that it may not onely be said to be joyful but joy it self The multitude of joyes in Heaven is joyned with their greatness and so great they are that the very least of them sufficient to make us forget the greatest contents of the Earth and so many they are as that though a thousand times shorter yet they would exceed all temporal pleasures though a thousand times longer but joyning the abundance of those eternal joyes with their immense greatness that eternal B iss becoms ineffable Wherefore St. Bernard sayes The reward of Saints is so great that it cannot be measured so numerous that it cannot be counted so copious that it cannot be ended and so precious that it cannot be valued Albert. Mag. in Comp. Theol. l. 7. c. 8. 1 Cor. 2. Isai 64. And Albertus Magnus to the same purpose So great are the joyes of Heaven that all the Arithmaticians of the Earth cannot number them The Geometricians cannot measure them nor the most learned men in the world explicate them because neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath prepared for those who love him The Saints shall rejoyce in what is above them which is the vision of God in what is below them which is the beauty of Heaven and other corporal Creatures in what is within them which is the glorification of their bodies in what is without them which is the company of Angels and men God shall feast all their spiritual senses with an unspeakable delight for he shall be their object and shall also be a mirrour to the sight musick to the ear sweetness to the taste balsam to the smell flowers to the touch There shall be the clear light of Summer the pleasantness of the Spring the abundance of Autumn and the repose of Winter §. 2. The principal joy of the Blessed is in the possession of God whom they behold clearly as he is in himself For as Honourable Profitable and Delectable according to what we have already said are not divided in Heaven so the blessed Souls have three gifts essential and inseparable from that happy state which correspond to those three kinds of blessings which the Divines call Vision Comprehension and Fruition The first consists in the clear and distinct sight of God which is given to the Just as a reward of his merits by which he receives an incomparable honour since his works and vertues are rewarded in the presence of all the Angels with no less a Crown and recompence than is God himself The second is the possession which the Soul hath of God as of his riches and inheritance And the third is the ineffable joy which accompanies this sight and possession The greatness of this joy no tongue can tell and I believe that neither the Blessed themselves who have experience of it nor the Angels of Heaven are able to declare it Yet it will not be amiss if we as much as our ignorance and rudeness is able to attain unto consider and admire it This joy hath two singular qualities by which we may in some sort conceive the immensity of it The first that it is so vigorous and powerful that it excludes all evil pain and grief This onely is so great a good that many of the Philosophers held it for the chief felicity of man Cicero de Fin. 5. Tuscul And therefore Cicero writes that Jeronymus Rhodius a famous Philosopher and a great Master to whom may be joyned Diodorus the Peripatetick speaking of the chief happiness of man taught that it consisted in being free from grief It being the opinion of those Philosophers that not to suffer pain or evil was the greatest and most supreme good But herein was their errour that they judged that to be the good it self which was but an effect and consequent of it For so powerful is that love and joy which springs from the clear vision of God that it is sufficient to convert hell into glory in so much as if to the most tormented Soul in hell were added all the torments of the rest of the Damned both Men and Devils and that God should vouchsafe him but one glympse of his knowledge that only clear vision though in the lowest degree were sufficient to free him from all those evils both of sin and pain So that his Soul being rapt by that ineffable beauty which he beheld would not be sensible of any grief at all O how potent a joy is that which cast into such an abyss of torments converts them all into consolations How mighty were that fire whereof one spark would consume the whole Ocean There is no joy in this World so intense which can suspend the grief we suffer from a finger that is in sawing off Griefs do more easily bereave us of the sense of pleasure than pleasures do of pains Yet such is the greatness of that soveraign joy in Heaven that it alone is sufficient to drown all the griefs and torments both in Earth and Hell and there is no pain in the World able to diminish the least part of it The other stupendious wonder which proceeds from the greatness of this joy is the multitude of those pleasures which as from a most fruitful root spring from it Who would not be astonisht that the happiness of the Soul should cause so many and so marvelous effects in the bodies of the Blessed So excellent is that beatifical vision which with ineffable joy possesses the spirit that it bursts forth into the body with all the evident demonstrations of beauty lustre and the other gifts of glory We see here that the heart is not able so farre to dissemble a great joy conceived as that it appears not by some signe in the body but that joy is so weak and feeble that it extends no further than to express some little chearfulness and mirth in the countenance But the beatifical Vision is so immense a joy that it wholly changes the body making it beautiful as an Angel resplendent as the Sun immortal as a Spirit and impassible as God himself working great miracles and prodigies in the body by the redundancie of that unspeakable comfort which the spirit feels O if one could place before the eyes of the World the body of some blessed Saint enendowed with the four gifts of glory full of clearness splendor and beauty casting forth a fragrancy infinitely more sweet unto the senses than that of Musk and Amber that men might see by this shadow how immense is that light and joy which thus illustrates and beautifies the flesh O mortals why do ye covet other pleasures with loss of Soul and Body and do not rather seek after these with the profit and glory of both O how different are temporal delights from eternal those especially if they be unlawful blemish and destroy the Soul and weaken and corrupt the body but these beautifie and embellish them both
and increase Whereupon St. Austin calls it the foundation of the City of Babylon This Covetousness is seated in the affections of the soul as in its proper subject but is fed and receives nourishment from those exteriour things which we possess Wherefore wholly to extripate it two things are necessary not onely to quit this interiour thirst and gaping after riches but also that exteriour possession of them The first is to be done by the will and spirit but the second by an actual and effectual execution and forsaking them and it is for this that we are promised in this life a hundred-fold and in the next eternal felicity O how great a distance is there discovered betwixt things temporal and eternal since the onely hope of the eternal bestows more upon us even in this life then we can receive from the dominion and possession of all that is temporal Temporal goods by being enjoyed and possest are not so much as doubled but by being renounced for Christ are multiplyed a hundred-fold and hereafter conferr the Kingdom of Heaven Abundance of temporal goods as hath been already observed hinder and obstruct the pleasures and contents of this life for which we seek them and hereafter throw their possessors into hell flames so as they are not onely the occasion of eternal pain but by anticipation of many temporal inconveniences For I know not how it coms to pass the most rich are not the most contented nor yet the least necessitated It seems their goods diminish in their hands and are of less value amongst them than the poor at least ten is not worth to a rich man so much as one to a poor so as the poor who have renounced their goods for Christ finde them multiplyed a hundred-fold and the rich who forgetting their Redeemer employ themselves wholly in heaping up wealth find them as much diminished and of a hundred enjoy not one Besides the rich are so encumbered with cares dangers fears and perturbations that they know not the true contents of this life and yet run the hazard of eternal damnation in the other But to the contrary those who are poor in spirit and have forsaken their possessions for Christ are in this world filled with joy peace and comfort and in the next enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven O how happy are they who understand this and know how to change earth for heaven O how truly doth Christ call happy the poor in spirit who have left all for his sake and therefore enjoy a double happiness the one present and the other future here a hundred-fold for that which they possess not and hereafter the possession of life eternal O how happy is he who knows with the riches of the earth to purchase the treasure of glory in death and in life to receive them a hundred-fold doubled Cassian Collat. ult c. ult This according to Abbot Abraham is fully verified in religious persons who have quitted all they have upon earth to live in an estate of poverty who for one Father which they have left find a hundred in religion and for one Brother a hundred who embrace them with Christian charity for one possession a hundred possessions and for one house a hundred houses in the multitude of Monasteries founded for their Order so as there is no doubt but this reward is not onely doubled unto them a hundred-fold but multiplied to a farre greater proportion The same may be seen in other servants of God who serve him in voluntary poverty Beda de Nat. Sancti Benedic who by how much as Bede notes they have served God with more affection in renouncing their temporal goods by so much hath God stirred up the affections and liberalities of others to supply and assist them in all their wants So as they are served with the goods of all and as the Apostle sayes having nothing possess all But although this recompence should fail us yet one a hundred-fold greater then this will not fail us which is that noted by St. Jerome Lib. 3. in Math. He who for our Saviours sake leaves carnal things shall receive spirituall which in comparison and value are as if some small number were compared with a hundred We seek the goods of the earth for the ease and content of life But if this may better and with more advantage be acquired by the contempt and leaving them what can we desire more Certainly he who quits all for Christ enjoyes a hundred times more content and pleasure then he who flows in the greatest riches and abundance for according to what hath been said the goods of this life are tedious and troublesome even to life it self so the freedom from those cares and incommodities which accompany them eases the heart and makes our life more sweet and pleasant Whereupon St. Chrysostome notes That as the Children in the middest of the fiery furnace in Babylon were refresht by a cool wind and pleasant dew to those who are in poverty which the holy Scripture calls a furnace are recreated by a gentle aire from heaven and the dew of the holy Spirit and that in so high a manner as St. Bernard speaking of the Monks of Claraval sayes That they drew from their Poverty Fasts and austere Penances such joy and spiritual comfort that they were jealous and afraid least God had given them their whole and compleat reward in this world and it seemed unto them that having their heaven in this life they should lose it in that to come Whereupon it was necessary for St. Bernard to prove unto them in one of his Sermons That he did injure the grace of the holy Spirit who placed grief in what it communicated Certainly the Servants of God are highly rewarded since they receive even in this life such celestial joyes for those temporal trifles which they have quitted If one for a certain weight of Copper were to receive the like in Gold Cassian Sup. I believe he would think he had made a good bargain The like exchange they make who receive those spiritual joyes for the pleasures of the earth In Histor Cistere This is fully verified in that which happened unto Arnulphus the Cistercian who being rich noble and abounding with all which the world esteems moved by the Sermons of St. Bernard became a Monk in the Monastery of Claraval where after a holy life led in much rigour and austerity he at last became very infirm and through the great grief and pains which he suffered would often fall into faintings and sounding trances but still when he recovered from his fits would cry out It is true it is true which thou hast said O blessed Jesus And to some present who thought the extremity of pain did make him rave he would say Brethren I have spoken this in my right judgement and senses for that which our Lord promised in the Gospel That he who for his sake should leave Father Mother or Goods
