the other but falling from an high Tower he remained one leg as long as the other Alexander Benedictus rehearseth Alexan. Benedi lib. 3. That he knew a blind man who being wounded grievously in the head recovered his sight Rondelejus certifies that a mad woman having her head broken returned to her wits Plutarch writes of one Promeheus who had an ugly humour and swelling in his face who having spent much money upon Surgeons and Physicians to little purpose was by a wound which his Enemy by chance gave him in the same place perfectly cured the hurt leaving no blemish or deformity behind it The injuries done to Joseph by his brothers promoted him to the greatest honours of the Egyptian Empire The heap of miseries wherein holy Job was involved concluded in a double fortune and felicity Jacob flying from his Countrey with no more wealth than a walking staffe returned rich and prosperous with a numerous Family There is no drooping for unfortunate successes since they often prove the beginning of great felicities and oftentimes we may rejoyce for those evils for which we have shed tears But that we may more clearly perceive the mutability of things and the hope we may entertain even in the depth of our calamities of a better condition I shall here recount the Story of Marcus and Barbula two Roman Gentlemen Fulgosius l. 6. Marcus who was Praetor followed the Party of Brutus and being overthrown with his Generall in the Philippian fields and taken Prisoner feigned himself to be of base condition and so was bought by Barbula for a Slave who perceiving in him notwithstanding his outward appearance a deep judgement great discretion and a noble spirit began to suspect him to be something else than what hs seemed and calling him aside perswaded him to reveal who he was assuring him that although he were one of the Rebels he would not fail to procure his pardon Marcus smiling assured him he was no such man and Barbula to let him see how bootless it was to conceal who he was told him he was resolved to carry him along with him to Rome where he was certain to be discovered Marcus answered With all his heart not doubting but the great change of his habit and condition would free him from the knowledge of any but he found himself deceived for he was no sooner arrived at Rome but waiting upon his Master at the door of one of the Cousuls he was known by a Roman Citizen who immediately discovered him in secret to his Patron Barbulâ—t handled the matter so discreetly that without acquainting his counterseit Slave he went to Agrippa by whose means he obtained a pardon from Augusts who in short time became so well satisfied of Marcus that he received him amongst his most private friends Not long after Barbula following the side of Mark Anthony was taken in the Actiacan Warre and unknown was likewise bought by Marcus amongst other Slaves But so soon as it came to his knowledge that he was his ancient Master he repaired unto Augustus begged his pardon and restored him unto his liberty returning in the same manner the favour which he had received Who sees not here those secret pipes by which blessings are derived and fortune changed Marcus enjoyed the dignity of a Praetor was sodainly after a Slave than a Friend of Caesars and a redeemer of his redeemer arriving at higher preferments by his slavery and captivity than by his birth and former dignity Whilest life lasts there is no mishap without hope and affliction although we look upon things within their own limits and natural disposition come often home loaden with prosperities But if we look upon them with that divine hope which we ought to have there is no evil from whence we may not derive a good To what greater streights can one be brought than to be drawn forth to execution and held guilty by the consent of all as Susanna was but in the very way to justice God raised her up a salvation both of life and honour converting her unjust infamy into a great esteem and admiration of her vertue What remedy for Daniel when he was thrown into a Cave amongst hungry Lions but where he expected to be devoured by wild beasts he found comfort The three Children who were cast into the fiery Furnace in Babylon where there was nothing to be hoped for but death found refreshment life and content David when he was compassed in by the Souldiers of Saul despaired of safety yet escaped the danger There is no evil in this life which even with the hopes of this life may not be asswaged but with the hopes of the other who will not be comforted Let us therefor onely fear eternal evils which have neither comfort hope nor possibility of amendment CAP. III. We ought to consider what we may come to be BUt that we may as little presume upon things favourable and succesful as despair when they are averse and contrary this excellent instruction may be drawn from their inconstancy which is Not to confide at all in humane prosperity For neither Kingdome Empire Papacy nor any greatness whatsoever can secure their Owners from ruine and misfortunes and everyone ought with holy Job to confider What he may come to be There is no fortune so high unto which may not succeed a condition as low and disastrous Let the great and rich man consider that all his wealth and power may fail and he be driven to beg an alms Let the King consider he may become a Mechanick Tradesman Let the Emperor consider that even in his own Court he may be dragged forth to justice and have dirt flung in his face and be publickly executed Let the Popes confider that some of them have been forced to kiss the feet of other Popes These things seem incredible and mortals are hardly drawn to believe them But let no man wonder at the success of any since not only Kings Emperours and Popes have been condemned but Saints and such who by their holiness have wrought miracles have fallen and been danmed in hell fire Let us all therefore preserve our selves in humility let us not confide in prosperity nor presume upon our vertues though never so perfect since every man is subject to fall into those misfortunes he little thinks of Who would imagine that so opprobrious affronts could befal a Roman Emperour as happened to Andronicus whose history I shall here relate to confirm that which if grave Authors had not reported would seem incredible An. 1285. Nicetas Chroniat in annal lib. 2. Nicetas writes and others bear him witness That this Emperour in the third year of his reign was laid hold upon by his own Vassals a strong chain and collar of iron as if he had been some Mastive dog fastned about his neck his hands manacled and his feet fetter'd with heavy shackles the most ordinary sort of people taunting him with bitter scoffs buffetted him upon the face
of thy life This is admirable counsel that since thou knowest thou art to dye and knowest not when that thou perform each action as if it were thy last and as if in ending it thou wert to expire thy self Above all let us endeavour to leave sin and evil inclinations to leave the cares of the earth and to elevate our whole heart and affections unto heaven and there to place our thoughts which are to be upright and setled in God Almighty A crooked tree when they cut it down falls that way it was inclined when it grew If one doe not bend towards heaven whilest he lives which way can he fall in death it is much to be feared into Hell CAP. III. Of that moment which is the medium betwixt Time and Eternity which being the end of Life is therefore most terrible WE ought then seriously to consider which is certainly a matter of great amazement all which is to passe in that moment of death for which the time of this life was onely bestowed upon us and upon which depends the eternity of the other O most dreadful point which art the end of Time and beginning of Eternity O most fearful instant which shuttest up the prefixed tearm of this life and determines the business of our Salvation O moment upon which depends Eternity how oughtest thou to be placed in our thoughts with profit that we may not hereafter when it is too late remember thee with repentance How many things are to pass in thee In the same instant life is to finish all our works to be examined and that sentence given which is to be executed for all eternity O last moment of Life O first of Eternity how terrible is the thought of thee since in thee not onely life is to be lost but to be accounted for and we then to enter into a Region which we know not In that moment I shall cease to live in that moment I shall behold my Judge who shall lay all my sins open before me with all their weight number and enormity In it I shall receive a strict charge of all the Divine benefits bestowed upon me and in it a judgment shall pass upon me either for