soul for thy sinnes against God in this world that so thou mayest comfortably receive thy sentence of absolution in the world to come Let us learn to be wise in time let our sorrow for sinne anticipate and prevent our punishment satius est suavius fonte purgari quà m igne In inferno exomlogesis non est nec paenitentia tunc tritibui potest consumpto tempore paenitendi He that grieves not heartily for his transgressions here shall woefully smart for them hereafter In hell there is no redemption for the time past no confession no repentance but a sad and heavy exchange and most uncomfortable translation from a short and passing joy to an endlesse easelesse punishment Surely all the pressures and vexing distempers that befall us in this life all the crosses which the envy either of men or evil Angels can throw upon us are nothing if compared to eternall miseries Sapienti nihil magnum videri potest cui aeternitatis nota est magnitudo What if with Saint Paul I underwent labours and perills hunger and thirst iniuries and reproaches what is all this to eternitie What if I did bear in my flesh the most exquisite pains and bitter torments that created nature is capable of yet what were all this to eternitie For all the adversities and alterations which happen to us under the sun have their periods which they cannot passe however they disquiet us for the time yet as the Prophet Daniel saith the end shall be at the appointed time God will perform that which he hath appointed for me saith Iob yet usque ad tempus haec omnia the end shall be at the appointed time But of this eternitie there will be no end no bounds can limit it no time shall determine it Certainly first or last there will happen to thee such an evening as shall have no morning to follow or else such a morning as shall never see the close of the sun And therefore let not the vanishing cares trāsitorie disquietings of this world over deeply possesse thy heart but rather let the whole stream of thy meditations run upon thy latter end that at the time of thy dissolution thy affection being wholy alienated from the world thy thoughts may ascend before whither thy soule is coming after So shall thy sufferings here make way for thy crown hereafter But how few ô how few I say are there that weigh these things How few do make it their daily task to meditate on the evils to come They credit not such reports for they care not to beleeve what they are unwilling to practise Hence it is that they go on so securely in their course as if there were no heaven no hell no God no eternity Thus we naturally desire our dayes should be as happy as they are long and being miserably insensible of the sorrows to come we rashly expose our selves to an irrevocable downfall * Nos tales qui mortis nostrae neque negotium ridentes exequimur Greg. Without sense or sorrow wee run merrily to hell where we shall everlastingly feel what we did never fear death and darknesse weeping and gnashing of teeth O how different are our times from those of our Ancestors They were not more rigidly superstitious then we are vainly secure How did they pine their bodies and afflict their souls crucifie their most precious lusts forsake their friends their lands their inheritance yea their Crowns and Kingdoms nay which is more through the rigid and austere observation of their strict and severe laws expose themselves to the hazard and danger of their dearest lives and thrust themselves as it were out of the world and forgo all societie with men And wherefore all this but that they might disburden themselves the better by these means from all earthly allurements settle and dispose their hearts in a good preparation towards their home and to enliven their affections and inflame their mindes to a more serious contemplation of the joyes to come Me thinks the consideration of these former times should strongly invite us to a more serious meditation of our future state especially if we remember how swiftly our dayes draw to an end and how soon we are involved into everlasting darknesse For alas what is our life here Tota haec vita unius horulae mors est one hour at the last will swallow up all our live-long daies Let us thē not fear being so near our home let no storms affright us being so near our haven let us examine our accounts and cast up our reckonings that we may be able to give up a good account at the last day Certain it is what ever we goe about whatsoever be the scope of our endeavours we every day come nearer to the end of our course every houre is a nevv step onvvard So soon as ever a man enters this mortall life he beginnes a constant journey unto death quicquid temporis vivitur de spatio vivendi tollitur i. e. Each part of time that we passe cuts off so much from our life and the remainder still decreaseth So that our whole life is nothing but a course or passage unto death wherein one can neither stay nor slack his pace This we know our daily experience doth confirm this truth and yet do we persist as securely as ever in our trade of sinne Aegrè abstrahimur ab ijs quibus assuescimus i. e. we are hardly drawn from those things which custom and time hath inured us unto It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawn off from dainty fare full cups and good company We lye as dead men and senseles in our damned pollutions even drowned in our voluptu ousnes like brute beasts filled up and pampered for the day of slaughter Thus with the full stream of our endeavours we plod on in the habituall course of provoking the patience of a long suffering God without any sense of our sinne untill our short dayes begin to shut in and our evening approach at which time the weaknesse of our bodies and the strength of our sinnes make us as unable to repent as we were before unwilling We many times through the incitement of some good motion beginne well but fail in the execution * Fatemur crimina sed sic fatemur ut in ipsa confessione non dolemus Calv. we make faire promises but we doe not second them in our practice but let us not deceive our selves God will not be mocked non verbis paenitentia agenda sed actu let us not promise God better obedience with our lips then we perform with our hearts Be not rash to vow a thing before God but when thy word hath past thy lips then be as carefull to perform as thou wast forward before to promise Lastly let us alwaies follow that holy counsell given in Ecclesiasticus In all thy actions think upon thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse and that of the Prophet David
