blessed life replenisht with never ending and perpetual delight Have patience therefore yet a while 2. Cor. ch 4. Our momentary and light tribulation worketh an eternal weight of glory in us We shall one day remember with joy what we now have difficulty to endure Whatsoever sufferings therefore occur Coll. 1.11 bear them In all Patience and longanimity with joy giving thanks to God These and many other particulars are much inculcated to little purpose whereunto scarce any other answer is returned Es c. 28. but that of the Jews Command recommand command recommand expect re-expect expect re-expect What ever befals us hereafter we will glut our Eyes and Hands with things present pleasure draws us too and fro in which t is hard to observe a mean Our appetite must be satisfied though it cost us never so dear God is good and merciful who will easily pardon such as offend him With these charms they strive to stop your mouth but O miserable and blind mortals do you not know these pleasures you thirst after are forbidden doth not your own Conscience Preach this Doctrine to you doth not reason disswade you do not Gods Laws command the contrary Tell me I pray do you not beleive all the pleasure this world affords how lasting soever it be lasts but a moment withers in a trice and ends in eternal sorrow All Eternity of this world compared to true Eternity is but a minute a point and less then nothing But do you consider or give credit to these things If you will be known by the name of Christians you must both think on and beleive them If you acknowledge mans condition to be such that we are unmindful of eternal and eagerly pursue things present which is the cause why you have so many scars are so grievously wounded and drowned in the sink of Vice I shall own your Confession as good in case it be accompanied with amendment of life SECT 2. GIve me leave to propose yet another question Do you beleive these Vices which are so familiar with you are punisht eternally by God We do beleive it say they Why then are you both so forgetful and bold as to tread under foot so confidently the laws of God insomuch as neither fear of chastisement nor dread of hell nor horrour of everlasting fire nor love of Heaven are able to restrain you from sin From want of this fear proceeds your debaucht life your impatience in adversity your forgetfulness of Hell in prosperity and that multitude of vices which ensnare you Indeed Eternity hath no place in your thoughts which though you beleive you do not consider it with attention Jeremy ch 12. There is none that considereth in the heart Eternity is frequently in our mouth seldome in our heart Admonitions concerning Eternity knock at our Ears but are not admitted to enter Scarce any one weighs attentively the Secrets of eternity Now and then perchance we have some thoughts of those endless windings of eternity but they quickly vanish we sometimes read what others have written of eternity but we soon forget it we hear in Sermons of that bottomless Gulf of Eternity but even that too stayes not long with us a croud of other thoughts stifle in our minds those wholesome considerations So eternity ere it be well entred into our souls is overwhelmed with pernicioâ—â— desires whence all the blandishments of our former impurities creep into our hearts and nestle there as before Thus our Faith which we boast of is a drowsy or indeed a dead faith Michael Mercatus the elder as Baronius relates from persons of undoubted credit entered into a league of intimate friendship with Marsilius Ficinus Tom. 5. anno 411. a man of an excellent capacity this tye was faster knit together by their joynt applycation to the study of Phylosophy Both of them were well read in Plato Whence it came to pass that they engaged in a dispute amongst themselves what was the state of man after death whither his soul went what semblance belonged to matters in the next world All which they resolved first to deduce but of Plato's principles and afterwards to establish according to the tenets of Christianity When they had long debated the business they came at length to this agreement that they should shake hands and promise each other that whether dyed first should if God were so pleased faithfully inform the surviver how the case stood in the next life This was their covenant to which they mutually consented and confirmed it by Oath In process of time they were so parted as that they setled their habitation in different Cities Which done Michael Mercatus being early one morning busiy at his study of Philosophy he heard a horseman in the next street posting amain towards his Gates and Marsilius his voice calling aloud He meanes things touching the immortality of the soul O Michael Michael those things are true they are true indeed they are most true Michael acquainted with the voice of his familier friend left his books ran to the window looked forth and saw Marsilius his back riding on a white horse and now almost out of sight at a turning whom he pursued with a nimble voice and called Marsilius Marsilius but the rider in white admitting no delay was presently out of sight Mercatus astonisht with this unexpected apparition was solicitous to know what was become of his Marsilius After a while he understood Marsilius was dead at Florence that very hour wherein he both heard and saw him at his own house From that time forward Mercatus though otherwise a man of an upright life and approved integrity took his leave of Philosophy and resolved to adhere more exactly to the principles of a better Philosophy taught Christian Religion Whereupon being dead to himself and the world be bestowed the remainder of his life upon things to come and meditated every day upon eternity SECT 3. AN attentive meditation on eternity is the beginning of a better life Vertue is commended but coldly where love of eternal life is wanting The road is smooth and easy to hell when the mind is not dayly employed with the consideration of a blessed or damned eternity These things we both know and beleive and yet we loyter and neglect our chiefest good T is true you may hear some say O Eternity But in the interim they cheerfully lay fast hold on a full cup and carouse so long till the liquor damm at the top of their throat Now and then with a deep sigh we breath out Eternity and in the mean while our heart swimms in impure and lacivious thoughts it digests secret lust and by hidden contrivances steals away it self from God We run in quest after the treasures of Heaven but cease not to smile upon money which is the scum of the earth and privately offer sacrifice to Mammon We make a shew as if we were afraid of flames eternal and yet hold on to kindle
