down again and imagin with thy selfe which was greater either the joy in getting or the sorow in leesing it Where are now al these emperors these kings these princes and prelates which rejoiced so much once at their own advancement Where are they now I say Who talketh or thinketh of them Are they not forgotten and cast into their graves long ago And do not men boldly walk over their heads now whose faces might not be looked on without fear in this world What then have their dignities done them good 12 It is a woonderful thing to consider the vanitie of this worldly honor It is like a mans own shadow which the more a man runneth after the more it flieth and when he flieth from it it followeth him again and the only way to catch it is to fal down to the ground upon it So we see that those men which desire honor in this world are now forgotten and those which most fled from it and cast themselves lowest of al men by humilitie are now most of al honored honored I say most even by the world it selfe whose enimies they were while they lived For who is honored more now who is more commended and remembred than Saint Paul and his like which so much despised worldly honor in this life according to the saieng of the prophet Thy frinds O Lord are too too much honored Most vain then is the pursuit of this worldly honor and promotion seeing it neither contenteth the mind nor continueth with the possessor nor is void of great dangers both in this life and in the life to come according to the saieng of scripture Most severe iudgment shal be used upon those that are over others the mean man shal obtain mercy but the great and strong shal suffer torments strongly 13 The third vanitie that belongeth to ambition or pride of life is nobilitie of flesh and blood a great perle in the eie of the world but indeed in it selfe and in the sight of God a meer trifle and vanitie Which holie Iob wel understood when he wrote these words I said unto rottennes thou art my father and unto worms you are my mother and sisters He that wil behold the gentrie of his ancestors let him look into their graves and see whether Iob saith truly or no. Tru nobilitie was never begun but by vertu and therfore as it is a testimonie of vertu to the predecessors so is it another of vertu unto the successors And he which holdeth the name therof by descent without vertu is a meer monster in respect of his ancestors for that he breaketh the limits of the nature of nobilitie Of which sort of men God saith by one prophet They are made abhominable even as the things which they love their glorie is from their nativitie from the bellie and from their conception 14 It is a miserable vanitie to go beg credit of dead men when as we deserve none our selves to seek up old titles of honor from our ancestors we being utterly uncapable therof by our own base maners and behavior Christ cleerly confounded this vanitie when being descended himselfe of the greatest nobilitie that ever was in this world and besides that being also the son of God yet called he himselfe ordinarily the son of man that is the son of the virgin Marie for otherwise he was no son of man and further than this also called himselfe a shepheard which in the world is a name of contempt He sought not up this and that old title of honor to furnish his stile withal as our men do Neither when he had to make a king first in Israel did he seek out the ancientest blood but took Saul of the basest tribe of al Israel and after him David the poorest shepheard of al his brethren And when he came into the world he sought not out the noblest men to make princes of the earth that is to make apostles but took of the poorest and simplest therby to confound as one of them saith the foolish vanitie of this world in making so great account of the preeminence of a little flesh and blood in this life 15 The fourth vanitie that belongeth to ambition or pride of life is worldly wisdom wherof the apostle saith The wisdom of this world is folly with God If it be folly then great vanitie no dowt to delite so in it as men do It is a strange thing to see how contrarie the judgements of God are to the judgements of men The people of Israel would needs have a king as I have said and they thought God would have given them presently some great mightie prince to rule over them but he chose out a poor felow that sought asses about the country After that when God would displace this man again for his sin he sent Samuel to annoint one of Isai his sons and being come to the house Isai brought foorth his eldest son Eliab a lustie tall felow thinking him indeed most fit to govern but God answered Respect not his countenance nor his tallnes of personage for I have reiected him neither do I iudge according to the countenance of man After that Isai brought in his second son Abinadab and after him Samma and so the rest until he had shewed him seven of his sons Al which being refused by Samuel they marveled said there was no mo left but only a little red headed boy that kept the sheep called David which Samuel caused to be sent for And assoon as he came in sight God said to Samuel this is the man that I have chosen 16 When the Messias was promised unto the Iewes to to be a king they imagined presently according to their worldly wisdom that he should be some great prince and therfore they refused Christ that came in povertie Iames and Iohn being yet but carnal seeing the Samaritans contemptuously to refuse Christs disciples sent to them and knowing what Christ was thought streightway that he must in revenge have called down fire from heaven to consume them but Christ rebuked them saieng You know not of what spirit you are The apostles preaching the crosse and necessitie of suffering to the wise gentils and philosophers were thought presently fooles for their labors Festus the emperors lieftenant hearing Paul to speak so much of abandoning the world and following Christ said he was mad Finally this is the fashion of al worldly wise men to condemn the wisdom of Christ and of his saints For so the holie scripture reporteth of their own confession being now in place of torment Nos insensati vitam illorum aestimabamus insaniam We fond men esteemed the lives of saints as madnes Wherfore this is also great vanitie as I have said to make such account of worldly wisdom which is not only follie but also madnes by the testimonie of the holie Ghost himselfe 17 Who would not think but that
rich men of this world not to be high minded nor to put hope in the uncertaintie of their riches The reason of which speech is uttered by the scripture in another place when it saith Riches shal not profit a man in the day of revenge That is at the day of death and judgement which thing the rich men of this world do confesse themselves though too late when they crie Divitiarum iactantia quid nobis contulit What hath the braverie of our riches profited us Al which evidently declareth the great vanitie of worldly riches which can do the possessor no good at al when he hath most need of their help Rich men have slept their sleep saith the prophet and have found nothing in their hands that is rich men have passed over this life as men do passe over a sleep imagining themselves to have golden mountains and treasures and when they awake at the day of their death they find themselves to have nothing in their hands In respect wherof the prophet Baruch asketh this question Where are they now which heaped togither gold and silver and which made no end of their scraping togither And he answereth himselfe immediately Exterminati sunt ad inferos descenderunt They are now rooted out and are gone down unto hel To like effect saith Saint Iames Now go to you rich men weep and howl in your miseries that come upon you your riches are rotten and your gold and silver is rustie and the rust therof shal be in testimonie against you it shal feed on your flesh as fire you have hoorded up wrath for your selves in the last day 23 If wealth of this world be not onlie so vain but also so perilous as heer is affirmed what vanitie then is it for men to set their minds upon it as they do Saint Paul saith of himselfe that He esteemed it al but as doong And he had great reason surely to say so seeing indeed they are but doong that is the verie excrements of the earth and found only in the most barren places therof as they can tel which have seen their mines What a base matter is this then for a man to tie his love unto God commanded in the old law that whatsoever did go with his breast upon the ground should be unto us in abhomination How much more then a reasonable man that hath glewed his hart soul unto a peece of earth We came in naked unto this world and naked we must go foorth again saith Iob. The mil-wheel stirreth much about and beateth it selfe from day to day and yet at the yeers end it is in the same place as it was in the beginning so rich men let them toil and labor what they can yet at their death must they be as poore as at the first day wherin they were born When the rich man dieth saith Iob he shal take nothing with him but shal close up his eies and find nothing Povertie shal lay hands upon him and a tempest shal oppresse him in the night a burning wind shal take him away and a whirl wind shal snatch him from his place it shal rush upon him and shal not spare him it shal bind his hands upon him and shal hisse over him For that it seeth his place whither he must go 24 The prophet David in like wise forewarneth us of the same in these words Be not afraid when thou seest a man made rich and the glorie of his house multiplied For when he dieth he shal take nothing with him nor shal his glorie descend to the place whither he goeth he shal passe into the progenies of his ancestors that is he shal go to the place where they are who hath lived as he hath don and world without end he shal see no more light 25 Al this and much more is spoken by the holie Ghost to signifie the dangerous vanitie of worldly wealth and the folly of those men who labor so much to procure the same with the eternal peril of their souls as the scripture assureth us If so manie physicians as I have heer alledged scriptures should agree togither that such or such meats were venomous perilsom I think few would give the adventure to eat them though otherwise in tast they appeered sweet and pleasant How then commeth it to passe that so many earnest admonitions of God himselfe cannot stay us from the love of this dangerous vanitie Nolite cor apponere saith God by the prophet that is Lay not your hart unto the love of riches Qui diligit aurum non iustificabitur saith the wise man He that loveth gold shal never be iustified I am angrie greatly upon rich nations saith God by Zacharie Christ saith Amen dico vobis quia dives difficile intrabit in regnum caelorum Truly I say unto you that a rich man shal hardly get into the kingdom of heaven And again Wo be to you rich men for that you have received your consolation in this life Finally Saint Paul saith generally of al and to al They which wil be rich do fal into temptation and into the snare of the divel and into manie unprofitable and hurtful desires which do drown men in destruction and perdition 26 Can any thing in the world be spoken more effectually to dissuade from the love of riches than this Must not heer now the covetous men either denie God or cōdemn themselves in their own consciences Let them go and excuse themselves by the pretence of wife and children as they are woont saieng They mean nothing els but to provide for their sufficiencie Doth Christ or Saint Paul admit this excusation Ought we so much to love wife or children or other kindred as to endanger our souls for the same What comfort may it be to an afflicted father in hel to remember that by his means his wife and children do live wealthily in earth Al this is vanitie deer brother and meer deceit of our spiritual enimie For within one moment after we are dead we shal care no more for wife children father mother or brother in this matter than we shal for a meer stranger and one penie given in alms while we lived for Gods sake shal comfort us more at that day than thousands of pounds bestowed upon our kin for the natural love we bare unto our own flesh and blood the which I would to Christ worldlie men did consider And then no dowt they would never take such care for kindred as they do especially upon their death-beds whence presently they are to depart to that place where flesh and blood holdeth no more privilege nor riches have any power to deliver but only such as were wel bestowed in the service of God or given to the poore for his names sake And this shal be sufficient for this point of riches 27 The third branch of worldly vanities is called by
of al our dooings then it shal be seene evidently what ech man is to have in the justice and mercie of God 12 To speak then of this second judgement general and common for al the world wherin as the scripture saith God shal bring into iudgment everie error which hath beene committed There are divers circumstances to be considered and divers men do set down the same diversly but in mine opinion no better plainer or more effectual declaration can be made therof than the very scripture maketh it selfe setting forth unto us in most significant words al the maner order and circumstances with the preparation therunto as followeth 13 At that day there shal be signes in the sun and in the moone and in the stars the sun shal be darkened the moone shal geeve no light the stars shal fal from the skies and al the powers of heaven shal be mooved the firmament shal leave his situation with a great violence the elements shal be dissolved with heat and the earth with al that is in it shal be consumed with fire the earth also shal moove off hir place and shal fly like a little deere or sheepe The distresse of nations upon the earth shal be great by reason of the confusion of the noise of the sea and fluds and men shal wither away for fear and expectation of these things that then shal come upon the whole world And then shal the signe of the Son of man appeer in the skie and then shal al the tribes of the earth moorn and wail and they shal see the Son of man comming in the clouds of heaven with much power and glorie great authoritie and majestie And then in a moment in the twinkling of an eie he shal send his Angels with a trumpet and with a great crie at midnight and they shal gather together his elect from the fower parts of the world from heaven to earth Al must be presented before the judgement seat of Christ who wil bring to light those things which were hidden in darknes and wil make manifest the thoughts of mens harts and whatsoever hath beene spoken in chambers in the eare shal be preached upon the house top Account shal be asked of every idle word he shal judge our very righteousnes it selfe Then shal the just stand in great constancie against those which have afflicted them in this life and the wicked seeing that shal be troubled with an horrible fear shal say to the hils fal upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the anger of the lambe for that the great day of wrath is come Then shal Christ separate the sheepe from the goats and shal put the sheepe on his right hand and the goats on the left and shal say to those on the right hand come ye blessed of my father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world I was hungry you gave me to eat I was a stranger and you gave me harbor I was naked and you clothed me I was in prison and you came to me Then shal the just say O Lord when have we done these things for thee And the King shal answer truly when you did them to the lest of my brothers you did it to me Then shal he say to them on his left hand Depart from me you accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a stranger and you harbored me not I was naked and you clothed me not I was sick and in prison and you visited me not Then shal they say O Lord when have we seen thee hungrie or