a stiffe and effectuall purpose to put in executiō all those meanes which ar either necessary or but euen conuenient for the obteyning of this kingdome of heauen Now for the entring into heauen it is necessary to cast sinne away For Sinne giues impediment to al approach thither and they who haue the soule loaden with any one mortall sinne cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Let vs therfore clense our soules from former sinne by penance and let vs resist all temptations least els we may returne to fall againe according to the aduice of the Apostle who saith Houlding fast these promises of God which are so great and so certaine and do concerne those sublyme guifts of grace and glory let vs my brethren much beloued clense our selues from all spot of sinne whether it be interiour or exteriour He saith from all sinne because it will behooue vs to be clensed from al and we must fly with diligence from all From mortall sins because they are against Charity do separate vs from God and from veniall sins because they are contrary to the will of God and they weaken the soule and dispose it to commit mortall sinne consequently to forfaite the kingdome of heauen So also for entring into heauen it is necessary to do good works such as are acceptable to God as Christ our Lord affirmeth saying Matt. 19◠If thou wilt enter into that eternall life which is true life keepe the commaundments Complying b It must stir vs vp to the practise of all vertue therefore with this obligation let vs performe holy workes wherby we may fulfill the commaundement of God and let vs put in execution the vertues of Humility Chastity Mercy Iustice Temperance Fortitude Religion and Charity by which if they be wrought in state of grace and do growe out of Charity they will make vs worthy of eternall life Besides c It exhorteth vs to perseuerance for the obteyning of this kingdome of heauen it is necessary that we continue in the good begun till we end in doeing well as our Lord did teach vs saying Matt. 24. He that contynueth to the end shall be saued Let vs therfore perseuere in good life and although the deuills comber vs with their temptations though men do persecute vs with their iniuries and though our Lord God do trye vs by many tribulatiōs let vs not turne backe nor be dismaied nor suffer our selues to fall downe to inordinate sorrow nor impatience nor disconfidence but let vs continually make our recourse to God and praying to him with humility let vs beg strengh at his hands wherwith to suffer and constancy that we may perseuere confidence that we may not dispaire So doth the Apostle aduise the Galathians saying Galat. 6. We who are liuing well and do exercise our selues in good workes let vs not faint nor giue ouer no nor growe slacke in the good course begunne but let vs contynue and grow therin with great constancy For in due tyme we shall gather the fruit if we doe not faint That is to say we shall eat the fruit of glory which shall haue no end Moreouer d We must not thinke of finding our heauen in this life if we meane to haue it in the next for the arriuing to enioy celestial beatitude we must despise the goodes and pleasures of this world And it is necessary that we place not our hartes or endes in them nor that we seeke for comfort in them as Christ our Lord did signify to vs by saying Luc. 6. Woe be to you who are the louers of riches and who haue placed your comfort in the cōmodityes of this life For this reason it will be necessary in most particuler manner to contemne all the commodityes of this life namely riches honours and pleasures as poore things transitory and base for by despising them we shall not place our end nor seeke for comfort in them This is therefore that fruit which we are to gather from the knowledge and desire of celestiall beatitude For knowing the greatnes and beauty and valew of heauenly things we grow quickly and clearely to see the vilenes poornes of such as be earthly and by desiring and tasting eternall things we grow instantly to loose the loue and tast of all thinges transitory And thus shall we perfectly accomplish that which the Apostle asketh at the hands of all the faythfull saying Coloss 3. If you be raysed vp with Christ seeke the things that are aboue That is e A place of S. Paul excellently pondered to say Since you are risen vp in soule to a spirituall life of grace with hope to be raysed vp in due tyme to an immortall and glorious life both in body and soule in imitation of Christ our Lord who rose vp from the dead to an immortal and glorious life seek you with your thoghts with your desirs with your good works and with continuall prayer the kingdom of heauen And since Christ our Lord who is your head is seated at the right hand of his Father possessing and enioying euen as man the greatest anthority and the greatest felicity of glory which he did euer communicate in Tyme or will euer communicate for all Eternity you that are members of his take gust and sauour in heauenly thinges and place not your delight and loue vpon those of the earth but desire those others so from the hart and with so great purity of life that you may euen by experience find the gust and most pure sauour of them addresse