more outwardly glorious then inwardly sincere Alas what a melancholy peece of busines will it prove in the end to be a man of praises as it were for a day and afterwards if repentance prevent it not to be a man of sorrows for ever to have this life comfortable and eternity miserable What ever thy hand shall finde to be done cast first in thy thoughs Whether durst I act this same thing were I now to die * Quicquid agis quicquid suscipis tecum prius cogita num tale aliquod ageres si hac hora esset moriendum It s good to live by dying principles A frequent arraignment of thy heart will render thy life comfortable thy death peacefull thy eternity glorious and shelter thee from many snares and temptations which otherwise sin and Satan would cast upon thee When thou settest upon any religious duty seriously weigh with thy self what the temper of thy heart is towards it Oh what a sad thing is it if judiciously balanced to think I have begun and ended a holy duty before a most holy God but felt not what I spake My heart was sealed up labour therefore above all things whilst thy soul in any exercise is in communion with God to keep thy affection on the wing and strive not so much to be long winded as heart-wounded in thy petitions as knowing assuredly that when once thy devotion is flatted though thy speech doe continue thy prayer is done We live in dismall dayes fire and sword rage round about us yet our greatest enemies lodge in our bosome Labour thou by thy prayers and pains to master thy corruptions Then cruell cut throats though they may pull thy heart from thy body can never take God from thy heart then death it self that king of terrors need not affright thee because hereby thy soul is but let out of a cage and her out going from this life is but an in going to a better When once thou hast devoted thy self to the service of God thou wilt finde thy heart to be a very busy thing Thou wilt ever and anon be forcing thy self upon vows and resolution to doe more for God to fight more eagerly more effectually against thy worser self but remember this by the way that self-confidence is an inlet to often failings Therefore ingage Christ with thee in all thy purposes and let S. Pauls profession in this particular be thy instruction and digest it into practice I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens me There is now adayes much wording of religioÌ„ in the world but favour and frowns like strange byasses doe frequently twist men round and this is the garb of these unhappy times but to avoid intanglements of this nature study to be quiet and meddle with thine own busines and as it is said of humble men be thou more troubled with thy self then with all the world besides Live as thou canst a disingaged man Innocency and Independency are prevalent means to keep the soul close to God I have done with directing thee the Lord direct us all that our reformation may be answerable to our incoms of mercy otherwise though all our enemies were destroyed yet shall we finde divisions enough at home to ruine us X. Now that we may be the better incouraged to raise up our endeavours to the attainment of this happy eternity Let us in a word consider the abundant and the ever-flowing happines in the world to come Neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard nor tongue can expresse the joys that God hath provided for them that love him Saint Augustine being ravished with the desire of this life breaketh out with an inflamed affection Uâ—â—nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum how great shall that happines be where there can be no unclean thing where no good can be wanting where every creature doth praise and admire his Creatour who is all in all things How great shall that reward be Fraemiun virtutis critipse qui virtutem dedit where the river of vertue shall be himself the reward of vertue how great shall that abundance be where the author of all plenty shall be unto me life and soul and rayment health and peace and honour and all things yea the end and compleat object of all my desires For in his presence is the fulnes of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore How great shall that blessednesse be where we shall have the Lord our debtor who hath promised to reward our good deeds where we shall have the Lord for our portion who will be to us as he was to Abraham our exceeding great reward How great shall that light be where the Sunne shall no more shine by day nor the moon by night where God shall be our light and the Lord our glory How great shall that possession be where the heart shall possesse whatsoever it shall desire and shall never be deprived of its possessions Here will be to the Saints an abundant everlasting overflowing banquet no grief can accompany it no sorrow succeed it Here is joy without sadnesse rest * Quies motus noÌ„ appetitus without labour wealth without losse health without languor abundance without defect life without death perpetuity without corruption Here is the beatificall presence of God the company of Saints the society of Angels Here are pleasures which the mindes of the beholders can never be wearied with they alvvaies see them and yet alwaies rejoyce to see them These are the flagons of wine vvhich comforted up David when he cried out According to the multitude of the sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soul In coelo est vita verâ— vitalis In heaven and onely in Heaven is the true life For there our memories shal live in the joyfull recordation of all things past our understandings shall live in the knowledge of God our wills shall live in the fruition of all excellencies that they can wish for all our senses shall abound in their severall delights Here is that white stone which Saint Iohn speakes of even glory and immortality to them that overcome Here is that water of life which our Saviour speakes of whereof whosoever drinks shall never thirst again Here is that river the springs whereof make glad the hearts of men And how earnestly are we invited to these delights come buy wine and oil without money Heaven is at sale and thou maist buy if thou wilt and shrug not at the greatnesse of the price give but thy self to God and thou shalt have it And who would not abandon his honours his pride his credit his friends nay himself Who would not be willing to passe thorow the gates of hell and endure infernall torments for a season so he might be certain of so glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter Let all the devils in hell saith Saint Augustine beset me round let fastings macerate my body
