thou shouldest lengthen out thy daies to many hundreths of yeares yet still thou art transitory and exposed to the common condition of all men Then fixe thy heart on God and so enioying that eternity thou shalt make thy selfe eternall and be not discouraged for thy tribulations and daily disquietings in this world for such is Gods loue such his abundant kindnesse towards his elect that hee Ideo Deus terrenis faelicitatibus amaritudinē miscet vt alia quaeratur faelicitae cuius dolcedo non est falla◠corrects them here to the end they might not bee condemned with the world hereafter boni laborant quia flagellantur vt filij mali exultant quia damnantur vt alieni God spareth those who are aliens from grace but whom he chuseth he chastiseth Bee not therefore I say cast downe with any crosses whatsoeuer that may befall thee in this life for the things that are present are temporall but the things to come are eternall When we see the friends of this world the eager embracers of the comforts of this life vpon every summons of death striue to deferre what they cannot vtterly avoide their corporall dissolutions oh how great care what indefatigable diligence what restlesse endeavours should we vse that wee might liue for ever Let vs againe and againe meditate on these things and with due care foresee eternity before wee vnexpectedly fall into it Certaine it is Omnia transeunt sola restat non tranfibit aeternitas all things passe away in this life only eternity hath no period let vs redeeme the time and worke while wee haue the day for if wee neglect good duties here we shall never regaine the like opportunity hereafter This life saith Nazianzen is as it were our faireday or market day let vs now buy what wee want while the faire lasts While we haue time let vs doe good vnto all men Tu dormis sed tempus tuum non dormit sed ambulat imo volat Bene illis qui sic vivunt sicut vixisse se volunt cum moriendum erit faciantque ea quae in aeternitate constituti fecisse se gaudebunt Amb. Happy is the man that so liues here that the remembrance of his well-spent life may yeeld him ioy hereafter For otherwise levis hic neglectus aeternum fit dispendium i.e. A small neglect in the ordering of our time in this world will bee seconded with an eternall losse in the world to come The fift conclusion Death is the ending our daies not of our life For when our day shall close and our time shall bee no more then shall our death conduct vs to a life which will last for all Eternity For we dye not here to dye but to liue for ever Therefore the best guide of our life is the consideration of our death and hee alone leads a life answerable to his Christian profession who daily expects to leaue it Me thinkes ' its strange-men should be so industriously carefull to avoide their death and so carelesly improvident of the life to come when as nothing makes death bad but that estate which followes it but the reason is wee are spiritually blind and see not nor know in this our day the things that belong to our peace wee haue naturally neither sight nor feeling of the ioyes to come But when God shall enlighten the darknesse of our mindes and reveale his sonne in vs when once the day dawneth that day-starre ariseth in our hearts ô then our death will be our joy and the reioycing of our hearts then shall wee infinitely desire to bee dissolued and to be with Christ Let vs therefore with vnwearied endeavours labour to bring Christ home to our hearts and to keepe him there Let vs dye to our selues and to our lusts here that so in the world to come we may everlastingly liue vnto Christ and in him The sixt conclusion Now that we may bee the better incouraged to raise vp our indeavours to the attainement of this eternity Let vs in a word consider the abundant and the ever-flowing happinesse in the world to come neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor tongue can expresse the joyes that God hath provided for thē that loue him Vbi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum Saint Augustine being ravished with the desire of this life breaketh out with an inflamed affection how great shall that happinesse bee where there can be no vncleane thing where no good can be wanting Praemium virtutis erit ipse qui virtutem dedit where every creature doth praise and admire his Creator who is all in all things How great shall that reward be where the giver of vertue shall be himselfe the reward of vertue how great shall that abundance be where the author of all plenty shall be vnto me life and soule and rayment health and peace and honour and all things yea the end and compleat obiect of all my desires For in his presence is the fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore How great shall that blessednesse be where we shall haue the Lord our debtor who hath promised to reward our good deeds where wee shall haue the Lord for our portion who will be to vs as he was to Abraham our exceeding great reward How great shall that light bee where the Sunne shall no more shine by day nor the moone 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 griefe can accompany it no sorrow succeede it Here is ioy without sadnesse rest Quies motus non 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 Angells Here are pleasures which the mindes of the beholders can never be wearied with they alwaies see them and yet alwaies reioyce to see them These are the flaggons of wine which comforted vp David when he cried out according to the multitude of the sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts haue refreshed my soule In coelo est vita verè vitalis In heaven and only in heauen is the true life For there our memories shall liue in the ioyfull recordation of all things past our vnderstandings shall liue in the knowledge of God our wills shall liue in the fruition of all excellencies that they can wish for all our senses shall abound in their seuerall 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 drinkes shall never thirst againe Here is that river the springs
whereof make glad the heartes of men And how earnestly are wee invited to these delights come buy wine and oyle without mony Heaven is at sale Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudinē teipsum da habebis illud Aug. and thou maist buy it if thou wilt and shrug not at the greatnesse of the price giue but thy selfe to God and thou shalt haue it And who would not abandon his honours his pride his credit his friends nay himselfe Who would not be willing to passe through the gates of Hell and indure infernall torments for a season so he might bee certaine of so glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter Let all the divells in hell saith Saint Austine beset me round Bone Iesu qui parcendo saepius nos à te abijcis feriendo effice vt ad te redeamus Ger. med let fastings macerate my body let sorrowes oppresse my minde let paines 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 vnto mee so I may injoy my Sauiour For how excellent shall the glory of the iust be how great their ioy when euery face shall shine as the sunne When or Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his workes O were thy affections rightly setled on these heauenly mansions how abiect vnderneath thee wouldest thou esteeme those things which before thou setst an high price vpon As he which ascends an high mountaine when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steppes low beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottome so hee which sends his thoughts to heauen however hee esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groueling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them vnder him vilifies thē all in regard of heauenly treasures Let vs therefore cheerfully follow that advise of a Reverend Father Quod aliquandô per necessitatem amittendum est pro aeterna remuneratio ne sponte est distribuendum Let vs here willingly part with that for heauen which we must first or last necessarily leaue vpon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeauours bee dispended for the attainment of eternity For certaine it is howsoeuer wee liue here like secure people of a secure age and howeuer we lavish out the strength and flowre of our daies as if wee should neuer account for it yet our iudgement is most sure and shall not bee avoided The sentence of the Iudge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked Wee must all appeare saith Saint Paul before the iudgement seat of Christ that euery one may receaue 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 darknesse I saw the dead saith S. Iohn Rev. 