leave this life fully discover themselves as they are both in number and quality This is also signified unto us by the Prophet Daniel when he sayes That the Throne of the Tribunal of God was of flaming fire whose nature is not onely to burn but to enlighten and therefore in that Divine Judgment shall not onely be executed the rigour of his justice but the ugliness likewise of humane malice shall be discovered The Judge himself shall not onely appear severe and implacable but our sins shall be laid open before us and the sight of them shall make us quake and tremble with fear and astonishment especially when we shall perceive them to be manifest unto him who is both Judge and Party Wherefore it is said in one of the Psalms We are dismayed O Lord with thy wrath Psal 89. and troubled with thy fury and immediately giving the reason of that trouble he saith because thou hast set our wickedness before thee and placed them in thy sight The monstrousness of sin is now covered and we perceive it not and are not therefore much troubled but in that instant of death when the ugliness of it shall appear the very sight of it will wholly confound us Our sins now seem unto us but light and trivial and we see not half of them but in our leaving of this life we shall find them heavy grievous and unsupportable A great Beam whilest it floats upon the river a child may move and draw it from place to place and the half of it remains hidden and covered below the waters but draw it to land many men will not suffice to remove it and the whole bulk of it will be then clearly discovered so in the waters of this tempestuous and unstable life our faults appear not heavy and the half of them are conceal'd from us but this life once ended we shall then feel their weight discover their bulk and shall groan under so heavy and grievous a burthen These doubtless are the two swords which then shall mortally wound the conscience of a sinner First when he shall perceive the innumerable multitude of his sins and Then their monstrous deformity And to begin with their multitude how shall he remain amazed when he shall see a number of his actions to be sins which he never thought to be such and which is more when he shall find that to be a fault which he thought to be a laudable work For this it is said in one of the Psalms when I shall take time I will judge righteousness for many actions which in the eyes of men seem vertues will then be found vices in the sight of God If in humane judgments there be so great a difference that young men and those that follow the world often esteem that for a vertue which the wise and ancient repute as an errour how different shall be the divine judgment from that of men since the holy Ghost saith by his Prophet that the Judgments of God are a great Abyss and that his thoughts are as far distant from the thoughts of men as heaven is from earth And if spiritual men are so clear sighted that they condemn with truth what worldlings praise what shall be those Divine eyes which are able to perceive a stain in what appears Angelical purity And if as the Scripture sayes he found wickedness in the Angels what vice can remain hid in the Sons of men Our Lord himself saith by one of his Prophets I will search Jerusalem with a candle If so strict enquiry be to be made in the holy City of Jerusalem what shall be in Babylon If God shall use such rigour with the just how shall he dissemble with his enemies Then shall be brought to light the works which we have done and those which we have left undone the evil of that action which we have committed and the good of that which we have omitted Neither is there account to be taken onely of the evils which we do but of the good also which we do not well all will be strictly searcht and narrowly lookt into and must pass by many eyes The Devil as our accuser shall frame the Process of our whole life and shall accuse us of all he knows and if any thing shall escape his knowledge it shall not therefore be conceal'd for our own Conscience shall cry out and accuse us of it and least out Conscience might flatter us or be ignorant of some faults our Angel-Guardian who is now our Governor and Tutor shall then be the Fiscal and Accuser calling for Divine justice against us and shall discover what our own Souls are ignorant of And if the Devil our Conscience and Angel-Guardian shall fail in any thing as not knowing all the Judge himself who is both Party and Witness and whose Divine knowledge penetrates into the bottom of our wills shall there declare many things for vices which were here esteemed for vertues O strange way of Judgment where none denies and all accuse even the offender accuses himself and where all are Witnesses even the Judge and Party O dreadful Judgment where there is no Advocate and four Accusers the Devil thy Conscience thy Angel-Guardian and thy very Judge who will accuse thee of many things which thou thoughtest to have alleaged for thy defence O how great shall then be the confusion when that shall be found a sin which was thought a service who would have imagined but that Oza when he upheld the Ark in danger of falling had rather done a laudable action than an offence yet the Lord chastized it as a great sin with the punishment of a most disastrous death shewing thereby how different the Divine Judgments are from those of men Who would not have thought Davids numbring of his people to have been an act of policy and discretion yet God judged it an offence and punished it with an unexampled Pestilence which in so short a time destroyed threescore and ten thousand persons When Saul urged by his approaching enemies and the long delayes of Samuel offered sacrifice he thought he had done an act of the greatest vertue which is religion but God called it by the name of a grievous sin and for doing it reproved him and cast him off from being King Who would not have judged it for an act of magnanimity and clemency when Achab having conquered Benhadad King of Syria 3. Reg. c. 20. pardoned him his life and took him up to sit by him in his Royal Chariot But this which was so much esteemed and praised by men was so disagreeable unto God that he sent him word by his Prophet that he should dye for it and that he and his people should bear the punishment which was designed unto the Syrians and their King If then the Judgment of God in this life be so far different from that of man what shall it be in that most dreadful hour which God hath reserved for the executing of
not Masters of time and the things which are in it but are as Stewards to account for it and them Being therefore to give a reason how we have employed them for the service of God Almighty let us not without reason abuse them for our own vain gust and pleasure CAP. V. How God even in this life passes a most rigorous Judgement ALl that we have hitherto spoken concerning the rigour of the Divine Tribunal before which the Soul is at the end of life to appear and to give an account unto his Redeemer is far short of what really is to be To the end therefore that we may conceive it something better I shall here propose the severity wherewith God executes his Judgements even in this life wherein he makes use of mercy that from thence we may collect the rigour of the other where he is onely to use his Justice Ezeck 7. By the Prophet Ezekiel he speaks unto his people thus I will pour out all my rage upon thee and will accomplish my fury in thee I will judge thee according to thy wayes and will lay forth all thy wickedness against thee my eyes shall not pardon thee neither will I have mercy I will charge thee with all thy misdeeds and thy abominations shall be in the middle of thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord which smites And presently he adds My wrath shall be upon all the people the sword without and pestilence and famine within he who is in the field shall die by the sword and they who are in the City shall be devoured by pestilence and famine and they who flye shall save themselves and shall all remain in the Mountains as the Doves of the Valleys trembling in their iniquity their hands shall be disjoynted and their knees shall resolve into water for the great fear and amazement which God in his wrath shall send vpon them But it is not much that the Lord should deal thus with sinners who have forsaken their God since even against those who are desirous to do all for his honour he proceeds with much rigour Zach. 3. Let us see how the Prophet Zacharit sets forth unto us the High-Priest who then lived the Son of Josedeck as a lively representation of the Divine Judgement whom he makes to appear before an Angel who there exercised the Office of a Judge cloathed in foul and polluted Garments in so much as the Lord calls him a Brand taken out of the fire and Satan standing by his side to accuse him If then this great Priest zealous of the glory of God stood so dejected and confused in the presence of an Angel as he appeared as a black and burnt coal of hell in unclean and sooty Garments how shall a grievous Sinner and despiser of the Divine service appear before God himself But this is more fully signified in the Apocalyps where our Saviour himself pronounced judgement against the seaven Bishops of Asia who were then all alive and most of them esteemed great Servants of God and so holy as was St. Timothy the beloved Disciple of Paul St. Polycarp St. Quadratus St. Carpus St. Sagaris all in great opinion for sanctity and holiness of life Let us first behold in what manner our Saviour Christ appeared when he came to judge them and after let us consider the rigorous charge which he laid against them For the first to signifie that nothing could be hid or concealed from him he stood in the middest of seaven Candlesticks or of seaven Lamps like the Golden Candlestick in the Temple in each of which was a lighted Candle in his hand he held seaven Stars whose beams and splendour enlightned all about him and above all his face was as the Sun at midday in his greatest force which leaves not the least atome undiscovered In such a brightness of Candles Stars and Sun there was no shadow to give us to understand that nothing how little soever can be hidden from the all-seeing eyes of our most just Judge unto whom all things will appear clearly and distinctly as they are in themselves but not content with so many arguments of the evidence which he shall have of all offences he adds That the eyes of the Judge were as flaming fire more penetrating than the eyes of Lynceus to see and search into all things and to note also the rigour and severity wherewith he looks upon offences when