also , with a quid est homo , ? what is man ? Iob. 7.17 . where we meet againe with the word Enosc , misellus homo , wretched man ; and not nakedly the word , but a particle ioyn'd with it , not mah , Bolduc . in Cap. Iob. 17. but mi , ( as Bolducus obserues ) non quis , sed quid quaerere intendens , as if the enquiry look't not to the person , but his condition ; not , who is man ? but what he is ? knowing that man is not only the concrete , miserable ; but , the very abstract misery it selfe ; such a misery as may bee an example , and president of all others . And , if we but obserue the criticismes and curiosities of expositours vpon the word man , they are neither impertinent nor fruitlesse ; for wee shall neuer meet it through the whole current of sacred Story without some descant and paraphrase from the Hebrew . To particular in that of Esay , where ( in one text ) words of opposite signification maske vnder a single antithesis , as in the fifth of that Prophesie , Bolduc . in cap. 4. Iob. 17. Incuruabitur homo , & humiliabitur vir , man shall be brought downe , and man shall be humbled . Homo , there , is in the originall , Adam , quod nomen infirmitatis est , a name of crazines and languishment . Vir , Ise , or Ish , Heroem , magnumque importans , which inuolues something of eminence , & renowne ; and so our new translation giues it , Esa. 5. the meane man shall bee brought downe , and the mighty man shall bee humbled ; so that let man bee of what condition or estate soeuer , hee shall not bee long in it , without a bringing downe , or an humbling . If he be Isc , mighty in possession and name ; humiliabitur , he shal be humbled ; if he be Adam , of course and popular condition , and so humble already , yet he must be lower , incuruabitur , hee shall bee brought downe ; brought downe and humbled with a witnesse , ad infernum , sayes the Text , euen vnto Hell . Aperit infernus os suum , the 16. verse of that Chapter . Esa. 5 16. But Hell is the misety of another Age ; our Text hath little to doe with that , and so this place makes not for our purpose ; but , the word Sheol will befriend vs here , and make this infernum , a graue , too , and thither we are humbled euery day ; and then we aske nomore Quis ? or quid est homo ? who , or what is man ? but , Vbi homo ? where is man ? Iob. 14.10 . for so the pensiue man interrogates ; man wasteth away , and giueth vp the ghost , and where is he ? Iob. 14.10 . where is hee ? fuit , non vixit , he was here but now , but he is gone ; gone from his Caluary to his Golgotha ; his gall & vinegar in his late agonie ( the bitter Crosse of his body ) to his sepulchre ( here ) he wed out of the rocke ; He was buried in a vault . his bed ready made for him in the darke , where hee lie's downe , and rises not , till this fuit hath put on a resurrexit , this mortalitie , a resurrection . And , seeing he is now gone , let vs no more aske , Quis ? aut vbi ? who , or where man is ? but once more , quid est what he is ? or rather , what his Age is ? or ( if you please ) what his dayes in that age ? and then the text will answere by way of similitude and resemblance , Instar pugilli , as a span-long . A short time ( no doubt ) that is inch't out , or singred by the span ; other things remark't in holy story , haue their dimensions lin'dout by the farhome , or the cubit , or the foot , at least ; nothing that I remember , by this fraile measure , but the life of man ; a thing so fragile and momentany , that there was nothing to expresse it , but a span ; a word so tumbled by Expositours , that they are somewhat driuen to the plundge , to giue the originall of it a proper signification in a second language , and therefore some translations haue it instar pugilli ; or , ad mensuram pugillorum , a little handfull ; so Felix , and Musculus ; others ad mensuram quatuor digitorum , or palmi minoris longitudinem ; the breadth of foure fingers , or small inches ; so Pagnine , and Tigurina ; and neere these , Iunius and Mollerus palmares posuisti dies thou hast made my dayes as a hand-breath . The word of the Septuagint , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which the vulgar Latine read's mensurabiles ; and Hierome , Vide Musculum in Psal 39.6 . Breues something that is measurable , and therefore , short . For , though the age of man , in holy writt , weare's sometimes the attribute of dayes ; sometimes , of moneths ; sometimes , of yeares ; yet these dayes , and moneths , and yeares are not without their fraile Epithets of , vani , or , breues , or the like ; so Iob is said to possesse many moneths ; but they are menses vanitatis , moneths of vanitie , Iob. 7.2 . & not only moneths , but yeares also ; but these years are anni pancissimi ; or breues anni , few yeares , and short Iob. 16.12 . Howeuer , suppose these yeares were multiplied , and lengthned somewhat in their span , yet they are short still , because numbred . Pineda in Iob 16.22 . And therefore the Latine version here , breues annos , the Hebrew reads annos numerari ; and the Septuagint , annos dinumeratos , yeares to be numbred , or yeares already numbred , and not only numbred , but prefixt ; and not prefixt barely , but circumscrib'd ; circumscrib'd by the finger of the Almightie ; and that in a narrow circuite , this span-long ; so Iob say's , man's dayes are determined , and his moneths are with thee ; thou hast appointed his bounds that hee cannot passe , Iob 14.5 . Insomuch that dayes , Bolducus in cap. 16. Iob. v. 23. Pined . ibid. or moneths determined are but short ; and short dayes and moneths , the Hebrewes call dies numeri , and menses numeri ; dayes , and moneths of number quia pauci , & numerabiles ( saith Pineda ) because they are numerable , and therefore few . Neither are dayes only , and moneths , and yeares so stil'd , but the men of those dayes , and moneths , and yeares ; so in the twelfth of Ezekiel , Ezech. 12. v. 16 , 17. the Prophet speaking of the desolation of the Iewes , sayes , that God will scatter them amongst the Nations , and disperse them in their Countrey , but would leaue of them homines paucos à gladio , & à fame , some few of them , that is , homines numeri , some few that hee had selected and numbred , these he would reserue from the sword , the pestilence and the famine , that they might declare all their abhominations amongst the Heathens , whether they came , that they might know that hee is the Lord their God .

