full of horrour round about which a Serpent windes it self and in the winding bites it self by the tail At the right hand of the den stands a Young man of a beautifull and pleasant countenance holding in his right hand a Bow and two arrows and in his left hand an Harp In the very entrance of the den sits an Old man opposite and having his eyes very intent upon his table-Table-book according as the celestiall globe by its motion or the young man standing by dictates unto him so he writes At the left hand of the den sits a grave matron gray-headed and having her eyes alwayes busied At the mouth of the den there are foure stairs each higher then other The first is of Iron the second of Brasse the third of Silver the fourth of Gold On these are little children running up and down and playing and never fear the danger of falling This is the Picture The meaning is this The Den signifies the incomprehensibility of Eternitie The Serpent that twines it self about it Time The Young man God in whose hand is Heaven Earth and Hell On Earth and in Hell are the Arrows of the Lord fastened but in Heaven there is nothing but Joy and the sounding of the Harp The Old man is Fate or rather That which God hath decreed from all Eternitie The Matron Nature The Stairs distinct Times Ages The Children running up and down the stairs do signifie things created especially Man who is sporting in matters of Salvation and playing and jesting in the very entrance of Eternitie Alack Alack O mortal men we have played too long amidst these dangers we are very neare unto Eternitie even in the very entrance of it whilest we live Let but death lightly touch us and we are presently swallowed up of Eternitie Death need not use any great power or fight long against us we are thrown down headlong in a moment and tumble down these stairs into the Ocean of Eternitie Bethink your selves well you that play upon these stairs and think upon any thing rather then upon Eternitie It may be to day or to morrow you may be translated from Time to Eternitie CHAP. II. The secret sense and meaning of Scripture is unfolded AFter the Chapter of the Type and Picture of Eternitie the holy Scripture of divine truth shall not unfitly follow When Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had cast the three Hebrew children into the fiery furnace for refusing to obey his impious command the flame is said to have ascended nine and fourty cubits above the furnace A strange thing But not without a Mysterie What Did any man accurately measure the height thereof Did any man ascend and apply unto it a rule to take the just measure of it was it just nine and fourty cubits neither more nor lesse Why not fifty For we use to number thus Twenty thirty fourty fifty though the number be somewhat more or lesse Here in this place there wants but one of fifty Surely there is a Mystery in it and some secret meaning The number of fifty was wont to signifie the yeare of Jubilee But the flames in the fiery furnace of hell although they rage both against body and soul and infinitely exceed all the torments of this life yet they shall never extend so farre as the yeare of grace and Jubilee In hell there is no yeare of Jubilee no pardon no end of torments Now now is the time of Jubilee not every hundred or fifty yeares but every houre and every moment Now one part of an houre may obtain pardon here which all Eternitie cannot hereafter Now is the time that in one little and short day we may have more debts forgiven us then in the fire of Hell in all yeares and times to come hereafter Let us adde hither another explication of divine Scripture When the people of God did passe over Jordan the waters which came down toward the sea of the plain which is now called the dead sea failed untill there was none left And in Ecclesiasticus it is said There is that buyeth much for a little These two testimonies of Scripture Galfrid joyneth together and thereupon discourseth thus If Eternall bitternesse be due unto thee and thou mayst escape it by tasting of Temporall certainly thou hast redeemed much for a little I confesse It is a sea indeed in which thou saylest but yet a dead sea And how much art thou bound to give thanks unto God who whereas thou hast deserved to be overwhelmed in the salt roaring and unnavigable sea hath of his great mercy towards thee suffered thee rather to sayl in the dead sea O blessed change that so by the dead sea thou mayst passe unto the land of the living This writer compares all the adversities of this life to the dead sea and Eternall punishments to the salt and unnavigable sea No man can escape both He must needs sayl in the one or in the other What dost thou O man cryes out S. Chrysostome Art thou about to ascend up to heaven and dost thou ask me whether there be any difficulties by the way Whatsoever we do this dead sea we must passe over we may if we will arrive at the haven of Tranquillitie and Eternall happinesse The word of God most high is the fountain of wisdome and her wayes are everlasting cōmandments Through this dead sea there is no other way into the region of the living but the way of Gods commandments We have a most cleare place of Scripture for it If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments This is the onely way to Eternitie If a man shall ask a Divine of our time this question What is Eternitie His answer will be It is a Circle running back into it self whose Centre is Alwayes and Circumference No where