your life in order to this end of eternall glory which you loue and for which you hope This efficacious purpose determinate resolution to cleanse the soule from all vice to imploy it with perseuerance in good workes and cordially to despise earthly thinges is the vse which we are to make of the knowledg and desire of celestiall beatitude as hath beene sayd And it is most iust due that so we do and that for the going through with this enterprize which we are to make vpon heauen we be content to vndertake all labour and to encounter with any difficulty All the things f A plaine demonstration and I am in good hope that it will cōuince thee of this life which are of any valew are able to giue but the least cōtentment do cost some trouble and in all them some difficulty is to be endured The husband-mā for gathering in of a little corne doth manure and plough the ground before he sowes and after he hath sowed and that the blade is vp and the corne is growne is fayne first to cleanse it and then to sheere it with much labour The Sheepheard for the breeding of his poore flocke doth content himselfe to endure the heats and coldes and raines and windes and night-watches All Marchants and Factors and all the Maryners conductors who are of seruice to thē in their negotiations do
sayd to be very wisedome it selfe because it imbraceth wisedome it locketh it vp and it doth perfect and increase it For he that hath this feare hath the guift of holy wisedome togeather with it which is that principall guift of the holy Ghost wherby God is knowne and loued And through the exercise of this holy feare this guift is increased and for this reason the Wiseman sayth of this feare Prou. 14. That it is the fountaine of life because it giueth spirituall life to the soule and from thence do spring the workes of life since they be such as are e throgh the grace of God in Christ our Lord throgh his promise meritorious of eternall life For they who after this manner do feare God as Ecclesiasticus sayth Eccles 18. do procure with diligeÌ„ce to please God in all things Let vs therfore much and many tymes coÌ„sider this diuine IudgmeÌ„t that so we may draw a holy Feare from thence and grow therin and conserue our selues therby in a vertuous life so long as we shall contynue in this pilgrimage so doth Saint Peter aduise vs saying 1. Pet. 2. If you call him Father as indeed he is who is also our God and our Lord and who as a most righteous Iudge shall iudge reward euery one according to his workes most iust and reasonable it is that during all the tyme of our being in pilgrimage in this world as persons who are banished from the house of our Father we should liue in such feare as becommeth his children CHAP. XII How it is very necessary ful of profit that a Christian doe exercise himselfe in this holy Feare and accompany it with the exercise of diuine loue BVT to this one a A doubt coÌ„cerning the exercise of the actes of Feare and Loue cleerely solued may say by way of question Since the act exercise of the Loue of God is more excellent and acceptable then that of Feare why is it not better to exercise our selues alwaies in the loue of God and in the consideration of his benefits and mercies and of his goodnes and Loue and the rest of his deuine perfections which may induce vs to loue then to be considering his diuine Iudgment and the paines of Hell which oblige vs to feare To b The first answere this I say first That the act exercise of loue is more excellent and acceptable to God then any other act of vertue when that loue of God is cleane and pure from faults from selfe loue But c Take heed thou walke not in the way of spirit without aduice if a person shal only giue himselfe to the exercise of diuine loue for as much as â—oue doth cause a kind of security and comfort to the soule a man may grow from thence many tymes to be slacke in vertue forward to commit faults and come to be remisse in doing of pennance and mortifications and admit of certaine delicacies and so increase in selfe loue And he may also come to presume vpon himselfe conceauing that he doth greatly loue God and by that very meanes he goes disposing himselfe to loose the same loue of God by coÌ„mitting veniall sinnes by increasing in them he arriueth also to fall at last into mortall sinne wherby he doth wholy loose loue and grace But in the meane tyme this negligence which grew to end in mortall sinne doth not grow from that very loue of God which of it selfe is all good and perswadeth vs also to all good but d So weake is man that he may well be suspected euen wheÌ„ he meaneth best it groweth from the infirmity of maÌ„ and from his bad inclination and so it is wholly the fault of man who as he vseth many other things ill so also he vseth ill the loue of God It is therfore both very profitable and very fit euen necessary that the good Christian do ioyne the holy Feare of God to the loue of him and that as he is to exercise himselfe in some considerations which may moue him to loue God so also he may exercise himself in some other which may moue him to feare him And although it be true that at the first when a man is but begining to serue God it is more necessary that he bestowe himselfe