* Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudine 〈◊〉 te ipsum da habebis illud Aug. let sorrows oppresse my minde Bone Jesu qui par cendo sae prus nos à te abijcis feriendo effice ut ad te redeamus Ger. med let pains consume my flesh let watchings dry me or heat scorch me or cold freeze and contract me let all these and what can come more happen unto me to I may enjoy my Saviour For how excellent shall the glory of the just be how great their joy when every face shall shine as the sun when our Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his works O were thy affections rightly setled on these heavenly mansions how abject and underneath thee wouldest thou esteem those things which before thou setst an high price upon As he which ascends an high mountain when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steps low and beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottom so he which sends his thoughts to heaven however he esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groveling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them under him and vilisies them all in regard of heavenly treasures Let us therefore chearfully follow that advice of a reverend Father * Quod aliquando per necessitatem amittenduÌ„ est pro aeterna remuneratione sponte est distribuendum Let us here willingly part with that for heaven which we must first or last necessarily leave upon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeavours be dispended for the attainment of Eternitie For certaine it is howsoever we live here like secure people of a secure age and however we waste out the strength and flower of our dayes as if we should never account for it yet our judgement is most sure and shall not be avoided The sentence of the Judge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked We must all appear saith Saint Paul before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Then shall our wickednesse be brought to light which now lies hid in darknes I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn Revel 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged of those things which were written in the books according to their works and whosoever was not found witten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall give up his account every soul shall first or last come to his reckoning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let us prepare our selves to meet our God let us come before him with fear and tremble at his judgements Fear not him saith our Saviour who when he hath killed the body can do no more but fear him who can cast both soul and body to hell I say him fear Oh hovv many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they have meditated upon the last judgement Hierom saith as oft as I think of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart vvithin me tremble Cyril saith I am afraid of hell because the worme there dies not and the fire never goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth * A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisâ— quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut prç eniam fletibus fletuÌ„ stridorem dentium of that infernall beast Who will give to mine eyes saith he a fountain of tears that by my weeping here I may prevent vveping and gnashing of teeth hereafter And have the Saints of God thus shrunk at the thoughts of hell hovv should then the loyns of the vvicked quake and tremble Come novv thou prophane vvretch of a prophane age vvho at every vvord almost that drops from thy irreligious mouth speakest damnation to thy soul bealching out ever and anon these or the like execrable speeches Would I were damned if I knew this or that God damne me body and soul if I doe it not Alas alas seemeth it a light thing in thine eyes to play with flames to sport thy self with everlasting burnings Tell mee dost thou know or diddest thou ever cast it in thy thoughts what a condition it is to be damned Hear a little and tremble Thou shalt there to thy greater horrour and amazement see much joy but never feel it for thou shalt see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God thou thy self thrust out Luke 6.13.28 As touching thy company Though here on earth thou wouldest not perchance be hired to lodge one night in a house haunted with spirits yet there thou must inhabite with unclean divels for evermore Matth. 