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and whosoeuer was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall giue vp his account euery soule shall first or last come to his reckning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio many are called few chosen but al rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let vs prepare our selues to meet our God let vs come before him with feare and tremble at his iudgements Feare not him saith our Sauiour who when he hath killed the body can doe no more but feare him who can cast both soule and body to hell I say him feare Oh how many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they haue meditated vpon the last iudgement Hierome saith as oft as I thinke of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart within me tremble Quoties diem illum cogito toto corpore contremisco Timeo Gehen nam quippe interminatam Cyrill saith I am afraid of Hell because the worme there dies not A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisco quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum vt praeveniam fletibus fletū stridotem dentium and the fire neuer goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth of that infernall beast Who will giue to mine eyes saith he a fountaine of teares that by my weeping here I may prevent weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter Let the examples of these Saints of God stirre vp in our hearts the like affections Let it be the pitch of our desires and the highest straine of all our endeauours to attaine those heauēly mansions which our Saviour hath prouided for vs Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat and to avoid those endlesse easelesse flames which God hath prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Who would gaine the purchase of a short and transient pleasure at so high a rate as the heavy price of eternall fire Besides how shall our tender bodies which so shrinke at the prick of a pin or flame of a candle endure those lasting pressures Who can dwell saith the Prophet with eternall fire who can abide with euerlasting burnings Oh let vs set before our eyes the judgement to come and whatsoeuer we finde our selues worthy to be condemned for Cessat vindicta divina fi conversio praecurrat humana by the just Iudge at that day Let vs first condemne our selues for where mans conuersion begins there Gods displeasure maketh his period Excellent is that aduise of S. Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errors of thy life while thy time serues Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health Culpam tuam dum vacat pēsa districtionem futuri iudicii dum vales exhorresce ne tunc amaram sen tentiam audi as cum nullis fletibus evada◠least thou heare that bitter sentence Goe yee cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man knowe what time he should leaue the world hee might proportion his time some to pleasure some to repentance But hee that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Since therefore we can neither preuent nor foresee death let vs alwaies expect it and prouide for it Let vs dye to our sinnes here that wee may liue to Christ hereafter and let vs suffer with Christ in this world that we may reioyce and raigne with him in the world to come Recusat esse in corpore qui non vult odium sustinere cum capite When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall neuer end to an eternity quae facit omne bonum infinitè melius et omne malum infinité molestius which maketh euery good action infinitely better and euery evill action infinitely worse Oh the vnhappinesse and everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enioy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to loose the presence of God and society of Angells hereafter A PRAYER O Mercifull God thou that art the eternall truth the true charity and long eternity so illuminate the blindnesse of our vnderstandings that the serious consideration of our short and transitory miseries which wee run through in this life may driue vs to a more feeling apprehension of those eternall paines which abide vs in the world to come Settle our hearts vpon the true ioy teach vs so to possesse these transient things that we loose not the enduring substance so to lament our sinnes that we may escape the punishment so to proceed in the way that we fayle not of our iournies end Amen Amen FINIS These faults are to be corrected in some Copies Pag. 9. line 2. read breathlesse p. 12 l. 1. r perspicuous p. 34. l 6 r run p. 52. l. 6. r. vndertakings
Bishop of Rome is brought to his pontificall chaire one goes before him shaking a burning torch and proclaiming three times Pater sancte sic transit gloria mundi Certainly it would worke somewhat towards the enliuening of our drowsinesse quickning vp of our dull security if we did in the beginning end of all our vndertakings say within our selues Annos aeternos in mente habe Remember ô my soule those daies of darknesse which shall neuer close For all the pressures and vexing distempers that befall vs in this life all the crosses which the envy either of men or evill Angells can throw vpon vs are nothing if compared to eternall miseries Sapienti nihil magnum videri potest cui aeternitatis nota est magnitudo What if with Saint Paul I vnderwent labours perills hunger thirst iniuries and reproaches what is all this to eternity What if I did beare in my flesh the most exquisite paines and bitterest torments that created nature is capable of yet what were all this to eternity For all the adversities and alterations which happen to vs vnder the sunne haue their periods which they cannot passe however they disquiet vs for the time yet as the Prophet Daniel saith the end shall bee at the appointed time God will performe that which he hath appointed for me saith Iob yet vsque ad tempus haec omnia the end shall be at the appointed time But of this eternity 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 haue no morning to follow or else such a morning as shall never see the close of the Sunne And therefore let not the vanishing cares and transitory disquietings of this world over deepely possesse thy heart but rather let the whole streame of thy meditations rnnne vpon 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 comming after So shall thy sufferings here make way for thy crowne hereafter But how few ô how few I say are there that weigh these things How few doe make it their daily taske to meditate on the evills to come They credit not such reports for they care not to beleeue what they are vnwilling to practise Hence it is that they goe on so securely in their course as if there were no heauen no hell no God no eternity Thus wee naturally desire our daies should be as happy as they are longe and being miserably-insensible of the sorrowes to come wee rashly expose our selues to an irrevocable downefall Nos tales qui mortis nostrae neque negotium ridentes exequimur Greg. Without sense or sorrow wee runne merrily to hell where wee shall everlastingly feele what we did never feare 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 vainely secure How did they pine their bodies and afflict their soules crucify their most pretious lusts forsake their friends their lands their inheritance yea their Crownes and Kingdomes nay which is more through the rigid and austeere obseruation of their strict and severe lawes expose themselues to the hazard and danger of their dearest liues and thrust themselues as it were out of the world and forgoe all society with men And wherefore all this but that they might disburthen themselues the better by these meanes from all earthly allurements settle and dispose their hearts in a good preparation towards their home and to enliuen their affections and inflame their mindes to a more serious contemplation of the ioyes to come Mee thinkes the consideration of these former times should strongly invite vs to a more serious meditation of our future state especially if wee remember how swiftly our daies draw to an end and how soone we are involued into everlasting darknesse For alas what is our life here Tota haec vita vnius horulae mors est one houre at the last will swallow vp all our liue-long daies Let vs then not feare being so neare our home let no stormes affright vs being so neare our haven Let vs examine our accounts and cast vp our summes that we may be able to giue vp a good account at the last day Certaine it is what ever we goe about whatsoever be the scope of our endeavours wee every day come nearer to the end of our course every houre is a new step onward So soone as ever a man enters this mortall life hee beginnes a constant iourney vnto death quicquid temporis vivitur de spatio vivendi tollitur i. e. Each part of time that wee 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 vnto death wherein one can neither stay nor slacke his pace This wee know our