thirstie or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison did not minister unto thee And he shal answer verily I tel you seeing you have not done it to one of these lesser you have not done it to me And then these men shal go into eternal punishment and the just into life everlasting 14 Tel me what a dreadful preparation is here laied down How many circumstances of fear and horror It shal be saith the scripture at midnight when commonly men are asleep it shal be with hideous noise of trumpets sound of waters motion of al the elements what a night wil that be trowest thou to see the earth shake the hils dales mooved from their places the moone darkened the stars fal down from heaven the whole element shivered in peeces and al the world in a flaming fire 15 Can any tong in the world expresse a thing more forcibly than this matter is expressed by Christ the Apostles and Prophets themselves What mortal hart can but tremble in the middest of this unspeakable terror Is it marvel if the very just men and the Angels themselves are said to fear it And then as S. Peter reasoneth If the iust shal scarce be saved where shal the wicked man and sinner appeer What a dreadful day wil it be for the careles and loose Christian which hath passed his time pleasantly in this world when he shal see so infinite a sea of fears and miseries to rush upon him 16 But besides al these most terrible and fearce preparations there wil be many other matters of no lesse dreadful consideration as to see al sepulchres open at the sound of the trumpet and to yeeld foorth al their dead bodies which they have received from the beginning of the world to see al men women and children kings and Queens princes and potentates to stand there naked in the face of al creatures their sins revealed their secret offences laid open done and committed in the closets of their pallaces and they constrained and compelled to geeve accounts of a thousand matters whereof they would disdain to have beene told in this life as how they have spent the time how they have imploied their welth what behavior they have used towards their brethren how they have mortified their senses how they have ruled their appetites how they have obeied the inspirations of the holy ghost and finally how they used al good gifts in this life 17 Oh deare brother it is unpossible to expresse what a great treasure a good conscience wil be at this day it wil be more worth than ten thousand worlds for wealth wil not help the judge wil not be corrupted with money no intercession of worldly frinds shal prevail for us at that day no not of the angels themselves whose glorie shal be then as the prophet saith To bind kings in fetters and noble men in iron manacles to execute upon them the iudgement prescribed and this shal be glorie to al his saints Alas what wil al those wise people do then that now live in delites and can take no pain in the service of God What shift wil they make in those extremities Whether wil they turn
at Gods hands Hereof foloweth the reason of divers things both said and done by God in the scriptures and taught by Divines touching the punishment of sin which seeme strange unto the wisdome of the world and in deede scarce credible As first of al that dreadful punishment of eternal and irrevocable damnation of so manie thousands yea millions of Angels created to glorie with almost infinite perfection and that for one onely sin once committed and that only in thought as Divines do hold Secondly the rigorous punishment of our first parents Adam and Eve and al their posteritie for eating of the tree forbidden for which fault besides the chastising of the offenders themselves al the creatures of the earth for the same and al their children ofspring after them both before the incarnation of Christ since for albeit we are delivered from the guilt of that sin yet temporal chastisements remain upon us for the same as hunger thirst cold sicknes death and a thousand miseries mo besides also the infinite men damned for the same besides this I say which in mans reason may seeme severe inough Gods wrath and justice could not be satisfied except his own son had come downe into the world and taken our flesh upon him and by his pains satisfied for the same And when he was come down and had in our flesh subjected himselfe unto his fathers justice albeit the love his father bare him were infinite yet that God might shew the greatnes of his hatred and justice against sin he never left to lay on upon his own blessed deere son no not then when he saw him sorrowful unto death and bathed in a sweat of blood and water and crieng O Father mine if it be possible let this cup passe from me And yet more pitifully after upon the crosse O my God why hast thou forsaken me Notwithstanding al this I say his father delivered him not but laid on stripe upon stripe pain upon pain torment after torment until he had rendred up his life and soul into his said fathers hands which is a wonderful and dreadful document of Gods hatred against sin 7 I might here mention the sin of Esau in selling his inheritance for a little meat of which the Apostle saith He found no place of repentance after though he sought the same with teares Also the sin of Saul who his sin being but one sin and that only of omission in not killing Agag the king of Amalek and his cattel as he was willed was utterly cast off by GOD for the same though he were his annointed and chosen servant before and could not get remission of the same though both he and Samuel the prophet did greatly lament and bewail the same sin or at least that he was rejected 8 Also I might alledge the example of king David whose two sins albeit upon his hartie repentance God forgave yet notwithstanding al the sorrow that David conceaved for the same God chastised him with marvelous severitie as with the death of his son and other continual affliction on himselfe as long as he lived And al this to shew his hatred against sin and therby to terrifie us from committing the same 9 Of this also do proceed al those hard and bitter speeches in scripture touching sinners which comming from the mouth of the holie Ghost and therfore being most tru and certein may justly geeve al them great cause of fear which live in sin as where it is said Death bloud contention edge of sword oppression hunger contrition and whips al these things are created for wicked sinners And again God shal rain snares of fire upon sinners brimstone with tempestuous winds shal be the portion of their cup. Again God wil be knowen at the day of judgment upon the sinner who shal be taken in the works of his own hands many whips belong unto a sinner let sinners be turned into hel God shal scatter al sinners God shal dash the teeth of sinners in their mouths God shal scoff at a sinner when he seeth his day of destruction commeth on the sword of sinners shal turn into their own harts thou shalt see when sinners shal perish the arms of sinners shal be crushed and broken sinners shal wither from the earrh desire not the glorie and riches of a sinner for thou dost not know the subversion which shal come upon him God hath given him riches to deceave him therwith behold the day of the Lord shal come a cruel day and ful of indignation wrath and furie to make desolate the earth and to crush in peeces hir sinners within hir The just man shal rejoice seeing this revenge and then shal he wash his hands in the blood of sinners These and a thousand such sentences more of scripture which I omit uttered by the holy Ghost against sinners may instruct us of their pittiful estate and of the unspeakable hatred of God against them as long as they persist in sin 10 Of al these considerations the holy scriptures do gather one conclusion greatly to be noted and considered by us which is Miseros facit populos peccatum Sin bringeth men to miserie And again Qui diligit iniquitatem odit animam suam He which loveth iniquitie hateth his own soul. Or as the Angel Raphael uttereth it in other words They which commit sin are open enimies to their own soules Wherfore they lay down to al men this general severe and most necessarie commandement upon al the pains before recited Quasi á facie colubrifuge peccata And again Cave ne aliquando peccato consentias Beware thou never consent to sin for howsoever the world doth make litle account of this matter of whom as the scripture noteth The sinner is praised in his lusts and the wicked man is blessed Yet most certain it is for that the spirit of God avoucheth it Qui facit peccatum ex diabolo est He which committeth sin is of the divel And therfore is to receave his portion among devils at the latter day 11 And is not al this sufficient deer brother to make us detest sin and to conceave som fear in committing therof Nay is not al this strong inough to batter their harts which live in state of sin and do commit the same daily without consideration or scruple What obstinacie and hardnes of hart is this Surely we see the holy Ghost prophesied truly of them when he said Sinners alienated from God are possessed with a fury like a serpent and like a deafe cocatrice which stoppeth hir eares to the inchanter This fury I say is the fury or madnes of wilful sinners which stop their eares like serpents to al the holy inchantments that God can use unto them for their conversion that is to al his internal motions and good inspirations to al remorse of their own consciences to al
in another place Audite coeli auribus percipe terra Harken ye heavens and thou earth bend hither thine eares Filios enutrivi exaltavi ipsi autem spreuerunt me I have norished up children and have exalted them and now they contemn me What a pitiful complaint is this of God against most vile and base worms of the earth But yet God amplifieth this iniquitie more by certain examples and comparisons The oxe saith he knoweth his owner and the asse knoweth the manger of his Lord and maister but yet my people know not me wo be to the sinful nation to the people loden with iniquitie to this naughtie seed to wicked children What complaint can be more vehement than this What threatning can be more dreadful than this wo comming from the mouth of him which may punish us at his pleasure 19 Wherfore deer brother if thou have grace cease to be ungrateful to God any longer cease to offend him which hath by so manie wais prevented thee with benefits cease to render evil for good hatred for love contempt for his fatherly affection towards thee He hath done for thee al that he can he hath given thee al that thou art yea and in a certain maner al that he is woorth himselfe and meaneth besides to make thee partaker of al his glorie in the world to come and requireth no more for al this at thy hands but love and gratitude O deer brother why wilt thou not yeeld him this Why wilt thou not do as much to him as thou wouldest haue another man to do to thee for lesse than the ten thousand part of these benefits which thou hast receaved For I dare wel say that if thou hadst given a man but an almes at thy dore thou wouldest think him bound to love thee for it albeit thou hadst nothing in thee woorth love besides But now thy Lord besides these his gifts hath infinite causes to make thee love him that is al the causes which any thing in the world hath to purchase love and infinite more besides for if al the perfections of al things created in heaven and in earth which do procure love were put togither in one as al their beautie al their vertu al their nobilitie al their goodnes and the like yet thy Lord and Savior whom thou contemnest doth passe al this and that by many and infinite degrees for that he is not only al these things togither but also he is very beautie it selfe vertu it selfe wisdom it selfe sweetnes it selfe nobilitie it selfe goodnes it selfe and the very fountain and welspring where hence al these things are derived by litle peeces and parcels unto his creatures 20 Be ashamed then good Christian of this thy ingratitude to so great so good bountiful a Lord and resolve thy selfe for the time to come to amend thy course of life and behavior towards him Say with the prophet which had lesse cause to say so than thou Domine propitiare peccatomeo multum est enim O Lord pardon me mine offences for it is great in thy sight I know there is nothing O Lord which doth so much displease thee or dry up the fountain of thy mercy and so bindeth thy hands from dooing good as ingratitude in the receavers of thy benefits wherin hitherto I have exceeded al other but I have done it O Lord in mine ignorance not considering thy gifts unto me nor what account thou wouldest demaund again of the same But now seeing thou hast vouchsafed to make me woorthy of this grace also wherby to see and know mine own state and default I hope hereafter by direction of the same grace of thine to shew my selfe a better child towards thee O Lord I am overcome at the lenth with consideration of thy love and how can I have the hart to offend thee hereafter seeing thou hast prevented me so many wais with benefits even when I demanded not the same Can I have hands ever more to sin against thee which hast given up thine own most tender hands to be nailed on the crosse for my sins heretofore No no it is too great an injurie against thee O Lord and wo woorth me that have done it so often heretofore But by thy holy assistance I trust not to return to such iniquitie for the time to come to which O Lord I beseech thee for thy mercy sake from thy holie throne of heaven to say Amen CHAP. VIII Of what opinion and feeling we shal be touching these matters at the time of our death THe holie scriptures do teach us and experience maketh it plain that during the time of this life the commodities preferments and pleasures of the world do possesse so strongly the harts of manie men and do hold them chained with so forcible inchauntments being forsaken also upon their just deserts of the grace of God say and threaten what a man can bring against them al the whole scripture even from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Apocalips as indeed it is al against sin and sinners yet wil it prevail nothing with them being in that lamentable case as either they beleeve not or esteem not whatsoever is said to that purpose against their setled life and resolution to the contrary Of this we have infinite examples in scripture as of Sodom and Gomorra with the cities about which could not heare the warnings that good Lot gave unto them Also of Pharao whom al that ever Moises could do either by signes or saiengs mooved nothing Also of Iudas who by no faire means or threatnings used to him by his maister would change his wicked resolution But especially the prophets sent from God from time to time to dissuade the people from their naughtie life and consequently from the plaegs hanging over them do give abundant testimonie of this complaining everie where of the hardnes of sinners harts that would not be mooved with al the exhortations preachings promises and thunderings that they could use The prophet Zacharie shal testifie for al in this matter who saith of the people of Israel a litle before their destruction Hoc ait Dominus exercituum c. This saith the Lord of hosts iudge iustly And so foorth And presentlie he addeth And they would not attend but turning their baks went away stopped their ears to the end they might not heare and they did put their harts as an adamant stone to the end they might not heare the law and the words which God did send in his spirit by the hands of the former prophets wherby Gods great indignation was stirred up 2 This then is and alwais hath been the fashion of worldlings reprobate persons to harden their harts as an adamant stone against any thing that shal be told them for the amendement of their lives and for the saving of their souls Whiles they are in helth prosperitie they wil not know God As in
