who will leave thee at the grave but affect and addict thy self unto the third which will accompany thee for all eternity IF thou wert to be laid on a bed this evening for to morrow morning to be carried unto the grave which I know to have happen unto more then four wouldst thou not be exceedingly content to have suffered with patience the loss of thy goods thy renown thy health and all other things and wouldst thou not rejoyce really for having moderated although with difficulty thy natural passions wouldst thou not be infinitly consolated if God should tell thee by thy Patience thou hast saved thy Soul and thou shalt dwell with me for all eternity in my glory Thinke well on it Thou wilt conclude that he is most wife who moderating his violent passions had rather recourse in his affaires unto the puissant ayde of God and so gain a great Crown in Heaven HEre I make an and of all my queries and only ask thee if being at this hour to die thou dost remember among the paynes and anguishes of death that thou hast used a great diligence in the service of God and for thy salvation that for it thou hast not spared riches life nor honor that for it thou hast imployed thy self day and night with all possible intention that the glory of God and the good of thy soul have been the two feet on which thou hast marched in all thy affaires the two hands which hath made thee to labour alwaies the two eyes which hath conducted thee through all wouldst thou not be exceedingly cheerful and in fulness of delight if then presenting thy soul unto God he shall demand of thee whofe Image is this thou canst answer Lord it is the Image of the most holy Trinity which I have conserved inviolate the best I could possible washing it in the blood of Jesus Christ which I receaved in the Sacrament of Penance when that I confessed any Sin I have thereunto added according unto thy intention the imbellishment of all the virtues I knew to practice assisted with thy divine Grace O what pleasure wilt thou feel when after this answer thou shalt see the Father Omnipotent give the kiss of peace unto thy Soul acknowledging her for his child what consolation vvhen the most amiable Jesus shall imbraise it most affectionatly as his dear Spouse vvhat ravishment vvhen the Holy Ghost shall place it on high among the Saints of Heaven as his dear beloved dear Friend I do beseech thee both for the good I vvish thee and for the ardent affection I bear thee Thinke well on it If thy patience being tired thou telst me that I sing but one song vvhich is very importunate and troublesome and that I break your brains with my Think well on it And thou shouldest be exceedingly pleased if I would think on it well my self and leave you in quiet well God be blessed I did expect cleen another thing from a Person whom I so dearly love and desire to serve in the important affaires of the salvation of his soul but patience I will not any longer trouble thee and I will depart presently after I have said these two words Thinke well on it or not Thinke on it These things will not saile to happen Thinke on death or Thinke not on it notwithstanding it will not leave approaching thee dayly so that all the worldly power cannot make it stop one moment nor make it avance before its time most happy are those who often think on it O how sweet and fair will they find it miserable are those that never think on it O how hideous and bitter will they find it Thinke to give an account Thinke not on it yet it must be made maugre thee who soever thou art Happy are they who thinke to keepe them selves alwayes ready O how cheerfull will they depart unfortunate are those who are never mindefull of it O how cruelly shall they be treated Thinke that there is a Hcaven and a Hell Thinke not on it neverthelesse most assuredly thou most goe for all eternity unto the one or the other Most happy are those who practice virtue which conducts them unto the first O how few are there Miserable are those who are given unto vice which leades them into the second O what multitudes are there But what do I I am al most angry with one whom I love as my self excuse my dearest Friend I beseech thee this little and sudden passion and remember not what I sayed last Thinke or not Thinke on it Alas all the contrarie I doe conjure thee more thcn ever to Thinke on it with attention to the end thou maist act better permitt me to shew thee the meanes O death how bitter is the memory of thee unto a man enjoying peace and content in his riches O death how sweet is the memory of thee unto a man having peace with his God! Choose thou hast freedome THE THIRD PART Certaine meanes ayding to do well what he would have ben done and to hender the doing of that which he would not have ben done in this life WHat better and more prevalent reason can J give him who is very deeply engraven in my heart for to assist him in procuring his saluation then that which the Holy Ghost sayes in the 7. of Eccle My Sonn in all thy workes remember thy later end and thou wilt not sinne for ever and what must arrive then but Death Judgment Hell or Heaven these therfore are the things which he counsels us to remember if we desire to serve God faithfully and never to offend him Death I have already helped thee with the first knowing it to be both the easiest applyed because daily we see some one or other dye or heare the bell for some buriall and the most proper remedie to cure our spirituall diseases for thou never so affectionatly fastened unto any thing the sole thought of Death will easiely untye it the horse leech is not so obstinately fastened unto the Body but a few ashes will force him to quitt his hold Be thou proud and the most ambitious that ever was only consider that after death all will trample on thee and thy bones shall not be distinguished frō those of the poorest begger who perhaps will be happy in Heaven when thou shalt burne in Hell assuredly this consideration will render thee humble and make thee to esteeme all J suppose thee to be the most avaricious in the world and to thinke on no other thing then to gaine riches if thou wouldst consider with Iob that the rich Man being awaiked from the sleepe of death shall finde nothing of what he had gathered together and opening his eyes in the other life he shall find nothing but torments which he hath merited by his rapine thou wilt of necessity moderate thy disordinate affection which thou hast towards perishable and momentary riches When thou hast the most violent passion to be esteemed and to be