ever in Heaven And it is no marvel though this great thought of Eternity should make so holy a King to tremble when as the Prophet Abucâ—ch sayes the highest hills of the world bow down and quake at the ways of Eternity Damas in vita ejus The holy youth Josaphat at the representation of Eternity Hell being placed on one side and Heaven on the other remained astonished without strength not being able to raise himself in his bed as if he had been afflicted with some mortal sickness The Philosophers more barbarous and who had less light were yet daunted with the conception of it and in their Symbols made choice of things of the greatest of terror to express it some painted it in the form of a Basilisk a Serpent the most terrible of all other who kills with his onely sight there being nothing more horror then that eternity of torments whereinto we are subject to fall Conformable to this St. John Damascen represented eternal duration under the figure of a fierce Dragon which from a deep pit lay waiting with open jawes to swallow men alive Others figured it by a horrible and profound Cavern which at the entrance had four degrees one of iron another of brass the third of silver and the last of gold upon which many little Children of several sexes and ages stood playing and passing away the time without regarding the danger of falling into that bottomless dungeon This shadow they framed not only to set forth how worthy Eternity was of their fear and amazement but also to express their amazement at the folly of men who laugh and entertain themselves with the things of this life without remembring that they are to die and may then fall into the bottomless abyss of Hell Those children who were playing at the entrance of that dismal cave being no other than men in this life whose employments are but those of children and who being so near their death and therefore unto Eternity which succeeds it have neither fear nor care to leave the pleasures and vain entertainments of this world Truly it is a thing of great amazement that being in expectation of two such extreams as are eternal glory and torments without end we live as if there were neither The reason is because men set not themselves seriously to consider what Eternity is which is either hell whilest God is God or glory without end For this cause it is that they remain as setled and obstinate in their fading pleasures as if they were immortal the which was signified by these degrees of so hard Mettals But in David who seriously meditated and framed a lively conception what the eternity of years was it caused so great a fear and so awaked his spirits with care and diligence that it produced in him an extraordinary change of life in so much as he said with great resolution within himself Now I begin This is a change from the right hand of the most high Now I begin Comment in Psal 76. as Dionisius declares it to live spiritually to understand wisely to know truly perceiving the vanity of this present world and felicity of the future reputing as nothing all my life past nor all the progress I have hitherto made in perfection I will henceforth seriously take to heart with a new purpose a new fervour and a a more vehement endeavour the paths of a better life and entring the way of spiritual profit begin every day afresh And because he knew his heart to be so much changed he confessed his resolution to be miraculous saying This change is from the hand of the most high as if he had said according to the same Dionisius to have in this sort changed me out of the darkness of ignorance into the splendor of wisdom from vices unto vertues from a carnal man unto a spiritual is onely to be attributed to the ayd and most merciful assistance of God who by the knowledge of Eternity hath given so notable a conversion unto my heart This great thought of Eternity doth mightily enlighten the understanding and gives us a true and perfect knowledge of things as they are For this cause in some of the Psalms which David made with this consideration as we have already said he added this word understanding Psalm 6. or for the understanding that is to give understanding to those who meditate upon the end of this life and the eternity of the other and therefore despise the goods of the world By the experience of what happened unto his own soul the Prophet exhorts all men that they meditate with quietness and leasure upon the eternity of the two so opposite conditions which hereafter expect them that they may not only run but flie unto with profit and suffer with patience all the difficulty which attend upon vertue and therefore with great mystery promises on the part of God unto those who shall sleep between the two lots that is unto those who in the quietness of prayer shall meditate upon the eternity of glory and of hell that there shall be granted unto them the silver wings of the Dove and her shoulders of gold because the spiritual life consists not onely in the actions of our own good works but also in the patient suffering the evil works of others in lifting up our selves from the durt of this earth and and flying towards Heaven by performance of the Heroical and precious acts of vertue and not yielding unto the troubles and afflictions of this life which oppress us All which is by a lively conception of Eternity effected with great merit and perfection and for this reason did the Prophet express it by the similitude of those things which men esteem the most precious as of gold and silver But because to suffer is commonly more difficult then to do and consequently more meritorious although both be very precious for this cause he said that the shoulders should be of gold and the wings of silver This also did the Patriarch Jacob hold for so singular a good that he gave it unto his son Isachar for a blessing telling him that he should lye down betwixt the two borders that is that he should at leasure meditate upon the two extreams of happiness or misery eternal For this reason he calleth him a strong beast as having the strength of mind to overcome the difficulty of vertue to support the troubles and burdens of this life to suffer the scorns and disgraces of the world to undergo great penances and mortifications by considering the two eternal extreams which attend us And not onely amongst Saints but amongst the Philosophers did the quiet and calm consideration of Eternity produce a great love and desire of things eternal and as great contempt of all which was temporal even without looking upon those two so different extreams which Christian Religion proposes unto us Seneca complained much that he was interrupted in the meditation of Eternity into
contempt of what is temporal since the first step unto Christian perfection according to the Counsel of Christ is to renounce all that we possess of earth that being so freed from those impediments of Christian perfection we may employ our selves in the consideration and memory of that Eternity which expects us hereafter as a reward of our holy works and exercises of vertue This horrid voice Eternity Eternity is to sound often in our hearts Thou not onely art to die but being dead eternity attends thee Remember there is a Hell without end and fix it in thy memory that there is a Glory for ever This consideration That if thou shalt observe the Law of God thou shalt be eternally rewarded and if thou break it thou shalt suffer pains without end will be far more powerful with thee then to know that the goods and evils of this life are to end in death Be mindful therefore of Eternity and resound in the inmost part of thy soul Eternity Eternity For this the Church when it consecrates the Fathers of it which are Bishops puts them in minde of this most powerful and efficacious memory of Eternity bidding them think of eternal years as David did And in the assumption and consecration of Popes they burn before their eyes a small quantity of flax with these words Holy Father so passes away the glory of the world that by the sight of that short and transitory blaze he may call to minde the flames eternal And Martin the fifth for his imprese and devise took a flaming fire which in short time burnt and consumed a Popes Tiara an Imperial Diadem a Regal Crown and a Cardinals Hat to give them to understand that if they complyed not with the duties of their places they were in a short time to burn in the eternal flames of hell the memory whereof he would preserve ever present by this most profitable Symbol §. 2. The name of Isachar whose Blessing from his Father was as we have formerly said to lye down and rest betwixt the two limits of Eternity signifies him That hath a memory or The man of reward or pay The Holy Ghost by this mystery charging us with the memory of eternal rewards And the Lord to shew how precious it was in his divine esteem and how profitable for us caused this name of Isachar to be engraven in a precious Amethyst which was one of those stones worn by the High-Priest in the Rational and one of those also rcveal'd unto St. John to be of the foundation of the City of God By it saith St. Anselme is signified the memory of Eternity which is the most principal foundation in the building of all perfection Truely if we consider the properties of this stone they are so many marks and properties of the memory of Eternity and of the benefits which that soul reaps Albert. Mag. Milius Ruiz v. Cesium de Min. lib. 4. p. 2. cap. 14. sect 14. which seriously considers it The Amethyst cause Vigilancy And what requires it more then the passage betwixt the two extreams of eternal glory and eternal pains What thing in the world ought to awake us more then the danger of falling into hell fire How could that man sleep which were to pass over a narrow plank of half a foot broad which served as a bridge betwixt two most high rocks the windes impetuously blowing and he if his foot slipt certain to fall into a most vast abyss No less is the danger of this life The way by which we are to pass unto Heaven is most streight the windes of temptations violent the dangers of occasions frequent the harms by ill examples infectious and the deceits of wicked Counsellors very many How then can a Christian sleep and be careless in so evident a peril Without all doubt it is more difficult to be saved considering the depravedness of our nature and the deceitful ambushes of the Devil then for a heavy man to pass over a heady and rapid river upon a small and bruised reed They say also of the Amethyst that besides the making him watchful who carries it it frees him from evil thoughts which how can that man have who bears Eternity in his mind how can he think upon the short pleasures of his senses who considers the eternal torments due unto his soul if he shall but consent to the least mortal sin The Amethyst also resists drunkenness preserving him that wears it in his senses and judgment and there is nothing that more preserves a mans judgment in the middest of the wine of delights in this life then the memory of the other and that for the pleasure of one moment here he is not only to suffer for hours for dayes for moneths for years but for worlds and a world of worlds hereafter The Amethyst besides this preserves the wearer from the force of poison And what greater Antidote against the poison of sin then to remember Hell which he deservs and Heaven which he loses by committing it The Amethyst also quiets a man and settles his thoughts And what can be more efficacious to free us from the disturbance of this life to bridle the insolence of covetousness to repress the aspiring of ambition then to consider the blessings of Eternity which attend the humble and poor in spirit Finally the Amethyst conferrs fruitfulness and this great thought of Eternity is fruitful of holy works For who is he that considers with a lively faith that for a thing so sleight and momentary he may enjoy the reward of eternal glory and will not be animated to work all he is able and to endure and suffer what shall happen for God Almighty and his Cause O how fruitful of Heroical works is this holy thought Eternal glory expects me the Triumphs of Martyrs the Victories of Virgins the Mortifications of Confessors are the effects of this consideration O holy thought O precious Amethyst that makes vigilant and attentive the negligent and careless that gives wisdom and judgment to the most deceived that heals those who are most ulcerated and corrupted with the poison of sin that quiets and pacifies the motions and troubles of our concupiscences that makes the most tepid and barren of vertues fruitful of holy works who will not endeavour to obtain and fix thee in his Soul O that Christians would so grave thee in their heart that thou mightest never be blotted out nor removed from thence How differently would they then live to what they now do how would they shine in their works for although the memory of Hell Heaven Death and Judgment be very efficacious for the reformation of our lives yet this of Eternity is like the quintescence of them all and virtually contains the rest CAP. IV. The Estate of Men in this life and the miserable forgetfulness which they have of Eternity BEfore we come to declare the conditions of Eternity whose consideration is so necessary for the leading of a holy