that is which never shall have end What is Eternitie It is an Orb every way round and like it self in which there is neither beginning nor end What is Eternitie It is a wheel A wheel that turns a wheel that turned ever A wheel that turns and will leave turning never What is Eternitie It is a yeare continually wheeling about which returns again to the same point from whence it began and still wheels about again What is Eternitie It is an ever-running fountain whither the waters after many turnings flow back again that they may alwayes flow What is Eternitie It is an ever-living spring from whence waters continually flow either the most sweet waters of Benediction and blessing or the most bitter waters of Malediction and cursing What is Eternitie It is a Labyrinth which hath innumerable turnings and windings which alwayes leads them a round that enter in carrying them from turning to turning and so losing them What is Eternitie It is a pit without bottome whose turnings and revolutions are endlesse What is Eternitie It is a Spirall Line but without beginning which hath circles and windings one within another but
a sweet and pleasant dream and be after punished an hundred yeares for it would he think such a dream were to be desired And yet saith the Father As a dream is to an hundred yeares so is this present life to the life to come yea rather it is much lesse And as a drop is to the main Ocean so are a thousand yeares unto Eternitie And in another place What is there saith he to be compared unto Eternitie What are a thousand yeares in comparison of infinite ages which are yet for to come Are they not like unto the least drop of a bucket compared unto a bottomlesse Well Look for no end of torments after this life unlesse thou repentest before thou departest out of this life for after death there is no place of repentance no shedding of teares will profit thee or do thee any good Though a man in Hell should gnash his teeth and blare out his scorched tongue he shall not obtain so much as a drop of cold water Grant then that a man should enjoy pleasures all his life long what is that to infinite ages which are yet for to come Here in this life all things good and bad have at length an end but the punishments that shall be suffered hereafter shall have no end Set fire on the body here and the soul will soon depart But after the resurrection when the body shall be from thenceforth immortall and incorruptible the soul of the damned shall alwayes burn and not consume in Hell-fire They shall rise again incorruptible indeed But how Not to receive a crown of incorruptible glory but to suffer Eternall torments But let us heare what another of the Fathers saith Saint Gregorie makes answer to this common question Will not drunkennesse sooner steal upon a man in the wine-cellar standing by the hogshead then in the Parlour sitting at the table The Spouse of Christ triumpheth in the words of Solomon He brought me to the banquetting-house or as some reade it He brought me into his wine-cellar and his banner over me was love or He hath set his banner of love over me Upon which words Saint Gregorie discoursing saith thus By the wine-cellar what can we better or more fitly conceive then the secret contemplation of Eternitie For truely whosoever doth seriously consider with himself upon Eternitie and let this consideration sink deep into his minde he may truely rejoyce and triumph with the Spouse saying He hath set his banners of love over me For he will keep better order in his love loving himself lesse God more and even his enemies also for Gods sake But such is the nature of this profound consideration that it will presently make a man drunk Make him drunk How With the drunkennesse of the best desires such as will leade him to amendment of life carrie him to his heavenly countrey and bring him at length to joyes Eternall It was cast in the Apostles teeth that they were drunk with wine And so they were indeed but it was with wine out of this Cellar Saint Gregorie hath many excellent considerations and sayings upon Eternitie amongst others he hath this which is a very short one and a true one Momentaneum quod delectat AEternum quod cruciat That which delighteth is momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall Here I could wish with Job Oh that these words were written Oh that they were printed in a Book That they were graven with a pen of iron These words I say That which delighteth is momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall The Book in which this should be written is the heart of man the pen of iron with which it should be written is serious meditation the ink with which it should be written is the bloud of Christ. And these words so imprinted and ingraven in the breast are then especially to be called to minde and to be often repeated when pleasure fawneth when lust provoketh when luxurie inviteth when the flesh rebelleth and the spirit faileth when there is occasion of sinne offered and danger of falling into sinne But let us heare what another of the Fathers saith In the fourth place comes Saint Bernard He shall answer to the question here to be propounded In the lives of men there is such difference that almost now so many men so many judgements concerning afflictions There are found some so grievously and continually afflicted that they are ready to fall down under the crosse as being too heavy for them to beare One is oppressed with povertie another is