present ever Thou hast peace that ever lasteth Health and life that never wasteth God is all in all Glorious things are spoken of thee O Citie of God In thee have their habitation all those that rejoyce In thee there is no fear in thee no sorrow All desires are turned to joyes Whatsoever a man can wish for is present with thee Whatsoever can be desired is in thee in abundance They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light when we shall see thee in thy self and thee in us and our selves in thee living in everlasting felicitie and enjoying the beatificall vision of thee for ever And though this felicitie be everlasting yet a man may obtain it in a short time and with little labour I have compassion on the multitude saith our Saviour because they have now been with me three dayes and have nothing to eat Sweet Saviour dost thou count it such a matter for us to abide with thee three dayes and eat nothing And why sweet Jesus dost thou not rather tell us of the dayes of Eternitie and the everlasting joyes wherewith we shall be abundantly satisfied in the kingdome of heaven God taketh notice of the least service that we perform and it is precious in his sight He telleth the very hairs of our heads and much more then will he tell the drops of bloud that are spilt for his sake and put them up in the bottle of his remembrance We may therefore very well cry out with Saint Hierom Oh! How great a blessednesse is this To receive great things for small and Eternall things for Temporall and further to have the Lord our debtour But thou wilt be ready to say It goes hard to be in sufferings every day and though all other things might easily be endured yet death is terrible Christian brother I am ashamed to heare thee say so it is foolishly spoken and like a childe Knowest thou not thus much I know that I ascend to descend flourish to wither am young to grow old live to die and die to live blessed Eternally Trust therefore in the Lord for ever For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Again S. Augustine comes unto my minde who upon the words of our Lord saith thus Our Lord and Saviour concluded with these words saying These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life Eternal It is life Eternall that is here promised Because men love to live here upon earth therefore life is promised unto them And because they are much afraid to die therefore life Eternall is promised unto them What wouldest thou have Life Well thou shalt have it What art thou afraid of Is it Death Well thou shalt not suffer it But they which shall be tormented in Hell fire shall have a desire to die and death shall flie from them To live long therefore is no great matter yea more To live alwayes is no great matter but To live blessed that is a thing to be desired that is a great matter indeed Therefore thou shalt live in heaven and shalt never die There shalt thou live blessed for evermore for neither shalt thou suffer any evil neither shalt thou be in fear of suffering for there it is impossible to suffer any evil There shalt thou possesse whatsoever thou canst desire and what thou possessest thou shalt desire still to possesse Thou canst not be cast out of possession And this shall satisfie thee It was there that David did expect to have his thirst quenched and his hunger satisfied In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore and again My soul thirsteth after thee and yet again As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse This is a new and a strange voice for a King He hath his table well furnished with all kindes of dishes and yet as if he were hunger-starved he hopes to be filled at anothers table His own bread and his own wine would not serve his turn to appease his hunger or to quench his thirst There was other bread that he had a minde to and other liquour that he so thirsted after the bread of heaven and the water of life For what is the plenty and abundance of all the Kings of the earth It is nothing else but meere want And what is the daintie fare at their great tables It is but like the beggers pitcher if it be compared with the fatnesse of Gods house and his heavenly table Come eat and drink and be filled my beloved shall the King of heaven say This feast of mine shall never be ended there shall come no sorrow after it As it is To day so shall it be For ever and ever Neither can Saint Augustine here contain himself but he breaks forth again into this exclamation Oh life of lives surpassing all life Oh everlasting life Oh life blessed for ever where there is joy without sorrow rest without labour riches without losse health without sicknesse there is no such matter in this life abundance without defect life without death perpetuitie without corruptibilitie beatitude without calamitie where all good things are in perfect charitie where all knowledge is in all things and through all things where the Majestie of God is seen in presence where the minde of the beholders is filled with the bread of life They alwayes behold Gods presence and still they desire to behold it they desire to behold it and yet without anxietie they are satisfied with it and yet without satietie And that thou maist understand and know good Christian brother that this superexcellent glory these celestiall riches this heavenly kingdome is to be bought heare what the same Saint Augustine saith I have to sell saith God I have to sell come and buy it Lord what is it that thou hast to sell I have rest Come and buy it What is the price of it The price is labour And how much labour is Eternall rest worth If thou wilt speak the truth and judge aright Eternall rest is worth Eternall labour It is true indeed but do not fear For God is mercifull For should thy labour be Eternall thou shouldest never attain to rest Eternall But that thou maist attain at length to rest Eternall therefore thy labour shall not be Eternall not but that it is worth so much but that thou maist at length get the possession of it Indeed it is worth the price though it be labour Eternall But that it may be purchased and possessed it is necessarie that the price thereof be but labour Temporall Therefore Christian brethren let us rouse up our selves and stirre up one another with this exhortation of Saint Augustine which here followeth Let us
