descend to the lower Parts Behould therefore of what excellency and vertue this Oyle is and how deseruedly those Virgins were calâ—ed Fooles who did want this Oyle But there yet remaineth another Reason why by Oyle Charitâ— is signified to wit becauâ—e Oyle doth lenify and sotten things making them of hard and sharpe smoth supple and sweet This Oyle maketâ— the yoake sweete of which our Lord said Iugum meum suaue est My yoake is swâ—et and as Esay sayth the yoake being annoynted with the force of Charity shall putrify at the face of oyle What made the yoake oâ— Obedience sweet in the Apostles when they made a peragration and trauaile through â—ut the whole World to preach the Gospell to euery Creature but the Oyle of Charity What in like sort sweetned the yoake of Patience in Martyrs iâ— suffering of many Torments neuâ—r before that tyme heard of but the Oyle of Charity what hath made the yoake of Pouerty Continency and ObedieÌ„ce so pleasing â—o so many thousands of Religious Men and Women but the Oyle of Charity For there is nothing more sweet to a Louer then to manifest his loue to the Party beloued and to worke or suffer for him great and hard matters euen as our Sauiour declared his loue towards mankind in nothing so much as in suffering for vs. I haue discoursed more fully of Oyle because the reason is not obuious and facill to euery one vvhy it should figure out and signify Charity The fift Condition vvhich is the chiefest and principally intended by our Lord in this Parable is Vigilancy or Watchfulnes for thus is the Parabâ—e concluded Matth. 25. Watch you therfore because you know not the day or the houre Which Sentence our Lord frequently repeateth that he may firmely print it in the Harts of the faythfull In S. Mathew c. 24. he thus sayth Watch therefore because you know not what houre your Lord will come In S. Mark cap. 13. Watch therefore for you know not when the Lord of the house commeth at Euen at midnight or at the Cock-crowing or in the Morning lest comming vpon a sudden he find you sleeping And that which I say to you I say to All Watch. In S. Luke c. 12. Blessed are those Seruants whome when their Lord commeth he shall fynd watching And in an other place VVatch therefore praying at all tymes In like sort by the Apostle S. Peter Be wyse therefore and watch in prayer 1. Pet. 4. By the Apostle S. Paul Let vs not sleep as others do but let vs watch and be sober 1. Thess 5. By the Apostle S. Iohn Behould I come as a Thiefe Blessed is he that watcheth Apoc. 26. All these sacred authorities signify that the coÌ„ming of our Lord to Iudgment whether the iudgment be vniuersall at the Consummation of the World or particular at the death of euery one is vncertaine and that therfore God requireth of vs that we be alwayes watching and expecting his Comming that so he may find vs prepared and that he may not be forced to exclude vs with the foolish Virgins from his Mariage Therfore to sleepe is nothing els then to forget death and Iudgment or to liue so heedlesly as if we neuer thought or tooke care of that so great a Matter whereupon Eternall Saluation dependeth For we are not to thinke that corporall sleepe is forbidden to the faythfull otherwise it would not haue beene said in the Parable They slumbered all and slept but only Forgetfulnes and Inconsideration is forbidden Therefore euery good Christian who hath a care of his owne soule ought euery day both morning and euening the dore of his hart being shut from all other busines attently to thinke and certainly to persuade himselfe that that day or night may easily be his last and therefore ought seriously to prouide that he be not found and taken vnprepared so that he shall lose through such his great negligence his owne soule all goods attending on it Some men haue altogether a horrour to thinke and meditate of death and willingly they diuert their minds to other cogitations But let such remember that the sicke man hath a loathing to take his prescribed physicke and yet for the loue of his owne life he willingly taketh it In like sort the eyes haue a horrour to looke vpon a dangerous and deadly wound in their body and yet they looke vpon it earnestly and couet to receaue a medicinable playster thereto So is it needfull that a prudent man do make a greater estimate of the detriment and losse of his owne Soule then of the dread horrour of death And therefore let him often and often reuolue in his mind that there is no age no hower in which he may not dâ—e Since the meditation hereof vvhen it enâ—â—eth deepely into the entralls of the Haâ—t is accustomed easily to change the vvhole Man so as of Carnall he may become spirituall of a sinner Holy not any more fearing but louing and expecting the Comming of our Lord. Not without iust Cause therfore doth our Lord so often exhort vs to watch neither in vayne do we thus read in Ecclesiasticus cap. 7. In all thy VVorkes remember thy last end and thou wilt not sinne for euer For what man knowing that he is to hasten towards a Iudge and that he must speedily be conuented before his Tribunall dare yet in the meane tyme offend against the said Iudge And yet we euery moment euen posting towards our Iudgment do in our iourney thereto â—uch is mans blindnes prosecute the Iudge with iniuâ—y and iustly prouoke his wrath and indignation against vs. And who already condemned to death would whiles he is ledd to the place of Execution laugh and sport or would vaunt of his adulteries or of his gaining of Honour or of his encreasing his temporall riches by his trafficke except he were wholy distracted and besides his wits And notwithstanding we are truly condemned to death for not any of the Sonnes of Adam did euer escape the sentence of death and our mortall life is nothing els then a pace to death yet neuerthelesse in this our iourney which cannot be long what do the greatest part of Christians What do they thinke of what do they discourse of about what do they negoriate and busy themselues if not about gaine Honour Pleasures I may well say about all wickednes and flagitious Crimes as though the way to death would neuer haue end And what other thing is this then to sleep concerning matters serious and of the greatest importance and to watch and be vigilant about toyes and triffles Or els to sleep and in sleeping dreame Therefore with good reason our Lord crieth out Watch O watch And happy are those men who are stirred vp at this his Voyce and do often thinke and meditate where they are and whither they are going and in the meane tyme do labour that their Lamps may shine and oyle abound in their Vessells As that when the