daily experience doth confirme this truth and yet doe wee persist as securely as ever in our trade of sinne Aegrae abstrahimur ab ijs quibus assuescimus i.e. wee are hardly drawne from those things which custome and time hath invred vs vnto It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawne off from dainty fare full cups and good company Wee lye as dead men and sencelesse in our damned pollutions even drowned in our voluptuousnesse like brute beasts filled vp and pampered for the day of slaughter Thus with the full streame of our indeauours we plod on in the habituall course of transgressing without any sense of our sinne vntill our short daies begin to shut in and our evening approach at which time the weaknesse of our bodies and the strength of our sinnes make vs as vnable to repent as wee were before vnwilling Wee many times through the incitement of some good motion beginne well but faile in the execution wee make faire promises Fatemur crimina sed sic fatemur vt in ipsa confessione non dolemus Salv. but wee doe not second them in our practise but let vs not deceiue our selues God will not be mocked non verbis paenitentia agenda sed actu let vs not promise God better obedience with our lippes then wee performe with our hearts Bee not rash to vow a thing before God but when thy word hath past thy lips then be as carefull to performe as thou wast forward before to promise Lastly let vs alwaies follow that holy counsell given in Ecclesiasticus In all thy actions thinke vpon thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse and that of the Prophet David keepe innocency and doe the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last peace with God peace with men and peace with our owne conscience In the world saith our Saviour shall yee haue trouble but in me yee shall haue peace The world is our sea but
A DISCOVRSE OF ETERNITIE Collected and Composed for the Common good By W. T. ACADEMIA OXONIENSIS SAPIENTIA FELICITATIS OXFORD Printed by IOH LICHFIELD for WILLIAM WEBBE An. D. 1633. THE FIRST CHAPTER Containing an Introduction to the ensuing Discourse THere is nothing can fully satisfie the mind of Man but that which is aboue man Fecisti nos ad te domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Aug lib. 1. Cons cap. 1. all the treasures and riches vnder Heaven cannot make vp a proportionable object for the soule For that which must terminate the desires of so excellent and divine a nature must bee of a correspondent like condition with it that is infinite and immortall Now no sublunary blessings extend thus farre All worldly happinesse and earthly delights haue their changes and haue their death They are short in their continuance and vncomfortable in their end For they leaue vs when we leaue the world and they nothing availe vs in the day of triall when our bodies shall descend into the slimie vally our soules returne to God that gaue them then all the choicest comforts of this life glide away from vs as the streame and the sunne of our ioy will set for ever Our beautie wherein wee haue so much prided our selues shall turne into rottennesse our mirth into wormewood our glory into dust Now if this be the condition if such the state of our best pleasing contentations here below how vndiscreetly improuident of our soules welfare should we be to bound our affections on the things of this world what a madnesse beyond admiration were it in vs to trifle out our time to waste and weare out our most pretious daies in the vanities vnder the sunne as if God had placed vs here on earth like the Leviathan in the Sea to take our pastime in it to ingulfe our soules into the sensuall pleasures of this life as if we had neither hope nor expectation of a life to come what an intollerable stupiditie were it for the short fruition of a momentary content here to plunge our selues for everlastingnes into a sea as it were of fire and brimstone where wee shall see no bankes and feele no bottome Me thinkes the serious consideration hereof should even cut the heart and damp the mirth and wound the very soule of the most glorious and selfe pleasing worldling whose life is nothing but a change of recreations to thinke vpon his fading state his flowing condition his declining ioy his dying life and endlesse eternitie to see how all things in him and about him goe speedily forward in a most sensible declination to behold with his eies how his goods and his greatnesse his liuings and his life and all the most pretious delights which his sensuall heart enioyes are already winged as it were for their flight and must shortly bid him an everlasting farwell And then what shall bee his stay where shall be his shelter what will remaine to bee done but with that sad and disconsolate Heathen to shut vp all in that hopelesse and helplesse lamentation Anxius vixi dubius morior heu quo vado I haue squandred out my life in an vnfruitfull way I haue lived vnresoluedly and die doubtfully and now whether away O my soule woe is thee and alas for evermore And such is the bitter close and vncomfortable ende of all those who goe desperately on in the waies of their hearts and in the sight of their eies and make not God their strength though their excellency mount vp to the heauens saith Iob and their heads reach vnto the cloudes yet shall they perish for euer as their doung and the eye which hath seene them shall doe so no more Iob. 20.6 O then how deepely doth it concerne vs to raise vp our desires to things aboue to fix our hearts vpon the true rocke to drawe our waters of comfort from the euerliuing fountaine to trust so much more on God by how much we haue lesse on earth to trust to Now for our better incouragement to this dutie and to the end wee may the more easily vnloose our affections from the imbracements of this world it will not bee vnworthy our labour to meditate a while vpon the nature of that Eternitie which doth vnavoidably abide for vs either in horror or happinesse in the life to come CHAP. II. Containing a description of Eternitie with a briefe declaration of the nature and condition of it ETernitie is an infinite endlesse bottomelesse gulfe which no line can faddome no time can reach no age can extend to no tongue can expresse It is a duration alwaies present a being alwaies in being it is one perpetuall day which shall never see an Euening Infinite are the descriptions of the Ancients and divers their expressions touching this Eternitie The Egyptians conceiuing that God was eternall and his duration and being to bee properly tearmed Eternitie represented the diuine power by a Circle which had neither beginning nor end And hence it was that the Ancient Romans erected Temples which they dedicated to their Gods in a circular figure Thus Numa Pompilius deuoted a round Temple to the Maiestie of Vesta And Augustus Caesar the like in honour of all the Gods Pythagoras the better to expresse that God was eternall commanded his Schollers that so oft as they accommodated themselues to the worship of God they should turne themselues round The Turkes euery morning ascend into an high Tower built in the fashion of the Egyptian Pyramides where they deuoutly salute their God and Mahomet crying with a lowd and roaring voice Deus semper fuit semperque erit God alwaies hath beene and euer will be Mercurius Trismegistus the most famous among the Philosophers represented God the true Eternitie by an intellectuall spheare whose Center was euery where but without any circumference because he was the beginning and ende of all things not bounded within any compasse nor terminated in any limits It was an vsuall custome among the Nasomons an ancient people in Africa that they coveted to dye sitting and would alwaie be buried in the same posture sitting in Cells vnderneath the earth and this they did to fignifie by that vnmoueable gesture that they should now sing a requiem from the businesse of this troublesome world and had now ariued at the hauen of eternall quietnesse Thus we see how these miserable heathen who had no other light but nature no other guide but those lame and corrupted principles which were left in them after the fall did notwithstanding according to their broken and weake apprehensions tire out themselues in the expression of Eternitie and how euer they were vnhappily ignorant in the waies of God in this life yet they earnestly laboured to know what should become of themselues hereafter and to finde out the state of the life to come Oh how iustly might I were it not a digression take vp a lamentation and deplore the wretched
