was found in Tulliola daughter of Cicero her sepulcher which continued burning fifteene hundreth yeares These and many other shaddowes and traces of eternity God hath vouchsafed vs to stirre vp our dead and drowsy hearts to a more exact inquisition and serious consideration of the time to come For in the booke of the creature wee may see the power of the Creator and out of these particular workes of his we may vnderstand that that God which hath endowed nature with such admirable qualities can giue the flesh also such a condition that it shall endure according to his mercifull dispensation either torments or happinesse for evermore Now then to draw all this to an issue since it is vndoubtedly true that God hath provided an everlasting being for the soules of men in the world to come since he hath engrauen the knowledge hereof as with an Iron pen in the consciences of the Heathen since he hath giuen vs so many liuely resemblances and traces thereof in the secrets of nature and in the workes of his creation Oh how should the meditation of this take vp our deepest thoughts our refinest affections how should this cause vs to reflect vpon our soules to ponder our waies and with an vndazeled and vndesembling eye throughly to trye and to descry clearely our owne state whether we be already washed with the blood of Christ and enliuened with a supernaturall vigour and life of grace or yet ly polluted in our owne blood Oh how can any man be at rest and quiet in his minde till he be assured and secured in this point since that vpon it depend his everlasting estate in another world our daies wee see are wouen with a slender thred our time short our end vncertaine and when the oyle in our lampes is spent and our glasse runne out then ex vnico momento pendet duplex aeternitas we fly in a moment to an everlasting being either in horror or happinesse where wee shall receiue according to the workes of our hands If wee haue approved our selues sincere in Gods service iust in our actions diligent in our callings faithfull in our promises wee shall then attaine the end of our faith the salvation of our soules and the conscience of our well spent life shall at that dismall day replenish our soules with abundance of consolations Then all our teares shall bee wiped from our eyes what we haue sowed in sorrow we shall reape in ioy when we haue finished our course ended our combate with sinne and death then shall our crowne bee sure our victory glorious and our triumph Eternall our graue shall be but as a sweet refreshing place to our wearied bodies and death shall be our day starre to everlasting brightnesse But on the other side if wee haue in the whole course of our warfare here expended our pretious time in the service of sinne and Sathan and crumbled away the best and choicest of our yeares in the lusts of the flesh and sports of vanity then the issue of all will be death and our end destruction Our mirth wil be turned into wormewood and our ioy into heauinesse all our delights in this earth shall vanish as the flower our sun shall set in a cloud and our daies of iollity and contentation shall irrecoverably be involued and turned into perpetuall darknesse CHAP. V. Containing a short digression touching the eternity of the damned AND here it will not be vnseasonable nor any digression from the point in hand to consider with our selues for our better encouragement to the waies of holinesse the condition of that eternity which the damned haue in hell O the vnhappy and ever deplorable state of those poore soules who feele nothing for the present but wrath and vengeance and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of Gods indignation to be powred on them in a fuller measure for ever after Nec qui torquet aliquan do fatigatur nec qui torque tuc a liquando moritur Bernard meditat cap 3. And that which addes abundant weight to their miseries is they shall burne but not diminish they shall lye buried in their flames but not consume they shall seeke death but shall not finde it they shall desire it but it shall flye from them their punishment consists not in the indurance of any proper or peculiar paine but in the accumulation heap of innumerable torments together All the faculties of the soule all the senses of the body shall haue their seuerall punishments and that which is more vnseparable and more then that eternall There shall bee 〈◊〉 degrees in their torments but the least shal be infinite For as the wrath and displeasure of God toward them is everlasting so shall their pressures be They enioy an eternity like the Saints but not the Saints eternity for their eternity shall beginne in horror and proceed in confusion their eternity shall purchase and yeeld to them no other fruit but yellings and lamentations woe Their eternity is such as turnes all things into its owne nature for all things where the damned doe inhabit are eternall The fire is eternall for the breath of God like a riuer of brimstone hath kindled it and it shall neuer goe out night nor day but the smoake thereof shall