in a word wouldst thou harbour so much hautines in thy heart and in all thy deportments knowest thou not that God could not permits pride to be in heaven in the most eminent creatures which ever he made how will he indure it in thee Thinke well on it Boldly resolue to roote out of thy body even the least haire and put of thy soul the smalest thought which may nurish this vice least it should procure the wrauth of God on thee eternal dānation IF thou knewest most certaynly that within four and twenty houres thy Parents and Friends in recompense of what they enherite of thee must send thee into the other world sewed in one of the commune sheets of thy cofer wouldst thou be so covetuous of gaine wouldst thou so greedily runne after Gold wouldst thou heape up treasures so painefully for Heires who will remēber thee no longer then they are making good cheere of thyn what will availe thee the stately and sumptuous Howses which thou hast built when thou must lodg in a black Tombe what will profite thee to have left so much gold and silver in Banke when thy Soul shall burne in purgatory Thinke well on it Conclud that it is no smal follie in being so solicitous to heap up wealth which soon or late must be lost and so carelesse of thofc treasures which we may carry with us and enjoy for al eternity IF thou didst know that death were but two or three dayes from thee and didst see one of his forerunners with thee as it is very probable that thou art not without some corporall incommodity tell me in this apprehension wouldst thou abandon thy self in the ordure and filth of sensualitie wouldst thou wallow like a hog in the mire wouldst thou say with those shallou braines in the second chapter of wisedome Come threfore and lett us enjoy the creature as in youth Lett us fill our selves with precious wine and oyntmentts and let not the flowre of the time passe us let us crowne our selves with Rofes before they wither lett ther be no medow which our riott shall not passe through let none of vs be exempted from our rioteousnes every wher lett us leave signe of joy because this is our portion and this our lot wouldst thou with these people have led a life of an Athest and a beast or lived like those of Sodome to be swalloved up by the earth Thinke well on it Thou wilt avoyde all occasions of defyling thy body and Soul imitating the faire Hermine who for fear of defyling her whit skin with the durt permits her self to killed IF a maligne fever did torment thee in thy bed having dispatched many with in twise foure and twenty houres Wouldst thou not be vexed for having harbored so long hatred and envie in thy soul against thy Neighbour for having endeavored to distroy him and to blemish his honor without gaining any thing but a bitter remorse of conscience and the maledictions of Cain Thinke well on it Thou wilt compassionat the envious seeing them macerated with the prosperity of others and thou wilt avoyde envy which tortures the heart and consumes the body IF thou didst imagine that within three dayes that thy body should be reduced into dust wouldst thou have so much deked and cockered it and taken so much care to nurish it affording it all that it desired without consulting with reason Wouldst thou be like unto the rich Gluton who from a plentifull table was draged into the eternall flaming fires wher he could not obtayne a little drop of water to releave his thirst which infinitly tormented him Thinke well on it Conclud that they most miserably vnfortunate vvho for being too indulgent unto their bodyes exposeth their bodyes and souls unto the danger of eternall damnation IF thou vvert sick in bed and an expert and shilful Phisician should desire thee to put all things in good order for that thou art in great danger of death vvouldst thou not exceedingly grieve to have ben so often impatient to have cursed and injured thy servants domesticks and neighbours and to never have suffered any the least thing for God and for thy saluation vvhich is better either to indure same little thing for God and to gaine Paradise according unto the example of Saints or to suffer in the next life vvithout any benefitt Thinke well on it Firmely resolue to subdue thy Choler and to suffer all things patiently seeing that the grievous malice of men in the vvorld is not to be compared vvith the rage and fury of the divels vvhich torment in the other vvorld IF now the holy Oyle were brought wouldst thou not tremble and shiver considering the negligence thou hast used all thy life to save thy soul wilt thou not be ashamed for having used so much slacknes in kneeling every morning in making thy intentions in frequenting the holy Sacraments in visiting the sick in hearing Masse would not thy heart faynt seeing so few good workes accompaning thee before God what shame is it vnto a child of a noble familie to see himself ill attended when he presents him self unto his Father before a noble assembly Thinke well on it Thou wilt boldly say that it is a devillish inchaunting to see men so diligēt in gaining the goode which death will wholy deprive them of if they do not before loose them and so laisy in seeking after those treasures which will accompany them after death and comfort them for all eternity IF thou hadst thy soul even on thy lips and ther wanted but one breath for the departure of it wouldst thou not be in a shamefull confusion to have sold and lost the merit of thy good actions for little vanity for an humane respect for a foolish compliance Is it not childish to leave a piece of gold for a putrifyed nutt is it not most brutall to sweate and kill himself with labour to be solaced with a little winde Is it not worse then folly to do wel meerely for to be esteemed and praysed by men Thinke well on it Be a fraide to receave the answere which God gave unto those vvho after having prayed much and ben well mortefyed thinking to be rewarded therfore heard I tell yee in truth that yee have already receaved your salary and wages Resolue to have a good intention in all your actions to please God rendring him all the glorie that he will conserve thee entierly for to enjoy him eternally LEt us conclud all in a vvord If thou vvert in the passage vvhich all must make from this life unto the other wouldst thou have done sayd or thought any the least thing a gainst the Majesty of him before vvhom thou art going to receave the sentence of death or life eternall Thinke seriously on it nether more or lesse then if on this thought depended thy eternity of felicity or misery Thinke lively on it nether more or lesse then if thou hadst a strong assurance that after this half