another place he complaineth yet as the prophet saith God wil have his day with these men also when he wil be known And that is Cognoscetur dominus iudicia faciens God wil be known when he beginneth to do iudgment And this is at the day of death which is the next dore to judgement as the Apostle testifieth saieng It is appointed for al men once to die and after that ensueth iudgement 3 This I say is the day of God most terrible sorrowful and ful of tribulation to the wicked wherin God wil be known to be a righteous God and to restore to every man according as he hath done while he lived as Saint Paul saith or as the prophet describeth it He wil be known then to be a terrible God and such a one as taketh away the spirit of princes a terrible God to the kings of the earth At this day as there wil be a great change in al other things as mirth wil be turned into sorrow laughings into weepings pleasures into paines stoutnes into fear pride into dispaire and the like so especially wil there be a strange alteration in judgement and opinion for that the wisdom of God wherof I have spoken in the former chapters which as the scripture saith Is accounted holy of the wise of the world wil then appeere in hir likenes and as it is in very deed wil be confessed by hir greatest enimies to be only tru wisdom and al carnal wisdom of worldlings to be meer folly as God calleth it 4 This the holie scripture setteth down cleerly when it describeth the verie speeches and lamentations of the wise men of this world at the last day saieng touching the vertuous whom they despised in this life Nos insensati c. We senseles men did esteem their life to be madnes and their end to be dishonorable but look how they are now accounted among the children of God and their portion is with the saints We have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnes hath not shined before us neither hath the sun of understanding appeered unto us We have wearied out our selves in the way of iniquitie and perdition and we have walked craggy paths but the way of the Lord we have not known Hitherto are the words of scripture wherby we may perceave what great change of judgement there wil be at the last day from that which men have now of al such matters what confessing of follie what acknowledging of error what hartie sorrow for labor lost what fruitles repentance for having run awry Oh that men would consider these things now We have wearied out our selves say these miserable men in the way of iniquitie and perdition and we have walked craggie paths What a description is this of lamentable worldlings who beat their brains daily weary out themselves in pursuit of vanitie and chaf of this world for which they suffer notwithstanding more pains oftentimes than the just do in purchasing of heaven And when they arrive to at the last day wearied and worn out with troble and toile they finde that al their labor is lost al their vexation taken in vain for that the litle pelfe which they have gotten in the world and for which they have strugled so sore wil helpe them nothing but rather greatly afflict and torment them for better understanding wherof it is to be considered that three things wil principallie molest these men at the day of their death and unto these may al the rest be referred 5 The first is the excessive pains which commonly men suffer in the separation of the soul and bodie which have lived so long together as two deer frinds united in love and pleasure and therfore most loth to part now but onlie that they are inforced therunto This pain may partly be conceaved by that if we would drive out life but from the least part of our bodie as for example out of our little finger as surgeons are woont to do when they wil mortifie any place to make it break what a pain doth a man suffer before it be dead What raging greefe doth he abide And if the mortifieng of one little part onlie doth so much afflict us imagin what the violent mortifieng of al the parts together wil do For we see that first the soul is driven by death to leave the extreeme parts as the toes feet and fingers then the legs arms and so consequently one part dieth after another until life be restrained onlie to the hart which holdeth out longest as the principal part but yet must finally be constrained to render it selfe though with never so much pain and resistance which pain how great strong it is may appeer by the breaking in peeces of the very strings and holds wherwith it was environed through the excessive vehemencie of this deadly torment But yet before it come to this point to yeeld no man can expresse the cruel conflict that is betwixt death and hir and what distresses she abideth in time of hir agonie Imagin that a prince possessed a goodly citie in al peace wealth and pleasure and greatly frinded of al his neighbors about him who promise to assist him in al his needs and affairs and that upon the sudden his mortal enimie should come and besiege this citie and taking one hold after another one wal after another one castel after another should drive this prince only to a little tower and besiege him therin al his other holds being beaten down and his men slain in his sight what fear anguish and miserie would this prince be in How often would he look out at the windows and loope holes of his tower to see whether his frinds and neighbors would come to help him or no And if he saw them al to abandon him and his cruel enimie even ready to break in upon him would he not be in a pitiful plight trow you And even so fareth it with a poore soul at the hour of death The bodie wherin she raigneth like a joly princesse in al pleasure whiles it florished is now battered and overthrown by hir enimy which is death the arms legs and other parts wherwith she was fortified as with wals words during time of helth are now surprised and beaten to the ground and she is driven only to the hart as to the last and extreemest refuge where she is also most fearcely assailed in such sort as she cannot hold out long Hir deer frinds which soothed hir in time of prosperitie and promised assistance as youth physik and other humane helps do now utterly abandon hir the enimie wil not be pacified or make any leag but night and day assaulteth this turret wherin she is and which now beginneth to shake and shiver in peeces and she looketh hourly when hir enimie in most raging and dreadful maner wil enter upon hir What think
could suffer this Or what mortal hart can shew such patience But now if al this should not be requited with severitie of punishment in the world to come upon the obstinate it might seeme against the law of justice and equitie and one arm in God might seeme longer than the other Saint Paul toucheth this reason in his epistle to the Romans where he saith Dost thou not know that the benignitie of God is used to bring thee to repentance And thou by thy hard and impenitent hart dost hoord up vengeance unto thy selfe in the day of wrath and appeerance of Gods iust iudgements which shal restore to everie man according to his works He useth here the words of Hoording up of vengeance to signifie that even as the covetous man doth hoord up monie to monie dailie to make his heap great so the unrepentant sinner doth hoord up sin to sin and God on the contrarie side hoordeth up vengeance to vengeance until his mesure be ful to restore in the end Measure against measure As the prophet saith and to pay us home According to the multitude of our own abhominations This God meant when he said to Abraham That the iniquities of the Amorrheans were not yet ful up Also in the revelations unto Saint Iohn the Evangelist when he used this conclusion of that book He that doth evil let him do yet more evil and he that lieth in filth let him yet become more filthy for behold I come quikly and my reward is with me to render to everie man according to his deeds By which words God signifieth that his bearing tollerating with sinners in this life is an argument of his greater severitie in the life to come which the prophet David also declareth when talking of a carelesse sinner he saith Dominus irridebit eum quoniam prospicit quòd veniet dies eius The Lord shal scof at him foreseeing that his day shal come This day no dowt is to be understood the day of account and punishment after this life for so doth God more at large declare himselfe in another place in these words And thou son of man this saith thy Lord God the end is come now I say the end is come upon thee And I wil shew in thee my furie and wil iudge thee according to thy wais I wil lay against thee al thy abhominations and my eie shal not spare thee neither wil I take any mercie upon thee but I wil put thine own wais upon thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold affliction commeth on the end is come the end I say is come it hath watched against thee and behold it is come crushing is now come upon thee the time is come the daie of slaughter is at hand Shortlie wil I poure out my wrath upon thee and I wil fil my furie in thee and I wil iudge thee according to thy wais and I wil laie al thy wickednes upon thee my eie shal not pittie thee neither wil I take any compassion upon thee but I wil laie thy wais upon thee and thy abhominations in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that striketh Hitherto is the speech of God himselfe 6 Seeing then now we understand in general that the punishments of God in the life to come are most certain to be great and severe to al such as fal into them for which cause the Apostle saith Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis It is an horrible thing to fal into the hands of the living God let us consider somwhat in particular what maner of pains and punishments they shal be 7 And first of al touching the place of punishment appointed for the damned commonly called hel the scripture in divers languages useth divers names but al tending to expresse the greevousnes of punishment there suffered As in Latin it is called Infernus a place beneath or under ground as most of the old fathers do interpret But whether it be under ground or no most certain it is that it is a place most opposite to heaven which is said to be above And this name is used to signifie the miserable suppressing and hurling down of the damned to be troden under the feet not only of God but also of good men for ever For so saith the scripture Behold the day of the Lord commeth burning like a fornace and al proud and wicked men shal be straw to that fornace and you that fear my name shal tread them down and they shal be as burnt ashes under the soles of your feet in that day And this shal be one of the greatest miseries that can happen to the prowd and stout potentates of the world to be thrown down with such contempt and to be troden under feet of them whom they so much despised in this world 8 The Hebrew word which the scripture useth for hel is Seol which signifieth a great ditch or dungeon In which sense it is also called in the Apocalyps Lacus irae Dei The lake of the wrath of God And again Stagnum ardens igne sulphure A poole burning with fire and brimstone In Greek the scripture useth three words for the same place The first is Elades used in the Gospel which as Plutarch noteth signifieth a place where no light is The second is Zophos in Saint Peter which signifieth darknes it selfe In which sense it is called also of Iob Terra tenebrosa operta mortis caligine A dark land and overwhelmed with deadly obscuritie Also in the Gospel Tenebrae exteriores Vtter darknes The third greek word is Tartaros used also by Saint Peter which word being derived of the verb Tarasso which signifieth to terrifie troble and vex importeth an horrible confusion of tormentors in that place even as Iob saith of it Ibi nullus ordo sed sompiternus horror inhabitat There dwelleth no order but everlasting horror 9 The Chaldie word which is also used in Hebrew and translated to the Greek is Gehenna first of al used by Christ for the place of them which are damned as Saint Ierom noteth upon the tenth chapter of Saint Mathews gospel And this word being compounded of Gee Hinnom signifieth a vally nigh to Ierusalem called the vally of Hinnom in which the old idolatrous Iews were woont to burn alive their own children in the honor of the devil and to sound with trumpets timbrels and other loud instruments whiles they were doing therof that the childrens voices and cries might not be heard which place was afterward used also for the receit of al filthines as of doong dead carions and the like And it is most probable that our Savior used this word above al other for hel therby to signifie the miserable burning of souls in that place the pitiful clamors and cries of the tormented the confuse and barbarous noise of
the tormentors togither with the most lothsom filthines of the place which is otherwise described in the scriptures by the names of adders snakes cocatrices scorpions and other venemous creatures as shal be afterwards declared 10 Having declared the names of this place and therby also in som part the nature it remaineth now that we consider what maner of pains men suffer there For declaration wherof we must note that as heaven and hel are contrarie assigned to contrarie persons for contrarie causes so have they in al respects contrarie properties conditions and effects in such sort as whatsoever is spoken of the felicitie of the one may serve to infer the contrarie of the other As when Saint Paul saith that No eie hath seene nor eare heard nor hart conceived the ioies that God hath prepared for them that shal be saved We may infer that the pains of the damned must be as great Again when the scripture saith that the felicitie of them in heaven is a perfect felicitie containing Omne bonum Al goodnes So that no one kind of pleasure can be imagined which they have not we must think on the contrarie part that the miserie of the damned must be also a perfect miserie containing al afflictions that may be without wanting any So that as the happines of the good is infinite and universal so also is the calamitie of the wicked infinite and universal Now in this life al the miseries pains which fal upon man are but particular and not universal As for example we see one man pained in his eies another in his bak which particular pains notwithstanding somtimes are so extreme as life is not able to resist them and a man would not suffer them long for the gaining of many worlds togither But suppose now a man were tormented in al the parts of his bodie at once as in his head his eies his toong his teeth his throte his stomak his bellie his back his hart his sides his thighs and in al the joints of his bodie besides suppose I say he were most cruelly tormented with extreme pains in al these parts togither without ease or intermission what thing could be more miserable than this What sight more lamentable If thou shuldest see a dogly in the street so afflicted I know thou couldest not but take compassion upon him Wel then consider what difference there is between abiding these pains for a week or for al eternities in suffering them upon a soft bed or upon a burning grediron and boiling fornace among a mans frinds comforting him or among the furies of hel whipping and tormenting him Consider this I say gentle reader and if thou wouldest take a great deal of labour rather than abide the one in this life be content to sustain a little pain rather than to incur the other in the life to come 11 But to consider these things yet further not onlie al these parts of the body which have been instruments to sin shal be tormented togither but also every sense both external internal for the same cause shal be afflicted with his particular torment contrarie to the object wherin it delited most took pleasure in this world As if for example the lascivious eies were afflicted with the uglie fearful sight of devils the delicate eares with the horrible noise of damned spirits the nise smel with poisoned stench of brimstone other unsupportable filth the daintie taste with most ravenous hunger and thirst al the sensible parts of the bodie with