of Eternall happinesse he spareth him not here in this life but scourgeth him dayly I might bring infinite examples to prove this I will name but one but the like I think hath not been seen or heard of in many ages CHAP. III. How God punisheth here that he may spare hereafter A strange example the like hath scarce at any time been heard of IN the yeare of our Lord one thousand one hundred eighty five Andronicus Emperour of the East being overcome and taken prisoner by Isaac Angelo had two heavy iron-chains put about his neck was laden with fetters and shackles and was most barbarously and despitefully used and at length in this manner was brought before the forenamed Isaac Before whom complaining of his hard usage he was delivered over to the multitude to be abused at their pleasure They being set on fire with anger thought it a fine thing to be revenged of their enemy And thus they used him They buffetted him they bastinadoed him they pulled him by the beard they twitcht his hair from his head they dasht out his teeth they dragged him in publick they made him a laughing-stock they suffered women to beat him with their fists Then they cut off his right hand and being thus maimed they thrust him into the dungeon of theeves and robbers without either meat or drink or any other thing that was necessarie or any one to look after him After a few dayes they put out one of his eyes and being thus shamefully mangled having one eye put out and one hand cut off they put upon him a very sory short coat shaved his head set him upon a scabbed Camel with his face toward the tail put upon his head a Crown of Garlick made him hold in his hand the Camels tail in stead of a Sceptre and so they carried him through the market-place very leisurely with great pomp and triumph And here the most impudent base vile amongst the people like savages after an inhumane sort fell upon him nothing at all considering that not past three dayes before he was no lesse then an Emperour crowned with a Royall Diadem commended worshiped honoured yea and adored of all men Nothing at all regarding their oath of Allegiance They raged and were mad upon him and their rage and madnesse fitted every man with instruments of mischief against him Some struck him on the head with clubs others filled his nostrils with dirt others squeezed sponges upon his face first soaked in the excrements of man and beast others runne him into the sides with spits Some threw stones others threw dirt at him some called him mad dog others called him fool and blockhead An impudent woman running out of a kitchin with a kettle of scalding water in her hand poured it upon his head as he passed by There was none which did not some mischief or other to him At length they brought him to the Theatre to make him a laughing-stock took him down from the Camel and hanged him up by the heels between two pillars Thus poore Emperour having suffered a thousand indignities yet bore them patiently carrying himself like a man and a true Christian Champion He was never heard all the while to lament or cry out of his hard fortune For it had been to no purpose He was all the while casting up his account which he was to make unto God and begging pardon for his sinnes He was heard to say nothing but onely this and this he said often Domine miserere Domine miserere Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Unhappy Andronicus which was compelled to suffer such things But happy in this that thou didst suffer them so patiently as being the just reward of sinne When he was hanged up one would have thought their malice should have ceased but they spared him not then as long as he lived For they rent his coat from his body and tossed him up and down with their hands tearing him in pieces with their nails One more cruell then the rest run his sword through his belly and guts as he was hanging Two others to trie whose sword was sharpest thrust him through the back leaning upon their swords with both their hands Here the most miserable unhappy Emperour with much ado lifted up his maimed hand to his mouth to suck out the bloud as some thought from the fresh and bleeding wound and so ended his life miserably After some few dayes he was taken down from the gibbet and thrown under one of the arches of the Theatre like a beast till some that had more humanitie in them then the rest removed him But yet notwithstanding he was not suffered to be buried Oh Andronicus Oh thou Emperour of the East How much wast thou bound unto God whose will it wâ—s that for a few dayes thou shouldst suffer such things that thou mightest not perish for ever Thou wast miserable for a short time that thou mightest not be miserable for all Eternitie I make no doubt but thou hadst the yeares of Eternitie in minde seeing that thou didst suffer such things