condition of our times how short doe wee fall euen of the perfection of Heathens what man is there amongst vs that casteth forth so much as a thought vpon Eternity wee liue here as if there were no life hereafter Our Earth is our Heauen and our pleasures our Paradice we crowne our heads with rose buds wee eate of the fat and drinke of the sweet and say in our hearts no euill shall happen to vs yet when we haue done all Omnes humanae consolationes sunt desolationes Hearts ease will not growe in this earthly garden the true rest will not be found but in the true place the eternall Hierusalem sound and entire contentment hath no rooting in this world For as one hath it excellently * Dispone ordina omnia secundum tuum velle videre non invenies nisi semper a liquid pati debere autsponte aut invite ita crucem semper invenies dispose marshall all things to thine own hearts desire yet shalt thou doe what thou canst still meet with some crosse or presure in the way Since it is so let vs not then determinate our affections in these earthly things which are of no continuance but let vs send our hearts before vs to those heavenly mansions where they shall be crowned with fulnesse of happinesse and shall swimme in streames of pleasures for evermore Certainely there is no true rest but that which is eternall the sweetest refreshment our soules can finde in this world consists in the serious meditation of the ioyes to come in devoting our selues and all we haue to his seruice from whom wee haue them in trusting to him and relying on him for out of God the soule findes no resting place to set her foot on but every where stormes and waues death hell abide her when we haue improued our contentments to the very height of our desires when we haue attained as much happinesse as the world can giue vs yet then may we be cut off perchance in the midst of our daies when our breasts are full of milke and our bones full of marrow or suppose we spinne the thred of our life to a longer day and God crowne vs here with the blessings of his left hand the comforts of this life and length of yeares yea though all things favour our longer continuance in this world yet in the end time and age will ruine vs. Wee shall bring our yeares to an end like a tale that is told and shall vanish away like a shadow though we liue many yeares and in them all we reioice yet in the end we shall remember the daies of darknesse saith Solomon and the time shall come that the eye which saw vs shall see vs no more Soles occidere redire possunt nobis cum occidet semel brevis lux nox est perpetuo vna dormienda Cat. The Sunne sets and riseth againe but we alas when our glasse is runne and the short gleame of our sommers day is spent shall neuer returne till our last summons when the dead shall heare the voice of the sonne of God and they that heare it shall liue and come forth of their graues they that haue done good to the resurrection of life and they that haue done evill to the resurrection of condemnation both to Eternitie and then shall follow that large day that shall never shut in that infinite continuation of time that shall neuer end that vnlimited Eternitie which ever hath beene and is and will be the same for euer when the Sunne shall no more yeeld her light by day nor the Moone her brightnesse by night but God shall be our light and the Lord our glory But oh the vnhappy condition of our age who is there that ponders these things with a digested meditation that lookes into the state of his soule with a serious eye that examines his conscience vnvaileth his heart and considereth his waies That endeauours to lay a good foundation for the time to come wee stand at the doore of Eternitie and while we liue we are euery day entring into it it 's but a stroake of death we are gone even in a moment and whether from our short and fading delights to an endlesse easelesse gulfe where our worme shall never die nor our fire shall neuer out Now let all those who swim in the streames of their voluptuousnesse putting far from them the evill 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 knowe that they may fall into this vast gulfe of Eternitie when they least suspect it into which when once they haue vnhappily plunged themselues they may desire redemption but shall not finde it Postqaum istinc excessū 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 Opher cannot purchase them one minute of reliefe from their vnexpressible miseries But now euen now is the jubile now is the accepted time now is the promulgation of pardon there remaines nothing for our parts but to sue it forth we need not many hundred of yeares or number of daies to redeeme our mispent time and to wash out our contracted pollutions no one day may through Gods gratious favour and loving indulgence procure more mercy here then Eternitie of time may obtaine hereafter one sigh from a true sorrowfull heart here shall prevaile 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 wee shall abide his judgement Let vs therefore be wise in time and remember our creator in the daies of our youth before the evill daies come and the yeares approach wherein wee shall say we haue no pleasure in them before our dust returne into the wombe from whence it came and our lungs be locked vp into the brestlesse earth before that black and gloomy day the day of death and dissolution appeare to vs the which if our timely repentance here prevent not our doome will seale vp our soules to eternall darknesse Let vs consider that wheresoeuer we are whatsoeuer wee goe about wee stand euery minute of our time in the glorious presence of an Immanifestus omnia autem manifestans per omnia apparet in omnibus incomprehensible maiestie whose bright and most piercing eye is ten thousand times clearer then the Sunne who knows all hearts sees all actions vnderstands all councells viewes all persons there 's not a word in the tongue not a thought in the heart not a sparke of lust in the flesh though neuer so softly blowne and secretly kindled but he beholds it altogether he is all eare to heare all hand to punish when and where he please all power to
was found in Tulliola daughter of Cicero her sepulcher which continued burning fifteene hundreth yeares These and many other shaddowes and traces of eternity God hath vouchsafed vs to stirre vp our dead and drowsy hearts to a more exact inquisition and serious consideration of the time to come For in the booke of the creature wee may see the power of the Creator and out of these particular workes of his we may vnderstand that that God which hath endowed nature with such admirable qualities can giue the flesh also such a condition that it shall endure according to his mercifull dispensation either torments or happinesse for evermore Now then to draw all this to an issue since it is vndoubtedly true that God hath provided an everlasting being for the soules of men in the world to come since he hath engrauen the knowledge hereof as with an Iron pen in the consciences of the Heathen since he hath giuen vs so many liuely resemblances and traces thereof in the secrets of nature and in the workes of his creation Oh how should the meditation of this take vp our deepest thoughts our refinest affections how should this cause vs to reflect vpon our soules to ponder our waies and with an vndazeled and vndesembling eye throughly to trye and to descry clearely our owne state whether we be already washed with the blood of Christ and enliuened with a supernaturall vigour and life of grace or yet ly polluted in our owne blood Oh how can any man be at rest and quiet in his minde till he be assured and secured in this point since that vpon it depend his everlasting estate in another world our daies wee see are wouen with a slender thred our time short our end vncertaine and when the oyle in our lampes is spent and our glasse runne out then ex vnico momento pendet duplex aeternitas we fly in a moment to an everlasting being either in horror or happinesse where wee shall receiue according to the workes of our hands If wee haue approved our selues sincere in Gods service iust in our actions diligent in our callings faithfull in our promises wee shall then attaine the end of our faith the salvation of our soules and the conscience of our well spent life shall at that dismall day replenish our soules with abundance of consolations Then all our teares shall bee wiped from our eyes what we haue sowed in sorrow we shall reape in ioy when we haue finished our course ended our combate with sinne and death then shall our crowne bee sure our victory glorious and our triumph Eternall our graue 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 wee haue in the whole course of our warfare here expended our pretious time in the service of sinne and Sathan and crumbled away the best and choicest of our yeares in the lusts of the flesh and sports of vanity then the issue of all will be death and our end destruction Our mirth wil be turned into wormewood and our ioy