since he hath employed his omnipotency for our good and profit let us employ our forces and faculties for his glory and service CAP. VI. Of the End of all Time BEsides the end of the particular time of this life the universal end of all time is much to be considered that since humane ambition passes the limits of this life and desires honour and a famous memory after it Man may know that after this death there is another death to follow in which his memory shall also die and vanish away as smoke After that we have finisht the time of this life the end of all time is to succeed which is to give a period unto all which we leave behind us Let man therefore know that those things which he leaves behind for his memory after death are as vain as those which he enjoyed in life Let him raise proud Mausoleums Let him erect Statues of Marble Let him build populous Cities Let him leave a numerous Kindred Let him write learned Books Let him stamp his Name in brass and fix his Memory with a thousand nails All must have an end his Cities shall sink his Statues fall his Family and Linage perish his Books be burned his Memory be defaced and all shall end because all time must end It much imports us to perswade our selves of this truth that we may not be deceived in the things of this world That not only our pleasures and delights are to end in death but our memories at the farthest are to end with Time And since all are to conclude all are to be despised as vain and perishing Cicero although immoderately desirous of fame and honour Cieer in Ep. ad Luc. as appears by a large Epistle of his written unto a friend wherein he earnestly entreats him to write the conspiracy of Cataline which was discovered by himself in a Volume apart and that he would allow something in it unto their ancient friendships and Publish it in his life time that he might enjoy the glory of it whilest he lived yet when he came to consider that the world was to end in Time he perceived that no glory could be immortal and therefore sayes By reason of deluges and burnings of the earth In Somn. Scip. which muâ—â— of necessity happen within a certain time we cannot attain glory not so much as durable for any long time much less eternal In this world no memory can be immortal since Time and the World it self are mortal and the time will come when time shall be no more But this truth is like the memory of death which by how much it is more important by so much men think lest of it and practically do not believe it But God that his divine providence and care might not be wanting hath also in this taken order that a matter of so great concernment should be published with all solemnity first by his Son after by his Apostles and then by Angels Apoc. 10. And therefore St. John writes in his Apocalyps that he saw an Angel of great might and power who descended from heaven having a Cloud for his Garment and his head covered with a Rainbow his face shining as the Sun and his feet as pillars of fire with the right foot treading upon the Sea and with the left upon the Earth sending forth a great and terrible voice as the roaring of a Lyon which was answered by seaven thunders with other most dreadful noises and presently this prodigious Angel lifts up his hand towards Heaven But wherefore all this Ceremony wherefore this strange equipage wherefore this horrid voice and thunder all was to proclaim the death of Time and to perswade us more of the infallibility of it he continued it with a solemn Oath conceived in a Set form of most authentique words listing up his hand towards Heaven and swearing by him that lives for ever and ever who created Heaven and Earth and all which is in it There shall be mo more time With what could this truth be more confirmed than by the Oath of so great and powerful and an Angel The greatness and solemnity of the Oath gives us to understand the weight and gravity of the thing affirmed both in respect of it self and the importance of us to know it If the death of a Monarch or Prince of some corner of the world prognosticated by an Eclipse or Comet cause a fear and amazement in the beholders what shall the death of the whole World and with it all things temporal and of Time it self foretold by an Angel with so prodigious an apparition and so dreadful a noise produce in them who seriously consider it For us also this thought is most convenient whereby to cause in us a contempt of all things temporal Let us therefore be practically perswaded that not onely this life shall end but that there shall be also an end of Time Time shall bereave Man of this life and Time shall bereave the World of his whose end shall be no less horrible than that of Man but how much the whole World and the whole Race of mankind exceeds one particular person by so much shall the universal end surpass in terrour the particular end of this life For this cause the Prophecies which foretell the end of the World are so dreadful that if they were not dictated by the holy Spirit of God they would be thought incredible Christ therefore our Saviour having uttered some of them unto his Disciples because they seemed to exceed all that could be imagined in the conclusion confirmed them with that manner of Oath or Asseveration which he commonly used in matters of greatest importance Math. 13. Luc. 21. Amen which is By my verity or verily I say unto you that the world shall not end before all these things are fulfilled Heaven and earth shall fail but my words shall not fail Let us believe then that Time shall end and that the World shall die and that if we may so say a most horrible and disastrous death let us believe it since the Angels and the Lord of Angels have sworn it If it be so then that those memorials of men which seemed immortal must at last end since the whole Race of man is to end let us only strive to be preserved in the eternal memory of him who hath no end and let us no less despise to remain in the fading memory of men who are to die than to enjoy the pleasures of our senses which are to perish As the hoarding up of riches upon earth is but a deceit of Avarice so the desire of eternizing our memory is an errour of Ambition The covetous man must then leave his wealth when he leaves his life if the Theef in the mean time do not take it from him and fame and renown must end with the World if envy or oblivion deface it not before All that is to end is vain this World therefore and all which
and work stupendious wonders and being of a great and generous spirit confessed his fear saying as we have it from St. Paul Heb. 12. That he was terrified and trembled Let a man now consider how memorable was that day unto the Hebrew Nation wherein they saw such Visions heard such Thunders and felt such Earthquakes as it is no wonder that the great fear which fell upon them in that day of Prodigies made them think they could not live Yet was all this nothing in respect of the terrour of that great day wherein the Lord of Angels is to demand an account of the violation of the Law For after the sending far greater plagues than those of Egypt after burning in that Deluge of fire the Sinners of the world the Saints remaining still alive that that Article of our Faith may be literally fulfill'd From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The Heavens shall open and over the Valley of Josaphat the Redeemer of the World attended by all the Angels of Heaven in visible forms of admirable splendour shall with a Divine Majesty descend to judge it Before the Judge shall be born his Standard Chrys Tom. 3. Serm. de Cruce which St. Chrysostome and divers other Doctors affirm shall be the very Cross on which he suffered Then shall the just such being the force and vigour of their spirits as will elevate their terrene and heavy bodies meet as the Apostle sayes their Redeemer in the Air who at his issuing forth of the Heavens shall with a voice that may be heard of all the world pronounce this his Commandment Arise ye dead and come unto Judgement Which shall be proclaimed by four Angels in the four Quarters of the World with such vehemence that the sound shall pierce unto the infernal Region from whence the Souls of the damned shall issue forth and re-enter their bodies which shall from thenceforward suffer the terrible torments of Hell The Souls also of those who died onely in Original sin shall come and possess again their bodies free from pain or torment and the Souls of the blessed filling their bodies with the four gifts of Glory shall make them more resplendent than the Sun and with the gift of agility shall joyn themselves with those just who remain alive in the Air in their passible bodies which being yet mortal and therefore not able to endure those vehement affections of the heart of joy desire reverence love and admiration of Christ shall then die and in that instant behold the Divine Essence after which their Souls shall be again immediately united to their bodies before they can be corrupted or so much as fall unto the ground and thence forward continue glorious for in the moment wherein they die they shall be purified from those noxious humours and qualities wherewith our bodies are now infected And therefore it was convenient they should first die that being so cleansed from all filth they might by the restitution of their blessed Souls receive the gifts of Glory Considering then the so different conditions of the Souls of men who can express the joy of those happy Souls when they shall take possession of their now glorious and beautiful bodies which were long since eaten by worms or wild beasts some four some five thousand years agoe turned into dust and ashes What thanks shall they give to God who after so long a separation hath restored them to their antient Companions What gratulations shall the Souls of them who lived in austerity and penance give unto their own bodies for the mortifications and rigours which they have suffered for the hair-shirts disciplines and fasts which they have observed To the contrary the Souls of the damned how shall they rage and curse their own flesh since to please and pamper it hath been the occasion of their torments and eternal unhappiness Which miserable wretches wanting the gift of agility and so not able of themselves to go unto the place of Justice shall be hurried against their wills by Devils all trembling and full of fear § 2. The Reprobates being then in the Valley of Josaphat and the Predestinate in the Air the Judge shall appear above Mount Olivet Zach. 1. unto whom the clouds shall serve as a Chariot and his most glorious body shall cast forth rayes of such incomparable splendour as the Sun shall appear but as a coal for even the Predestinate shall shine as the Sun but the light and brightness of Christ shall as far exceed them as the Sun does the least Star The which most admirable sight shall be yet more glorious by those thousand millions of excellent and heavenly spirits which shall attend him who having formed themselves acreal bodies of more or less splendour according to their Hierarchy and Order shall fill the whole space betwixt Heaven and Earth with unspeakable beauty and variety The Saviour of the World shall sit upon a Throne of great Majesty made of a clear and beautiful Cloud his countenance shall be most milde and peaceable towards the good and though the same most terrible unto the bad In the like manner out of his sacred wounds shall issue beams of light towards the just full of love and sweetness but unto sinners full of fire and wrath who shall weep bitterly for the evils which issue from them Psa 109. 