he comes to judge them This certainly were sufficient of it self to set forth the rigour of his justice but to make it appear yet more terrible he declares it by another figure of a two-edged Sword which he held in his mouth to denote that the rigour of his works shall be greater than those of his words although his words themselves were as cutting swords In conclusion all was so full of terrour and threatning as although it nothing concerned St. John as being none of those who were to be judged yet it caused so great a fear and amazement in him that he fell as dead upon the ground If then St. John only beholding the wrathful countenance of our Lord not against himself but others with whom also he intended to use mercy it made his feet to fail and his pulses to remain without motion how shall it fare with that sinner who shall behold him all incensed against him and that at such a time when he is onely to use his justice I believe that if the Souls of Sinners were capable of death the terrour of that fight would bereave them of a thousand lives Let us now see what was found by those eyes of fire with which Christ so narrowly examined the works of those seaven Bishops who were such as he himself vouchsafes to call them Angels Truly he found much to reprehend in them that it might be verified which was spoken in Job that he found iniquity in his Angels Who would have thought that St. Timothy of whom the Apostle was so confident and of whom he made so great esteem should deserve that God should take away his Chair and deprive him of his Church of Ephesus yet Christ found him worthy of so great a chastisement and threatens to do it if he did not amend and complains that he was fallen from his former zeal exhorting him to do penance which certainly he performed as perceiving it very necessary for him Greater faults he found in the Bishop of Pergamus as also in him of Thiatira who was St. Carpus and in like manner exhorts them both to do penance And that it may appear how different are the judgements of God from those of men although the Bishop of Sardis was held by all for a most holy man that he had gained a great opinion of vertue and that he did many good works yet Jesus Christ found he was so far from being a Saint that he remained in mortal sin O holy good God who would not tremble that he who passed amongst men for
he not exempt her from that inviolable Law of Death What inchantment than is this that Death being so certain we will not suffer our selves to understand it nor be perswaded that it is so Thou art to dye assure thy self of that An irrevocable Law is this and without remedy Thou must dye The time will come when those eyes with which thou readest this shall be burst and lose their sight those hands which thou now imployest be without sense or motion that body which thou movest from place to place with such agility shall be stiffe and cold this mouth which now discourses shall be mute without breath or spirit and this flesh which thou now pamperest shall be consumed and eaten by loathsome worms and vermin An infallible thing it is that the time will come when thou shalt be covered with earth thy body stink and rot and appear more noysome and more horrible unto the senses than a dead Dog putrified upon a Dunghil The time will come when thou shalt be forgotten as if thou hadst never been and those that passe shall walk over thee without remembring that such a man was born Consider this and perswade thy self that thou must dye as well as others that which hath happened to so many must happen also unto thee thou which art now afraid of the dead must dye thy self thou which loathest to behold an open Sepulcher where lie the half putrified bones and flesh of others must putrifie and rot thy self Think upon this seriously and reflect with thy self soberly how thou shalt look when thou art dead and this consideration will give thee a great knowledge what thy life is and make thee despise the pleasures of it Truly such is the condition of death that although to dye were onely contingent and no wise certain yet because it might happen it ought to make us very careful and sollicitous If God had at first created the world replenished with people and some one before it was known what death was had fallen sick of a pestilential Fever and should have suffered in the sight of the rest the accidents of that infirmity those violent fits of heat that scorching thirst that restless unquietness of mind and body tossing and tumbling from side to side that raging frenzie which bereaves him of his judgment and at last they should behold him pale and wan wholly disfigured strugling with death and giving the last gasp the Body after to remain stiffe cold and immoveable how would they remain astonisht with the sight of that misery which would appear much greater when after three or four dayes the Body begun to smell and corrupt to be full of worms and filth Without doubt a mortal sadness would seise upon them all and every one would fear lest some such miserable condition might happen unto himself And although God should say I will not that all shall dye I will content my self with the death of some few but should leave those uncertain whom this would suffice to make all to tremble each one would fear lest he were one of those designed for that misfortune If then in this case death being uncertain all would quake because all might dye why remain we so supinely careless since it is sure all must dye If death being doubtful cause such a terrour why do we not fear it being certain Nay though God should further say that onely one of all those in the world should dye but did not declare who that one were yet all would fear Why then doest thou not now fear when all men must infallibly dye and perhaps thou the first But if God should yet further proceed to reveal that one appointed to dye and he should notwithstanding live in that loose and careless manner as thou now doest how would the rest of the world admire his negligence and vain temerity what would they say certainly they would cry out unto him Man thou that art to turn into dust why livest thou in that loose manâ—er Man that art to be eaten by wormes why doest thou pamper thy self Man which art to appear before the Tribunal of God why doest thou not think upon the account that shall be demanded from thee Man which art to end and all things with thee why doest thou make such esteem of vanity We who are to live ever well may we build houses and provide riches because we look for no other life than this which is never to end but thou who art but in this life as a Passenger and art to leave it to morrow what hast thou to do to build houses what hast thou to doe with the cares and business's of this world Wherefore doest thou take thought for those temporal things whereof thou hast no need Care for those of the other life wherein thou art to remain for ever Thou thou art he whom God hath designed to dye why doest thou not believe it or if thou doest why doest thou laugh why doest thou rejoyce why doest thou live so much at ease in a place where thou art a Pilgrim and not to rest leave off the thoughts of the earth and consider whither thou art to goe It is not fitting for thee to live here in mirth and jollity but to retire into some solitary wilderness and there dispose thy self for that terrible traunce which expects thee Let every man therefore say within himself It is I who am to dye and resolve unto dust I have nothing to do with this world the other was made for me and I am onely to care for that in this I am onely a Passenger and am therefore to look upon the eternal whither I am going and am there to make my abode for ever Certain it is that death will come and hurry me along with him All the business therefore I have now is to dispose my self for so hard an encounter and since it is not in the power of man to free me from it I will onely serve that Lord who is able to save me in so certain and imminent a danger Much to this purpose for our undeceiving is that Story set forth by John Major Johan Major Alex. Faya tom 2. 〈◊〉 certain Souldier had served a Marquess for many years with great fidelity for which he was favoured by his Lord with a singular respect and affection The Souldier chanced to fall into his last infirmity which no sooner came unto the knowledge of the Marquess but he instantly came to visit him accompanied with divers expert Physicians and having enquired of his health and spoken many things unto him of much comfort and dearness offered himself to assist him in all things which might conduce to his health or content and wisht him boldly to demand what might be useful or available for him assuring him it should be granted without spare of cost or trouble The sick Souldier after much importunity at last intreated the favour of three things Either that he would afford him some
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
Titus Etherius dyed in the act of lust Giachetto Saluciano and his Mistress dyed in the same venerial action and their bodies were both found conjoyned in death as their souls went joyntly to hell Upon small matters and unexpected accidents depends the success of that moment upon which depends Eternity Let every one open his eyes and assure not himself of that life which hath so many entrances for death let no man say I shall not dye to day for many have thought so and yet sodainly dyed that very hour By so inconsiderable things as we have spoken of many have dyed and thou mayest dye without any of them For a sodain death there is no need of a hair or fish bone to strangle thee nor affliction of melancholy to oppress or excess of sodain joy to surprize thee it may happen without all these exteriour causes A corrupt humour in the entrails which flyes unto the heart without any body perceiving it is sufficient to make an end of thee and it is to be admired that no more dye sodainly considering the disorders of our lives and frailties of our bodies we are not of iron or brass but of soft and delicate flesh A Clock though of hard Mettal in time wears our and hath every hour need of mending and the breaking of one wheel stops the motion of all the rest There is more artifice in a humane body than in a Clock and it is much more subtle and delicate The nerves are not of steel nor the veins of brass nor the entrails of iron How many have had their livers or spleen corcupted or displaced and have dyed sodainly no man sees what he hath within his body and such may his infirmity be that although he thinks and feels himself well yet he may dye within an hour Let us all tremble at what may happen