set before our eyes the life which is Eternall and let us well consider the nature of it which we shall come the better to understand by removing from it whatsoever we account troublesome in this life For it is easier to finde what it is not rather then what it is And yet it is set to sale Thou maist buy it if thou wilt Thou shalt not need to be much troubled or turmoiled about it for the greatnesse of the price The price is whatsoever thou hast and no more Never examine what thou hast but consider what thou art It is worth thy buying though thou givest thy self for it Give thy self and thou shalt have it What Art thou to seek thy self Art thou to buy thy self Behold such as thou art if thou canst be content to give thy self thou shalt have it But thou wilt be ready to say it may be Alack I am a wicked man And such a man perhaps will not be received for good payment If thou beest not already good do but give thy self and by so doing thou shalt become good and go for current Do but make a faithfull promise to give thy self and this shall make thee good And being made good thou art a price of thy self good enough And thou shalt have as I said not onely health safety life and such like as shall have an end but also thou shalt be freed from many miseries Thou shalt neither be wearied nor stand in need of rest thou shalt neither hunger nor thirst neither increase nor decrease neither grow young nor wax old because there is no being born there For there is full growth and stature and the entire and perfect number of yeares There is no number like unto it For as it hath no need of being augmented so is there no fear of being diminished Behold what excellent things are spoken of it And yet I cannot come neare telling thee what it is or what good things are treasured up in it For as it is written Eye hath not seen nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man And how should my mouth be able to utter what the heart of man is not able to conceive And because we have gone along through S. Augustines books as it were through so many pleasant gardens and are now brought at length to the Celestiall Paradise Let us seal and confirm what hitherto hath been spoken by the testimonie of the same Father If we were every day saith he to suffer all torments yea the torments of Hell it self and that for a long time together to the end that we might behold Christ in his glory and have communion and fellowship with the Saints were it not worth our pains and sufferings Who would not suffer any sorrow to be made partaker of so much good and so great glory Let the Devils then lie in wait for me let them assault with tentations let my body be brought down with fasting let my flesh be kept under with pressure let me be wearied with labours let my moisture be dried up with watching let one man clamour against me let another disquiet me let me be bowed together with cold let me be set on fire with heat let my conscience murmure let my head ake let my breast be inflamed let my stomack be troubled with ventosities let my countenance wax pale and bleak let me be full of infirmities let my life consume away with grief and my yeares with mourning let rottennesse enter into my bones and let it spring up like a fountain under my feet Let all these miseries come upon me so that I may have rest and consolation in the day of tribulation and ascend up unto the people of the Lord. For What shall be the glory of the just and how great shall the joy of the Saints be when every face shall shine as the Sunne When the Lord shall begin to reckon up his people in their distinct orders in his Fathers kingdome and when he shall render unto every man according to his works the rewards which he hath promised that is Heavenly for Earthly and Eternall for Temporall Think therefore upon the dayes of old and call to minde the yeares which are yet for to come Think upon Eternitie O man think upon Eternitie Think upon the Eternitie of Torment and the Eternitie of Joy which is to follow after this short life ended and I dare warrant thee thou wilt never complain of any adversitie thou wilt never let slip out of thy mouth such a word as this This is too grievous or This is intolerable or This is too hard Thou wilt I dare say count all things easie and tolerable whatsoever can happen in this life and thou wilt never be better pleased then when thou art most afflicted It is reported by John Moschus of one Olympius an old man of singular patience who lived cloystered up in a Monasterie neare unto Jordan that he had his minde so bent and fixt continually upon Eternitie that he had scarce any sense or feeling at all of any temporall sorrow or miserie For as he goes on with his storie Upon a time as it hapned a certain religious man turned out of his way to visit him and finding him in a dark Cell a place