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 2. So great shall be the Majesty of Christ that the miserable Damned and the Devils themselves notwithstanding all the hate they bear him shall yet prostrate themselves and adore him and to their greater confusion acknowledge him for their Lord and God And those who have most blasphemed and outraged him shall then bow before him fulfilling the promises of the eternal Father That all things should be subject unto him That he would make his enemies his footstool and That all knees should bend before him Here shall the Jews to their greater confusion behold him whom they have crucified and here shall the evil Christians see him whom they have again crucified with their sins here also shall the Sinners behold him in glory whom they have despised for the base trifles of the earth What an amazement will it be to see him King of so great Majesty who suffered so much ignominy upon the Cross and even from those whom he redeemed with his most precious blood What will they then say who in scorn crowned the sacred temples of the Lord with thorns put a Reed in his hand for a Scepter cloathed him in some old and broken Garment of purple buffeted and spit upon his blessed face And what will they then say unto whose consciences Christ hath so often proposed himself in all his bitter passion and painful death and hath wrought nothing upon them but a continuance of greater sins valuing his precious blood shed for their salvation no more than if it were the blood of a Tyger or their greatest enemy I know not how
the memory of this doth not burst our hearts with compunction In vit PP Let us take the counsel of a holy Father in the Desert who when one asked him What he should do to soften and mollifie his stony heart answered That he should remember that he was to appear before the Lord who was to judge him whose sight as another holy Monk said would be so terrible unto the wicked that if it were possible that Souls could die the whole world at the coming of the Son of God would be struck dead with fear and terrour At the side of the Throne of Christ shall be placed another Throne of great glory for his most holy Mother not then to intercede for sinners but for the greater confusion of those who when time served have not addressed themselves unto her nor reaped the benefit of her Protection that she may be honoured in the sight of the whole World There shall be also other Thrones for the Apostles and those Saints who poor in spirit have left all for Christ who sitting now as Judges with their Redeemer and condemning by their good example the scandalous lives of sinners shall approve the Sentence of the Supream Judge and declare his great Justice before the world with which the wicked shall remain confounded and amazed and it shall then be fulfilled which so many years since was prophesied by the Wiseman Sap. 5. The wicked beholding the just who were despised in this life to be so much honoured shall be troubled with horrible fear and shall wonder at their unexpected salvation saying amongst themselves with great resentment and much grief and anguish of Spirit These are they who sometime were unto us matter of scorn and laughter We fools imagined their life to be madness and that their end would be without honour but behold they are counted amongst the Children of God and their lot is amongst the Saints We err'd and wandred from the ways of truth and the light of Justice was not with us nor the Sun of wisdom did shine upon us We wearied our selves in the ways of wickedness and perdition and walked in paths of difficulty and knew not the way of the Lord. What hath our pride profited us and what hath the pomp of our riches availed us all those things have passed like a shadow or like a messenger who passes in haste or like a ship which cuts the instable waves and leaves no track where it went and are now consumed in our wickedness The Tyrants who have afflicted and put to death the holy Martyrs what will they now say when they shall see them in this Glory Those who trampled under foot the justice right of the poor of Christ what will they do when they shall behold them their Judges And what will the wicked Judges doe or say when they shall see themselves condemned for their unjust Sentences Eccl. 3. 10. fulfilling that which was said by Salomon I saw a great evil beneath the Sun that in the Throne of Judgement was seated impiety and wickedness in the place of Justice and I said in my heart God shall judge the good and evil and then shall be seen who every one is Here in this life the just and sinner have not always the place which they deserve many times the wicked takes the right hand and the holy the left Christ shall then rectifie all those grievances and shall separate the wheat from the tares The good he shall place upon his right hand elevated in the Air that all the world may honour them as holy And the wicked shall stand far at his left remaining upon the Earth to their own confusion and the scorn of all How shall the sinners envy the just when they shall see them so much honoured and themselves so much despised How confounded shall be the Kings of the earth when they shall behold their Vassals in Glory and Lords when they shall see their slaves amongst the Angels and themselves in equal rank with Devils For it seems the Devils then shall assume bodies of Air that they may be sensibly seen by the wicked and shall stand amongst them for their greater affront and torment § 3. Immediately the Books of all mens Consciences shall be opened and their sins publisht to the whole world The most secret sins of their hearts and those filthy acts which were committed in private Those sins which through shame and bashfulness were conceal'd in Confession or cover'd with excuses crooked and sinister intentions hidden and unknown treacheries counterfeit and dissembling virtues all shall then be manifested feigned friends adulterous wives unfaithful servants false witnesses shall all to their great shame and confusion be then discovered If we are now so sensible when people murmure at us or that some infamous act of ours is known to one or two persons how shall we be then troubled when all our faults together are made known unto all both men and Angels How many are there now who if they imagined that their father or brother knew what they had committed in secret would die with grief And yet in that day not onely fathers and brothers but friends and enemies and all the world shall to their confusion know it The virtuous actions of the just how secretly soever performed their holy thoughts their pious desires their pure intentions their good works which the world now either disesteems or calumniates as madness shall then be manifested and they for them shall be honoured by the whole world virtue shall then appear admirable in all her beauty and vice horrible in all her deformity It shall then be seen how decent and beautiful it is for the great to humble themselves for the offended to be silent and pardon injuries on the other side how insolent and horrid a thing it is to trample upon the poor to wrong the humble to desire revenge and Lord it over others Then shall be also discovered the good works of the wicked but for their greater affront in that they have not persevered in doing well and that calling to remembrance the good counsel and advice which they have given unto others which hath been a means of their salvation they may be now confounded to have neglected it themselves to their own damnation The sins also of the just shall be published but with all their repentance and the good which they have drawn from their faults in such sort as it shall no ways redound to their shame but be an argument of rendring thanks and divine praises to the Lord who was pleased to pardon them But nothing shall be of greater despite and confusion unto sinners than to behold those who have committed equal greater sins than themselves to be then in Glory because they made use of the time of repentance which they despised and neglected This confusion shall be augmented by that inward charge which God shall lay against them of his divine benefits unto which
age ends not in decrepit years but then begins and in our very birth we draw near our ends and he who is now born with the age of the World degenerates Let no man therefore marvel that the parts of the World decay since the whole goes to ruine Neither is the World onely grown worse in the natural frame of it but is also much defaced in the moral the manners of men have altered it more than the violences and encounters of the Elements The Empire of the Assyrians much corrupted the primitive simplicity and innocence of it and what they wanted was effected by the Persians and wherein they failed by the Greeks and wherein they by the Romans and wherein they is abundantly made up by us For the pride of Monarchs is the ruine and destruction of good manners And therefore unto the four Monarchies may be fitly applyed that which was foretold by the Prophet Joel Joel 1. What was left by the Eruke was eaten by the Locust what was lest by the Locust was eaten by the Bruke and what was left by the Bruke was devoured by the Blast §. 2. More are the causes of alterations in the World than in the Ocean For besides the condition of humane things which as well intrinsecally and of their own nature as by the external violences which they suffer are subject to perish the very spirit and humour of man being fickle and inconstant is the occasion of great changes Not without grea◠proportion did the Holy Ghost say That the fool changed like the Moon which is not ouely mutable in figure but in colour The natural Philosophers observe three colours in the Moon pale red and white the first foreshews rain the second wind and the third chears up with hopes of fair weather In the same manner is the heart of man changed by three most violent affections represented by those three colours That of pale the colour of gold coveting riches more frail and slippery than waters That of red the colour of purple gaping after the wind of vain honours The last of white the colour of mirth and jollity running after the gusts and pleasures of this life With these three affections Man is in perpetual change and motion and as there are some Plants which follow the course of the Moon still turning and moving according to her course so these alterations in humane affections draw after them and are the cause of these great changes and revolutions which happen in the World How many Kingdoms were overthrown by the covetousness of Cyrus The ambition of Alexander did not onely destroy a great part of the World but made it put on a clear other face than it had before What part of Troy was left standing by the lascivious love of Paris who was not onely the ruine of Greece but set on fire his own Countrey That which time spares is often snatcht away by the covetousness of the Theef and how many lives are cut off by revenge before they arrive unto old age There is no doubt but humane affections are those fierce winds which trouble the Sea of this World and as the Ocean ebbs and flows according to the course of the Moon so the things of this life conform their motions unto humane passions There is no stability in any thing and least in man who is not onely changeable in himself but changes all things besides So unstable and variable is man that David