CAP. IV. Why the end of Temporal Life is terrible DEath because it is the end of life is by Aristotle said to be the most terrible of all things terrible What would he have said if he had known it to be the beginning of Eternity and the gate through which we enter into that vast Abyss no man knowing upon what side he shall fall into that profound and bottomless depth If death be terrible for ending the business and affairs of life what is it for ushering in that instant wherein we are to give an accompt of life before that terrible and most just Judge who therefore dyed that we might use it well It is not the most terrible part of death to leave the life of this world but to give an accompt of it unto the Creatour of the world especially in such a time wherein he is to use no mercy This is a thing so terrible that it made holy Job to tremble notwithstanding he had so good an accompt to make who was so just that God himself gloried in having such a Servant The Holy Ghost testifies that he sinned not in all what he had spoken in his troubles and calamities which were sent him not as a punishment for his sins but as a trial of his patience proposing him unto us an example of vertue and constancy and he himself protests that his Conscience did not accuse him yet for all this was so fearful of the strict judgment which God passes in the end of the world that amazed at the severity of his Divine Justice he cries out in his discourse with the Lord Who will give me that thou protect and hide me in hell Dionys Rikel artic 16. de noviss whilest thy fury passes Whereupon Dionysius Rikellius affirms that that instant wherein the Judgement of God is to be given is not onely more terrible than death but more terrible than to suffer the pains of hell for some certain time and this not onely unto those who are to be damned but even unto those who are elected for heaven Since therefore Job being so just and holy quaked at the apprehensions of that Divine Judgement when it was yet far from him and when we use not to be so sensible as of things at hand without doubt when a Sinner shall in that instant perceive himself to have displeased his Redeemer and Creatour although but in small faults yet it will afflict him more than the suffering of most great pains for which St. Basil judged that it was less to suffer eternal torments Basil hom contra divites avaros than the confusion of that day and therefore pondering that reprehension given unto the rich man in the Gospel Fool this night thy Soul shall be taken from thee Whose then shall be the riches which thou hast gotten the Saint avers that this mock this taunt did exceed an eternal punishment Death is terrible for many weighty reasons and every one sufficient to cause in us a mortal fear whereof not the least is the sight of the offended Judge who is not onely Judge but Party and a most irrefragable Witness in whose visage shall then appear such a severity against the wicked that St. Austin sayes he had rather suffer all manner of torments than to behold the face of his angry Judge And St. Chrysostome saith Chrys homi 24. in Math. It were better to be struck with a thousand Thunderbolts than to behold that countenance so meek and full of sweetness estranged from us and those eyes of peace and mildness not enduring to behold us The only sight of an Image of Christ crucified Rad. in opusc in annuis Societ which appeared with wrathful and incensed eyes although in this life when the field of mercy is open was sufficient so to astonish three hundred persons who beheld it that they fell unto the ground senseless and without motion and so continued for the space of some hours How will it then amaze us when we shall behold not a dead Image but Jesus Christ himself alive not in the humility of the Cross but upon a Throne of Majesty and Seat of Justice not in a time of mercy but in the hour of vengeance not naked with pierced hands but armed against Sinners with the Sword of Justice when he shall come to judge and revenge the injuries which they have done him God is as righteous in his justice as in his mercy and as he hath allotted a time for mercy so he will for justice and as in this life the rigour of his justice is as it were repressed and suspended so in that point of death when the Sinner shall receive judgment it shall be let loose and overwhelm him A great and rapid river which should for 30 or 40 years together have its current violently stopt what a mass of waters would it collect in so long a space and if it should then be let loose with what fury would it overrun and bear down all before it and what resistance could withstand it Since then the Divine justice Dan. 7. which the Prophet Daniel compares
merry How dare that Sinner laugh since that instant will come wherein it will not profit him to weep why does he not now with tears ask pardon for his sins when after death he cannot obtain it There shall be then no mercy no remedy no protection from God or man no defence but what each man hath from his own works Let us then endeavour they may be good ones since we have nothing in the other life to trust to but them The rich man shall not then have multitudes of Servants to set forth his greatness and authority nor well-feed Lawyers to defend his process onely his good works shall bestead him and they onely shall defend him and in that instant when even the mercy of God shall fail him and the blood of Christ shall not appease the Divine justice onely his good works shall not fail him then when their treasures which have been heaped up in this world and guarded with so much care shall fail their Masters their alms bestowed on the poor shall not fail them there when their Children Kindred Friends and Servants shall all fail them the Strangers which they have lodged the Sick which they have visited in the Hospitals and the needy which they have succoured shall not fail them The rich man is to leave his wealth behind him without knowing who shall possess it 〈◊〉 his good works shall goe along with him and they onely when nothing else can shall avail him neither shall Christ who is the Judge of the living and the dead at that time admit of other Patrons or Advocates Let us then take heed we turn not those against us which are onely at that dreadful time to bestead us It is to be admired how many dare do ill in the presence of that Judge with whom nothing can prevail but doing well and the wonder is much the greater that we dare with our evil works offend him who is to judge them The Theef is not so impudent as to rob his neighbour if the Magistrate look on but would be held a fool if he should rob or offend the Magistrate himself in his own house How dares then this poor thing of man injure the very person of his most upright and just Judge before whom it is most certain he shall appear to his face in his own house in so high a manner as to preferre the Devil his and our greatest enemy before him How great was the malice of the Jews when they judged it fitter that Barabbas should live than the Son of God Let the Sinner then consider his own insolence who judges it better to please the Devil than Christ his Redeemer Every one who sins makes as it were a Judgment and passes a Sentence in favour of Satan against Jesus Christ Of this unjust Judgment of man the Son of God who is most unjustly sentenced by a Sinner will at the last day take a most strict and severe account Let him expect from his own injustice how great is to be the Divine justice against him Let a Christian therefore consider that he hath not now his own but the cause of Christ in hand Let him take heed how he works since all his actions are to be viewed and reviewed by his Redeemer An Artist who knew his work was to appear before some King or to be examined by some great Master in the same art would strive to give it the greatest perfection of his skill Since therefore all our works are to appear before the King of Heaven and the chief Master of vertues Jesus Christ let us endeavour that they may be perfect and compleat and the rather because he is not to examine them for curiositie but to pass upon us a Sentence either of condemnation or eternal happiness Let us then call to mind that we are to give an account unto God Almighty and let us therefore take heed what we doe let us weep for what is amiss let us forsake our sins and strive to do vertuous actions let us look upon our selves as guilty offenders and let us stand in perpetual fear of the Judge as Abbot Amno advises us of whom it is reported in the Book of the lives of Fathers translated by Pelagius the Cardinal In vitis Pat. lib. 5. That being demanded by a young Monk what he should doe that might most profit him answered Entertain the same thoughts with the Malefactors in prison who are still enquiring Where is the Judge When will he come every hour expecting their punishment and weeping for their misdemeanors In this manner ought the Christian ever to be in fear and anxietie still reprehending himself and saying Ay me wretch that I am how shall I appear before the Tribunal of Christ how shall I be able to give an account of all my actions If thou shalt always have these thoughts thou mayest be saved and shalt not fail of obtaining what thou demandest towards thy salvation and all will be little enough Climac gra 6. St. John Climacus writes of a certain Monk who had lived long with small fervour and edification who falling into a grievous infirmity wherein he remained some space without sense or feeling was during that time brought before the Tribunal of God and from thence returned unto life wherein he continued ever after in that fear and astonishment that he caused the door of his little Cell which was so small and narrow that he had scarce room to move in it to be stopt up there remained as it were inclosed in prison the space of twelve years during which time he never spake with any nor fed upon other than bread and water but sat ever meditating upon what he had seen in that rapture wherein his thoughts were so intent as he never moved his eyes from the place where they were fixed but persevering still in his silence and astonishment could not contain the tears from abundantly flowing down his aged face At last saith the Saint his death now drawing near we broke open the door and entred into his Cell and having asked him in all humility that he would say something unto us of instruction all we could obtain from him was this Pardon me Fathers He who knew what it were truly and with his whole heart to think upon death would never have the boldness to sin The rigour of Divine Judgment which is to pass after death occasioned in this Monk so great change and penitence of life § 2. The second cause of the terribleness of death which is the laying open of all wherein we have offended in this life ANother thing of great horror is to happen in the end of life which shall make that hour wherein the Soul expires most horrible unto sinners and That is the sight of their own sins whose deformity and multitude shall then clearly and distinctly appear unto them and although now we remain in ignorance of many and see the guilt of none they shall then when we
