loved if thou should consider that in a moment after thy death all these Gallants will be fled and not one will remaine with thy Body thou wouldst not seeke so much to please them thou wouldst not yeeld unto so many remisse effeminate and unworthy condescendments which blemish the reputation and are cause of the damnation of many If thou wert the greatest foole and the most passionate of lovers for any humane beauty do but imagine thy beloved to be deade and putrified as she must be one day it will be impossible that the flame which burnes thee be not immediatly extinguished O how easie it is to subdue the flesh whilst it is alive and sound if one consider what it will be when it is dead Jf thou wert as hardened with malice as Pharao and for all the miracles of the world thou wouldst not bend unto the will of God no more then he did if death should enter into thy thought thou wouldst presently yeeld unto reason as he did as soone as it appeared in his Kingdome and in his owne house I know not whether it be true which some report of Panders that they make use of dead mē skulls as a remedie for all their diseases but I am most certayne that the memorie of death is a most powrfull and afficacious meanes to cure all spirituall evils and to restore the soul unto perfect health King David verefyes my assertion my lord sayes he I had great difficulty to pardon injuries and wrongs which my enemyes did me chastity seemed unto me very hard to keepe contempt was intollerable and in-deed J found all thy commandements al most impossible but when seriously I considered that all here are trāsitory and that I must die this narow way became of its self wide and large chastity appeared easie pardoning of enimies reasonable and all thy precepts light If the remembrance of Death destroyeth sinn the oblivion of it doth intertaine and nourish it for Esaias ca. 47. counting the sinns of Babilon and the punishments with which God would afflict them sayes that the cause of those evils was that they did not remember Death Jeremy seekeing the origine of the vices which reigned in the City of Hierusalem affirmes it to be no other then the little mindefulnes they had of their end SAtan having had a long experience of the soveraigne virtue of this remedie endeavors by all meanes to hender man from making use of it I can not better make thee comprehend his malicious inventions their by the catching or killing of woodculvers which are wilde Pigeons the bird catcher or Fowler having found the tree on which they settle and roost at night in troopes for they are birds that consort together inmultitudes chooseth an abscure and darke night and takes others with guns and drums being arrived at the place they begin to beat the drumme but softly for feare that the Birds should fliy a way and increasing the noyse by little and little they enure them so unto the sound that they at last beat the drummes with all their force with out ever fritghting the Pigeons in the meane while one creepes unto the foot of the tree where he holds up a candle which he had in a darke lanterne the woodculvers which are delighted with light descende unto the lower branches of the tree to enjoy the light then they shoot and at every shott they kill many the others which were higher thinking their companions fled not hearing the gunne by reason of the noise the drummes make takes their place and are also killed Behold the explication of this the tree represents the world the wood Culvers are the men the Fowler is the Divell who intices and allures them unto himself vvith pleasures honors and riches vvhich are like little fires or lights a bout vvhich men fly vvhiles death strikes them their companions never take notice of the blovv by reason of the greate noise vvhich the vvorld makes figured vvel by the drummes So that one hath no sooner quitted these smal splendors but an other courts and seekes them one hath no sooner left any benefice or office but an other flyes thether and so all passe all die and the gratest part are lost for not haveing sufficiently ben vvarned by the death of others that if any one hath reflected on it if any one hath ben moved these resentments as quickly passe as a flash of lightning and even as vve see hogs hie together in troupes grunt and are affrighted vvhen any one of them is killed but he is no sooner dead then every one returnes unto his former imployment this unto his wallowing in mire that unto his rooting with his nose the earth an other to fill him self in the trough even so when a man is dead the neighbowrs are astonished the domestikes weepe the kindred are aggrieved but as soone as he is buried every one return unto his affaires unto his former passions and vices But if all had a lively and couragious spirit and a profound judgment one word in a hundred yeares or to see one dead would be sufficient to convert all those who should see it and considere seriously that the same must infallibly happen unto them selves from whence then proceeds so smal profitt Thinke well on it Thou wilt finde that it proceeds either from the malice of the Divell who deprives thy soul of this profitable thought and diverts it otherwayes if great care be not taken or from the inconstancie of thy jmagination which is so wavering that