The mystery of the blessed Trinity the Incarnation of Christ the miracle of the Holy Eucharist the resurrection of the dead and eternity of torment Now for as much as these points are hard to beleive therefore Divine Providence hath in a singular maner confirmed them by Scriptures Councils and Miracles Our talk in this place is to discourse of pains eternal and why God whose nature is to have mercy would have them eternal Divines in this point have gone different wayes to answer the difficulty Some say the Damned alwaies sin therefore they are alwaies punished What injustice therefore is it for him to groan under pain who persevers in doing injury This answer is not amiss For not only the damned sin perpetually in Hell but even here while they lived amongst us they found out a certain kind of eternity to sin in which is the matter we are to weigh with maturity Who ever heaps sin upon sin till death sins during his eternity let us call it so Therefore in Gods eternity he is most justly punisht Both truly and elegantly said St Gregory It is manifest and certain beyond controul Lib. 4. Dial. 44. that neither the blessed have an end of their joyes nor the damned of their sufferings It is an Oracle of truth And they shall go into punishment everlasting but the just into life everlasting Matt. 25 Since therefore Christ is true in his promises he cannot be otherwise in his threats If you demand how can it be just to punish a fault without end which had a speedy end when it was a doing The blessed Bishop answers This might well be objected if the severe Judge weighed only deeds and not the hearts of men for the wicked therefore had an end in sinning because they had an end in living since they were resolved if it had been in their power to have lived alwaies that they might alwaies have sinned It is apparent they desire to live perpetually in sin who while they live never give over sinning Therefore it appertains to the great justice of the judge that they never want pain who in this life would never be without fault Here I would by all means have this observed This circumstance goes along with sin Not only to have sinned but also to desire to sin yet more justly is this desire punished with hell because God doth not only look upon sins committed but likewise the eagerness and longing to commit more as will appear by this example Imagine a man of thirty years old is adjudged to hell because he did not leave off sining had he lived fifty sixty seventy years he had continued so long his sinful course Nay if he had lived a hundred a thousand years he had still held on sining Yea if his life had been without end so likewise had been his sins Seeing then his desire to sin was so great as to be even eternal in desire deservedly is his punishment eternal Therefore as St. Gregory inculcates Let them never be without pain who in this life would never be without fault SECT 2. MOreover the damned do not expiate faults committed they do not lay aside that malice which begun with them during life for they have not so much grace of God as to repent That which followes is most dreadful and unexplicable The damned are so deprived of divine grace that for eternity none of them will ever say Have mercy on me O God none of them shall ever have that grace In which perticular they resemble much the Devils from whom no torments what ever shall be of force to squeez these words We have sinned spare us Hence one may rightly affirm In Hell are only Devils that is most obstinate and desperate enemies of God such as are not the devils alone but likewise all the damned And in this point the wicked man during life and the damned in torments are both a like neither of them being able with their own forces to recal their soul from sin In this case help from God is necessary which he never denies while we live albeit we lose his Grace a thousand times but withal he gives us this admonition Look to thy self lo now I pardon this fault which I shall not alwaies do I forewarn thee and covenant with thee while thy Soul is in the body the gates of mercy stand open for thee enter in but so soon as the soul is gone out of the body these gates shall be close shut This proceeding of God is most just For if the damned while he lived had asked pardon ten twenty thirty thousand times he might have obtained it But when death has once bereaved us of life it is in vaine to hope for any more pardon help or grace God made this agreement with us and added a thousand admonitions that we should not reject grace when it was offered nor mercy while we might find it But we resolved to embrace neither Grace is vanisht Mercy neglected we had a mind to be miserable we were determined to perish Therefore if we perish we may thank our selves we cut our own throats and refused to be friends of God and so by our own choice we never shall be Furthermore wicked actions are directly opposite to good to those everlasting pain is due to these