was found in Tulliola daughter of Cicero her sepulcher which continued burning fifteene hundreth yeares These and many other shaddowes and traces of eternity God hath vouchsafed vs to stirre vp our dead and drowsy hearts to a more exact inquisition and serious consideration of the time to come For in the booke of the creature wee may see the power of the Creator and out of these particular workes of his we may vnderstand that that God which hath endowed nature with such admirable qualities can giue the flesh also such a condition that it shall endure according to his mercifull dispensation either torments or happinesse for evermore Now then to draw all this to an issue since it is vndoubtedly true that God hath provided an everlasting being for the soules of men in the world to come since he hath engrauen the knowledge hereof as with an Iron pen in the consciences of the Heathen since he hath giuen vs so many liuely resemblances and traces thereof in the secrets of nature and in the workes of his creation Oh how should the meditation of this take vp our deepest thoughts our refinest affections how should this cause vs to reflect vpon our soules to ponder our waies and with an vndazeled and vndesembling eye throughly to trye and to descry clearely our owne state whether we be already washed with the blood of Christ and enliuened with a supernaturall vigour and life of grace or yet ly polluted in our owne blood Oh how can any man be at rest and quiet in his minde till he be assured and secured in this point since that vpon it depend his everlasting estate in another world our daies wee see are wouen with a slender thred our time short our end vncertaine and when the oyle in our lampes is spent and our glasse runne out then ex vnico momento pendet duplex aeternitas we fly in a moment to an everlasting being either in horror or happinesse where wee shall receiue according to the workes of our hands If wee haue approved our selues sincere in Gods service iust in our actions diligent in our callings faithfull in our promises wee shall then attaine the end of our faith the salvation of our soules and the conscience of our well spent life shall at that dismall day replenish our soules with abundance of consolations Then all our teares shall bee wiped from our eyes what we haue sowed in sorrow we shall reape in ioy when we haue finished our course ended our combate with sinne and death then shall our crowne bee sure our victory glorious and our triumph Eternall our graue shall be but as a sweet refreshing place to our wearied bodies and death shall be our day starre to everlasting brightnesse But on the other side if wee haue in the whole course of our warfare here expended our pretious time in the service of sinne and Sathan and crumbled away the best and choicest of our yeares in the lusts of the flesh and sports of vanity then the issue of all will be death and our end destruction Our mirth wil be turned into wormewood and our ioy into heauinesse all our delights in this earth shall vanish as the flower our sun shall set in a cloud and our daies of iollity and contentation shall irrecoverably be involued and turned into perpetuall darknesse CHAP. V. Containing a short digression touching the eternity of the damned AND here it will not be vnseasonable nor any digression from the point in hand to consider with our selues for our better encouragement to the waies of holinesse the condition of that eternity which the damned haue in hell O the vnhappy and ever deplorable state of those poore soules who feele nothing for the present but wrath and vengeance and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of Gods indignation to be powred on them in a fuller measure for ever after Nec qui torquet aliquan do fatigatur nec qui torque tuc a liquando moritur Bernard meditat cap 3. And that which addes abundant weight to their miseries is they shall burne but not diminish they shall lye buried in their flames but not consume they shall seeke death but shall not finde it they shall desire it but it shall flye from them their punishment consists not in the indurance of any proper or peculiar paine but in the accumulation heap of innumerable torments together All the faculties of the soule all the senses of the body shall haue their seuerall punishments and that which is more vnseparable and more then that eternall There shall bee 〈◊〉 degrees in their torments but the least shal be infinite For as the wrath and displeasure of God toward them is everlasting so shall their pressures be They enioy an eternity like the Saints but not the Saints eternity for their eternity shall beginne in horror and proceed in confusion their eternity shall purchase and yeeld to them no other fruit but yellings and lamentations woe Their eternity is such as turnes all things into its owne nature for all things where the damned doe inhabit are eternall The fire is eternall for the breath of God like a riuer of brimstone hath kindled it and it shall neuer goe out night nor day but the smoake thereof