so constantly and couragiously Nicetas Choniates is mine Authour from whom I borrowed this lamentable historie and he lived about the same time when this happened Let us Christians keep alwayes in minde the yeares of Eternitie So whatsoever adversitie or affliction happeneth we shall more easily beare it Every thing is short if we compare it with Eternitie For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and Eternall weight of glory Hereupon S. Augustine cryeth out and prayeth so earnestly Domine hîc ure hîc seca modò in aeternum parcas Lord seare me here lance me here so thou sparest me hereafter And Fulgentius though a most holy man drawing neare unto his death threescore and ten dayes before he died was often heard to cry out Domine da mihi modò patientiam postea indulgentiam Lord grant me patience here and ease hereafter These were his words and prayers even to the last gasp Certain it is God spareth them least of all whom he determineth to take unto himself to dwell with him throughout all Eternitie THE SIXTH CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE How the Holy Scripture in many places teacheth us to meditate upon Eternitie THe kingly Prophet speaking of the wicked saith that they walk on every side or in a circuit This is their manner of life They go from feast to feast from delights to delights from wickednesse to wickednesse This is their Circuit And when they think they have almost finished their Circuit of wickednesse and gone over the round of their lust they begin again returning still to their former course till death steals upon them before they be aware The children of Job made this law amongst themselves to feast one another round every one in his course The good man their father observed and knew very well that this their feasting round could not be without sinne
glory be not ambitious after worldly honour be not wearied out with well doing be not cast down with afflictions do not sink under the burden of the Crosse but beare it patiently and cheerfully rejoycing with the Apostles that you are counted worthy to suffer For I reckon saith S. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Let no man when he hath forsaken the world think that he hath forsaken any great matter For what is earth in comparison of heaven It is but as a Centre to the Circle a Minute to Eternitie a Drop to the Sea and a Grain of dust to the Drie land What are our riches Fading and uncertain moveables We are soon taken from them or they from us Though with much ado we keep them as long as we live yet whether we will or no we must part with them when we die we cannot carry them to our graves Why do we not then make a vertue of a necessitie why do we not willingly part with them whilest they are ours seeing that shortly we must part with them whether we will or not when death attacheth us for a debt due to Nature and then they can be no longer ours Why do we not lay them out like good Merchants for the Margarite or precious pearl of Eternall life Thus sweetly goes on Athanasius But I must leave him and draw to a conclusion Pachomius was wont whensoever he felt any unlawfull thoughts or desires arise in his minde to drive them away with the remembrance of Eternitie and if at any time he perceived them to rebell again he still repelled them by meditating seriously upon Eternitie the Eternall punishments of the damned the torments without end the fire that never goes out and the worm that never dyeth And here I will conclude this consideration with the exhortation of the same Pachomius Before all things saith he let us every day think upon the last day Let us mâ— time remember Eternitie Let us every minute we have to live so live as if we lived in fear of everlasting torments that so by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ we may for ever escape them 〈◊〉 him be glory both now and 〈◊〉 ever Amen 2 Pet 3. â—8 Because man shall go to his ETERNALL habitation Ecclius Alas how vnlike are the houses of ETERNITIE One of them we must inhabit we must either for ever rejoyce in heaven or for ever burne in hell THE NINTH CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE The first Conclusion NO man living is able in word to expresse or in thought conceive the infinite space of Eternitie Between a true man and a painted man true fire and painted fire there is a great deal of difference and yet these are in some kinde one like unto another But between our common fire and the fire of Hell between the sorrows of this life and the pains of Hell there is no comparison no proportion at all For this life and the sorrows of this life are measured by space of Time but the life to come and the sorrows thereof cannot be measured by any thing but onely Eternitie which also is without measure This doth our Saviour most elegantly