the accomplishing of Signes and miracles Those Powers who haue the commandement and domination of the very powers of the vncleane Spirits Those Principalities who haue a soueraignty ouer the Kings and Princes of this world Those Archangells which are Adiutors and Assistors of the Prelates of the Church Lastly those Angells whose incumbency and charge is of euery particular man whiles he liueth hereupon the Earth Neither are these seuerall Points signified only by the seuerall Names of the Angels but for more proofe therof these very Names are certaine Ensignes or Images of Gods Omnipotency or mirrours wherein we may glasse his Puissance For example The Seraphims as by a certaine marke Image or glasse doe represent the infinit Charity of God who moued only by the force of loue did create the Angels themselues men and all other things and being created doth conserue them The Cherubims by the like Standard Image or glasse doe proclaime and shew the infinite wisdom of God who hath ordained all things in number weight and measure The Thrones doe in like manner demonstrate as it were in a perfect Image that secure Rest which God sitting in his Throne doth enioy Who not being moued moueth and worketh all things and resting in a continuall tranquillity doth dispose and gouerne all things Dominations doe euen preach that it is God who truly and properly hath the full domination and gouerment ouer all Creatures since it is in his power alone eyther to conserue all things or else to annihilate and reduce them to nothing The Vertues also doe signify that it is God alone who worketh mirabilia magna great and stupendious wonders and who hath reserued only to himselfe the power to renew or multiply at his pleasure such prodigious matters The Powers by their name doe figure out how God is absolutely and truly Potent to whom nothing is impossible since in him alone all true Power doth reside The Principalities doe import by their Enseigne that God is the Prince of all Kings of the Earth the King of Kings and the Lord of all those who row at the oare of gouerment The Archangells signify that God is the true and supreme Prelate or President of all Churches Briefely the Angells doe manifest that God is the true Father of Orphanes And that although he hath bequeathed Angells as Guardians to euery particular man yet that himselfe is present to euery man keepeth euery man and protecteth euery Man For that same Prophet who hath savd He that giuen his Angels charge of thee that they keep thee in all thy wayes doth also introduce God thus speaking in the same place VVith him I am in tribulation I will deliuer him I will glorify him Psal 90. And our Lord who saâ—d Matt 18. Their Angels in Heauen alwayes do see the face of my Father who is in Heauen sayd also Matt. 10. Are not two sparrows sould for a farthing and not one of them shall fall vpon the ground without your father But the very hayres of your head are all numbred feare not therefore better are you then many sparrowes And thus much of those few things we know touching the Angels If it please the â—eader he may peruse S. Bernard froÌ„ whome I haue borrowed these few Points l. 5. de consider To these nyne Orders of Angels doth answere so great a multitude of Holy Men as that no man as we haue proued out of the Apocalyps is able to number them which multitude are also reduced to nyne Orders For some are Patriarchs some Prophets some Apostles Others Pastours and Doctours Others Priests and Leuites Others Monks and Hermites To conclude Others are holy Women Virgins Widowes or those who haue continued till death in coniugall State of Mariage And now ô Christian Soule I heere demaund of thee how an ineffable Felicity shall it be to interleague for all eternity with such holy Angels and Saints S. Ierome in his Epistle to Paulinus writeth that many are accustomed to trauayle into other forrayne Prouinces to discourse with People of other Nations as also to passe the very Seas to the end they might see and conuerse with such as were reputed most famous for learning and erudition It is also recorded 3. Reg 10. how the Queene of Saba came from the furthest parts of the Earth to Salomon for the so great opinion she had conceaued of his Wisdome To one Antony by profession of lyfe a poore despicable Hermite men of all parts euen flocked by reason of the report of his â—anctity yea Emperours themselues were ambitious of his friendship and amity What solace then wilâ— it be noâ— only to see so great a confluence of Angels and most holy Men but also dayly to conuerse and consociate with them in most strict loue and participation of their felicity If but one Angell should exhibite himselfe in his full splendour to our sight now in our exile who would not most willingly hasten to see him What then will it be to behould all the Angels togeather at one sight And if any of the Prophets Apostles or Doctours of the Church should now descend from Heauen with what a thirstines of attention would we euen drinke vp his words and speaches But in the Kingdome of heauen