as he thought inhabitable by reason of heat and swarms of gnats and other flies not without much admiration spake thus unto him And canst thou Olympius endure to live in such a close room so exceeding hot and so much pressed with gnats and swarms of flies But what did Olympius answer And dost thou wonder at this I tell thee my sonne all these are but light matters I count them tolerable that so I may escape Eternall torments which are intolerable I can endure to be stung by gnats that so I may not feel the sting of Conscience and the gnawing of the worm that never dieth This heat which thou so complainest of I can suffer easily when I think upon the Eternall fire of Hell which is unsufferable These troubles if I may so call them are but short and shall have an end But the torments in Hell are without end Whereupon said the other Certainly Olympius thou art led by the spirit of wisdome and truth so wisely and truely hast thou answered I would there were more of thy minde that would think thus seriously upon these things Then certainly there would be more then there are now adayes that would after thy example patiently suffer and endure all things CHAP. III. The Conclusion of all ZEuxis the most famous for his skill amongst all the ancient Painters that we have heard of was observed to be very slow at his work and to let no piece of his go abroad into the world to be seen of men till he had turned it over and over this side and that side again and again to see if he could spie any fault in it And being upon a time asked the reason why he was so curious
stone upon another that shall not be thrown down So there is nothing Eternall in this world And where is now old Rome If this question be demanded the answer may be this Here it was Where are they that built it They are dead and gone There is not so much as their ashes left of them And ere long we must all go the same way become like a shadow return unto dust and be resolved into nothing Oh the poore and mean condition of mortall men even at the greatest Oh the instabilitie and frailty of the strongest men even in the prime of all their strength For what is now become of all those things or where are they They are quite vanished away where is their money which they heaped up beyond belief ' T is scattered abroad Where are their stately and lofty buildings They are not to be seen Such are all things else though to us they seem never so great nothing else but a meer shadow and a dream if they be compared with Eternitie and those things which are Eternall The foundation on which the whole fabrick of vanishing glory is set up is too weak and mouldring made but of clay Stone and Marble cannot be engraven with Characters inscriptions of Eternitie Well saith Lactantius The works of mortall men are mortall That there was a Babylon a Troy a Carthage and a Rome we beleeve But if we will beleeve no more then we see there be scarce any reliques or ruinous parts of them remaining to perswade us that there were such Cities So the seven wonders of the world so Neroes golden palace Diocletian's Hot Baths Antoninus his Baths Severus his Septizonium Julius his Colossus Pomper's Amphitheatre have no foot-step or print of them remaining no scarce upon record or registred in books And how farre have all these come short of Eternitie CHAP. I. How farre the Romanes have gone astray from the true way of Eternitie AT Nazareth in a certain conclave called by the name of the blessed Virgin there is in one place mention made of a kingdome Of which kingdome there shall be no end Such was not the kingdome of Solomon for that lasted but foure hundred yeares even to the Captivitie of Babylon Such was not the kingdome of the Romanes neither of the Persians nor yet of the Grecians For where are now those kingdomes in former times most flourishing where are those most ancient Monarchies How great was Nebuchadnezzar in Chaldea and Syria and after him Belshazzar From them the Sceptre was translated unto the Medes and Persians to Cyrus and Darius Neither continued it there long From thence it was translated into Greece to Alexander surnamed the Great King of Macedon for a long time most victorious and fortunate But as warlike valour decayed so fortune failed And so the Sceptre was translated into Italie to Julius Cesar and Octavius Augustus What is become of all these Kings where are they But thou O Christian man seek that kingdome of which kingdome there shall be no end Numantia Athens Carthage and Sparta all are come to an end They are utterly perished But as for the kingdome which is above Of that there shall be no end The king that ruleth there is Eternall and those that live in that kingdome are Eternall The Lord shall reigne for ever and ever On which words saith Origen Dost thou think that the Lord shall reigne for ever and ever Yea he shall reigne for ever and ever and beyond that too Say what thou canst thou shalt still come short of the duration of his kingdome The Prophet will still adde something as for example after For ever yet more and ever or Beyond that too And yet saith Isidore though this kingdome be Eternall though infinite though every way blessed though it be promised to us Not a word of that For what man is there of a thousand that spends the least part of a day in meditating upon that that ever once makes mention of that that ever instructs his wife his children and his servants concerning that We prattle much of all other things but as for heaven there is scarce any mention made of that or if there be surely it is very rare In setting forth