expresse in the Gospel of S. John by the Parable of the Vine-branch If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned In these words is Eternitie briefly and plainly described for mark the words well they runne not in the future He shall be cast forth and shall wither and men shall gather them and shall cast them into the fire and they shall be burned I say they runne not in the future but all in the present tense He is cast forth and withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned They are burned This is the state and condition of the damned They are burned that is alwaies burning When a thousand yeares are past and gone As it was in the beginning so it is still They are burned And when a thousand and a thousand more yet are gone As it was so it is They are burned And if after certain millions of yeares the question be asked What is now the state and condition of the damned What do they What suffer they How fares it with them There can be no other answer made but this They are burned still burning continually inutterably Eternally from one age to another even for ever and ever Upon this place excellently saith Saint Augustine One of these two must needs be the condition of the vine-branch either it must abide in the vine or else be cast into the fire if not in the vine then certainly in the fire But that it may not be cast into the fire let it still abide in the vine The Second Conclusion IF those men which do still continue in their sinnes did but know how neare they are unto Eternitie and everlasting torments if they did consider well with themselves how that God in a moment in a breath in the twinkling of an eye as we speak may suddenly take them away in their sinnes and deliver them up unto death Then surely if they had it they would give all Spain all the treasures of Asia all the gold of India yea all the world to obtain but one houre to confesse their sinnes to repent them of the same and to ask God pardon and forgivenesse They would not certainly they would not still hug and embrace their sinnes they would not every day multiply them as they do they would not lodge them every night in their bosome and lie snorting in them For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Though thou losest every thing else in the world yet O man have a care to keep thy soul. It were needlesse here to reckon up a Catalogue of the Martyrs of Christ in all ages There are whole books of them in great volumes they are recorded to all posteritie and their names shall be had in everlasting remembrance But the greatest honour that we can do them is to follow their good example to learn of them Christian fortitude and magnanimitie to fear God more then man God which is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell rather then man which can onely kill the body but is not able to kill the soul to love God more then all the world to be willing to part with all for Christ to lay down our lives for Christ to lose all to save our souls and gain Eternitie I will conclude here with that excellent exhortation of Saint Augustine What then shall we do brethren What What else but whilest we have time amend our lives where we have done amisse do so no more become new men That what is
frights and terrours What dost thou hope for what dost thou fear what dost thou love He that rideth upon the Heavens is thy helper he shall embrace thee with his everlasting arms With those arms of his he is able to fetter all thine enemies whether they fawn or frown upon thee he is able at a beck to squeeze them in pieces like so many flies and break them in pieces like a potters vessell Doth the pleasure then of lust or gluttonie or intemperance sollicit thee That is nothing Be not moved at it passe it by regard it not think rather upon the pleasures which are Eternall Art thou terrified with threats oppressed with sorrows passed by with contempt afflicted with sicknesse tired out with povertie All these are a matter of nothing The more violent these are the shorter while they will last Despise them lift up thine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh thy help look up to heaven Think upon Eternitie There shall no evil happen unto the just Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae The just man shall not be afraid Though heaven fall upon his head Therefore the just man is never sorrowfull no tribulation doth ever assault him But Are not the tribulations of the just many Yea but yet they make nothing of them That onely they count evil which is Eternall which separateth a man from God as sinne doth and Eternall death which is the wages of sinne The Preacher of the Gentiles bids us Look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen Why so For saith he The things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are