Thus , measure , or number , of times , or seasons , in what proportion soeuer , presuppose a kinde of rottennesse and instabilitie ; so our moneths are numbred , and our dayes measur'd , Pineda in cap. 14. Iob. v. 5. Iob 14.5 . that is , short . The Latine word there , is praecisi , ( according to Tremeluis ) decurtati , others ; curtail'd and contracted ; from the originall , Charats ; which signitieth , acuere , or , praescindere ; to sharpen , or cut off . So , the lostie Prophet , assuring to a remnant of Israel , their safctie form the Assirians , tell 's them of a consummatio praecisa , in the mid'st of the Land . A consumption decreed , Esay 10.22 . the English saye's , but that rendring is to narrow , and will not beare vp with the latitude of the originall , and therefore not , a consumption ; for , that linger's too much ; but rather , a consummation ; a precise one ; such a one as argues both a certaintie , and quicknesse in the doing ; so quicke and certaine , as if it were done , 'ere it began ; and , acted , as soone as prophesied ; so Ioel also call's the valley of Iehosophat , Pin. in cap. 4. Iob. vallis concisionis ; multitudes , multitudes in the valley of concision ; that is , vallis abreuiationis ; or , vallis praecisionis ; the valley of abreuiation , or cutting off ; because that the vast multitude of people there met , should bee rarifi'd , and lessen'd ; Ioel 3.14 . and only a few number of the Iust selected . In like sort , the dayes of man , here , may be called dies concisionis , or dies praecisi , because they are abreuiated maimed , cut off , determined , & straightned to a prescript time ; a strict measure ; this span-long , which man can neither diminish , nor dilate in his owne power ; but hee is pent vp , here , in his narrow Royaltie ; his fraile inclosure , where his dayes are spanned out , his pillars pitch't ; his non vltra limited ; his circuits bounded ; & tu posuisti terminos , and thou ( O God ) hast appointed those bounds , & tu posuisti dies , and thou hast made those dayes ; so made them , that thou hast measured them ; measured them , exactly ; by a span ; a narrow span , which he shall neither fall short of , nor exceed , no not one tittle or punctum of it ; not the breadth of the smallest haire , or atome ; no , not the rare-spun gothsimere ; or any other extenuated or imaginarie thinnesse whatsoeuer . For tu constituisti , and , tu posuisti , thou hast appointed , and thou hast made it so : Iob. 14.5 . Psal 33. 6 and whatsoeuer is thy appointment , is thy Law ; a Law not to be corrupted , or minced , or disanull'd , either by equiuocation , or partialitie , or rigour , or any other iuggling or imposture of flesh and bloud . There is none ( saith Iob ) that can deliuer out of thy hand . Statuta eius fecisti , & non praeteribit , Iob 10.7 . Lat. Interp. in 10. cap. Iob. v. 20.21 . Prou. 8. v. 24. thou hast appointed man his bounds that he cannot passe , statutes which he cannot violate certain chanels & banks in thy decrees , which he cannot possibly exceed . And as thou hast established the clouds , and strengthned the fountaines of the deepe , bound vp the flouds from ouerflowing , and giuen them thy command that they shall not passe , but placed the sand as a wall about them by a perpetuall Decree ; and though the waues thereof toss themselues , Ier. 5.22 . yet can they not preuaile , though they roare , yet can they not swell ouer ; so all those tossing ; and swellings of flesh and bloud the surges and billowes rising in the tempests of our life , Iob. 38.10 , 11. haue their cliffes and shoares , & strict limits , and God hath done to them , as to the great deepe , brake vp for them his decreed place , and set barres and doores , and said , hither you shall come , no further ; here shall your proud waues stay : for tu posuisti dies , thou hast made our dayes , and those dayes but a span-long & tu constituisti terminos , thou hast appointed our bounds , and those bounds wee shall not passe . Pineda in cap. 14. Iob. And therefore the afflicted man seeme's to complaine of the Almightie , that hee had inuironed him , terminis suis , with his bounds ; that is , praeceptis suo , & statutis , with his precepts , and his statute ; such orecep saud statutes , as he cannot abrogate ; so in the eight of the Prouerbs 29. the Wiseman speaking of the mightie prouidence of God in ruling and ordering the vast deepe , sayes Iegem ponebat aquis , hee gaue the waters a law , or a decree , that they should not passe his command , and yet the singer of Israel call's this very law , a bound , thou hast set a bound that they cannot passe , Psal. 104 9 so that , that terminus , or bound was a law to them ; and this lex , or decree , a bound to vs ; and neither this bound , nor law , to be ouer-past ; and therefore we find it once againe spoken of in the 148. Psalme , and there is a non praeteribit , to it ; it shall not passe away , passe away ? No , not one iot , or tittle of it . Heauen and earth shall first passe away , before one iot or tittle , either of Gods Word or Law , his posuit , or his constituit , his bound , or his span-long , which are a law to him ; a law irreuocable , both in matters of life , and death . And therefore this necessitie of fate , Saint Paul expresseth , by the name of a law , with a statutum est , and a semel statutum est , it is appointed to man to die , and it is once appointed . Statutum est there is the law , or the decree , and the semel once , sayes , that this law is firme , constant , inviolable ; for God speake's once , and he speake's but once , Pinedain cap. Iob. vt iterato pracepto opus non sit , saith Pineda , that we should not expect any iteration or doubling of his command . And therefore in the seuenteenth of the Acts , we haue , though not this statutum est , the law punctually set downe , yet wee haue the statuta tempora , the times prefixt for the execution of that law ; so the text , God hath made of one bloud all the nations of men , and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation , which they cannot passe , the six and twentieth verse of that Chapter . And least we should thinke times determined to be no law , our death , which is a thing determined , and to a time determined , is call'd , a Testament , or , a Law . Remember that death will not bee long , in comming , and that the Couenant or Law of the graue , is not shewed vnto thee . Ecclus 14.12 .