my salvation or damnation eternal How wonderful is it that for so many matters and of so great importance there is no more time allotted than the space of an instant no place left for reply intercession of friends or appeal O fearful moment upon which so much depends O most important instant of Time and Eternity Admirable is the high wisdom of God which hath placed a point in the middest betwixt Time and Eternity unto which all the time of this life is to relate and upon which the whole Eternity of the other is to depend O moment which art neither Time nor Eternity but art the Horizon of both and dividest things Temporal from Eternal O narrow moment O most dilated point wherein so many things are to be concluded so strict an accompt is to be given and where so rigorous a Sentence as is to be pronounced is ever to stand in force A strange case that a business of eternity is to be resolved in a moment and no place allowed for the intercession of friends or our own diligence It will be then in vain to repair unto the Saints in Heaven or the Priests upon Earth those will not intercede for thee nor can these give thee absolution because the rigour of the Judge in that instant wherein thou expirest allows no further mercy Apoc. 20. St. John sayes that Heaven and Earth shall flye from the presence of the Judge Whither wilt thou then goe to what place canst thou repair being the person against whom the Process is commenced It is therefore said that Heaven and Earth shall flye away because neither the Saints of Heaven shall there favour thee with their intercession neither can the Priests of the Earth assist thee with the Sacraments of the Church There shall be place for nothing that may help thee What would then a sinner give for leave to make one poor Confession when it is too late that which would now serve thy turn and thou despisest thou wouldest then have done and canst not Provide thy self therefore in time whilest it may avail thee and deferre it not until that instant wherein nothing can do thee good Now thou mayest help thy self now the Saints will favour thee expect not that moment wherein thy own endeavours will be useless and wherein the Saints will not assist thee To the end we may frame a more lively conceit of what hath been said Lib. 1. Epist 10. I will relate a Story which St. Peter Damian rehearseth in an Epistle of his to Pope Alexander the second of that name whereof the Saint sayes it caused dread in him as often as it came to his mind Thus it was That two men going to fell wood in a Forest there issued forth a Serpent ugly and of a huge size with two heads and mouths of both open thrusting out their tongues with three points or small darts in each of them and seeming to cast out fire at his eyes set upon them One of the two men of more spirit and courage at the first assault of the Serpent struck it with his hatchet and cut off one of his heads but unfortunately let fall his hatchet The Serpent feeling himself wounded full of fury and rage took him at the disadvantage without his weapon and roled his train round about his body The miserable man cried out to his Companion for help or at least that he would give him his hatchet to defend himself or do some execution upon his enemy that was now dragging him towards his Den. But his Companion was so cowardly that he durst not any wayes succour him but affrighted and astonished fled away leaving that wretched man in the power of the Serpent which with great rage carried him to his Den without resistance or any succour at all notwithstanding the hideous out-cries and lamentations the poor Captive made This History is but a slight draught of what a Sinner will experience in the instant of the departure of his Soul out of this life when without any aid at all or hope of it he shall find himself at the mercy of the infernal Dragon who will use him with all violence imaginable St. Peter Damianus sayes he could not express the horror this sad accident caused in him insomuch that it made him tremble many times to consider what pass'd betwixt the Serpent and the man in that Den there being no body to afford any help to the poor fellow in that distress where neither his strength nor cries could any wayes avail him to decline the fury of that ugly Monster now ready to tear him in pieces Wherefore if to be void of all hopes of temporal life and to be in the power of a Serpent is a thing so dreadful what fright and astonishment
Prosperous and the Lovers of the World who are those which for the most part people Hell The Prophet Baruch sayes Baruc. 3. Where are the Princes of the Nations which commanded over the beasts of the earth and sported with the birds of the air which store up silver and gold in which men put their trust and there is no end of their seeking who stamp and work silver who are sollicitous and their works are not found They are exterminated they have sunk down into hell Jac. 5. and others have risen in their places St. James sayes Weep you who are rich and lament the miseries which are to fall upon you St. Paul not onely threatens those who are rich but those who desire to be so saying Those who desire to be rich fall into the snare and temptation of the Devil 1 Tim. 6. and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires which drown them in death and perdition With this counterpoise then and hazard who would desire the wealth of the World since onely the desire of it is so poisonous Let those who dote upon the World hear St. Bernard Bernard in Medit. who sayes Tell me now Where are those lovers of the world who a little while agoe were here with us there is nothing remaining of them but dust and worms Mark diligently what they once were and what they now are They were men as thou now art they did eat drink laugh and pass away their times in mirth and jollity and in a moment of time sunk down into hell Here are their Bodies eaten by worms and their Souls condemned to eternal flames until united again they both shall sink together into everlasting fire that so those who were companions in sin may be also in torments and that one pain involve them who were consorts in the love of the same offence What did their vain glory profit them their short mirth their worldly power their fleshly pleasure their false riches their numerous families where is now their laughter their jests their boasting their arrogance how great shall be their sorrow when such misery shall succeed so many pleasures when from the height of humane glory they shall fall into those grievous torments and eternal ruine where according to what the Wise-man said the mighty shall be mightily punished If then those who most enjoy the World run the greatest hazard of being damned what can more induce us to the contempt of it than the consideration of so lamentable an end And what can more set forth the malice of temporal goods than to be the occasion of eternal evils If a curious built house be subject to some notable inconveniency no man will dwell in it if a couragious horse have some vitious quality no body will buy him and if a Chrystal cup have a crack it shall not be placed upon a Royal Cupboard yet the pleasures and goods of the World though subject to all those faults how are they coveted loved and sought after and in them our perdition Certainly if we should consider seriously the eternal evils which correspond to the short pleasures of this life we should have all humane felicity in horrour and trembling to see our selves in fortunes favour should flye from the world as from death The reverend and zealous Father Frier Jordan being desirous to convert a certain Cavalier to God and from the love of the world for his last remedy had recourse unto this consideration Seeing him a beautiful young man active and well disposed of body he said unto him At least Sir since God hath bellowed so comely a face and personage upon you think what pity it were they should be the food of eternal fire and burn without end The Gentleman reflected upon his advice and this consideration wrought so much with him that abhorring the world and quitting all his possessions and hopes he became poor in Christ and entred into Religion §. 