it shal be lawfull for vs to see and heare not only one but all the Prophets all the Apostles all the Doctours and to haue dayly intercourse and familiarity with them How much doth one Sunne exhilerate reioyce the whole Earth What then will so many innumerable Sunnes doe being liuing Sunnes vnderstanding Sunnes and such as do make a continuall Iubiley in the Kingdome of God I will euen vnbreast my selfe and speake what I thinke to wit the consideration of this inward amity and familiarity with the Angels and holy Men of which not any is foolish not any wicked but all most good and most wise is so pleasing and preuayling with me as that it alone would seeme a most great happinesse and for the obtaining only thereof I would most willingly abandone and shake hands for euer with all the comforts and delights of this world Of the true Monarchicall forme of the Kingdome of God CHAP. III. THe third reason why that Celestiall habitation is called a Kingdome is because in that Place is found the perfect forme of Gouerment This is the difference betweene a Kingdome a CoÌ„monwealth whether the CoÌ„monwealth consist of certaine and eminent men or of the Communalty and more vulgar sort To wit that in a Kingdome all supreme Soueraignty is inuested in onely one whereas in a Commonwealth it is shared and deuided among many In these temporall Kingdoms of men the supreme power doth not reside truly and properly in one man For it may be that a King without either the counsell or consent of others may giue commandement that such or such a thing shal be done but yet his directions cannot be put in execution except his Subiects doe affoard their concurrency aide And
the Romans cap. 13. Be subiect not only for wrath but for conscience therefore giue you Tributs also for they are the Ministers of God c. Render therefore to all men their due to whome tribute tribute to whome custome custome Onely my intention heere is to paint out the miserable state of mortall Kings who of necessity are to abound with great affluence of riches and yet are forced to gather no small part thereof from poore and needy men But now in this place what shal we say of the pleasures and delicacies which Kings enioy Kinges indeed haue their gardens their bowers their Orchards most sumptuous tables of meate their hunting sportes their theaters and other such pleasures for their recreation but these are often attended on with the goute the griefe or paine of the stomâ—ke or Head and which is more violent with most grieuous solicitude and cares of the mynd which not seldome do depriue them of their nightly rest such are suspicious feares augours c. Thus if their Bedchamber dore doe but open or make the least noyse in the night they instantly suspect treachery and treason If newes be brought them that there is seene a multude of armed men togeather they feare a combination of their Subiects against them Thus is there made a compound of their ioyes and griefs of their repose and disquietnesse which hath beene the Motiue why diuers Kings abandoning all domination and Rule haue finally choseÌ„ to liue vnder the hatches of a priuate lyfe But let vs heare S. Chrysostome who discourseth of the Emperours of his tyme in these words hom 66. ad pop Antioch Ne diadema respicias sed curarum tempestacem neque purpuram intuere c. Do not so much cast thy eye vpon the diademe or Crowne of Kings as vpon the storme of their Cares neyther behould the Purple garmeÌ„t and Robe but the Soule and mynd more blacke then the Purple The Crowne doth no more incompasse the Head then Care doth the mynd Neyther thinke thou of the great company and traine of Officers and Attendants but of the multitude of troubles For thou shalt â—ot find a priuate house so replenished with cares as Kings Pallaces are For in the day tyme death is feared in the night the very soule seemes to leape out of the body through apprehension of terrours And these thinges happen in tyme of Peace But if the trumpet be once sounded and that VVarres rush on what lyfe is more miserable then the lyfe of Kings How many dangers doe their familiars and subiects threaten to them For the very pauement and stones of Kings Courts doe euen flow with the bloud of their owne friends and kinred This will be fully acknowledged if I doe insist in some examples both of former times and of our dayes This King for example hauing a wife suspected of Adultery did tye her naked leauing her to bee deuoured of beasts in the mountaines though she became mother of many Princes Now what kind of life may wee thinke this man did liue For hee would neuer haue burst out into so great a reuenge had he enioyed the true vse of Iudgment This other Prince did throtle to death his owne Sonne This third being suprised by his enemy became his owne Homicide Another muthered his owne Nephew being Competitour to the Crowne The fifth is reported to haue depriued his owne Brother of life Another ended his life by taking Physicke being impoysoned and the eye of his Sonne was pulled out for the preuenting of future dangers when as yet he had committed no wrong The next Emperour as a Man breathing only misery and infelicity was burned with his horses wagons and other his furniture VVords light short to expresse the calamities which the next Prince to the former was forced to suffer And as for this Emperour that now reigneth is it not most euident that after hee was crowned with the Diademe he spent no short time in labours in dangers in disconsolation and secret endeauours At non talis Caelorum Regia but such is not the Court or Kingdome of Heauen Thus farre S. Chrysostome Who how truly he concluded what wee shall now relate will fully proue For it is certaine that the Kings of the Kingdome of Heauen and such are all the blessed who doe liue with God haue Power without weaknes honour without ignominy