So that this businesse of death and the graue , is a law certaine , and prefixt , both for the time and manner , and that beyond all possibilitie of alteration ; and therefore whether we stile it a decree , or a statute , or a law , or a testament , or a bound , Pin. ibid. or this span-long , Semper dicis aliquid quod praeteriri non poterit , sayes the Iesuite , there is something inuolu'd that is both constant and inuiolable ; whose rampiers , and walls , and bulwarkes , thou shalt neuer scale nor digge through ; for 't is the Almighties Citadell and strong fort , so garrison'd and intrencht by his eternall power , and wisdome ; the doores and gates of it so barrocade'd , and blockt-vp against all inuasions of flesh and bloud , that no earthly stratagem , no temporall assault , no humane policie , shall euer raze or demolish ; but it stand's vnshooke , against all tempests ; firme , against all batteries ; solid , against all vnderminings ; so that if the flouds rise , and the windes blow , and the waues beat , they shall neuer stagger it .

Seeing then there is a Statutum est past vpon all mankinde , that it must once die ( and that statute is not rough , though it be sometimes vnpleasing , to die once , so wee die no more , for a double death is our due , though not our pay ) and knowing that there are precise bounds , and limits , and span-longs to flesh and bloud , beyond which it cannot passe , and these bounds , and spans , and limits haue the Inscription of Gods vnalterable Decree , with the authoritie of his stampe and seale , his posuit , and his constituit , let vs take vp the prayer here of our Psalmist . Aug. in Psal. 38. Lord make me to know mine end , and the number of my dayes , what it is ; the number , what it is ? & est , & non est , saith Saint Augustine .

The measure of our dayes you haue had in an exact proportion , in this span-long ; but the number of them , Aug ibid. is both secret , and vncertaine : it is and it is not , truly . Nec esse possumus dicere , quod nòn stat , nèc nòn esse , quod venit , & transit , saye's the father , we cannot properly say that that is which remaynes not , nor that is not , which comes and goes . Dayes past , and future , are as no dayes . Yesterday , was ; and to morrow , will be ; and so , now , are not ; and of such things as are not , there is no number , to-day , only , is man's ; and this not long his , neither ; for it is going ; or if it did not goe , it is but one day , and of that , there is no number , neither ; so that the totall here , aut nòn est , aut quasi est , is either no number at all , or , Aug. vt supra . as it were , a number . Summe vp all the minutes and houres thou canst , and those , truly , and thine owne ; thou shalt make vp but one day , and that day ( wholly ) not thine owne neither . Let 's begin from the first dawne , or houre of it ; where is that houre , saith the father ? 't is gone , where is the second then ? perchance thou wilt say that 's gone too ; but , the third ( doubtlesse ) thou enioy'st ; that 's thine owne ; Aug. ibid. be it so ; and yet si tertiam dabis , non diem , sed horam dabis . Doest thou talke then of number , that hast but a day , or of a day , that hast but one houre ? an houre ? not that neither , not that very houre thou think'st thou enioy'st ; for , if some part of it bee now past , and another as yet remayning ; and of that which is past thou can'st not dispose , because it is not now ; nor , of that which remaynes , because it is not yet , what canst thou giue of this houre ? or if thou giuest , what i' st of thine owne thou giuest ? the Father is at a stand , here ; and in steed of a resolution put 's a quaere . Cui committam hoc verbum , vt dicam , Est ? what shall I doe with the word . Est ( saith hee ? ) 't is but one syllable , and one moment , and three letters in that syllable , and moment . Wee cannot come to the second , but by the first , nor to the third , but by the second ; and then quid mihi de hac vna syllaba dabis ? & tenes dies , qui vnam syllabam non tenes ? doe we talke of yeares , and moneths , and dayes , and houres , when wee cannot giue an account of one syllable ? not of one letter of it ? Away then with this vaine credulitie , this fond assurance of our setled plantation here below ; momentis transuolantibus cuncta rapiuntur , all things are snatcht away in moments ; moments that haue wings , and no seete ; momentis transuolantibus , moments that flie away , as if they were affraid of mortality , or loath to assist it . And yet , behold , our tents here are not so thinnly built , but they will endure the blasts ( or breathings rather ) of a few dayes , a few dayes ( indeed ) that are spann'd-out ; and when these are gone , Lord , what are we ? surely , euen as nothing ; as nothing before thee : so the Prophet in the words following Mine Age is as nothing before thee .

Mine Age is as nothing before thee . Mine Age , &c.