it in this manner for to conceive it as it is in it self the understanding of Angels were not sufficient Here may be applyed that which antiquity admired in two great and famous Painters Apelles went to Rhodes to see Protogenes and not finding him at home took a Pensil and drew a most subtle line charging the Servants that they should tell their Master that he who drew that line was there to seek him When Protogenes returned they told him what had happened who took the Pensil and drew a stroke of another colour through the middle of that which Apelles had drawn and going about his business commanded his Servants that if he came again they should tell him that he whom he sought for had drawn that line through the middle of his It seemed there could not be imagined a higher favour and Courtship than that of the Eternal Father to have given his onely Son and have delivered him up to death for man but through the middle of this favour the Son drew another of most excessive fineness and subtilty which is the institution of the most blessed Sacrament the which some call an Extension of the Incarnation and is a Representation of the Passion and a Character and Memorial of the Wonders of God Here truely did the Son of God draw the stroke of his infinite love and consummated all the Divine benefits not onely giving himself for our benefit and behoof but entring into our very breasts to solicit our love and affection Anacreon writes That standing at defiance with the God of love and having resisted all his arrows the God at last when he had no more to shoot shot himself and penetrating his heart and entrails compell'd him to yield What other are the benefits of our Lord God than so many arrows of love which Man resists and not rendring himself neither at the benefit of Creation Conservation Incarnation or Passion let him at last render himself at this when God shoots himself into him and enters into his very breast and bowels to solicite his love If he resist this also what judgements expect him Whereupon St. Paul sayes that he who presumes to communicate unworthily eats and drinks the judgement of God that is swallows down the whole weight of Divine justice Consider then how dreadful it shall be unto a Sinner when he shall receive a charge not onely of his own being and his own life but also of the being and life or God of the Incarnation Passion Life and Death of Christ our Redeemer who hath so often given himself unto him in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood The Murtherer who stands charged with the life of a man although it be of some wicked person yet fears to be apprehended and brought to judgement how is it then that he who is charged with the life of God trembles not O how fearful a thing is it when a vile creature shall enter into judgement with his Creatour and shall be demanded an account of the blood of Christ whose value is infinite What account can he give of such a benefit and of all the rest which he hath received even from the greatest unto the least when Christ shall say unto him those words of St. Chrisostome Chrysost hom 24. in Math. I when thou hadst no being gave thee one inspired thee with a Soul and placed thee above all things that are upon the Earth I for thee created Heaven Air Sea Earth and all things and yet am dishonoured by thee and held more vile and base than the Devil himself and yet for all this have not ceased to do thee good and bestowed upon thee innumerable benefits For thy sake being God I was content to make my self a Servant was buffetted spit upon and condemned to a punishment of Slaves and to redeem thee from death suffered the death of the Cross In Heaven I interceded for thee and from thence sent thee the Holy Ghost I invited thee unto the Kingdom of Heaven offered my self to be thy Head thy Spouse thy Garment thy House thy Root thy Food thy Drink thy Shepheard thy Brother I chose thee for the Heir of Heaven and drew thee out of darkness unto light To such excesses of love what have we to answer but to stand astonisht and confounded that we have been so ungrateful and given occasion to the Devil of one of the greatest scorns and injuries which could be put upon our Redeemer when he shall say unto him Thou createdst man for him wast born in poverty livedst in labours and diedst in pain and torments I have done nothing for him but would have drunk his blood and sought to damn him into a thousand hells and yet for all this it is I whom he strives to please and not thee Thou doest prepare for him a Crown of eternal glory I desire to torment him in hell and yet he had rather serve me without interest than thee for thy promise of so great a reward I should have been ashamed to have created and redeemed a wretch so ungrateful unto him from whom he hath received so great benefits but since he loves me better than thee let him be mine unto whom he hath so often given up himself We are not onely to give an account of these general benefits but of those which are more particular of the good examples which we have seen of the instructions which we have heard of the inspirations which have been sent us and the Sacraments which we have received we have much to do to correspond with all these Let us therefore tremble at that strict judgement let us tremble at our selves who are so careless of that for which all the care in the world is not sufficient And if it were not for the blood of Christ what would become of us but the time of benefitting our selves by that will be then past now is the time and if we shall now despise and outrage it in what case shall we be Let us not mispend the time of this life since so severe an account will be demanded of all the benefits which we have received one of which is the Time of this temporal life and the blessings of it Let us take heed what use we make of it let us not lose it since we are to answer for every part of it Sopronin Prato spirituali ca. 59. de Beato Thalilaeo This made holy Thalileus tremble and weep bitterly who being asked the cause of his tears answered This time is bestowed upon us wherein to do penance and a most strict account will be demanded of us if we despise it It is not ours for which we are to answer we are not the Lords of time let us not therefore dispose of it for our own pleasure but for the service of God whose it is This consideration were sufficient to with-draw our affection from the goods of this life and to settle it upon those which are eternal since we are
a name behind them neither observed justice with others nor vertue in themselves how shall they change their glory into ignominie Let us by the way look upon some of them who have filled the world with their vain fame who shall in that day by so much suffer the greater disgrace by how much the world hath bestowed more undeserved honours upon them Who more glorious than Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar whom the world hath ever esteemed as the most great and valorous Captains that it ever produced and their glory still continues fresh after so many ages past What was all they did but acts of rapine without right or title unjustly tyrannizing over what was none of theirs and shedding much innocent blood to make themselves Lords of the Earth All these actions were vicious and therefore unworthy of honour fame or memory and since they have for so many hundreds of years remained in the applause and admiration of men there shall in that day fall upon them so much ignominy shame and confusion as shall recompence that past honour which they have unworthily received and viciously desired This ambition was so exorbitant in Alexander that hearing Anaxartes the Philosopher affirm that there were many worlds he sighed with great resentment and cried out Miserable me that am not yet Lord of one This devillish and vain pride was extolled by many for greatness of spirit but was in truth the height of vanity and arrogant ambition which could not be contained in one World but with one desire tyrannized over many and shall then be punished with the publick ignominy of all men not onely in respect of the fame which he hath so unjustly enjoyed but of the ill example which he hath given to others and principally unto Caesar who as he followed his example in tyranny did likewise imitate him in ambition and the desire of rule and vain honour De Alex. Vide Val. Max. l. 8. De Julio Caes Vid. Fulg. l. 8. and therefore beholding his Statue in Cadiz at such time as he was Questor in Spain complained of his own fortune that at the age wherein Alexander had subjugated all Asia he had yet done nothing of importance counting it for a matter of importance to tyrannize over the world and to the end he might make himself Lord of it to Captivate his Countrey In like manner Aristotle so celebrated for his Writings in which he consumed many sleepless nights onely to purchase Glory and to make it greater in his confuting of other Philosophers used little ingenuity taking their words in a far other sense than they meant or spake them This labour of his since it proceeded not from Virtue but was performed with so little candour and sincerity meerly to obtain a vain reputation deserved no Glory and therefore a confusion equal unto the Honour they unduly now give him shall then fall upon him And since he put his Disciple Theodectus to so much shame his own ambition will be to him occasion of greater confusion Vide Val. Max. l. 8. Aristotle gave to this his Disciple Theodectus certain Books of the Art of Oratory to the end he should divulge them But afterwards resenting much that another should carry all the praise he owned the said Books publickly And for this reason in other Books which he wrote he cites himself saying As he had said in the Books of Theodectus Wherein is clearly seen Aristotle's ambition or desire of Glory and therefore was unworthy of it and with just ignominy shall pay the unjust Glory he now possesseth In so much then as not only Fame and Memory are vain in respect they are to end and finish as all things with the world are but also because their undeserved