What's Man's Estate but a Sea, wherein (as Waves) one trouble ariseth in the neck of another; the latter worse than the former? No sooner didst thou enter into the Affairs of this World, but ⟨p. 41⟩thou wast inwrapped about with a cloud of miseries. Thy flesh provokes thee to lust, the world allures thee to pleasures, and the Devil tempts thee to all kind of Sins; fears of Enemies affright thee, suits in Law do vex thee, wrongs of ill Neighbours do oppress thee, cares for Wife and Children do consume thee, and disquietness betwixt open Foes and false Friends do in a manner confound thee: Sin stings thee within: Satan lays snares before thee. Conscience of sins past doggeth behind thee. Now Adversity on the left-hand frets thee, anon Prosperity on the right-hand flatters thee; over thy head GOD's vengeance due to thy sin, is ready to fall upon thee; and under thy feet Hell's Mouth is ready to swallow thee up. And in this miserable estate whither wilt thou go for rest and comfort? The House is full of cares, the Field full of toil, the country of rudeness, the City of Factions, the Court of Envy, the Church of Sects, the Sea of Pirates, the Land of Robbers. Or in what state wilt thou live? Seeing Wealth is envied, and Poverty contemned; Wit is destructed, and Simplicity is derided; Superstition is mocked, and Religion is suspected; Vice is advanced and Virtue is disgraced O with what a body of Sin art thou compassed about in a World of Wickedness? What are thine Eyes but Windows to behold Vanities? What are thine Ears but flood gates to let in the streams of Iniquity? What are thy Senses, but matches ⟨p. 42⟩to give fire to thy lusts? What is thine Heart but the Anvil, whereon Satan hath forged the ugly shape of all lewd affections? Art thou nobly descended, thou must put thy self in peril of Foreign Wars, to get the Reputation of earthly honour; oft-times hazard thy life in a desperate Combat, to avoid the aspersion of a Coward. Art thou born in mean estate? Lord! what pains and drudgery must thou endure at home and abroad to get maintenance? and all perhaps scarce sufficient to serve thy necessity; and when (after much service and labour) a man hath got something, how little certainty is there in that which is gotten? seeing thou seest by daily Experience, that he who was rich yesterday, is to day a beggar; he that yesterday was in health, to day is sick;
WHat's Man's Estate but a Sea, wherein (as Waves) one trouble ariseth in the neck of another; the latter worse than the former? No sooner didst thou enter into the Affairs of this World, but ⟨p. 41⟩thou wast inwrapped about with a cloud of miseries. Thy flesh provokes thee to lust, the world allures thee to pleasures, and the Devil tempts thee to all kind of Sins; fears of Enemies affright thee, suits in Law do vex thee, wrongs of ill Neighbours do oppress thee, cares for Wife and Children do consume thee, and disquietness betwixt open Foes and false Friends do in a manner confound thee: Sin stings thee within: Satan lays snares before thee. Conscience of sins past doggeth behind thee. Now Adversity on the left-hand frets thee, anon Prosperity on the right-hand flatters thee; over thy head GOD's vengeance due to thy sin, is ready to fall upon thee; and under thy feet Hell's Mouth is ready to swallow thee up. And in this miserable estate whither wilt thou go for rest and comfort? The House is full of cares, the Field full of toil, the country of rudeness, the City of Factions, the Court of Envy, the Church of Sects, the Sea of Pyrates, the Land of Robbers. Or in what state wilt thou live? Seeing Wealth is envied, and Poverty contemned; Wit is destru•ted, and Simplicity is derided; Superstition is mocked, and Religion is suspected; Vice is advanced and Virtue is disgraced O with what a body of Sin art thou compassed about in a World of Wickedness? What are thine Eyes but Windows to behold Vanities? What are thine Ears but flood gates to let in the streams of Iniquity? What are thy Senses, but matches ⟨p. 42⟩to give fire to thy lusts? What is thine Heart but the Anvil, whereon Satan hath forged the ugly shape of all lewd affections? Art thou nobly descended, thou must put thy self in peril of Foreign Wars, to get the Reputation of earthly honour; oft-times hazard thy life in a desperate Combate, to avoid the aspersion of a Coward. Art thou born in mean estate? Lord! what pains and drudgery must thou endure at home and abroad to get maintenance? and all perhaps scarce sufficient to serve thy necessity; and when (after much service and labour) a man hath got something, how little certainty is there in that which is gotten? seeing thou seest by daily Experience, that he who was rich yesterday, is to day a begger; he that yesterday was in health, to day is sick;