IVstinian reads it vitamea ; Pars secunda . auum meum . vulg. lat: Jun. & Trem. Musc. in Psal. 39. Aynsworth . in Psal. 39. 1. Cor. 7.31 . Pagnine , tempus meum , my life , and my time ; the two Fathers , Hierome and Augustine ( following the Greeke ) substantia mea my substance ; the Caldee ( not much vnlike ) Corpus meam , my body ; but , the Hebrew word , Cheled , signifies , the World , Psal. 17.14 . vsed here , for mans life or Age , or time in the world ; so that , as the fashion of this greater world passeth away , saith the Apostle , so doth the body and substance of the lesser ; insomuch that this whole pilgrimage on earth , is but as nothing ( most translations reading here vt nihil , or tanquam nihil ) and though some bee so mercifull in their rendrings , Aeuum meum eoram te est , ac sinon essot . Musc. Aeuum meum ac si nibil esset ante te , Molcrus . as to make mans Age a something , yet that hath but an Est , acsi non esset : or els an Ac , with a si nibil esset : so that I finde little difference in the readings , the one making mans age as nothing ; the other , a something , as if it were not . But suppose it were a something , indeed , such an age as had a stabilitie both of dayes and yeeres , and these not spann'd so narrowly , but they might climbe vp to the miracle of a thousand yeeres , yet this huge masse of time is little better then the tanquam nihil in the Text , as nothing before thee , such a nothing , as is resembled to the decursion and sticklenes of one day , not a day present , but already spent , A yesterday , Psal. 90.4 . a yesterday that is past . A thousand yeeres in thy eyes are but as yesterday that is past , or as a wacth in the night . Psal. 90.4 .

Had our Prophet resembled it to a day , such a day as we enioy ; this day , or , one houre of this day ; or one minute of this houre ; or , one moment , or ictus of that minute , wee might haue presupposed some stabilitie , though short-breathd , and panting , in the course of mans age ; but , to a day , a day languish't , and consum'd ; to yesterday , to yesterday expird ; how doth it whisper our frailty ? how our transitorinesse ? not such a frailtie , and transitorinesse , as shall hereafter fade and wither , but a rotten transitorinesse , a putrisied frailty ; a yesterdayes frailtie and transitorinesse ; a yesterday that is worme-eaten and dustie ; a yesterday that is past . The naturall man then look't not home to the brittlenesse of our constitution , when he styl'd Man a creature of a day ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arist. Iob. 8.9 . nor the righteous man , when hee cloathed him with an hesterni sumus , we are but as yester day , Iob 8.9 . but , the man after Gods owne heart ( whose knowledge was as pure as his integritie ) he displayes him at the full , when he makes his Age , a season obsolete ; Psal. 90.4 . a Calender out of date ; a yesterday that is past .