would thy reward be not flocks of cattell not the daughters of Laban but God himself would be thy exceeding great reward thy life and happines He would be unto thee every thing that thy heart can desire or long for Thy soul should flowe and even melt in abundance of spirituall delights But now take a little view of thine own vilenes thy own nakednes thy utter disability to any thing that may be truly called good Thy hands are feeble to Gods work thy feet are slow to Gods temple thine eyes are seared or shut up towards heaven But for the works of flesh and Satan thy heart is hot to envy thy minde prone to revenge thy tongue voluble to blaspheme thy affections even glued and incorporated as it were into sensuall embracements And is this to serve God for Heaven shall the blessednesse of the Saints and the glory of Angels and the joy and fruition of God himself be powred out upon such works as these Dost thou thus requite thy maker O consider consider I say thy waies in time labour to serve God as Iacob did labour to approve thy self as faithfull to God as Iacob was to his uncle Laban And if the weight of the labour discourage thee or adversity oppresse thee or prosperity seduce thee then lift up thine eyes to heaven as Iacob did to his Rachel Let heaven be thy love thy spouse the delight of thine eyes the joy of thy heart Behold thy Rachel is fair and lovely Heaven is both beautifull and glorious Let thy desires goe before whither thou meanest to hasten after suffer for a season thy light affliction having an eye to the recompence of reward yet and but a little while and thou shalt approach the haven where thou shalt enjoy so much the more happines Eo dirigendus est spiritus quo aliquando est iturus by how much the deeper thou hast drunk in sorrow and by how much the more ardent thy affections have been towards God in this life the more abundant shall thy reward be in the life to come then shall thy crosses prove thy gains and that well-spring of joy which shall ever rise in thy heart shall swallow up all thy sorrows CHAP. II. Shewing that there is no other way nor possible means to attain to the true eternity but by a confident affiance upon the merey of God in Christ SUch and so deplorable is the condition of every man considered in his corrupted and degenerated state that albeit he be able by that small spark of naturall illumination which is left in his minde to see as in a glasse darkly and obscurely an eternity to come yet is he utterly ignorant of the true way thereunto neither hath he any possibility in nature to finde it out He is in no better state then the poor creeple at the pool of Bethesda who saw the waters that could heal him before his eyes but found no means to help him into them For that sound and perfect knowledge of the true way which man was adorned with in his first creation is wholly lost and extinguished in him he is now a meer stranger from the life of God Ephes 4.18 dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 1.2 reprobate to every good work Tit. 1.16 his very minde is defiled Tit. 1.15 his wisdom is death Rom. 8.6 * Nemo aliunde Deo placet nisi ex eo quod ipse dona verit He is no more able of himself to leade a holy life acceptable to God then a dead man is to perform the actions of one that is alive Being thus disrobed of all spirituall endowments and saving grace how shall he attain to that joyfull Eternity which his soul as I have said may long for but can no way reach Certainly there is no light to lead him but that * Si Christum habes aeternitatem per Christum in te habes Alst light of the world no way for him to take to but that new and living way even him who hath stiled himself the way the truth and the life no rock to cleave to but this strong foundation no name under Heaven to be saved by but this even this alone Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever He and he alone is the onely sure effectuall infallible means of our salvation He alone is the true High Priest who was once offered to take away sinnes and after that entered into the true sanctuary the very Heaven to appear in the fight of God for us where he is able perfectly to save them which come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.26 He alone is the ground of our hope the crown of our glory and the strength of our confidence * Oculum tuum Domine non excludit cor clausum nec manum tuam repellit duritia homi num Aug. It 's he alone who by the sweet influence of his grace and by the secret working of his spirit can when he will and doth when he please subdue and bring under the most obdurate gainsaying and rebellious heart to a cheerfull willing and ready obedience to his heavenly will O the infinite and inexpressible tendernesse of our loving Saviour to wards us When we like sheep had gon astray his mercy reduced us When we lay wallowing in our blood his pity refresht us When we were dead in our sins his death did revive us and here we may truly say with David his mercy reacheth to the Heavens From the Heavens came the price of our redemption We were not neither could we be redeemed by the blood of bulls and goats by thousands of rivers of oyl by the cattle that are upon a thousand mountains It was not the treasures of the world the power of men or Angels could purchase this freedom nothing could cleanse us but the blood of the Lamb He was that fountain opened for sin and for uncleannesse He was that Sonne of righteousnes that came with healing in his wings His were the wounds that healed our sores his was the back that bare our sorrows his was the price that quit our scores he assumed our flesh to redeem us here and he reigns as a king to crown us hereafter Now what remains after all this to be done on our parts Let us rest on this Anchor let us flee to this hold and build on this foundation For no other foundation can any man lay then that which is laid Iesus Christ Let us cast our souls into the arms of our Saviour In brachijs Salvatoris mei vivere vole mori eupio saith S. Bernard O let this be our desire Now the gate is open let us not deferre the time of entrance Now is the acceptable time let us not procrastinate the season Now he offers his mercy he shews his long sufferance let us not turn his grace into wantonnesse let us follow the counsell of the sonne of Sirach Eccles the 5.