25.41 And to conclude in this thy cursed estate thy heart and tongue shall be full of cursings and blasphemies Thou shalt blaspheme the God of heaven for thy pains and sores thou shalt curse those that were the means to bring thee thither curse the time that ever thou lost so many goldeÌ„ opportunities of getting grace that thou hast heard so many sermons and no whit bettered by them Curse thy self that slightest so many wholsom reproofs which might have happily been improved to the saving of thy soul Say now desperate fearles sinner canst thou be content in the apprehension of these miseries to curse thy self again to the nethermost of hell or on the contrary dost thou now begin to be ashamed and confounded in thy self and is thy conscience affrighted with the ugly face of thy sins and of those bitter torments that abide them Know then thou hast to deal with a God who when thou art truly moved for thy sins an mourn for thy sufferings Jer. 31.20 Thou hast to deal with a God who will meet thee when thou approachest to him if thou worke righteousnes and remember him in his way Isa 64.5 Thou hast to deal with a God who doth account it his strange work to punish Isa 28.21 And he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 Yea thou hast to deal with a God who hath graciously proclaimed to the whole world that he delights to shew mercy yea with his whole heart and with his whole soul Jer. 32.41 Oh then be wise now for thy soul in time and think it a mercy that thou art yet on this side hell And whatever thou judgest thy self worthy to be condemned for at that terrible barre condemn thy self for it before hand that the Lord may say I will not judge this man because he hath judged himself already And be assured where mans conversion begins there Gods displeasure makes its period Excellent is that advice of Saint Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errours of thy life while thy time serves Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health lest thou hear that bitter sentence Goe ye cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man know what time he should leave the world carnall wisdom would prompt him to proportion his time some to pleasure and some to repentance But he that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Culpam tuâ—m duÌ„ vacat peÌ„sa districtioneÌ„ su uâ— judicij duÌ„ vâ—les exhorresce ne tunc amaram sententianâ—â—â—udias cum nul lis fletibâ— evadas Since therefore we can neither prevent nor foresee death let us alwaies expect it and provide for it Let us dye to our sinnes here that we may live to Christ hereafter and let us suffer with Christ in this world that we may rejoyce and raign with him in the world to come When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall never end never never me thinks this word never hath a mountanious weight in it to an eternity which maketh every good action infinitely better and every evill action infinitely worse Oh the unhappines everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enjoy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to lose the presence of God and society of Angels for ever hereafter FINIS
have no eye to look after him no heart to embrace him no foot to follow him no tongue to glorifie him but lye wofully plunged in the dregs of their pollutions Oh the unspeakable goodnes of our God who hath so graciously invited those sheep who are so unhappily strayed from him nay who doth with a * Omnipo tentissima facilitate homines ad seipsum convertit Deus volentes exnolentibus facit Aug. ad vita loving violence irresistably call those who have trampled on his graces and rejected his love But what should move the Creator of all things who hath been thus infinitely provoked who is armed both with power to strike and means to be avenged to compassionate his enemies Certainly there is there can be no other reason alleadged but that which David so often iterates because he is gracious and his mercy endureth for ever But me thinks I hear the afflicted soul bewail it self here is a fountain of mercy indeed had I heart to draw out of it Can his goodnesse extend to me who am nothing but worms and dust and wounds and sores and corruptions Who can give him no oblation but my sinnes no sacrifice but my sorrow What confidence now can I have in this love What strength in this mercy Who ever thou art that art thus and no better disposed to receive the grace of thy God bring forth this small provision offer this sacrifice upon the Altar Since thou hast nothing else to part with surrender up thy sinnes yeeld him thy lusts renounce thy whole interest in thy sinfull delights in thy immoderate affections * Nullius rei tantum in inferno est quantum propriae voluntatis Alsted and then thy sorrowfull spirit shall be a sacrifice to God thy wounded and broken heart he will not despise I am with him saith the Lord who is of an humbled spirit that trembleth at my words We have his own word for his mercy we have his promise for it we have his oath for it He is faithfull saith the Apostle who hath promised he is faithfull he cannot deny himself * Supe rate seipsum potest desertos miserando negare seipsum non potest miscricordiam deserendo He may overcome himself by pittying the forsaken ones but he cannot deny himself by forsaking his pitty For how can he deny himself to us who hath given himself for us How can he deny us his mercy who hath given us his life The end of the first book THE SECOND BOOK OF ETERNITY CHAP. I. Containing an exhortation to holinesse grounded upon the consideration of Eternity THe very soule and life of Christianity consists in the life of a Christianâ— as for outward formalities they plausibly serve to shew forth a good man to the eye of the world but cannot make him such it 's true externall actions