shall ascend for euer The worme is eternall for the conscience of the damned shall be everlastingly tormented with the sense of their sinne Their worme dieth not saith the Prophet and their fire never goeth out The prison wherein they are inclosed is eternall The prayers of the Church could open the prison doores to Peter but no prayers can pierce these walls no power can ouerthrowe them no time can ruine them out of Hell is no redemption no ransome no deliuery Cruciantur damnati cruciantur in aeternum This is the last sentence of the Iudge his irrevocable decree his immutable and eternall Iudgement vpon the damned which shall neuer bee reuersed Adesse intolerabile abesse impossibile there is no appeale will lye from this Iudge there is no reversing this judgement when the sentence is once past it stands for eternity Hence it was that the ancient Church repeated this sentence often in their divine service Peccantem me quotidie non me penitentem timor mortis conturbat me quia in inferno nulla est redemptio Whilst I daily sinne but repent not daily as I ought the feare of death amazeth me because after this life ended out of hell is no redemption The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha is fully sufficient to saue all man-kinde but it belongs not to the damned If therefore the yoake of repentance seeme not sweet to thee saith St Bernard thinke on that yoake which thou shalt be sure to suffer which is Goe yee cursed into eternal fire But the most deplorable thing which is eternall in hell is the irrevocable losse of the beatificall presence of God the eternall priuation of Gods sight the vncomfortable want whereof
protect and all grace to pardon he that findes not his mercy shall feele his fury and who amongst vs can dwell with devouring fire who amongst vs can dwell with everlasting burnings CHAP. III. Expressing how all men doe naturally beleeue this Eternity WIthin these hundred yeares many nations haue beene discouered and many are discovered still which were vnfound in former ages Amongst them some haue beene found to liue without law without King but yet none without some knowledge of God and of some everlasting being in the world to come What moued the Brackmans in India and the Magies amongst the Persians to begin and end their vndertakings with prayers to God What moued Publius Scipio never to enter into the Senate house before he had ascended the Capitall avowing that principle as constantly in his practise as he did in his knowledge A Iove principium What made Caligula which threatned the aire if it rained on his game-plaies yet to runne vnder his bed and wrap his cappe about his head at a clap of thunder What moued Attillius Regulus who had no other teacher then a naturall illumination to preferre the obligation of his oath before the safty of his life and rather then he would breake his ingaged word and promise to the Carthaginians expose himselfe to all the torments that the cruelty and malice of his enimies could inflict vpon him what moued the Saguntines a people of Arragon to that vndaunted resolution of theirs who hauing plighted their faith and loyalty by solemne oath to the Romans chose rather to entombe themselues voluntarily in a fire which they made in their Market place then to breake their faith to the said Romans which they had so solemnly swore and sacredly avowed vnder their protection what I say could moue these meere naturalists to such a feare of an oath to such a trembling at Gods iudgements to such austerity and care and censorious circumspection in all their waies and actions but that they naturally apprehended what they truly distinctly vnderstood not viZ Some immortall happinesse and everlasting being and this they conceaued was beyond the mountaines or aboue them or in some other world they knew not where according as their severall fancies led them Certainely they would never haue so much vndervalued their earthly contentments and sold all the comforts of this life as some of them did at so cheap a rate but that they trusted to some future rest of more enduring substance after this life and comfortably expected the immortall fruition of such ioyes as should abundantly countervaile the losse of all their pleasures When I revolue in my minde the Stoicall reseruednesse the moderation the vnconquerable courage of these miserable Heathens when I see Cleombrotus in hope of immortalitie to tumble himselfe voluntarily downe a hill when I see Socrates smile vpon his hemlocke and fullen Scevola burne off his owne hand without euer gnashing his teeth at it when I see Marcus Cato scorne his owne life because his enimie gaue it him and teare off the salue from his bleeding sides which his owne sword had peirced When I thus behold these vnhappy soules in the light of nature to conquer nature it selfe and to build these their resolutions vpō no other ground but the slender hope of some vnknowne contentment in the life to come me thinkes these magnanimous acts of theirs howeuer they are not for the imitation of vs Christians yet doe