afflicted with sicknesse another is overcharged with secret debts another is tormented with cares another is grieved and vexed with injuries and slanders every man thinks that most grievous which in present he suffers And many times it comes to passe that such as are faint-hearted and impatient wish for death runne into the water and make haste to the halter thinking thereby to finde an end of all their griefs and sorrows whereas indeed that supposed end becomes to them but the beginning of their sorrows and such sorrows as never shall have end But with the good and godly it is not so They patiently endure all submitting themselves in all things to Gods good will and pleasure They neither desire to die quickly nor yet to live long Is it Gods will they shall die They also are willing Will he have them die quickly They are willing to that also Will he have them live yet longer They are not against that What God willeth that they will What he willeth not neither will they Beside these two kindes of men there is a third and that is the greatest part of men that desire to live long And there is almost no man so old but he hopes and desires to live yet another yeare These men are never heard to say they have lived long enough Death makes too much haste with them he comes to them too soon yea and before his time Here now the question may be moved Who live or who shall live longer Saint Bernard in his seventeenth Sermon upon the ninetie first Psalme upon these words with long life will I satisfie him breaketh forth into this admiration What is so long as that which is Eternall What is so long as that which shall have no end Life Eternall is the good end which we are all to aim at and this end is without end And further he addes That is the true day indeed after which there follows no night where there is Eternall veritie and true Eternitie and therefore true and Eternall satietie So then the question may be determined thus That those onely shall live a long life truely so called whosoever shall never die but alwayes live in heaven And again That those shall die a lingring death alas too lingring a death whosoever shall alwayes die but never live in Hell for they shall live onely there to be tormented alwayes Let us heare but one more and so conclude
this subscription Cras Cras Tomorrow Tomorrow The Earth opens her mouth and flames of fire break forth and tend aloft in which these words are written AEternum quod cruciat That which tormenteth is Eternall Christ coming down from the clouds Two adore with bended knees of diverse sex in the place of all mankinde Behinde them there is a running Houre-glasse or a Diall measuring houres by the running of water called a Clepsydra and a Book lying wide open On one page there is written They spend their dayes in mirth and in a moment go down to the grave On the other page Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Before them stand Two heavenly Angels which embrace them with their arms and pointing at Christ bid them lift up their eyes unto him This is the Picture The meaning follows CHAP. I. Christ inviting CHrist the Eternall sonne of the Eternall God came into this world clad with no other garment then we that is stark naked The garment of immortalitie and innocencie we lost by Adams disobedience And now alas how miserably arayed do we come into this world Christ together with us yea for us suffers punishment and yet was not guilty of any sinne But what means this Crosse upon the shoulders of the Sonne of God It is a bed on which he sâ—ept in death Gâ—lgotha was his chamber The thorns his pillow And the Crosse his bed Which many religious men of former times well considering with themselves have voluntarily and freely chosen to lie hard and take little rest that at the day of resurrection they might rise joyfully to rest Eternall Some as we may reade have made the earth their Mattresse Sackcloth their Sheet and a Stone their Boulster And many there are which do so still to this day But I leave them and return to Christ. He suffered death even that most bitter and shamefull death of the crosse To what end That he might save us from death Eternall Die we must all of us but our death is but short In a moment in the twinkling of an eye the soul is snatched from the body and this is all that which we call Death But it is not so with them in Hell Their torments farre exceed all the sorrows and pangs of death not onely because they are more grievous for their qualitie but also because they are of longer continuance beyond all comparison For they are Eternall So then their torments are alwayes to be tormented and their death to die alwayes And from this death hath Christ the Sonne of God delivered us the Childe that we see described walking amidst the clouds Under his feet is a bare Sceleton or the bare bones of a man which by all signes we may gather to be our forefather Adams Hearken ye children and ye childrens children hearken unto the words of your forefather Adam thus speaking unto you CHAP. II. Adam lamenting O My children happie then indeed if your forefather had known his own happinesse but now miserable and that even in this because mine By me were you destroyed before you were begotten by me were you damned before you were brought forth I fain would be as God and by that means I am left scarce a man Before you could perish you all perished in me I my self do not know whether you may better call me a Father or a Tyrant and a murderer