And therefore in a deepe contemplation of our mortalitie ( bottoming and sounding ( as it were ) all humane wretchednesse ) hee opens the fleetnesse of his age by a nihil , here , a nihil ( I confesse ) with a tanquam to it , Mine Age is as nothing before thee : as nothing ( indeed ) before thee ; thy Omnipotencie , thy Infinitenesse ; before these , as nothing . For , if a thousand yeeres to thee bee but as yester day , must bee nothing to thy thousand ; thy thousand thousands ; thy myriades of thousands , thy eternitie ; thy euerlastingnesse . And therefore , my Age , or , my substance , is a tanquam nihil ante te , Ante te , qui vides hoc ( Saint Augustine eccho's ) & cum hoc video , ante te video , ante te homines non video . I confesse , that it is nothing that I am , in respect of him ; that is , ante te domine , ante te ; vbi oculi tui sunt , non vbi oculi humani sunt ; Aug. in Psal. so the Father warble's . To a blemisht or a deluded eye ( and such a one is a mortall eye ) my age may be something ; a something of some few dimensions , a span-long , and yet this is but a tanquam nihil , a tanquam nihil , vnto man , too ; as nothing before him : but to thee ; to thy eyes ( which are brighter then those beames , which dazzle mine ) those eyes , substantia mea , purè nihil ; no tanquam , there ; mine age is nothing ; purely nothing , there . Nothing ? why ? vniuersa vanitas omnis homo , euery man is vanity ; such a vanity as is stol'n-by ; or els , now going ; as , yester day ; or , as a watch in the night . And , these haue their tanquam nihil , too ; are as nothing before thee ; so truly nothing , that they make not vp an Age , or a day , but some few houres ; enough to make vp the watch of a night ; no more . But suppose this tanquam nihil beaten out to the perfection of an Age ; and that age , threescore and teu : this , trodden on to an hundred ; that trebledvp to Nestors ; and his , to Methusalah's ; yet all these would not make vp our number of a thousand ; and so , in God's eyes , would be lesse then a day ; then a day that is past . Than a day ? one night ; nay , one poore watch in that night ; a watch of some three houres-space , that 's all . For the Iewes deuided their day into twelue houres , and subdiuided their night into foure watches , and euery watch , three houres . 1. Euening . 2. Midnight . 3. Cock-crowing 4. Dawne . Mare . 13.35 . Math. 14.13 . A goodly monarchhie , of flesh and bloud ; a spacious ; souerainty ( no doubt ) both in power and time ; a Reigne of some three houres ; three houres of a night too , not of a day ; as though the time of our sway , and scepter , here , were attended meerely with obscurity and dulnesse , a sceane of heauinesse and slumber , such as are incident to this watch in the night . And , indeed , what is our life , but a very Watch ? and the the time of it , but as the night season ? wherein , by reason of the darkenesse that mantles , and o'respreads it , wee grope in vncertenties and errours : the light wee haue of things is but weake and borrowed ; a glimmering , or twinkling onely , no true light ; and , rather a conceipt , and apprehension of what wee seeme to see , then an exactken or knowledge of what wee should .

Moreouer , in this watch of ours , wee are apt to nod , and forget ; forget , not onely that we are here at Sentinell ; who set vs here ; and the short time wee are at it , our three boures ; but the strict charge of our Commander , and the danger of surprizall and defeat , by the inuasion of our powerfull Aduersary . But , night and frailtie ( as what is our age but these ? ) are beauie-ey'd , and drowzie ; and then , our three houres , are ( perchance ) no more a watch , but a dreame ; And what is our age but a dreame too ? a dreame of some three houres ; and that 's a long one ( you will say ) but , howeuer long , 't is but a dreame ; and , as a dreame , not long neither . But did I say , mans Age was a dreame ? nay , rather , man , in that Age , Tob 20.8 . a dreame . Hee flieth away , as a dreame , and is chased as a vision in the night . Iob. 20.8 . So that , now , here is a dreame in a dreame , Ezechiels vision ; a wheele in a wheele , this turne 's in that , and yet , but one vision , one dreame ; or , if there be disparitie any where , 't is in man ; and he , the vainer dreame of the two .

Our life ( you know ) hath beene call'd a shadow ; and not only a shadow , but a vaine shadow , in which man is said to walke ; He walketh in a vaine shadow , in the seuenth verse of this Psalme ; And not only walke 's in it , but dreame 's in it ; so dreame 's in it , that he is of it , too ; and therefore the Heathen call's him vmbrae somnium , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Pindar . the dreame of a shadow ; and what is that , but the shadow of a shadow ? for there is nothing so truly a shadow , as a dreame , in which ( oftentimes ) there are strange obiects presented to the phantasie , whereof in nature , and true being , there is not so much , as a resemblance , no , not a shadow ; and yet , euen these so captiue and shackle the whole man , that ( according to the varietie of species offered ) they take vs , either with delight , or horror ; sometimes commanding our sigh , our groane , our teare ; sometime , our eleuation of spirits ; our applause , our laughter ; euen then , when our out ward senses seeme fetter'd and chain'd-vp in the bands of sleepe ; and all this was but the Fisher-man's dreame in Theoeritus , whose Golden Bootie vanisht with his dreame , and hee awak's at length to himselfe , and his olde wants gull'd with an apparition and shadow of that substance , of which he now find's there was neither shadow , nor substance , truly , but , a dreame of both .