houre thou shalst not have any more time to thinke on it Thinke on it often and profoundly Alas thou thinkest day and night two or three months together on Philosophicall question is not thy saluation more deare unto thee Thinke and considere well on it beseeching the blessed Virgin thy good Angell and the Saints that they engraven deeply this thought in thy heart that it may produce the fruit of eternall life in thee THE SECOND PART Concerning that which one would not have done if he had ben to dye presently I remember to have read in the history of Barlaam and Josaphat that ther was in a certaine Region of the world a florishing Kingdome the habitants of which were accoustomed to choose a King evety yeare during which time they gave him all soveraignity and a retinue sutable unto his quality but the year was no sooner expired but then they banished him into a desolate and unhabited Island wher he had more to suffer in exile then he had recreation and pleasure in his Royalty Among these annuall Kings there was one more provident then the others for foreseing that at the yeares end they would not fayle to use him after the same manner they had afforded unto his predecessors he resolued to live as frugatly as possibly and to save all he could and to send it privatly into the place of his banishment where he failed not to arrive at the ordinary time and by reason of his providence did not meete with those inconveniences and miseries which the others found ther but enjoyed pleasure and content This Parable for I do not belive it to be a true story plainely declaires the blindnes and stupidity of those which the world hath raysed unto greatnes and riches with which they are wholy delighted and absorpt they never thinking that at the end of their life which how longe so ever it be is not a day in the kalender of God the world will deprive them of all it seemed to bestowe on them sending them into the other world where they shall finde nothing but poverty and misery for want of providence Deare Reader I love thee too tenderly for to wish thee so much misery but on the contrarie I do pray from the bottome of my heart for thy greatest happynes in the next life where thou must remayne for all cternity And for this end I aske of thee if God should send a messenger from heaven for to advertise thee that within eight dayes thou shalt die wouldst thou not be exceedingly pleased for having well imployed thy time in honoring and serving thy good Creator in imitating in all thy actions the virtues of thy sweet Saviour in correcting thy faults and doing pennance in cultivating thy soul and adorning it with all virtues in doing good to all that needed thy assistance and ingaining the favour of those who are powerfull in the celestiall Court What contentment unto a Captayne who having bravely overcome his enimies returnes loden with pretious bootie and trophies before his Soveraigne for to receave of him prayses and recompenses due unto him Thinke well on it Thou wilt say that this is but a grosse and rude reprefentation of the ineffable joy which the Soul hath at the howre of Death seing her self environed with many good workes which conducts her vnto the Throne of God O how sweet is Death unto such a Soul O how willingly doth she behold it Wherfore dost thou not live accordingly that thou mayst die so AMiable Iesus sayes in the ghospell that we ought to be alwayes ready for we know not when Death will come If thou shouldst be warned that it will be to morrow wouldst not thou thanke thy memory for having alwayes kept thee in the presence of God and often put thee in minde of the favours which every moment thou receavest from the liberall hand of thy Creator for having perpetually presented unto thee the beauty of heaven and the horror of hell what hopes conceaves the courtier who ever had his eyes on his Prince for to performe his will when he perceaves the daye arriues of the Princes liberality and great bounty Thinke well on it Thou wilt blesse the memory which affords so much felicity unto the soul and wilt exhort thine to afford thee the like happynes IF thy understanding which endeavors to know all could understand that within two dayes it must depart this world would it not leap for joy to have fought the Creator in all creatures and all crcatures in the Creator not having esteemed any othet knowlegd then the making him self most agreable unto God and to be conducted in all things by the faith which made him seeke after heaven in misprising the earth what pleasure and comfort receaved the woman of the Ghosple at the finding of her groat which she had long seeked after did she not invite her neighbours for to congretulate and rejoyce with her Thinke well on it Thou wilt tesolue to imploy thy intellect inseriously considering the grandeurs of thy God and thou wilt make use of all other sciences to arrive unto this knowledg IT is very probable that once in thy life thou hast desired thy death If now thou shouldst see him with his mortiferous Sythe wouldst thou not feele asweet and delicious ravishment of heart for having never loved any other thing then the infinitly amiable goodnes and him who hath infinitly loved thee How great is the consolation of the spowse of a Prince wher she is certayne to have soly loved her husband and that her bridegroome knowes her fidelity Thinke well on it Boldly of affirme him unhappy and miserable who being able to love God loves any thing els take heed least thou be such an one IT is a long time since God hath preached vnto thee that thou shalt render an account of all the talents which be hath bestowed on thee jmagine this to be the day in which he will demaund them of thee and if it were what sweet and ravishing content wilt thou feele in being able with truth to say with the servant of the ghosple lord thou hast given me five talents behold other five I have gained over and above Thou hast given me eloquence which I have alwayes imployed to prayse thee and to procure all others to do the same Thou hast given me a great spirite which I have used in overcoming thy enimies and comforting thy servants Thou hast given me learning which helped me to discover thy greatnes and mighty workes and to declare them unto others Thou hast given me the grace to be beloved of all I have not taken any other pleasure then that it might make me able to inforce all to love thee Thou hast given me industry to trafick and gayne some thing with which I have vertuously and decently maintayned my family and relived the poore Who can explayne the joy and pleasure which thou wilt receave when the great Lord and Master imbrasing thee with affection shal