I cannot wonder or complain justly that you are so vicious and so sinfull for you learnt it of me I am sory that you are so disobedient but this you learnt also of me I was first disobedient unto God that made me The Angels in heaven blush and are ashamed to see your gluttonie and intemperance but this is your fathers fault Your pride hath made you odious and detestable before God but this monster first conquered and triumphed over me and so pride became more proud then she was before This is the inheritance you receive from me nothing else but an heap of miseries God indeed of his free good-will gave unto me by a sure promise heaven for an inheritance and intailed it upon you But I have undone you all cut off the intail and prodigally made away all for one bit I valued my wife and an apple more then you all more then heaven more then God A cursed and unhappy dinner for which I deserved to sup in Hell many thousand yeares after I lived in Paradise a garden full of all delight and pleasure beyond imagination God gave me the free use of all things therein onely the fruit of one tree was forbidden me I was Lord of all the creatures I was wise and beautifull strong and lusty I abounded with all manner of delights The aire was then as temperate as could be desired the clouds were clad in bright blew the heaven smiled upon us the Sunne did shine so pure that nothing could be more All things seemed to gratifie us at our new marriage Our eyes could behold nothing but that which was flourishing and pleasing to them Our eares were continually filled with musick the birds those nimble Choristers of the aire ever warbling out their pleasant ditties The earth of it self brought forth odoriferous cinamon and saffron I was compassed about with pleasures on every side I lived free and remote from all care sorrow fear labour sicknesse and death I seemed to be a God upon earth The Angels in heaven rejoyced to see my happinesse there was none that did envy me but my self But because I obeyed not the voice of God all these evils fell upon me I was driven out of Paradise banished from the sight of God and for shame I hid my face Labour sorrow mourning fear teares calamities a thousand miseries seized upon me and quite wearied me out you feel it as many as are of my familie and that which seems to be the end of all temporall miserie and sorrow is oftentimes the beginning of Eternall O my children learn by your own wofull experience learn by your own losse and mine learn I say to be wise at length I will give you but one lesson and it is but in three words which you shall do well to learn by heart and that is To hate sinne Behold Do you not see a grievous flame breaking out hard by me It hath burnt ever since sinne first entred into the world and shall never be put out All other punishments are but light and shall shortly have an end But the damned shall be tormented in this flame for ever and ever Now if we will we may escape it Heaven is set open to all but there is no coming to it but by the way of repentance and the gate of the crosse He that walketh in this way and entreth in at this gate may be certain of his salvation and eternall joy in the kingdome of heaven where he shall have an everlasting habitation This is the counsell of Adam to his children I say
I shall see an end of all The Prophet Danâ—â—l having reckoned up sundry calamities at length addeth these words Even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed Come hither Come hither all ye that are in affliction in sorrow need sicknesse or any other calamitie Why do ye drown your selves in your own teares why do ye make your life bitter unto you with impatience and complaining Here is comfort for you great comfort drawn from the time of that suffering Are divers calamities upon you Be not cast down Have a good courage They shall continue onely for a time Do ye suffer contumelie and reproach are ye wearied with injuries are other troubles multiplied upon you Cease to lament All these shall last but for a time they shall not last for ever your sighing shall have an end Teares may distill from your eyes for a time But sighs and grones shall not arise from your hearts for ever The time is at hand when you shall be delivered from all grief and be translated unto everlasting happinesse This is most cleare by that in Ecclesiasticus A patient man will â—ear for a time and afterward joy shall spring up unto him But ye also which think your selves the onely happy men on earth and the darlings of the world know thus much and be not proud neither lift up your horn All your seeming happinesse for it is no more at the best hath but short and narrow bounds and limits and is quickly passed over Your triumphing is but for a time your golden dreams last but for a time After a time and that not long Death will command you to put off Fortunes painted vizard and stand amongst the croud Then shall ye truely appeare so much the more unhappy by how much the more you seemed to your selves before in your own foolish imaginations most happy Therefore whether sorrow or joy all is but for a time in this world It is Eternitie alone which is not concluded within any bounds of time Whether therefore the body suffer or the minde whether we lose riches or honours whether our Patience be exercised by sorrow or grief cares or any other afflictions inward or outward all is but painted and momentanie if we think upon Eternall punishments For when fifty thousand