and pretended Glory is then to be satisfied with equal shame and confusion the affront they shall receive in that one day being equivalent unto the fame and honour of thousands of years Neither can the most famous men amongst the Gentiles be admired by so many in ten ages as shall then scorn and contemn them How many are ignorant that there ever was an Alexander And how many in all their lives never heard of Aristotle And yet shall in that day know them not for their honour but confusion The name of the Great and admired Alexander is unknown unto more Nations than known The Japonlans Chineses Cafres Angolans other people and most extended and spacious Kingdoms never heard who he was and shall then know him onely for a publique Thief a Robber an Oppressor of the World and for a great and an ambitious Drunkard The same which is to pass in Fame and Memory is also to pass in Children in whom as St. Thomas says St. Thom. supra the Fathers live and as from many good Parents spring evil Children so contrariwise from evil Parents come those that are good which shall be in that day a confusion to those who begat them and by so much the greater by how much worse was the example which they gave them Neither shall the Judge onely enquire into the example they have given their Children but also unto strangers and principally the works which they have left behind them And therefore as from the deceit of Arius saith the Angelical Doctor and other Heretiques have and shall spring divers Errours and Heresies until the end of the World so it is fit that in that last day of time should appear the evil which hath been occasioned by them that we may in this life not onely take a care for our selves but others so as it is a terrible thing as Cajetan notes upon that Article before mention'd of the Angelical Doctor that the Divine judgement shall extend even to those things which are by accident which is as the Divines speak unto those which are besides our will and intention St. Thomas also informs us That by reason of the body which remains after death it was convenient that the sentence of each one in particular should be again repeated in that general Judgement of the whole World Because many Bodies of just men are now buried in the mawes of wild Beasts or otherwise remain without interrement and to the contrary great sinners have had sumptuous Burials and magnificent Sepulchres all which are to be recompensed in that day of the Lord and the sinner whose Body reposed in a rich Mausoleum shall then see himself not only without Ornaments and Beauty but tormented with intolerable pains and the just who died and had no Sepulchres but were devoured by ravenous Birds shall appear with the brightness of the Heavens and with a Body glorious as the Sun Let those consider this who consume vast sums in preparing for themselves stately Sepulchres and beautiful Urns engraving their Names Actions and Dignities in rich Marbles and let them know that all this if they shall be damned shall serve them in that day but for their greater shame and reproach Out of this life
we can carry nothing but our good works and let us not add unto our evil ones that of vain-glory in seeking to leave behind us a vain Fame and Renown Plin. l. 56. c. 13. What remains unto King Porsenna of that heavy burthen wherewith he grieved and afflicted his whole Kingdom in rearing him a Sepulchre of that rare and sumptuous workmanship but a testimony of his pride and folly In like manner the Monument of the Emperour Adrian which was the Beauty and Glory of Rome shall be then changed into a scorn Lastly St. Thomas teaches us that Temporal things on which we place our affections because some last a longer and some a shorter time after death shall all enter with us into Divine judgement Let us take heed therefore whereon we set our hearts since the accomplishing of what we wish may be a punishment of our desires Those things of the Earth which we most love and desire should continue if they be taken from us it is a chastisement of our earthly affection and if we be permitted to enjoy them let us fear that they be not the temporal Reward of some good Work which may either diminish or deprive us of the Eternal Besides this because not onely the Soul of man hath offended but the whole man both in Soul and Body it was fit that both Soul and Body should be judged and appear before the Tribunal of Christ and that in publique because none should presume to sin in secret since his sins are to be revealed and made known to all past present and to come A terrible case it is that this passage of Divine judgement which according as we have said out of holy Job appears unto the Saints more terrible than to suffer all the pains of Hell is twice to be acted and this so bitter trance to be again repeated the second time being unto sinners of greater horrour and confusion than the first CAP. IX Of the last day of Time THat we may now come to handle the manner of this universal Judgement which is to pass upon time and men we are to suppose that this fire which is to precede the coming of Christ is at his descent to continue in assistance of his Divine justice and after his return unto Heaven attended by all the just to remain until it hath purged and purified these inferiour Elements the which is noted by Albertus Magnus Albert. Magn. in comp Theol. lib. 7. c. 15. Less de perf div lib. 13. c. 30. 23. and collected from divers places of the Divine Scriptures We are also to suppose that this coming of Christ is to be with greater terrour and Majesty than hath been yet manifested by any of the Divine persons either in himself or any of his Creatures If an Angel which represented God and was onely to promulgate the Law came with that terrour and Majesty unto Mount Sinay as made the Hebrew people though purified and prepared for his coming to quake and tremble what shall the Lord of the Law doe when he himself comes to take an account of the Law and to revenge the breach of it With what terrour and Majesty shall he appear unto men plunged in sin and unprepared for his reception who are then to be all present and judged in that last day of time The day in which the Law was given was very memorable unto the Hebrews And this day where an account of the Law is to be given will be horrible and ought perpetually to remain in the memory of all mankind But before we declare what shall pass in this let us say something of what hath already passed in that that from the horrour of the first appearance we may gather something of what shall happen in the second and from the Majesty wherewith an Angel appeared when he gave the Law collect something of the Majesty of the Lord of Angels when he judges the Law Fifty dayes after the departure of the Sons of Israel out of Egypt after so many plagues and punishments poured upon that Kingdom after the burying of the unbelieving Egyptians who pursued them in the bottom of the Red Sea and that the Hebrews having escaped their enemies were lodged round about Mount Sinay Deut. 33. Vid. Barrad l. 6. itin c. 5. Ps 65. Deut. 33. There was seen to come in the Air from far that is from Mount Seir in Idumea a Lord of great power attended with an infinite multitude of Angels In so much as David sings that ten thousand compassed about his Chariot And Moses speaking of many thousands which attended him says also that he carried in his right hand the Law of God all of flaming fire and yet he who came in this height of Majesty waited on with those Celestial Spirits was not God Act. 7. but as we learn from St. Stephen onely an Angel and believed to be St. Michael who because he came in the Name of God the holy Scriptures calls the Lord. This Angel thus accompanied came seated on a dark condensed Cloud which cast forth frequent flashes of Lightning and resounded with dreadful cracks of Thunder Deut. 33. from Mount Seir unto Mount Haran in the Land of the Ishmaelites and from thence with the same Majesty passed through the Air unto Mount Sinay where the Children of Israel lay encamped who at the dawning of the day astonisht with that fearful noyse stood quaking and trembling in their Tents No sooner was the Angel arrived unto Mount Sinay which as the Apostle says Heb. 42. was covered with rain whirlwinds storms and tempests but he descended in flames which raught betwixt Heaven and Earth from whence issued forth a smoke black and thick as from a furnace during which time a Trumpet was heard to sound with that piercing vehemence that as it encreased in loudness so fear encreased in the amazed Israelites who now stood quaking at the foot of the Mountain but were by the Angel so much would he be respected commanded by the mouth of Mâ—ses not to approach it lest they died After which the Angel began with a dreadful voice to proclaim the Law which was pronounced with so much life and vigour that not withstanding the horrid noyse of Thunder the flashes of lightning and the shrill and penetrating sound of the Trumpet still continued yet all the Hebrews who with their Tents overspread those vast deserts and many thousands of Egyptians who were converted and followed them heard conceived and understood it clearly and distinctly Nay so piercing was the voyce that it entred and imprinted it self in their very bowels speaking unto every one of them as if it had spoken to him only which caused so great a fear and reverence in the people that they thought they could not live if the Angel continued speaking and therefore besought it as a grace that he would speak unto them by the way of Moses lest they should die Nay Moses himself accustomed to see
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