they tend to our condemnation Their hope did exceed their knowledge our knowledge doth exceed our practise God hath revealed to vs the immortality of the soule and the eternity to come in a farre more cleare and perspicuous manner then euer to the heathen Idolaters and yet we lesse regard it what should more affect vs here since our life is but a vapour then to knowe what shall become of vs hereafter and yet the consideration hereof lies like a waight of lead vpon our soules and we iudge the very thought hereof a burthen Wee readily apprehend such things as concerne vs in this world our honours our preferments our pleasures we looke on with a cheerefull eye but alas with how slow and dull a pace doe we proceed in the pursuit of our future blessednesse wee meet with many stops in our way many turnings in our iourney and the truth is wee must not expect to arriue at so happy a hauen without some stormes but what are these to Eternitie that long day that shall neuer shut in that vnum perpetuum hodie that beginning ever in beginning in which the blessed doe euerlastingly enioy their happinesse and renew their pleasures and the damned are alwaies dying yet never dye O that the meditation of this our future state could sinke deepe enough into our hearts that we would make that the obiect of our thoughts here which must be the obiect of our accounts hereafter that the sense of our sinnes were the chiefe matter of our sorrowes then should we enioy an eternitie hereafter boundlesse for time endlesse for happinesse where our ioyes should bee such as should neither change nor perish CAP. IV. Explaining how Nature hath represented and shaddowed out Eternity to vs in some of the creatures NOw to the end wee should bee the farther encouraged vnto the inquisition of eternity God hath not only planted the knowledge hereof in the hearts of the Heathens but hath also represented it in the nature of the creatures For if wee search with a narrow eye into the secrets of nature how many things shall wee finde in the world as liuely resemblances shadowing as it were and traceing out vnto vs this eternity Solinus reports of a stone in Arcadia which being once inflamed burnes perpetually And of this matter were your burning lampes made which continued as Histories speake so many hundreth yeares in ancient Sepulchers Like herevnto in the nature of it is your Linum vivum a certaine kinde of linnen knowne in India which is vncombustible nay it is not only not consumed by the fire but it is as it were cleansed and washed purified by the heate thereof and hence it was that the body of the ancient Romane Emperors when they were to be buried according to the funerall rites of those times were shrouded vp into such linnen to preserue their ashes and to avoide a confusion and mixture of their bodies with common dust Behold here nature it selfe suggests an eternity to thy soule while it presents to thee such things as the fire cannot consume many other such Symboles and representations of immortality may bee found in the booke of the creatures The Salamander liueth in the fire and perisheth not those famous hills in Sicily haue beene on fire continually beyond the memory of man and yet remaine whole and vnconsumed The like we reade of that O leum incombustibile as Historians call it an oyle that ever burnes but will never waste of the matter of this was that burning torch composed which
let vs conforme our selues to his life and let our conuersation bee answerable to his doctrine Let vs fix our eie on this true Serpent and fasten our hold on this sure anker Let vs looke vp vnto Iesus the author and finisher of our faith Where our treasure is there let our hearts be also We haue an inestimable price a glorious inheritance set before vs let vs carefully embrace all those meanes that may further our progresse as the hearing of the word receaving of the Sacraments earnest and constant prayer to Almighty God Let vs striue as we ought presse forward with all violence The woman in the Gospell which was so long visited with her bloudy issue it was her holy Victa est ad violentiam quia violenta ad victoriam violence and pressing our Saviour that procured her health for her body and pardon for her soule Let this be our endeauour let vs neuer thinke our selues farre enough in the way to heauen but prepare our hearts still and lay hold on euery aduantage that may further vs in our iourney Behold now is the acceptable time now is the day of saluation whilst you haue time then doe good vnto all whilst you haue the light walke as children of the light Iudge thy selfe here that thou bee not iudged of the Lord hereafter Let not thy eies slumber nor thy temples take any rest till thou hast found out an habitation in thy heart for the mighty God of Iacob Remember him as David did in thy bed and thinke vpon him when thou art waking God said of the Church of Thyatira I gaue her time to repent of her fornication and she repented not O let vs not giue our good God the like occasion to second the same complaint against