into heauinesse all our delights in this earth shall vanish as the flower our sun shall set in a cloud and our daies of iollity and contentation shall irrecoverably be involued and turned into perpetuall darknesse CHAP. V. Containing a short digression touching the eternity of the damned AND here it will not be vnseasonable nor any digression from the point in hand to consider with our selues for our better encouragement to the waies of holinesse the condition of that eternity which the damned haue in hell O the vnhappy and ever deplorable state of those poore soules who feele nothing for the present but wrath and vengeance and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of Gods indignation to be powred on them in a fuller measure for ever after Nec qui torquet aliquan do fatigatur nec qui torque tuc a liquando moritur Bernard meditat cap 3. And that which addes abundant weight to their miseries is they shall burne but not diminish they shall lye buried in their flames but not consume they shall seeke death but shall not finde it they shall desire it but it shall flye from them their punishment consists not in the indurance of any proper or peculiar paine but in the accumulation heap of innumerable torments together All the faculties of the soule all the senses of the body shall haue their seuerall punishments and that which is more vnseparable and more then that eternall There shall bee 〈◊〉 degrees in their torments but the least shal be infinite For as the wrath and displeasure of God toward them is everlasting so shall their pressures be They enioy 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 woe Their eternity is such as turnes all things into its owne nature for all things where the damned doe inhabit are eternall The fire is eternall for the breath of God like a riuer of brimstone hath kindled it and it shall neuer goe out night nor day but the smoake thereof shall ascend for euer The worme is eternall for the conscience of the damned shall be everlastingly tormented with the sense of their sinne Their worme dieth 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 doores to Peter but no prayers can pierce these walls no power can ouerthrowe them no time can ruine them out of Hell is no redemption no ransome no deliuery Cruciantur damnati cruciantur in aeternum This is the last sentence of the Iudge his irrevocable decree his immutable and eternall Iudgement vpon the damned which shall neuer bee reuersed Adesse intolerabile abesse impossibile there is no appeale will lye from this Iudge 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 me penitentem timor mortis conturbat me quia in inferno nulla est redemptio Whilst I daily sinne but repent not daily as I ought the feare 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 saue all man-kinde but it belongs not to the damned If therefore the yoake of repentance seeme not sweet to thee saith St Bernard thinke on that yoake which thou shalt be sure to suffer which is Goe yee 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 priuation of Gods sight the vncomfortable want whereof
doth more grieue their hearts and wound their afflicted soules then all their bodily torments Thus wee see the vnhappy estate and condition of the damned in the other world and how the highest linke in all this chaine of sorrowes wherewith they are enuironed is the miserable perpetuitie of their torments when their restlesse thoughts haue carefully runne through many thousands of yeares yet will they not then enioy 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 certainely true is it possible that man should be so forgetfull of God and himselfe Can he so farre degenerate into a beast and indurate into a stone as to read these things and not beleeue them or beleeue these things and not to tremble Can the knowledge of these things swim in our braine without a serious and sound digestion of them into our hearts when we see and knowe and beleeue that inexplicable eternall endlesse easelesse horrors without true and vnfained repentance abide vs hereafter and on the other side we knowe not nor can possibly discerne with how speedy and swift a foot our end approacheth nor how suddenly wee shall be summoned to giue the world our euerlasting farwell How can so sad and important a consideration as this possesse our thoughts and not torment them or how can this chuse but imbitter our dearest pleasures crosse our indulgence to our sensuall affections Did we but reason a while with our soules and euery one of vs in a particular application say within himselfe I am here floating like a ship in the sea of this world ballased on every side with the cares and disquietings pressures of this life and I sayle on with full course towards the hauen of Eternity one little blast of death is able to plunge me irrecouerably into this bottomelesse gulfe where one houres torment will infinitely exceed for the paine of it an hundred yeares bitter repentance And shall I now thus standing vpon the very battlements of hell melt in my delights cheere vp my selfe in the dayes of my youth shall I tyre out my spirits trifle out my pretious time rob mine eyes of their beloued sleepe for such things to the which the time will come when I must bid an euerlasting farewell Me thinks the thorough meditation of our future state should euen strangle our sensuall ioyes in vs withdrawe our hearts from the embracements of this world especially when wee shall to our endlesse sorrow vnderstand our dearest contents must close at the last in death and confusion and all our precedent pleasures shall yeeld vs no other fruit but their bitter remembrance to augment our sorrowes CAP. 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 iustice therein doth no waie diminish the greatnesse of his mercy NOW here ariseth a question to bee resolved how comes it to passe that our mercifull and gratious God who is so infinite in his goodnesse and so abundant in his loue whose praises the Prophet David amplifies in his 136. psalme twenty seauen times together with this conclusion for his mercy endureth for ever how can it stande that this our God whose mercy is thus exalted aboue all his workes should be thus infinitely mercifull and yet so infinitely iust too as to inflict vpon a finite sinne an infinite punishment that he should continue millions of yeares yea to everlastingnesse in the avengement of those sinnes which were committed as it were in a moment of time so that hee who hath offended but temporally should bee bound to suffer paines eternally I answere wee shall sufficiently vindicate and cleare Gods righteous dealing towards vs herein if wee measure his iustice but by our owne rules Scelus non temporis longitudine sed iniquitatis magnitudine metiendum est Aug. de Civitat Des lib. 21 cap. 11. for doth any law proportion out the time of punishment to the time only in which the offence is commited and so measure the continuance of the pennalty by the time of the fault Shall the prisoner lye no longer in the Goale then he is committing his villanie Doe not wee here amongst vs often see some offences which were suddenly thought of and as soone executed yet punished with endlesse datelesse banishments which in comparison to this life beare a proportion with eternity Now if the wisdome of man doth follow this rule in proportioning of punishments weighing offences by the fowlenes of the fact Shall wee denie God the righteous Iudge of all the world the same liberty over the workes of his owne hands Againe if this will not satisfie our inquisitiue mindes let vs but take our owne hearts to taske and sifte them to the bottome and impartially weigh what a world of pollution and deceipte and perversenesse is lodged in them and then certainely wee shall finde matter enough against our selues without farther inquiry for our endlesse condemnation our owne consciences will testify to the confusion of our faces that iust is the Lord and iust are his Iudgements that all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Nec iniusta eius gratia nec crudelis potest esse iustitia Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 21. c. 11. that his grace is not vniust nor his Iustice cruell Adde herevnto that the fault of its owne nature is infinite because it is a sinne against an infinite maiesty Gods Iustice being infinite the violation thereof by sinne must needs contract an infinite debt because in sinning we rob God of his glory which wee must needs repaie him againe Now the satisfaction of an infinite debt must needs bee 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 wee cannot beare Gods indignation propter immensitatem doloris wee must of necessity satisfie his Iustice duratione temporis the long continuance of our sufferings must supply what is wanting in the weight of our punishments Againe he that dies in his sinne without repentance offends as much as if he had sinned eternally quia omnis peccator est in aeternum si in aeternum vixisset in aeternum peccasset i.e. had hee liued eternally his sinne had extended to the length of his daies Peccandi voluntatem non amisit sed vitam Greg. for a man sooner ceaseth to liue then to loue his sinne and therefore God may iustly after many thousand yeares torments in Hell iterate their torments to the damned because if they had longer abode in their sinfull fiesh they would still haue perpetuated their sinfull transgressions Oh let not then sinfull flesh contend with its maker let not vs prye into the heavens nor curiously search into the secrets of Gods will to finde a reason of the