burning fire Again the imagination shal be tormented with the apprehension of pains present and to come the memorie with the remembrance of pleasures past the understanding with consideration of the felicitie lost and the miserie now come on O poore Christian what wilt thou do amidst the multitude of so greevous calamities 12 It is a woonderful matter and able as one father saith to make a reasonable man go out of his wits to consider what God hath revealed unto us in the scriptures of the dredful circumstances of this punishment and yet to see how little the rechlesse men of the world do fear it For first touching the universalitie varietie and greatnes of the pain not only the reasons before alleaged but also divers other considerations in the scriptures do declare As where it is said of the damned Cruciabuntur die nocte They shal be tormented day and night And again Date illi tormentum Give hir torment speaking of Babylon in hel by which is signified that the pains in hel are exercised not for chastisement but for torment of the parties And torments commonly we see in this world to be as great and as extreme as the wit of a man can reach to devise Imagin then when God shal lay his head to devise torments as he hath done in hel what maner of torments wil they be 13 If creating an element here for our comfort I mean the fire he could create the same so terrible as it is in such sort as a man would not hold his onlie hand in it one day for to gain a kingdom what a fire think you hath he provided for hel which is not created for comfort but onlie for torment of the parties Our fire hath many differences from that therfore is truly said of the holie fathers to be but a painted and fained fire in respect of that For our fire was made to comfort as I have said and that to torment Our fire hath need to be fed continuallie with wood or else it goeth out that burneth continuallie without feeding Ours giveth light that giveth none Ours is out of his natural place and therfore shifteth to ascend and to get from us as we see but that is in the natural place where it was created therfore it abideth there perpetually Ours consumeth the matter laid in it and so quiklie dispatcheth the pain that tormenteth but consumeth not to the end the pain may be everlasting Our fire is extinguished with water and greatlie abated by the coldnes of the aire about it that hath no such abatement or qualification Finallie what a strange and incredible kind of fire that is appeereth by these words of our savior so often repeated There shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Weeping is to be referred to the effect of extreme burning in that fire for that the torment of scalding and burning inforceth teares sooner than any other torment as appeereth in them which upon the sudden do put an hot thing into their mouth or scald any other part of their bodie And gnashing of teeth or chattering at least as everie man knoweth proceedeth of great and extreme cold Imagin then what a fire this is which hath such extreme effects both of heat and cold O mightie Lord what a strange God art thou How woonderful and terrible in al thy works and inventions How bountiful art thou to those
that love and serve thee And how severe to them which contemn thy commandements Hast thou devised a waie how they which lie burning in a lake of fire and brimstone shal also be tormented with extreme cold What understanding of man can conceave how this may be But thy judgements O Lord are a depth without bottom and therfore I leave this to thy onlie providence praising thee eternally for the same 14 Besides these general pains common to al that be in that place the scripture signifieth also that there shal be particular torments peculiar both in quality quantity to the sins offences of ech offender For to that end saith the prophet Esai to God Thou wilt iudge in measure against measure And God saith of himself I wil exercise iudgement in weight and iustice in measure And that is the meaning of al those threts of God to sinners where he saith that he wil pay them home according to their particular works according to the inventions of their own harts In this sence it is said in the Apocalyps of Babylon now thrown down into the lake Looke how much she hath glorified hir selfe and hath lived in delites so much torment affliction give hir Wherof the holie fathers have gathered the varietie of torments that shal be in that place As there be differences of sins so shal there be varietie of torments saith old Ephraem as if the adulterer should have one kind of torment the murderer an other the theefe another the drunkard another the liar another As if the proud man should be troden under feet to recompence his pride the glutton suffer inestimable hunger the drunkards extreme thirst the delicious mouth filled up with gaul and the delicate bodie seared with hot burning irons 15 The holie Ghost signifieth such a thing when he saith in the scriptures of the wicked worldling His bread in his belly shal be turned into the gaul of serpents he shal be constrained to spu out again the riches which he hath devoured nay God shal pul them out of his belly again he shal be constrained to suk the gauls of cocatrices and the tong of an adder shal kil him he shal pay sweetlie for al that ever he hath done and yet shal he not be consumed but shal suffer according to the multitude of al his devises utter darknes lieth in wait for him and fire which needeth no kindling shal eat him up this is the wicked mans portion from God By which words and such like it is plainlie shewed that worldlings shal receive as it were particular and proper torments for their gluttonie for their delicate fare for their extortion and the like Which torments shal be greater than any mortal toong can expresse as may appeer by the vehement and horrible words which the holie Ghost here useth to insinuate the same 16 Beside this the scripture sheweth unto us not onlie the universalitie particularitie and severitie of these pains but also the straitnes therof without aid help ease or comfort when it saith We shal be cast in bound both hand feete For it is some kind of comfort in this world to be able to resist or strive against our afflictions but here we must lie stil and suffer al. Again when it saith Clausa est ianua The gate is shut That is the gate of al mercie of al pardon of al ease of al intermission of al comfort is shut up from heaven from earth from the creator and from creatures insomuch as no consolation is ever to be hoped for more as in al the miseries of this life there is alwais some This straitnes is likewise most livelie expressed in that dreadful parable of the rich glutton in hel who was driven to that necessitie as he desireth that Lazarus might dip the top of his finger in water to coole his tong in the mids of that fire wherin he saith he was and yet could not he obtain it A smal refreshing it seemeth it would have been unto him if he had obtained the same But yet to shew the straitnes of the place it was denied him Oh you that live in the sinful wealth of the world consider but this one example of Gods severitie and be afeard This man was in great roialtie a litle before and nothing regarded the extreme miserie that Lazarus was in but now would he give a thousand worlds if he had them for one drop of water to coole his tong What demand could be lesse than this He durst not ask to be delivered thence or to have his torments diminished or to ask a great vessel of water to refresh his whole bodie therin but onlie so much as would stik on the top of a mans finger to coole his tong To what need was this rich man now driven What a great imagination had he of the force of one drop of water To what pitiful change was his tong now come unto that was woont to be so diligentlie applied with al kinds of pleasant liquors Oh that one man can not take example by another either this is tru or else the Son of God is a liar And then what men are we that seeing our selves in danger of this miserie do not seek with more diligence to avoid the same 17 In respect of these extremities and strait dealings of God in denieng al comfort and consolation at this day the scripture saith that men shal fal into rage furie and utter impatience blaspheming God and cursing the day of their nativitie with eating their own tongs for greefe desiring the roks and mountains to come and fal on them to end their pains 18 Now if we ad to this the eternitie and everlasting continuance of these torments we shal see that it increaseth the matter greatlie For in this world there is no torment so great but that time either taketh awaie or diminisheth the same For either the tormentor or the tormented dieth or some occasion or other happeneth to alter or mitigate the matter But here is no such hope or comfort but Crutiabuntur saith the scripture in secula seculorum in stagno ardente igne sulphure They shal be tormented for ever in a poole burning with fire brimstone As long as God is God so long shal they burn there neither shal the tormentor nor the tormented die but both live eternally for the eternal miserie of the parties to be punished 19 O saith one father in a godly meditation if a sinner damned in hel did know that he had to suffer those tormēts there no mo thousands of yeres than there be sands in the sea and gras piles in the ground or no mo thousand millions of ages than there be creatures in heaven in earth he would greatly rejoice therof for he would cōfort himselfe at the least with this cogitation that once yet the matter wold have an end
But now saith this good man this word Never breaketh his hart when he thinketh on it and that after a hundred thousand millions of worlds there suffered he hath as far to his end as he had at the first day of his entrance to these torments Consider good Christian what a length one hour would seem unto thee if thou hadst but to hold thy hand in fire and brimstone onlie during the space therof We see if a man be greevouslie sik though he be laid upon a verie soft bed yet one night seemeth a long time unto him He turneth and tosseth himselfe from side to side telling the clok and counting everie hour as it passeth which seemeth to him a whole day And if a man should say unto him that he were to abide that pain but seven yeeres togither he would go nigh to dispair for greefe Now if one night seem so long and tedious to him that lieth on a good soft bed afflicted onlie with a litle agu what wil the lieng in fire and brimstone do when he shal know evidentlie that he shal never have end therof Oh deer brother the sacietie of cōtinuance is lothsom even in things that are not evil of themselves If thou shouldest be bound alwais to eat one onlie meat it would be displeasant to thee in the end If thou shouldest be bound to sit stil al thy life in one place without moving it would be greevous unto thee albeit no man did torment thee in that place What then wil it be to lie eternally that is world without end in most exquisite torments Is it any way tollerable What judgement then what wit what discretion is there left in men which make no more account of this matter than they do 20 I might here ad another circumstance which the scripture addeth to wit that al these torments shal be in darknes a thing dreadful of it self unto mans nature For there is not the stoutest man in the world if he found himselfe alone naked in extreme darknes should hear a noise of spirits comming towards him but he would fear albeit he felt never a lash from them on his bodie I might also ad another circumstance that the prophet addeth which is that God good men shal laugh at them that day which wil be no smal affliction For as to be mooved by a mans frind in time of adversitie is some comfort so to be laughed at especiallie by him who onlie may help him is a great and intollerable increase of his miserie 21 And now al this that I have spoken of hitherto is but one part of a damned mans punishment onlie called by Divines Poena sensus The pain of sense or feeling that is the pain or punishment sensibly inflicted upon the soul and bodie But yet besides this there is another part of his punishment called Poena damni The pain of losse or dammage which by al lerned mens opinion is either greater or no lesse than the former And this is the infinite losse which a damned man hath in being excluded for ever and ever from the sight of his creator and his glorie Which sight only being sufficient to make happie and blessed al them that are admitted unto it must needs be an infinite miserie to the damned man to lak that eternallie And therfore this is put as one of the first and cheefest plaegs to be laid upon him Tollatur impius ne videat gloriam dei Let the wicked man be taken away to hel to the end he may not see the glorie of God And this losse conteineth al other losses and damages in it as the losse of eternal blisse and joy as I have said of eternal glorie of eternal societie with the Angels and the like which losses when a damned man considereth as he can not but consider them stil he taketh more greef therof as Divines do hold than by al the other sensible torments that he abideth besides 22 Wherunto apperteineth the worm of conscience in scripture so called for that as a worm lieth eating and gnawing the wood wherin she abideth so shal the remorse of our own conscience lie within us griping and tormenting us for ever And this worm or remorse shal principallie consist in bringing to our minds al the means and causes of our present extreme calamities as our negligences wherby we lost the felicitie which other men have gotten And at everie one of these considerations this worm shal give vs a deadly bit even unto the hart As when it shal lay before us al the occasions that we had offered to avoid this miserie wherin now we are fallen to have gotten the glorie which we have lost how easie it had been to have done it how nigh we were oftentimes to resolve our selves to do it and yet how ungratiously we left of that cogitation again how manie times we were foretold of this danger and yet how little care and fear we took of the same how vain the worldlie trifles were wherin we spent our time and for which we lost heaven fel into this intollerable miserie how they are exalted whom we thought fooles in the world and how we are now prooved fooles and laughed at which thought our selves wise These things I saie and a thousand mo being laid before us by our own conscience shal yeeld us infinite greef for that it is now too late to amend thē And this greef is called the worm or remorse of our own conscience which worm shal more inforce men to weep and houl than any torment else considering how negligentlie foolishlie and vainlie they are come into those so insupportable torments and that now there is no more time to redresse their errors 23 Now only is the time of weeping and lamenting for these men but al in vain Now shal they begin to fret and fume and marvel at themselves saieng Where was our wit Where was our understanding Where was our judgement when we followed vanities and contemned these matters This is the talk of sinners in hel saith the scripture What hath our pride or what hath the glorie of our riches profited us They are al now vanished like a shadow we have wearied out our selves in the way of iniquitie and perdition but the way of the Lord we have not known This I say must be the everlasting song of the damned worm-eaten conscience in hel eternal repentance without profit Wherby he shal be brought to such desperation as the scripture noteth as he shal turn into furie against himselfe tear his own flesh rent his own soul if it were possible and invite the feends to torment him seeing he hath so beastlie behaved himselfe in this world as not to provide in time for this principal matter onlie indeed to have been thought upon Oh if he could have but another life to live in the world again how would he passe it over With what diligence With