at least mortifie our affections for what is promised us hereafter and because it is most agreeable to God and profitable for our selves as may appear by this story related by Glycas Glycas ex eo Rad. in Aula Sancta cap. 12. A certain Anchorite had lived forty years in the desert retired wholly from the world and applying himself with great observance of his profession to the salvation of his Soul A desire at last entred into his minde to know who in the world was equal to himself in mortification Whereupon he besought God to reveal it unto him and it pleased his Divine Majesty to grant his request and it was answered him from heaven that the Emperour Theodâ—sius notwithstanding that he was Master of the greatest glory of the World yet was neither inferiour unto him in humility nor in overcoming himself The Hermite with this answer moved by God repaired unto the Court where he found easie access unto the courteous and religious Emperour unto whom the Servants of God and such as were famous for sanctity of life were alwayes welcome Not long after he found means to speak unto him and know his holy exercises At first he onely acquainted him with common vertues That he gave large Alms That he wore hair-cloth That he fasted often That he observed conjugal chastity and That he caused justice to be exactly observed These vertues seemed well unto the Hermit especially in such a person but yet judged all this to be short of himself who had done those things with greater perfection For he had renounced all and given all he possessed for Christ which was more than to give almes he never knew woman in his life which was more than to observe conjugal chastity he never did injury or injustice unto any which was more than to cause it to be kept to others his hair-cloth and fasts from all sorts of dainties were continual which was more than to abstain some dayes from flesh Wherefore altogether unsatisfied he further importuned the Emperour beseeching him to conceal nothing from him That it was the Divine will that he should acquaint him with what he did and that therefore he was sent unto him from God The Emperour thus urged said unto him Know then that when I assist at the horse-courses and spectacles in the Circus where my presence is required I so withdraw my minde from those vanities that though my eyes be open I see them not The Hermit remained astonisht at so particular a mortification in so great an Emperour and perceived that Scepters and Purple could not hinder a devout Prince from mortification of his affections and meriting much with God Almighty Theodosius further added Know also that I sustain my self by my labour for I transcribe certain parchments into a fair hand which being sold the price payes for my food With this example of poverty amongst so much riches and temperance in the middest of so great dainties the Hermit was wholly amazed and learned that abstinence from ease and pleasures of this life was that which made this religious Prince so gracious and acceptable unto our Lord. Finally so perverse are the delights of the World that though lawful yet they hinder much our spiritual proficiency and if unlawful are the total ruine of our Souls § 4. What shall we then say of the Royal and Imperial dignity which seems in humane judgement to embrace all the happiness of the World Honours Riches Pleasures all are contained in it But how small is a Kingdom since the whole Earth in respect of the Heavens is no bigger than a point and certainly neither Honours Riches or Pleasures are greater or more secure than we have described them Let us hear St. Chrysostome speak of the Emperours of his time Hom. 66. ad pop Look not upon the Crown saith he but upon that tempest of cares which accompany it Fix not thy eyes upon the purple but upon the mind of the King more sad and dark than the purple it self The Diadem doth not more encompass his head than cares and suspicions his soul Look not at the Squadions of his Guard but at the Armies of molestations which attend him for nothing can be so full of cares as the Palaces of Kings Every day they expect not one death but many nor can it be said how often in the night their hearts tremble with some sodain fright and their souls almost seem to forsake their bodies and this in the time of peace But when a warre is kindled what life so miserable as theirs how many dangers happen unto them even from their Friends and Subjects The floor of the Royal Palace is drowned in the blood of their Kindred If I shall mention those which have happened heretofore and now of late thou wilt easily know them This suspecting his Wife tied her naked in the mountains and left her to be devoured by wild beasts after she had been a Mother of divers Kings What a life had that man it being impossible he should execute such a revenge unless his sick heart had been eaten and consumed with jealousie This put to death his onely Son This killed himself being taken by the Tyrant This murthered his Nephew after he had made him his companion in the Empire This his Brother who died by poison and his innocent Son ended his life onely for what he might have been Of those Princes which followed one of them was with his Slaves and Chariots miserably burnt alive and it is not possible for words to express the calamities which he was forced to endure And he which now raigns hath he not since he was crowned suffered many troubles dangers griefs and treasons but in Heaven it is not so After this manner St. Chrysostome paints forth the greatest fortune of the World the Imperial Majesty which must needs be little since it is so unhappy that it suffers not to enjoy those frail goods of the earth in security but makes the possessors oftentimes perish before them But it is far otherwise in Heaven the Palace and House of God where the just without mixture or counterpoise of misery are to enjoy those goods eternal as we shall see in its proper place Lastly let us learn from hence not to admire the greatness of this World nor to desire the benefit of it Which lesson was well taught by St. Spiridion unto his Disciple who accompanying him one time unto the Court of the Emperour suffered himself to be transported with those things which he beheld The greatness and lustre of the Court The rich Garments Jewels Pearls and precious Stones dazled the eyes of the raw and unexperienced youth but above all the sight of the Emperour seated in his Imperial Throne with so much splendour and greatness almost drew him besides himself St. Spiridion willing one day to correct his errour asked him as if he had not known it Which of those were the Emperour His Disciple not reaching his intention
just Sentence of God be praised for a Conqueror over the World and the invisible Powers of Hell and how shall that Soul rejoyce when it shall see it self being freed from all danger and troubles to triumph over all its enemies What can it desire more than to be partaker of all those divine goods and even to accompany Christ in the same Throne O how chearfully do they combat upon Earth O how easily do they bear all afflictions for Christ who with a lively faith and certain hope apprehend so sublime honours Certainly with much reason may the happiness of Saints be called by the name of Glory since the honour which they receive is so transcendent What an honour shall that be when the Just in the other lise shall receive no less a recompence of his holiness than God himself The nature of honour is to be a reward of vertue and by how much greater the reward is which a powerful King bestows upon some valorous Captain by so much greater is the honour which he confers upon him What honour shall it then be when God shall give unto those who have served him not onely to tread upon the Starres to inhabit the Palaces of Heaven to be Lords of the World but transcending all that is created and finding amongst his whole riches nothing sufficient to reward them shall give them his own infinite essence to enjoy not for a day but to all eternity The highest honour which the Romans bestowed upon their greatest Captains was to grant them a day of triumph and in that permission to wear a Crown of grass or leaves which withered the day following O most honoured vertue of Christians whole triumph shall be eternal and whose never fading Crown is God himself O most happy Diadem of the Just O most precious Garland of the Saints which is of as great worth and value as is God! Sapores King of the Persians was most ambitious of honour and would therefore be called the Brother of the Sun and Moon and Friend to the Planets This vain Prince erected a most glorious Throne which he placed on high and thereon fat in great Majesty having under his feet a certain Globe of glass whereon were artificially represented the motions of the Sun the Moon and Stars and to sit crowned above this phantastical Heaven he esteemed as a great honour What shall be then the honour of the just who truly and really shall sit above the Sun the Moon and Firmament crowned by the hand of God himself If the applause of men and the good opinion which they have from others be esteemed an honour what shall be the applause of Heaven and the good opinion not onely of Saints and Angels but of God himself whose judgements cannot erre David took it for a great honour that the Daughter of his King was judged as a reward of his valour God surpasses this and honours so much the services of his Elect that he pays their merits with no less a reward than himself O happy labour of the victorious and glorious combat of the just against the vices and temptations of the World whose victory deserves so inestimable a Crown Clemens Alexandrinus reports that there were in Persia three Mountains He who came to the first heard as it were a farre off the noise and voice of them who were fighting he who attained at the second heard perfectly the cries and clamours of Souldiers engaged in the fury of a Battail but he who attained unto the third heard nothing but the joyful acclamations of a victory This happens really with the just who are likewise to pass three mystical Mountains which are Reason Grace and Glory He who arrives at the knowledge of Reason gives an alarm unto Vice which he combats and overcomes by Grace and in Glory celebrates his victory with the joy and applause of all the Inhabitants of heaven and is crowned as a Conquerour with such a Crown as we have already spoken of §. 2. Besides this he who is most known and is praised and celebrated for good and vertuous by the greatest multitude is esteemed the most glorious and honourable person But all this World is a solitude in respect of the Citizens of Heaven where innumerable Angels approve and praise the vertuous actions of the Saints and they likewise are nothing and all creatures Men and Angels but as a solitary Wilderness in respect of the Creator What comparison betwixt that honour which may be given by some particular Kingdom or by all Europe and that which shall be heaped upon the just by all the blessed Men and Angels nay even by the damned and Devils in the Day of Judgement What is the approbation of a created understanding in respect of the Divine What man so glorious upon earth whose worth and valour hath been known to all Those who were born before him could not know him no more shall many of those who are to follow him But the Predestinate in heaven shall be known by all past and to come by all the Angels and by the King of Men and Angels Humane fame is founded upon the applause of mortal men who besides being less than Angels may be deceived may lie and are most part of them sinners and wicked How farre then must that honour exceed it which is conferred upon the Just by the holy Angels and by those blessed and pure Souls who cannot be deceived themselves nor will deceive us If we esteem it more to be honoured by the Kings of the Earth by the Great men of the World and by the Learned in Universities than by the barbarous and ignorant Peasants of some poor Village how ought we then to value the honou rwhich shall be bestowed upon us by the Saints in Heaven who are the Kings and Grandees of the Court of God and are all replenished with most perfect and divine wisdom All the honour of men is ridiculous and his ambition no wiser who seeks it then as St. Anselme sayes if one worm should desire to be honoured by another Lib. de Sim. c. 65. All the Earth is but as a Village or rather as some poor Cottage in respect of Heaven Let us not therefore strive for a name upon Earth but that our names may be written in Heaven in comparison whereof it is too much to say that the Earth is a point as Seneca called it Lib. 2. de Consol and therefore Bottius proves that it is less and sayes If from this little particle of Earth you shall take what Seas Lakes and uninhabited places full of wild beasts take up you shall leave unto men but a narrow dwelling Being therefore penn'd up in so small a point of a point how canst thou think to extend thy renown and publish thy name Compare the honour of Heaven with that of Earth and thou shalt find the difference betwixt them to be as great as is their distance Of this incomparable honour in Heaven have