riches without Pouerry and pleasure without griefe For of them it is said in the 90. Psalme There shall no euill come to thee and scourge shall not approach to thy Tabernacle And in the Apocalyps cap. 21. And God shall wipe away all teares from cheir eyes and there shall bee no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shall there be any more paine Therefore the power of those celestiall Kings is most great their imbecillity and weaknes none Wee reade in the 4. of Kings that one Angell without any military forces without any artillery or svvords or launces did kill at one blow a hundred eighty thousand of Assyrians neither did the Angell feare to receaue any wound from them S. Gregory relateth in his third booke of Dialogues cap. 36. how a holy man being assaulted by a bloody and mercilesse fellow with his arme stretched out and a naked sword in his hand instantly cried out O Saint Iohn hould him And presently thereupon his hand did grow stiffe so as hee could not mooue it Therefore Saint Iohn did heare the prayer of his Client from Heauen and with such celerity did punish that wicked Man as that it preuented the blow being already begun to be giuen Such is the power of Celestiall Kings as that neither almost an infinite distance of place nor the solitarines of one poore iust man nor the multitude of armed men could hinder S. Iohn from deliuering his Suppliant from imminent death Infinite other examples lâ—ke to this might be produced Now concerning the Honour of those Kings of Heauen it is so glorious and great as that not only the godly and vertuous but euen the wicked yea the very Diuells doe reuerence and giue veneration to them Many doe contemne and be trample vpon vertuous and holy men here liuing vpon the earth whome after that they be translated to Heauen their sanctimony celebrated by the publicke suffrage and decree of the Church the former men doe worship and honour And the Diuells themselues doe reuerence and feare the relicks and Images of such holy Saints in Heauen whome whiles they liued in flesh they vexed with their temptations yea often times with stripes blowes through the permission of God What shall I say of the Riches of these Heauenly Kings Their chiefest riches is to want nothing since God to them is All in al 1. Cor. 15. for he is not rich who possesseth many things but he who desireth nothing since he waÌ„teth nothing For it is the mynd which maketh a man to be rich not his stored chests or coffers We may add heerto that Heauen
that they are all one Hart and one Spirit And since charity cannot brooke Hatred Enuy Contentions discord and the lyke therefore all such dissentioÌ„s iarres are most remoted froÌ„ that holy Citty of Ierusalem and only Charity there raigneth being atteÌ„ded on with â—ustice peace ioy in the Holy Ghost In the beginning of the Creation of things there was a great waâ—re in Heauen betweene S. Michael the Archangell and the Dragon But S. Michael and the other Angells who ranged themselues with him and remayned in the Truth and performed their loyalty and obedience to their Lord obtained victory ouer the Dragon and his Associats who breathing nothing but pride reuolted from their common Lord and Soueraigne And the great Dragon was cast forth the old Serpent whâ—ch is called the Diuell and Satan which seduceth the whole world and he was cast into the earth Apoc. 12. From which time the Holy Citty the heauenly Ierusalem did border it selfe within the limitts of Peace Neither hath any warlike Trumpet beene hard therein neyther shall hereafter be heard and this for aâ—l Eternity Now to reflect vpon what is aboue said What can be reputed more pleasing or happy then this Citty Such men who by their owne experience haue tryed the euills of warres robberies slaughters Rapines deuastation of places by Lies sacriledges and the like may easily and truly preach of the great pleasure and sweetnes of peace But passing ouer publike warres and Hostility who hath not made triall in his owne Citty yea in his owne house how distastfull and vnpleasing it is daily to conuerse with men of an irefull and froward disposition who doe interprete euery thing in the worst â—art Depart from the wicked and euill shall fall from thee saith Ecclesiasticus c. 7. But whither can we fly where we shall not be encountred with wicked men And if euery place doe swarme with such men then doubtlesly must many euills discontents and vnquietnes attend vpon vs during this our tyme of exile Giue eare to what the foresaid Ecclesiasticus pronounceth of an euill wife It shall be more pleasant to abide with a Lion and Dragon then to dwell with a wicked woman c. 25. And if she who is the fellow and companion of mans lâ—fe be through wickednesse turned into a Lyon or Dragon to how great angours and infelicities are many men exposed All that will liue godly in Christ Iesus faith the Apostle â— Tim. 3. shall suffer persecution Therefore how vnhappy is the Citty of this world in vvhich a man of necessity must be affronted vvith Aduersaries and vvage vvarre For if thou vvilt liue piously and godly thou shalt suffer persecution at the hands of men And if thou vvilt giue the bridle to all impiety thereby to decline and auoid persecution of men thou shalt then fall into the wrath and indignation of that most high and powerfull King who shall persecute and punish thee both liuing and dead whose anger no man can resist Most vnfortunate therfore and calamitous is that Countrey in which no man can escape warre no man can fly from persecution no man can find true peace What then remaineth but that euen from the bottome of our heart we doe prosecute with a I loue and prayse the Heauenly Citty wherein no persecution can be found no warres broyles or discord can take place Of the liberty or freedome of the Citty of God CHAP. III. THe third Reason why