ascend for euer The worme is eternall for the conscience of the damned shall be everlastingly tormented with the sense of their sinne Their worme dieth not saith the Prophet and their fire never goeth out The prison wherein they are inclosed is eternall The prayers of the Church could open the prison doores to Peter but no prayers can pierce these walls no power can ouerthrowe them no time can ruine them out of Hell is no redemption no ransome no deliuery Cruciantur damnati cruciantur in aeternum This is the last sentence of the Iudge his irrevocable decree his immutable and eternall Iudgement vpon the damned which shall neuer bee reuersed Adesse intolerabile abesse impossibile there is no appeale will lye from this Iudge there is no reversing this judgement when the sentence is once past it stands for eternity Hence it was that the ancient Church repeated this sentence often in their divine service Peccantem me quotidie non me penitentem timor mortis conturbat me quia in inferno nulla est redemptio Whilst I daily sinne but repent not daily as I ought the feare of death amazeth me because after this life ended out of hell is no redemption The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha is fully sufficient to saue all man-kinde but it belongs not to the damned If therefore the yoake of repentance seeme not sweet to thee saith St Bernard thinke on that yoake which thou shalt be sure to suffer which is Goe yee cursed into eternal fire But the most deplorable thing which is eternall in hell is the irrevocable losse of the beatificall presence of God the eternall priuation of Gods sight the vncomfortable want whereof
doth more grieue their hearts and wound their afflicted soules then all their bodily torments Thus wee see the vnhappy estate and condition of the damned in the other world and how the highest linke in all this chaine of sorrowes wherewith they are enuironed is the miserable perpetuitie of their torments when their restlesse thoughts haue carefully runne through many thousands of yeares yet will they not then enioy one day one little houre one minute of rest and respiration Everlasting darknesse is their portion they beginne and end alike with weeping and gnashing of teeth Now since this is certainely true is it possible that man should be so forgetfull of God and himselfe Can he so farre degenerate into a beast and indurate into a stone as to read these things and not beleeue them or beleeue these things and not to tremble Can the knowledge of these things swim in our braine without a serious and sound digestion of them into our hearts when we see and knowe and beleeue that inexplicable eternall endlesse easelesse horrors without true and vnfained repentance abide vs hereafter and on the other side we knowe not nor can possibly discerne with how speedy and swift a foot our end approacheth nor how suddenly wee shall be summoned to giue the world our euerlasting farwell How can so sad and important a consideration as this possesse our thoughts and not torment them or how can this chuse but imbitter our dearest pleasures crosse our indulgence to our sensuall affections Did we but reason a while with our soules and euery one of vs in a particular application say within himselfe I am here floating like a ship in the sea of this world ballased on every side with the cares and disquietings pressures of this life and I sayle on with full course towards the hauen of Eternity one little blast of death is able to plunge me irrecouerably into this bottomelesse gulfe where one houres torment will infinitely exceed for the paine of it an hundred yeares bitter repentance And shall I now thus standing vpon the very battlements of hell melt in my delights cheere vp my selfe in the dayes of my youth shall I tyre out my spirits trifle out my pretious time rob mine eyes of their beloued sleepe for such things to the which the time will come when I must bid an euerlasting farewell Me thinks the thorough meditation of our future state should euen strangle our sensuall ioyes in vs withdrawe our hearts from the embracements of this world especially when wee shall to our endlesse sorrow vnderstand our dearest contents must close at the last in death and confusion and all our precedent pleasures shall yeeld vs no other fruit but their bitter remembrance to augment our sorrowes CAP. 6. Wherein the question is answered wherefore a finite sinne is recompensed with an infinite punishment wherein also is farther shewed that the severity of Gods iustice therein doth no waie diminish the greatnesse of his mercy NOW here ariseth a question to bee resolved how comes it to passe that our mercifull and gratious God who is so infinite in his goodnesse and so abundant in his loue whose praises the Prophet David amplifies in his 136. psalme twenty seauen times together with this conclusion for his mercy endureth for ever how can it stande that this our God whose mercy is thus exalted aboue all his workes should be thus infinitely mercifull and yet so infinitely iust too as to inflict vpon