to the Common-wealth known to posterity But in Heaven there is no need of this artifice because those who are there honoured are immortal and shall have in themselves some character engraved as an evident and clear testimony of their noble Victories and Atchievements The honour of the Just in Heaven depends not like that of the Earth upon accidents and reports nor is exposed to dangers or measured by the discourse of others but in it self contains its own glory and dignity Cuiac ad tit de dignit The dignities in the Roma Empire as may be gathered from the Civil Law were four expressed by these four Titles Perfectissimus Clariffimus Spectabilis Illustris most Perfect most Clear Specious and Illustrious These Honours were onely in name and reputation not in substance and truth For He was often called most perfect who was indiscreet foolish passionate and imperfect He most clear who had neither clearness nor serenitity of understanding but was infected with dark and obscure vices Those specious and beautiful from whom a man would flye twenty leagues rather than behold them and those illustrious who were enveloped in the darkness of vice and ignorance without the least light of vertue That we may therefore see the difference betwixt the honours of Heaven and those of the Earth which are as farre distant from one another as truth from falsehood we must know that in Heaven the Blessed are not onely called most Perfect but really are so both in soul and body without the least imperfection or defect are not onely called most Clear but are so each one being adorned with that gift of brightness that they shall cast out beams more clear than the Sun and if the Sun be the most bright thing in nature what shall they be who seaventimes out-shine it Nor shall they be onely said to be spectabilis or specious and worthy to be looked upon but their beauty and comeliness shall be such as shall not onely draw the eyes of all to behold them but shall stirre up their affections to love and admire them In the like manner they shall not be titularly but really Illustrious for every one with his own light shall be sufficient to illustrate and enlighten many Worlds If one onely false title of those which are truely enjoyed by the Blessed were capable of making the Roman Empire to respect and honour the possessor what shall the truth and substance of them all do in Heaven 1 Mac. 2. With reason did Mathathias call the glory of this World dung and filth because all honours and dignities of the Earth in respect of those in Heaven are base vile and despicable What greater honour than to be Friends of God Sons Heirs and Kings in the Realm of Heaven Apoc. 4. St. John in his Apocalyps sets forth this honour of the blessed in the 24 Elders who were placed about the Throne of God and in that Honour and Majesty as every one was seared in his presence and that upon a Throne cloathed in white and lucid Garments in signe of their perpetual joy and crowned with a crown of Gold in respect of their dignities To be covered in the presence of Kings is the greatest honour they conferre upon the chiefest Grandees but God causes his Servants to be crowned and seated upon Thrones before him and our Saviour in the Day of Judgement makes his Disciples his fellow Judges §. 4. Certainly greater honour cannot be imagined than that of the Predestinate For if we look upon him who honours It is God If with what With no less joy than his own Divinity and other most sublime gifts If before whom Before the whole Theater of Heaven now and in the Day of Judgement before Heaven Earth Angels Men and Devils If the continuance For all eternity If the titles which he gives them it is the truth and substance of the things not the empty word and vain name By all this may appear the cause why eternal happiness being a mass and an assembly of all goods imaginable yet is called by way of excellence by the name of Glory because that although it contain all pleasures contents joyes riches and what can be defired yet it seems the Glory and honour which God bestows upon the Just exceeds all the other The honour which God gives in Heaven to glorious Souls may be seen by that which he gives to their worm-eaten bones upon Earth whereof St. Chrysostom speaks these words Where is now the Sepulcher of the great Alexander In 2. ad Corinth Hom. 26. shew it me I beseech thee and tell me the day whereon he died The Sepulchers of the Servants of Christ are so famous that they possess the most Royal and Imperial City of the World and the day whereon they died is known and observed as festival by all The Sepulcher of Alexander is unknown even to his own Countrymen but that of these is known to the very Barbarians Besides the Sepulchers of the Servants of Christ excell in splendor and magnificence the Palaces of Kings not onely in respect of the beauty and sumptuousness of their buildings wherein they also exceed but which is much more in the reverence and joy of those who repair unto them For even he who is clothed in Purple frequents their Tombs and humbly kisses them and laying aside his Majesty and Pomp supplicates their prayers and assistance with God Almighty he who wears the Diadem taking a Fisherman and a Maker of Tents for his Patrons and Protectors What miracles hath not God wrought by the Reliques of his Servants and what prodigies have not been effected by their bodies St. Chrysostome writes of St. Juventius Chrysost in Serm. de Juven Max. Sever. in Ep. ad Socrum and St. Maximus that their bodies after death cast forth such beams of light that the eyes of those who were present were not able to suffer them Sulpicius Severus writes of St. Martin that his dead body remained in a manner glorified that his flesh was pure as Chrystal and white as milk What wonders did God work by the bodies of St. Edward the King and St. Francis Xavier preserving them incorrupted for so many years and if he do those great things with their Bodies who are under the Earth what will he do with their Souls which are above the Heavens and what with them both when their glorious Bodies shall arise and after the Day of Judgement united to their Souls enter in triumph into the holy and eternal City of God CAP. III. Of the Riches of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven THe Riches in Heaven are no less than the Honours though those as hath been said are inestimable There can be no greater riches than to want nothing which is good nor to need any thing which can be desired and in that blessed life no good shall fall nor no desire be unsatisfied And if as the Philosophers say he is not rich who possesseth much
but he who desires nothing There being in Heaven no desire unaccomplished there must needs be great riches It was also a position of the Stoicks That he was not poor who wanted but he who was necessitated Since then in the Celestial Kingdom there is necessity of nothing most rich is he who enters into it By reason of these Divine Riches Christ our Saviour when he speaks in his Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven doth often express it under Names and Enigma's of things that are rich sometimes calling it the Hidden Treasure and sometimes the Precious Pearl and other times the Lost Drachma For if Divine happiness consist in the eternal possession of God what riches may be compared with his who enjoyes him and what inheritance to that of the Kingdom of Heaven What Jewel more precious than the Divinity and what Gold more pure than the Creator of Gold and all things precious who gives himself for a Possession and Riches unto the Saints to the end they should abhorre those Riches which are temporal if by them the eternal are endangered Let not therefore those who are to die to morrow afflict themselves for that which may perish sooner than they Let them not toyl to enjoy that which they are shortly to leave nor let them with more fervour pray for those things which are transitory than those which are eternal preferring the Creature before the Creator not seeking God for what he is but for what he gives Wherefore St. Austin sayes Aug. in Psal 52. God will be served gratis will be beloved without interest that is purely for himself and not for any thing without himself and therefore he who in invokes God to make him rich does not invoke God but that which he desires should come unto him for what is invocation but calling something unto him wherefore when thou shalt say My God give me riches thou dost not desire that God but riches should come unto thee for if thou hadst invoked God he would have come unto thee and been thy riches but thou desiredst to have thy Coffers full and thy heart empty and God fills not Chests but breasts § 2. Besides the possession of God it imports us much to frame a conception of this Kingdom of Heaven which is that of the Just where they shall reign with Christ eternally whose riches must needs be immense since they are to be Kings of so great and ample a Kingdom The place then which the Blessed are to inhabit is called she Kingdom of Heaven because it