the Kingdome of God may be called a Citty is in that a Kingdome hath a Monarchicall forme o gouerment which seemeth to be opposed to liberty whereas all the Cittizens of Heauen are free and our Mother which is the supreme Ierusalem is also free as S. Paul witnesseth to the Galathians c. 4. Which blessed Apostle did well know what he did speake since he being once taken vp in spirit into the third Heauen was thereby acquainted with the manners and lawes of that Citty Therefore seeing a Kingdome doth seeme to include seruitude and a Citty liberty that Kingdome may well be called a Citty in whâ—ch all who serue the King are free Now among the holy inhabitants of Heauen there is not one only liberty but a liberty of seuerall kinds For first all the Cittizens of Heauen are free from the bondage of sinne seeing the first liberty which was in the terrestriall Paradise was to haue power not to sinne wheras the second liberty in the celestiall Paradise is far greater to wit not to be able to sinne as S. Austin teacheth lib. de correp gra c. 11. Another kind of liberty consisteth in being free from death being like to the former liberty For Adam vvas so free in the terrestriall Paradise as that it vvas in his povver not to dye And the Sonnes of Adam are so free in the celestiall Paradise as that they cannot dye Neyther must it seeme strange that vve pâ—ace liberty in that vvhich consisteth in not being able to doe seeing not to be able to sinne and not to be able to dye imply an eminency of freedome from the captiuity of sinne and thraldome of mortality For vvho hath not povver to sinne is not only free from sinne but also is so farre from the bondage thereof as that he remaines secure that sinne shall neuer haue any soueraignty ouer him In like sort he vvho cannot dye remaines not only free from death but is so farre distant from death as that he is ascertained that death shall neuer make any assault tovvards him Which liberty only God through his owne Nature enioyeth according to those words of the Apostle 1. Tim. 6. VVho alone hath immortality For although the Angells and rationall soules be said to be naturally immortall because they haue no Principle or cause of Corruption in their â—ature Neuerthelesse God who first created them can at his pleasure reduce them to Nothing But the Angells and the blessed Saints are most secure that they shall for neuer after sinne nor dye and are in this respect most free from the seruitude of sinne or death which priuiledge is a most honorable participation of the diuine liberty of God The third kind of liberty is to be free from Necessity and this liberty is also of seuerall sorts For now mortal men are forced through a certaine constraint of necessity to eate to drinke to sleepe to labour sometymes to stand another time to walke or to lye downe and repose themselues But the Saints in Heauen stand subiect and thra l to no such necessity but are freed from all corporall necessitudes And this is the liberty of the glory of the Sonnes of God of which the Apostle speaketh in his Epistle to the Romans Now of what dignity this liberty is first poore men secondly spirituall men lastly rich men such as are louers of this world do fully testify Men oppressed with penury and want in the highest degree what indefatigable paynes dâ— they vndergoe thereby to prouide for themselues and theirs meate
drinke cloaths and other necessaries And how much would they acknowledge themselues to be obliged to such men who would disburden and free them from all such seruitude of Want Necessity And hence it is that many of them practise theft and other prohibited courses for the maintayning of their liues for they say with that wicked Steward in the Ghospell Luc. 16. To dig I am not able to beg I am ashamed I know what I will do To witt I will deceaue my Lord I meane I wil free my selfe by theft and rapine from this burden of want and necessity But the close or end of this is to fall into a necessity far more grieuous that is into the seruitude of sinne and the diuell mans greatest enemy To come to holy men who greedly thirst after Heauen these men accouÌ„t it a great burden to haue the care of prouiding al things nâ—cessary for the body standing in need of so many things and spending much tyme therin which they would bestow willingly vpon more noble employments Eusebius l. 2. hist. cap. 16 recordeth out of Philo that the first Christians of Alexandria in Egypt liuing vnder the gouernm nt of S. Marke the Euangelist were so wholy deuoted to their accustomed heauenly meditations as that they neuer refreshed their Bodies with meate till after the Sunne was set that so they might spend the whole day and a great part of the night in such celestiall studies so allotting but a small part of the night for their Bodies ease and cherishment Yea he relateth that diuers for the space of three whole dayes others for six dayes togeather abstayned froÌ„ meate In like sort Ioannes Cassianus in his Collations and Theodoret in his history do affirme that the same long â—bstinence from meate was much practized by many holy â—rmites Therefore from hence we may gather that the seruitude of corporall necessities was a great clogge to these men they complaining and crying out with the Apostle Rom. 7. Vnhappy man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death Now to descend to the Cittizens of this World and particularly to rich men who breath nothing but temporall gaine and pleasures To these this seruitude of necessity is not vngratefull neuertheles if they weighed the matter in an euen ballance they would censure it to be most grieuous Meate drinke and sleep are pleasing to them but if these benefits of nature be taken in a superfluous degree they fill the body wâ—th a troublesome ouercharge of bad humours diseases which after to expell they are