2. Let us now come to the consideration of Eternal Evils that from thence we may despise all which is temporal be it good or bad The evils of Hell are truly evils and so purely such that they have no mixture of good In that place of unhappiness all is eternal sorrow and complaint and there is no room for comfort Aelian lib. 3. varia Hist c. 18. Aelian relates a History which being taken as a Parable may serve to illustrate what we are about to speak of He sayes in the utmost borders of the Meropes there is a cetrain place called Anostos which is as much to say from whence there is no return There was to be seen a great Precipice and a deep opening of the earth from whence issued two Rivers the one of Joy and the other of Sadness upon the brinks of which grew divers trees of so different fruits that those who eat of the one forgot all that might cause grief but those who eat of the other were so possessed with an unconsolable sadness that all was weeping and lamentations until they at last died with signs and shedding of tears What do those Rivers signifie but the one of them that whereof David speaks which with his current rejoyced the City of God the other that Flood of evil which enters the Prison of Hell and fills it with groans tears and despite without the least hope of comfort for there shall the door be eternally shut to all good or expectation of ease in so much as one drop of water was denied the rich Glutton from so merciful and pitiful a man as Abraham There shall not be the least good that may give ease nor shall there want a concourse of all evils which may add affliction There is no good to be found there where all goods are wanting neither can there be want of any evil where all evils whatsoever are to be found and by the want of all good and the collection of all evils every evil is augmented In the creation of the World God gave a praise to every nature saying It was good without farther exaggeration but when all were created and joyned together he said They were very good because the conjunction of many goods advances the good of each particular and in the same manner the conjunction of many evils makes all of them worse What shall Heaven then be where there is a concourse of all goods and no evils And what Hell where there are all evils and no good Certainly the one must be exceeding good and the other exceeding evil In signification of which the Lord shewed unto the Prophet Jeremias two little Baskets of Figs Jer. 24. in the one of which were excessively good ones and in the other excessively bad both in extremity He does not content himself in saying they were bad or very bad but sayes they were over-bad because they represented the miserable state of the Damned where is to be the sink of all evils without mixture of any good at all And for this
not to an ordinary River but to a River of fire for the greatness and severity of the rigour shall be repressed for 30 or 40 years during the life of a man what an infinity of wrath will it amass together and with what fury will it burst out upon the miserable Sinners in the point of death All this rigour and severity shall the wretched Caytif behold in the face of the offended Judge And therefore the Prophet Daniel saith that a River of fire issued from his Countenance and that his Throne was of flames and the wheels of it burning fire because all shall then be fire rigour and justice He sets forth unto us his Tribunal and Throne with wheels to signifie thereby the force and violence of his omnipotency in executing the severity of his justice all which shall appear in that moment when Sinners shall be brought into judgment when the Lord as David sayes shall speak unto them in his wrath and confound them in his fury The which is also declared by other Prophets in most terrible and threatning words Isai 56. Isaias saith The Lord will come cloathed in garments of vengeance and covered with a robe of zeal and will give unto his adversaries his indignation and his enemies shall have their turn And the Wise-man to declare it more fully saith His zeal that is his indignation shall take up arms and shall arm the creatures to revenge him of his enemies he shall put on justice as a brest-plate be shall take the bead-piece of righteous judgment and embrace the inexpugnable shield of equity and shall sharpen his wrath as a lance Osee 13. The Prophet Osee declares the same proposing the Judge unto us not onely as an enraged and armed man but a fierce and cruel Beast and therefore speaking in the person of God saith I will appear unto them in that instant at a Bear that hath been robbed of her whelps I will tear their entrails in pieces and will devour them as a Lyon There is no beast more fierce of nature than a Lyon or Bear which hath lost her young ones the which will furiously assault him she first meets with and yet God whose nature is infinite goodness would compare himself unto so savage and cruel beasts to express the terrour of his justice and rigour with which he is in that day to shew himself against Sinners The consideration of this wrought so much with Abbot Agathon when he was at the point of dying In vitis Pat. that he continued three dayes in admiration his eyes for fear and dread continually broad open without moving from one side to the other Certainly all comparisons and exaggerations fall short of what it shall be since that day is The day of wrath and calamity That is the day when the Lord shall speak aloud in lieu of the many dayes wherein he hath been silent That is the day of which he spake by his Prophet I held my peace and was mute but I will then cry out as a woman in labour That day shall take up all his justice and shall recompence for all his years of sufferance That day shall be purely of justice without mixture of mercy hope of compassion help favour or any other patronage but of our works This is signified in that which Daniel saith that the Throne and Tribunal of God was of flames and that there shall proceed from his face a river of fire because fire besides that it is the most active nimble and vehement of all the Elements is also the most pure not admitting the mixture of any thing The earth contains Mines of Mettals and Quarries of Stone the water suffers in her bosome variety of Fishes the Air multitudes of vapours and exhalations and other bodies but Fire endures nothing it melts the hardest mettals reduces stones into cinders consumes living creatures converts trees into it self in so much as it is not onely impatient of a companion but infuses its own qualities into what it meets withall and turns even what is contrary unto it into its own substance and nature it does not onely melt snow but makes it boyl and makes cold iron burn So shall it be in that day all shall be rigour and justice without mixture of mercy nay the very mercies which God hath used towards a Sinner shall then be an argument and food for his justice O man which hast now time consider in what condition thou shalt see thy self in that instant when neither the blood of Christ shed for thee nor the Son of God crucified nor the intercession of the most blessed Virgin nor the Prayers of Saints nor the Divine mercy it self shall avail thee but shall onely behold an incensed and revenging God whose mercies shall then onely serve to augment his justice Thou shalt then perceive that none will take thy part but all will be against thee The most holy Virgin who is the Mother of mercy the mercy of God himself and the blood of thy Redeemer will all be against thee and onely thy good works shall stand for thee This life once past thou art to expect no Patron no Protector but thy vertuous actions onely they shall accompany thee and when thy Angel Guardian Theophan an 20. Herac. Imper. ut habetur in tom 2. p. 2. Concil in notis ad vitam Theodori Papae and all the Saints thy Advocates shall leave thee they onely shall not forsake thee See that thou provide thy self for that day take care thou now benefit thy self by the blood of Christ for thy salvation if not it will onely serve for thy greater damnation The whole world was amazed at the manner of the condemnation of Pyrrhus the Heretick by Pope Theodâ—rus who calling a Councel at Rome and placing himself close by the body of St. Peter in the presence of the whole Assembly took the consecrated Chalice and pouring the blood of Christ into the Ink did with his own hand write the Sentence of excommunion and Anathema by which he separated Pyrrhus from the Church of Christ This dreadful manner of proceeding brought a fear upon all those who heard it Do thou then tremble unto whom it may happen that the blood of thy Redeemer shall onely serve as a Sentence of thy eternal death For so severe will the Divine justice be in that day against a Sinner that if it were needful for his condemnation to confirm the Sentence with the blood of Christ it should although once shed upon the Cross for his salvation then onely serve to his damnation and eternal reprobation If this be true as nothing can be more certain how come we to be so careless how come we to laugh and rejoyce In vitis Pat. lib. 5. With great reason an old Hermite in the Desert beholding another laugh reprehended him for it saying We are to give a strict account before the Lord of Heaven and Earth the most inflexible Judge and darest thou be