to do it I swear to thee saith he by my selfe that I wil multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea and among them also one shal be Christ the Saviour of the world Was not this a good pay for so little pains King David one night began to think with himselfe that he had now an house of Cedar and the Ark of God lay but under a tent and therfore resolved to build an house for the said Ark. Which onlie cogitation God took in so good part as he sent Nathan the prophet unto him presentlie to refuse the thing but yet to tel him that for so much as he had determined such a matter God would build an house or rather a kingdome to him and his posteritie which should last for ever and from which he would never take away his mercie what sins or offences soever they committed Which promise we see now fulfilled in Christ his church raised out of that familie What should I recite manie like examples Christ giveth a general note hereof when he calleth the workmen and paieth to ech man his wages so dulie as also when he saith of himselfe Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me By which places is evident that God suffereth no labor in his service to be lost or unpaid And albeit as after in place conveneent shal be shewed he paieth also and that abundantly in this life yet as by those two examples appeereth he deferreth his cheefe pay unto his comming in the end of the day that is after this life in The resurrection of the iust as himselfe saith in another place 3 Of this paiment then reserved for Gods servants in the life to come we are now to consider what and what maner a thing it is and whether it be woorth so much labor and travel as the service of God requireth or no. And first of al if we wil beleeve the holie scripture calling it a kingdome an heavenly kingdome an eternal kingdome a most blessed kingdome we must needs confesse it to be a marvelous great reward For that worldly princes do not use to give kingdoms to their servants for recompence of their labors And if they did or were able to do it yet could it be neither heavenly nor eternal nor a blessed kingdome Secondly if we credite that which S. Paul saith of it That neither eie hath seen nor eare heard nor hart of man conceived How great a matter it is then must we yet admit a greater opinion therof for that we have seen manie woonderful things in our dais we have heard more woonderful we may conceive most woonderful and almost infinite How then shal we come to understand the greatnes and valu of this reward Surely no tong created either of man or Angel can expresse the same no imagination conceive no understanding comprehend it Christ himselfe hath said Nemo scit nisi qui accipit No man knoweth it but he that enioieth it And therfore he calleth it Hidden manna in the same place Notwithstanding as it is reported of a learned Geometrician that finding the length of Hercules foot upon the hil Olympus drew out his whole bodie by the proportion of that one part so we by some thing set down in scripture and by som other circumstances agreeing therunto may frame a conjecture of the matter though it come far behind the thing it selfe 4 I have shewed before how the scripture calleth it an heavenly an everlasting a most blessed kingdom wherby is signified that al must be kings that are admitted thither To like effect it is called in other places A crown of glorie a throne of maiestie a paradise or place of pleasure a life everlasting Saint Iohn the Evangelist being in his banishment by special privilege made privy to som knowledge feling therof as wel for his own comfort as for ours taketh in hand to describe it by comparison of a citie affirming that the whole citie was of pure gold with a great and high wal of the pretious stone called Iaspis This wal had also twelve foundations made of twelve distinct pretious stones which he there nameth also twelve gates made of twelve rich stones called Margarits and every gate was an entire margarit The streets of the citie were paved with gold interlaid also with pearls and pretious stones The light of the citie was the cleernes and shining of Christ himselfe sitting in the middest thereof from whose seat proceeded a river of water as cleer as cristal to refresh the citie and on both sides of the banks there grew the tree of life giving out continual and perpetual fruit there was no night in that citie nor any defiled thing entered there but they which are within shal reign saith he for ever ever 5 By this description of the most rich and pretious things that this world hath S. Iohn would give us to understand the infinite valu glorie and majestie of this felicitie prepared for us in heaven though as I have noted before it being the princely inheritance of our Saviour Christ the kingdom of his father the eternal habitation of the holie Trinitie prepared before al worlds to set out the glorie and expresse the power of him that hath no end or measure either in power or glorie we may very wel think with Saint Paul that neither tong can declare it nor hart imagin it 6 When God shal take upon him to do a thing for the uttermost declaration in a certain sort of his power wisdome and majestie imagin you what a thing it wil be It pleased him at a certain time to make certain creatures to serve him in his presence and to be witnesses of his glorie and therupon with a word created the Angels both for number and perfection so strange and woonderful as maketh mans understanding astonished to think of it For as for their number they were almost infinite passing the number of al the creatures of this inferior world as divers learned men and som ancient fathers do think though Daniel according to the fashion of the scripture do put a certain number for an uncertain when he saith of Angels A thousand thousands did minister unto him that is unto God ten thousand times an hundred thousand did stand about him to assist And for their perfection of nature it is such being as the scripture saith spirits and like burning fire as they far surpas al inferior creatures in natural knowledge power and the like What an infinite majestie doth this argu in the creator 7 After this when many of these Angels were fallen it pleased God to create another creature far inferior to this for to fil up the places of such as had fallen and therupon created man of a peece of clay as you know appointing him to live a certain time in a place distant from heaven created
prophet And why so Bicause we draw therin with a sweet companion we draw with Christ that is his grace at one end and our endevor at the other And bicause when a great ox and a little do draw togither the waight lieth al upon the greater ox his nek for that he beareth up quite the yoke from the other therof it commeth that we drawing in this yoke with Christ which is greater than we are he lighteneth us of the whole burden and only requireth that we should go on with him comfortably and not refuse to enter under the yoke with him for that the pain shal be his and the pleasure ours This he signifieth expreslie when he saith Come you to me al that labor and are heavie loden and I wil refresh you Heer you see that he mooveth us to this yoke only therby to refresh and disburden us to disburden us I say and to refresh us and not any way to load or agreeve us to disburden us of the heavy lodings and yokes of this world as from the burden of care the burden of melancholy the burden of envie hatred and malice the burden of pride the burden of ambition the burden of covetousnes the burden of wickednes and hel fire it selfe From al these burdens and miserable yokes Christ would deliver us by covering our neks only with his yoke and burden so lightened and sweetned by his holy grace as the bearing therof is not travelsome but most easie pleasant and comfortable as hath been shewed 10 Another cause why this yoke is so sweet this burden so light and this way of Gods commandements so pleasant to good men is love love I mean towards God whose commandements they are For every man can tel and hath experienced in himselfe what a strong passion the passion of love is and how it maketh easie the verie greatest pains that are in this world What maketh the mother to take such pains in the bringing up of hir child but only love What causeth the wife to sit so attentive at the bedside of hir sik husband but only love What mooveth the beasts and birds of the air to spare from their own food and to indanger their own lives for the feeding and defending of their little ones but only the force of love Saint Austen doth prosecute this point at large by many other examples as of merchants that refuse no adventure of sea for love of gain of hunters that refuse no season of evil weather for love of game of soldiers that refuse no danger of death for love of the spoil And he addeth in the end that if the love of man can be so great towards creatures heer as to make labor easie and indeed to seem no labor but rather pleasure how much more shal the love of good men towards God make al their labor comfortable which they take in his service 11 This extreme love was the cause why al the pains and afflictions which Christ suffered for us seemed nothing unto him And this love also was the cause why al the travels and torments which many Christians have suffered for Christ seemed nothing unto them Imprisonments torments losse of honor goods life seemed trifles to divers servants of God in respect of this burning love This love drove many virgins and tender children to offer themselves in time of persecution for the love of him which in the cause was persecuted This love caused holie Apollonia of Alexandria being brought to the fire to be burned for Christ to slip out of the hands of such as led hir and joifully to run into the fire of hir selfe This love mooved Ignatius the ancient martyr to say being condemned to beasts and fearing least they would refuse his bodie as they had done of divers martyrs before that he would not permit them so to do but would provoke and stir them to come upon him and to take his life from him by tearing his body in peeces 12 These are the effects then of fervent love which maketh even the things that are most difficult and dreadful of themselves to appeer sweet and pleasant and much more the laws and commandements of God which in themselves are most just reasonable holie and easie Da amantem saith Saint Austen speaking of this matter et sentit quod dico Si autem frigido loquor nescit quid loquar Give me a man that is in love with God he feeleth this to be tru which I say but if I talk to a cold Christian he understandeth not what I say And this is the cause why Christ talking of the keeping of his commandements repeateth so often this word love as the surest cause of keeping the same for want wherof in the world the world keepeth them not as there he sheweth If you love me keep my commandements saith he And again He that hath my commandements and keepeth them he is he that loveth me Again He which loveth me wil keep my commandements In which last words is to be noted that to the lover he saith His commandement in the singular number for that to such an one al his commandements are but one commandement according to the saieng of Saint Paul That love is the fulnes of the law for that it comprehendeth al. But to him that loveth not Christ saith his commandements in the plural number signifieng therby that they are both many and heavie to him for that he wanteth love which should make them easie Which Saint Iohn also expresseth when he saith This is the love of God when we keep his commandements and his commandements are not heavie That is they are not heavy to him which hath the love of God otherwise no marvel though they be most heavie For that every thing seemeth heavie which we do against our liking And so by this also gentle reader thou maist gesse whether the love of God be in thee or no. 13 And these are two means now wherby the vertuous life of good men is made easie in this world There follow divers others to the end that these negligent excusers may see how unjust and untru this excuse of theirs is concerning the pretended hardnes of vertuous living which in very deed is indued with infinite privileges of comfort above the life of wicked men even in this world And the next after the former is a certain special and peculiar light of understanding pertaining to the just and called in scripture Prudentia sanctorum the wisdome of saints which is nothing els but a certain sparkle of heavenly wisdome bestowed by singular privilege upon the vertuous in this life wherby they receive most comfortable light and understanding in spiritual matters especially touching their own salvation and things necessarie therunto Of which the prophet David ment when he said Notas mihi fecisti vias vitae Thou hast made the wais of
man that come life come death come health come siknes come wealth come povertie come prosperitie come adversitie come never so tempestuous storms of persecution he sitteth down quietly and saith calmly with the prophet My trust is in God and therfore I fear not what flesh can do unto me Nay further with holie Iob amidst al his miseries he saith Si occiderit me in ipso sperabo If God should kil me yet would I trust in him And this is as the scripture said before to be as confident as a lion Whose propertie is to shew most courage when he is in greatest peril and neerest his death 20 But now as the holie Ghost saith Non sic impij non sic The wicked cannot say this they have no part in this confidence no interest in this consolation Quia spes impiorum peribit Saith the scripture The hope of wicked men is vain and shal perish And again Praestolatio impiorum furor The expectation of wicked men is furie And yet further Spes impiorum abhominatio animae The hope of wicked men is abhomination and not a comfort unto their soul. And the reason heerof is double First for that in verie deed though they say the contrarie in words wicked men do not put their hope and confidence in God but in the world and in their riches in their strength frinds and authority and finally in the Deceaving arm of man Even as the prophet expresseth in their person when he saith We have put a lie for our hope That is we have put our hope in things transitorie which have deceived us this is yet more expressed by the scripture saieng The hope of wicked men is as chaf which the wind bloweth away and as a bubble of water which a storm disperseth as a smoke which the wind bloweth abroad and as the remembrance of a ghest that staieth but one day in his In. By al which metaphors the holie Ghost expresseth unto us both the vanity of the things wherin indeed the wicked do put their trust and how the same faileth them after a little time upon every smal occasion of adversitie that falleth out 21 This is that also which God meaneth when he so stormeth and thundereth against those which go into Egypt for help and do put their confidence in the strength of Pharao accursing them for the same and promising that it shal turn to their own confusion which is properly to be understood of al those which put their cheefe cōfidence in worldly helps as al wicked men do whatsoever they dissemble in words to the contrarie For which cause also of dissimulation they are called hypocrites by Iob for wheras the wise man saith The hope of wicked men shal perish Iob saith The hope of hypocrites shal perish Calling wicked men hypocrites for that they say they put their hope in God wheras indeed they put it in the world Which thing beside scripture is evident also by experience For with whom doth the wicked man consult in his affairs and dowts With God principally or with the world Whom doth he seeke to in his afflictions Whom doth he cal upon in his siknes From whom hopeth he comfort in his adversities To whom yeeldeth he thanks in his prosperities When a worldly man taketh in hand any work of importance doth he first consult with God about the event therof Doth he fal down of his knees and aske his aid