forced to drinke diuers better potions and to suffer no sleight paines Agayne such men are violently constrayned eyther to professe open emnity to God and thereupon to vndergoe his most dreadâ—ull wrath and indignation or els most couragiously to wage Warre against concupiscence of the flesh for the obtayning of temperance and sobriety which kind of feight is accustomed to be most laborious and most dangerous Therefore I conclude that both the poore the rich the godly and the wicked are disburdened and freed of a most fastidious wearisom necessity and vassilage when they are freed from the seruitude of this miserable and manifold Necessity The fourth kind of liberty consisteth in being free and vnobliged to the Law and the Precepts since the Law was instituted not for the iust but for the iniust as the Apostle teacheth Now there are none more iust then the Blessed for they are confirmed and corroborated in Iustice neither can they possibly become iniust True it is that the threatning and pressing Law is not ordained for iust men liuing in this World since of their owne accord they are obedient to the Law neuerthelesse it cannot be denied but the Law doth oblige and direct euen them to do that which the law commandeth and to flye that which the Law prohibiteth But the iust who doe enioy the liberty of the glory of the Sonnes of God doe stand in need of no Law for they conteÌ„plate all Iustice in the VVord and as being strenghtned and fortified in perfect Charity they cannot deflect or decline from the will of God This liberty indeed is of great moment which dischargeth one of all sollicitude and anxiety and it is wholy opposite to that captiuity thraldome of those vnfortunate Soules who hauing their hands and feete bound shal be cast into exteriour darknes and into a furnace of fire So as they shall not be able either to tolerate or to auoid those torments And yet there is not any man but of necessity he must vndergoe one of these two contrary lotts or fortunes Notwithstanding men are so blinded with the empty smoake of present Honour and the dust of terrene Benefits as that they make no cogitation no introuersion of iudgment vpon these matters vntill a sudden ouerthrow and calamity doe rush vpon them and thus doth irreuocable punishment open their eyes vvhich sinne had before shut and closed vp Of the Situation and forme or structure of the Citty of God CHAP. IV. BVT let vs returne to the Heauenly Citty let vs attentiuely coÌ„consider the situation forme foundation gates walles and streets therof And to beginne with the situation This Citty is placed in Holy mountaines for thus we read Psal 86. The foundations thereof are in holy mountaines With whome agreeth S. Iohn Apoc. 21. And he tooke me vp in spirit to a Mountaine great and high and shewed me the holy Citty Now Citties are seated vpoÌ„ Hils or mouÌ„taines both for healthfulnes of the ayre as also for strength But what mountaines are higher then Heauen And which is that mountaine that is exalted aboue all mountaines if not the Heauen of Heauens of which Dauid thus singeth Psâ—l 113. Caelum Caeli Domino This is that mountaine to the which the sayd Prophet coueted to aspire when he said againe Psal 23. VVho shall afcend into the mount of our Lord or who shall stand in his holy place And from whence he implored expected aide saying Psal 120. I haue lifted vp mine â—yes vnto the mountaines from whence helpe shall come to me Therefore from all this we may gather that the Seate of the Citty of God is most sublime high and transcendeth alâ— things which may in any sort disturbe the peace and tranquillity of the said Citty for it is erected to a greater height then any dust myre thornes the bitings of venemous beasts of the earth can reach vnto It is more high then any vapours darknes of the ayre hayle thunder or lightning can terrify or annoy Briefly it is more high then those vncleane and rauenous Birds which the Apostle Eph. 6. calleth Spiritualia nequitiae in caelestibus can ascend vnto He meaneth spirituall wickednes in heauenly places The forme of the Citty of God is foure square for thus speaketh S. Iohn Apoc. 2â— And the City is situated quadrangle wise and the length thereof is as great as the breadth This signifieth no other thing
beginning to the End What pleasure will the remembrance of so many Vicissitudes of things and of so great Variety bring which the Prouidence of God hath gouerned so wisely and brought to their due ends And perhaps this is that mayne current of that Riuer which so wonderfully exhilerateth the Citty of God Psal 45. For what other thing is the Order of ages passing away with such speede and neuer intermitting their course then the great swiftnes of the Riuer running without any cessation till it be wholy absorpt in the mayne Ocean And now truly whiles the Riuer is in running and the Times slipping away many do dispute of the Prouidence of God yea some euen of Gods seruants are much troubled with this impetuosity of the streame for seing that it is often hurtfull to good men but commodious and beneficiall to the Wicked whiâ—es it carieth away the good earth taken from the fields of the Vertuous vnto the fields of the Wicked thus they often suffer great Temptations and seeme to complayne of Gods Prouidence Heare of this point the Royall Prophet thus moaning Psal 72. My feete were almost moued my steps almost slipped because I had zeale vpon the wicked seing the peace of sinners And a little after Loe the sinners themselues and they that abound in the World haue obtayned riches And I said then I haue iustified my hart without cause and haue washed my hands among Innocents and haue bene scourged all the day Heare also Ieremy the Prophet thus expostulating cap. 12. Thou O Lord art iust if I dispute with thee but yet I will speake iust things to thee Why doth the way