something of the merits of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Then he said Now 't is well The Religious much admired that a young man so innocent should speak things so dreadful and with such a strange noise When the young man was returned to his senses they demanded of him to declare unto them the meaning of those words and great cryes He answered them I saw that in the Judgement of Almighty God so strict an accompt was taken even of idle words and other things that seemed very little and they weighed them so exactly that the merits in respect of the demerits were almost nothing at all And for this reason I gave that first terrible and sad outcry Afterwards I saw that the demerits were weighed with great attention and that little regard was made of the merits For this reason I spake the second words And seeing that the merits were so few and inconsiderable for to be justified I spake the third And in regard that with the merits of the Passion of Christ our Saviour the balance wherein my good works were weighed more than the other immediately a favourable sentence was given in my behalf For this reason I said now 't is well And having said this he gave up his ghost § 3. The third cause of the terribleness of the end of Temporal Life which is the charge which shall be given of divine benefits received THere is also in the end of life another cause of much terrour unto Sinners which is the lively knowledge which they shall have of the divine benefits received and the Charge which shall be laid against them for their great ingratitude and abuse of them This is also signified by what the Prophet Daniel spake of the Throne and Tribunal of God For he not onely said it was of flames of fire by which was given us to understand the rigour of divine justice against Sinners signified by the violence heat and activity of fire and the discovery and manifestation of sins signified by the light and brightness of the flames but he also adds that from the face of the Judge there proceeded a heady and rapid river which was also of fire signifying by the swiftness of the course and the issuing of it from God the multitude of his graces and benefits which flowing from the divine goodness are communicated and poured down upon his Creatures His saying that this so great river shall in that day be of fire is to make us understand the rigour of that Charge against us for our abuse of those infinite benefits bestowed together with the light and clearness wherewith we shall know them and the horrour and confusion which shall then seise upon us for our great ingratitude and the small account we have made of them in so much as Sinners in that instant are not onely to stand in fear of their own bad works but of the grace and benefits of God Almighty conferr'd upon them Another mourning Weed and confusion shall cover them when they shall see what God hath done to oblige and assist them toward their salvation and what they to the contrary have done to draw upon them their own damnation They shall tremble to see what God did for their good and that he did so much as he could do no more all which hath been mis-imployed and abused by themselves This is so clear and evident on the part of God Almighty that he calls men themselves as witnesses and Judges of the truth and therefore speaking under the Metaphor of a Vineyard by his Prophet Isay Isai 5. he saith in this manner Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge betwixt me and my Vineyard what ought I to have done more unto my Vineyard and have not done it And after the incarnation of the Son of God the Lord turns again to upbraid men with the same resentment and signifies more fully the multitude of his benefits under the same Metaphor of a Vineyard Mat. 21. which a man planted and so much cherished and esteemed it that he sent thither his onely Son who was slain in the demand of it Let therefore men enter into judgement against themselves and let them be judges whether God could have done more for them and has not done it they being still so ungrateful towards their Creatour as if he had been their enemy and done them some notorious injury Coming therefore to consider every one of these benefits by its self The first which occurs is that of the Creation which was signified by our Saviour Jesus Christ when he said that He planted a Vineyard and what could God do more for thee since in this one benefit of thy Creation he gave thee all what thou art both in soul and body If wanting an arm thou wouldest esteem thy self much obliged and be very thankful unto him who should bestow one upon thee which were sound strong and useful why art thou not so to God who hath given thee arms heart soul body and all Consider what thou wert before he gave thee a being Nothing and now thou enjoyest not onely a being but the best being of the Elemental world Philosophers say that betwixt being and not being there is an infinite distance See then what thou owest unto thy Creatour and thou shalt find thy debt to be no less than infinite since he hath not onely given thee a being but a noble being and that not by necessity but out of an infinite love and by election making choice of thee amongst an infinity of men possible whom he might have created If lots were to be cast amongst a hundred persons for some honourable charge how fortunate would he be esteemed who should draw the lot from so many Competitors behold then thy own happiness who from an absolute nothing hast light upon a being amongst an infinity of creatures possible And whence proceeds this singular favour but from God who out of those numberless millions hath pickt out thee leaving many others who if he had created them would have served him better than thy self See then what God could have done for thee and has not having chosen thee without any desert of thine from amongst so many and preferred thee before those whom he foresaw would have been more thankful Besides this he not onely created thee by election and gave thee a noble being but supernatural happiness being no way due unto thy nature he created thee for it and gave thee for thy end the most high and eminent that could be imagined to wit the eternal possession of thy Creatour It was enough for God to create thee for a natural happiness conformable to what thou wert but he not to leave any thing undone which he could do created thee for a supernatural blessedness in so much as there is no creature which hath a higher end then thy self See then if God could do more for thee and has not and see what thou oughtest to do
since he hath employed his omnipotency for our good and profit let us employ our forces and faculties for his glory and service CAP. VI. Of the End of all Time BEsides the end of the particular time of this life the universal end of all time is much to be considered that since humane ambition passes the limits of this life and desires honour and a famous memory after it Man may know that after this death there is another death to follow in which his memory shall also die and vanish away as smoke After that we have finisht the time of this life the end of all time is to succeed which is to give a period unto all which we leave behind us Let man therefore know that those things which he leaves behind for his memory after death are as vain as those which he enjoyed in life Let him raise proud Mausoleums Let him erect Statues of Marble Let him build populous Cities Let him leave a numerous Kindred Let him write learned Books Let him stamp his Name in brass and fix his Memory with a thousand nails All must have an end his Cities shall sink his Statues fall his Family and Linage perish his Books be burned his Memory be defaced and all shall end because all time must end It much imports us to perswade our selves of this truth that we may not be deceived in the things of this world That not only our pleasures and delights are to end in death but our memories at the farthest are to end with Time And since all are to conclude all are to be despised as vain and perishing Cicero although immoderately desirous of fame and honour Cieer in Ep. ad Luc. as appears by a large Epistle of his written unto a friend wherein he earnestly entreats him to write the conspiracy of Cataline which was discovered by himself in a Volume apart and that he would allow something in it unto their ancient friendships and Publish it in his life time that he might enjoy the glory of it whilest he lived yet when he came to consider that the world was to end in Time he perceived that no glory could be immortal and therefore sayes By reason of deluges and burnings of the earth In