it knowes not how to remaine long on the same thing if it be not constrained by often reflections therfore I deeme it most necessarie if thou desirest to profitt by this meanes that when thou beginest any busine thou considerest how thou wouldst have done it if presently thou were to die More that once a month thou retirest into a solitary place and dismissing all other thoughts prostrat at the feet of a Crucifixe either in thy chamber or in a Church thou seriously thinkest on these three or four points That the end of thy life will come very soone perhaps before the month be ended That thou must leave all thou hast in this world honors richers and pleasures carrying nothing with thee but the remorse of thy conscience and the sinns which thou hast committed That the Body having given up the Ghost after many paynes and conflicts shall be sowed in a poore sheete layed in the grave and reduced into ashes being forgotten of all the world That the soul shall be happy if at the houre of Death it be in good state but most miserable if it be in mortall sinne and into what part soever it be carried into Heaven or into Hell it shall remaine ther for ever and then imagining thy self to be at the last gaspe and holding the Crucifix in thy hand say with fervor O most mercifull Iesus my support and my strength in whom I beleeve in whom I hope whom I love
in a word wouldst thou harbour so much hautines in thy heart and in all thy deportments knowest thou not that God could not permits pride to be in heaven in the most eminent creatures which ever he made how will he indure it in thee Thinke well on it Boldly resolue to roote out of thy body even the least haire and put of thy soul the smalest thought which may nurish this vice least it should procure the wrauth of God on thee eternal dānation IF thou knewest most certaynly that within four and twenty houres thy Parents and Friends in recompense of what they enherite of thee must send thee into the other world sewed in one of the commune sheets of thy cofer wouldst thou be so covetuous of gaine wouldst thou so greedily runne after Gold wouldst thou heape up treasures so painefully for Heires who will remēber thee no longer then they are making good cheere of thyn what will availe thee the stately and sumptuous Howses which thou hast built when thou must lodg in a black Tombe what will profite thee to have left so much gold and silver in Banke when thy Soul shall burne in purgatory Thinke well on it Conclud that it is no smal follie in being so solicitous to heap up wealth which soon or late must be lost and so carelesse of thofc treasures which we may carry with us and enjoy for al eternity IF thou didst know that death were but two or three dayes from thee and didst see one of his forerunners with thee as it is very probable that thou art not without some corporall incommodity tell me in this apprehension wouldst thou abandon thy self in the ordure and filth of sensualitie wouldst thou wallow like a hog in the mire wouldst thou say with those shallou braines in the second chapter of wisedome Come threfore and lett us enjoy the creature as in youth Lett us fill our selves with precious wine and oyntmentts and let not the flowre of the time passe us let us crowne our selves with Rofes before they wither lett ther be no medow which our riott shall not passe through let none of vs be exempted from our rioteousnes every wher lett us leave signe of joy because this is our portion and this our lot wouldst thou with these people have led a life of an Athest and a beast or lived like those of Sodome to be swalloved up by the earth Thinke well on it Thou wilt avoyde all occasions of defyling thy body and Soul imitating the faire Hermine who for fear of defyling her whit skin with the durt permits her self to killed IF a maligne fever did torment thee in thy bed having dispatched many with in twise foure and twenty houres Wouldst thou not be vexed for having harbored so long hatred and envie in thy soul against thy Neighbour for having endeavored to distroy him and to blemish his honor without gaining any thing but a bitter remorse of conscience and the maledictions of Cain Thinke well on it Thou wilt compassionat the envious seeing them macerated with the prosperity of others and thou wilt avoyde envy which tortures the heart and consumes the body IF thou didst imagine that within three dayes that thy body should be reduced into dust wouldst thou have so much deked and cockered it and taken so much care to nurish it affording it all that it desired without consulting with reason Wouldst thou be like unto the rich Gluton who from a plentifull table was draged into the eternall flaming fires wher he could not obtayne a little drop of water to releave his thirst which infinitly tormented him Thinke well on it Conclud that they most miserably vnfortunate vvho for being too indulgent unto their bodyes exposeth their bodyes and souls unto the danger of eternall damnation IF thou vvert sick in bed and an expert and shilful Phisician should desire thee to put all things in good order for that thou art in great danger of death vvouldst thou not exceedingly grieve to have ben so often impatient to have cursed and injured thy servants domesticks and neighbours and to