of the impious prosper And why is it well with all that transgresse and do wickedly Thou hast planted them they haue taken roote They prosper and bring forth fruite thou art nigh to their mouth and far from their reynes To conclude Heare the Prophet Habacuc c. 1. Why lookest thou vpon them that do vniust things and houldest thy peace when the impious deuoureth him that is more iust then himselfe Thou wilt make men as the fishes of the Sea and as the creeping Beast not hauing a Prince Thus these former Prophets But after the reuolution of tymes and after the forsaid Riuer hath disgorged it selfe into the sea when the Saints in Heauen shall cleerely see read the reasons of all those vicissitudes or alterations as written in the Booke of the diuine Prouidence then VVords will light short to expresse the ioye which the City of God shall receaue thereby There they shall read why God suffered the first Angell and the first man to sinne and why the Mercy of God did restore the man but would not restore the Angell There they shall see why God did make choyce of the sonnes of Abraham for his peculiar people whome notwithstanding he did foresee to be after of a most stubborne necke and what good through their obstinacy he was after to prepare for the Gentills And that I may pretermit the Vniuersall Prouidence of God there they shall see why he did permit many iust Men or rather almost aâ—l to suffer pressures and â—fflictions in this World and to become balls to their Enemies that therby he might after crowne them most gloriously And from this remembraÌ„ce the Saints shall with great ioy euen blesse all those Crosses which they suffered in the VVord when they shall see them changed into euerlasting Crownes and shall say with the Prophet Psal 93. According to the multude of my sorrowes in my hart thy Consolations haue made my soule ioyfull Of the Ioy of the Eyes CHAP. V. LEt vs now take into our consideration the ioyes of a glorified Body And first the Ioy of the sense of seeing presenteth it selfe which sense among the senses of the Body is most noble and in its office and vse dilateth it selfe most largly This sense in the Celestiall Country shall first reioyce at the splendour of its owne proper Body changed by Christ and configured or made like to the Body of his Glory as the Apostle speaketh Phil. 3. Neither shall its brightnes be lesse then the splendour of the sunne For the same Apostle Act. 26. affirmeth that Christ according to whose brightneâ— we are to be coÌ„formed was seene of him to exceed the brightnes of the sunne And our Lord himselfe thus speaketh in the Ghospell Then the iust shall shyne as the sunne in the kingdome of their Father Matth. 13. How pleasing and gratefull a spectacle will it be when the Eyes of the Blessed shall behould their hands their feete and all their meÌ„bers so to send forth beames of light as that they shall not neede any more the light of the sunne or of the moone much lesse the light of a Candle to dispense all darknes And they shall see not only their owne body to shyne like to the sunne but also the bodies of all Saints and especially of Christ himselfe and of his Blessed Mother How much doth one Sunne at its rising reioyce the whole Earth What then will it be to behould innumerable sunnes togeather not resplendent only in light but also most fayre for their variety and proportion of members Neither in that place shall the Eyes shut themselues for feare least they be oppressed and hurt with ouer much brightnes for those Eyes shall be Blessed and in this respect impassible and immortall For he who shall so comfort the Eyes of the mind with the light of Glory as that they behoulding God face to face shall not be oppressed by his Glory he shall also comfort the Eyes of the body with the guift or priuiledge of Impassibility so as without any danger they shal be able to looke vpon not one only sunne but innumerable sunnes This further shal be adioyned to increase the glory of the Eyes as S. Austin teacheth l. 22. de Ciu. c. 20. to wit that the most Blessed Martyrs shall beare most fayre and beautifull prints or signes of Vertue euen in those particular partes of the Body wherein they suffered their torments What solace to the eye then shall it be to behould S. Stephen shyning with as many precious stones as he suffered dints of stones in his Body In like sort what pleasure wil it be to see S. Io. Baptist S. Iames the elder S. Paul almost infinite others whose heads were cut of for professing Christ to shyne vvith a most rich chayne more precious then any gould What to see S. Bartholomew whose skinne was fleaed off so illustrious in body as that it may seeme to exceed all Purple though neuer so precious What shall it be to omit all others to behould S. Peter S. Andrew and many others who suffered death vpon the Crosse to represent or beare most shining stars as it were in their hands and feete with incredâ—ble Beauty Concerning Christ the king of Martyrs who for his glory and our comfort will haue the signes or marks of the nayles and the Lance