a finite sinne an infinite punishment that he should continue millions of yeares yea to everlastingnesse in the avengement of those sinnes which were committed as it were in a moment of time so that hee who hath offended but temporally should bee bound to suffer paines eternally I answere wee shall sufficiently vindicate and cleare Gods righteous dealing towards vs herein if wee measure his iustice but by our owne rules Scelus non temporis longitudine sed iniquitatis magnitudine metiendum est Aug. de Civitat Des lib. 21 cap. 11. for doth any law proportion out the time of punishment to the time only in which the offence is commited and so measure the continuance of the pennalty by the time of the fault Shall the prisoner lye no longer in the Goale then he is committing his villanie Doe not wee here amongst vs often see some offences which were suddenly thought of and as soone executed yet punished with endlesse datelesse banishments which in comparison to this life beare a proportion with eternity Now if the wisdome of man doth follow this rule in proportioning of punishments weighing offences by the fowlenes of the fact Shall wee denie God the righteous Iudge of all the world the same liberty over the workes of his owne hands Againe if this will not satisfie our inquisitiue mindes let vs but take our owne hearts to taske and sifte them to the bottome and impartially weigh what a world of pollution and deceipte and perversenesse is lodged in them and then certainely wee shall finde matter enough against our selues without farther inquiry for our endlesse condemnation our owne consciences will testify to the confusion of our faces that iust is the Lord and iust are his Iudgements that all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Nec iniusta eius gratia nec crudelis potest esse iustitia Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 21. c. 11. that his grace is not vniust nor his Iustice cruell Adde herevnto that the fault of its owne nature is infinite because it is a sinne against an infinite maiesty Gods Iustice being infinite the violation thereof by sinne must needs contract an infinite debt because in sinning we rob God of his glory which wee must needs repaie him againe Now the satisfaction of an infinite debt must needs bee infinite either in respect of time or measure And because a finite vessell is not able to hold or comprehend an infinite wrath forasmuch as wee cannot beare Gods indignation propter immensitatem doloris wee must of necessity satisfie his Iustice duratione temporis the long continuance of our sufferings must supply what is wanting in the weight of our punishments Againe he that dies in his sinne without repentance offends as much as if he had sinned eternally quia omnis peccator est in aeternum si in aeternum vixisset in aeternum peccasset i.e. had hee liued eternally his sinne had extended to the length of his daies Peccandi voluntatem non amisit sed vitam Greg. for a man sooner ceaseth to liue then to loue his sinne and therefore God may iustly after many thousand yeares torments in Hell iterate their torments to the damned because if they had longer abode in their sinfull fiesh they would still haue perpetuated their sinfull transgressions Oh let not then sinfull flesh contend with its maker let not vs prye into the heavens nor curiously search into the secrets of Gods will to finde a reason of the
Bishop of Rome is brought to his pontificall chaire one goes before him shaking a burning torch and proclaiming three times Pater sancte sic transit gloria mundi Certainly it would worke somewhat towards the enliuening of our drowsinesse quickning vp of our dull security if we did in the beginning end of all our vndertakings say within our selues Annos aeternos in mente habe Remember ô my soule those daies of darknesse which shall neuer close For all the pressures and vexing distempers that befall vs in this life all the crosses which the envy either of men or evill Angells can throw vpon vs are nothing if compared to eternall miseries Sapienti nihil magnum videri potest cui aeternitatis nota est magnitudo What if with Saint Paul I vnderwent labours perills hunger thirst iniuries and reproaches what is all this to eternity What if I did beare in my flesh the most exquisite paines and bitterest torments that created nature is capable of yet what were all this to eternity For all the adversities and alterations which happen to vs vnder the sunne haue their periods which they cannot passe however they disquiet vs for the time yet as the Prophet Daniel saith the end shall bee at the appointed time God will performe that which he hath appointed for me saith Iob yet vsque ad tempus haec omnia the end shall be at the appointed time But of this eternity there will be no end no bounds can limit it no time shall determine it Certainly first or last there will happen to thee such an evening as shall haue no morning to follow or else such a morning as shall never see the close of the Sunne And therefore let not the vanishing cares and transitory