Doth he refer it wholy and principally to his honor If he do not how can he hope for aid therin at his hands How can he repaire to him for assistance in the dangers and lets that fal out about the same How can he have any confidence in him which hath no part at al in that work It is hypocrisie then as Iob truly saith for this man to affirm that his confidence is in God wheras indeed it is in the world it is in Pharao it is in Egypt it is in the arm of man it is in a lie He buildeth not his house with the wise man upon a rok but with the foole upon the sands and therfore as Christ wel assureth him When the rain shal come and fluds descend and winds blow and al togither shal rush upon the house which shal be at the hour of death then shal this house fal and the fal of it shal be great Great for the change that he shal see great for the great horror which he shal conceive great for the great miserie which he shal suffer great for the unspeakable joies of heaven lost great for the eternal pains of hel fallen into great every way assure thy selfe deer brother or else the mouth of God would never have used this word great and this is sufficient for the first reason why the hope of wicked men is vain for that indeed they put it not in God but in the world 22 The second reason is for that albeit they should put their hope in God yet living wickedly it is vain and rather to be called presumption than hope For understanding wherof it is to be noted that as there are two kinds of faith recounted in scripture the one a dead faith without good works that is which beleeveth al you say of Christ but yet observeth not his commandements the other a lively a justifieng faith which beleeveth not only but also worketh by charitie as Saint Pauls words are So are there two hopes following these two faiths the one of the good proceeding of a good conscience wherof I have spoken before the other of the wicked resting in a guiltie conscience which is indeed no tru hope but rather presumption This Saint Iohn prooveth plainly when he saith Brethren if our hart reprehend us not then have we confidence with God That is if our hart be not guiltie of wicked life And the words immediately folowing do more expresse the same which are these Whensoever we aske we shal receive of him for that we keep his cōmandements do those things which are pleasing in his sight The same confirmeth Saint Paul when he saith that The end of Gods commandements is charity from a pure hart and a good conscience Which words Saint Austen expounding in divers words and in divers places of his works prooveth at large that without a good conscience there is no tru hope that can be conceaved Saint Paul saith he addeth from a good conscience Bicause of hope for he which hath the scruple of an evil conscience despaireth to attain that which he beleeveth And again Every mans hope is in his own cōscience according as he feeleth him selfe to love God And again in another book the apostle putteth a good cōscience for hope for he only hopeth which hath a good conscience and he whom the guilt of an evil conscience doth prik retireth bak from hope hopeth nothing but his own damnation I might heer
as for example within are the rebellions of his concupiscence and other miseries of his mind wherwith he hath continually to make war if he wil save his soul. Without are the world and the devil which do never cease to assalt him now by fair means and now by fowl now by flatterie and now by threat now alluring by pleasure and promotion now terrifieng by affliction and persecution Against al which the good Christian hath to resist manfully or else he leeseth the crown of his eternal salvation 4 The verie same also may be shewed by the examples of al the most renowned saints from the beginning who were not only assalted internally with the rebellion of their own flesh but also persecuted and afflicted outwardly therby to confirm more manifestly this purpose of God As we see in Abel persecuted and slain by his own brother assoon as ever he began to serve God also in Abraham afflicted diversly after he was once chosen by God and most of al by making him yeeld to the killing of his own deer and only child Of the same cup drank al his children posteritie that succeeded him in Gods favor as Isaac Iacob Ioseph Moises and al the prophets of which Christ himselfe giveth testimonie how their blood was shed most cruelly by the world The affliction also of Iob is woonderful seeing the scripture affirmeth it to have come upon him by Gods special appointment he being a most just man But yet more woonderful was the affliction of holie Tobias who among other calamities was striken blind by the falling down of swallows dung into his eies of which the angel Raphel told him afterward Bicause thou wert a man acceptable to God it was of necessitie that this tentation should proove thee Behold the necessitie of afflictions to good men I might ad to this the example of David others but that the apostle giveth a general testimonie of al the saints of the old testament saieng That some were racked some reproched some whipped some chained some imprisoned others were stoned cut in peeces tempted and flain with the sword some went about in hair-cloth in skins of goats in great need pressed and afflicted wandring and hiding themselves in wildernesses in hils in caves and holes under ground the world not being woorthy of them Of al which he pronounceth this comfortable sentence to be noted of al men Non suscipientes redemptionem vt meliorem invenirent resurrectionem That is God would not deliver them from these afflictions in this life to the end their resurrection and reward in the life to come might be more glorious And this of the saints of the old testament 5 But now in the new testament founded expressedly upon the crosse the matter standeth much more plain that with great reason For if Christ could not go into this glorie but by suffering as the scripture saith then by the most reasonable rule of Christ affirming that The servant hath not privilege aboue his maister It must needs follow that al have to drink of Christs cup which are appointed to be partakers of his glory And for proofe herof look upon the deerest frinds that ever Christ had in this life and see whether they had part therof or no. Of his mother Simeon prophesied and told hir at the beginning That the sword of tribulation should passe hir hart Signifieng therby the extreme afflictions that she felt afterward in the death of hir son and other miseries heaped upon hir Of the apostles it is evident that beside al the labors travels needs sufferings persecutions and calamities which were infinite and in mans sight in tollerable if we beleeve S. Paul recounting the same beside al this I say God would not be satisfied except he had their blood also and so we see that he suffered none of them to die naturally but only Saint Iohn albeit if we consider what Iohn also suffered in so long a life as he lived being banished by Domitian to Pathmos at another time thrust into a tun of hot oil at Rome as Tertullian and Saint Ierom do report we shal see that his part was no lesse than others in this cup of his maister I might rekon up heer infinite other examples but it needeth not For it may suffice that Christ hath given this general rule in the new testament He that taketh not up his crosse and followeth me is not worthy of me By which is resolved plainly that there is no salvation now to be had but only for them that take up that is do bear willingly their proper crosses and therwith do follow their captain walking on with his crosse on his shoulders before them 6 But heer some man may say If this be so that no man can be saved without a crosse that is without affliction and tribulation how do al those that live in peaceable times and places where no persecution is no trouble no affliction or tribulation To which I answer first that if there were any such time or place the men living therin should be in great danger according to the saieng of the prophet They are not in the labor of other men nor yet whipped and punished as others are and therfore pride possessed them and they were covered with iniquitie and impietie and their iniquitie proceeded of their fatnesse or abundance Secondlie I answer that there is no such time or place so void of tribulation but that there is alwais a crosse to be found for them that wil take it up For either is there povertie sicknes slander enmitie injurie contradiction or some like affliction offered continually For that those men never want in the world wherof the prophet said These that do render evil for good did detract from me for that I followed goodnes At the least wise there never want those domestical enimies of which Christ speaketh I mean either our kinred and carnal frinds which commonly resist us if we begin once throughly to serve God or else our own disordinate affections which are the most perilous enimies of al for that they make us war upon our own ground Again there never want the temptations of the world devil the resisting wherof is much more difficult in time of peace and welth than in time of external affliction and persecution for that these enimies are stronger in flatterie than in force which a godly father expresseth by this parable The sun and wind saith he agreed on a day to prove their several strengths in taking a cloke from a waifairing man And in the forenoon the wind used al violence that he could to blow off the said cloke But the more he blew the more fast held the travailer his cloke and gathered it more closelie about him At afternoon the sun sent foorth his pleasant beams and by little and little so entered into this man as he
is understood of his sinful acts he addeth a little after the maner of this purgation saieng His flesh being consumed by punishments let him return again to the dais of his youth That is al his fleshly humors and passions being now consumed by punishments and tribulations let him begin to live again in such puritie of soul as he did at the beginning of his youth before he had contracted these evil humors and diseases 11 Neither only is tribulation a strong medicin to heal sin and to purge away the reffuse metals in us of brasse tin iron lead and drosse as God by Ezechiel saith but also a most excellent preservative against sin for the time to come according as good king David said Thy discipline O Lord hath corrected me for evermore That is it hath made me warie and watchful not to commit sin again according as the scripture saith in another place Agreevous infirmitie or affliction maketh the fool sober For which cause the prophet Ieremie calleth tribulation Virgam vigilantem A watchful rod. That is as Saint Ierom expoundeth it a rod that maketh a man watchful The same signified God when he said by Ose the prophet I wil hedge in thy way with thorns That is I wil so close thy life on every side with the remembrance and fear of affliction that thou shalt not dare to tread awry lest thou tread upon a thorn Al which good David expresseth of himselfe in these words Before I was humbled and brought low by affliction I did sin and offend thee O Lord but after that time I have kept thy commandements 12 Of this also appeereth another cause why God afflicteth his elect in this life and that is to prevent his justice upon them in the world to come Touching which Saint Barnard saith thus Oh would to God some man would now beforehand provide for my head abundance of waters and to mine eies a fountain of teares for so happily the burning fire should take no hold where running teares had clensed before And the reason of this is as that holie man himselfe noteth after for that God hath said by Naum the prophet I have afflicted thee once I wil not afflict thee again there shal not come from me a double tribulation 13 Sixtlie God sendeth tribulation upon his servants to proove them therby whether they be faithful and constant or no That is to make themselves and other men see and confesse how faithful or unfaithful they are This after a sort was figured when Isaac would grope touch his son Iacob before he would blesse him And this the scripture expresseth plainly when talking of the tribulations laid upon Abraham It addeth Tentavit Deus Abraham God tempted Abraham By these means to proove him And Moises said to the people of Israel Thou shalt remember how thy God led thee fortie yeers about the desert to afflict thee and tempt thee to the end it might appeer what was in thy hart whether thou wouldest keepe his commandements or no. And again a few chapters after Your God and Lord doth tempt you to the end it may be manifest whether you love him or no with al your hart and with al your soul. In which sense also the scripture saith of Ezechias after many praises given unto him That God left him for a time to be tempted that the thoughts of his hart might therby be made manifest And that this is Gods fashion towards al good men king David sheweth in the person of al when he saith Thou hast prooved us O Lord thou hast examined us by fire thou hast laid tribulation upon our baks and hast brought men upon our heads And yet how wel he liked of this matter he signifieth when he calleth for more therof in another place saieng Try me O Lord and tempt me burn my reins and hart within me That is try me by the way of tribulation and persecution search out the secrets of my hart and reins let the world see whether I wil stick to thee in adversitie or no. Thus said that holie prophet wel knowing that which in another place the holie Ghost uttereth that As the fornace trieth the potters vessels so tribulation trieth men For as the sound vessels only do hold when they come to the fornace and those which are crased do break in peeces so in time of tribulation and persecution the vertuous only stand to it and the counterfet bewray themselves according to the saieng of Christ In tempore tentationis recedunt They depart from me in time of temptation 14 The seventh reason why God laieth tribulation upon the vertuous is therby to make them run unto him for aid and help even as the mother to make hir child more to love hir and to run unto hir procureth the same to be made afraid and terrified by others This God expresseth plainly by the prophet Ose saieng of those that he loved I wil draw them unto me in the ropes of Adam in the chains of love and wil seem unto them as though I raised a yoke upon their iaw bones By the ropes of Adam he meaneth affliction wherby he drew Adam to know himselfe as also appeereth by that he addeth of the heavie yoke of tribulation which he wil lay upon the heads and faces of his servants as chains of love therby to draw them unto him This chain had drawn David unto him when he said O Lord thou art my refuge from the tribulation of sinners As also those wherof Esay saith They sought thee out O Lord in their affliction Also those of whom David said Infirmities were multiplied upon them and after that they made haste to come And God saith generally of al good men They wil rise betimes in the morning and come to me in their tribulation Wherfore holy king David desiring to do certain men good and to win them to God saith in one of his psalms Fil their faces O Lord with shame and confusion and then wil they seek unto thy name And this is tru as I said in the elect and chosen servants of God but in the reprobate this rope draweth not this yoke holdeth not neither doth this chain of love win them unto God Wherof God himselfe complaineth saieng In vain have I stricken your children for they have not received my discipline And again the prophet Ieremie saith of them to God Thou hast crushed them and they have refused to receive thy discipline they have hardened their faces even as a rok and wil not return to thee Behold they have rent the yoke and broken the chains 15 Of this now ensueth an eight reason why God bringeth his servants into affliction to wit therby to shew his power and love in delivering them For as in this world a princely mind desireth nothing more than to have occasion