eternal recompence For according to that Maxime of Phylosophy the same rule holds in contraries The perfection of beatitude is to be happy without end Then the accomplishment of torments in Hell is to be miserable for eternity Christ closes all his divine Sermons with this sentence Matt. c. 25. And these shall go into punishment everlasting but the just into life everlasting For so St. Matt. testifies And it came to pass ch 26. when Jesus had ended all these words Behold our Lord concludes his exhortations with this clause of reward and pain everlasting he is equally just and merciful whence he hath decreed to his friends joy and to his enemies torment in the highest degree SECT 3. THese things I must confess are spoken with much congruity But do we yet dive to the bottome of the matter in debate For my own particular I imbrace with reverence that wise principle of St. Austin He is become worthy of eternal ill Lib. 21 de civit deâ— c. 21 who destroyed in himself that good which might have been eternal This is the very cause of everlasting torment the infinite malice of every mortal sin For being an infinite goodness is offended the offence discovers infinite malice which was bold to violate the supream Good with such temerity Sr. Thomas the Prince of Divines avoucheth that Sin is nothing else but an ill humane act To every mortal sin he ascribes a twofold malice The one an act differing from the rule of reason The other an injury done to God by contemning him Now this malice is no other then a voluntary aversion from God which deserves infinite pain because it refuseth an infinite good
if they could mitegate their sufferings they are said to weep and whet one tooth against another With good reason they shall weep they shall howl because while they lived Christ Crucified before them wept and powred out of all his most delicate Members plenty of blood but in vain their good Angel often wearied their ears with wholesome admonitions but in vain all the blessed moved them to amendment of life but in vain God himself thirty sorty fifty threescore years and more called upon and invited them to take a better course but all in vain They would not weep for a short space let them weep therefore for ever they sleighted to hearken to good counsel let them therefore cry out and never be heard SECT 4. IT falls out sometimes that a Traveller standing on the top of a Mountain beholds some in the Valley underneath attempting their passage over a most dangerous ice he does not only look upon them but he likewise warns them to beware they go not forward to their utter destruction because it often happens that in Winter aswell the deep Lake as the smooth sliding River is Crusted over with a slender Ice which being covered with flakes of Snow counterfeit a secure passage where it is dangerous When Travellers ignorant of the way approach to this deceitful Bâ—idge they set foot upon it and go on as secure from peâ—il as if they walked upon sure ground But the Ice unable to bear the weight of their bodies suddainly divides it self and swalloweth up those in the waters who suspected nothing less then drowning This when the Passenger from the Hill espies being privy to the danger he shouts out he warns them to proceed no farther unless they be resolved to perish but to steer their course another way If those in the Valley either hear not or sleight so trusty a Moniter they runn upon their own ruine Does the Ice deceive them Does the water swallow them up Does the cold destroy them Let them thank themselves They were forewarned but their rash boldness contemned the warning He is lost through his own fault who perisheth in this manner No otherwise God and his Saints have formerly given and do continually give warning Pleasure is a fraudulent Ice depart from it it cousens the eyes with a brickle out side trust it not this deceitful way will ere long fall in peices do not go forward unless ye have a mind to be overwhelmed But the miserable wretches with scornful laughter refusing to be admonished walk on stoutly into eminent danger not as if they were to find their way on a slippery ice but as people who run a dancing Thus the Fool-hardy march on they laugh they sport they dance till at unawares the ice break and the poor miscreants alas sink down never to come up again they are buried for ever though never dead nor ever to dye though alwaies dying Now they lament and bemoan their condition but their sorrow is bootless They rejected good admonition and now though with tears they call upon their Moniters they are not heard Deservedly do they perish who posted on so eagerly after their own perdition Our most loving God shouted long loud enough but none would hearken to him Pr. 1.24 I called saith he and you refused I stretched out my hand and there was none that regarded You have despised all my Counsel and have neglected my reprehensions I also will laugh in your destruction How long and loud did Christ call upon them St. Luke affirms he travelled through their Cities Towns and Villages Preaching unto them the Kingdome of God And when he spoke these things unto them he cryed out He that hath ears to hear let him hear What I pray Luk. 6. did he cry out Wo to you who laugh now because you shall mourn and weep As if he had said Behold I foretel you this ice whereon you stand will give you the slip you will be drowned these short laughters will have an end without end But these things were told to such as were deaf who now they have recovered their hearing abide eternal torments SECT 5. TAke here this most wholsome admonition Let us make this our business when we are in misery when we are oppressed with any calamity let us think attentively If this Misery endured for ever if I were alwaies to suffer this affliction to what a height of torment would it grow by the