say welfare thee good and faithfull servant be cause thou hast been faithfull over a few things I will place thee over many things enter into the joy of thy lord Thinke well on it Whilst thou considers there on I will listen if thou please unto a troope of Saints who ascending into heamen singe with a most melodious voyce O God almighty thou hast delivered us from this fiery tombe in which thou hast for a time buried our soules thou hast led us into thy glorie in which we shall be invironed on all sides with eternall felicity Lett all creatures blesse and praise thee for the favours so mercifully thou bestowest on us Blessed be the time that we have imployed in thy holy service Blessed be the memorie which made us remember thee for to never forgett thee hereafter Blessed be the understanding which wholy endeavored to know thee and by that meanes to enjoy thee eternally Blessed be the will which never would love any thing then thee for to be happily lost in thy infinit love And blessed be the talents and favors which thou hast given us seing by their meanes we have gained eternall happynes O mortels imploy all your forces powers and cndeavors in the service of a God who is most infinitly deserving and doth most liberally and superabundantly reward those who have rendred him never so little service I returne unto thee who art next unto God as I have often told thee the sole object of all my thoughts and I continue in demaunding of thee Jf to day thy eyes were to be closed for never to be opened in this life wouldst thou not love them most tenderly for not having served thee but to read good and holy bookes to behold pictures of devotion to weepe for thy sinns to consider with joy the prosperity of thy neighbour and his miserie with compassion and to have ben never fixed on any creature but with honorable resentments of the Creator will not these eyes shine like little starrs in the emperiall heaven Thinke well on it Resolve to deprive thy eyes here on earth of all damageable objects which are but fowle in comparason of those which are seen in heaven WHen thou dost heare the Bell for some buriall if death should come and tell thee to day it is for me to morrow itt will be for thee wilt thou not feele a sweet consolation for having lent thy eares unto the divine office unto spirituall discourses unto good counsell unto the prayses of others to have suffered with patience contempt and injuries wilt thou not blesse thy eares which never listened unto any evil thing Thinke well on it Belive that if one were prepared and desierous to heare the celestiall musicke that he were not in danger of dieing with the force of the sweet ravishment witnes the seraphicall S. Francis IF now thou hadst lost thy speech thy judgment being sound and whole and that within two houres thou wert to lose thy life wouldst thou not cordially love thy tongue for being imployed only in praysing and thanking now God in inviting others to do the same in singing the victories of generous souls which by their holy lives gained the eternall kingdome for speaking the virtues of their neighbours for maintaining the reputation of every one for comforting the afflicted incouraging the timerous confounding the wicked and converting sinners what glorie hath a souldier whcn he presents his sword unto his king which nevet unsheathed but for is Majestyes service and for the ruine of his enemies Thinke well on it Resolue to governe and curb thy tongue so wisely and discreetly which is in thee as a bridle unto a horse and a sterne unto a ship that by its meanes thou maist conduct thy soul directly into heaven IT is a great charity to help a sick body who can not swallow any thing and is dying Alas put thy self in his place and imagine that thou wert even now departing among these corporall trances and perplexities would not thy soul be in a pleasant calme and extasie knowing that it hath generously avercome all the disordered appetits of drinking and eatings and although thy body were insensible yet thy soul would rejoyce in being assured that thy body never admitted of the least touch contrary unto virtue Thinke well on it Resolve to deprive thy self with discretion of those meates commune unto gluttons for the better to satiatt thy self with those particulare unto the Angels and to touch nothing which may displease him who often touches thee in the holy Sacrament and whom thou hopest to embrase happely for all eternity in heaven CAnst thou give me a reason vvhy the sick a little before death grope after I know not what with their trembling hands for my part I am confident that if thou wert in this extreamity thou wouldst kisse vvith honor thy hands for having liberally distributed thy goods unto the poore for having alvvayes laboured vvith right intention to please God shunning all idlenes for having discreetly chasticed thy body to make it subordinat and obedient unto the lavv of the spirit these hands vvill thy not be admired by all the celestiall Court vvhen imbellished and adorned vvith pretious stones thy shall beare the palmes of an absolute victory and the laurels of an eternall glorie Thinke well on it Detearmine to sow largely for to reape plentefully THey say that the fitst part that dies of the body are the seet in fine they are the first that looses heate and become insensible If this evening thou shouldst feele thy self in this condition and thou belivest that thou shouldst die before midnight wouldst thou not take great pleasure in remembring the steps thou hast made to goe to the Church to heare Mass Sermons and the Divine office to visite the Hospitals prisons and the poore to accomplish holy Pilgrimages these feet vvhich have walked in and through all places for to amplify thc glorie of God doe not they deserve to march on the azure vaults Thinke well on it Make resolutions never to spare thy steps vvhen Gods service is concerned for one day to march in triumph FOr conclusion vvhen thy soul shal be separated from thy body for to render an accompt unto God of all thy faults vvilt thou not vvith great affection thanke that part vvhich hath ben best imployed in the scrvice of his divine Majesty and hath suffered vvith most love and patience Thinke well on it Thou vvilt make most efficacious resolutions especially if vvith attention thou cast thy eyes on the multitude of those Saints S. Iohn savv in his memorable ravishment they appeared exceedingly content in glorie vvhich although it vvas not equal in all their bodyes shined like little suns yett some brighter then others proportionably unto their merits ther vvas seen in those bodyes some partes more glittering for having ben greater instruments of the honor of God their Creator the head of S. Iohn Baptist vvas most majestically radiant for having ben cutt