name Lo heer for that he was a chosen vessel therfore he must suffer great matters Doth not the measure of suffering go then according to the measure of Gods love unto us Surely Saint Peter knew wel how the matter went and therfore he writeth thus If you living wel do suffer with patience this is a grace or privilege before God And again a little after If you suffer reproch in the name of Christ you are happie for that the honor and glorie and power of God and of his holie spirit shal rest upon you 24 Can there be any greater reward promised or any more excellent dignitie than to be made partaker of the honor glorie and power of Christ Is it marvel now if Christ said Happie are you when men revile and persecute you Is it marvel though he said Gaudete in illa die exultate Reioice and triumph ye at that day Is it marvel though Saint Paul said I take great pleasure and do glorie in mine infirmities or afflictions in my reproches in my necessities in my persecutions in my distresses for Christ Is it marvel if Peter and Iohn being reproched and beaten at the judgment seat of the Iewes went away rejoicing that they were esteemed woorthy to suffer contumelie for the name of Iesus Is it marvel though Saint Paul accounted this such a high privilege given to the Philippians when he said It is given to you not only to beleeve in Christ but also to suffer for him and to have the same combat which you have seen in me and now hear of me Al this is no marvel I say seeing that suffering with Christ and bearing the crosse with Christ is as great preferment in the court of heaven as it should be in an earthly court for the prince to take off his own garment and to lay it on the bak of one of his servants 25 Of this now followeth another consequent of singular consolation in time of affliction and that is that tribulation especially when grace is also given to bear it patiently is a great conjecture of predestination to eternal life for so much do al those arguments before touched insinuate as also in the contrarie part to live in continual prosperitie is a dredful sign of everlasting reprobation This point is marvelously prooved by the apostle unto the Hebrews and greatly urged And Christ giveth a plain signification in S. Luke when he saith Happie are you that weep now for you shal laugh And on the other side Wo unto you that laugh now for you shal weep wo unto you rich men which have your consolation heer in this life And yet more vehemently than al this doth the saieng of Abraham to the rich man in hel or rather Christs words parabolically attributed unto Abraham confirm this matter for he saith to the rich man complaining of his torment Remember child that thou receivedst good in thy life time He doth not say as Saint Barnard wel noteth Rapuisti thou tookest them by violence but Recepisti thou receivedst them And yet this now is objected against him as we see David handleth this matter in divers places but purposely in two of his psalms and that at large and after long search and much admiration his conclusion of wicked men prospered above other in the world is this Veruntamen propter dolos posuisti eis deiecisti eos dum allevarentur Thou hast given them prosperitie O Lord to deceive them withal and thou hast indeed thrown them down by exalting them That is thou hast thrown them down to the sentence of damnation in thy secret and inscrutable determination Heer the comparison of Saint Gregorie taketh place that as the oxen appointed to the slaughter are let run a fatting at their pleasure and the other kept under daily labor of the yoke so fareth it with evil and good men In like maner the tree that beareth no fruit is never beaten as we see but only the fruitful and yet the other as Christ saith is reserved for the fire The sik man that is past al hope of life is suffered by the physician to have whatsoever he lusteth after but he whose helth is not despaired cannot have that libertie granted To conclude the stones that must serve for the glorious temple of Salomon were hewed beaten and pollished without the church at the quarrie side for that no stroke of hammer might be heard within the temple Saint Peter saith that the vertuous are chosen stones to be placed in the spiritual building of God in heaven where there is no beating no sorrow no tribulation Heer then must we be pollished hewed and made fit for that glorious temple heer I say in the quarrie of this world heer must we be fined heer must we feel the blow of the hammer and be most glad when we hear or feel the same for that it is a signe of our election to that most glorious house of Gods eternal mansion 26 Beside this matter of predestination and election there is yet another thing of no smal comfort to the godlie afflicted founded on these words of God Cum ipso sum in tribulatione I am with him in tribulation Wherby is promised the companie of God himselfe in affliction and persecution This is a singular motive saith S. Barnard to stir men up withal to imbrace tribulation seeing in this world for good company men adventure to do any thing Ioseph was carried captive into Egypt and GOD went down with him as the scripture saith yea more than that he went into the dungeon and was in chains with him Sidrach Misac and Abdenago were cast into a burning fornace and presently there was a fourth came to bear them companie of whom Nabuchodonosor saith thus Did we not put three men only bound into the fire And his servants answered Yea verily But behold saith he I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and the shape of the fourth is like the Son of God Christ restored as he passed by a certain begger unto his sight which had been blind from his nativitie For which thing the man being called in question and speaking somewhat in the praise of Christ for the benefit received he was cast out of the synagog by the Pharisies Wherof Christ hearing sought him out presently and comforting his hart bestowed upon him the light of mind much more of importance than that of the bodie given him before By this and like examples it appeereth that a man is no sooner in affliction and tribulation for justice sake but streightway Christ is at hand to bear him companie and if his eies might be opened as the eies of Elizeus his disciple was to see his companions the troups of Angels I mean which attend upon their Lord in this his visitation no dowt but his hart would greatly be comforted therwith 27 But
wil make him a piller in the temple of my God he shal never go foorth more and I wil write upon him the name of my God and the name of the citie of my God which is new Ierusalem He that shal conquer I wil give unto him to sit with me in my throne even as I have conquered and do sit with my father in his throne 35 Hitherto are the words of Christ to Saint Iohn And in the end of the same book after he had described the joies and glorie of heaven at large he concludeth thus And he that sat on the throne said to me Write these words for that they are most faithful and tru Qui vicerit possidebit haec ero illi Deus ille erit mihi filius timidis autem incredulis c. pars illorum erit in stagno ardenti igne sulphure quod est mors secunda He that shal conquer shal possese al the ioies that I have heer spoken of and I wil be his God and he shal be my son But they which shal be fearful to fight or incredulous of these things that I have said their portion shal be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the second death 36 Heer now we see both allurements and threats good and evil life and death the joies of heaven and the burning lake proposed unto us We may stretch out our hands unto which we wil. If we fight and conquer as by Gods grace we may then are we to enjoy the promises laid down before If we shew our selves either unbeleeving in these promises or fearful to take the fight in hand being offered unto us then fal we into the danger of the contrarie threats even as Saint Iohn affirmeth in another place that certain noble men did among the Iewes who beleeved in Christ but yet durst not confesse him for fear of persecution 37 Heer then must insu another vertu in us most necessarie to al those that are to suffer tribulation and affliction and that is a strong and firm resolution to stand and go through what opposition or contradiction soever we find in the world either of fawning flatterie or persecuting crueltie This the scripture teacheth crieng unto us Esto firmus in via Domini Be firm and immooveable in the way of the Lord. And again State in fide viriliter agite Stand to your faith and play you the men And yet further Confide in Deo mane in loco tuo Trust in God and abide firm in thy place And finally Confortamini non dissolvantur manus vestrae Take courage unto you and let not your hands be dissolved from the work you have begun 38 This resolution had the three children Sidrach Misach and Abdenago when having heard the flattering speech and infinit threats of cruel Nabuchodonosor they answered with a quiet spirit O king we may not be careful to answer you to this long speech of yours For behold our God is able if he wil to deliver us from this fornace of fire which you threaten and from al that you can do otherwise against us But yet if it should not please him so to do yet you must know Sir king that we do not worship your gods nor yet adore your golden idol which you have set up 39 This resolution had Peter and Iohn who being so often brought before the councel and both commanded threatened and beaten to talk no more of Christ answered stil Obedire oportet Deo magis quam hominibus We must obey God rather than men The same had Saint Paul also when being requested with teares of the Christians in Caesarea that he would forbear to go to Ierusalem for that the holie Ghost had revealed to many the trobles which expected him there he answered What mean you to weep thus and to afflict my hart I am not only ready to be in bonds for Christs name in Ierusalem but also to suffer death for the same And in his Epistle to the Romans he yet further expresseth this resolution of his when he saith What then shal we say to these things If God be with us who wil be against us Who shal separate us from the love of Christ Shal tribulation Shal distresse Shal hunger Shal nakednes Shal peril Shal persecution Shal the sword I am certain that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor strength nor height nor depth nor any creature else shal be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Iesus Christ our Lord. 40 Finally this was the resolution of al the holie martyrs and confessors and other servants of God wherby they have withstood the temptations of the devil the allurements of flesh and blood and al the persecutions of tyrants exacting things unlawful at their hands I wil alledge one example out of the second book of Maccabes and that before the comming of Christ but yet nigh unto the same and therfore no marvel as the fathers do note though it took some heat of Christian fervor and constancie towards martyrdome The example is woonderful for that in mans sight it was but for a smal matter required at their hands by the tyrants commandement that is only to eate a peece of swines flesh which then was forbidden For thus it is recorded in the book aforesaid 41 It came to passe that seven brethren were apprehended togither in those dais brought with their mother to the king Antiochus and there compelled with torments of whipping and other instruments to the eating of swines flesh against the law At what time one of them which was the eldest said What dost thou seeke Or what wilt thou learn out of us O king We are readie heer rather to die than to break the ancient laws of our God Wherat the king being greatly offended commanded the frieng pans and pots of brasse to be made burning hot which being readie he caused the first mans toong to be cut of with the tops of his fingers and toes as also with the skin of his head the mother and other brothers looking on and after that to be fried until he was dead Which being done the second brother was brought to torment and after his hair plukt off from his head togither with the skin they asked him whether he would yet eat swines flesh or no before he was put to the rest of his torments Wherto he answered No and therupon was after many torments slain with the other Who being dead the third was taken in hand and being willed to put foorth his toong he held it foorth quikly togither with both his hands to be cut off saieng confidently I received both toong and hands from heaven and now I despise them both for the law of God for that I hope to receive them al of him again And after they
received and imbraced as it is among al Christians and yet bringeth not foorth good life there the cause is for that it is choked with the vanities of this world 3 This is a parable of marvelous great importance as may appeer both for that Christ after the recital therof cried out with a lowd voice He that hath ears to hear let him hear as also for that he expounded it himselfe in secret only to his disciples and principally for that before the exposition therof he useth such a solemn preface saieng To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven but to others not for that they seeing do not see and hearing do not hear nor understand Wherby Christ signifieth that the understanding of this parable among others is of singular importance for conceiving the tru mysteries of the kingdome of heaven that many are blind which seem to see and many deaf and ignorant that seem to hear and know for that they understand not wel the mysteries of this parable For which cause also Christ maketh this conclusion before he beginneth to expound the parable Happy are your eies that see and blessed are your ears that hear After which words he beginneth his exposition with this admonition Vos ergo audite parabolam Do you therfore hear and understand this parable 4 And for that this parable doth contain and touch so much indeed as may or needeth be said for remooving of this great and dangerous impediment of worldly love I mean to stay my selfe only upon the explication therof in this place and wil declare the force truth of certain words heer uttered by Christ of the world and worldly pleasures and for some order and methods sake I wil draw al to these six points following First how and in what sense al the world and commodities therof are vanities of no valu as Christ heer signifieth and consequently ought not to be an impediment to let us from so great a matter as the kingdome of heaven and the serving of God is Secondly how they are not only vanities and trifles in themselves but also deceptions as Christ saith that is deceits not performing to us indeed those little trifles which they do promise Thirdly how they are Spinae that is pricking thorns as Christ saith though they seem to worldly men to be most sweet and pleasant Fourthly how they are aerumnae that is miseries and afflictions as also Christs words are Fiftly Quomodo suffocant how they strangle or choke us as Christ affirmeth Sixtly how we may use them notwithstanding without these dangers and evils and to our great comfort gain and preferment 5 And touching the first I do not see how it may be better prooved that al the pleasures and goodly shewes of this world are vanities as Christ heer saith than to alledge the testimonie of one which hath prooved them al that is of one which speaketh not of speculation but of his own proofe and practise and this is king Salomon of whom the scripture reporteth woonderful matters touching his peace prosperitie riches and glorie in this world as that al the kings of the earth desired to see his face for his wisdome and renowmed felicitie that al the princes living besides were not like him in wealth that he had six hundred sixtie and six talents of gold which is an infinite sum brought him in yeerly besides al other that he had from the kings