never have suffered any the least thing for God and for thy saluation vvhich is better either to indure same little thing for God and to gaine Paradise according unto the example of Saints or to suffer in the next life vvithout any benefitt Thinke well on it Firmely resolue to subdue thy Choler and to suffer all things patiently seeing that the grievous malice of men in the vvorld is not to be compared vvith the rage and fury of the divels vvhich torment in the other vvorld IF now the holy Oyle were brought wouldst thou not tremble and shiver considering the negligence thou hast used all thy life to save thy soul wilt thou not be ashamed for having used so much slacknes in kneeling every morning in making thy intentions in frequenting the holy Sacraments in visiting the sick in hearing Masse would not thy heart faynt seeing so few good workes accompaning thee before God what shame is it vnto a child of a noble familie to see himself ill attended when he presents him self unto his Father before a noble assembly Thinke well on it Thou wilt boldly say that it is a devillish inchaunting to see men so diligēt in gaining the goode which death will wholy deprive them of if they do not before loose them and so laisy in seeking after those treasures which will accompany them after death and comfort them for all eternity IF thou hadst thy soul even on thy lips and ther wanted but one breath for the departure of it wouldst thou not be in a shamefull confusion to have sold and lost the merit of thy good actions for little vanity for an humane respect for a foolish compliance Is it not childish to leave a piece of gold for a putrifyed nutt is it not most brutall to sweate and kill himself with labour to be solaced with a little winde Is it not worse then folly to do wel meerely for to be esteemed and praysed by men Thinke well on it Be a fraide to receave the answere which God gave unto those vvho after having prayed much and ben well mortefyed thinking to be rewarded therfore heard I tell yee in truth that yee have already receaved your salary and wages Resolue to have a good intention in all your actions to please God rendring him all the glorie that he will conserve thee entierly for to enjoy him eternally LEt us conclud all in a vvord If thou vvert in the passage vvhich all must make from this life unto the other wouldst thou have done sayd or thought any the least thing a gainst the Majesty of him before vvhom thou art going to receave the sentence of death or life eternall Thinke seriously on it nether more or lesse then if on this thought depended thy eternity of felicity or misery Thinke lively on it nether more or lesse then if thou hadst a strong assurance that after this half
who will leave thee at the grave but affect and addict thy self unto the third which will accompany thee for all eternity IF thou wert to be laid on a bed this evening for to morrow morning to be carried unto the grave which I know to have happen unto more then four wouldst thou not be exceedingly content to have suffered with patience the loss of thy goods thy renown thy health and all other things and wouldst thou not rejoyce really for having moderated although with difficulty thy natural passions wouldst thou not be infinitly consolated if God should tell thee by thy Patience thou hast saved thy Soul and thou shalt dwell with me for all eternity in my glory Thinke well on it Thou wilt conclude that he is most wife who moderating his violent passions had rather recourse in his affaires unto the puissant ayde of God and so gain a great Crown in Heaven HEre I make an and of all my queries and only ask thee if being at this hour to die thou dost remember among the paynes and anguishes of death that thou hast used a great diligence in the service of God and for thy salvation that for it thou hast not spared riches life nor honor that for it thou hast imployed thy self day and night with all possible intention that the glory of God and the good of thy soul have been the two feet on which thou hast marched in all thy affaires the two hands which hath made thee to labour alwaies the two eyes which hath conducted thee through all wouldst thou not be exceedingly cheerful and in fulness of delight if then presenting thy soul unto God he shall demand of thee whofe Image is this thou canst answer Lord it is the Image of the most holy Trinity which I have conserved inviolate the best I could possible washing it in the blood of Jesus Christ which I receaved in the Sacrament of Penance when that I confessed any Sin I have thereunto added according unto thy intention the imbellishment of all the virtues I knew to practice assisted with thy divine Grace O what pleasure wilt thou feel when after this answer thou shalt see the Father Omnipotent give the kiss of peace unto thy Soul acknowledging her for his child what consolation vvhen the most amiable Jesus shall imbraise it most affectionatly as his dear Spouse vvhat ravishment vvhen the Holy Ghost shall place it on high among the Saints of Heaven as his dear beloved dear Friend I do beseech thee both for the good I vvish thee and for the ardent affection I bear thee Thinke well on it If thy patience being tired thou telst me that I sing but one song vvhich is very importunate and