off sustayning the truth the haire had the greatest beauty in S. Mary Magdaline for having vviped the feet of amiable Iesvs the eyes of S. Peter shined most for having so long and often vvept his sinn the tongue of S. Chrysostome for having converted so many the teeth of S. Appollonia for being pulld out confesseing the truth the breast of S. Agatha vvere most bright for being exposed unto the burning spinsers rather then to deny her faith the hands of St. John Almner for having distributed so many alms the feet of S. Xauerius sor having travailed so many unknown and barbarous Countreys for to lead thē into the fold of the holy Catholick Church and so of others who altogether do sing infinite praises unto the divine goodnes which hath so well provided for them and for a little misery rendred them so much happiness Good Reader I earnestly desire that thou couldst penetrate unto the bottom of my heart for to see the good place thou hast ther doubtless thou wouldst have great confidence in all that I propose unto thee and thou wouldst receave it with the same intention as I deliver it which is no other then to make thee a Saint Tell me then if thou knewest that after this hour there remained for thee no more honor imployment estate greatness dignity nor place in this world wouldst thou not desire to have been the most humble of men in imitation of Jesus Christ and according unto the example of so many Saints who now tryumph in heaven wouldst thou not be pleased to have yeelded a little of thy right precedeance and greatness for to be placed among the friends of God I demand of thee if it be not desireable to be the meanest of men for some few months for to be all thy life of the chiefest of the Kings privy Councel Thinke well on it Thou wilt conclude if thou hast not lost thy common sence that it were most reasonable to be in the last ranck in this world that after death the great Master Almighty God say unto thee my Friend ascend as high in heaven as for my love thou hast been humbled on earth which is most easy VVHen one ascends an high place he is well pleased to have his cloak caried for him to receave it on the top of the mountain if thou must within two or three daies ascend unto the tribunal of God wilt thou not be exceedingly comforted to have caused many of thy goods to be carried thither by the poor certainly thou wilt have need of them to cover thee before the Justice of Almighty God who having been very liberal towards thee requires that thou be so to the poor is not this reasonable Think well on it Resolve during life to put liberally thy goods in the Bank of God that thou mayest receave an hundred fold IF thou wert at the last gasp of thy life and thou shouldst see at the feet of thy bed the Mother of Mercy who most willingly receaves a pure soul comming forth a chast body wouldst thou not melt with joy for having preserved the purity of thy Body and Soul against the violent assaults of the world Devil and Flesh wouldst thou not bless God for having given thee the industry to fly from and avoid these infamous and ravenous Vultures these enraged wolfs these wicked companions which destroy all O what pleasure content and honour is it unto a brave Captain after having magnanimously defended the treasure of his King in an unfortified place against the furious assaults of a puissant enemy and against the domestick treasons he comes from thence tryumphant to tender the treasure unto the King and to be rewarded by him Think well on it Thou wilt firmly purpose to shun all the ocasions which may deprive thee of this treasure and to abandon rather a thousand lives then to lose it bearing for thy device and cognizance Rather to die a thousand deaths then to defile my Body IF within an hour thy soul should be prayed for as it may happen seeing we are not sure of one hour and shouldst call to mind the speech of our Saviour saying as thou measurest unto others so it shall be measured unto thee wilt thou not be well satisfied to have been meek sweet benigne and charitable towards all Joyful for their good and sorry for their evil to have interpreted all they did to a good sense and to have alwaies spoken well of every one wouldst thou not wish that God should treat thee so Think well on it Determine to gain this virtue more pretious then the Philosophers stone for it will procure thee those treasures without pain which cost others so much labour and trouble VVHen thy soul shall take the last farewel of thy Body which it must though never so late who knowes whether it shall be to morrow wil she not thanke it most affectionatly for that by its temperance it hath open unto her the gate for to enter unto the marriage of the Lamb will not she bless all the Tasts abstinences and mortifications which have gained her a good place in the eternal feast which is better either for a little morsel to be cast forth of Paradise with Adam and Eve or for a small abstinence to enter into Heaven with a multitude of Saint Thinke well on it Resolve to observe temperance which cannot be but discreet for it is a virtue which will prolong thy daies in health on earth and render thee eternally happy in the Kingdom of Heaven THou hast often heard say that of three friends a man gaines in this world to wit Riches Kindred and good works there is but one onely which faithfully keeps him company in the other world the Riches leaves him in the bed as soon as his soul is expired for the sumptuous funerals which are often made are more proper to augment the ambition of the living then to afford any relief unto the dead the Kindred seeme little more constant in Friendship they accompany the body unto the grave with grief and tears but I could not bc deemed a Lyar if I should averr that very often they have more mind to laugh then to weep for if any one weep in good earnest the earth hath no sooner deprived him of sight of the dead but he hath lost the memory of him If he be a Sonne who hath buried his Father he thinkes rather on what his Father hath left him then to pray unto God for him If he be a Husband who hath buried his wife he dreames rather of the meanes to gain another more rich then to relive her dead the good workes accompany us unto the divine Tribunal they plead our cause having obtained for us a crown of glory remain with us and are our ornaments for ever in Heaven which of these Friends wilt thou have Thinke well on it Despise and neglect the first which will abandon thee in the way and adhear not too much unto the second