disquietings of this world over deepely possesse thy heart but rather let the whole streame of thy meditations rnnne vpon thy latter end that at the time of thy dissolution thy affection being wholy alienated from the world thy thoughts may ascend before whither thy soule is comming after So shall thy sufferings here make way for thy crowne hereafter But how few ô how few I say are there that weigh these things How few doe make it their daily taske to meditate on the evills to come They credit not such reports for they care not to beleeue what they are vnwilling to practise Hence it is that they goe on so securely in their course as if there were no heauen no hell no God no eternity Thus wee naturally desire our daies should be as happy as they are longe and being miserably-insensible of the sorrowes to come wee rashly expose our selues to an irrevocable downefall Nos tales qui mortis nostrae neque negotium ridentes exequimur Greg. Without sense or sorrow wee runne merrily to hell where wee shall everlastingly feele what we did never feare death and darknesse weeping and gnashing of teeth O how different are our times from those of our Ancestors They were not more rigidly superstitious then we are vainely secure How did they pine their bodies and afflict their soules crucify their most pretious lusts forsake their friends their lands their inheritance yea their Crownes and Kingdomes nay which is more through the rigid and austeere obseruation of their strict and severe lawes expose themselues to the hazard and danger of their dearest liues and thrust themselues as it were out of the world and forgoe all society with men And wherefore all this but that they might disburthen themselues the better by these meanes from all earthly allurements settle and dispose their hearts in a good preparation towards their home and to enliuen their affections and inflame their mindes to a more serious contemplation of the ioyes to come Mee thinkes the consideration of these former times should strongly invite vs to a more serious meditation of our future state especially if wee remember how swiftly our daies draw to an end and how soone we are involued into everlasting darknesse For alas what is our life here Tota haec vita vnius horulae mors est one houre at the last will swallow vp all our liue-long daies Let vs then not feare being so neare our home let no stormes affright vs being so neare our haven Let vs examine our accounts and cast vp our summes that we may be able to giue vp a good account at the last day Certaine it is what ever we goe about whatsoever be the scope of our endeavours wee every day come nearer to the end of our course every houre is a new step onward So soone as ever a man enters this mortall life hee beginnes a constant iourney vnto death quicquid temporis vivitur de spatio vivendi tollitur i. e. Each part of time that wee passe cuts off so much from our life and the remainder still decreaseth So that our whole life is nothing but a course or passage vnto death wherein one can neither stay nor slacke his pace This wee know our daily experience doth confirme this truth and yet doe wee persist as securely as ever in our trade of sinne Aegrae abstrahimur ab ijs quibus assuescimus i.e. wee are hardly drawne from those things which custome and time hath invred vs vnto It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawne off from dainty fare full cups and good company Wee lye as dead men and sencelesse in our damned pollutions even drowned in our voluptuousnesse like brute beasts filled vp and pampered for the day of slaughter Thus with the full streame of our indeauours we plod on in the habituall course of transgressing without any sense of our sinne vntill our short daies begin to shut in and our evening approach at which time the weaknesse of our bodies and the strength of our sinnes make vs as vnable to repent as wee were before vnwilling Wee many times through the incitement of some good motion beginne well but faile in the execution wee make faire promises Fatemur crimina sed sic fatemur vt in ipsa confessione non dolemus Salv. but wee doe not second them in our practise but let vs not deceiue our selues God will not be mocked non verbis paenitentia agenda sed actu let vs not promise God better obedience with our lippes then wee performe with our hearts Bee not rash to vow a thing before God but when thy word hath past thy lips then be as carefull to performe as thou wast forward before to promise Lastly let vs alwaies follow that holy counsell given in Ecclesiasticus In all thy actions thinke vpon thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse and that of the Prophet David keepe innocency and doe the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last peace with God peace with men and peace with our owne conscience In the world saith our Saviour shall yee haue trouble but in me yee shall haue peace The world is our sea but