Somn. Scip. which muâ—â— of necessity happen within a certain time we cannot attain glory not so much as durable for any long time much less eternal In this world no memory can be immortal since Time and the World it self are mortal and the time will come when time shall be no more But this truth is like the memory of death which by how much it is more important by so much men think lest of it and practically do not believe it But God that his divine providence and care might not be wanting hath also in this taken order that a matter of so great concernment should be published with all solemnity first by his Son after by his Apostles and then by Angels Apoc. 10. And therefore St. John writes in his Apocalyps that he saw an Angel of great might and power who descended from heaven having a Cloud for his Garment and his head covered with a Rainbow his face shining as the Sun and his feet as pillars of fire with the right foot treading upon the Sea and with the left upon the Earth sending forth a great and terrible voice as the roaring of a Lyon which was answered by seaven thunders with other most dreadful noises and presently this prodigious Angel lifts up his hand towards Heaven But wherefore all this Ceremony wherefore this strange equipage wherefore this horrid voice and thunder all was to proclaim the death of Time and to perswade us more of the infallibility of it he continued it with a solemn Oath conceived in a Set form of most authentique words listing up his hand towards Heaven and swearing by him that lives for ever and ever who created Heaven and Earth and all which is in it There shall be mo more time With what could this truth be more confirmed than by the Oath of so great and powerful and an Angel The greatness and solemnity of the Oath gives us to understand the weight and gravity of the thing affirmed both in respect of it self and the importance of us to know it If the death of a Monarch or Prince of some corner of the world prognosticated by an Eclipse or Comet cause a fear and amazement in the beholders what shall the death of the whole World and with it all things temporal and of Time it self foretold by an Angel with so prodigious an apparition and so dreadful a noise produce in them who seriously consider it For us also this thought is most convenient whereby to cause in us a contempt of all things temporal Let us therefore be practically perswaded that not onely this life shall end but that there shall be also an end of Time Time shall bereave Man of this life and Time shall bereave the World of his whose end shall be no less horrible than that of Man but how much the whole World and the whole Race of mankind exceeds one particular person by so much shall the universal end surpass in terrour the particular end of this life For this cause the Prophecies which foretell the end of the World are so dreadful that if they were not dictated by the holy Spirit of God they would be thought incredible Christ therefore our Saviour having uttered some of them unto his Disciples because they seemed to exceed all that could be imagined in the conclusion confirmed them with that manner of Oath or Asseveration which he commonly used in matters of greatest importance Math. 13. Luc. 21. Amen which is By my verity or verily I say unto you that the world shall not end before all these things are fulfilled Heaven and earth shall fail but my words shall not fail Let us believe then that Time shall end and that the World shall die and that if we may so say a most horrible and disastrous death let us believe it since the Angels and the Lord of Angels have sworn it If it be so then that those memorials of men which seemed immortal must at last end since the whole Race of man is to end let us only strive to be preserved in the eternal memory of him who hath no end and let us no less despise to remain in the fading memory of men who are to die than to enjoy the pleasures of our senses which are to perish As the hoarding up of riches upon earth is but a deceit of Avarice so the desire of eternizing our memory is an errour of Ambition The covetous man must then leave his wealth when he leaves his life if the Theef in the mean time do not take it from him and fame and renown must end with the World if envy or oblivion deface it not before All that is to end is vain this World therefore and all which
were to have an end shew us also by this signe that for their instability and inconstancy they were even before their end to be trodden under foot and despised But more lively is the same exprest by the same St. John Apoc. 15. Ribera Cornel when he beheld the Saints standing upon the Sea to note that whilest they lived they contemned and trampled under foot the transitory and fading things of this World and to declare it more fully he sayes the Sea was of glass then which nothing is more frail and although hard yet brittle Needs must the instability of things temporal be very great and therefore most despicable because it proceeeds from so many causes For as the Sea hath two several kinds of motion the first natural by which it riseth and falleth daily with continual ebbs and flows so as the waves when they are most quiet are yet still moving and inconstant the other violent when the waters are raised and incensed by some furious tempest in the same manner the things of this World are naturally of themselves fading and transitory and without any exteriour violence suffer a continual change and run rowling on toward their end but besides are also subject to other unthought of accidents and extraordinary violences which force nature out of her course and raise huge storms in the Sea of this life by which those things which we most esteem suffer shipwrack For as the fairest flower withers of it self yet is oftentimes before born away by the wind or perishes by some storm of hail The most exact beauties lose their lustre by age but are often before blasted by some violent Feaver The most costly Garments wear out in time if before not taken from us by the Theef The strongest and most sumptuous Palaces decay with continuance if before not ruined by Fire or Earthquakes In like manner both their own nature and extrinsecal violences deprive temporal things even of time it self and trail them along in perpetual changes leaving nothing stable Let us cast our eyes upon those things which men judge most worthy to endure Nazian in Monod Pli. l. 36. c. 8. and made them to the end they should be eternal How many changes and deaths have they suffered St. Gregory Nazienzen places the City of Thebes in Aegypt as the chiefest of those wonders which the world admired Pompâ—n Mela l. 1. c. 9. Most of the houses were of Alabaster Marble spotted with drops of gold which made them appear most splendid and magnificent Upon the walls were many pleasant Gardens Sur. in Comm. an 1517 Evag. l. 2. c. 1. which they called Horti pensiles or hanging Gardens and the Gates were no less than a hundred out of which the Prince could draw forth numerous Armies without noise or knowledge of the people Pomponius Mela writes that out of every Port there issued 10000 armed men Euseb de praepar Hieron in Dan. c. 1. Polusl 2. rerum Indic c. 68. which in the whole came to be an Army of a million Yet all this huge multitude could not secure it from a small Army conducted by a Youth who as St. Jerome writes took and destroyed it Marcus Polus writes that he passed by the City of Quinsay which contained fourscore millions of souls and Nicholas de Conti passing not many years after by the same way found the City wholly destroyed Nicol. de Com. in itin apud Ram. tom 1. and begun to be newly built after another form But yet in greater than this was the City of Ninive which according to the holy Scripture was of three dayes journey and it is now many ages since that we know not where it stood Plin. l. 6. c. 26. Sol. c. 3. No less stately but perhaps better fortified was the City of Babylon and that which was the Imperial City of the World became a Desert and a Habitation of Harpies Onocentaurs Satyrs Monsters and Devils as was foretold by the Prophets and the walls which were 200 foot in height and 50 in breadth could not defend it from time And yet the holy Scripture describes Ecbatana the chief City of Media to be more strong than that It was built by Arphaxad King of the Medes of square stone the Walls contained seventy cubits in breadth thirty cubits in height and the Towers which encompassed it were each in height a hundred cubits and yet for all this could not the Median Empire having such a head escape from rendring it self unto the Assyrians And the same Monarch who built it and made the World to tremble under him came to lose it and himself and