loved if thou should consider that in a moment after thy death all these Gallants will be fled and not one will remaine with thy Body thou wouldst not seeke so much to please them thou wouldst not yeeld unto so many remisse effeminate and unworthy condescendments which blemish the reputation and are cause of the damnation of many If thou wert the greatest foole and the most passionate of lovers for any humane beauty do but imagine thy beloved to be deade and putrified as she must be one day it will be impossible that the flame which burnes thee be not immediatly extinguished O how easie it is to subdue the flesh whilst it is alive and sound if one consider what it will be when it is dead Jf thou wert as hardened with malice as Pharao and for all the miracles of the world thou wouldst not bend unto the will of God no more then he did if death should enter into thy thought thou wouldst presently yeeld unto reason as he did as soone as it appeared in his Kingdome and in his owne house I know not whether it be true which some report of Panders that they make use of dead mē skulls as a remedie for all their diseases but I am most certayne that the memorie of death is a most powrfull and afficacious meanes to cure all spirituall evils and to restore the soul unto perfect health King David verefyes my assertion my lord sayes he I had great difficulty to pardon injuries and wrongs which my enemyes did me chastity seemed unto me very hard to keepe contempt was intollerable and in-deed J found all thy commandements al most impossible but when seriously I considered that all here are trāsitory and that I must die this narow way became of its self wide and large chastity appeared easie pardoning of enimies reasonable and all thy precepts light If the remembrance of Death destroyeth sinn the oblivion of it doth intertaine and nourish it for Esaias ca. 47. counting the sinns of Babilon and the punishments with which God would afflict them sayes that the cause of those evils was that they did not remember Death Jeremy seekeing the origine of the vices which reigned in the City of Hierusalem affirmes it to be no other then the little mindefulnes they had of their end SAtan having had a long experience of the soveraigne virtue of this remedie endeavors by all meanes to hender man from making use of it I can not better make thee comprehend his malicious inventions their by the catching or killing of woodculvers which are wilde Pigeons the bird catcher or Fowler having found the tree on which they settle and roost at night in troopes for they are birds that consort together inmultitudes chooseth an abscure and darke night and takes others with guns and drums being arrived at the place they begin to beat the drumme but softly for feare that the Birds should fliy a way and increasing the noyse by little and little they enure them so unto the sound that they at last beat the drummes with all their force with out ever fritghting the Pigeons in the meane while one creepes unto the foot of the tree where he holds up a candle which he had in a darke lanterne the woodculvers which are delighted with light descende unto the lower branches of the tree to enjoy the light then they shoot and at every shott they kill many the others which were higher thinking their companions fled not hearing the gunne by reason of the noise the drummes make takes their place and are also killed Behold the explication of this the tree represents the world the wood Culvers are the men the Fowler is the Divell who intices and allures them unto himself vvith pleasures honors and riches vvhich are like little fires or lights a bout vvhich men fly vvhiles death strikes them their companions never take notice of the blovv by reason of the greate noise vvhich the vvorld makes figured vvel by the drummes So that one hath no sooner quitted these smal splendors but an other courts and seekes them one hath no sooner left any benefice or office but an other flyes thether and so all passe all die and the gratest part are lost for not haveing sufficiently ben vvarned by the death of others that if any one hath reflected on it if any one hath ben moved these resentments as quickly passe as a flash of lightning and even as vve see hogs hie together in troupes grunt and are affrighted vvhen any one of them is killed but he is no sooner dead then every one returnes unto his former imployment this unto his wallowing in mire that unto his rooting with his nose the earth an other to fill him self in the trough even so when a man is dead the neighbowrs are astonished the domestikes weepe the kindred are aggrieved but as soone as he is buried every one return unto his affaires unto his former passions and vices But if all had a lively and couragious spirit and a profound judgment one word in a hundred yeares or to see one dead would be sufficient to convert all those who should see it and considere seriously that the same must infallibly happen unto them selves from whence then proceeds so smal profitt Thinke well on it Thou wilt finde that it proceeds either from the malice of the Divell who deprives thy soul of this profitable thought and diverts it otherwayes if great care be not taken or from the inconstancie of thy jmagination which is so wavering that it knowes not how to remaine long on the same thing if it be not constrained by often reflections therfore I deeme it most necessarie if thou desirest to profitt by this meanes that when thou beginest any busine thou considerest how thou wouldst have done it if presently thou were to die More that once a month thou retirest into a solitary place and dismissing all other thoughts prostrat at the feet of a Crucifixe either in thy chamber or in a Church thou seriously thinkest on these three or four points That the end of thy life will come very soone perhaps before the month be ended That thou must leave all thou hast in this world honors richers and pleasures carrying nothing with thee but the remorse of thy conscience and the sinns which thou hast committed That the Body having given up the Ghost after many paynes and conflicts shall be sowed in a poore sheete layed in the grave and reduced into ashes being forgotten of all the world That the soul shall be happy if at the houre of Death it be in good state but most miserable if it be in mortall sinne and into what part soever it be carried into Heaven or into Hell it shall remaine ther for ever and then imagining thy self to be at the last gaspe and holding the Crucifix in thy hand say with fervor O most mercifull Iesus my support and my strength in whom I beleeve in whom I hope whom I love