perish in time of vengeance But alas farre otherwise it is with vs in our practise * Magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus maxima nihil agentibus tota aliud agentibus A great portion of our time is crumbled away in doing ill a greater part in doing nothing and our whole life in doing that which wee should not or in matters as we say vpon the by And as Archimedes was secure and busie about drawing lines on the ground when Syracuse was taken so is it with vs. Now that our eternall safety laies at stake we lye puzling in our dust I meane in our worldly negotiations But for our eternity shortly approaching we seldome or rarely thinke of it We are like Martha troubled about many things when one thing is necessary But this one thing is that which of all other things is least regarded and in the last place Wee seldome seek heauen till death doth summon vs to leaue the earth wee haue many euasions to gull our owne hearts many excuses to procrastinate our repentance like Dionysius the Scicilian king who to excuse himselfe for the present deliuery of the golden garment which he tooke from his God Apollo answered that such a robe as that was could not bee at any season of the yeare vsefull to his God it would not keepe him warme in the winter it was too heauy for the summer So many there be saith S. Ambrose who play with God and with their owne soule You must not say they seeke for the vigour and life of religion in the hearts of young men For youth as the prouerbe is must haue his swinge Neither can you expect it in the company of the aged for their age and those distempers which accompany it make them a burden to themselues and dulls the edge of their intentions vnto all their serious vnderstandings Thus both the summer and the winter of our age are vnfit for Gods service But let vs not thus cheate our selues If God bee God let vs follow him let vs not put off the day of reconciliation and say in our hearts to morrow wee will doe it when yet we cannot tell what shall bee to morrow for what is our life It is euen a vapour that appeares for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Hence it was that Macedonius being inuited a day before to a feast replied to the messenger why doth thy Master inuite me for to morrow whereas for this many yeares I haue not promised to my selfe one daies life Nemo mortem satis cavet nisi qui semper cavet i.e. No man dreads death as he ought but hee that alwaies expects his summons and therefore wee may truly iudge such men wofully secure and wilfull contemners of the future good who can goe to their beds and rest on their pillowes in the apprehension of their knowne sinnes without a particular humiliation for them For how oft doth a suddain vnexpected death arrest men We see and knowe in our dayly experience many lay themselues to sleepe in health and safety yet are found dead in the morning Thus suddainly are they wrapt from their quiet repose to their irrecouerable iudgement perchance from their feathers to flames of fire such is the frayle condition of our brittle liues within the small particle of an houre liue and sicken and dye yet so grosse is our blindnesse that from one day to another nay from one yeare to another wee triflingly put off the reformation of our liues vntill our last houre creepes on vs vnlookt for and dragges vs to eternity Saint Augustine striuing with all his endeavours against the backwardnesse and slownesse of his owne heart to turne to the Lord bitterly complained within himselfe Quamdiu quamdiu cras cras Quare non hâc horâ finis turpitudinis meae How long saith he ô how long shall I delude my soule with to morrowes repentance Why should not this houre terminate my sinfulnesse Wee are every minute at the brinke of death and every houre that wee passe through might proue for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortality Now if it should please God to take away our soules from vs this night as suddenly falls out to some what would then become of vs In what Eternity should wee be found Whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happy were it for vs if wee were but as carefull for the welfare of our soules as wee are curious for the adorning of our bodies if our clothes or faces doe contract any blot or soiling wee presently endeavour to cleanse the same But though our soules lye inthralled in the pollutions of sinne this alas we feele not it neither provokes vs to shame nor moues vs to sorrow Wherefore let vs looke into our hearts with a sevearer eye Let the shortnesse of our daies stirre vs vp to the amendment of our sinfull liues let the houre wherein we haue sinned be the beginning of our reformation according to that of St Ambrose agenda est paenitentia non solum solicitè verùm etiam maturè i.e. our repentance must be not only sincere but timely also whilest wee haue the light let vs walke as children of the light Let vs not any longer cheate our soules in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sinnes but rather lay open our sores and seeke to the true Physitian that can heale them All the creatures vnder the sunne doe naturally intend their owne preservation and