vs. Behold God now graciously calls vs and offers vs his mercy Behold the spouse comes let vs goe forth to meet him He stands at the doore and knocks let vs arise and open speedily to our beloued to day while it is called to day let vs heare his voice let vs not put off our time as Felix did St Paul goe for this present time whē I haue a convenient leasure I will heare thee as if the time present were not the fittest Let vs not stifle the checks of our consciences or say as Festus to Agrippa to morrow thou shalt heare him Non quaerit Deus dilationem in voce corvina sed confessionem in gemitu Columbino All procrastinations in this case are dangerous Let vs therefore take hold of saluation whilst occasion serues vs. If we shut out our welbeloued he will be gone Therefore let our hearts euen melt within vs whilst he speakes to vs in his word if we answer not when he calls vs then shall we call and he will not answer The Storke and the Crane and the Swallow in the ayre know their seasons and obserue their appointed times how much more should man especially since times moments how long we shall enioy them are not in our owne power but in the power of God The Angell in the Revelation swore by him that liueth foreuer that time should be no more the time past can neuer be recalled let vs therefore take the present time For the time past was and is not the time present is but shall not be and of the future wee can promise to our selues no fruition But alas such is our blindnesse such an obduration is growne over our hearts that wee vnderstand these things but feele them not wee haue them swimming in our minds but imbrace them not in our affections The best of vs may take vp that complaint of Saint Augustine Teneo in memoria scribo in charta sed non habeo in vita Aug. who averred of himselfe that his desires were better then his practise our vowes are in heauen but our hearts on earth our desires are towards our home but our endeavours flagge in the way and we faint in our iourney wee haue heavenly hopes but earthly affections wee all couet after happinesse but wee would take no paines for it wee would enioy Christ in his benefits but wee refuse to partake with him in his sufferings volumus assequi Christum sed non sequi wee would share willingly with our Saviour in his Crowne but not in his combat nay oftentimes wee instance God for such graces as we are loath to obtaine like Saint Augustine who prayed for continency with a proviso Lord giue me continency but not yet nay such is our intolerable sinfulnesse and pollution of heart that at the same instant when our hands are lift vp to God for the pardon of old sinnes our heads are working in the contriving of new as Salvian hath it dum verbis praeterita mala plangimus sensu futura meditamur Thus we draw nigh to God with our lipps when our hearts are farre from him our affections are buried in the things of this life Excellent is that saying of Isidorus Regnum hoc sempiternū ex omni parte beatum est omnibus promissum tamen de illo altum inter nos silentium quotus quisque enim est qui de hoc commemorat hoc vxori hoc liberis toti hoc familiae inculcat Isid Coelum negligimus terram non retiuemus Dei favorem non acquirimus mundi perdimus The kingdome of heauen saith hee is eternall blessed every way and promised to all men but who is there almost that spends one moment in the serious meditation of it What man is there that ever talkes to his wife to his children to his family of such a Kingdome Wee can riot in the praises of our natiue soile but wee blush to speake of and are ashamed to commend our true country our everlasting home In our dealings about the things of this life our vnderstandings are ready enough to apprehend them and our hearts to entertaine them and our tongues to discourse of them but in things that belong to the eternall salvation of our soules how deepe is our silence how slow our speech how vnskilfull our expressions Thus wee forsake heauen for these things which at last will forsake vs and trifle out our time in things that will not profit vs. How far are men now adaies from that sweete resolution of Saint Hierome Let others saith hee liue in their statues in their costly monuments I had rather haue St Pauls Coate with his heauenly graces then the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes O that wee would looke thus lowly vpon our selues wee are Christians in profession O let vs bee such in practice seeing that God hath made vs stewards of his treasures let vs improue them to the benefit of our brethren hath God giuen vs abundance of his blessings o let vs not hide our talents in a napkin let vs send our good workes before vs into Heaven pauca da maxima in coelo recepturus these slender guifts which thou doest chearefully distribute in
