Laurentius Justinianus shall resolve the last question for us There are saith he many things in this world which nature hath so appropriated and assigned to some one certain place that they are not to be found in any other place unlesse it be in part Of some flowers which grow in the new-found world we have onely the seed Of some living creatures there are brought over unto us onely the skinnes Now Eternitie is a thing so proper to another world that it is not to be found in this onely the seed thereof we may have even in this world And what are the seeds of Eternitie They are saith Laurentius Contempt of a mans self The gift of Charitie and the taste of Christs works To contemne others is a tree that overspreadeth the whole world whose wood is fewell for the fire of Hell To contemne himself is a very small seed scarce known in the world Christ brought it down from heaven with him who made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and became obedient not to the Stable onely or the Manger but even to mount Calvarie unto death even the death of the Crosse unto the grave yea even unto Hell Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Behold this little seed is grown up and spread in breadth and is become the highest of all trees The same Authour speaking of Charitie saith thus The measure of our glory and Eternall reward shall be according to the measure of our charitie For To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little He obtaineth lesse grace whosoever hath lesse Charitie And where there is lesse grace there also shall be lesse glory So then it is most true The more thou lovest God the more thou heapest up unto thy self Eternall rewards The whole Law is love but it must be pure chaste and holy I have done with the second which is Charitie I come to the third which is The taste of Christs Works It is a common and witty saying in the Rhetorick Schools He is to be thought a good proficient who can relish Tullies works We may say as much in the School of Christianitie He hath made a good progresse in Religion and vertue who can relish Christs Works who likes the taste of Christs doctrine and example But whosoever findeth no taste almost at all no relish in the words and works of Christ whosoever is not moved affected and delighted with those things which belong unto the minde and Christian pietie to heaven and Eternall felicitie but on the contrarie findes much sweetnesse in eating drinking walking laughing jesting and playing The same man may â—ay with sorrow enough too truely How little seed of Eternitie have I within me O my God! Or rather I have none at all For when I descend into my self I see manifestly what spirit is within me and whither my affection carries me To spend whole nights in dancing feasting revelling quaffing dicing and carding hearing foolish and idle tales reading impure Books calling for and laughing at amorous songs playing the good fellow and doing as the company doth Oh this never offends me this is pleasing and delightfull to me But to heare of Christ and his life to heare of holy men that lived formerly who were much given to watching fasting and prayer or to reade of their lives that makes no musick in my eares and this is an eye-sore unto me I can neither heare nor see I stop mine eares and close mine eyes for fear lest they should be offended To heare a Sermon of an houre long it is death unto me and therefore I seldome come to Church or if I do sometimes I drive away the time either sleeping or prating There are too many such men in the world but of such it may be truely said That they have no taste or relish at all of the works of Christ. But now let us heare the judgement of the Church concerning Eternitie The memorie of Eternitie is so precious in the esteem of the Church that there is no Psalme no Prayer no Hymne but closeth with it Glory be to the Father and to the Sonne and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen As it was in the beginning that is Before all beginning from all Eternitie without any beginning is now and ever shall be world without end that is Throughout all ages infinite innumerable incomprehensible ages to all Eternitie But let us leave the little rivers and make haste to the fountain CHAP. II. Cleare testimonies of Divine Scripture concerning Eternitie I Will produce onely three witnesses a Prophet an Apostle and an Evangelist How many and how great are the sighs and grones of poore abject and despised men we may heare them every day One or other every where is complaining Wo is me poore man I have few or no friends at all I am disrespected I am scorned and trampled under foot almost by all Have patience a little O man suffer for a while the day of comfort will rise at length though it seem long first Remember Gods promise in the Prophesie of Baruch Cast about thee a double garment of the righteousnesse which cometh from God and set a Diadem on thy head of the glory of the Everlasting Others there are that accuse Nature complaining still that she hath given too long a life to ravens and too short a great deal unto man Heare thus much you that are still complaining of the shortnesse of mans life This life is short indeed But when this short and vain life shall end there remains another life which never shall have end If ye will not beleeve me yet beleeve S. Paul For we know saith S. Paul that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternall in the heavens What great losse is it then if this earthly tabernacle of our body be dissolved when as we have a royall Palace prepared for us which is not subject to dissolution To the testimonie of the Prophet and the Apostle let us adde the testimonie of the Evangelist Saint Matthew in whose Gospell we may reade these words of our Saviour If thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather then having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather then having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire Oh fire Oh hell Oh Eternitie Time is nothing if it be compared with Eternitie shortnesse of life and so losse of time is no losse at all but great gain if thereby we gain Eternitie Christ hath promised it and Saint Matthew hath recorded it and sealed it