more vpon the consideration of feare then that of loue yet is it also very conuenient euen for them who haue beene long in his seruice and are very well aduaunced therin that although their cheife practice may be in the exercises of the loue of God yet that many tymes also they do intertaine themselues in the thoughtes of his diuine Feare and vpon those considerations which may help them to it And e The remedy of this danger thus accompaning this holy Feare with the loue of God the inconuenience and daunger losse wherof we haue spoken wil cease which yet will be sure to grow through the frailty of man if he shall onely imploy himselfe in the exercises and considerations of loue For this Feare when it is ioyned with loue keepeth a man from being negligent in Gods seruice and it leaues no place for any faults to be coÌ„mitted against God how veniall and light soeuer they be and it keepes him from giuing ouer his penances and mortifications or from vsing tepidity therein Nay it causeth him to contynue them with care least els he should indeed grow tepide it teacheth him to humble and despise himselfe giuing no place to pride but fearing still his owne frailty and the Iudgement of God Al this is wrought by this holy feare the same is witnessed by Ecclesiasticus who saith Eccles 1. The feare of God driues sin away from the soule It driues it away by penance after it is committed it driues it away by caution and resistence of temptation before it is coÌ„mitted And in another place he saith He that feareth God is negligent in nothing but feare makes him carefull and watchfull towards euery thing that is good For this did the Apostle S. Paul when he was perswading Christians to procure the purity and sanctity of their soules by efficacious secure certaine means aduise theÌ„ to help themselues heerein with the holy feare of God saying Let vs cleanse our selues from all vncleanes both of flesh and spirit 2. Cor. 7. That is to say from all sinne as well that which may be committed by these exteriour powers of our body togeather with the consent of the mind as that other which is committed by the onely consent of the mind without the body And let vs perfect our sanctification which is that purity sanctity which we receiued either in baptisme or by penance Let vs go conseruing increasing it with good workes and by the exercise of vertue and by continual reuewing our watchfulnes and care in flying al that is offensiue to God And let vs do all this with a
feare of his diuine Maiesty And S. Thomas giuing a reason why the Apostle saith not that we should doe it with the loue but with the feare deliuereth these words D. Thom. in 2. Cor. c. 7. The Apostle saith not with charity but with feare of God To teach vs that the affection of loue which we are to carry towards God is to be accompanyed by a solicitude and reuerentiall feare For this loue causeth security wherby many tymes a man groweth carelesse and negligent in the seruice of God but he who accompaineth that affect of loue with feare is watchfull in the seruice of God and runs diligently towards it and flyes speedily frō any offence of him This is deliuered by S. Thomas And for this reason it wil be fit many tymes to vse the cōsiderations of the diuine Iudgement from whence this holy chast feare may be fetcht And so we may comply with that which the holy Apostle aduiseth vs saying Worke your saluation with feare and trembling Which is as much as to say With an interiour feare to offend God which may be so great as that it may appeare by your exteriour vigilancy and care to performe your workes whereby you may obtayne that true and euerlasting saluation S. Bernard f A sweet secure guide for vs to follow left this truth confirmed both by his doctrine and example in these words Bernar. in Cant. ser 7 Happy is that soule wherin Christ our Lord hath set the print of his two feet and wherin he hath left the markes and footestps of them both which are the feare of his diuine Iudgment and the hope of his diuine Mercy For the consideration of the diuine Iudgment alone breeds disconfidence and despayre and the memory and consideration of his mercy alone doth occasion a sly deceipt of a mans selfe ingendreth a very dangerous kind of security And so haue I experimented in my selfe For the benignity of God sometymes hath graunted to me miserable creature that I might sit downe at the feet of Iesus Christ my Sauiour and that I might with entier deuotion imbrace the one foot of feare at other tymes the other foot of confidence and of loue And if at any tyme it hapned to me that being forgetfull for his mercy I detayned my self long in the consideration and apprehension of the diuine Iudgment I grew all dismayd distempered with an incredible kind of feare and a miserable confusion and all trembling I would be crying out with the Psalmist Psal 8◠O Lord who shall be able to conceaue or comprehend the power of thy wrath And who through the feare he hath shal be able to measure out the greatnes and mightines of that indignation which thou wilt execute against sinners in the other life And g See imitate the great humility of this excellent Saint and learne heereby to know thy selfe if on the other side giuing