Bishop of Rome is brought to his pontificall chaire one goes before him shaking a burning torch and proclaiming three times Pater sancte sic transit gloria mundi Certainly it would worke somewhat towards the enliuening of our drowsinesse quickning vp of our dull security if we did in the beginning end of all our vndertakings say within our selues Annos aeternos in mente habe Remember ô my soule those daies of darknesse which shall neuer close For all the pressures and vexing distempers that befall vs in this life all the crosses which the envy either of men or evill Angells can throw vpon vs are nothing if compared to eternall miseries Sapienti nihil magnum videri potest cui aeternitatis nota est magnitudo What if with Saint Paul I vnderwent labours perills hunger thirst iniuries and reproaches what is all this to eternity What if I did beare in my flesh the most exquisite paines and bitterest torments that created nature is capable of yet what were all this to eternity For all the adversities and alterations which happen to vs vnder the sunne haue their periods which they cannot passe however they disquiet vs for the time yet as the Prophet Daniel saith the end shall bee at the appointed time God will performe that which he hath appointed for me saith Iob yet vsque ad tempus haec omnia the end shall be at the appointed time But of this eternity there will be no end no bounds can limit it no time shall determine it Certainly first or last there will happen to thee such an evening as shall haue no morning to follow or else such a morning as shall never see the close of the Sunne And therefore let not the vanishing cares and transitory disquietings of this world over deepely possesse thy heart but rather let the whole streame of thy meditations rnnne vpon thy latter end that at the time of thy dissolution thy affection being wholy alienated from the world thy thoughts may ascend before whither thy soule is comming after So shall thy sufferings here make way for thy crowne hereafter But how few ô how few I say are there that weigh these things How few doe make it their daily taske to meditate on the evills to come They credit not such reports for they care not to beleeue what they are vnwilling to practise Hence it is that they goe on so securely in their course as if there were no heauen no hell no God no eternity Thus wee naturally desire our daies should be as happy as they are longe and being miserably-insensible of the sorrowes to come wee rashly expose our selues to an irrevocable downefall Nos tales qui mortis nostrae neque negotium ridentes exequimur Greg. Without sense or sorrow wee runne merrily to hell where wee shall everlastingly feele what we did never feare death and darknesse weeping and gnashing of teeth O how different are our times from those of our Ancestors They were not more rigidly superstitious then we are vainely secure How did they pine their bodies and afflict their soules crucify their most pretious lusts forsake their friends their lands their inheritance yea their Crownes and Kingdomes nay which is more through the rigid and austeere obseruation of their strict and severe lawes expose themselues to the hazard and danger of their dearest liues and thrust themselues as it were out of the world and forgoe all society with men And wherefore all this but that they might disburthen themselues the better by these meanes from all earthly allurements settle and dispose their hearts in a good preparation towards their home and to enliuen their affections and inflame their mindes to a more serious contemplation of the ioyes to come Mee thinkes the consideration of these former times should strongly invite vs to a more serious meditation of our future state especially if wee remember how swiftly our daies draw to an end and how soone we are involued into everlasting darknesse For alas what is our life here Tota haec vita vnius horulae mors est one houre at the last will swallow vp all our liue-long daies Let vs then not feare being so neare our home let no stormes affright vs being so neare our haven Let vs examine our accounts and cast vp our summes that we may be able to giue vp a good account at the last day Certaine it is what ever we goe about whatsoever be the scope of our endeavours wee every day come nearer to the end of our course every houre is a new step onward So soone as ever a man enters this mortall life hee beginnes a constant iourney vnto death quicquid temporis vivitur de spatio vivendi tollitur i. e. Each part of time that wee passe cuts off so much from our life and the remainder still decreaseth So that our whole life is nothing but a course or passage vnto death wherein one can neither stay nor slacke his pace This wee know our daily experience doth confirme this truth and yet doe wee persist as securely as ever in our trade of sinne Aegrae abstrahimur ab ijs quibus assuescimus i.e. wee are hardly drawne from those things which custome and time hath invred vs vnto It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawne off from dainty fare full cups and good company Wee lye as dead men and sencelesse in our damned pollutions even drowned in our voluptuousnesse like brute beasts filled vp and pampered for the day of slaughter Thus with the full streame of our indeauours we plod on in the