preserued no tongue is able to expresse with what radiant splendour light those most holy impressions shall shyne seing all the glory of Saints compared to the Glory of Christ is lesse then the Beauty of the starrs with reference to the Beauty of the sunne But now what shall I speake of the Pleasures which the Eyes of the Blessed shall take in behoulding that most spacious and large City which Tobias and S. Iohn as aboue we haue proued as not hauing Words worthy inough to set out and proclaime its beauty said That it was all made of gould and garnished with rich Iewels Margarites and other precious stones Tob. 13. Apoc. 21. What lastly may I say of the New Heauen and the New Earth the which the Holy Scriptures do promise to vs after the day of Iudgment and of the renouation of all things into a better state For these things as they are vnknowne to vs so they shall delight the Eyes of the Blessed with a new and admirable ioy when their Beauty shall begin to be seene Of the Ioy of the Eares CHAP. VI. THat the sense of Hearing and the Instruments of speach shal be in the Kingdome of Heauen no man may doubt For the Bodies of the Blessed shal be true and liuing Bodies and in euery part perfect And such was the Body of Christ after his Resurrection as all the Apostles many disciples and others haue testified For they did heare him speake and he did answere to their demaunds And S. Paul himself did heare Christ speaking to him from Heauen he answered to Christ hearing him That there shal be Canticles and songs and chiefly of that Word Alleluia the aforesaid Toby and S. Iohn do witnes From hence then we may gather that in that Heauenly City there shall not be wanting many most sweet Sonnets with the which God may be praysed and the Blessed eares of Holy men may be wonderfully delighted And if these things ought to be performed in proportion and measure thē doubtlesly those songs ought to be the more sweet harmonious by how much the singers shal be more skilfull and he that is praysed more noble and sublime the place where the Musicke is made more high and the Company or presence of the Auditours more intelligent and in greater number What consolation therefore will it be in that most high peace and in the concord of soules and in that ardour and heate of Charity towards their supreme Benefactour to heare the most cleare voyces of those which shall sing Alleluia If S. Francis as S. Bonauenture hath left written was so rapt and moued at the sound of a Citherne played vpon but a very short tyme by an Angell as that he thought himselfe to haue beene in a new World what delights then shall our Eares enioy when millions of musitians with most concordant and sweet voyces shall with full accord and consent prayse God and other Millions with like melody and feruour shall many tymes repeate the said Prayses And perhaps in that Heauenly Citty not only the prayses of God shal be celebrated with Musicall voyces but also the Triumphs of Martyrs the Honour of Confessours the Glory of Virgins and the victories of all the Saints against the Deuill shal be extolled with Celestiall Musicke For we thus read Eccl. 31. Who is proued therein and perfect shall haue eternall Glory He that could transgresse and hath not transgressed and do Euill and hath not done it therfore are his good things established in our Lord and all the Church of Saints shal declare his Almes Although this may be vnderstood of the prayses of mortall men in the militāt Church here vpon Earth yet withall it may be meant of the immortall Citizens and of the triumphant Church in Heauen Since there the Saints shall haue truly eternall glory and that is truly and properly the Church of Saints And whereas our Lord in the Gospell sayth that the faythfull and prudent seruants shal be praysed of God in the Heauenly Kingdome Matth. 28. Well farre thee good and faythfull seruant because thou hast beene faythfull ouer a few things I will place thee ouer many things Enter into the ioy of thy Lord Why may we not thinke that those words of our Lord shal be celebrated with the singing of the whole Celestiall Court shall againe and againe be most sweetly repeated Certainly the Catholike Church doubted not thus to speake of S. Martin Martinus hic pauper modicus diues Caelum ingreditur hymnis caelestibus honoratur Martin being but poore and temperate did enter into Heauen rich and is honored with Celestiall Hymnes To conclude S. Austin affirmeth the same point in expresse Words l. 22. de Ciu. c. 30. saying There shal be true glory where no man shal be praysed through the errour or adulation of the Prayser True Honour which shall not be conferred vpon any not worthy Neither shall any vnworthy seeke after that Honour where none but he that is worthy shall be permitted to be O therefore thrice Happy Soules who in that place where all flattery is banished and exiled and no lye is found to be shall heare their owne Prayses and Trophees to be celebrated without danger of Pryde but not without increase of ioy and comfort Of the Ioy of the sense of smelling CHAP. VII TOuching the other senses litle is to be said not in that they want their great Pleasures but because what Pleasures those shal be the Holy Scripture hath not declared Neuerthelesse this is euident to vs that many Bodies of Holy Saints haue after their deaths braathed out a most sweet Odour This S. Ierome testifieth of the Body of S. Hilarion For he affirmeth that ten Months after the Body was interred it was found entyre as if it were then liuing and did cast from it such a fragrant smel as if it had beene imbalmed with sweet oyntments The like doth S. Gregory witnes of the body of S. Seruulus the Palsey-man His words are these l. 4. Dial. c. 14. The soule departing such a fragrancy of smell did rise as that all there present were replenished with incredible sweetnes And a litle after Till the Body was buried the sweetnes of that smell did not depart from their Noses Neither are there wanting many other such like Examples both of former later tymes from all which we may gather that if the Bodies of the dead Saints after the Soule is glorifyed do send forth such sweet smells then much more the liuing and glorifyed Bodies of the saints shall breath forth a most delicious and sweet Odour I will adioyne hereto that which the said S. Gregory relateth of the liuing and most glorious Body of our Sauiour Thus he writeth lib. 4. c. 16. hom 38. sup Euang. Tarsilla the Virgin then looking vp sow Iesus comming and suddenly there was as it were sprinkled such a fragrancy of a wounderful Odour as that the sweetnes therof did assure all that