only endurance of it The biting of a Flea or Gnat were it to last for ever how unexplicable a Torment would it be What horror then will possess the damned arising out of this one cogitation This fire must be endured for ever this howling must be heard eternally this stench must be suffered without end Hence flowes in them most bitter weeping and perpetual horror Terrour Trembling Wailing and Anguish environ the slaves of Hell on all sides But forasmuch as these punishments cannot be avoyded by any centuries of years any ages ch 24. or Millions of Ages therefore holy Iob rightly terms their horrour everlasting One night sometimes appears to a sick man longer then a year How many years then how many ages will one only year of the damned contain whereof you can point out no single minute which is not lyable to a most dreadful death Everlasting sorrow is companion to eternal death Iohn Climacus makes mention of a Religious man Grad 4. de Obe whom he saw whose countenance was almost continually moistned with Tears He asked that same man the cause thereof My Brother said Climacus what is the reason I pray why your eyes are so well furnisht that they alwaies weep I Father am fully perswaded that I do not sevre these Religious men but Christ and his Apostles And in regard I am constantly about the fire he was Cook to the Monastery I employ my thoughts in ruminating those everlasting Flames this makes me weep A most wholesome thought without doubt to think upon Hell fire and the Tears of the Damned There saies St. Cyril they sigh without ceasing and no one pitties them they cry out from the Depth and none is moved with their cryes they lament and no one sets them at liberty This doleful condition by often thinking on it aforehand may be escaped SECT 6 MAny Religious men of old dispatched away a Messenger from Mo4nt Nitria Pelagius lib. 3. and with unanimous consent besought St. Macarius he would be pleased to give satisfaction to the desires of many and come to Nitria if he did not condescend they let him know within a short space he should be overwhelmed with their company St. Macarius was easily perswaded forthwith arrived at their quarters He was no sooner come but all of them fed their eyes with beholding so worthy a person and after a while all were desirous to satiate their ears too Whereupon they joyntly request Macarius he would adde to the favour of his coming this other of exhotting
the sea over floweth not In like manner all sorts of pains as so many streams empty themselves into eternity in hell yet eternity like an immense ocean is always the same neither ebbing nor flowing but infinite but unchangeable After a hundred centuries of ages are disburdened into this abysse a hundred more will be swallowed up and still more and more without end After the damned crue shall have dwelt in hell so many ages as to think they have lived in flames for all eternity by past yet eternity is not one jot diminisht After the revolution of so many ages eternity is not a minute less it is ever entirely the same After a thousand thousand years are come and gone the circle of eternity is as large as whole as unavoidable as it was in the beginning This is the ninth unspeakable unconceivable torment in Gods prison Now forasmuch as people yet alive busie their thoughts with eternity we assign a triple difference thereof eternity which makes the pious daily sigh eternity which is a fearful dream of the wicked and eternity which is an everlasting punishment to the damned The first of these three is the subject of this present chapter SECT 1. THe divine espouse commending the humanity of her beloved says Cant. 2. His left hand under my head and his right hand shall embrace me Under these words lyeth hid a mystery which must be unfolded In the left hand of the beloved are honours wealth and plenty in the right length of dayes or eternity Here the espouse as if she were wittingly and willingly blind exclaimes the left hand I see not because it is under my head so little do I value honour riches or transitory goods But the right wherewith he shall embrace me I behold though yet I enjoy it not all the eyes I have are fixed in contemplation of eternity things eternal are they I esteem Yet in regard I have not possession of a blessed eternity nevertheless I rest assured He shall embrace me Eternity delayed breeds torment as Hope that is differred afflicteth the soul Prov. 13. Eternity stirs up in the vertuous a dayly longing after it Boniface a Citizen of Rome having for some time kept company with Aglae a noble matron became at length so penitent for his fault that he resolved to wash out that stain by the practice of most heroick vertue This made him sl ght all danger of looseing the goods of fortune yea and his own life too this made him visit martyrs in prison and kiss their chains this made him encourage such as were to suffer and after death to bury their bodies Being taken up with these employments he took his journy to Tarsus where he performed the like good offices to the champions of Christ His dayly exhortation was they should be constant in their sufferings their labour though short would merit reward without end With these words he mervailously excited himself and others to lay down their lives couragiously While he was busie with these employments he was apprehended and had his flesh torn off his bones with iron hooks they thrust under his nails sharp needles and poured into his mouth melted lead Amidst these torments he persevered constant he believed his pains momentary and the crown he expected to be everlasting he repeated to himself his former exhortation and often redoubled I give thee thanks O my Lord Jesu In this manner he gloriously finisht his combat Eternity is cause of continual sighing to the godly SECT 2. ST Frances of Assisium the