having conquered many Nations became at last conquered and a Slave unto his enemies It is not much that Cities have suffered so many changes since Monarchies and Empires have done the same and so often hath the World changed her face as she hath changed her Monarch and Master He who had seen the World as it was in the time of the Persians would not have known it as it was in the time of the Assyrians and he who knew it in the time of the Persians would not have judged it for the same when the Greeks were Masters After in the time of the Romans it appeared with a face not known before and he who knew it then would not know it now and some years hence it will put on another form being in nothing more like it self than in its perpetual changes and alterations for which cause it hath been ever worthy of scorn and contempt and more now than ever Cyp. in Epist ad Demet since it becomes every day worse and grows old and decayes with age as St Cyprian notes in those words Thou art to know that the World is already grown old and doth not remain in that strength and vigour which it had at first This the World it self tells us and the daily declining of it into worse needs no other testimony The Winter wants the usual rains to fertilize the earth the Summer the accustomed heat to ripen the corn the Autumn is not loaden as heretofore with fruits nor the Spring glads us with the delight and pleasure of its sweet temperature out of the hollowed Mountains are drawn less pieces of marble and the exhausted Mines yield less quantities of gold and silver The Labourer is wanting in the Fields the Mariners in the Seas the Souldier in the Tents Innocency in the Market-places Justice in the Tribunals Sincerity in Friendship Skill in Arts and Discipline in Manners Necessary it is that that should decay which thus daily sinks into it self and approaches towards an end Immediately he adds This is the doom of the World This the ordinance of God all that is born must die all that increases must grow old the strong become feeble the great diminish and when diminished perish Anciently our lives extended beyond 800 or 900 years now few arrive unto an hundred We see boys grown gray and our
age ends not in decrepit years but then begins and in our very birth we draw near our ends and he who is now born with the age of the World degenerates Let no man therefore marvel that the parts of the World decay since the whole goes to ruine Neither is the World onely grown worse in the natural frame of it but is also much defaced in the moral the manners of men have altered it more than the violences and encounters of the Elements The Empire of the Assyrians much corrupted the primitive simplicity and innocence of it and what they wanted was effected by the Persians and wherein they failed by the Greeks and wherein they by the Romans and wherein they is abundantly made up by us For the pride of Monarchs is the ruine and destruction of good manners And therefore unto the four Monarchies may be fitly applyed that which was foretold by the Prophet Joel Joel 1. What was left by the Eruke was eaten by the Locust what was lest by the Locust was eaten by the Bruke and what was left by the Bruke was devoured by the Blast §. 2. More are the causes of alterations in the World than in the Ocean For besides the condition of humane things which as well intrinsecally and of their own nature as by the external violences which they suffer are subject to perish the very spirit and humour of man being fickle and inconstant is the occasion of great changes Not without grea◠proportion did the Holy Ghost say That the fool changed like the Moon which is not ouely mutable in figure but in colour The natural Philosophers observe three colours in the Moon pale red and white the first foreshews rain the second wind and the third chears up with hopes of fair weather In the same manner is the heart of man changed by three most violent affections represented by those three colours That of pale the colour of gold coveting riches more frail and slippery than waters That of red the colour of purple gaping after the wind of vain honours The last of white the colour of mirth and jollity running after the gusts and pleasures of this life With these three affections Man is in perpetual change and motion and as there are some Plants which follow the course of the Moon still turning and moving according to her course so these alterations in humane affections draw after them and are the cause of these great changes and revolutions which happen in the World How many Kingdoms were overthrown by the covetousness of Cyrus The ambition of Alexander did not onely destroy a great part of the World but made it put on a clear other face than it had before What part of Troy was left standing by the lascivious love of Paris who was not onely the ruine of Greece but set on fire his own Countrey That which time spares is often snatcht away by the covetousness of the Theef and how many lives are cut off by revenge before they arrive unto old age There is no doubt but humane affections are those fierce winds which trouble the Sea of this World and as the Ocean ebbs and flows according to the course of the Moon so the things of this life conform their motions unto humane passions There is no stability in any thing and least in man who is not onely changeable in himself but changes all things besides So unstable and variable is man that David unto some of his Psalms gives these words for a Title Psal 68. For those who shall change and St. Basil explicating the same Title saith It was meant of man whose life is a perpetual change unto which is conformable the translation of Aquila who instead of those words renders it Pro foliis For the leaves because man is moved by every wind as the leaves of a tree This mutability is very apparent in the Passion of Christ our Redeemer which is the subject of the 78. Psalme which beareth this Title They of Jerusalem having received him with greater honour than they ever gave to man within four dayes after treated him with the greatest infamy and villany that was possible to be exprest by Devils There is no trust in the heart of man now it loves now it abhors now it desires now fears now esteemes now despises Who is not amazed at the change of St. Peter who after so many promises and resolutions to die for his Master within a few hours swore as many false oaths that he knew him not What shall become of the Reed and Bulrush when the Oak and Ceder totters Neither is the change of Amnon a little to be wonderd at who loving Thamar with that violence of passion that he fell sick for her immediately mediatly after abhorred her so much that he barbarously turned her out of his chamber But I know nothing that can more evidently set forth the mutabilitie of humane affections than that memorable accident which happened in Ephesus Petron. Arbit tract de leg conmib leg non num 97. There lived in that City a Matron of an honest repute and conversation whose Husband dying left her the most disconsolate and sad Widow that ever was heard of all was lamentations tearing and disfiguring her face and breasts with her nails and not content with the usual Ceremonies of Widows of those times she enclosed her self with his dead Body in the Sepulcher which anciently was a Vault in the fields capacious and prepared for that use there she resolved to famish her self and follow him into the next world and had already for four dayes abstained from all manner of sustenance It happened that near that place a certain Malefactor was executed and lest his kindred should by night steal away his Body and give it burial a Souldier was appointed to watch it who being weary and remembring that not far off the Widow was enclosed in the Sepulcher resolved for a time to quit his charge and trye what entertainment he could find with her Whereupon carrying his supper along with him he entred the Vault and at first had much adoe to perswade the grieved Widow to take part with him to forsake her desperate resolution of famishing and be content to live but a while after having prevailed in this and passing further with the same oratory he perswaded her who had not denied to share with him in his supper to afford him the fruition of her person which she likewise did In the mean time whilest the Souldier transported with his pleasure forgot his duty the friends of the executed Malefactor stole away the Body which being perceived by the Souldier who now satiate with his dalliance was returned unto his guard and knowing his offence to be no less than capital he repairs with great fear and amazement unto his Widow and acquaints her with the mischance who was not slow in providing a remedy but taking the dead body of her Husband which had cost her so many