Make no long tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddainly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance But alas farre otherwise it is with us in our practice * Magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus maxima nihil agētibus tota aliud agentibus A great portion of our time is crumbled away in doing ill a greater part in doing nothing and our whole life in doing that which we should not or in matters as we say upon the by And as Archimedes was secure and busy about drawing lines on the ground when Syracuse was taken so is it with us Now that our eternall safety lyes at stake we lye puzling in our dust I mean in our worldly negotiations But for our eternity shortly approaching we seldom or rarely think of it We are like Martha trouble about many things when one thing is necessary But this one thing is that which of all other things is least regarded and in the last place We seldom seek heaven till death doth summon us to leave the earth we have many evasions to gull our own hearts many excuses to procrastinate our repentance like Dionysius the Sicilian king who to excuse himself for the present delivery of the golden garment which he took from his god Apollo answered that such a robe as that was could not be at any season of the year usefull to his god it would not keep him warm in the winter and it was too heavy for the summer So many there be saith S. Ambrose who play with God and with their own soul You must not say they seek for the vigour and life of Religion in the hearts of young men For youth as the proverb is must have his swinge neither can you expect it in the company of the aged for their age and those distempers which accompany it make them a burden to themselves and dulls the edge of their intentions unto all their serious undertakings Thus both the summer and the winter of our age are unfit for Gods service But let us not thus cheat ourselves If God be God let us follow him let us not put off the day of reconciliation and say in our hearts To morrow we will do it when yet we cannot tell vvhat shall be to morrovv for vvhat is our life It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Hence it was that Macedonius being invited a day before to a feast replyed to the messenger Why doth thy Master invite me for to morrow whereas for this many years I have not promised to my self one daies life Nemo mortem satis cavet nisi qui semper cavet No man dreads death as he ought but he that alwaies expects his summons and therefore we may truly judge such men wofully secure and wilfull contemners of the future good who can go to their beds and rest on their pillows in the apprehension of their known sins without a particular humiliation for them For how oft doth a sudden and unexpected death arrest men We see and know in our daily experience many lay themselves to sleep in health and safety yet are they found dead in the morning Thus suddenly are they rapt from their quiet repose to their irrecoverable judgement perchance from their feathers to flames of fire such is the frail condition of our brittle lives vvithin the small particle of an hour live and sicken and die yet so grosse is our blindnesse that from one day to another nay from one yeer to another we triflingly put off the reformation of our lives untill our last hour creepes on us unlookt for and dragges us to eternitie Saint Augustine striving with all his endeavours against the backwardnes and slownes of his own heart to turne to the Lord bitterly complained within himself Quamdiu quamdiu cras cras Quare non hâc horâ finis turpitudinis meae How long saith he ô how long shall I delude my soule with to morrows repentance Why should not this hour terminate my sinfulnesse We are every minute at the brink of death every hour that we passe thorow might prove for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortalitie Now if it should please God to take away our souls from us this night as suddenly falls out to some what would then become of us In what Eternitie should we be found Whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happie were it for us if we were but as carefull for the welfare of our souls as we are curious for the adorning of our bodies if our clothes or faces do contract any blot or soiling we presently endeavour to cleanse the same But though our souls lie inthralled in the pollutions of sin this alas we feel not it neither provokes us to shame nor moves us to sorrow Wherfore let us look into our hearts with a severer eye Let the shortnesse of our dayes stir us up to theamendment of our sinful lives and let the hour wherein we have sinned be the beginning of our reformation according to that of Saint Ambrose Agenda est paenitentia nō solum sollicirè verumetiam maturè Our repentance must be not onely sincere but timely also whilest we have the light let us walk as children of the light Let us not any longer cheat our souls in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sins but rather lay open our sores and seek to the true Physician that can heal them All the creatures under the sun do naturally intend their own preservation and desire that happinesse which is agreeable to their nature onely man is negligent and impiously carelesse of his own welfare We see the Hart when he is striken and wounded looks speedily for a certain herb well known unto him by a kinde of naturall instinct when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blinde knowes how to procure them their sight by the use of her Celandine But we alas are wounded yet seek for no remedy we go customarily to our beds to our tables to our good company but who is he that observes his constant course of praier of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sins We go forward still in our old way and jogge on in the same rode Though our judgement hasten hell threaten death stand ar the door yet we thrust onward still in dulcem declinanamus lumina somnum But alas miserable souls as we are can we embrace quiet rests and uninterrupted sleeps with such wounded consciences Can we be so secure being so near our ruine But you will say we have passed already many nights without danger no sicknesse in the night hath befalne us hitherto why then should any fear of death amaze or trouble us Admit
* Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudine 〈◊〉 te ipsum da habebis illud Aug. let sorrows oppresse my minde Bone Jesu qui par cendo sae prus nos à te abijcis feriendo effice ut ad te redeamus Ger. med let pains consume my flesh let watchings dry me or heat scorch me or cold freeze and contract me let all these and what can come more happen unto me to I may enjoy my Saviour For how excellent shall the glory of the just be how great their joy when every face shall shine as the sun when our Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his works O were thy affections rightly setled on these heavenly mansions how abject and underneath thee wouldest thou esteem those things which before thou setst an high price upon As he which ascends an high mountain when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steps low and beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottom so he which sends his thoughts to heaven however he esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groveling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them under him and vilisies them all in regard of heavenly treasures Let us therefore chearfully follow that advice of a reverend Father * Quod aliquando per necessitatem amittenduÌ„ est pro aeterna remuneratione sponte est distribuendum Let us here willingly part with that for heaven which we must first or last necessarily leave upon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeavours be dispended for the attainment of Eternitie For certaine it is howsoever we live here like secure people of a secure age and however we waste out the strength and flower of our dayes as if we should never account for it yet our judgement is most sure and shall not be avoided The sentence of the Judge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked We must all appear saith Saint Paul before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Then shall our wickednesse be brought to light which now lies hid in darknes I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn Revel 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged of those things which were written in the books according to their works and whosoever was not found witten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall give up his account every soul shall first or last come to his reckoning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let us prepare our selves to meet our God let us come before him with fear and tremble at his judgements Fear not him saith our Saviour who when he hath killed the body can do no more but fear him who can cast both soul and body to hell I say him fear Oh hovv many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they have meditated upon the last judgement Hierom saith as oft as I think of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart vvithin me tremble Cyril saith I am afraid of hell because the worme there dies not and the fire never goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth * A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisâ— quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut prç eniam fletibus fletuÌ„ stridorem dentium of that infernall beast Who will give to mine eyes saith he a fountain of tears that by my weeping here I may prevent vveping and gnashing of teeth hereafter And have the Saints of God thus shrunk at the thoughts of hell hovv should then the loyns of the vvicked quake and tremble Come novv thou prophane vvretch of a prophane age vvho at every vvord almost that drops from thy irreligious mouth speakest damnation to thy soul bealching out ever and anon these or the like execrable speeches Would I were damned if I knew this or that God damne me body and soul if I doe it not Alas alas seemeth it a light thing in thine eyes to play with flames to sport thy self with everlasting burnings Tell mee dost thou know or diddest thou ever cast it in thy thoughts what a condition it is to be damned Hear a little and tremble Thou shalt there to thy greater horrour and amazement see much joy but never feel it for thou shalt see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God thou thy self thrust out Luke 6.13.28 As touching thy company Though here on earth thou wouldest not perchance be hired to lodge one night in a house haunted with spirits yet there thou must inhabite with unclean divels for evermore Matth. 25.41 And to conclude in this thy cursed estate thy heart and tongue shall be full of cursings and blasphemies Thou shalt blaspheme the God of heaven for thy pains and sores thou shalt curse those that were the means to bring thee thither curse the time that ever thou lost so many goldeÌ„ opportunities of getting grace that thou hast heard so many sermons and no whit bettered by them Curse thy self that slightest so many wholsom reproofs which might have happily been improved to the saving of thy soul Say now desperate fearles sinner canst thou be content in the apprehension of these miseries to curse thy self again to the nethermost of hell or on the contrary dost thou now begin to be ashamed and confounded in thy self and is thy conscience affrighted with the ugly face of thy sins and of those bitter torments that abide them Know then thou hast to deal with a God who when thou art truly moved for thy sins an mourn for thy sufferings Jer. 31.20 Thou hast to deal with a God who will meet thee when thou approachest to him if thou worke righteousnes and remember him in his way Isa 64.5 Thou hast to deal with a God who doth account it his strange work to punish Isa 28.21 And he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 Yea thou hast to deal with a God who hath graciously proclaimed to the whole world that he delights to shew mercy yea with his whole heart and with his whole soul Jer. 32.41 Oh then be wise now for thy soul in time and think it a mercy that thou art yet on this side hell And whatever thou judgest thy self worthy to be condemned for at that terrible barre condemn thy self for it before hand that the Lord may say I will not judge this man because he hath judged himself already And be assured where mans conversion begins there Gods displeasure makes its period Excellent is that advice of Saint Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errours of thy life while thy time serves Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health lest thou hear that bitter sentence Goe ye cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man know what time he should leave the world carnall wisdom would prompt him to proportion his time some to pleasure and some to repentance But he that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Culpam tuâ—m duÌ„ vacat peÌ„sa districtioneÌ„ su uâ— judicij duÌ„ vâ—les exhorresce ne tunc amaram sententianâ—â—â—udias cum nul lis fletibâ— evadas Since therefore we can neither prevent nor foresee death let us alwaies expect it and provide for it Let us dye to our sinnes here that we may live to Christ hereafter and let us suffer with Christ in this world that we may rejoyce and raign with him in the world to come When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall never end never never me thinks this word never hath a mountanious weight in it to an eternity which maketh every good action infinitely better and every evill action infinitely worse Oh the unhappines everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enjoy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to lose the presence of God and society of Angels for ever hereafter FINIS