I shall see an end of all The Prophet Danâ—â—l having reckoned up sundry calamities at length addeth these words Even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed Come hither Come hither all ye that are in affliction in sorrow need sicknesse or any other calamitie Why do ye drown your selves in your own teares why do ye make your life bitter unto you with impatience and complaining Here is comfort for you great comfort drawn from the time of that suffering Are divers calamities upon you Be not cast down Have a good courage They shall continue onely for a time Do ye suffer contumelie and reproach are ye wearied with injuries are other troubles multiplied upon you Cease to lament All these shall last but for a time they shall not last for ever your sighing shall have an end Teares may distill from your eyes for a time But sighs and grones shall not arise from your hearts for ever The time is at hand when you shall be delivered from all grief and be translated unto everlasting happinesse This is most cleare by that in Ecclesiasticus A patient man will â—ear for a time and afterward joy shall spring up unto him But ye also which think your selves the onely happy men on earth and the darlings of the world know thus much and be not proud neither lift up your horn All your seeming happinesse for it is no more at the best hath but short and narrow bounds and limits and is quickly passed over Your triumphing is but for a time your golden dreams last but for a time After a time and that not long Death will command you to put off Fortunes painted vizard and stand amongst the croud Then shall ye truely appeare so much the more unhappy by how much the more you seemed to your selves before in your own foolish imaginations most happy Therefore whether sorrow or joy all is but for a time in this world It is Eternitie alone which is not concluded within any bounds of time Whether therefore the body suffer or the minde whether we lose riches or honours whether our Patience be exercised by sorrow or grief cares or any other afflictions inward or outward all is but painted and momentanie if we think upon Eternall punishments For when fifty thousand yeares shall be passed after the day of Judgement there shall still remain fifty thousand Millions of yeares and when those likewise are passed there shall still remain more and more and yet more Millions of yeares and there shall never be an end But who thinks upon these things who weighs and considers them well with himself Sometimes we seem to have savour of things Eternall But we are tossed up and down with the motions and thoughts of things past and things future our heart wavereth and is full of vanitie Who will establish it and set it in a sure place that it may stand awhile and standing admire and admiring be ravisht with the splendour of Eternitie which alwayes stands and never passeth away Well did Myrogenes When Eustachius Archbishop of Jerusalem sent gifts unto him He did very well I say in refusing them and saying Do but one thing for me Onely pray for me that I may be delivered from Eternall torment Neither was Tullie out of the way when he said No humane thing can seem great unto a wise man who hath the knowledge of all Eternitie and of the magnitude of the whole world But Francis the Authour of the order of the Franciscans hath a saying farre better then that of Tullie The pleasure that is here saith he is but short but the punishment that shall be hereafter is infinite The labour that is here is but small but the glory which shall be here after is Eternall Take your choice Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their works Let us hasten our Repentance therefore whilest we have time It is better saith Guerricus to be purged by water then by fire and it is farre easier Now is the time for Repentance Let our timely Repentance therefore prevent punishment Whosoever is afraid of the hoare frost the snow shall fâ—ll upon him He which feareth the lesser detriment shall suffer a greater He which will not undergo the light burden of Repentance shall be forced to undergo the most heavy burden and most grievous punishments of Hell Saint Gregory hath a saying to this purpose Some saith he whilest they are afraid of Temporall punishments run themselves upon Eternall punishments Hither we may adde that of Pacian Remember saith he that in Hell there is no place for Confession of sinnes no place for Repentance for then it is too late to repent and the time is past Make haste therefore whilest you are in the way We are afraid of Temporall fire and the Executioners hands But what are these to the claws of tormenting Devils and the Everlasting fire of Hell The Counsell of S. Ambrose to a lapsed Virgin fits well in this place True Repentance saith he ought not to be in word onely but in deed and this is true Repentance indeed if thou settest before thine eyes from what glory thou art fallen and considerest with thy self out of what book thy name is blotted and beleevest that now thou art neare unto utter darknesse where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth without end And when thou art certainly perswaded that those things are true as indeed they are seeing that the soul that sinneth is in danger of Hell fire and there is no means after Baptisme left to escape but onely Repentance Be content to suffer any labour and to undergo any affliction to be freed from Eternall punishment The diseases of the body move the sick man to purge his body Let the diseases of our souls move us also to take the purgation of Repentance let the desire of our salvation move us let the fear of Eternall death and Eternall torment move us let the hope of attaining Eternall life and Eternall glory move us Let us embrace that which purgeth the soul and let us eschew that which polluteth it And nothing defiles the soul more then a filthy body Faithfull is this counsell of Saint Ambrose and worthy of us to be embraced O Christ Jesus Grant unto us that we may so possesse things transitorie and temporall that finally we lose not the things which are Eternall and give us grace to walk in their steps and to follow their good example of whom S. Augustine speaketh Many there are saith he that willingly come under the yoke and of proud and haughty men become humble and lowly desiring to be what before they despised and hating to be what before they were passing by like strangers things present and making haste with greedinesse after things to come They pant in their running towards their Eternall countrey preferring Abstinence before Fulnesse Watching before Sleep and Povertie before Riches