is a most large Region and much greater than can perhaps fall under the capacity of our understanding And if the Earth compared with Heaven be but a point and yet contain so many Kingdoms what shall that be which is but one Kingdom and yet extended over the whole Heavens How poor and narrow a heart must that Christian have who confines his love to things present sweating and toyling for a small part of the goods of this World which it self is so little why does he content himself with some poor patch of the Earth when he may be Lord of the whole Heavens Although this Kingdom of God be so great and spacious yet it is not dispeopled but as full of Inhabitants of all Nations and conditions as if it were a City or some particular House There as the Apostle said are many thousands of Angels an infinite number of the Just even as many as have died since Abel and thither also shall repair all who are to die unto the end of the World and after judgement shall there remain for ever invested in their glorious bodies There shall inhabit the Angelical Spirits distinguished with great decency into their Nine Orders unto whom shall correspond Nine others of the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Pastors Doctors Priests and Levites Monks and Hermits Virgins and other holy Women This populous City shall not be inhabited with mean and base People but with Citizens so noble rich just and discreet that all of them shall be most holy and wise Kings How happy shall it be to live with such persons The Queen of Saba onely to see Salomon came from the end of the Earth and to see Titus Livius Nations and Provinces far distant came to Rome To behold a King issue out of his Palace all the People flock together What shall it then be not onely to see but to live and raign with so many Angels and converse with so many eminent and holy Men If onely to see St. Anthony in the Desert men left their Houses and Countries what joy shall it be to discourse and converse with so many Saints in Heaven If there should now descend from thence one of the Prophets or Apostles with what earnestness and admiration would every one strive to see and hear him In the other World we shall hear and see them all St. Romane at the sight of one Angel when he was a Gentile left the world and his life to become a Christian How admirable shall it then be to see thousand of thousands in all their beauty and greatness and so many glorious bodies of Saints in all their lustre If one Sun be sufficient to clear up the whole World here below what joy shall it be to behold those innumerable Sum in that Region of light From this multitude of Inhabitants the place of glory is not only called the Kingdom of Heaven but the City of God It is called a Kingdom for its immense greatness and a City for its great beauty and population It is not like other Kingdoms and Provinces which contain huge Deserts inaccessible Mountains and thick Woods nor is it devided into many Cities and Villages distant one from another but this Kingdom of God although a most spacious Region is all one beautiful City Who would not wonder if all Spain or Italy were but one City and that as beautiful as Rome in the time of Augustus Caesar who found it of Brick and left it of Marble What a sight were that of Chaldaea if it were all a Babylon or that of Syria if all a Jerusalem What shall then be the Celestial City of Saints whose greatness possesses the whole Heavens and is as the holy Scripture describes it to exaggerate the riches of the Saints all of Gold and precious Stones The Gates pf this City were as St. John sayes one entire Pearl and the foundations of the Walls Jasper Saphire Calcedon Emerald Topaz Jacinth Amethist and other most precious Stones The Streets of fine Gold so pure as it seemed Chrystal joyning in one substance the firmness of Gold and transparency of Chryftal and the beauty both of one and the other If all Rome were of Saphire how would it amaze the world how marvelous then will the holy City be which though extended over so many millions of leagues is all of Gold Pearl and precious Stones or to say better of a matter of farre more value
in it of a most intolerable stench What shall I then say of the Tongue which is the instrument of so many wayes of sinning flattery lying murmuring calumniating gluttony and drunkenness who can express that bitterness which the miserable shall suffer greater than that of wormwood or aloes insomuch as the Scripture sayes The gall of dragons shall be their wine and they shall taste the poison of Asps for all eternity Unto which shall be joyned an intolerable thirst and dog-like hunger conformable unto which David said They shall suffer hunger as dogs Quintilian sayes Quintil. Declam â—2 That Famine is the most pressing of all necessities and most deformed of all evils that Plagues and Warres are happinesses in respect of it If then a Famine of eight dayes be the worst of temporal evils what shall that Famine be which is eternal Let our Epicures and Belly-Gods hear what the Son of God prophesies Luc. 6. Wo unto you who are full for you shall be an hungred and with such an hunger as shall be eternal If the other evils of this world as Quintilian affirms may be esteemed not much in comparison of hunger even in this temporal life what will they be in respect of the hunger of the life to come Hunger in this life does bring men to such extremities that not onely they come to desire to eat Dogs Cats Rats and Mice Snakes Toads Leather Dung and eat them in effect but also Mothers come to eat their own Children and men the flesh of their own arms as it fell out to Zeno the Emperour If hunger be so horrible a mischief in this life how will it afflict the damned in the other without all doubt the damned would rather tear themselves in pieces than suffer it Neither shall thirst torment them less The sense of Touching as it is the most extended sense of all the rest so shall it be the most tormented in that burning fire Bar. ad an 191. We are amazed to think of the inhumanity of Phalaris who roasted men alive in his brasen Bull. This was a toy in respect of that fire of Hell which penetrates the very entrails of the body without consuming them The burning of a finger only does cause so great a torment that it is unsufferable but far greater were it to burn the whole arm and far greater were it besides the arms to burn the leggs and far more violent torment would it be to burn the whole body This torment is so great that it cannot be expressed in words since it includes or comprises as many torments as the body of man hath joints sinews arteries c. and especially being caused by that so penetrating and true fire of which St. Austin sayes that this temporal fire is but a painted fire in respect of that in Hell in so much that the fire of Hell does exceed ours by so many degrees as a thing in life and reality exceeds the same in a picture In conformity to what is here said venerable Peter Cluniacensis writes and when we read such like stories from the representations therein contained we are to raise our thoughts to the substance therein represented This venerable man then writes That a wicked Priest being ready to give up the ghost there appeared unto him two fiery Devils who brought with them a Frying-pan in which they told him they would fry him in Hell and a drop of hot liquor then falling out of the Frying-pan upon his hand in a moment burnt him to the very bones in the sight of all that were present who remained astonished to see the efficacy and violence of that infernal fire Whereupon Nicholas of Nice sayes that if there were a fire made of all the wood in the world it would not be able to cause so much torment as the least spark of Hell-fire Caesarius does also write Caesar l. 12. mirac c. 23. That Theodosius Bishop of Mastrick had a Servant by name Eberbach who in a raging fit of anger gave himself to the Devil upon condition he would help him to take revenge upon his Enemies Some years after this man fell grievously sick of a disease that brought him to the point of death and being now dead in all mens judgement his soul was cast into a sea of fire where he remained suffering until such time as an Angel of Heaven came unto him and said Behold what they are to suffer that serve the Devil But if so great a mercy should be shewed unto thee as to grant thee longer life wouldst thou not spend it in doing penance for thy sins He replyed There can be nothing so hard or painful which I would not undergoe to escape this torment Then the Lord used that mercy to him as to let him return to the use of life and senses and rising off the Biere where he was already placed to be carried to burial all that were present were astonished at him who at the same instant began a course of life of most austere and rigorous penance He went bare-foot upon thorns and briars store of blood issuing from the wounds received He lived onely on bread and water and that in a very small quantity What money he had he gave to the poor There were many who wondering at the rigour of his penance endeavoured to moderate the excess of his fervour and austerities to whom he answered Wonder not hereat for I have suffered torments of a far different kind and if you had been there you would frame a far different apprehension of them And for to explicate the excessive torment that fire caused he said That if all the trees in the world were put in one heap and set on fire I would rather burn there till the day of judgement than suffer onely for the space of one hour that fire which I have experienced Now what a miserable unhappiness will it be to burn in those flames of Hell not onely for one hour but till the day of Judgement yea even for all eternity and world without end Who would not esteem it an hideous torment if he were to be burnt alive an hundred times and his torment were to last every time for an hours space with what compassionate eyes would all the world look upon such a miserable wretch Nevertheless without all doubt any of the damned in Hell would receive this as a great happiness to end his torments with those hundred times burning For what comparison is there betwixt an hundred hours burning with some space of time betwixt every hour and to burn an hundred years of continual torment And what comparison will there be betwixt burning for an hundred years space and to be burning without interruption as long as God is God Let a Christian who hath ever committed a mortal sin consider this and let him see what can be difficult sharp and intolerable since thereby he deserved to be cast into Hell and let him see whether he think any