God crown us here with the blessings of his left hand the comforts of this life and length of years yea though all things favour our longer continuance in this world yet in the end time and age will ruine us We shall bring our years to an end like a tale that is told and shall vanish away like a shadow Though we live many years and in them all we rejoice yet in the end we shall remember the daies of darknesse saith Solomon and the time shall come that the eye which saw us shall see us no more * Soles occidere redire possunt nobis cum occidet semel brevis lux nox est perpetuò una dormienda Cat. The sunne sets and riseth again but we alas when our glasse is runne and the short gleam of our summers day is spent shall never return till our last summons when the dead shall hear the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live and come forth of their graves they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation both to Eternity and then shall follow that large day that shall never shut in that infinite continuation of time that shall never end that unlimited Eternity which ever hath been and is and will be the same for ever when the Sunne shall no more yeeld her light by day nor the Moon her brightnesse by night but God shall be our light and the Lord our glory But oh the unhappy condition of our age who is there that ponders these things with a digested meditation that looks into the state of his soul with a serious eye and considereth his wayes That endeavours to lay a good foundation for the time to come we stand at the door of Eternity and while we live we are every day entring into it it s but a stroak of death and we are gon even in a moment and whither from our short and fading delights to an endlesse easelesse gulfe where our worme shall never die nor our fire shall never out Now let all those who swim in the streams of their voluptuousnesse putting far from them the evil day who labour to expell from their hearts and to stifle in the bud the sad consideration of their approaching infelicities let them I say know that they may fall into this vast gulf of Eternity when they least suspect it into which when once they have unhappily plunged themselves they may desire redemption but shall not finde it * Postquam istinc excessum fuerit nullus poenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis effectus Cyp It shall be one of their torments to know they shall never be out of torment All the gold of Ophir cannot purchase them one minute of relief from their unexpressible miseries But now even now is the jubile now is the accepted time now is the promulgation of pardon there remains nothing for our parts but to sue it forth we need not many hundred of years or number of dayes to redeem our mispent time and to wash out our contracted pollutions no one day will through Gods gracious favour and loving indulgence procure more mercy here then Eternity of time can obtain hereafter one sigh from a true sorrowfull heart here shall prevail to discharge more debts then infinite ages shall acquit or satisfie for hereafter Here God with patience expects our repentance but if we abuse his forbearance and come not in hereafter with trembling we shall abide his judgement Let us therefore be wise in time remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth before the evil daies come and the years approach wherein we shall say we have no pleasure in them before our dust returne into the wombe from whence it came and our lungs be locked up into the breathles earth before that black and gloomy day the day of death and dissolution appeare to us the which if our timely repentance here prevent not our doom will seal up our souls to eternall darknesse Let us consider that wheresoever we are whatsoever we goe about Immanifestuâ— omnia autem manifestans per omnia apparet in omâ—ibus we stand every minute of our time in the glorious presence of an * incomprehensible majestie whose bright and most piercing eye is ten thousand times clearer then the Sunne who knows all hearts sees all actions understands all counsells views all persons there 's not a word in the tongue not a thought in the heart not a spark of lust in the flesh though never so softly blown and secretly kindled but he beholds it altogether he is all ear to hear all hand to punish and when and where he please all power to protect and all grace to pardon he that findes not his mercy shall feel his fury and who amongst us can dwell with devouring fire who amongst us can dwell with everlasting burnings CHAP. III. Expressing how all men doe naturally beleeve this Eternity VVIthin these hundred years many nations have been discovered and many are discovered still which were unfound in former ages Amongst them some have been found to live without law without King but yet none without some knowledge of God and of some everlasting being in the world to come What moved the Brackmans in India and the Magies amongst the Persians to begin and end their undertakings with prayers to God What moved Publius Scipio never to enter into the Senate house before he had ascended the Capitol avowing that principle as constantly in his practice as he did in his knowledge A Jove principium What made Caligula which threatned the aire if it rained on his game-plaies yet to runne under his bed and wrapp his cap about his head at a clap of thunder What moved Attillius Regulus who had no other teacher then a naturall illumination to preferre the obligation of his oath before the safety of his life and rather then he would break his ingaged word and promise to the Carthaginians expose himself to all the torments that the cruelty and malice of his enemies could inflict upon him What moved the Saguntines a people of Arragon to that undaunted resolution of theirs who having plighted their faith and loyalty by solemn oath to the Romans chose rather to entomb themselves voluntarily in a fire which they made in their Market place then to break their faith to the said Romans which they had so solemnly swore and sacredly avowed under their protection what I say could move these meer naturalists to such a fear of an oath to such a trembling at Gods judgements to such austerity and care and censorious circumspection in all their waies and actions but that they naturally apprehended what they truly and distinctly understood not viz. Some immortall happinesse and everlasting being and this they conceived was beyond the mountaines or above them or in some other world they knew not where according as their severall fancies led