desire that happinesse which is agreeable to their nature onely man is negligent and impiously carelesse of his owne welfare Wee see the Hart when hee is striken and wounded lookes speedily for a certaine hearbe well knowne vnto him by a kinde of naturall instinct and when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blind knowes how to procure them their sight by the vse of her Celandine But wee alas are wounded yet seeke for no remedy wee goe customarily to our bedds to our tables to our good company but who is he that obserues his constant course of praier of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sinnes Wee goe forward still in our old way and jogge on in the same rode Though our judgement hasten hell threaten death stand at the doore yet we thrust onward still in dulcem declinamus lumina somnum But alas miserable soules as we are can wee embrace quiet rests and vninterrupted sleepes with such wounded consciences Can wee be so secure being so neare our time But you will say wee haue passed already many nights without danger no sicknesse in the night hath befalne vs hitherto why then should any feare of death amaze or trouble vs Admit all this yea bee not too confident one houre may effect that which a thousand yeares could not produce and thinke with your selues what a little distance there is betweene your soules and death
Let me aske the strongest of men on earth what certainty of life canst thou promise thy selfe seeing that either a little bone in thy throat may choake thee or a tile from thy house may braine thee or some malignant ayre may poyson thee and then where art thou There are a thousand waies Tu te prius ad aeternitatem abrep tum miraberis quà m metueres abripiendum whereby suddainly a man may come to his end and certaine it is that Mors illa maxime improvisa est cuius vita praecedens non fuit provida i. e. that death is the suddainest which is not vshered in with a foregoing preparation It is therefore a speciall point of wisdome to thinke every day our last yea to account every houre the period of our liues For looke how many pores there are in the body so many windowes are there to let in death yea we carry our deaths continually about vs in our bosomes and who can promise himselfe his life till the evening Hath not our owne experience showne vs many whose sleepes in their beds haue proued sleepes vnto death who haue beene carried from their chambers to their graue Death doth not alwaies send forth her harbingers to giue notice of her comming shee often presseth in vnlookt for and suddainly attached the vnprovided soule Watch therefore because yee know neither the day nor the houre worke whilest yee haue the day for the night comes wherein no man can worke looke towards thy evening and cast thy thoughts vpon that long Eternity Death first or last will apprehend thee expect it therefore at every turne and of this assure thy selfe Qualis quisque in hac vita motitur talis in die novissimo iudicabitur as death leaueth thee so shall iudgement finde thee How improvidently secure then are those who set vp their rest in the comforts of this life and overly-regard their eternall welfare This is the generall carelesnesse of our times If a man haue a perpetuity but of fiue shillings yearely rent what travell and paines and sweat what beating of his braine and exhausting of his treasure will he runne through before he will loose one dram of his right Yet our eternall inheritance is cast behind vs and vndervalued as a trifle not worth the seeking and this shewes our small loue to our home for wee little esteeme of that which wee take small paines for All other things which conduce to our temporall well being wee seeke with circumspection and enioy them with content but matters of Eternity wee conceiue of as things farre distant from vs wee scarcely entertaine them in our thoughts Wee busy not our vnderstandings in the search of those things which we see not things present and obvious to our sight doe best affect vs wee are ill-sighted vpward weake and dimme eyes haue wee towards heaven The truth of this appeares even in children who presently even from the cradle drinke in the rudiments of vice they learne to sweare riot drinke and the like enormities with the smallest teaching but they are vtterly indisposed to any vertuous inclinations They soone apprehend what belongs to the curiosity of behaviour and deportment of the body the fashions of the times Hoc discunt omnes ante Alpha Beta puelli but for Heaven and that Eternity they are wholly averse from it they are vtterly vncapable of the things aboue they carry about them as the livery of their first parents not only an indisposition but a very opposition to goodnesse And whereas for other imployments and vndertakings they haue certaine naturall notions in them bending their intentions to naturall workes some one way and some another yet they haue not so much as a naturall apprehension of the things of God Homo sine gratia praeter carnem nihil sapit intelligit aut potest Thus it is with