unto some of his Psalms gives these words for a Title Psal 68. For those who shall change and St. Basil explicating the same Title saith It was meant of man whose life is a perpetual change unto which is conformable the translation of Aquila who instead of those words renders it Pro foliis For the leaves because man is moved by every wind as the leaves of a tree This mutability is very apparent in the Passion of Christ our Redeemer which is the subject of the 78. Psalme which beareth this Title They of Jerusalem having received him with greater honour than they ever gave to man within four dayes after treated him with the greatest infamy and villany that was possible to be exprest by Devils There is no trust in the heart of man now it loves now it abhors now it desires now fears now esteemes now despises Who is not amazed at the change of St. Peter who after so many promises and resolutions to die for his Master within a few hours swore as many false oaths that he knew him not What shall become of the Reed and Bulrush when the Oak and Ceder totters Neither is the change of Amnon a little to be wonderd at who loving Thamar with that violence of passion that he fell sick for her immediately mediatly after abhorred her so much that he barbarously turned her out of his chamber But I know nothing that can more evidently set forth the mutabilitie of humane affections than that memorable accident which happened in Ephesus Petron. Arbit tract de leg conmib leg non num 97. There lived in that City a Matron of an honest repute and conversation whose Husband dying left her the most disconsolate and sad Widow that ever was heard of all was lamentations tearing and disfiguring her face and breasts with her nails and not content with the usual Ceremonies of Widows of those times she enclosed her self with his dead Body in the Sepulcher which anciently was a Vault in the fields capacious and prepared for that use there she resolved to famish her self and follow him into the next world and had already for four dayes abstained from all manner of sustenance It happened that near that place a certain Malefactor was executed and lest his kindred should by night steal away his Body and give it burial a Souldier was appointed to watch it who being weary and remembring that not far off the Widow was enclosed in the Sepulcher resolved for a time to quit his charge and trye what entertainment he could find with her Whereupon carrying his supper along with him he entred the Vault and at first had much adoe to perswade the grieved Widow to take part with him to forsake her desperate resolution of famishing and be content to live but a while after having prevailed in this and passing further with the same oratory he perswaded her who had not denied to share with him in his supper to afford him the fruition of her person which she likewise did In the mean time whilest the Souldier transported with his pleasure forgot his duty the friends of the executed Malefactor stole away the Body which being perceived by the Souldier who now satiate with his dalliance was returned unto his guard and knowing his offence to be no less than capital he repairs with great fear and amazement unto his Widow and acquaints her with the mischance who was not slow in providing a remedy but taking the dead body of her Husband which had cost her so many
but he who desires nothing There being in Heaven no desire unaccomplished there must needs be great riches It was also a position of the Stoicks That he was not poor who wanted but he who was necessitated Since then in the Celestial Kingdom there is necessity of nothing most rich is he who enters into it By reason of these Divine Riches Christ our Saviour when he speaks in his Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven doth often express it under Names and Enigma's of things that are rich sometimes calling it the Hidden Treasure and sometimes the Precious Pearl and other times the Lost Drachma For if Divine happiness consist in the eternal possession of God what riches may be compared with his who enjoyes him and what inheritance to that of the Kingdom of Heaven What Jewel more precious than the Divinity and what Gold more pure than the Creator of Gold and all things precious who gives himself for a Possession and Riches unto the Saints to the end they should abhorre those Riches which are temporal if by them the eternal are endangered Let not therefore those who are to die to morrow afflict themselves for that which may perish sooner than they Let them not toyl to enjoy that which they are shortly to leave nor let them with more fervour pray for those things which are transitory than those which are eternal preferring the Creature before the Creator not seeking God for what he is but for what he gives Wherefore St. Austin sayes Aug. in Psal 52. God will be served gratis will be beloved without interest that is purely for himself and not for any thing without himself and therefore he who in invokes God to make him rich does not invoke God but that which he desires should come unto him for what is invocation but calling something unto him wherefore when thou shalt say My God give me riches thou dost not desire that God but riches should come unto thee for if thou hadst invoked God he would have come unto thee and been thy riches but thou desiredst to have thy Coffers full and thy heart empty and God fills not Chests but breasts § 2. Besides the possession of God it imports us much to frame a conception of this Kingdom of Heaven which is that of the Just where they shall reign with Christ eternally whose riches must needs be immense since they are to be Kings of so great and ample a Kingdom The place then which the Blessed are to inhabit is called she Kingdom of Heaven because it is a most large Region and much greater than can perhaps fall under the capacity of our understanding And if the Earth compared with Heaven be but a point and yet contain so many Kingdoms what shall that be which is but one Kingdom and yet extended over the whole Heavens How poor and narrow a heart must that Christian have who confines his love to things present sweating and toyling for a small part of the goods of this World which it self is so little why does he content himself with some poor patch of the Earth when he may be Lord of the whole Heavens Although this Kingdom of God be so great and spacious yet it is not dispeopled but as full of Inhabitants of all Nations and conditions as if it were a City or some particular House There as the Apostle said are many thousands of Angels an infinite number of the Just even as many as have died since Abel and thither also shall repair all who are to die unto the end of the World and after judgement shall there remain for ever invested in their glorious bodies There shall inhabit the Angelical Spirits distinguished with great decency into their Nine Orders unto whom shall correspond Nine others of the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Pastors Doctors Priests and Levites Monks and Hermits Virgins and other holy Women This populous City shall not be inhabited with mean and base People but with Citizens so noble rich just and discreet that all of them shall be most holy and wise Kings How happy shall it be to live with such persons The Queen of Saba onely to see Salomon came from the end of the Earth and to see Titus Livius Nations and Provinces far distant came to Rome To behold a King issue out of his Palace all the People flock together What shall it then be not onely to see but to live and raign with so many Angels and converse with so many eminent and holy Men If onely to see St. Anthony in the Desert men left their Houses and Countries what joy shall it be to discourse and converse with so many Saints in Heaven If there should now descend from thence one of the Prophets or Apostles with what earnestness and admiration would every one strive to see and hear him In the other World we shall hear and see them all St. Romane at the sight of one Angel when he was a Gentile left the world and his life to become a Christian How admirable shall it then be to see thousand of thousands in all their beauty and greatness and so many glorious bodies of Saints in all their lustre If one Sun be sufficient to clear up the whole World here below what joy shall it be to behold those innumerable Sum in that Region of light From this multitude of Inhabitants the place of glory is not only called the Kingdom of Heaven but the City of God It is called a Kingdom for its immense greatness and a City for its great beauty and population It is not like other Kingdoms and Provinces which contain huge Deserts inaccessible Mountains and thick Woods nor is it devided into many Cities and Villages distant one from another but this Kingdom of God although a most spacious Region is all one beautiful City Who would not wonder if all Spain or Italy were but one City and that as beautiful as Rome in the time of Augustus Caesar who found it of Brick and left it of Marble What a sight were that of Chaldaea if it were all a Babylon or that of Syria if all a Jerusalem What shall then be the Celestial City of Saints whose greatness possesses the whole Heavens and is as the holy Scripture describes it to exaggerate the riches of the Saints all of Gold and precious Stones The Gates pf this City were as St. John sayes one entire Pearl and the foundations of the Walls Jasper Saphire Calcedon Emerald Topaz Jacinth Amethist and other most precious Stones The Streets of fine Gold so pure as it seemed Chrystal joyning in one substance the firmness of Gold and transparency of Chryftal and the beauty both of one and the other If all Rome were of Saphire how would it amaze the world how marvelous then will the holy City be which though extended over so many millions of leagues is all of Gold Pearl and precious Stones or to say better of a matter of farre more value
of the Meadows the brightness of the Sun the sweet taste of Honey the pleasantness of Musick the beauty of the Heavens the comfortable smell of Amber the contentfulness of all the senses and all that can be either admired or enjoyed To this may be added that this inestimable joy of the vision of God is to be multiplied into innumerable other joyes into as many as there are blessed Spirits and Souls which shall enjoy the sight of God in regard every one is to have a particular contentment of the bliss of every one And because the blessed Spirits and Souls are innumerable the joyes likewise of every one shall be innumerable Ansel de Simil. cap. 71. This St. Anselme notes in these words With how great a joy shall the Just br replenished to accomplish whose blessedness the joy of each other Saint shall concur for as every Saint shall love another equally as himself so he shall receive equal joy from his happiness to that of his own And if he shall rejoyce in the happiness of those whom he loves equally unto himself how much shall he rejoyce in the happiness of God whom he loves better than himself Finally the blessed Soul shall be surrounded with a Sea of joys which shall fill all his powers and senses with pleasure and delight no otherwise than if a Sponge that had as many senses of pleasures as it hath pores and eyes were steeped in a Sea of milk and honey sucking in that sweetness with a thousand mouths God is unto the Blessed a Sea of sweetness an Ocean of unspeakable joyes Let us therefore rejoyce who are Christians unto whom so great blessings are promised let us rejoyce that Heaven was made for us and let this hope banish all sadness from our hearts Pallad Hist ca. 52. Palladius writes that the Abbot Apollo if he saw any of his Monks sad would reprehend him saying Brother why do we afflict our selves with vain sorrow let those grieve and be melancholy who have no hope of Heaven and not we unto whom Christ hath promised the blessedness of his glory Let this hope comfort us this joy refresh us and let us now begin to enjoy that here which we are ever hereafter to possess for hope as Philo sayes is an anticipation of joy Upon this we ought to place all our thoughts turning our eyes from all the goods and delights of the Earth The Prophet Elias when he had tasted but one little drop of that Celestial sweetness presently lockt up the windows of his senses covering his eyes ears and face with his mantle And the