thy heart can desire or long for Thy soule should flowe and even melt in abundance of spirituall delights But now take a little view of thine owne vilenesse thy owne nakednesse thy vttter disability to any thing that may be truly called good Thy hands are feeble to Gods worke thy feete are slow to Gods temple thine eyes are seared or shut vp towards heaven But for the workes of flesh and Sathan thy heart is hot to envy thy minde prone to revenge thy tongue voluble to blaspheame thy affections even glued and incorporated as it were into the sensuall embracements And is this to serue God for heaven shall the blessednesse of the Saints and the glory of Angells and the ioy and fruition of God himselfe bee powred forth vpon such workes as these Dost thou thus requite thy maker O consider consider I say thy waies in time labour to serue God as Iacob did labour to approue thy selfe as faithfull to God as Iacob was to his vnckle Laban And if the weight of the labour discourage thee or adversity oppresse thee or prosperity seduce thee then lift vp thine eyes to heaven as Iacob did to his Rachell Let heauen be thy loue thy spouse the delight of thine eyes the ioy of thy heart Behold thy Rachell is faire and louely heaven is both beautifull and glorious Let thy desires goe before whither thou meanest to hasten after suffer for a season thy light affliction hauing an eye to the recompence of reward yet and but a little while Eò dirigendus est spiritus quo aliquando est itutus and thou shalt approach the haven where thou shalt enioy so much the more happinesse by how much the deeper thou hast drunke in sorrow and by how much the more ardent thy affections haue beene towards God in this life the more abundant shall thy reward be in the life to come then shall thy crosses proue thy gaines and that well-spring of ioy which shall ever rise in thy heart shall swallow vp all thy sorrowes CHAP. II. Shewing that there is no other way nor possible meanes to attaine to the true eternity but by a confident affiance vpon the mercy of God in Christ SVch and so deplorable is the condition of every man considered in his corrupted and degenerated state that albeit he bee able by that small sparke of naturall illumination which is left in his mind to see as in a glasse darkely and obscurely an eternity to come yet is hee vtterly ignorant of the true way therevnto neither hath he any possibility in nature to finde it out Hee is in no better state then the poore creeple at the poole of Bethesda who saw the waters that could heale him before his eyes but found no meanes to helpe him into them For that sound and perfect knowledge of the true way which man was adorned with in his first creation is wholely lost extinguished in him he is now a meere stranger from the life of God Eph. 4.18 dead in Trespasses and sinnes Eph. 1.2 reprobate to every good worke Tit. 1.16 his very minde is defiled Tit. 1.15 his wisdome is death Rom. 8.6 Nemo aliunde Deo placet nisi ex eo quod ipse donaverit He is no more able of himselfe to lead a holy life acceptable to God then a dead man is to performe the actions of one that is aliue Being thus disrobed of all spirituall endowments and sauing grace how shall hee attaine to that ioyfull Eternity which his soule as I haue said may long for but can no way reach Certainely 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 liuing way even him who hath stiled himselfe the way the truth and the life no rocke to cleaue to but this strong foundation no name vnder heauen to be saued by but this euen this alone Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same foreuer Hee and he alone is the onely sure effectuall infallible meanes of our saluation Hee alone is the true High Priest who was once offered to take away sinnes and after that entred into the true sanctuary the very Heaven to appeare in the sight of God for vs where hee is able perfectly to saue them which come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.26 He alone is the ground of our hope the crowne of our glory and the strength of our confidence Oculum tuum Domine non excludit cor clausum nec manum tuam repellit duritia hominum 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 hee please subdue and bring vnder the most obdurate gainesaying and rebellious heart to a cheerefull willing ready obedience to his heavenly will O the infinite in expressible tendernesse of our louing Sauiour towards vs When we like sheepe had gone astray his mercy reduced vs When we lay wallowing in our blood his pitty refresht vs When we were dead in our sinnes his death did reuiue vs and here we may truely say with David his mercy reacheth to the heauens From the heauens came the price of our redemption We were not neither could we be redeemed by the blood of bulls and goats by thousands of riuers of oyle by the cattle that are vpon a thousand mountaines It was not the treasures of the world the power of men or Angels could purchase this freedome nothing could cleanse vs but the blood of the Lambe He was that fountaine opened for sinne and for vncleanesse He was that Sonne of righteousnes that came with healing in his wings His were the wounds that healed our sores his was the backe that bare our sorrowes his was the price that quit our skores he assumed our flesh to redeeme vs here and he raignes as a king to crowne vs hereafter Now what remaines after all this to be done on our parts Let vs rest on this Anchor let vs fly to this hold and build on this foundation For no other foundation can any man lay then that which is laid Iesus Christ Let vs cast our soules into the armes of our Saviour In brachijs Salvatoris mei vivere volo et mori cupio saith S. Bernard O let this bee our desire Now the gate is open let vs not deferre the time of entrance Now is the acceptable time let vs not procrastinate the feason Now he offers his mercy he shewes his long sufferance let vs not turne his grace into wantonnesse let vs follow the counsell of the sonne of Sirach Ecclus the 5. Make no long tarrying to turne to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddainly shall the wrath of the Lord breake forth and in thy security thou shalt bee destroyed and thou shalt
perish in time of vengeance But alas farre otherwise it is with vs in our practise * Magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus maxima nihil agentibus 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 wee should not or in matters as we say vpon the by And as Archimedes was secure and busie about drawing lines on the ground when Syracuse was taken so is it with vs. Now that our eternall safety laies at stake we lye puzling in our dust I meane in our worldly negotiations But for our eternity shortly approaching we seldome or rarely thinke of it We are like Martha troubled 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 Wee seldome seek heauen till death doth summon vs to leaue the earth wee haue many euasions to gull our owne hearts many excuses to procrastinate our repentance like Dionysius the Scicilian king who to excuse himselfe for the present deliuery of the golden garment which he tooke from his God Apollo answered that such a robe as that was could not bee at any season of the yeare vsefull to his God it would not keepe him warme in the winter it was too heauy for the summer So many there be saith S. Ambrose who play with God and with their owne soule You must not say they seeke for the vigour and life of religion in the hearts of young men For youth as the prouerbe is must haue 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 themselues and dulls the edge of their intentions vnto all their serious vnderstandings Thus both the summer and the winter of our age are vnfit for Gods service But let vs not thus cheate our selues If God bee God let vs follow him let vs not put off the day of reconciliation and say in our hearts to morrow wee will doe it when yet we cannot tell what shall bee to morrow for what