troublesome and that I break your brains with my Think well on it And thou shouldest be exceedingly pleased if I would think on it well my self and leave you in quiet well God be blessed I did expect cleen another thing from a Person whom I so dearly love and desire to serve in the important affaires of the salvation of his soul but patience I will not any longer trouble thee and I will depart presently after I have said these two words Thinke well on it or not Thinke on it These things will not saile to happen Thinke on death or Thinke not on it notwithstanding it will not leave approaching thee dayly so that all the worldly power cannot make it stop one moment nor make it avance before its time most happy are those who often think on it O how sweet and fair will they find it miserable are those that never think on it O how hideous and bitter will they find it Thinke to give an account Thinke not on it yet it must be made maugre thee who soever thou art Happy are they who thinke to keepe them selves alwayes ready O how cheerfull will they depart unfortunate are those who are never mindefull of it O how cruelly shall they be treated Thinke that there is a Hcaven and a Hell Thinke not on it neverthelesse most assuredly thou most goe for all eternity unto the one or the other Most happy are those who practice virtue which conducts them unto the first O how few are there Miserable are those who are given unto vice which leades them into the second O what multitudes are there But what do I I am al most angry with one whom I love as my self excuse my dearest Friend I beseech thee this little and sudden passion and remember not what I sayed last Thinke or not Thinke on it Alas all the contrarie I doe conjure thee more thcn ever to Thinke on it with attention to the end thou maist act better permitt me to shew thee the meanes O death how bitter is the memory of thee unto a man enjoying peace and content in his riches O death how sweet is the memory of thee unto a man having peace with his God! Choose thou hast freedome THE THIRD PART Certaine meanes ayding to do well what he would have ben done and to hender the doing of that which he would not have ben done in this life WHat better and more prevalent reason can J give him who is very deeply engraven in my heart for to assist him in procuring his saluation then that which the Holy Ghost sayes in the 7. of Eccle My Sonn in all thy workes remember thy later end and thou wilt not sinne for ever and what must arrive then but Death Judgment Hell or Heaven these therfore are the things which he counsels us to remember if we desire to serve God faithfully and never to offend him Death I have already helped thee with the first knowing it to be both the easiest applyed because daily we see some one or other dye or heare the bell for some buriall and the most proper remedie to cure our spirituall diseases for thou never so affectionatly fastened unto any thing the sole thought of Death will easiely untye it the horse leech is not so obstinately fastened unto the Body but a few ashes will force him to quitt his hold Be thou proud and the most ambitious that ever was only consider that after death all will trample on thee and thy bones shall not be distinguished frō those of the poorest begger who perhaps will be happy in Heaven when thou shalt burne in Hell assuredly this consideration will render thee humble and make thee to esteeme all J suppose thee to be the most avaricious in the world and to thinke on no other thing then to gaine riches if thou wouldst consider with Iob that the rich Man being awaiked from the sleepe of death shall finde nothing of what he had gathered together and opening his eyes in the other life he shall find nothing but torments which he hath merited by his rapine thou wilt of necessity moderate thy disordinate affection which thou hast towards perishable and momentary riches When thou hast the most violent passion to be esteemed and to be
and ever will love afforde me at this houre thy powerfull hand for to depart securely I confesse before the whole world that my miserable life hath ben replenished with many great wickednesses of which I heartely repent my self and I do confide that thy infinit goodnes will pardon me and not permitt my soul to be lost for which thou gavest thyn on the Crosse No I can not beleeve that thou wilt repulse me o my dearest Iesus for I am flesh of thy flesh bone of thy bone sonn of thy Father thou also calst me thy Brother Therfore my Brother seing thou hast taken my humanity to give me thy divinity deliver me at this houre from the throat of the lyon I kisse this side from whence proceeded my happynes open it unto me and wash my ordures and impurities with the water and bloud which issued from thence I adore these hands which were nailed for me unto them I recommend my soul they have created me they will save me I honor these woundes in which I will hide my self untill the choler of my judg be passed O celestiall Father be unto we propitious and remember that my sinnes have ben chastised with al rigour in the person of thy most beloved Sonn O my lord Jesus Christ permitte not the the infinit price of thy bloud to be unprofitable unto my soul O holy Ghost fortefy me with thy grace that I do not faile