and ever will love afforde me at this houre thy powerfull hand for to depart securely I confesse before the whole world that my miserable life hath ben replenished with many great wickednesses of which I heartely repent my self and I do confide that thy infinit goodnes will pardon me and not permitt my soul to be lost for which thou gavest thyn on the Crosse No I can not beleeve that thou wilt repulse me o my dearest Iesus for I am flesh of thy flesh bone of thy bone sonn of thy Father thou also calst me thy Brother Therfore my Brother seing thou hast taken my humanity to give me thy divinity deliver me at this houre from the throat of the lyon I kisse this side from whence proceeded my happynes open it unto me and wash my ordures and impurities with the water and bloud which issued from thence I adore these hands which were nailed for me unto them I recommend my soul they have created me they will save me I honor these woundes in which I will hide my self untill the choler of my judg be passed O celestiall Father be unto we propitious and remember that my sinnes have ben chastised with al rigour in the person of thy most beloved Sonn O my lord Jesus Christ permitte not the the infinit price of thy bloud to be unprofitable unto my soul O holy Ghost fortefy me with thy grace that I do not faile or be subdued in this last conflict O Mother of God who hath ben most charitable and favorable unto me all my life time be so now in this moment I beseech thee on which depends all my felicity O S. Michael who has the commission to present Soules unto the divine Tribunall and to defend them from the enemy I recommend mine unto thee O good Angell guardian helpe me O all yee S. of Heaven come unto my succour that leaving this earth I may ascend into Heaven for to prayse eternally with yee our soveraigne Creator The Iudgment THe consideration of Judgment which followes Death is not lesse profitable then that of death if it be maturely pondered when I represent unto my self sayes Job the justice impartiality and rigour of the divine judgment and the exact account I must render I am so frightned with my sinns that I am enforced to resolue to shun them more then the greatst evil what so ever The Saints conducted by the Holy Ghost do exhort thee to thinke on it often place thy self before the eyes of this Soveraigne judge adviseth S. Gregorie feare him now to the end that abstaining from vice thou mayst not feare him when he shall judge thee remember the name of that king who seing the picture of the generall judgement entred into such a strong apprehēsion that he was almost dead Certes if thou rightly imagine what it will be thou wilt stifle all the imperfections of thy Soul St. Hierosme had not a better practice for to triumph ouer vice and to addict him unto all virtue whether I eate sayes he drinke sleepe or wake and in all I do it seemes to me that I heare this dreadfull and terrible voice Arise yee dead and come vnto judgment IN good earnest if thou knewest assuredly that within two or three hours thou wert to be summoned to answer before the Tribunal of God wouldst thou dare O! for the love of God mark what I ask thee wouldst thou dare yet once more I beseech thee think well on what thou wilt answer wouldst thou well dare to resolve to appear at the Judgment of God IN this fearful and terrible Judgment where thou shalt find assembled the great Councel of the King of Kings who hath ordained this hour for to decide wholly and justly the criminal process of thy Conscience Process in which will be examined exactly all the parts of thy life a Process where will be determined the final sentence of thy eternal felicity or misery VVhoudst thou dare I say to appear in the condition thou art for to plead thy cause Thou who art so bashsul and fearful when thou art taken in never to little a fault Thou wouldst thou dare to behold a Person of quality Thou who tremblest at the least apparent danger VVouldst thou dare appear in the presence of him before whom the most puissant Monarchies of the earth tremble the highest Seraphins hide themselves with their wings not being able to endure and behold the brightness of so great a Majesty Ah! for the sacred and bitter Passion of Jesus Christ Thinke well on it When I consider how thy soul leaving thy body is in danger to fall into the hands of the Apparitours of the Soveraign Judg who will lead thee directly before this dreadful Parliament I sweat I am in a trance with the imagination I have of seing thee at Barr for to answere being strongly accused BUt by whom by thy mortal enemies or rather immortal who out of the hatred which they bear thee vvil not omit the least thing they can reproach thee vvithal in this great and majestical assembly by whom by those vvho heretofore have been thy good Friends as the Blessed Virgin thy good Angel so many Saints who hath taken so great paines to save thee if thou vvouldst have harkened unto them by whom by the complices and confederates of thy vvickedness vvho are enraged against thee and by thy ovvn Conscience vvhich vvill say open unto all the vvorld all thy imperfections But of vvhat shalt thou be accused of all in vvhich thou hast not kept the Commandements God gave thee the holy inspirations vvhich he most lovingly suggested unto thee of all vvhich thou vvast oblieged to do according to the estate unto vvhich God hath called thee of all vvhich thou hast done to satisfy thy unruly passions of all vvhich thou hast neglected to doe for the glory of God But hovv accused vvith so much assurance of thy adverse Party that nobody vvill dare to reply or speak one vvord in thy behalf and defence vvith so much evidence of all thy imperfections that not one of them can be hid or disguised vvith so great remorse of thy Conscience that thou vvilt acknovvledg all vvith so much shame that thou vvilt desire the mountaines to fall on thee Is not this dreadful Think well on it Having thought on it seriously if thou dost not conceave a great fear if thou tremblest not vvith terrour pardon me I beseech thee if I doubt and mistrust the verity of thy faith for hovv can I be assured that thou beleevest rightly if thou makes no reckoning and esteem of things so important and concernes thee so much vvhat meanes to be persvvaded that thou regardes it if vvhen it is presented unto thee thy Heart remaines colder then marble and more hard then steel Wherefore earnestly endeavour to knovv thy self seeing that thou shalt be most rigorously judged O Great affair is it to appear for to ansvver before so great a Court it is exceeding misfortune to