the commendation of his own Countrey every man is a nimble-tongued Oratour But as for that which is our true Countrey indeed we blush and are almost ashamed being too modest in commending that For it is come to passe in these dayes by the disuse of holy conference that men think themselves not witty or facete enough unlesse they speak idle and unprofitable words and make foolish jests nay that is not all unlesse their cheeks swell and their lips run over with filthy and unsavourie speeches Oh! this is to go astray quite out of the way But let our hearts and mouthes be filled with the praise and desire of things Eternall let our thoughts and words alwayes run after them we have no other way to true glory but this and there is no true glory but that which is Eternall The chief Priests and the Pharisees amongst the Jews to overthrow Christs power as they thought and to eternize their politick Government assembled themselves together in councell and by their foolish wisdome as it proved made decrees to their own hurt Elegantly speaketh S. Augustine of them consulting and deliberating together in full Court The chief Priests saith he and the Pharisees took counsell together what they should do for their own good and yet they said not Let us beleeve The wicked and ungodly men sought more how to hurt and to destroy then how to provide for their own security that they might be saved And yet they were in fear and in counsell For they said what do we For this man doth many miracles If we let him thus alone all men will beleeve on him and the Romanes shall come and take away both our place and nation They were afraid to lose things Temporall and never thought upon the life which is Fternall And so they lost both Such is the vanity and affected mockerie of our foolish cogitations What are we And what is all that we call ours To day we flourish like a flower we are well spoken of we please and are in favour with men But alas To morrow our flower will fade we shall be ill spoken of and out of favour with God and man man whom hitherto we pleased and God whom we never studied for to please We neglect heaven and keep not earth We get not the favour of God and lose the worlds favour And so we are most deplorately miserable and destitute on both sides If death would but spare those that are the happy ones of this world it may be they might finde here some glory some I say such as it is For there is none true but that which is in heaven and Eternall But alas Death spares no man sees in the dark and is not seen
and watches his time when he may set upon us when we think not of him What shall become of us whither will he carry us if here we have lived wickedly To the barre of Christs judgement and from thence to the pit of Hell And from thence there is no redemption Nobility from thence sets no man free Power delivers no man The applause of men formerly given yeelds there no comfort Let us here seek the favour of God and his glory That is the true glory which is got by the shunning of vain glory And there is no true glory but that which is Eternall Solomon in the Proverbs describeth wisdome like a Queen attended by two waiting maids Eternitie and Glorie the first on the right hand the second on the left Glorie is nothing worth if there be not joyned with it Eternitie that which all we Christians do expect For here we have no continuing Citie but we seek one to come Eternall in the heavens The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance To give an almes to a poore man to moderate a greedie appetite to resist the enemie of chastitie These are works that require not much pains or time for the doing And yet the remembrance of these together with their reward shall be Eternall What a small thing was it that Mary Magdalene bestowed upon our Saviours feet How quickly had she done it And yet it is made known throughout the whole world Some others it may be would have admired other things in her her cherrie cheeks her comely countenance the pleasant flower of her youth her rare grace her great riches her affabilitie and courtesie and such like These were not the things which Christ commended in her but it was the office which she performed unto his feet The thing it self was not great And yet it was a means to procure for her Eternall glory and a never-dying name It shall be preached throughout the whole world This is the testimonie of Christ. This work of hers was not engraven in marble nor cast in brasse nor promulged in the market place nor proclaimed with a Drum and a Trumpet And yet it hath continued for a memoriall of her to this day and so shall for ever and It shall be preached throughout the whole world If you consider the action it self Judas Iscariot the covetous Pursebearer found fault with it Simon the swelling and proud Pharisee condemned it If the matter it was but an Ointment at the most not worth above thirty small pieces of gold If the place it was private If the witnesses present they were but few If the person she was a woman and one infamous And yet for all these It shall be preached throughout the whole world How many Emperours have advanced their colours displayed their victorious and triumphant Eagles and set up their standards in their enemies Camp How many warlike Captains have led popular Armies and commanded them worthily How many provident Governours have ruled their people very wisely How many Kings have erected rare monuments and statues and built Castles and Cities How many learned men have wasted their brains in new inventions and have like Chymicks distilled