children and thus it is with all men even those of the ripest and most peircing vnderstanding vntill the light of Gods spirit hath shined on their hearts and powerfully wrought some spirituall holy dispositions in them The naturall man saith the Apostle neither doth nor can discerne the things that are of God O how infinitely-miserable and deplorable is his state who hauing neither knowledge of the true life nor possibility of himselfe to finde it out Cum exulsit a patria exultat in via yet runnes on securely in his damned way vntill he fall woefully and irrevocably into the pit where hee will not haue no not when hee hath vncomfortably worne out millions of yeares the least intermission of sorrow or drop of comfort or hope of pardon Here on earth malefactors condemned to dye haue this comfort though wretched that one houre commonly terminates all their griefes in this life But the torments of the damned are not concluded in an age nay the end and period of ten thousand yeares will not end their sorrowe And this is it which addes more to their sufferings even their vnhappy knowledge of the perpetuity of them they haue not so much as any hope of releasement Hope in this life hath such a power in it that it can yeeld some comfort in the middest of trouble The sicke man whilest his soule is in him he hath hope but after this life this small refreshment is denied the damned all their hope is turned into desperation The Prophet Daniell cap. 4.14 heard the voice of an holy one crying hew downe the tree and cut off his branches shake of his leaues and scatter his fruit neuerthelesse leaue the stumpe of his roote in the earth Thus it is with men in this world saith Ambrose their leaues and their flowers are shaken their delights are taken from them but the rootes remaine and their hope is not abolished But it is not so in hell saith he There both flower and stumpe nay and even all hope too are banished away from them The day of the Lord saith the Prophet Malachy shall burne them vp and leaue them neither roote nor branch The very hope saith Salomon of the wicked shall perish what should this teach vs but whilest our hope remaines to improue our few daies to our best advantage to make straighter paths to our selues to abridge our inordinate appetites in some measure of their vaine fruitlesse ioyes and with all the power of our affections striue to attaine that hauen where no billow shall affright vs no stormes astonish vs no perills indanger vs Then shall our dissolution proue our gaine and our death our glory if otherwise wee persist wilfully in the paths of our voluptuousnesse and solace our selues in the vaine ioyes of our owne hearts and in the sight of our eyes certainly it will be bitternesse in the latter end Extrema gaudii luctus occupat All our earthly delights will glide away like a swift river The reioycing of the wicked is short saith Iob and the ioy of a sinner is but for a moment Though his
whereof make glad the heartes of men And how earnestly are wee invited to these delights come buy wine and oyle without mony Heaven is at sale Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudinē teipsum da habebis illud Aug. and thou maist buy it if thou wilt and shrug not at the greatnesse of the price giue but thy selfe to God and thou shalt haue it And who would not abandon his honours his pride his credit his friends nay himselfe Who would not be willing to passe through the gates of Hell and indure infernall torments for a season so he might bee certaine of so glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter Let all the divells in hell saith Saint Austine beset me round Bone Iesu qui parcendo saepius nos à te abijcis feriendo effice vt ad te redeamus Ger. med let fastings macerate my body let sorrowes oppresse my minde let paines 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 vnto mee so I may injoy my Sauiour For how excellent shall the glory of the iust be how great their ioy when euery face shall shine as the sunne When or Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his workes O were thy affections rightly setled on these heauenly mansions how abiect vnderneath thee wouldest thou esteeme those things which before thou setst an high price vpon As he which ascends an high mountaine when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steppes low beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottome so hee which sends his thoughts to heauen however hee esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groueling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them vnder him vilifies thē all in regard of heauenly treasures Let vs therefore cheerfully follow that advise of a Reverend Father Quod aliquandô per necessitatem amittendum est pro aeterna remuneratio ne sponte est distribuendum Let vs here willingly part with that for heauen which we must first or last necessarily leaue vpon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeauours bee dispended for the attainment of eternity For certaine it is howsoeuer wee liue here like secure people of a secure age and howeuer we lavish out the strength and flowre of our daies as if wee should neuer account for it yet our iudgement is most sure and shall not bee avoided The sentence of the Iudge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked Wee must all appeare saith Saint Paul before the iudgement seat of Christ that euery one may receaue 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 darknesse I saw the dead saith S. Iohn Rev. 