that it is a country full of obscure darknes and noisome stinkes wher there is no order but an intollerable horror and eternal confusion Salomon will assure thee that it is a most bottomlesse pit from whence none can come that is fallen there in Jsayas will explicate it unto thee that it is a Prison full of a most vehement fire which although it be of the same nature with the elementarie fire is incomparably more efficacious to torment because it doth not act with the sole natural virtue but as the instrumēt of the infinit divine power of God which is elevated to torment the damned as much as Gods justice requires from whence it is that it needes not any matter for its maintenance it can never be extinguished because it is the breath of God to witt his infinite power that kindles it according unto Jsayas The Divines hold that it is replenished with all sortes of evils and voyed of all good it is in vayne for to dispute of it sayeth the devout Rusbroquius for when we have saied all that can be sayed of the paynes of Hell it will be much lesse in comparison of what it is then a drop of water compared unto the whole Ocean S. Augustine in one of his epistles sayeth that a dead man raised to life by the touching of St. Hierosmes haire shirt testefyed unto St. Cyrille Bishop of Hierusalem that the torments of the other life were so great that if any one had experimented the least he would choose rather to be even unto the day of judgment in a furnace wher all the fire of the world was inclosed then to suffer onc day in Hell are not these things dreadful Think well on it ANd following the counsell of St. Bernard descend often into Hell whilst thou livest by thy meditations to the end that after thy death thou beest not shut up there for al eternity Consider advisedly how the Souls of the damned are hideously tortured because they see themselves deprived for all eternity of the vision of God a torment farr greater then can be imagined in this world All their powers are full of bittternes and anguish inexplicable the memorie with the remembrance of past pleasures and of future evils the understanding with the perfect knowledg of all it hath done preferrlng the creatures before the Creator the transitorie goods and pleasures before those which shall never have an end the will with an inraged hate which they have against God which will make them utter a thousand blasphemies the imagination with the lively apprehensiō of the present payens and yett more to follow The fire acts with farr greater heate against them then doth our inflamed coales agaist a Barr of Iron which it burnes and inflames in the Furnace The remorse of Conscience excessively gnawes and vexes for the meanes representing them selves which it hath had of salvation although it doth not repent of the sinn as an offence against God yett it burstes with griefe and rage for having committed the evil which hath ruined it Esau roared like a lyon seeing that for a smal dish of porridge he had lost his right of inheritance the damned soul doth yet worse knowing that for a short pleasure for a base reveng for a little word she hath lost Heaven in good earnest is not this an ineffable heart breake Thinke well on it MArke how the body shall ther suffer an insupportable fire it shall be cast into an extreame cold it shall be hammered cruelly on most hard Anviles broken on wheels grounded in a mill Cut and shred with rasours pierced with leances Infinē imagine all the punishments that the Tyrants have invented to torment the Martyres the brasen Buls boiling Cauldrons Combes of Iron Crosses Fires Rasours all this was but an eesie and short Prentiship to that which the Divels make the damned to suffer in all the parts of their Bodies but especially in their five senses The sight shall be cruelly tormented with thick obscure darknesse which depriving them of all comfort of the light shall afford them I know not what unfortunat cleernesse which shall cause them to see hideous and ghastly spectacles of their torments and so many dreadful shapes of the infernall monsters the sight of which shall be intollerable without any relaxation Alas if the seeing of one Divell is able to cause the death of the most couragious what shall do I beseech thee the horrible spectacle of all the Divels and the damned The Hearing shall be incessantly frighted with the despairable cryes with dreadfull howlings and with most execreable blasphemies which these miserables shall utter against them selves and against God Imagine a thousand People in the fire even unto the chinn every one lamentably crying how insupportable will their clamors be and what is this in comparaison of a hundred thousand millions of the damned which burne in Hell The Ambitious shall saye I despaire with griefe Cursed vanities which hath brought me hether the Avaritious shall complaine I am enraged with the paynes cursed richesses which are the cause of my euil the Lascivious shall yell I burne cursed pleasures which have kindled me this fire c. The Taste inportuned with an exceeding hunger and extraordinary thirst shall have for viande loathsomes Toads and the gall of Dragons for drinke this shall but increase the Hunger and thirst witnesseth the cursed Richman who almost two thousand yeares since demanded a drop of water for to assuage the thirst which did torture him and as yet hath not obtained it nor never shall The Feeling shall be tormented through all that is sensible by fire which shall penetrate even unto the marrow cold shall succeede which shall congeale the bloud with in the veines with sharpe aches an hundred times in foure aid tweety houres the flesh shall be torne and the bones broken and as often redintegrated and repaired an hundred times shall be powred on the Body boiling oyle melted lead and they shall not consume The Smelling shall be infected with stinking and noisome smells which shal exhale not only from the infulphured fire and the tainted sinkes of Hell but also from the Bodies of the damned Odors so insupportable that St. Bonaventure affirmes that one Body of the damned would be able to infect the whole world with the plague In the lives of the Fathers it is written that a certaine religious man damned appeared unto his companion who asked him if the paines of Hell were so cruel as they preach know answered he that they are such that the tongues of men are not able to explicate the rigour of them Couldst thou not give me some proofe saied the companion I will replied the damned wouldst thou see heare taste or feele them Alas sayed the Religious I am not able to see or heare them for I am too timerous nether to feele them being too delicate much lesse am I able to taste them having so weake a stomack but I should be content