Jewel of his age through frequent weeping began to be troubled with sore eyes Divers perswaded him to forbear his dayly tears to whom with a deep sigh he said For the love of that light which is common to us flies I do not judge it meet to debar my self of the rays of light eternal Being likewise asked how in such thin clothes he could endure the austerity of winter He answered if we were warmed with love of our eternal country we should easily be sheltered from cold here This life was to St. Francis occasion of patience as eternity was of desire Christ our Lord undertaking to teach his followers how to sigh incessantly after eternity said Mat. 10 Fear ye not them that kill the body A hidden argument but according to art Do not for this reason fear saith he because they kill If any one had power to detain another in the fire or such like punishment alive him you might justly fear The sharper the pain inflicted by men the sooner it bereaves of life the more grievous the torment the quicker the end You have then no reason to fear them who can kill the body but once and that often with one blow fear him that redoubles dayly mortal wounds and always killing never kills Behold the antitheses of this divine Oratour The fear of a short death is to be overcome by fear of death eternal Our Lord therefore would glve us to understand that the souls of men are immortal subject to the sole pleasure of God and that the bodies are to be raised from death to reward or punishment everlasting Behold likewise with what artificial brevity of words Christ comprehended great mysteries the immortality of the soul the resurrection of the body and an eternity of well or wo. Eternity causeth in the vertuous continual sighing Sir Thomas More Sand. Lib. 1 a man every way accomplisht was cast into prison not to his disgrace but for manifesting his sanctity to the world His wife came to visit him with an intent to bring him off his resolution But in vain She â—â—ade her onset with a two forked argument and pleaded her cause with prayers and tears beseeching him chiefly by all conjugal fidelity he would preserve his life yet a while What fault have I made quoth she wherein have your children kinsfolk and family so much offended as to be so soon deprived of you my beloved husband All our lives depend on yours For my part I had rather dye a hundred time 〈◊〉 survive after your death 〈◊〉 my dearest More subscribe to the Kings decree and you make your self and us all live many years longer Are you so much fallen out with this present lifâ— as that you will obstinately run upon your own death Death knowes well when it is to come for us why then do we of our own accord send for it as if it had forgâ—tten us That you may have compassion for many of your friends have pitty on your self and do not despise the best share of your life which is yet behind I doubt not but God out of his goodness will grant you many more years to live in case your self be not out of liking with your own life Her Husband gave eaâ— pâ—tiently to what she said and when she had ended her speach How many years quoth he doest thou think I shall live my dear Aloysia to whom she quickly made answer you may well live
and Swine as he did Herod with that of Fox Sin changes men into beasts as is apparent out of Holy Writ Psa 48. Man when he was in honour did not understand he was compared to beasts without understanding and became like to them This is no great change Sin converts a man into a Devil as Christ plainly said to his Discisples John 6. Of you one is a Devil He objected likewise unto the Jews You are of your Father the Devil John 8. Now the Devil according to St. Anselm though warned by terrour and menaces would not abstain from sin neither would man beware of it albeit he was threatned with death if he did transgress The Devil sinned once but man offends many sand times he rebelled against his Creatour whereas man impiously kicks both at his Creatour and Redeemer St. In cap. 9. Joan. hom 54. Chrysostome inveighs severely against an envious person An envious man is worse then the Devil the Devil indeed bears envy but to men not to his own companions whereas thou being a man dost envy men and practise hatred against those of the same kind and nature with thy self which Satan doth not A wicked man may rightly be stiled a Devil yea hell it self Apoc. c. 20. And Hell and death saith the Apostle were cast into the Pool of fire How could this be was hell cast into hell it was so if we credit Expositours upon this place because he who steers a wicked course may justly be termed an Hell For as hell is a place of torments and an abode for Devils so a man of debaucht carriage suffers the pangs of a guilty Conscience wherein the Devil hath taken up his quarters Thus then this Hell shall be cast into Hell O sin O blasting and pestiferous whirlwind which killest in the budd both blossoms leaves and fruit of humane actions which deprivest man of justice and innocency and robbest him of himself O Poyson which dost murther when beloved and infectest even the very Marrow of the Soul and canst not be asswaged by an Ocean of calamities nor extinguished by the flames of Hell God makes this question to our first Parent after his fall Gene. 3. Adam where art thou Adam might with reason have returned this answer I am no where He was then no where indeed For by sin committed he was separated from God and punishment for his fault exiled him from Paradise Neither was he in himself by reason of the remorse his Conscience endured neither was he in other creatures which his offence had moved to Rebellion nor in the world because of his own inconstancy He was then no where alas he was no where where he might find repose But he was like unto a swift running torrent whose streams in regard of their rapid motion can neither