them into Receivers of Paper And to what end all this To keep their names in continuall remembrance and to be recorded amongst worthy and memorable men And yet notwithstanding they lodge in the bed of silence and lie buried in the grave of oblivion But one good work that the righteous doth shall be had in everlasting remembrance Time and envie shall never deface and conceal it The wisest men Captains Prelates and Kings themselves shall with reverence reade and heare it It shall be preached throughout the whole world The onely way then to immortalitie and true Eternitie is To live well so to die well Go to now ye Romanes If ye will seek Eternitie in Statues and Mâ—rble monuments but you shall never finde it there I for my part will wish rather with S. Hierom in the life of Paul the Eremitâ— Oh remember saith he Hierom a sinner who if God had given him the choice would have preferred the poore cloak of Paul with his good works before the Scarlet robes of kings with their kingdomes Let us Christians here whilest we have time make over our riches for fear lest we lose them let us send them before us into another world Heaven stands open ready to receive them We need not doubt of the safe carriage the carriers are very faithfull and trusty but they are the poore and needy of this world We make over unto them here by way of exchange a few things of little value being to receive in heaven an exceeding Eternall weight of glorie For so hath Christ promised upon the performance of his precept I say unto you Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations But let us passe from the Romanes unto others CHAP. II. A better way then the former which the Romanes followed to Eternitie DArius the king of the Persians most notable for his slaughter had in his Armie ten thousand Persians which he therefore called immortall as Caelius Rhodiginus interprets it not because he thought they should never die For where are there any such but because as any of the number was diminished by sword or sicknesse it was presently made up so that still there was neither more nor lesse then ten thousand Thus Darius framed unto himself a kinde of immortalitie and Eternitie But alas it was a very short one For within a little space he and all his armie utterly perished The Presidents and Princes assembled together unto Darius and said thus unto him King Darius live for ever Alas how vain was this wish and how short this Eternitie We live but seventy or eighty yeares at the most We are but in a dream if we think to live here for ever Not without cause therefore Xerxes when for the conquering and subjugating Greece as Herodotus reports he carried with him out of Asia two great armies both by sea and land in number three and twenty hundred thousand seventeen thousand and six hundred beside others that attended upon souldiers upon a day taking his prospect from a Mountain and beholding his souldiers fell a weeping And being asked the reason why He said it was because after a matter of fiftie or sixty yeares of so many hundred thousand men so select and strong scarce one should be found alive We may dream and feigne unto our selves I know not what Eternities But in the mean time we must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground Another and better type of Eternitie was found out at Constantinople in the yeare of our Lord 459. The Church of Constantinople in the time when Gennadius was Bishop was augmented by a new and noble foundation of a Monasterie of Acoemets dedicated to S. John Baptist. These Acoemets
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
And therefore he sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all As therefore the wicked delight and rejoyce in going the circuit of their pleasure So God shall appoint them a Circuit to go but it shall be a Circuit of torments and that perpetuall and Eternall Blessed David foresaw this likewise For saith he Thine arrows went abroad The voice of thy thunder was heard in the heaven or round about Famine Warre Pestilence Sorrows Diseases Calamities Death it self and all adversities whatsoever happen before the first death are the Arrows of the Lord but they flie over they have wings and they quickly flie from one to another But the voice of his thunder the voice of his anger and furie shall continually roare in the prison of Hell and like a wheel run round without wearing for all Eternitie This wheel as if it were filled with Gunpowder when it hath once taken fire shall burn for ever and ever A fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell There is also another Circuit and that likewise is Eternall from unutterable cold to intolerable heat and from heat back again to cold Drought and heat consume the snow-waters so saith Job and so doth the grave those that have sinned S. Matthew signifieth it more expresly by the gnashing of teeth and weeping of eyes That we may more fully set out this horrible and incomprehensible wheel order requires that we shew how the Church agrees with the holy Scripture in this as the holy Fathers agree with the Church We have here divers good admonitions from all these which if we attend unto we cannot easily let Eternitie slip out of our memorie CHAP. 1. The Answers of the holy Fathers and the Church about this OF all the holy Fathers which have lived in divers ages we should do well to hearken unto five especially Augustine Chrysostome Gregory Bernard Laurentius Justinianus The first question here which yet may seem a vain and a foolish one is Which is easier and more tolerable to suffer pain