bis life shall lose it and he who hates it in this world shall gain it for ever Hence it comes that we are now no more to look upon our selves as upon a thing of our own but onely Gods depending both in our spiritual and corporal being from that infinite Ocean of being and perfection Hence the Soul finding it self now free and unfetter'd flyes unto God with all its forces and affections not finding any thing to love and please it but in him in whom the beauty and perfections of all creatures are contained with infinite advantages When one hath once arrived unto this estate how dissonant and various soever his works be the end which he pretends is still the same and he ever obtains what he pretends if shutting his eyes to all creatures as if they were not he looks at nothing but God and how to please his Divine goodness and that onely for it self It may be that looking at the particular ends of each work our actions may be in several conditions sometimes they are in beginning sometimes in the middest sometimes in the end and oftentimes by impediments and cross accidents which happen they acquire not what they aim at but look upon the intention of him who works and they are still in their end For in what condition soever the work be he who does it with this intention onely to please God is ever in his end which no bad success or contradiction can hinder According to this which hath been said it is a great matter by Divine light to have arrived at this knowledge That all goods and gifts descend from above and that there is an infinite power goodness wisdom mercy and beauty from whence these properties which are here below participated by the creatures with such limitation are derived It is a great matter to have discovered the Sun by his rayes and guiding our selves by the stream to have arrived at the Fountains head or to have found the Centre where the multiplicity of created perfections meet and unite in one There our love shall rest as having nothing further to seek And this is to love God with all the heart all the soul all the mindâ— and all the powers And as those who arrive at this happy state have no other care no other thought than to doe the will of God here upon earth with the same perfection it is done in heaven So they have no other desires than by leaving earth to enter heaven there by sulfilling wholly the Divine will to supply what was defective upon earth Nothing detains them here but the will of God they have nothing begun which is not ended they are ever prepared all their business is dispatched like those servants who are alwayes expecting their Lord and still ready to open the door when he shall call Let us then prepare our selves by withdrawing our love from all which is temporal and created and placing it upon our Creator who is eternal let us love him not with a delicate and an effeminate love but with a strong and manly affection such a one as will support any weight overcome any difficulty and despise any interest rather than be separated from our beloved break his Laws or offend him though never so lightly Let this Love be strong as death that it may look death in the face and not flye from it which when it suffers it conquers Let thy fire be so enkindled that if whole rivers of tribulations fall upon it they may be but like drops of water falling upon a forge which the flame drinks up and consumes and is not quenched but quickned by them Be above thy self and above all that is below And if the world offer thee all it is Mistress of to despoil thee of this love tread it under thy feet and despise it as nothing To this love it belongs To accommodate ones self to poverty Not to repine at hunger nakedness cold or heat who as companions goe along with it To suffer injuries meekly To bear sickness and infirmities patiently Not to be dismayed in persecutions To endure temptations with longanimity To bear the burthens of our neighbours chearfully Not to be tired with their thwart conditions Not to be angry at their neglects nor overcome by their ingratitude In spiritual drynesses not to leave our ordinary devotions and in consolations and spiritual gusts not to forbear our obligations Finally that we may say with St. Paul Rom. 8. Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ tribulation or distress or famine or nakedness or danger or persecution or the sword I am sure that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers neither things present nor things to come neither might nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. FINIS
Dion Chrys Orat. 10. And therefore Dion Chrysostomus is sayes He who knows not Man cannot make use of Man and he who knows not himself cannot make use of himself nor of those things which belong unto his nature But who can arrive unto the knowledge of himself It is so difficult that the Devil although he knew how important this knowledge was to Man and wisht nothing but his ruine and perdition yet confident in the impossibility of attaining it and desirous to gain the credit of a wife God among the Grecians he caused this Command Know thy self to be placed in his Temple of Apollo in Delphos And truly the light of Heaven is necessary for this knowledge and we guided by what faith dictates and the Saints inctruct us will endeavour to say something whereby we may at least be less ignorant of what we are It is then to be considered What Man is of himself and what he is of God that is what he hath of himself and what he hath received from God What he hath from God must needs be good since he gave it from whom can proceed no ill And if upon this score because it is good he hath less ground to humble himself I am sure he hath none to boast of since it is wholly the Divine benefit not having any thing of himself but what he hath received Onely he may consider that by the sin of Adam he hath put himself in a worse condition both for soul and body than when he received them from God His Soul is now full of ignorance and imbecility to what is good and subject to a thousand miseries which it then had not And his Body which is now mortal was then immortal and free from the corruption of those infirmities which as hath been already said accompany it until it end in dust worms and ashes But these although by the perverseness of our nature they are become much worse yet coming from God are good and are ah honour and glory in respect of what he possesses from himself This the Arausican Council declares in two words that is We are nothing of our selves but a Lye and Sin that is the nothing that we were and the evil we are A lye we are because what is a lye is not And from our selves we have onely a not being for what have we but what God hath given us take away what we have received and there remains nothing This is what is ours what is more is our Creators and therefore we are not to use it according to our own fancy but his pleasure Thou art also to consider that thou oughtest to humble thy self more for being nothing than for being but dust and ashes For those are something and betwixt something and nothing there is no proportion and as the Philosophers say an infinite distance Thou hast not from thy self so much as a possibility of being for if God were not God thou couldest not have been at all From this consideration thou hast great reason to humble thy self For to be nothing is a Well without bottom never to be drawn drie yet this Nothing is far better than what thou art by Sin Here the most holy Saints have sunk down in amazement and some unto whom our Lord hath revealed what they are have been so astonished as they had certainly died if they had not been comforted and upheld by the Divine hand For having sinned thou art as evil as sin it self Call to mind what we have said of the infinite malice and abomination of sin All this falls upon him who commits it With reason therefore did Dion the Philosopher say That it was most hard to know ones self because it was most hard to comprehend the malice of sin which being the chiefest evil becomes in a manner as difficult to be known as the chiefest good and therefore no better way to find what it is than to proceed after the same way we do in the knowledge of God §. 