attain the end of our faith the salvation of our souls and the conscience of our well spent life shal at that dismall day replenish our souls with abundance of consolations Then all our tears shall be wiped from our eys what we have sowed in sorrow we shall reap in joy when we have finished our course and ended our combate with sinne and death then shall our crown be sure our victory glorious and our triumph Eternall our grave shall be but as a sweet refreshing place to our wearied bodies and death shall be our day-starre to everlasting brightnesse But on the other side if we have in the whole course of our warfare here expended our precious time in the service of sinne and Satan and crumbled away the best and choicest of our years in the desires of the flesh and sports of vanity if our lusts have been our law and we have traded in pleasure all our dayes then heare our dreadfull doom Our mirth will be turned into wormwood and our joy into heavines all our delights in this earth shall vanish as the flower our sun shall set in a cloud and our daies of jollity and contentation shall irrecoverably be involved and turned into perpetuall darknesse CHAP. V. Containing a short digression touching the eternity of the damned ANd here it will not be unseasonable nor any digression from the point in hand to consider with our selves for our better encouragement to the wayes of holinesse the condition of that eternity which the damned have in Hell O the unhappy and ever deplorable state of those poor souls who feel nothing for the present but wrath and vengeance and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of Gods indignation to be poured on them in a fuller measure for ever hereafter And that which addes abundant weight to their miseries Nec qui torquet aliquando fatigatur nec qui torquetur aliquando moritur Bernard meditat cap. 3 is they shall burn but not diminish they shall lye buried in their flames but not consume they shall seek death but shall not finde it they shall desire it but it shall flee from them their punishment consists not in the indurance of any proper or peculiar pain but in the accumulation and heap of innumerable torments together All the faculties of the soul all the senses of the body shall have their severall punishments and that which is more unseparable and more then that eternall There shall be degrees in their torments but the least shall be infinite For as the wrath and displeasure of God toward them is everlasting so shall their pressures be They enjoy an eternity like the Saints but not the Saints eternity for their eternity shall beginne in horror and proceed in confusion their eternity shall purchase and yeeld to them no other fruit but yellings and lamentations and woe Their eternity is such as turns all things into its own nature for all things where the damned do inhabit are eternall The fire is eternall for the breath of God like a river of brimstone hath kindled it and it shall never goe out night nor day but the smoak thereof shall ascend for ever The worm is eternall for the conscience of the damned shall be everlastingly tormented with the sense of their sinne Their worme dyeth not saith the Prophet and their fire never goeth out The prison wherein they are inclosed is eternall The prayers of the Church could open the prison doors to Peter but no prayers can pierce these walls no power can overthrow them no time can ruine them out of Hell is no redemption no ransome no delivery Cruciantur damnati cruciantur in aeternum This is the last sentence of the Judge his irrevocable decree his immutable and eternall Judgement on the damned which shall nevever be reversed Adesse intolerabile abesse impossibile there is no appeal will lye from this Judge there is no reversing this judgement when the sentence is once past it stands for eternity Hence it was that the ancient Church repeated this sentence often in their divine service Peccantem me quotidie non penitentem timor mortis conturbat quia ex inferno nulla est redemptio Whil'st I daily sinne but repent not daily as I ought the fear of death amazeth me because after this life ended out of Hell is no redemption The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha is fully sufficient to save all man-kinde but it belongs not to the damned If therefore the yoak of repentance seem not sweet to thee saith St Bernard think on that yoak which thou shalt be sure to suffer which is Goe ye cursed into eternal fire But the most deplorable thing which is eternall in hell is the irrevocable losse of the beatificall presence of God the eternall privation of Gods sight the uncomfortable want whereof doth more grieve their hearts and wound their afflicted souls then all their bodily torments Thus we see the unhappy estate and condition of the damned in the other world and how the highest link in all this chain of sorrows wherewith they are environed is the miserable perpetuity of their torments when their restlesse thoughts have carefully runne thorow many thousands of years yet will they not then enjoy one day one little houre one minute of rest and respiration Everlasting darknesse is their portion they beginne and end alike with weeping and gnashing of teeth Now since this is certainly true is it possible for man so to degenerate into a beast as to beleeve these things and not to tremble Can the knowledge of these things swim in our brain without a serious and found digestion of them into our hearts when we know and stand convinced that inexplicable eternall endlesse easelesse horrors without true and unfeigned repentance abide us hereafter and on the other side we know not nor can possibly discerne with how speedy and swift a foot our end approacheth nor how suddenly we shall be summoned to give the world our everlasting farewell How can so sad and important consideration as this possesse our thoughts not torment them Or how can this chuse but imbitter our dearest pleasures and crosse our indulgence to our sensuall affections Did we but reason a while with our souls and every one of us in a particular application say within himself I am here floating like a ship in the sea of this world ballasted on every side with the cares and disquietings and miseries of this life and I saile on with full course towards the haven of Eternity one little blast is able to plunge me irrecoverably into this bottomlesse gulf where one houres torment will infinitely exceed for the pain of it an hundred years bitter repentance And shall I now thus standing upon the very battlements of hell melt in my delights cheer up my self in the dayes of my youth shall I tire out my spirits trifle out my precious time rob mine eyes of their beloved sleep for such things