of Arabia and other princes that silver was as plentiful with him as heaps of stones and not esteemed for the great store and abundance he had therof that his plate and jewels had no end that his seat of majestie with stooles lions to bear it up and other furniture was of gold passing al other kingly seats in the world that his pretious apparel and armor was infinite that he had al the kings from the river of the Philistians unto Egypt to serve him that he had fortie thousand horses in his stables to ride and twelve thousand chariots with horses and other furniture readie to them for his use that he had two hundred spears of gold born before him and six hundred crowns of gold bestowed in everie spear as also three hundred buklers three hundred crowns of gold bestowed in the gilding of everie bukler that he spent everie day in his house a thousand nine hundred thirtie and seven quarters of meal flower thirtie oxen with an hundred wethers beside al other flesh that he had seaven hundred wives as queenes and three hundred others as concubines Al this and much more doth scripture report of Salomons worldly wealth wisdome riches and prosperitie which he having tasted and used to his fil pronounced yet at the last this sentence of it al Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas Vanitie of vanities and al is vanitie By vanitie of vanities meaning as Saint Ierom interpreteth the greatnes of this vanitie above al other vanities that may be devised 6 Neither only doth Salomon affirm this thing but doth prove it also by examples of himself I have been king of Israel in Ierusalem saith he and I purposed with my selfe to seek out by wisdome al things I have seen that al under the sun are meer vanities affliction of spirit I said in my hart I wil go and abound in delites and in every pleasure that may be had And I saw that this was also vanitie I tooke great works in hand builded houses to my selfe planted vineyards made orchards and gardens and beset them with al kind of trees I made me fish ponds to water my trees I possessed servants and hand-maids and had a great familie great herds of cattel above any that ever were before me in Ierusalem I gathered togither gold and silver the riches of kings and provinces I appointed to my selfe singers both men and women which are the delites of the children of men fine cups also to drink wine withal and whatsoever my eies did desire I denied it not unto them neither did I let my hart from using any pleasure to delite it selfe in these things which I prepared And when I turned my selfe to al that my hands had made and to al the labors wherin I had taken such pains and sweat I saw in them al vanitie and affliction of the mind 7 This is the testimonie of Salomon upon his own proof in these matters and if he had spoken it upon his wisdome only being such as it was we ought to beleeve him but much more seeing he affirmeth it of his own experience But yet if any man be not mooved with this let us bring yet another witnes out of the new testament and such a one as was privie to the opinion of Christ heerin that is Saint Iohn the evangelist whose words are these Do not love the world nor those things that are in the world if any man love the
by to watch the same The prophet David to signifie the very same thing that is the infinite multitude of snares in this world saith God shal raign snares upon sinners That is God shal permit wicked men to fal into snares which are as plentiful in the world as are the drops of rain which fal down from heaven Every thing almost is a deadly snare unto a carnal and loose harted man Every sight that he seeth every word that he heareth every thought that he conceiveth his youth his age his frinds his enimies his honor his disgrace his riches his povertie his companie keeping his prosperitie his adversitie his meat that he eateth his apparel that he weareth al are snares to draw him to destruction that is not watchful 49 Of this then and of the blindnes declared before doth follow the last and greatest miserie of al which can be in this life and that is the facilitie wherby worldly men do run into sin For truly saith the scripture Miseros facit populos peccatum Sin is the thing that maketh people miserable And yet how easily men of the world do commit sin and how little scruple they make of the matter Iob signifieth when talking of such a man he saith Bibit quasi aquam iniquitatem He suppeth up sin as it were water That is with as great facilitie custome and ease passeth he down any kind of sin that is offered him as a mā drinketh water when he is a thirst He that wil not beleeve the saieng of Iob let him prove a little by his own experience whether the matter be so or no let him walk out in to the streets behold the doings of men view their behavior consider what is done in shops in hals in consistories in judgement seats in pallaces and in common meeting places abroad what lieng what slandering what deceiving there is He shal find that of al things wherof men take any account nothing is so little accounted of as to sin He shal see justice sold veritie wrested shame lost and equitie despised He shal see the innocent condemned the giltie delivered the wicked advanced the vertuous opressed He shal see many theves florish many usurers bear great sway many murderers extortioners reverenced honored many fools put in authoritie and divers which have nothing in them but the form of men by reason of money to be placed in great dignities for the government of others He shal hear at every mans mouth almost vanitie pride detraction envie deceit dissimulation wantonnes dissolution lieng swearing perjurie and blaspheming Finally he shal see the most part of men to govern themselves absolutely even as beasts do by the motion of their passions not by law of justice reason religion or vertu 50 Of this doth insu the fift point that Christ toucheth in his parable and which I promised heer to handle to wit that the love of this world choketh up and strangleth every man whom it possesseth from al celestial and spiritual life for that it filleth him with a plain contrarie spirit to the spirit of God The apostle saith Si quis spiritum Christi non habet hic non est eius If any man hath not the spirit of Christ this fellow belongeth not unto him Now how contrarie the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world is may appeer by the fruits of Christs spirit rekoned up by Saint Paul unto the Galathians to wit Charitie which is the root and mother of al good works Ioy in serving God Peace or tranquillitie of mind in the storms of this world Patience in adversitie Longanimitie in expecting our reward Bonitie in hurting no man Benignitie in sweet behavior Gentlenes in occasion given of anger Faithfulnes in performing our promises Modestie without arrogancie Continencie from al kind of wickednes Chastitie in conserving a pure mind in a clean and unspotted bodie Against these men saith Saint Paul there is no law And in the very same chapter he expresseth the spirit of the world by the contrarie effects saieng The works of flesh are manifest which are fornication uncleannes wantonnes lecherie idolatrie poisonings enmities contentions emulations wrath strife dissention sects envie murder droonkennes gluttonie and the like of which I foretel you as I have told you before that those men which do such things shal never obtain the kingdome of heaven 51 Heer now may every man judge of the spirit of the world and the spirit of Christ and applieng it to himselfe may conjecture whether he holdeth of the one or of the other Saint Paul giveth two pretie short rules in the very same place to trie the same The first is They which are of Christ have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences therof That is they have so mortified their own bodies as they strive against al the vices sins repeated before and yeeld not to serve the concupiscences or temptations therof The second rule is If we live in spirit then let us walk in spirit That is our walking and behavior is a sign whether we be alive or dead For if our walking be spiritual such as I have declared before by those fruits therof then do we live have life in spirit but if our works be carnal such as S. Paul now hath described then are we carnal and dead in spirit neither have we any thing to do with Christ or portion in the kingdome of heaven And for that al the world is ful of those carnal works and bringeth foorth no fruits indeed of Christs spirit nor permitteth them to grow up or prosper within hir thence is it that the scripture alwais putteth Christ and the world for opposite and open enimies 52 Christ himselfe saith that The world cannot receive the spirit of truth And again in the same Evangelist he saith that Neither he nor any of his are of the world though they live in the world And yet further in his most vehement praier unto his father Pater iuste mundus te non cognovit Iust father the world hath not known thee For which cause S. Iohn writeth If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him And yet further Saint Iames that Whosoever but desireth to be frind of this world is therby made an enimie to God What wil worldly men say to this Saint Paul affirmeth plainly that this world is to be damned And Christ insinuateth the same in Saint Iohns Gospel but most of al in that wonderful fact of his when praieng to his father for other matters he excepteth the world by name Non pro mundo rogo saith he I do not aske mercie and pardon for the world but for those which thou hast given me out of the world Oh what a dreadful exception is this made by the savior of the world by the lamb that taketh away al sins
the wise men of this world were the fittest to be chosen to do Christ service in his church Yet Saint Paul saith Non multi sapientes secundum carnem God hath not chosen many wise men according to the flesh Who would not think but that a worldly wise man might easily also make a wise Christian Yet Saint Paul saith no except first he become a fool Stultus fiat vt sit sapiens If any man seem wise among you let him become a fool to the end he may be made wise Vain then and of no account is the wisdom of this world except it be subject to the wisdom of God 18 The first vanitie belonging to pride of life is corporal beautie wherof the wise man saith Vain is beautie and deceivable is the grace of countenance Wherof also king David understood properly when he said Turn away my eies O Lord that they behold not vanitie This is a singular great vanitie dangerous and deceitful but yet greatly esteemed of the children of men whose propertie is To love vanitie as the prophet saith Beautie is compared by holie men to a painted snake which is fair without and ful of deadly poison within If a man did consider what infinite ruins and destructions have come by our light giving credite therunto he would beware of it And if he remembred what foul drosse lieth under a fair skin he would little be in love therwith saith one father God hath imparted certain sparks of beautie unto his creatures therby to draw us to the consideration and love of his own beautie wherof the other is but a shadow even as a man finding a little issu of water may seek out the fountain therby or happening upon a smal vain of gold may therby come to the whole mine it selfe But we like babes delite ourselves only with the fair cover of the book and never do consider what is written therin In al fair creatures that man doth behold he ought to read this saith one father that If GOD could make a peece of earth so fair and lovely with imparting unto it some little spark of his beautie how infinite fair is he himselfe and how woorthy of al love and admiration And how happie shal we be when we shal come to enjoy his beautiful presence wherof now al creatures do take their beautie 19 If we would exercise our selves in these maner of cogitations we might easily keep our harts pure and unspotted before God in beholding the beautie of his creatures But for that we use not this passage from the creature to the creator but rest only in the eternal appeerance of a deceitful face letting go the bridle to foul cogitations and setting wilfully on fire our own cōcupiscences hence it is that infinite men do perish daily by occasion of this fond vanitie I cal it fond for that every child may descrie the deceit and vanitie therof For take the fairest face in the world wherwith infinite foolish men fal in love upon the sight and rase it over but with a little scrach and al the matter of love is gone let there come but an agu and al this goodly beautie is destroied let the soul depart but one halfe hour from the bodie and this loving face is uglie to look on let it lie but two dais in the grave and those which were so hot in love with it before wil scarse abide to behold it or come neer it And if none of those things happen unto it yet quikly commeth on old age which riveleth the skin draweth in the eies setteth out the teeth and so disfigureth the whole visage as it becommeth more contemptible now than it was beautiful and alluring before And what then can be more vanitie than this What more madnes than either to take pride of it if I see it my selfe or to indanger my soul for it if I see it in others 20 The sixt vanitie belonging to pride of life is the glorie of fine apparel against which the wise man saith In vestitu ne glorieris vnquam See thou never take glorie in apparel Of al vanities this is the greatest which we see so common among men of this world If Adam had never fallen we had never used apparel for that apparel was devised to cover our shame of nakednes and other infirmities contracted by that fal Wherfore we that take pride and glorie in apparel do as much as if a begger should glorie and take pride of the old clouts that do cover his sores Saint Paul said unto a bishop If we have wherwithal to cover our selves let us be content And Christ touched deeply the danger of nice apparel when he commended so much S. Iohn Baptist for his austere attire adding for the contradictorie Qui mollibus vestiuntur in domibus regum sunt They which are apparelled in soft and delicate apparel are in kings courts In kings courts of this world but not in the kings court of heaven For which cause in the description of the rich man damned this is not omitted by Christ That he was apparelled in purple and silk 21 It is a woonderful thing to consider the different proceeding of God and the world heerin God was the first that ever made apparel in the world and he made it for the most noble of al our ancestors in paradise and yet he made it but of beasts skins And Saint Paul testifieth of the noblest saints of the old testament that they were covered only with goats skins and with hairs of camels What vanitie is it then for us to be so curious in apparel and to take such pride therin as we do We rob and spoil al creatures almost in the world to cover our baks and to adorn our bodies withal From one we take his wool from another his skin from another his fur and from som other their very excrements as the silk which is nothing els but the excrements of woorms Nor content with this we come to fishes and do beg of them certain pearls to hang about us We go down into the ground for gold and silver and turn up the sands of the sea for pretious stones and having borrowed al this of other creatures we jet up and down provoking men to look upon us as if al this now were our own When the stone shineth upon our finger we wil seem forsooth therby to shine When the silver and silks do glister on our baks we look big as if al that beauty came from us And so as the prophet saith we passe over our dais in vanitie and do not perceive our own extreme folly 22 The second general branch which Saint Iohn appointeth unto the vanitie of this life is concupiscence of the eies wherunto the ancient fathers have referred al vanities of riches and wealth of this world Of this Saint Paul writeth to Timothie Give commandement to the