Abbot Sylvanus when he had finished his prayers shut his eyes the things of the Earth seeming unto him unworthy to be looked upon after the contemplation of the heavenly in the hope whereof we onely are to rejoyce CAP. V. How happy is the eternal life of the Just BY that which hath been said may sufficiently appear how happy and blessed is the life of the Just But so many are their joys and so abundant that eternal happiness that we are forced to insist further upon this Subject When the Hebrews would express ablessed person they did not call him blessed in the singular but blessings in the abstract and plural and so in the first Psalm in place of Beatus the Hebrews say Beatitudines and certainly with much reason since the Blessed enjoy as many blessings as they have powers or senses Blessings in their understanding will and memory blessings in their sight hearing smell taste and touch Nay their blessings exceed the number of their senses and the very pores of their bodies so as that life is truly a life entire total and most perfect wherein all that is man lives in joy and happiness The Understanding shall live there with a clear and supreme wisdom the Will with an inflamed love the Memory with an eternal representation of the good which is past the Senses with a continual delectation in their objects Finally all that is man shall live in a perpetual joy comfort and blessedness And to begin with the life and joy of the Understanding the Blessed besides that supreme and clear knowledge of the Creatour whereof we have already spoken shall know the Divine mysteries and the profound sense of the holy Scriptures they shall know the number of Saints and Angels as if they were but one they shall know the secrets of the Divine providence how many are damned and for what they shall understand the frame and making of the World the whole artifice of Nature the motions of the Stars and Planets the proprieties of Plants Stones Birds and Beasts and shall not onely know all things created but many of those things which God might have created all which they shall not onely know joyntly and in mass but clearly and distinctly without confusion This shall be the life of the Understanding which shall feast it self with so high and certain truths The knowledge of the greatest Wisemen and Philosophers of the World even in things natural is full of ignorance deceit and apparence because they know not the substance of things but through the shell and bark of accidents so as the most rude and simple Peasant arriving at the height of glory shall be replenished with a knowledge in respect of which the wisdom of Salomon and Aristotle were but ignorance and barbarism Blos de Mon. Spirit c. 14. Ludovicus Blosius reports that a certain simple and silly Maid appeared after death unto St. Gertrude and began to instruct her in many high and sublime matters The Saint admiring such great and profound knowledge in so ignorant a person asked her from whence she had it to whom the Virgin answered Since I came to see God I know all things Wherefore St. Cregory said well It is not to be believed that the Saints who behold within themselves the light of God are ignorant of any thing without them What a content were it to behold all the Wisemen of the World and the principal Inventers and Masters of Sciences and Faculties met together in one Room Adam Abraham Mayses Salomon Isay Zoroastes Plato Socrates Aristotle Pythagoras Hâ—mer Trismegistus Solon Lycurgus Hipocrates Euclides Archimedes Theophrastus Dioscorides and all the Doctors of the Church How venerable were this Juncto how admirable this Assembly and what journies would men make to behold them If then to see such imperfect scraps of knowledge divided amongst so many men would cause so great admiration what shall be the joy of the Blessed when each particular person shall see his own understanding furnished with that true and perfect wisdom whereof all theirs is but a shadow Who can express the joy they shall receive by the knowledge of so many truths What contentment would it be to one if at once they should shew unto him what ever there is and what is done in the whole Earth the fair Buildings so sumptuous all the Fruit-trees of so great diversity
his Body cast forth a most fragrant perfume If this be in corruptible flesh what shall be in the immortal Bodies of the Saints The taste also in that blessed Country shall not want the delight of its proper object For although the Saints shall not there feed which were to necessitate that happy state unto something besides it self yet the tongue and pallat shall be satiated with most pleasant and savoury relishes so as with great decency and cleanliness they shall have the delight of meat without the trouble of eating by reason of the great delicacy of this Celestial taste The glory of the Saints is often signified in holy Scripture under the names of a Supper Banquet Manna Aug. lib. de spiritu vita Laur. Justin de Dis Mon. ca. 23. St. Austin sayes it cannot be explicated how great shall be the delight and sweetness of the taste which shall eternally be found in Heaven And St. Laurentius Justinianus affirms that an admirable sweetness of all that can be delightful to the taste shall satisfie the pallat with a most agreeable satiety If Esau sold his Birthright for a dish of Lentil pottage well may we mortifie our taste here upon earth that we may enjoy that perfect and incomparable one in Heaven The touch also shall there receive a most delightful entertainment All they tread upon shall seem unto the Just to be flowers and the whole disposition of their Bodies shall be ordered with a most sweet and exquisite temperature For as the greatest penances of the Saints were exercised in this sense by the afflictions endured in their Bodies so it is reason that this sense should then receive a particular reward And as the torments of the damned in hell are most expressed in that sense so the Bodies of the Blessed in Heaven are in that sense to receive a special joy and refreshment And as the heat of that infernal fire without light is to penetrate even to the entrals of those miserable persons so the candor and brightness of the celestial light is to penetrate the bodies of the Blessed and fill them with an incomparable delight and sweetness All then what we are to do is to live in that true and perfect life all is to be joy in that eternal happiness Therefore as St. Anselme sayes Ansel de Simil. c. 59. the eyes nose mouth hands even to the bowels and marrow of the bones and all and every part of the body in general and particular shall be sensible of a most admirable pleasure and content Joan. de Tamba Trac de Deliciis sensibilibus Paradisi Et Nich. de Nise de quat Noviss 3. Myst 4. Consi The Humanity of Christ our Redeemer is to be the principal and chief joy of all the Senses and therefore John Tambescensis and Nicholas of Nise say that as the intellectual knowledge of the Divinity of Christ is the joy and essential reward of the Soul so the sensitive knowledge of the Humanity of Christ is the chief good and essential joy of the Senses and the utmost end and felicity whereunto they can aspire This it seems was meant by our Saviour in St. John when speaking unto the Father he said This is life eternal that is essential blessedness as Nicholas de Nise interprets it that they know thee the only true God in which is included the essential glory of the Soul and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ in which is noted the essential blessedness of the Senses in so much as onely in the Humanity of our Saviour the appetite of the Senses shall be so perfectly satisfied as they shall have no more to desire but in it shall receive all joy pleasure and fulness of delight for the eyes shall be the sight of him who is above all beauty for the ears one onely word of his shall sound more sweetly than all the harmonious musick of the Celestial spirits for the smell the fragrancy that shall issue from his most holy Body shall exceed the perfume of spices for the taste and touch to kiss his feet and sacred wounds shall be beyond all sweetness It is much also to be noted that the blessed Souls shall be crowned with some particular joyes which the very Angels are not capable of For first it is they onely who are to enjoy the Crowns of Doctors Virgins and Martyrs since no Angel can have the glory to have shed his blood and died for Christ neither to have overcome the flesh and by combats and wrastlings subjected it unto reason Wherefore Saint Bernard said The chastity of men was more glorious than that of Angels Secondly men shall have the glory of their bodies and joy of their senses which the Angels cannot For as they want the enemy of the Spirit which is the Flesh so they must want the glory of the victory Neither shall they have this great joy of mankind in being redeemed by Christ from sin and as many damnations into hell as they have committed mortal sins and to see themselves now freed and secure from that horrid evil and so many enemies of the Soul which they never had which must needs produce a most unspeakable joy Cap. VI. The excellency and perfection of the Bodies of the Saints in the life eternal WE will not forbear also to consider what man shall be when he is eternal when being raised again at the great day he shall enter Soul and Body into Heaven Let us run over if you please all those kinds of goods which expect us in that Land of promise When God promised Abraham the Country of Palestine he commanded him to look upon it and travel and compass it from side to side Gen. 13. Lift up thine eyes saith the Lord and from the place where thou standest look towards the North and towards the South and towards the East and towards the West All the land which thou seest I will give unto thee and thy seed for ever And immediately after Arise and walk the land in length and breadth for I will certainly give it thee We may take these words as spoken unto our selves since they seem to promise us the Kingdom of Heaven for no man shall enter into that which he docs not desire and no man can desire that as he ought to do which he has not walked over in his consideration for that which is not known is hardly desired And therefore we ought often to contemplate the greatness of this Land the length of its eternity and the breadth and largeness of its felicity which is so far extended that it fills not onely the Soul but the Body with happiness and glory that glory of the Soul redounding unto the Body and perfecting it with those four most excellent gifts and replenishing it with all felicity which can be imagined or desired If Moses seeing an Angel in a corporal figure onely upon the back part and but in passage received so great a glory from