in the head eyes or teeth to be troubled with the stone to be pained with the winde Colick or Iliaca Passio or any other acute disease neither to sleep night nor day but to be tormented continually without any respite for three dayes together The question now is I say Which is easier whether to suffer the pains now mentioned or else to eat a piece of a fish which is made bitter by the breaking of the Gall. This may seem a very ridiculous and most idle question For How much sweeter is it to eat such a whole fish rather then suffer those so grievous torments though but for one day The bitternesse of the fish will not endanger a mans life nor make him sick but leave onely a bitter taste in the mouth which is unpleasing to it It is truly answered And yet how many thousands of men make choice rather of the former For How often doth the Preacher teach and exhort cry out and speak plainly Christian brethren consider well with your selves and look about you The Eternall salvation of your souls is in question If you walk this way you must assuredly look for Eternall torments Christ hath shewed you another way both by his life and doctrine Return therefore and repent you have gone long enough astray You may if you will have entrance into heaven if you be shut out it is your own fault God is not wanting to those that are willing It is true indeed There is some bitternesse in using abstinence and fasting in confessing of sinnes in keeping the body under in setting a strict watch over thy senses in conquering ones self in living chastly and continently This is no easie task But let it be what it will we must suffer it Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into his glory Let not a little and short labour terrifie us it is but for a few yeares or it may be but a few dayes that we are to do and suffer valiantly But our joy and rest shall be Eternall He overcometh all whosoever overcometh and conquereth himself containeth himself and resisteth his evil and violent passions and all this for Christ for heaven for blessed Eternitie Christ after his resurrection found his Disciples eating fish broyled upon the coals To teach them how great things they should afterwards suffer and that they were not to think of a soft and easie life but that they were to be stoned whipped crucified have their skin pulled over their eares that this was the way to a joyfull resurrection and to the participation and fellowship of Eternitie with the blessed that all other things were small and of no worth in comparison of immortalitie and that blessednesse which yet eye hath never seen These things are often spoken of but they are little regarded This fish bitter with the overflowing of the gall that is worldly crosses and the sufferings of this life is often set before us but it goes against our stomack we cannot endure to taste of it Eternitie is a thing we often heare of we often reade of it is continually preached unto us and often repeated but we either heare not or beleeve not or regard not or if we do for a time the cares of the world soon put it out of our mindes and we burie it in oblivion But again the Conscience often playes the preacher and recalls to our minde these wholesome lessons is instant dehorts reproves but prevails nothing All is in vain For many are so obstinate and perverse that neither the Preacher nor their own Conscience can work upon them But some are so impudent that they will set themselves in opposition and reply thus Let it go well with us here and we care not we neither know nor care what shall come hereafter we are all for present profits and pleasures no man returneth again from the dead neither was it ever known that any one came back again out of Hell Come therefore let us eat drink and be merry let us enjoy our goods and take our pleasure These are the worldlings Ditties But let S. Augustine determine this question Melius est modica amaritudo in faucibus quà m AEternum tormentum in visceribus Better it is saith he to suffer a little bitternesse in the mouth then Eternall torments in the inward parts It is farre better to suffer for our offences here in this world then in the world to come Farre better is it for threescore yeares and ten continually together here on earth to be punished with most grievous punishments then to suffer the torments of Hell for one day yea for one houre hereafter But let us heare what another of the Fathers saith Saint Chrysostome propounds the second question after this manner Suppose one night in an hundred yeares a man should have
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
that never dieth What miserable and improvident men are we that having but â— short journey to go but full of dangers all the way go on notwithstanding so merrily and sportingly as if we were walking all the while through a Paradise or a most pleasant garden free from all fear of enemies and in the end of our walk presently to be received and admitted as citizens into our heavenly Countrey a place of all securitie For can we be ignorant if we be it is our own fault But we cannot be ignorant that at length we shall come to the two gates of Eternitie the one of the blessed the other of the damned And enter we must at one of them that is certain at which God knows it is according as we shall behave and carry our selves by the way Laurentius Justinianus wondring at the merry madnesse of such travellers breaks forth into this exclamation Oh the lamentable condition of mortall men which go on exulting all the way whilest they are but exiles or banished men from