is our life It is euen a vapour that appeares for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Hence it was that Macedonius being inuited a day before to a feast replied to the messenger why doth thy Master inuite me for to morrow whereas for this many yeares I haue not promised to my selfe one daies life Nemo mortem satis cavet nisi qui semper cavet i.e. No man dreads death as he ought but hee that alwaies expects his summons and therefore wee may truly iudge such men wofully secure and wilfull contemners of the future good who can goe to their beds and rest on their pillowes in the apprehension of their knowne sinnes without a particular humiliation for them For how oft doth a suddain vnexpected death arrest men We see and knowe in our dayly experience many lay themselues to sleepe in health and safety yet are found dead in the morning Thus suddainly are they wrapt from their quiet repose to their irrecouerable iudgement perchance from their feathers to flames of fire such is the frayle condition of our brittle liues within the small particle of an houre liue and sicken and dye yet so grosse is our blindnesse that from one day to another nay from one yeare to another wee triflingly put off the reformation of our liues vntill our last houre creepes on vs vnlookt for and dragges vs to eternity Saint Augustine striuing with all his endeavours against the backwardnesse and slownesse of his owne heart to turne to the Lord bitterly complained within himselfe 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 morrowes repentance Why should not this houre terminate my sinfulnesse Wee are every minute at the brinke of death and every houre that wee passe through might proue for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortality Now if it should please God to take away our soules from vs this night as suddenly falls out to some what would then become of vs In what Eternity should wee be found Whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happy were it for vs if wee were but as carefull for the welfare of our soules as wee are curious for the adorning of our bodies if our clothes or faces doe contract any blot or soiling wee presently endeavour to cleanse the same But though our soules lye inthralled in the pollutions of sinne this alas we feele not it neither provokes vs to shame nor moues vs to sorrow Wherefore let vs looke into our hearts with a sevearer eye Let the shortnesse of our daies stirre vs vp to the amendment of our sinfull liues let the houre wherein we haue sinned be the beginning of our reformation according to that of St Ambrose agenda est paenitentia non solum solicitè verùm etiam maturè i.e. our repentance must be not only sincere but timely also whilest wee haue the light let vs walke as children of the light Let vs not any longer cheate our soules in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sinnes but rather lay open our sores and seeke to the true Physitian that can heale them All the creatures vnder the sunne doe naturally intend their owne preservation and desire that happinesse which is agreeable to their nature onely man is negligent and impiously carelesse of his owne welfare Wee see the Hart when hee is striken and wounded lookes speedily for a certaine hearbe well knowne vnto him by a kinde of naturall instinct and when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blind knowes how to procure them their sight by the vse of her Celandine But wee alas are wounded yet seeke for no remedy wee goe customarily to our bedds to our tables to our good company but who is he that obserues his constant course of praier of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sinnes Wee goe forward still in our old way and jogge on in the same rode Though our judgement hasten hell threaten death stand at the doore yet we thrust onward still in dulcem declinamus lumina somnum But alas miserable soules as we are can wee embrace quiet rests and vninterrupted sleepes with such wounded consciences Can wee be so secure being so neare our time But you will say wee haue passed already many nights without danger no sicknesse in the night hath befalne vs hitherto why then should any feare of death amaze or trouble vs Admit all this yea bee not too confident one houre may effect that which a thousand yeares could not produce and thinke with your selues what a little distance there is betweene your soules and death
Let me aske the strongest of men on earth what certainty of life canst thou promise thy selfe seeing that either a little bone in thy throat may choake thee or a tile from thy house may braine thee or some malignant ayre may poyson thee and then where art thou There are a thousand waies Tu te prius ad aeternitatem abrep tum miraberis quà m metueres abripiendum whereby suddainly a man may come to his end and certaine it is that Mors illa maxime improvisa est cuius vita praecedens non fuit provida i. e. that death is the suddainest which is not vshered in with a foregoing preparation It is therefore a speciall point of wisdome to thinke every day our last yea to account every houre the period of our liues For looke how many pores there are in the body so many windowes are there to let in death yea we carry our deaths continually about vs in our bosomes and who can promise himselfe his life till the evening Hath not our owne experience showne vs many whose sleepes in their beds haue proued sleepes vnto death who haue beene carried from their chambers to their graue Death doth not alwaies send forth her harbingers to giue notice of her comming shee often presseth in vnlookt for and suddainly attached the vnprovided soule Watch therefore because yee know neither the day nor the houre worke whilest yee haue the day for the night comes wherein no man can worke looke towards thy evening and cast thy thoughts vpon that long Eternity Death first or last will apprehend thee expect it therefore at every turne and of this assure thy selfe Qualis quisque in hac vita motitur talis in die novissimo iudicabitur as death leaueth thee so shall iudgement finde thee How improvidently secure then are those who set vp their rest in the comforts of this life and overly-regard their eternall welfare This is the generall carelesnesse of our times If a man haue a perpetuity but of fiue shillings yearely rent what travell and paines and sweat what beating of his braine and exhausting of his treasure will he runne through before he will loose one dram of his right Yet our eternall inheritance is cast behind vs and vndervalued as a trifle not worth the seeking and this shewes our small loue to our home for wee little esteeme of that which wee take small paines for All other things which conduce to our temporall well being wee seeke with circumspection and enioy them with content but matters of Eternity wee conceiue of as things farre distant from vs wee scarcely entertaine them in our thoughts Wee busy not our vnderstandings in the search of those things which we see not things present and obvious to our sight doe best affect vs wee are ill-sighted vpward weake and dimme eyes haue wee towards heaven The truth of this appeares even in children who presently even from the cradle drinke in the rudiments of vice they learne to sweare riot drinke and the like enormities with the smallest teaching but they are vtterly indisposed to any vertuous inclinations They soone apprehend what belongs to the curiosity of behaviour and deportment of the body the fashions of the times Hoc discunt omnes ante Alpha Beta puelli but for Heaven and that Eternity they are wholly averse from it they are vtterly vncapable of the things aboue they carry about them as the livery of their first parents not only an indisposition but a very opposition to goodnesse And whereas for other imployments and vndertakings they haue certaine naturall notions in them bending their intentions to naturall workes some one way and some another yet they haue not so much as a naturall apprehension of the things of God Homo sine gratia praeter carnem nihil sapit intelligit aut potest Thus it is with children and thus it is with all men even those of the ripest and most peircing vnderstanding vntill the light of Gods spirit hath shined on their hearts and powerfully wrought some spirituall holy dispositions in them The naturall man saith the Apostle neither doth nor can discerne the things that are of God O how infinitely-miserable and deplorable is his state who hauing neither knowledge of the true life nor possibility of himselfe to finde it out Cum exulsit a patria exultat in via yet runnes on securely in his damned way vntill he fall woefully and irrevocably into the pit where hee will not haue no not when hee hath vncomfortably worne out millions of yeares the