tribulation and affliction would be too great to give satisfaction Well may he say I deserved to suffer greater torments and therefore will not complain of this my light suffering Beda de Gest Anglorum l. 5. Venerable Bede doth also write of one to whom the pains and torments as also the joyes and bliss of the other life were shewn and having obtained leave to return to this world again he renounced all he had in this life and betook himself unto a Monastery where he persevered in a most rigid manner of life to his dying day in so much that his manner of living gave perpetual testimony that although he was silent yet he had seen horrible things and that he had hopes to obtain other great ones which did indeed deserve to be thirsted after He entred into a frozen River which was near the Convent without putting off his cloathes having first broke the ice in several places that he might be able to get into the water and afterwards let his cloathes to dry upon his back Some admired that a man's body was able to suffer so great cold in the Winter time And to those who demanded How he could possibly endure it He replyed I have seen colds far greater And when they said unto him How can you so constantly keep such a rigorous and austere manner of life He replied I have seen far greater austerity Neither did he relent in the rigour of his penance even in his decrepit age but was very careful to chastise his flesh with continual fasts and his exemplar conversation and wholsome admonitions were such as he did much good to many and efficaciously stirred them up to the amendment of their lives We must make use of this self-same consideration to encourage our selves to suffer in this life all that can be suffered in regard that in the other we should suffer more than can be suffered Hell certainly is more unsufferable than fasting with bread and water farre more than a rough hair-cloth or a discipline though never so bloody far more than the greatest injuries or disgraces that can be put upon us Let us then suffer that which is lesser to be freed from that which is greater especially being so much greater by how much a living creature exceeds a painted one Let us not complain of any thing that may happen unto us in this life But let us rather be comforted that we who have deserved to be in those eternal flames without profit or hope of reward may by our patient suffering here some temporal afflictions expect an everlasting reward for them in Heaven The Mother of St. Catharine of Siena carried her to certain Baths to divert and recreate her because she was very weak Hist S. Dom. 2. p. lib. 2. and disfigured with leanness But the Saint could find in this entertainment a sharp cross which was that entring into the Bath alone she went to the Bathhead where the water came out in a manner boyling hot and there suffered her self to be scalded to that degree that it seemed impossible for a weak Damsel to have been able to endure it Her Confessarius asked her afterwards How she had so much courage to abide such heat and for so long a space She replyed That when she placed her self there she also placed her consideration in the pains of Purgatory and Hell-fire and withall begged of God Almighty whom she had offended that he would be pleased to change the punishments she had deserved by her sins into temporal pains and sufferings whereby all the pains of this life seemed very easie unto her to suffer and the great heat of the scalding water of the Bath seemed a refreshment to her in respect of the fiery Furnace of Hell in which the damned are for ever and ever to be tormented And in regard holy Scripture calls Hell a Poole or Lake of fire Pet. Damian l. 2. ep 15. ad Desid c. 4. I will here rehearse a story out of St. Petrus Demianus which will give us to understand the terribleness of this torment In Lombardy saith he there was a man cunning and crafty of a notable talking tongue and a friend of breaking jests on all occasions and commonly by reason of his quick wit he came off with credit And if at any time it happened to him otherwayes he knew how to put it off very handsomely In fine he was one of those that knew very well how to live in the world But what end had all his tricks and slights he died for against this stroak he had no defence His body was buried in the Church and his soul in the place which God grant no body may ever come in An holy Religious man being in prayer he saw in spirit a great Lake not of water but of fire which boiled like a Pot and cast flames now and then up into the heavens which sent forth sparks in so great quantity and with such fearful noise that it caused great horrour to hear and see it What would it be to suffer it The miserable foul of this man we speak of did suffer it in all extremity Moreover he saw that the Lake was encompassed round about with fearful Serpents and terrible Dragons which had their mouths open towards the Lake with many rows of sharp teeth to guard the Lake In this confusion of fire and cruel beasts the Soul of the miserable Babler was howling and crying and swimming upon the flames endeavoured to get to the banck and drawing nigh the comfort he found was that a Serpent stretching out a long neck and a wide mouth was ready to tear him in pieces and swallow him He endeavoured to turn another way in the Lake and drawing near the side he lighted upon a Dragon the onely sight whereof made him make more haste back again than he had done to come thither He swam in the Lake burning alive and where-ever he came he found the like encounter but which is worse he shall remain there whilest God is God without any remedy at all And with much reason saith St. Peter Damianus he suffered this punishment of not being able to get out of that Lake of fire in regard he in this life got so cunningly out of any adversity by his many shifts In this manner God Almighty gave to understand by this revelation the extremity of this torment But it is to be noted that it is farre greater than is here expressed because this was not so much to tell us what hell is as to declare by some similitude or representation which may remain fixt in our senses that which indeed exceeds all similitude or resemblance § 3. The pains of the Powers of a damned Soul THe Imagination shall no less afflict those miserable offenders encreasing the pains of the Senses by the liveliness of its apprehension For if in this life the imagination is sometimes so vehement that it hurts more than real evils in the other the torment
by birth by divine inspiration became a Cistercian Monk He entred upon this course of life and continued with such great courage that he stuck not to challenge the Devil and bid him defiance The Enemy made his Cell the field of battail Here he assaulted him first with whips then upon a certain occasion gave him such blows that the blood burst out at his mouth and nose At the noise the Monks came in and finding him half dead they carried him to his Bed where he lay for the space of three dayes without giving any signes of life In which time in the company of an Angel he descended into a very obscure place where he saw a Man seated in a Chair of fire and certain Women very beautiful thrusting into his mouth burning torches drawing them out at other parts of his body which had been the instruments of his sins The Monk being astonished at this spectacle the Angel told him This miserable wretch was a very powerful man in the world and much given to Women and for this reason the Devils in shape of Women do torment him as thou seest Pasing a little farther he beheld another whom the infernal spirits were fleaing alive and having rubbed all his body over with salt they put him to roast upon a Gridiron This man said the Angel was a great Lord so cruel to his Vassals as the Devils are now to him A little farther they met with other persons of divers states and conditions which were tormented with several kinds of torments Many Religious both men and women whose lives had been contrary to their profession Talkers Censurers of other mens lives Slaves to their bellies defiled with lust and other such like vices To these the Ministers of vengeance in shape of most ugly fellows gave many blows in such sort that they dashed out their brains and made their eyes flye out of their heads because in their works they were blind and without judgement a chastisement Prov. 19. which the Wise-man appoints for such like persons Afterwards he lifted up his eyes and beheld one fastned to a horrible Wheel turning in such a dreadful manner that the Monk here was almost besides himself That thou seest is terrible said the Angel but far more terrible will be what thou shalt now see At the instant the Wheel began to run from alost down to the most profound depths with such horrid joggs and with such noise as if all the World Earth Heaven and all were breaking in pieces At this so sudden and direful accident all the Prisoners and Goalers of Hell brake out into great cries cursing and damning him that came in the Wheel This man said the Angel is Judas the Apostle who betrayed his Master and as long as he shall raign in glory which shall be world without end so long shall this miserable wretch lye thus tormented With these Representations God hath given us to understand the proportion his Justice observes in his chastisements to make us form some lively apprehension of the greatness of those pains they being indeed far greater than what ever we can conceive by all the rigour imaginable exhibited to the senses And in regard what enters by the senses prevails more with us for this reason he represents unto us the torments of the soul sutably to those so horrible to our senses as is to dash out the brains and make the brains flye out of the head For though it be true that this effect is not wrought indeed yet the torments inflicted upon the damned Souls are without companion greater then it would be for a man in this life to be so beaten about the head till his brains and eyes flew out Let us therefore fear the Divine justice and let us understand that in those parts of the body we offend God Almighty with greater delight we shall be sure to be punished with greater torment And here may be given this further instruction that as these and many such like stories related for more variety of discourse in this Treatise oblige us not to a full and absolute belief of them so they desire the favour of so much credit at least as is allowed to Livy Justine or other Chronicle-writers especially the Recorders of these being such as are no less grave and wise and acknowledge moreover a greater obligation of conscience not to wrong the World with lies or empty relations taken up upon the account of frivolous reports especially in matters of such concernment And as we think it not amiss to make use as occasion serves of profane Examples and Authorities in confirmation of what we usually either speak or write so without all doubt the same use of Sacred and Ecclesiastical occurrences may be no less available in such matters as these CAP. XII The fruit which may be drawn front the consideration of Eternal Evils ALl which hath been said of the pains in Hell is far short of that which really they are There is great difference betwixt the knowledge we have by relation and that which we learn by experience The Machabees knew that the Temple of the Lord was already prophaned deserted and destroyed They had heard of it and lamented it but when they saw with their eyes the Sanctuary lye desolate the Altar prophaned and the Gates burnt there was then no measure in their tears They tore their garments cast ashes upon their heads threw themselves upon the ground and their complaints ascended as high as Heaven If then the relation and discourse of the pains of Hell makes us tremble what shall be the sight and experience This notwithstanding the consideration of what hath been said may help us to form some conception of the terrour and horrour of that place of eternal sorrow Let us as St. Bernard sayes descend into Hell whilest we live that we may not descend thither when we are dead Let us draw some fruit from thence during our lives from whence nothing but torment is to be had after death The principal fruits which may be drawn from that consideration are these In the first place an ardent love and sincere gratitude towards our Creator that having so often deserved Hell he hath not yet suffered us to fall into it How many be there now in Hell who for their first mortal sin and onely for that one have been sent thither and we notwithstanding the innumerable sins which we have committed are yet spared What did God find in us that he should use a mercy towards us for so many sins which he did not afford to others for so few Why are we not then more grateful for so many benefits which we have no wayes deserved How grateful would a damned person be if God should free him from those flames wherein he is tormented and place him in the same condition we now are What a life would he lead what penance would he undergoe what austerity would not appear a pleasure unto him and how grateful