2. St. Dionysius Areopagita teaches us that in the knowledge of God we may proceed alter two manners either by the way of Affirmation attributing unto God all what is Good and perfect or by way of Negation denying unto him all what is good or perfect in the Creatures as being of a goodness and perfection infinitly above it In the same manner we are to proceed in the knowledge of Sin either by Affirmation in attributing unto it all the ill in all creatures whatsoever or by Negation denying it any ill as being a malice of another kind horrible and enormous above all other Evils imaginable Call together therefore all the evils thou hast seen heard or read of Joyn all these in one a mortal sin is worse then all these together The miseries of Job stilence in the time of David the torments of Phalaris Nero Dioclesian and all the Tyrants are farre short of it in malice Is it as bad as all those afflictions and miseries which they suffered who perished in the Deluge and those who were burnt alive in Sodome and the neighbouring Towns and as all they suffered who were put to the sword in Amalee and all those that were hunger-starved in the siege of Jerusalem One onely mortal sin goeth far beyond all the aforesaid miseries All the Plagues Warrs Sickness Famines all that hath been suffered since the World began come not near the ill of one sin Good God! how vast is that evil which is equivalent to so many evils where shall we find an evil that may equal it where shall we meet with an end of so much malice Certainly all the evils that have been since the World began or could succeed in a million of Worlds to come fall short of it If nothing then upon earth be comparable unto it let us seek it beneath the earth amongst those eternal evils which shall never have end Let us enter Hell and consider the torments there which are or have been suffered by Men or Devils even from the least and most unknown of the damned unto Lucifer and Antichrist Is there any thing there that may equal the evil of one sin No we shall not there find it Reflect I say again and mark if thou findest any torment amongst so many miserable creatures as suffer in Hell which may parallel the malice of one only mortal sin There is none to be found But I 'le give thee leave to make a collection of those many torments which may seem unto thee in reason comparable to a mortal sin and you shall finde that Sin does not onely equalize but exceed the malice of them Joyn then together and put in one heap all the torments that are inflicted upon all damned creatures Men and Angels and compare the malice of them all with that one of mortal sin and you shall find that the malice of sin doth farr surpass the malice of all those That gnashing of teeth that inconsolable weeping that burning fire which penetrates
the bowels for all eternity all that our imagination can frame reaches not so immense an evil If we cannot therefore finde the depth of the malice of sin by way of Affimation let us try what may be done by the other way of Negation But this will also fail us For the evil of plagues famine and death are not it A mortal sin is more then these The evils of poverty dishonour and torments are not it It is more then these The torments of hell are not it It is above hell and all the pains of it Think with thy self that all the atoms which are to be found in the air all the sands in the sea all the leaves on the trees all the grass in the fields all the starrs in the heavens think I say that they are foul and ugly bodies all most deformed Monsters and frame to thy self a Monster and ugly Creature which should be made of all these will this equalize the foulness of a mortal sin It is not this ugly Monster nor this foul deformed Creature but it is a foulness and ugliness that doth far surpass all these and all horrid shapes and figures imaginable And let not this seem strange unto thee For not onely the evil of a Mortal sin but even that of a Venial is greater than all the evils of Hell or the evils within or without it all tht monstrousuess all the deformity of all things that are or can be contracted into one do not equal it Sin is more than all And therefore as St. Dionysius said of God That he was above what was good or what was fair because his goodness and beauty were of a superiour kind So it may be said of sin It is neither deformity abomination horror or malice but is something more than all these Let a sinner therefore know himself and that he is by sin above all that is ugly foul or monstrous For as he that hath whiteness is as white as that which makes him so so he that is in sin is as horrible and ill as sin it self Let him then reflect whether he is to sink charged with such a guilt and how much he ought to abhorr and loath himself Certainly if he should sink into Hell he would there finde no torment worse then himself If he should return into the Abyss of nothing he would be there better then in that Abyss of malice which is in sin Let him then reflect whether so unworthy and vile a wretch ought to have the same use of the creatures as if he were in the state of innocency and without this blemish of sin Let him consider if a person so infamous so abhominable as himself ought to use the things of this world for his delight honour pomp and ostentation The Emperour Marcus Aurelius Lord of the world and possessor of the greatest honours it could give him though a Gentil yet thought himself so worthy of contempt that he writes in this manner Treat thy self O soul with ignominy Anton. lib. 2. and despise thy self For thou hast no title to honour It is a prodigious thing that he who hath committed a mortal sin should desire honour and respect That he should complain of the troubles of this life and desire to be cherished and made much of That he who is the shame and infamy of the world should gape after glory That he who is a Traytor to his God should wish to be honoured and respected He who hath deserved hell for an eternitie why should he grumble at a short sickness or the necessities of this life which if he make the right use of may serve as a means of his salvation Let him therefore who hath sinned know that he is not to make the same use of the creatures as if he were innocent he is not to aim at other honour then that of God he is not to seek after ease and the Commodities of life but the securitie of his salvation not to thirst after the pleasures of the world but to perform strict penances for his sins past O if one knew himself perfectly with what different eyes would he behold the things of the world he would look upon them as things not appertaining to him at all and if he did not despise them at least he would make no account of them The Son of God onely because he took upon him the form of a sinner would not use the goods of this life but rather imbraced all that was troublesome painful and bitter in it why should he then who is really and in substance a sinner seek honours and delights Let him know the means of his salvation since Christ himself hath taught them to wit Penance Mortification and the Cross If Christ because he bore the sins of others used not temporal goods and the Commodities of life why should man who is loaden with his own sins complain he wants the pleasures and conveniences of it Why should he gape after the goods of the earth who is infected with a greater evil then that of hell The admirable man blessed Francis Borgia the great despiser of himself and the world out of this consideration was most content in the tribulations and want of all things temporal and the least comfort in his greatest necessities seemed too much for him All men wondered to see him so poor and the incommodities he suffered in his travail when he visited the Colledges of the Society in Spain Amongst the rest a certain Gentleman amazed at his great pains and sufferance said unto him Father how is it possible that having been so great a Lord you can endure the troubles and inconveniences of the wayes To whom the servant of God answered Sir do not pity me for I alwayes send before me a Harbinger who provides plentifully for all things necessary This Harbinger was the Knowledge of himself which in his greatest necessities made what he had appear too plentiful § 3. Besides this he who hath sinned ought to Consider that he hath need of Gods holy hand to draw him out of that misery or if he be already by repentance freed to preserve him from falling again into it That the means to obtain this is not the pride of the world the riches of the earth or the pleasures of the flesh but fasting sackcloth humiliation and penance Let him remember that of himself he is nothing and to that nothing hath added sin that being nothing he can do nothing that is good and that by sin he hath disobliged him who only could assist him in doing good Man is of himself nothing but a Lye and Sin two horrid and profound Abysses Let him imitate David who said I cried unto thee O Lord from the deeps what other deeps then those two of Nothing and of Sin which have no bottom Let him then who hath once offended his Creator know himself and where he remains Let him pray sigh and crie from his nothing and from the depth of his