Againe , Dreames are the true Hieroglyphicks of our mortall state , in which the whole passages of our life , are either prophesied , or acted ; and that , much to the complexion , or qualitie of humours in him that dreameth . Sometimes , they are ambitious ; and then we thinke we are vpon the tops of hils , or mountaines ; now on Basan , then , on Libanus ; where ( for our pride and loftinesse ) wee are called Oakes , and Cedars ; sometimes they are more humble , and deiected , and then wee grouell in bottomes , and in vallies ; where , for our low estate , wee are call'd shrubs and hysop ; sometimes they are presumptuous , and then we are at the fall of a steepe Cliffe , or Rocke ; sometimes , they are desperate , and then we are at the quick-sand , or the gulfe ; sometimes , they are vain-glorious , and then we are at the battlement , or pinnacle of the Temple ; sometimes they are pusillanimous and fearefull ; and then we are at the roaring , or swallowing of the great deepe ; sometimes they insinuate a kinde of auspice and blest abundance , and then we tumble in Arabian spices , gold of Ophir , Indian Diamonds ; but this ( for the most part ) is a very dreame , such a one , as our phantasie tell 's vs , in our dreame , is a dreame indeed ; sometimes againe , they are Ominous , and then ghastly apparitions , and fearefull shreekes startle and affright vs ; Galbas halter , or knife , or poyson , or some other Engine of bloud and death more horrid ; lastly , sometimes they are fatall , and then we dreame that we haue feet of clay ; walke in a Caemeterium , or a Golgotha , tread amongst tombes , or dead mens bones , stumble at a Coffin , or ( perchance ) a greene medow , and that ( they say ) is an infallible praediction of mortalitie ; I know not whether a medow be , I am sure grasse , or a flower is ; or , if not a prediction , at least , an embleme . All flesh is grasse , Esay 40 6. and the beautie thereof as the flower of the field , the grasse withereth , and the flower fadeth , Esay 40.6 .

Marke , the substance of flesh and bloud ( here ) is but grasse , such grasse as withereth , and the beautie of that substance , as a flower , such a flower , as is open to all tempests , a flower of the field : and that flower of the field which fadeth too . Here is nothing but withering , and fading , no time of flourishing , as if man were a piece meerely of declination , and wasted before he grew . And yet loe , he groweth , and he flourisheth too , but it is for a day only ; a day ? nay . the first part of that day , the morning ; so sayes our Psalmist . Psal. 90.6 . In the morning be flourisheth , and groweth vp , Psal. 90.6 . That 's well ; here is man , and the glory of man ; he groweth , and he flourisheth ; and all this is in the morning ; But what followes this morning , and this growth , and this flourishing ? surely , a ripenesse , a sickle , and a haruest ; an euening , a cutting-downe , and a withering . In the euening he is cut downe , and withereth , the same verse , of the same Psalme .

But , hath all slesh and bloud ( the grasse here mentioned ) a time of growing vp ' ere it be cut downe ? a flourishing before it wither's ? wee reade of grasse , that wither's before it growes ; before it growes vp , vp to any ripenesse , or perfection ; and this the Psalmist call's grasse on the house top , Psal. 129.6 , 7. Psal. 119.6 , 7. So thinly growne , that the mower , filleth not his hand , nor he that bindeth vp fheaues , his bosome . Oh , that the Top of a house , the maine beame , and rafters of a Family , the chiefe buttresse , and pillar of a name , should bee so barren , the fruit of it so soone fade , when those that are nearer earth , take better roote . But loe ; Hee grew so thinly vp , that there is not so much left of him , as to fill a hand , not to make vp this span-long , in the text , no not this tanquam nibil ; He withered before he grew-vp ; wee had him only in the morning , in the blooming of youth , when the Damaske and the Lilly daunc'd in the cheeke : Before his noone , he is reapt away , and his sheafe bound-vp , and now he is gone , gone like the day you heard of , the yesterday , or the watch , or the shadow , or the dreame , or the grasse , or the fraile flower , nothing remayning , but the memory , that Hee was ; And why ? Vniuersa vanitas omnis home ; surely , man is vanitie ; euerie man is vanitie ; euery man , in his best state is vanitie ; euery man , in his best state , is altogether vanitie . So the words runne in the next part . Euery man in his best state is altogether vanitie .