or be subdued in this last conflict O Mother of God who hath ben most charitable and favorable unto me all my life time be so now in this moment I beseech thee on which depends all my felicity O S. Michael who has the commission to present Soules unto the divine Tribunall and to defend them from the enemy I recommend mine unto thee O good Angell guardian helpe me O all yee S. of Heaven come unto my succour that leaving this earth I may ascend into Heaven for to prayse eternally with yee our soveraigne Creator The Iudgment THe consideration of Judgment which followes Death is not lesse profitable then that of death if it be maturely pondered when I represent unto my self sayes Job the justice impartiality and rigour of the divine judgment and the exact account I must render I am so frightned with my sinns that I am enforced to resolue to shun them more then the greatst evil what so ever The Saints conducted by the Holy Ghost do exhort thee to thinke on it often place thy self before the eyes of this Soveraigne judge adviseth S. Gregorie feare him now to the end that abstaining from vice thou mayst not feare him when he shall judge thee remember the name of that king who seing the picture of the generall judgement entred into such a strong apprehēsion that he was almost dead Certes if thou rightly imagine what it will be thou wilt stifle all the imperfections of thy Soul St. Hierosme had not a better practice for to triumph ouer vice and to addict him unto all virtue whether I eate sayes he drinke sleepe or wake and in all I do it seemes to me that I heare this dreadfull and terrible voice Arise yee dead and come vnto judgment IN good earnest if thou knewest assuredly that within two or three hours thou wert to be summoned to answer before the Tribunal of God wouldst thou dare O! for the love of God mark what I ask thee wouldst thou dare yet once more I beseech thee think well on what thou wilt answer wouldst thou well dare to resolve to appear at the Judgment of God IN this fearful and terrible Judgment where thou shalt find assembled the great Councel of the King of Kings who hath ordained this hour for to decide wholly and justly the criminal process of thy Conscience Process in which will be examined exactly all the parts of thy life a Process where will be determined the final sentence of thy eternal felicity or misery VVhoudst thou dare I say to appear in the condition thou art for to plead thy cause Thou who art so bashsul and fearful when thou art taken in never to little a fault Thou wouldst thou dare to behold a Person of quality Thou who tremblest at the least apparent danger VVouldst thou dare appear in the presence of him before whom the most puissant Monarchies of the earth tremble the highest Seraphins hide themselves with their wings not being able to endure and behold the brightness of so great a Majesty Ah! for the sacred and bitter Passion of Jesus Christ Thinke well on it When I consider how thy soul leaving thy body is in danger to fall into the hands of the Apparitours of the Soveraign Judg who will lead thee directly before this dreadful Parliament I sweat I am in a trance with the imagination I have of seing thee at Barr for to answere being strongly accused BUt by whom by thy mortal enemies or rather immortal who out of the hatred which they bear thee vvil not omit the least thing they can reproach thee vvithal in this great and majestical assembly by whom by those vvho heretofore have been thy good Friends as the Blessed Virgin thy good Angel so many Saints who hath taken so great paines to save thee if thou vvouldst have harkened unto them by whom by the complices and confederates of thy vvickedness vvho are enraged against thee and by thy ovvn Conscience vvhich vvill say open unto all the vvorld all thy imperfections But of vvhat shalt thou be accused of all in vvhich thou hast not kept the Commandements God gave thee the holy inspirations vvhich he most lovingly suggested unto thee of all vvhich thou vvast oblieged to do according to the estate unto vvhich God hath called thee of all vvhich thou hast done to satisfy thy unruly passions of all vvhich thou hast neglected to doe for the glory of God But hovv accused vvith so much assurance of thy adverse Party that nobody vvill dare to reply or speak one vvord in thy behalf and defence vvith so much evidence of all thy imperfections that not one of them can be hid or disguised vvith so great remorse of thy Conscience that thou vvilt acknovvledg all vvith so much shame that thou vvilt desire the mountaines to fall on thee Is not this dreadful Think well on it Having thought on it seriously if thou dost not conceave a great fear if thou tremblest not vvith terrour pardon me I beseech thee if I doubt and mistrust the verity of thy faith for hovv can I be assured that thou beleevest rightly if thou makes no reckoning and esteem of things so important and concernes thee so much vvhat meanes to be persvvaded that thou regardes it if vvhen it is presented unto thee thy Heart remaines colder then marble and more hard then steel Wherefore earnestly endeavour to knovv thy self seeing that thou shalt be most rigorously judged O Great affair is it to appear for to ansvver before so great a Court it is exceeding misfortune to