be affirmed to be here nor there Do you desire to know what sin is Take a leisurely view of Adams fall How many millions of men were plunged into the depth of miseries by it from it sprung Famine War and Pestilence from it all Calamities Disasters yea death it self Such a tree might well bring forth such fruits from such a cause such effects were easily produced True it is the Son of God was fastned to a Cross to expiate this crime and yet how many millions suffer wrack in hell through sin Who ever will attentively consider these things when soothing pleasure invites him to offend may freely say I will not buy eternal repentance at so dear a rate When the Heavens frown and burst forth into storms of Hail Snow Whirlwinds Thunder and Lightning the cause is that Exhalations and Vapours through their native lightness are easily drawn up and afterwards in various tempests fall down to the earth again No otherwise descend from Heaven upon us violent storms of Dearth Warr Plague Sickness and other miseries which God indeed rains down amongst us but after the Exhalations and Vapours of our transgressions had ascended on high that lecture we learn from the Schools of Phylosophy this of Divinity St. Gregory speaks to the purpose The evil we suffer our sins have deserved The same is attested by Ecclesiasticus Death ch 40. Bloud Contention and Sword Oppressions Famine and Contrition and Scourges For the wicked all these were created Sin Banisht us from Paradise into this vale of tears into this tempestuous Sea where boysterous Winds and lofty Surges cause frequent Ship-wracks and all other miseries Sin maketh people miserable saith Salomon Pro. 14. How came the Turks so often to infest Christendome Whence proceeded so many inroads of Barbarous Nations So many Victories obtained against us What is the cause we are so much pestered with Famine and Plague Why doth that Face of Heaven toward us seem to be all of Brass and either drown us with too much wet or make us pine away for want of Rain Whence do Diseases rush in upon us by whole swarms All these are effects of sin sin is an abiss of all calamities I must needs deliver my mind in Seneca's words Epist 95 He is deceived that thinks God can have a will to do hurt he cannot God neither doth evil nor hath evil Albeit he chastise some and keep them in awe with punishments His eyes are clean from seeing evil and cannot look toward iniquity Therefore he bears extream hatred against sin Even as light of its own nature hath opposition with darkness Comliness with Deformity Goodness with Malice Purity with Uncleanness Life with Death So hath sanctity with all wickedness Wherefore as God loves sanctity beyond expression in like manner his aversion from sin is infinite Marks of his aversion are these that follow First he withdraws himself and his grace from a sinner Then he punisheth sin with many calamities as with present coyn even in this life Thirdly he takes from the Malefactour all right to Heaven Therefore we must either do true pennance or bid adieu to Heaven Fourthly every mortal sin he chastiseth with flames eternal and yet which cannot be exprest without admiration the chastisement is less then the sin deserves All Divines unanimously affirm an everlasting torment is decreed for every mortal sin neither can it ever truly be said This sin hath been punisht sufficiently What then is a mortal sin Alas alas Let all Angels answer this question which yet they are not able fully to declare that which lurks under one deadly sin is infinitely abominable That which Ludovicus Blosius recounts to stir up detestation of mortal sin is exceeding dreadful Monil spur c. 1. If the Mother of our Lord the most Blessed Virgin had sinned mortally and had dyed without contrition she had never attained Heaven but must have been tormented with the Devils in Hell So rigorous is Gods justice This likewise was revealed to St. Lib. 4. ch 7. Brigit who heard the Devils cry out to the supream Judge in this manner If that thing which thou lovest
been sufficient to appease most barbarous Tyranny Whereas sin more cruel then any Monster or Tyrant is not glutted with murthering man once but murthers him eternally When you behold an Offender hurried to Execution and his flesh pluckt off with hot Pincers you forthwith imagine his crimes were hainous since his punishment is so excessive How grievous then must that fault be which can never be expiated with flames eternal This point is often treated these pains are frequently denounced by God and yet we are backward in forbearing sin These particulars we are assured of and still hold on to violate divine Laws with extreme temerity This fault we know deserves to be eternally banisht from Heaven that crime makes its Actour punishable with fire everlasting both in soul and body in so much as sin may seem to blow the Coals and to subminister Fuel for the duration of torments He that would seriously weigh what is here delivered would he not bridle his unruly appetites would he not restrain himself from sin and tread a better path It is down right madness to choose rather to perish then amend ones life O Mortals consider these things this matter is exceeding ferious and of mighty consequence Heaven is not purchased with doing nothing All this notwithstanding men sin with as much freedome and security as if God were ignorant of their acting they go on as boldly as if God had not forbidden them and offend as confidently as though God did nor look on while they offend We admire the foolishness of Esau who valued a dish of Pottage above his birth-right Let us now admire no more all we that esteem a bruitish pleasure at a higher rate then our title to the Kingdome of God all we that sell our Inheritance of Glory for an empty blast of humane praise What is now become of those Heroick