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and whosoeuer was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall giue vp his account euery soule shall first or last come to his reckning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio many are called few chosen but al rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let vs prepare our selues to meet our God let vs come before him with feare and tremble at his iudgements Feare not him saith our Sauiour who when he hath killed the body can doe no more but feare him who can cast both soule and body to hell I say him feare Oh how many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they haue meditated vpon the last iudgement Hierome saith as oft as I thinke of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart within me tremble Quoties diem illum cogito toto corpore contremisco Timeo Gehen nam quippe interminatam Cyrill saith I am afraid of Hell because the worme there dies not A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisco quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum vt praeveniam fletibus fletū stridotem dentium and the fire neuer goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth of that infernall beast Who will giue to mine eyes saith he a fountaine of teares that by my weeping here I may prevent weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter Let the examples of these Saints of God stirre vp in our hearts the like affections Let it be the pitch of our desires and the highest straine of all our endeauours to attaine those heauēly mansions which our Saviour hath prouided for vs Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat and to avoid those endlesse easelesse flames which God hath prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Who would gaine the purchase of a short and transient pleasure at so high a rate as the heavy price of eternall fire Besides how shall our tender bodies which so shrinke at the prick of a pin or flame of a candle endure those lasting pressures Who can dwell saith the Prophet with eternall fire who can abide with euerlasting burnings Oh let vs set before our eyes the judgement to come and whatsoeuer we finde our selues worthy to be condemned for Cessat vindicta divina fi conversio praecurrat humana by the just Iudge at that day Let vs first condemne our selues for where mans conuersion begins there Gods displeasure maketh his period Excellent is that aduise of S. Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errors of thy life while thy time serues Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health Culpam tuam dum vacat pēsa districtionem futuri iudicii dum vales exhorresce ne tunc amaram sen tentiam audi as cum nullis fletibus evada◠least thou heare that bitter sentence Goe yee cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man knowe what time he should leaue the world hee might proportion his time some to pleasure some to repentance But hee that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Since therefore we can neither preuent nor foresee death let vs alwaies expect it and prouide for it Let vs dye to our sinnes here that wee may liue to Christ hereafter and let vs suffer with Christ in this world that we may reioyce and raigne with him in the world to come Recusat esse in corpore qui non vult odium sustinere cum capite When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall neuer end to an eternity quae facit omne bonum infinitè melius et omne malum infinité molestius which maketh euery good action infinitely better and euery evill action infinitely worse Oh the vnhappinesse and everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enioy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to loose the presence of God and society of Angells hereafter A PRAYER O Mercifull God thou that art the eternall truth the true charity and long eternity so illuminate the blindnesse of our vnderstandings that the serious consideration of our short and transitory miseries which wee run through in this life may driue vs to a more feeling apprehension of those eternall paines which abide vs in the world to come Settle our hearts vpon the true ioy teach vs so to possesse these transient things that we loose not the enduring substance so to lament our sinnes that we may escape the punishment so to proceed in the way that we fayle not of our iournies end Amen Amen FINIS These faults are to be corrected in some Copies Pag. 9. line 2. read breathlesse p. 12 l. 1. r perspicuous p. 34. l 6 r run p. 52. l. 6. r. vndertakings