their own countrey Let us not settle our mindes upon any vain joyes and fond toyes by the way whilest we are travelling towards our countrey but let us so runne our race that at the end thereof we may obtain admittance in at the gate which is the entrance to Eternall blessednesse God hath indeed created us rather unto joyes and pleasures then unto labours and sorrows but we are much mistaken both of the time and place It is not here it shall be hereafter Joyes are prepared in heaven but none but the good and faithfull servants shall enter into them And by what means may a man obtain entrance Knowest thou not what Christ said The kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by sorce Think now â—hus with thy self Am I this vioâ—ent man Is this the violence here â—poken of To eat to drink to rise â—p to play to lie down to take my ease It is not certainly Fight we must but it must be the good â—ight like Christian Champions Run we must but so that we may obtain Strive we must but to enter in at the strait gate Labour we must and offer violence to the kingdome of heaven but it must be in due time and place Now whilest we have time here whilest we are on the way whilest we have life and strength that when we come to the point of death and so passe the Horizon of this world and depart into another never to return back again when we shall be translated from time to Eternity then at the last we may have joy for our life past and hope for that which is to come Let us labour therefore let us labour I say and offer violence to our selves fighting against our own froward wils and affections so shall we obtain by the mercy of God everlasting rest for short labour and Eternall glorie for a few dayes travell True and solid joy is not here to be found in vain delights and pleasures but in heaven where there is joy and pleasure for evermore God prepared a gourd and made it come over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd And what is all the pleasure or rather vanitie of this present world Is it not like Jonahs gourd flourishing for a time and yeelding a comfortable shadow Rich men have their gourd also that is their riches under the shadow whereof they rejoyce with exceeding great joy Drunkards and gluttons have their gourds also that is great tables and delicious fare under the shadow whereof they are merry and joyfull Voluptuous men also have their gourds too that is their unlawfull pleasures under the shadow whereof they lie down and sport themselves But Alâ—s sorrow follows after such joy and suddenly overtakes it Their mirth â—s soon turned into mourning And their delights and pleasures end â—n gall and bitternesse For what became of Jonahs gourd God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it â—mote the gourd that it withered Now tell me Jonah where is thy gourd What is become of it Where is now thy exceeding great joy They are both gone together Thy gourd is withered and thy joy is ended Such are our vain delights and pleasures such is our joy rather shadows of things then any thing indeed they passe away suddenly and become like Jonahs gourd that soon withered The joy of this world is but for a moment but the joy of the life to come is for all Eternitie CHAP. III. Here is declared by a most memorable example How sweet and precious the taste of Eternitie is THis knew Theodorus very well one born of Christian Parents and as it seems he learned it betimes when for yeares he was but a youth but an old man for judgement and discretion For on a great Festivall day kept throughout all Egypt there being a great feast at his fathers house and many invited thereunto when some were eating and drinking others laughing and playing and others sporting and dancing he amidst all these â—ollities retired himself to his inward closet finding himself wounded to the heart but with a chast arrow For thus he began to expostulate with himself Unhappy Theodore What would it profit thee if thou shouldst gain the whole world Many things thou hast indeed but canst thou tell how long thou shalt enjoy them Thou livest in abundance now thou maist feast it and make merry thou maist laugh and be fat thou maist rejoyce and skip for joy But art thou sure how long this â—â—all last I should like it well if 〈◊〉 would last alwayes But what shall I do Shall I for the enjoying of these short and transitorie pleasures and delights deprive my self of those joyes which are Eternall Tell me Theodore is this according to Christian Religion to frame unto our selves an heaven here on earth and think to passe from delights to delights from Temporall to Eternall Either I am much deceived or else Christ shewed unto us another way unto the kingdome of heaven and that is through many tribulations Therefore have no more to do with worldly vanities but preferre Eternall joyes before Temporall Thus he said and fell a weeping So then he retired himself into a withdrawing room and there prostrating himself upon the earth he prayed after this manner Eternall God my heart is naked and open before thee I send up my sighs as humble Oratours and Petitioners unto thee I know not what to ask nor how Onely this one thing I beg at thy hands that thou wilt not suffer me to die an Eternall death Lord thou knowest that I love thee and that I desire to be with thee that I may sing Eternall praises unto thee Lord have mercie upon me Whilest he was thus praying in comes his mother on a sudden and presently perceiveth by the rednesse and moistnesse of his eyes that
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