glory be not ambitious after worldly honour be not wearied out with well doing be not cast down with afflictions do not sink under the burden of the Crosse but beare it patiently and cheerfully rejoycing with the Apostles that you are counted worthy to suffer For I reckon saith S. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Let no man when he hath forsaken the world think that he hath forsaken any great matter For what is earth in comparison of heaven It is but as a Centre to the Circle a Minute to Eternitie a Drop to the Sea and a Grain of dust to the Drie land What are our riches Fading and uncertain moveables We are soon taken from them or they from us Though with much ado we keep them as long as we live yet whether we will or no we must part with them when we die we cannot carry them to our graves Why do we not then make a vertue of a necessitie why do we not willingly part with them whilest they are ours seeing that shortly we must part with them whether we will or not when death attacheth us for a debt due to Nature and then they can be no longer ours Why do we not lay them out like good Merchants for the Margarite or precious pearl of Eternall life Thus sweetly goes on Athanasius But I must leave him and draw to a conclusion Pachomius was wont whensoever he felt any unlawfull thoughts or desires arise in his minde to drive them away with the remembrance of Eternitie and if at any time he perceived them to rebell again he still repelled them by meditating seriously upon Eternitie the Eternall punishments of the damned the torments without end the fire that never goes out and the worm that never dyeth And here I will conclude this consideration with the exhortation of the same Pachomius Before all things saith he let us every day think upon the last day Let us mâ— time remember Eternitie Let us every minute we have to live so live as if we lived in fear of everlasting torments that so by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ we may for ever escape them 〈◊〉 him be glory both now and 〈◊〉 ever Amen 2 Pet 3. â—8 Because man shall go to his ETERNALL habitation Ecclius Alas how vnlike are the houses of ETERNITIE One of them we must inhabit we must either for ever rejoyce in heaven or for ever burne in hell THE NINTH CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE The first Conclusion NO man living is able in word to expresse or in thought conceive the infinite space of Eternitie Between a true man and a painted man true fire and painted fire there is a great deal of difference and yet these are in some kinde one like unto another But between our common fire and the fire of Hell between the sorrows of this life and the pains of Hell there is no comparison no proportion at all For this life and the sorrows of this life are measured by space of Time but the life to come and the sorrows thereof cannot be measured by any thing but onely Eternitie which also is without measure This doth our Saviour most elegantly expresse in the Gospel of S. John by the Parable of the Vine-branch If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned In these words is Eternitie briefly and plainly described for mark the words well they runne not in the future He shall be cast forth and shall wither and men shall gather them and shall cast them into the fire and they shall be burned I say they runne not in the future but all in the present tense He is cast forth and withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned They are burned This is the state and condition of the damned They are burned that is alwaies burning When a thousand yeares are past and gone As it was in the beginning so it is still They are burned And when a thousand and a thousand more yet are gone As it was so it is They are burned And if after certain millions of yeares the question be asked What is now the state and condition of the damned What do they What suffer they How fares it with them There can be no other answer made but this They are burned still burning continually inutterably Eternally from one age to another even for ever and ever Upon this place excellently saith Saint Augustine One of these two must needs be the condition of the vine-branch either it must abide in the vine or else be cast into the fire if not in the vine then certainly in the fire But that it may not be cast into the fire let it still abide in the vine The Second Conclusion IF those men which do still continue in their sinnes did but know how neare they are unto Eternitie and everlasting torments if they did consider well with themselves how that God in a moment in a breath in the twinkling of an eye as we speak may suddenly take them away in their sinnes and deliver them up unto death Then surely if they had it they would give all Spain all the treasures of Asia all the gold of India yea all the world to obtain but one houre to confesse their sinnes to repent them of the same and to ask God pardon and forgivenesse They would not certainly they would not still hug and embrace their sinnes they would not every day multiply them as they do they would not lodge them every night in their bosome and lie snorting in them For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Though thou losest every thing else in the world yet O man have a care to keep thy soul. It were needlesse here to reckon up a Catalogue of the Martyrs of Christ in all ages There are whole books of them in great volumes they are recorded to all posteritie and their names shall be had in everlasting remembrance But the greatest honour that we can do them is to follow their good example to learn of them Christian fortitude and magnanimitie to fear God more then man God which is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell rather then man which can onely kill the body but is not able to kill the soul to love God more then all the world to be willing to part with all for Christ to lay down our lives for Christ to lose all to save our souls and gain Eternitie I will conclude here with that excellent exhortation of Saint Augustine What then shall we do brethren What What else but whilest we have time amend our lives where we have done amisse do so no more become new men That what is