resolutions I will rather lose my life then sin Plutarch tells you how Lysimachus was reduced to that extremity by thirst that he gave himself and his Army up into the hands of his enemies and after he had swallowed a cup of cold water he cryed our wo is me base fellow that I am that have parted with a Kingdome for so small pleasure With how much more reason may one that sins mortally exclaime O wretch that I am and unworthy the name of man who for a fleeting and beastly delight sell my right to Heaven prefer creatures before my Creatour Vice before Vertue Death before Life and Perdition before Salvation Ah! covetous miscreant for how slender gain dost thou sell away Heaven Alas Lacivious beast why dost thou change eternal joyes for a moments pleasure O wrathful and envious man how seldome dost thou meditate on hell And thou O Drunkard why wilt thou quaff away an Ocean of Celestial Nectar Good Lord what height of folly is it when a blessed eternity lyes at stake to part with everlasting happiness for a minutes delight Lust Revenge Drunkenness and all other vices please but for a moment and merit torments for an entire eternity Wherefore do we now wonder that God eternally punishes the wicked since the reward of the vertuous is without end Again he that sins mortally for a transitory pleasure sells away himself to the Devil what marvail if the buyers title become perpetual This made Elias speak plainly to King Achab I have found thee mine enemy 3. Kings ch 21. for that thou art sold to do evil in the sight of our Lord. Moreover it is notorious that he who grows obstinate in sin augments his own pain seeing therefore those in Hell are obstinate in their sins for in Hell there is neither pennancenor amendment they likewise increase their injury Understand then these things you that forget God Psa 49. lest sometime he take you violently and there be none to deliver you The very same who is now offended will be your Judge from whom there lyes no appeal to any other no frivolous defence or foolish excuse will then be admitted favour at that time is bootless intercession vain pleading comes too late delayes may not be expected For the judge cannot be moved with flattery nor corrupted with Bribes the last sentence is irevocable the decree eternal aswell as the punishment ensuing CHAP. XV. Why one Mortal Sin is punished with Eternal Torment NOne wonders to hear one say a magnificent City was burnt to the ground by neglecting to have care of one spark of fire We know by experience the activity of fire and its unsatiable appetite it has a devouring stomach while competent matter is set before it it feeds greedily and by feeding grows bigger it spares nothing that is fitly disposed for its pallate it swallowes up Houses Cities and Kingdomes it makes no distinction betwixt friends and foes it layes all wast it consumes all it has inflamed whole towns and we beleive it will bring the world into conflagration What Jaws what Panch may I say it hath whose hunger so much provision of sustenance is not able to asswage We do not therefore wonder that by one spark entire Cities become desolate but that the flames were no sooner extinguisht In like manner we do not gain-say any one that affirms our life to be but a moment and indeed compared to Eternity it scarcely deserves to be called a moment Now if you say further Eternity depends on this moment I shall not contradict you because I know an eternal reward is acquired with temporal pains for in case the labour were eternal the recompence could not be perpetual Neither shall I contest with any who avoucheth everlasting joy may â—e obtained in the twinkling of an eye since this blessing is not due to our deserts but to the merits of Christ This then is that which holds us in admiration that eternal punishment is frequently incurred in a short time in a moments space with one sole thought Actions vertuously performed deserve an endless Crown by reason of our Saviours merits which are of infinite value But how our sins should be of infinite malice and consequently merit infinite pain this passes our understanding this argument of Divinity we are not capable of For what malice I pray lurks under the sweetness of a filthy Lust in which one freely lingers for an hour or part of an hour or a minutes space which may not for all eternity be sufficiently expiated even in flames eternal This it is we mervail at this altogether transcends our capacity Something in answer to this difficulty hath formerly been alledged yet in regard the matter is weighty and hard to be understood we shall enlarge our selves in the declaration of it and unfold this Riddle Why a sin committed in a moment is punisht with eternal torment where by the way we shall discover the efficient cause of this doleful Eternity SECT 1. IN Christian Religion several mysteries are contained which humane reason is not able to comprehend Of this nature we particularize five
utters his discontent in this manner O unhappy Fortune O base Villains How shall I recover my Gold again In this humor he goes home venting his spleen with furious complaints he disquiets his whole Family miscals his Servants and turns all topsy turvy Thus he wasts the night and after the loss of his money scarcely retains his Wits This Chest-table decyphers mans life which doth not want the light of reason the different Chest-men represent the diversity of States and Qualities amongst mortals Some are Kings and Queens some Peers and Nobles some Country and City Peasants who for Dignities and Riches are much unequal amongst themselves He that is skilful carries away the Victory and leaves the ignorant in the Lurch Afterwards ensues a perpetual night a night enveloped in horrid darkness and eternal despair They shall not see light for ever O dismal night O disconsolate darkness The