to the which the time will come and is hastening onward when I must bid an everlasting farewell Me thinks the thorow meditation of our future state should even strangle our sensuall joys in us and withdraw our hearts from the embracements of this world especially when we shall to our endlesse sorrow understand our dearest contents must close at the last in death and confusion and all our precedent pleasures shall yeeld us no other fruit but their bitter remembrance to augment our sorrowes CHAP. 6. Wherein the question is answered wherefore a finite sinne is recompensed with an infinite punishment wherein also is farther shewed that the severity of Gods justice therein doth no way diminish the greatnesse of his mercy NOw here ariseth the question to be resolved How comes it to passe that our mercifull and gracious God who is so infinite in his goodnesse and so abundant in his love whose praises the Prophet David amplifies in his 136. Psalm twenty seven times together with this conclusion for his mercy endureth for ever how can it stand that this our God whose mercy is exalted above all his works should be thus infinitely mercifull and yet so infinitely just too as to inflict upon a finite sin an infinite punishment that he should continue millions of years yea to everlastingnes in the avengement of those sinnes which were committed as it were in a moment of time so that he who hath offended but temporally should be bound to suffer paines eternally I answer we shall sufficiently vindicate and clear Gods righteous dealing towards us herein if we measure his justice but by our own rules Scelus non temporis longitudine â—ed iniquitatis magnitudine metiendum est Aug. de Civitat Dei lib. 21. cap 11. * for doth any law proportion out the time of punishment to that measure of time only in which the offence is committed Shall the prisoner lye no longer in the Goale then he was committing his villany Do not we here amongst us often see some offences which were suddenly thought of and as soon executed yet punished with endlesse datelesse banishments which in comparison to this life bear a proportion with eternity Now if the wisdom of man doth follow this rule in proportioning of punishments weighing offences by the foulnes of the fact Shall we deny God the righteous Judge of all the world the same liberty over the works of his own hands Again if this will not satisfy our inquisitive mindes let us but take our own hearts to task and sift them to the bottom and impartially weigh what a world of pollution and deceit and perversenesse is lodged in them and then certainly we shall finde matter enough against our selves without farther inquiry for our endlesse condemnation our own consciences will testify to the confusion of our faces that just is the Lord Nec injusta ejus gratia nec crudelis potest esse justitia Aug. de Civit Deâ— lib. 21. cap. 11. and just are his Judgements that all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth that his grace is not unjust nor his Justice cruell Adde hereunto that the fault of its own nature is infinite because it is a sin against an infinite majesty Gods Justice being infinite the violation therereof by sinne must needs contract an infinite debt because in sinning we rob God of his glory which we must needs repay him again Now the satisfaction of an infinite debt must needs be infinite either in respect of time or measure And because a finite vessell is not able to hold or comprehend an infinite wrath forasmuch as we cannot bear Gods indignation propter immensitatem doloris we must of necessity satisfie his Justice duratione temporis the long continuance of our sufferings must supply what is wanting in the weight of our punishments Again he that dies in his sin without repentance offends as much as if he had sinned eternally quia omnis peccator est in aeternum si in eternum vixisset in aeternum peccasset i.e. had he lived eternally his sinne had extended to the length of his daies Peccandi voluntatem non amisit sed vitam Greg. * for a man sooner ceaseth to live then to love his sinne and therefore God may justly after many thousand years torments in Hell iterate their torments to the damned because if they had longer abode in their sinfull flesh they would still have perpetuated their sinfull transgressions Oh let not then sinfull flesh contend with its maker let not us prye into the Heavens not curiously search into the secrets of Gods will to finde a reason of the obligation of a sinner to perpetuall punishment but rather in the lowlines of our hearts crye out with Daniel O Lord righteousnesse belongs unto thee but to us open shame because we have rebelled against thee let us cast down our souls at the foot of his grace and humbly acknowledge in the sense of our deformities that just is the Lord and just are his judgements Our weak understandings can no way fathom the depth of his counsells his wisdom is unsearchable and all his wayes are truth but did we truly apprehend the nature of our sinnes we would never repine at the weight of Gods Judgements For whereas God made man a noble creature both beautifull and glorious and after stamped on him his own Image righteousnesse and true holines how strangely hath his sinne disrobed him of all his excellencies what rebellion hath it setled in all his members what staines and pollutions hath it wrought in all his faculties It is our sin which hath unjoynted the confederacies and societies of the dumb creatures and hath armed them with an antipathy and rebellion one against another It is sinne which hath so strangely altered the manners and conditions of our times that hath turned mens brows into brasse and their hearts into stones and their hands into violence and their tongues into Scorpions It is sin which hath ushered in these sad divisions into our Church and state and drawn out such streams of blood in every corner of the land and made the foundations of the kingdome tremble It is sinne that is the fountain and source of all those errours schismes heresies strange opinions that are lately sprung up amongst us And surely we may write it one of the saddest of our miseries and that which wil fall heavily somewhere in the end if some great humiliation prevent not the judgement that these things are suffered without controle And here give me leave a little to vent my troubled thoughts Though I wander from the point in hand yet for Sions sake I cannot hold my peace Have we not sworne have we not deliberately publikely in the open Congregation in the sight of Angels and men and with as grave and sad solemnity as wisdome could devise lifted up our hands to the most high God saying that we would sincerely really and constantly by the grace of God in