yeares shall be passed after the day of Judgement there shall still remain fifty thousand Millions of yeares and when those likewise are passed there shall still remain more and more and yet more Millions of yeares and there shall never be an end But who thinks upon these things who weighs and considers them well with himself Sometimes we seem to have savour of things Eternall But we are tossed up and down with the motions and thoughts of things past and things future our heart wavereth and is full of vanitie Who will establish it and set it in a sure place that it may stand awhile and standing admire and admiring be ravisht with the splendour of Eternitie which alwayes stands and never passeth away Well did Myrogenes When Eustachius Archbishop of Jerusalem sent gifts unto him He did very well I say in refusing them and saying Do but one thing for me Onely pray for me that I may be delivered from Eternall torment Neither was Tullie out of the way when he said No humane thing can seem great unto a wise man who hath the knowledge of all Eternitie and of the magnitude of the whole world But Francis the Authour of the order of the Franciscans hath a saying farre better then that of Tullie The pleasure that is here saith he is but short but the punishment that shall be hereafter is infinite The labour that is here is but small but the glory which shall be here after is Eternall Take your choice Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their works Let us hasten our Repentance therefore whilest we have time It is better saith Guerricus to be purged by water then by fire and it is farre easier Now is the time for Repentance Let our timely Repentance therefore prevent punishment Whosoever is afraid of the hoare frost the snow shall fâ—ll upon him He which feareth the lesser detriment shall suffer a greater He which will not undergo the light burden of Repentance shall be forced to undergo the most heavy burden and most grievous punishments of Hell Saint Gregory hath a saying to this purpose Some saith he whilest they are afraid of Temporall punishments run themselves upon Eternall punishments Hither we may adde that of Pacian Remember saith he that in Hell there is no place for Confession of sinnes no place for Repentance for then it is too late to repent and the time is past Make haste therefore whilest you are in the way We are afraid of Temporall fire and the Executioners hands But what are these to the claws of tormenting Devils and the Everlasting fire of Hell The Counsell of S. Ambrose to a lapsed Virgin fits well in this place True Repentance saith he ought not to be in word onely but in deed and this is true Repentance indeed if thou settest before thine eyes from what glory thou art fallen and considerest with thy self out of what book thy name is blotted and beleevest that now thou art neare unto utter darknesse where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth without end And when thou art certainly perswaded that those things are true as indeed they are seeing that the soul that sinneth is in danger of Hell fire and there is no means after Baptisme left to escape but onely Repentance Be content to suffer any labour and to undergo any affliction to be freed from Eternall punishment The diseases of the body move the sick man to purge his body Let the diseases of our souls move us also to take the purgation of Repentance let the desire of our salvation move us let the fear of Eternall death and Eternall torment move us let the hope of attaining Eternall life and Eternall glory move us Let us embrace that which purgeth the soul and let us eschew that which polluteth it And nothing defiles the soul more then a filthy body Faithfull is this counsell of Saint Ambrose and worthy of us to be embraced O Christ Jesus Grant unto us that we may so possesse things transitorie and temporall that finally we lose not the things which are Eternall and give us grace to walk in their steps and to follow their good example of whom S. Augustine speaketh Many there are saith he that willingly come under the yoke and of proud and haughty men become humble and lowly desiring to be what before they despised and hating to be what before they were passing by like strangers things present and making haste with greedinesse after things to come They pant in their running towards their Eternall countrey preferring Abstinence before Fulnesse Watching before Sleep and Povertie before Riches
curious piece of work which when it is made is apt to be blown away with every puffe of winde she hangs it up aloft she fastens it to the roof of the house she strengtheneth it with many a threed wheeling often round about not sparing her own bowels but spending them willingly upon her work And when she hath done all this spun her fine threeds weaved them one within another wrought her self a fine Conopie hanged it aloft and thinks all is sure on a sudden in the twinkling of an eye with a light sweep of a beesome all falls to the ground and so her labour perisheth But here is 〈…〉 all Poore Spider she is either killed in her own web or else she is taken in her own snare â—aled to death and trod under foot Thus the silly Animal may be truely said either to weave her own winding-sheet or to make a snare to hang her self Just so do many men like the Spider waste and consume themselves to get preferment to enjoy pleasures to gather riches to keep them and to increase them In such projects they spend all