second Torment is Weeping THe Angel as an Herauld from Heaven Apo. 18. long since denounced As much as she hath glorified her self and hath been in delecacies so much give her torment and mourning Hell is a place allotted for lamentation where they weep without shedding a tear or diminishing their grief with weeping O mortals why do we bewail the loss of money the death of friends or the troublesomness of the times These Tears are in vain these accidents hurt none but such as hurt themselves by their own crimes Luk. 23. Weep not upon me said our Saviour but weep upon your selves T is a matter worthy of lamentation to be cast for ever from the Face of God this no Sea of Tears may sufficiently bewail If you consider all the Prophets and their Predictions they commonly denounce great miseries they foretel great calamities But by and by they turn over the leaf and seem to say all damages are repaired all things are in a good condition Hence are those words of comfort The Hills shall flow with Milk and Honey And these likewise The threshing of your Harvest shall reach unto Vintage Lev. 26. and the Vintage shall reach unto sowing time and you shall eat the bread to your fill Thus storms and fair weather succeed each other The reason is manifest There is no wound in this world so uncurable whereunto God cannot lay a Playster no evil so great which may not have a remedy Tobias was poor and blind but continuing in patience was cured with a fishes Gall Naaman was a Leaper but was wealthy and healed with the water of Iordan Thessaly abounds with Poyson but is not destitute of Antidotes The Philippine Islands bring forth no Vines but Palmes which store them with a liquor more pretious then Wine Italy is bare of Woods but enjoyes a milder Winter and great variety of fruits So God substituted Christ instead of Adam the Blessed Virgin for Eve grace was provided to take away sin obedience satisfied for transgression and life is a comfort against death No sore can here be found without a cure no malady without a remedy But in that doleful Eternity all calamities want releif there be many Vlcers but no salve there is the worst of evils and that eternal without the least mitigation M. Marcellus at the taking of that flourishing City of Siracusa wept for compassion The Damned may weep tears of blood when they behold themselves in thraldome for all Eternity this this were just cause of such tears if they were available There shall be weeping without the least mixture of consolation The third Torment is Hunger THe wicked here feasted too magnificently at dinner wherefore they must now sit down with a short supper they did not restrain their immoderate appetite to meat and drink whereupon they became guilty of many sins by Gluttony as of Drunkenness and all that train of vices which attend it They did not eat to live but live to eat their mind lived amongst their dishes since they regulated their lives by the rules of Cookery Of these St. Tom. 10 serm 63 Austin speaks plainly Seeing they should eat to live they think they should live to eat but every wise man blames such Gluttons Drunkards and Gurmandisers and especially Holy Writ reproves them whose belly is their God These people come not to meat for want of food but to please their Palate and so become slaves to meat and drink What men are these who place their happiness in their Table as Beasts do in their Manger They did eat drink and vomit but now they hunger thirst and suffer for their Gluttony without the least mitigation of either hunger or thirst The Famine of Samaria or saguntum would be esteemed as dainties in hell where their famine is more cruel and rageing where a drop of water is as eagerly begged as justly denied Thus gluttony is chastised thus a small delight in eating is punisht with pains everlasting Albidius a Prodigal young man after he had consumed his inheritance in gluttony returned home in despair Whom Cato espying said O what a Religious yongster are you that with such liberality offer sacrifice to Protervia It was the custome in sacrificing to Protervia that what was not wasted in feasting should be devoured by Vulcan or consumed by fire So many as are condemned to Hell have indeed sacrificed to folly by lavishing most shamefully their Patrimony by contemning the Law of God and riotously glutting themselves with Feasting Wherefore now both they and their habitations burn and must burn eternally Of whose miserable condition thus speaks St. â—pra Austin There is no voice but groaning no rest but fire without ceasing there is no refreshment in that flame but continual burning of perpetual fire They shall never see light nor want darkness they shall have no remembrance of good who are possest with forgetfulness of God Their food is their torment their abode is not Abrahams bosome but Satans Den. Amend thy life while it is in thy power call upon God ere it be too late mourn while mourning is available and do not differ to do true pennance The fourth Torment is Stench TO the end the whole man may be chastised with all sorts of pain the nostrils shall be filled with most pestilent stink Poverty and needy persons are exceeding noysome to some mens smelling others when they meet with Perfumes wish with Catullus they were all nose O that these nicelings would consider what kind of odours are burning in Hell What wonder I pray if that loathsome prison be replenisht with stink it is a stable for Kids and Goats for so they are called by the Soveraign Judge Matt. 25 He shall set the sheep at his right hand but the Goats at his left These creatures have a scent neither of Fish nor Flowers they are fitter for a sty or Augias Stable and as Goats and Swine are banisht from the delights of Heaven Apo. 21. Into that seat of the blessed shall not enter any polluted thing nor that doth abomination