habituall course of transgressing without any sense of our sinne vntill our short daies begin to shut in and our evening approach at which time the weaknesse of our bodies and the strength of our sinnes make vs as vnable to repent as wee were before vnwilling Wee many times through the incitement of some good motion beginne well but faile in the execution wee make faire promises Fatemur crimina sed sic fatemur vt in ipsa confessione non dolemus Salv. but wee doe not second them in our practise but let vs not deceiue our selues God will not be mocked non verbis paenitentia agenda sed actu let vs not promise God better obedience with our lippes then wee performe with our hearts Bee not rash to vow a thing before God but when thy word hath past thy lips then be as carefull to performe as thou wast forward before to promise Lastly let vs alwaies follow that holy counsell given in Ecclesiasticus In all thy actions thinke vpon thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse and that of the Prophet David keepe innocency and doe the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last peace with God peace with men and peace with our owne conscience In the world saith our Saviour shall yee haue trouble but in me yee shall haue peace The world is our sea but
thou shouldest lengthen out thy daies to many hundreths of yeares yet still thou art transitory and exposed to the common condition of all men Then fixe thy heart on God and so enioying that eternity thou shalt make thy selfe eternall and be not discouraged for thy tribulations and daily disquietings in this world for such is Gods loue such his abundant kindnesse towards his elect that hee Ideo Deus terrenis faelicitatibus amaritudinē miscet vt alia quaeratur faelicitae cuius dolcedo non est falla◠corrects them here to the end they might not bee condemned with the world hereafter boni laborant quia flagellantur vt filij mali exultant quia damnantur vt alieni God spareth those who are aliens from grace but whom he chuseth he chastiseth Bee not therefore I say cast downe with any crosses whatsoeuer that may befall thee in this life for the things that are present are temporall but the things to come are eternall When we see the friends of this world the eager embracers of the comforts of this life vpon every summons of death striue to deferre what they cannot vtterly avoide their corporall dissolutions oh how great care what indefatigable diligence what restlesse endeavours should we vse that wee might liue for ever Let vs againe and againe meditate on these things and with due care foresee eternity before wee vnexpectedly fall into it Certaine it is Omnia transeunt sola restat non tranfibit aeternitas all things passe away in this life only eternity hath no period let vs redeeme the time and worke while wee haue the day for if wee neglect good duties here we shall never regaine the like opportunity hereafter This life saith Nazianzen is as it were our faireday or market day let vs now buy what wee want while the faire lasts While we haue time let vs doe good vnto all men Tu dormis sed tempus tuum non dormit sed ambulat imo volat Bene illis qui sic vivunt sicut vixisse se volunt cum moriendum erit faciantque ea quae in aeternitate constituti fecisse se gaudebunt Amb. Happy is the man that so liues here that the remembrance of his well-spent life may yeeld him ioy hereafter For otherwise levis hic neglectus aeternum fit dispendium i.e. A small neglect in the ordering of our time in this world will bee seconded with an eternall losse in the world to come The fift conclusion Death is the ending our daies not of our life For when our day shall close and our time shall bee no more then shall our death conduct vs to a life which will last for all Eternity For we dye not here to dye but to liue for ever Therefore the best guide of our life is the consideration of our death and hee alone leads a life answerable to his Christian profession who daily expects to leaue it Me thinkes ' its strange-men should be so industriously carefull to avoide their death and so carelesly improvident of the life to come when as nothing makes death bad but that estate which followes it but the reason is wee are spiritually blind and see not nor know in this our day the things that belong to our peace wee haue naturally neither sight nor feeling of the ioyes to come But when God shall enlighten the darknesse of our mindes and reveale his sonne in vs when once the day dawneth that day-starre ariseth in our hearts ô then our death will be our joy and the reioycing of our hearts then shall wee infinitely desire to bee dissolued and to be with Christ Let vs therefore with vnwearied endeavours labour to bring Christ home to our hearts and to keepe him there Let vs dye to our selues and to our lusts here that so in the world to come we may everlastingly liue vnto Christ and in him The sixt conclusion Now that we may bee the better incouraged to raise vp our indeavours to the attainement of this eternity Let vs in a word consider the abundant