their wit and oftentimes the healths of their bodies running up and down labouring and sweating carking and caring wearying themselves and weakning their bodies even as the Spider doth by the spinning out of her own bowels And when they have done all this they have but weaved the Spiders web to catch flies Yea oftentimes they are caught in their own nets they are instruments of their own mischief The dayes of mirth which they promise unto themselves prove often times the dayes of moâ—â—ning That which they call their palace becomes their burying place So we spend our â—eares in musing like the Spider â— say in musing for the most part For we often purpose to do many things and do them not And what we do most an end were better undone Those things which we pursue with such greedinesse for the most part fly from us and those things which we contend for with such earnestnesse we seldome attain to But suppose we did Alas they have no perpetuitie So the covenant with death shall be disanulled and the agreement with hell shall not stand We all consume away and die and which is worst of all we blindly rush headlong into Eternitie from whence there is no return Guerricus hearing these words read in the Church out of the book of Genesis And all the dayes that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirtie yeares And he died And all the dayes of Seth were nine hundred and twelve yeares And he died And all the dayes of Enos were nine hundred and five yeares And he died And all the dayes of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine yeares And he died c. Hearing I say these words read the very conceit of death wrought so strongly upon him and made so deep an impression in his minde that he retired himself from the world and gave himself wholly to his devotions that so he might die the death of the godly and arrive more safely at the haven of Eternall felicitie which is no where to be found in this world CHAP. II. What is the best question in the world SAint Matthew tells us of a young man that came unto Christ and propounded a question unto him And Saint Mark describeth the manner of his coming to our Saviour and his good carriage For saith he There came one running and kneeled to him and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit Eternall life And our Saviours answer was Thou knowest the Commandments If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments At Philippi a Citie of Macedonia the keeper of the prison came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and moved this question unto them Sirs what must I do to be saved This was a very good question A better and a more profitable could not be moved But O good God where is this question now in the world The world is full of other questions but this is scarce any where to be heard Most men do now adayes betray themselves by their own questions and bring to light and so make others witnesses of their simplicitie or curiositie or some such hidden disease of minde He which makes diligent search and enquirie where the best wine is to be sold doth sufficiently declare what he loves best and where his chiefest care is Another asketh such questions as a modest man would blush to heare And this man shews that his heart is full and that out of the abundance thereof his mouth speaketh All mens mouthes in all places are full of questions such as these are But it is a rare thing to heare one man ask another this question Do you think this is the way to heaven It is a fault common to every vicious man but more proper to the libidinous and lustfull the luxurious and riotous man though he be plunged into the deep and begins to sink and to be overwhelmed yet seldome or never to enter into a serious consideration with himself and with a sincere minde ask himself this question Shall I ever think to obtain Eternall felicitie by this course of life Is this the way to heaven But of all men those especially least think upon such questions as these those I say that live a soft life fare deliciously and wallow in pleasures that feel little or no sorrow and affliction or if they do at any time feel never so little labour what they can to be senselesse of it To suffer they count the greatest of all evils If it goes well with them they care not how it fares with others If it be well with them for the present they take no care what shall follow after They never once think upon Eternitie This is their dayly ditty The heaven of heavens is the Lords but the earth he hath given to the sonnes of men They want neither strength of body or minde by which to escape the hands of men But God hath long hands he shall surely finde them out they must appeare before him who is the judge of all the world they cannot escape his judgement they shall surely suffer Eternall punishments for their wickednesse and their offences But if God in his secret judgement casts away any man as a reprobate and suffereth him to live after his own lust and pleasure He giveth him his portion of prosperitie and felicitie in this life he spareth him here that he may punish him hereafter And if at any time he doth any thing that is good he presently receiveth his reward Of such unhappy-happy men the kingly Prophet saith thus They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men They go a whoring with their own inventions And this is a most miserable state and condition of life if there be any For whom God hath predestinated to bring into the way