adorn our professions but it is where grace and goodnesse seasons them otherwise where the sap and juyce and vigour of religion is not setled in the soul a man is but like a goodly heart-shaken Oak whose beauty will turne into rottenesse and his end will be the fire It was the saying of Machiavell that the appearance of vertue was more to be desired then vertue in self But Socrates â—meer naturalist advised better who said the good man is only wise Certainly our glorious shews and high applauses and exaltations amongst the sonnes of men will prove but miserable comforters in the close of our age when the days of darknesse come O then as we respect the eternall welfare of our poor souls let us be what we would seem Letus tume our words into actions Qâ—alis videri vis talis esse debes Gerh Med. our knowledge into affection and our speculation into practise Let us not onely in a generall and confused manner acknowledge God but rather labour to know him * Let us not think it enough to beleeve that Christ came as a Saviour into the world but endeavour rather by a peculiar personall and applicative faith to make him our own Alas what avails it my soul that Christ shed forth his blood for the sinnes of many iâ— he died not for me What joy to my heart that Christ is risen for the justification of sinners if he be not my portion what comfort to my distressed conscience that Christ is come a light into the world if I sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death What confidence of protection can I have from hence Non prodest Christi resurrectio nisi in te quoque Christus resurgat Gerh. Med. Sitscopus vitae Christus quem s quaris in via ut assequaris in parria that Christ is a carefull shepherds over his flock if I am none of that sheep fold Other let it be the chief desire of our souls and the utmost extent of our endeavours not onely to confesse Christ but to bring him home to our hearts to feel him to affect him to live in him to depend on him to be conformable to him let us willingly heare and cheerfully follow the voice of that sweet guide who is both the way and the journies end that loving Physitian who comes to our wounded consciences with healing in his wings that meek and tender Lamb who powred forth for us tears of anguish and tears of love tears of anguish to redeem our souls and tears of love to compassionate our miseries Now what a pressing perswasion have we here to live unto him who thus died for us to make him our joy who hath borne our sorrows to fix him in our hearts who for our sakes was fixed to the Crosse * â—otus tibi figatur in corde qui totu sprote figebâ—tur in câ—uce How should we mourn in our souls and weep in secret for him quem totus mundus tota elementâ— lugebant at whose sufferings the graves opened the Sunne shut in his light the earth trembled and the whole frame of Heaven in his nature and kinde expressed its sorrow One of the Rabins when he read what bitter torments the Messias should suffer when he came into the world cryed out veniat Messias at egâ— non videam Let the Messias come but let me not see him Did his torments seem so dismall to the spectator what were they then in the sufferer If so ghastly to the sight what were they in the sustaining But what should we doe now Shall we raile on Judas that betrayed him or on Peter that denyed him or the Jews that pierced him or the Apostles that forsook him No no let us look into our own hearts examine our own ways Do we not make his wounds bleed afresh with our sinnes doe we not nayl him to the Crosse again with our pollutions doe we not grinde him in our oppressions and as it were massacre him in our murders What sinne have we ever forsaken for his sake what inordinate affection have we abandoned for his love Can we say and
of them but in things that belong to the eternall salvation of our souls how deep is our silence how flow our speech how unskilfull our expressions Thus we forsake Heaven for these things which at last will forsake us and trifle out our time in things that will not profit us Hovv farre are men novv adaies from that sweet resolutioÌ„ of Saint Hierome Let others saith he live in their statues in their costly monuments I had rather have St Pauls Coat with his Heavenly graces then the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes O that we would look thus lowly upon our selves we are Christians in profession O let us be such in practice seeing that God hath made us stewards of his treasures let us improve them to the benefit of our brethren Hath God given us abundance of his blessings Let us not hide our talents in a napkin let us send our good works before us into Heaven these slender gifts which thou doest cheerfully distribute in this world will procure thee an eternall compensation in the world to come That sweet speech of Saint John is worth observation blessed are those that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them When our dearest friends our sweetest pleasures our most glorious titles of honour the world it self yea even our life it self shall glide away like a river and turn to dust then shall