and the ever-flowing happinesse in the world to come neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor tongue can expresse the joyes that God hath provided for thē that loue him Vbi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum Saint Augustine being ravished with the desire of this life breaketh out with an inflamed affection how great shall that happinesse bee where there can be no vncleane thing where no good can be wanting Praemium virtutis erit ipse qui virtutem dedit where every creature doth praise and admire his Creator who is all in all things How great shall that reward be where the giver of vertue shall be himselfe the reward of vertue how great shall that abundance be where the author of all plenty shall be vnto me life and soule and rayment health and peace and honour and all things yea the end and compleat obiect of all my desires For in his presence is the fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore How great shall that blessednesse be where we shall haue the Lord our debtor who hath promised to reward our good deeds where wee shall haue the Lord for our portion who will be to vs as he was to Abraham our exceeding great reward How great shall that light bee where the Sunne shall no more shine by day nor the moone by night where God shall be our light and the Lord our glory How great shall that possession be where the heart shall possesse whatsoever it shall desire and shall never be deprived of its possessions Here will be to the Saints an abundant everlasting overflowing banquet no griefe can accompany it no sorrow succeede it Here is ioy without sadnesse rest Quies motus non appetitus without labour wealth without losse health without languor abundance without defect life without death perpetuity without corruption Here is the beatificall presence of God the company of Saints the society of Angells Here are pleasures which the mindes of the beholders can never be wearied with they alwaies see them and yet alwaies reioyce to see them These are the flaggons of wine which comforted vp David when he cried out according to the multitude of the sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts haue refreshed my soule In coelo est vita verè vitalis In heaven and only in heauen is the true life For there our memories shall liue in the ioyfull recordation of all things past our vnderstandings shall liue in the knowledge of God our wills shall liue in the fruition of all excellencies that they can wish for all our senses shall abound in their seuerall delights Here is that white stone which Saint Iohn speakes of even glory and immortality to them that overcome Here is that water of life which our Saviour speakes of whereof whosoever drinkes shall never thirst againe Here is that river the springs
whereof make glad the heartes of men And how earnestly are wee invited to these delights come buy wine and oyle without mony Heaven is at sale Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudinē teipsum da habebis illud Aug. and thou maist buy it if thou wilt and shrug not at the greatnesse of the price giue but thy selfe to God and thou shalt haue it And who would not abandon his honours his pride his credit his friends nay himselfe Who would not be willing to passe through the gates of Hell and indure infernall torments for a season so he might bee certaine of so glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter Let all the divells in hell saith Saint Austine beset me round Bone Iesu qui parcendo saepius nos à te abijcis feriendo effice vt ad te redeamus Ger. med let fastings macerate my body let sorrowes oppresse my minde let paines consume my flesh let watchings dry me or heat scorch me or cold freeze and contract me let all these and what can come more happen vnto mee so I may injoy my Sauiour For how excellent shall the glory of the iust be how great their ioy when euery face shall shine as the sunne When or Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his workes O were thy affections rightly setled on these heauenly mansions how abiect vnderneath thee wouldest thou esteeme those things which before thou setst an high price vpon As he which ascends an high mountaine when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steppes low beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottome so hee which sends his thoughts to heauen however hee esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groueling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them vnder him vilifies thē all in regard of heauenly treasures Let vs therefore cheerfully follow that advise of a Reverend Father Quod aliquandô per necessitatem amittendum est pro aeterna remuneratio ne sponte est distribuendum Let vs here willingly part with that for heauen which we must first or last necessarily leaue vpon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeauours bee dispended for the attainment of eternity For certaine it is howsoeuer wee liue here like secure people of a secure age and howeuer we lavish out the strength and flowre of our daies as if wee should neuer account for it yet our iudgement is most sure and shall not bee avoided The sentence of the Iudge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked Wee must all appeare saith Saint Paul before the iudgement seat of Christ that euery one may receaue the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Then shall our wickednesse be brought to light which now lies hid in darknesse I saw the dead saith S. Iohn Rev. 