Eternall The things which are not seen the things which are Eternall those are the things which are great indeed whether they be good or whether they be evil But whilest we look onely at the things which are seen and seldome or never at the things which are not seen what do we make of our selves but great and foolish boyes great but yet foolish at the best but boyes If the ice fall out of our hands we presently fall a crying and yet that is such a thing that we cannot hold long We are frighted at shadows and dream of great matters We spend our selves on such things as not onely shall shortly passe away for certain but are already passing away For it is not said The figure or The fashion of this world shall passe away In the Future But The fashion of this world passeth away In the Present It is passing away already As all the goods which we enjoy here are but transitorie So all the evils which we suffer here are but transitorie they cannot continue long Those things which are not seen and those onely have a permanent state they know no end they have no term they are not subject to any change they are firm they are immoveable they are Eternall I repeat it again what I said a little before for it deserves to be repeated a thousand and a thousand times No labour must seem hard no time must seem long all the while we are seeking after Eternall glory Symphorianus a Christian young man after that he was almost scourged to death as he was dragged to execution at Augustodunum met his mother upon the way But how Not tearing the hair from her head or rending her clothes or laying open her breasts or making grievous lamentation as the manner of foolish women is to do But carrying her self like an Heroicall and Christian Lady For she cryed out and called unto her sonne and said Sonne my sonne I say remember life Eternall look up to heaven lift up thine eyes to him that reigneth there Life is not taken from thee but is exchanged for a better At which words of his mother the young man was so exceedingly animated that he went willingly to execution and chearfully like a stout champion laid down his head upon the block and exposed his throat to the fatall ax Heare this O Christians all and remember your selves This is the case of every man living We are on our way to death we go not so fast it may be as Symphorianusâ—id â—id but yet we are all going and we have not farre to go The noble armies of Martyrs which are gone before us they call unto us from heaven and say as the Christian and couragious mother said unto her sonne as he was going to execution Remember life Eternall look up to heaven and lift up your eyes to him that reigneth there Carry thy self therefore like a Symphorian whosoever professest thy self to be a Christian. Do not hang back be not loth to go withdraw not thy neck from the yoke nor thy shoulders from the crosse be not afraid to suffer for Christ be not afraid to die for Christ be not afraid to eat fire or to devoure the sword for the name of Christ. Here shew thy self a man take good courage pull up a good heart And when thou art at any time tempted when thou art grieved when thou art made sorrowfull when thou art vexed when thou art despised when thou art made a laughing-stock when thou art disgraced when thou art spoiled of thy goods when it is with thee as it was with Job upon the dunghill or if it can be worse then call to minde Symphorian and a thousand more stout Christians such as he was and learn of them Christian courage and magnanimitie and boldly and freely break forth into these words and repeat them often Whatsoever I suffer here it is but a Modicum it is but short Farewell then all the world and all the things that are therein And welcome to me Thou art welcome Eternitie Of Eternitie there is no. FINIS Ciâ—â—râ— lib. 1. de Nâ—â— Dâ—â—r â— Lib. 5. de Cons. In Tâ—â—â—â— 2. Cor. 4. 18. 〈◊〉 Psaâ— 63. In Aslepio Job 6. 26. â—empis â—â—b 2. â—â—p 12 Ecclus. 11. 21. In 〈…〉 Jos. 3. 16. Eccl. 20. â—1 Ecclâ—â— 1. 5. Mâ—â— 19. 17. Câ—â—â—elius a Lapide Volvitur volvitur in omne volubilis avâ—m Ioâ— 14 2. Rom. 1. 20. Rom. 2. 1. Lib. 21. De â—ivit cap. 5. In Hâ—rolog sapien Isai. 66. 24 Revel 9. 6. Psal. 8. 5. Psal. 49. 20 1. Rev. 9. 6. 2. 3. Matth. 25. 41. 〈◊〉 30. 33 Isai. 66. 24 Rev. â—4 11 Lib. 〈◊〉 De civ cap. 23 4. Isai. 66. 24 5. Pernaâ—â— Matth. 25. 41 6. Matth. â— â—2 De Christ. imitat lib. 1. 〈◊〉 24 Psal. 6. 1. Psal. â—5 7. Psal. 106. â— 107. 1 118. 1 136. 1 Isaâ—â— 31 〈…〉 6. Prov. 1. 25. Psal. 50. 17. Prov. 1. 26. Psal. 119. 137. John 4. 14. John 4. 15. Tertu Apoc. cap. 48 Minut. in Oct. Pacian De Poenitent confess In Sent sent 2â—0 Epist. 2 ad Tacit August lib. 5. De â—ivit Dei cap. 2â— 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Matth. 13. 1. Matth. â—4 2. Lukâ— 1. 33. Exod. 15. 18 Origen Isidore