least intermission of sorrow or drop of comfort or hope of pardon Here on earth malefactors condemned to dye haue this comfort though wretched that one houre commonly terminates all their griefes in this life But the torments of the damned are not concluded in an age nay the end and period of ten thousand yeares will not end their sorrowe And this is it which addes more to their sufferings even their vnhappy knowledge of the perpetuity of them they haue not so much as any hope of releasement Hope in this life hath such a power in it that it can yeeld some comfort in the middest of trouble The sicke man whilest his soule is in him he hath hope but after this life this small refreshment is denied the damned all their hope is turned into desperation The Prophet Daniell cap. 4.14 heard the voice of an holy one crying hew downe the tree and cut off his branches shake of his leaues and scatter his fruit neuerthelesse leaue the stumpe of his roote in the earth Thus it is with men in this world saith Ambrose their leaues and their flowers are shaken their delights are taken from them but the rootes remaine and their hope is not abolished But it is not so in hell saith he There both flower and stumpe nay and even all hope too are banished away from them The day of the Lord saith the Prophet Malachy shall burne them vp and leaue them neither roote nor branch The very hope saith Salomon of the wicked shall perish what should this teach vs but whilest our hope remaines to improue our few daies to our best advantage to make straighter paths to our selues to abridge our inordinate appetites in some measure of their vaine fruitlesse ioyes and with all the power of our affections striue to attaine that hauen where no billow shall affright vs no stormes astonish vs no perills indanger vs Then shall our dissolution proue our gaine and our death our glory if otherwise wee persist wilfully in the paths of our voluptuousnesse and solace our selues in the vaine ioyes of our owne hearts and in the sight of our eyes certainly it will be bitternesse in the latter end Extrema gaudii luctus occupat All our earthly delights will glide away like a swift river The reioycing of the wicked is short saith Iob and the ioy of a sinner is but for a moment Though his
excellency mount vp to the heaven and his head reach vnto the cloudes yet shall he perish for ever like his dongue but the righteous is like a strong mountaine and he shall bee had in everlasting remembrance Wherefore to draw to a conclusion iust occasion might here be taken for deploring the negligence and vnhappy condition of our times Where are there any that take into their thoughts the due consideration of the time to come Where shall wee finde any truly provident for immortality Sic plerique vivimus ac si fabula esset omnis aeternitas wee so liue as though wee conceiued of Eternity but as of a fable or a dreame the sweete allurements of sin doe so strangely beguile many that by gentle degrees they obliterate and extinguish in them all loue of vertue and the very inclinations themselues to any thing that may be truly tearmed good But let vs no longer delude our selues by fancying a perpetuity on earth behold the judge stands before the doore Momento fi et quod tota doleat aeternitas The strongest holds in the World will not be able to detaine vs one minute when God shall be pleased to call for our soules and therefore Ante oculos prae omnibus habeamus diem vltimum momentis singulis supplicia timeamus dolotum aeternorum let vs before all things haue continually in our sight the last day and let vs every moment feare the punishments of eternall paines CHAP. III. Certaine conclusions drawne from the serious and devoute consideration of Eternity The first conclusion IF they who runne on in any notorious sinne did but rightly weigh how fast they goe towards the Eternity of torments since that by the least command or stroke of God Confecto demum scelere eius magnitudo intelligitur they may bee vnavoidably hurl'd to death and destruction Certainely they would not for all the kingdomes in Europe for all the treasures of Asia nay not for the whole world deferre their repentance one houre much lesse would they goe so confidently to their beds without feare or horror being so neare the pits brinke and lying in the danger of so great a sinne For what would it profit a man to winne the whole world and loose his soule wherefore whoeuer thou art Nulli parcas vt soli parcas animae Omnia siperdas animam servare memento what ever become of all other things yet haue a speciall care for the salvation of thy pretious soule The second conclusion The greatest part of men doe not belieue this Eternity which shall vndoubtedly follow either in Heaven or Hell to all For were they assured of that truth they would shew more evident proofe thereof in the reformation of their liues Some indeede will seeme to credit it in their words but deny it in their actions Their apprehensions and conceits may perchance sometimes glance at it vpon some checke of conscience it being as a thorne in their sides and a mountaine in their way towards their earthly contentment but they are soone taken off Such thoughts haue no rooting in the ground of their hearts but are suddenly choaked by some intervenient imployments they are commonly nipt in their very bud and killed in their birth So that they neuer come to any issue Thus many there are who Caeci ad aeternitatem adeunt ex qua nunquam exibunt runne headlong and blindfold to their long home like the rich glutton in the Gospell which never began to open his eyes and looke vpwards till he was in torment All the while he liued on earth his eyes were shut vp and when it was too late namely when he was throwne to hell then began he to looke vpward and about him And certainely it is no marvaile this rich glutton and many more like him hasten thus vnhappily to their vnevitable downefall For they goe on in a pleasing and easy way And In via nemo errat sed in fine viae via pluribus placet sed dispicet terret viae terminus they are never sensible that they are out of the way till they arriue at the end of their journey All misery lies in the close of the day For out of the pit is no redemption when once the soule is split vpon this rocke it giues to the world his everlasting farewell according to that of Iob. cap. 7.9 as the cloud vanisheth and goeth away so he that goes downe to the graue shall come vp no more hee shall returne no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more The third conclusion Whosoeuer shall descend into himselfe and take a strict and serious view of this eternity certainly the meditation thereof soundly digested cannot but terminate his desires to a moderate and sparing fruition even of lawfull contentments This will imbitter his carnall mirth take off the edge from his sweetest delights and at length make him say with Salomon I said of laughter thou art madde and of joy what doest thou It is recorded of Lazarus that after his resurrection from the dead he was never seene to laugh The streame of his affections were now turned into another Channell his thoughts were fixt in heaven though his body was on earth and therefore Aeternis inhianti in fastidio sunt omnia transitoria i.e. Bern. hee could not but slight temporall things when his heart was bent towards eternall Oh that wee could worke our hearts soules to a vehement thirst after Christ the true eternity that wee could cleaue to that rocke with stedfastnesse and with vnmoueable affections For if Christ be our end our joy shall be endlesse nullo fine regnabis cum Christo si Christus tibi finis The fourth conclusion The minde of man is so much the more sensible of the evill present by how much lesse it meditates on the good to come For he that lookes towards the reward will vilify the sufferings Saint Austin runs on sweetely in his meditations vpon this subiect Eternall labour saith he is but an equall compensation for an eternall rest But if thou shouldest endure this eternall labour thou couldst never arriue at that eternall rest Therefore hath the mercy of God ordained thy sorrowes to be temporall that thy ioyes may bee eternall and yet saith he Vbi est cogitatio Dei nimi profundae factae sunt cogitationes Dei Aug. who is there thinkes on God as he ought Such thoughts are irkesome to vs But for temporall vanities we thinke of them with delight and enioy them with contentment Now saith he looke in and about thy selfe see where thou art God hath his hooke in thy nostrills Noli gaudere vt piscis qui in sua exultat esca nondum enim traxit hamum piscator Aug. and can plucke thee vp when he pleaseth and though hee suffer thee according to thy calculation a long time yet what is the longest time of man to Gods eternity Yea though