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and whosoeuer was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall giue vp his account euery soule shall first or last come to his reckning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio many are called few chosen but al rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let vs prepare our selues to meet our God let vs come before him with feare and tremble at his iudgements Feare not him saith our Sauiour who when he hath killed the body can doe no more but feare him who can cast both soule and body to hell I say him feare Oh how many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they haue meditated vpon the last iudgement Hierome saith as oft as I thinke of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart within me tremble Quoties diem illum cogito toto corpore contremisco Timeo Gehen nam quippe interminatam Cyrill saith I am afraid of Hell because the worme there dies not A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisco quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum vt praeveniam fletibus fletū stridotem dentium and the fire neuer goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth of that infernall beast Who will giue to mine eyes saith he a fountaine of teares that by my weeping here I may prevent weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter Let the examples of these Saints of God stirre vp in our hearts the like affections Let it be the pitch of our desires and the highest straine of all our endeauours to attaine those heauēly mansions which our Saviour hath prouided for vs Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat and to avoid those endlesse easelesse flames which God hath prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Who would gaine the purchase of a short and transient pleasure at so high a rate as the heavy price of eternall fire Besides how shall our tender bodies which so shrinke at the prick of a pin or flame of a candle endure those lasting pressures Who can dwell saith the Prophet with eternall fire who can abide with euerlasting burnings Oh let vs set before our eyes the judgement to come and whatsoeuer we finde our selues worthy to be condemned for Cessat vindicta divina fi conversio praecurrat humana by the just Iudge at that day Let vs first condemne our selues for where mans conuersion begins there Gods displeasure maketh his period Excellent is that aduise of S. Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errors of thy life while thy time serues Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health Culpam tuam dum vacat pēsa districtionem futuri iudicii dum vales exhorresce ne tunc amaram sen tentiam audi as cum nullis fletibus evada◠least thou heare that bitter sentence Goe yee cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man knowe what time he should leaue the world hee might proportion his time some to pleasure some to repentance But hee that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Since therefore we can neither preuent nor foresee death let vs alwaies expect it and prouide for it Let vs dye to our sinnes here that wee may liue to Christ hereafter and let vs suffer with Christ in this world that we may reioyce and raigne with him in the world to come Recusat esse in corpore qui non vult odium sustinere cum capite When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall neuer end to an eternity quae facit omne bonum infinitè melius et omne malum infinité molestius which maketh euery good action infinitely better and euery evill action infinitely worse Oh the vnhappinesse and everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enioy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to loose the presence of God and society of Angells hereafter A PRAYER O Mercifull God thou that art the eternall truth the true charity and long eternity so illuminate the blindnesse of our vnderstandings that the serious consideration of our short and transitory miseries which wee run through in this life may driue vs to a more feeling apprehension of those eternall paines which abide vs in the world to come Settle our hearts vpon the true ioy teach vs so to possesse these transient things that we loose not the enduring substance so to lament our sinnes that we may escape the punishment so to proceed in the way that we fayle not of our iournies end Amen Amen FINIS These faults are to be corrected in some Copies Pag. 9. line 2. read breathlesse p. 12 l. 1. r perspicuous p. 34. l 6 r run p. 52. l. 6. r. vndertakings