should receive a hundred fold and hereafter life eternal I now find true by experience For this grief and pain which I feel is so sweet unto me out of the hope I have of eternal happiness that I would not lose these pains and this hope not onely for what I have left already but for a hundred times more And if to me who am so great a sinner those pains which I deserve are a hundred times more sweet than any former power and pleasures in the world What are they to a just man and to the zealous and devout religious By this it evidently appears that spiritual joy though but in hope affords a thousand times more pleasure and content than the possession of all the carnal and temporal delights in the world At what this Servant of God said all who were present remained astonisht that an ignorant man wholly unlettered should understand and speak of so high matters §. 2. The joy of the poor in Christ Jesus who have renounced all for his love springs from two causes First from that content which Poverty it self by its freedom from temporal troubles and the imbroilments of life brings along with it And this even the Gentils confessed And therefore Apuleius called it Merry and and chearful Poverty And Seneca would say That a Turf of earth gave a sounder sleep than Wooll dyed in Tyrian Purple And Anaxagoras taught by experience That he found more content in sleeping upon the Earth and feeding upon Hearbs than in Down Beds and delicious Banquets accompanied with an unquiet mind The second cause of this joy is not the nature of poverty but the particular grace of God who rewards them with the pleasures of heaven who have renounced those of earth and fills with spiritual riches those who have left the temporal For in truth poverty is much beloved and priviledged by Christ and therefore he rewards the poor even in this life with many particular graces and favours Besides this the many and great commodities which this contempt of earthly things brings along with it may serve as a reward equivalent to a hundred yea a thousand-fold For if all the world were given to escape the committing of one sin it were not an equal value and by Evangelical poverty and contempt of the world the sins which we avoid are innumerable For by it we not onely pluck up the root but quit the instruments of sinning Take away abundance and you take away insolence arrogance and pride which spring from it as smoke from fire you take away also the means of committing many other sins which riches feed and nourish Neither is the attaining of many vertues which accompany Poverty as Humility Modesty and Temperance of less value than the avoidance of those sins And therefore it is a great truth Homil. 8. in Ep. ad Hebr. which Saint Chrysostome notes and ponders That in Poverty we possess Vertues more easily Neither is it sleightly to be valued That the state of Poverty assists much toward our satisfaction for those sins we have committed according to what is spoken to the just man by Isaias the Prophet I have chosen thee that is I have purified thee in the furnace of poverty It is likewise a great matter to be free and uninterressed in the base and unprofitable employments of the earth whereby the poor have time to exercise vertue to converse with God and his Angels and contemplate Eternity The honour also and dignity to command these things below which is attained by the poor in spirit may well be valued at a hundred-fold For as it is a great baseness in the rich to be slaves to their avarice and to things so vile as riches So it is a great honour to the poor to exempt themselves from this slavery and servitude and to lord it over all and as the Apostle sayes by contemning all to possess all so as there is no Riches no Kingdom comparable to this of Poverty Kingdoms have their limits and boundeties which they pass not but this Kingdom of Poverty is not straightned by any bounds but for the same reason that it hath nothing hath all things for the heart cannot be said to possess any thing without being Lord of it and it cannot be Lord of it without being superiour unto it and not that unless it subject and subjugate it unto it self So as it is by so much more a possessor by how much it is more Lord and Superiour Now he who desires to be rich must needs love those things without which he cannot be rich nor can he love them without care sollicitude and slavery but he who contemns them is not onely Lord but Possessor of them And for this cause St. John Climacus said very well Grad 17. That the poor religious person who casts all his care upon God is Lord of all the world and all men are his Servants Moreover the true love of poverty doth not basely cleave unto these temporal things for all it hath or can have it respects nothing and if it want any thing it is no more troubled than if it wanted so much dung and dirt But above all rewards is that of God who is possest by poverty In Psal 118. and in St. Ambrose his opinion is that hundred-fold which is received for what we leave For as the Tribe of Levie which had no part in the distribution of the Land of Palestine received this promise from God that he would be their Share and Possession of inheritance So with much reason unto those who voluntarily refuse their parts in the goods of the earth God himself becomes their possession riches and all good even in this world and passes so much further as to give them in the other the Kingdom of Heaven Aug. Ser. 28. de Ver. Apost Whereupon St. Austin speaks in this manner Great happiness and felicity is that of a Christian who with the rich price of poverty purchases the precious reward of glory Wilt thou see how rich and precious it is The poor man buyes and obtains that by poverty which the rich man cannot with all his treasures And it was certainly a most high counsel in our Lord God and an act worthy of his divine understanding to make Poverty the price of his Glory that none might want wherewith to purchase it Wherefore many of the Saints have been so enamoured of Poverty that they have purchased it with more eagerness than the rich have fled from it and have had this advantage over them to be more voluntarily poor than the other could be rich CAP. VIII Many who have despised and renounced all that is Temporal SO evident is the baseness of temporal goods and the mischiefs they occasion in humane life so apparent that many Philosophers without the light of faith or doctrine of the Son of God were not ignorant of it and many so deeply apprehended the importance not onely of contemning but renouncing of
brought a quintal Vi. Bonfrerium in Exod. 16. it shrunk and contracted it self into the small measure of a gomer with some it diminished and with others swelled and dilated it self into a greater proportion The corruption of it was so sodain that it lasted not one day without being wholly putrified and fill'd with worms and yet notwithstanding all these qualities the enjoying and eating of it cost much toyl and labour first in gathering then grinding then in cooking and performing many other duties requisite for the use of it After the same manner the goods of this life notwithstanding all their faults and evil conditions are not obtained nor enjoyed without much travel and vexation After this all did not enjoy that quality proper to Manna which was to taste like unto that which he that eat it most desired for sinners found this taste limited and not so full and savory as others Even so we with our vices alter and diminish the natural sweetness of the things of this life as we shall see hereafter in it's due place It is true that the appearance of it was good Sept. Interp in cap. 11. Nume species illius species chrystalli for as the 70 Interpreters say it was like Christal clear and transparent The same is the condition of the goods of this life they have the splendor and an appearance but are really more brittle then glass they are variable fading and inconstant and subject to a thousand alterations they are corruptible transitory and mortal and onely by reason of their glittering we seek after them as after things great and eternal Let us then leave the appearance and painted superficies of things and look upon the substance and truth and we shall finde that what is temporal is small and what eternal is great the temporal inconstant the eternal firm the temporal short and temporal the eternal durable and in fine eternal and this onely were enough to make it more esteemed then the temporal although the temporal in all other respects did exceed it but the one being so short and mutable and the other great firm and constant the difference betwixt them can be no less Lib. 7. moral c. 12. then as St. Gregory esteemed it who sayes Immense is that which shall follow and without limit and little is all that which ends And the same Saint notes that the small knowledge and memory of eternity is the main cause of the deceiving of Mankind who have in esteem the false goods of this life and undervalue those spiritual and eternal of the other and therefore speaks in this manner Lib. 8. moral ca. 12. The thoughts of the predestinated alwayes have their intentions placed upon eternity although they possess great felicity in this life and although they be not in danger of death yet ever look upon it as present to the contrary do obstinate souls who love this temporal life as a thing permanent because they consider not how great is the eternity of that which is to come and not considering the solidity of the eternal they judge this Banishment for their Countrey this Darkness for Light and this Race for their Station for those who know not greater matters are not able to judge of the smallest We therefore will begin to draw the Curtain and from the consideration of Eternity and the loose condition of time discover the distance betwixt the goods of heaven and those of earth from whence we shall come to handle the baseness of the temporal and greatness of the eternal Wherefore as a Philosopher said of light that there was nothing more clear nor nothing more obscure the same may be said of time and eternity which being held no less perspicuous are ill understood and are no less obscure and dark then the other But we shall endeavour to make them more intelligible being assisted by the light of Faith the doctrine of Saints and wisdom of the Philosophers CAP. II. How efficacious is the consideration of Eternity for the change of our Lives THe thought of Eternity St. Augustine calls a Great thought Augus in Psal 76. Magna cogit because the memory of it is of great joy unto the Saints and no less horror unto Sinners and unto both of much profit and concernment it causes us to do great matters and shews the smalness of the fading and transitory things of this earth I will therefore from this light begin to discover the large field of the poverty trumpery and baseness of the temporal and recommend the consideration of the eternal the which we ought still to have in our thoughts as David had perpetually in his in whom whilst he was a Sinner it caused horror and confusion and being a Saint it comforted and encouraged him to be yet more holy drawing from this meditation most spiritual and incomparable profit unto his soul and therefore in his Psalms he so often repeats the memory of it not only in the body of them but almost in every passage saying for ever or eternally or world without end there being no inscription or title which he uses more frequently then this against the end or in the end because he composed them with the consideration of eternity which follows the end of this life and for more clearness adds in some of them against the end for the Octave which according to St. Augustine signifies Eternity that being the octave after the 7 dayes of the week into which all time is to resolve which 7 dayes being past there are to be no more weeks but as St. Peter sayes one onely day of perpetual Eternity In this Eternity therefore did the Prophet employ his thoughts by day and his meditations by night this forced him to send up his voice unto Heaven and to cry out unto God this made him mute and took away his speech with men this astonished him and made his pulses fail with the consideration of it this affrighted him and mingled wormwood with the pleasures of this life this made him know the littleness of all that is temporal and made him enter within himself and examine his conscience Finally this brought him to a most miraculous change of life beginning to serve the Lord with more fervor all which effects proceeding from the thoughts of Eternity are apparent in the 76 Psalm therefore sayes he amongst other things Mine eyes prevented the watches I troubled myself and spake not immediately after he gives the reason saying I thought upon the dayes of old and had in my thoughts the years of eternity and meditated on them by night with my heart This thought was the occasion of his long watches on this he meditated before the Sun was risen and on this many hours after it was set and that with so great astonishment of what Eternity was that his spirit â—â—iled him and he trembled with the lively apprehension of what it was either to perish eternally in Hell or to enjoy a blessedness for