our good works follow us non transeunt opera nostra saith one sicut transire videntur sed velut aeternitatis semina jaciuntur our good deeds die not with us but they are sowne in earth and spring in Heaven they are an inexhaustible fountain that shall never be dried up a durable spring that shall never fail They are acts of time short in their performance yet eternall in their recompence they build up for us through the mercies of our God an everlasting foundation for the time to come Loe then here we have set before us viam ad regnum the way to our eternity let us goe on herein without intermission presse forward with violence strive to attain the crown * Opulentia nimis multa est aeternitas sed nisi perseveranter quaesita nunquam inver itur Bâ—rnard Eternall joy is an abundant treasure an everlasting wealth but it is not given save to them that seek it yea that seek it with their whole hearts Certainly did we as truly know as we shall one day undoubtedly feel the bitter fruit that our luke-warm profession our grosse stupidity and utter neglect of our everlasting state will produce and procure us in the end all our thoughts and language all our affections and inclinations would be more eagerly imployed and more faithfully exercised in our preparations for that building given of God a house not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens Oh how senselesse are we how stupid in our selves Illud propter quod peccamus amittimus peccaâ—um ipsum retinemus and wickedly injurious to our own welfare who for a small gain a sading pleasure a fugitive honour wound our consciences and hazard our souls to stand as it were on the brink of hell The whole world promised for a reward cannot perswade us to endure one momentary torment in fire And yet in the accustomed course of our lives we dread not we quake not at everlasting burnings But ô thou delicious and dainty soul who cherishest thy self in the joy of thy heart and the delight of thine eyes whose belly is thy God and the world thy Paradise O bethink thy self betimes before that gloomy day that day of clouds and thick darknesse that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and lament and all faces as the Prophet Joel speaks shall gather blacknesse because the time of their judgement is come Alas with what a dolefull heart and weeping eye and drooping countenance and trembling loyns wilt thou at the last and great Assize look upon Christ Jesus when he shall most gloriously appear with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold damp will seize upon thy soul when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long neglected in his ordinance despised in his members rejected in his love when thou shalt see the judgement seat the †books opened Fiet apertio librorum scilicet conscientiarum quibus merita demerita univâ—rsorum sibi ipsis caeteris innotescent thy sinnes discovered yea all the secret counsells of thy heart after a wonderfull manner manifested and laid open to the eye of the whole world What horrour and perplexity of spirit will possesse thee to view and behold but the ry solemnities and circumstances which accompany this Judgement vvhen thou shalt see the Heavens burn the Elements melt the earth tremble the sea roar the sun turne into darknesse and the moon into blood And novv vvhat shall be thy refuge vvhere shall be thy succour shalt thou raign because thou cloathest thy self in Cedar shalt thou be safe because vvith the Eagle thou hast set thy neast on high O no it is not now the greatnesse of thy state nor the abundance of thy wealth nor the priviledge of thy place nor the eminency of thy worth or wit or learning that caÌ„ avail thee ought either to avoid thy doom or prorogue thy judgement All states and conditions of men are alike when they appear at this barre There the Prince must lay down his crown and the Pear his robes and the Judge his purple and the Captain his banner All must promiscuously attend to give in their accounts and to receive according to that they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil Here on earth great men and glorious in the eye of the world so long as they can hold their habitations in the earth have both countenance to defend and power to protect them from the injuries of the times but when the dismall face of that terrible day shall shew it self then shall they finde no eye to pity nor arm to help nor palace to defend nor rocks to shelter nor mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb Give me the most insolent spirit the most undaunted soul that now breaths under the cope of Heaven who now fears not any created nature no not God himself yet when he shall heare that terrible sound Arise ye dead and come to judgement how will his heart even melt and his bowels quiver within him when he shall have his severe judge above him and hell beneath him and his worm within him and fire round about him O then whosoever thou art die unto thy sins and unto thy pleasures here that thou mayest live to God hereafter * Sic tibi cave ut caveas teipsum goe out of thy self judge and condemn thine own