ouer the consideration and exercise of this feare I detayned my selfe long in the consideration and meditation of the mercy of God I should be grown to fall into such a deale of carelesse negligence that euen then already my prayer would become more remisse my selfe more sloathfull towards a◅ good workes and I should be more disposed towards laughter and such idle intertaynements more free and liberall in my speach and more vnsetled both in my inward outward man Being therefore taught by experience which hath bin a faythfull Maister to me I wi◅ sing to thee O Lord not only Iudgement nor only Mercy but Mercy Iudgment both togeather and both these meanes of iustification will I exercise and vse as long as the tyme of Pilgrimage in this banishment of myne shall last and till I arriue to be possessed of that most happy state wherein all misery and all cause of compunction and feare shall cease and all my glory shall be to prayse thee for all eternity This saying is of S. Bernard wherin by the testimony of what he experienced in himselfe he confirmeth that which the holy Scripture and the doctrine of the Saints doe teach concerning the necessity wherein all the seruants of God are towards the keping of themselues still his seruants to ioyne holy feare with loue and the considerations of the diuine Iudgement the punishments inflicted by his Iustice with the considerations of the mercy of God and of the fauours benefits which he cōmunicateth with a most liberall hand to such as keepe his Law CHAP. XIII Of how great value and merit this holy Feare is THIS is the first way of answring that which was demaunded The a The second answere of the former obiection second is that when we speake of seruile feare of accompaning the same with the loue of God it is true that the exercise of loue is much more excellēt thē that of feare For as we haue said seruile feare which hath the eye vpon punishment is imperfect and but of beginners it is found euen in them who are not yet in state of grace nor can it be meritorious nor wholly acceptable to our Lord God But speaking of filiall feare wherby a man feareth and flyeth from sinne because it is the offense of God and of that reuerenciall feare wherby the soule reueareth his diuine Maiesty and doth humble her selfe to him by doing his diuine wil and comparing this kind of feare with the loue of our Lord God and considering that which indeed doth passe in iust persons it is not an exercise lesse excellent nor lesse pleasing to God nor lesse meritorious then is that of loue For b Filiall fear riseth out of loue this holy feare springeth out of the true loue of God and imbraceth the same loue as the fountaine roote from whence it springs For from louing of God doth grow the feare of offēding him and from the loue of vertue groweth the feare of loosing it frō the high estimation which the soule makes of God and the fulfilling of his will doth growe a profound reuerence of God and the keeping of his law and the feare of doeing any thing which is contrary to the same And so the good Christian whilst he is exercising the chast feare of a sōne of God he doth also exercise the loue of God So saith S. Augustine Aug. in psal 118. serm 25. The feare through which a man loues not vertue but flyes from the punishment of vice is a seruile feare and this feare is that which shutteth Charity out of doores and the same Charity which also shutteth out this kind of fear doth produce and breed that other chast feare through which the soule feares to sinne though it were neuer to be punished And this is that holy feare which iust mē do exercise in the consideration of the diuine Iudgement because as we haue declared through the great desire which they haue to please God and to do according to his wil in
al things they dispose themselues to consider the diuine IudgmeÌ„t so to know the better and as it were to feele the greiuousnes of sinne and the punishment that falls vpon it and the much that God abhors it so to procure a sorrow and hatred of sinne as being an offence of God and to feare it much and to fly from it with great care as being contrary to his diuine will and so exercysing this chast feare which is an effect fruit of diuine loue he exerciseth loue with all which is the cause of that feare for this it is that we haue said that the iust man exercising this filiall feare doth not loose the least graine of the excellency and merit of his loue and that the exercise of filiall feare is not lesse pious and acceptable to God then that of loue For in fine this is the feare of Saints to all whome the Psalmist speakes by saying Psal 33. O all yow Saints feare our Lord. And this is that feare which hath for a reward That it obteyneth of God what it will as the Psalmist doth also witnes saying Psal 140. God will fullfill the will of them that feare him and will heare their praâ—ers granting all which they aske To b True hope riseth out of filiall Feare conclude this is that feare which maketh men happy in this life through the liuely hope and pledge it giues of glory in the other life it will giue the possession therof For a truth it is deliuered by the holy Ghost Prou. 28. Blessed is the man who alwaies liues in the holy feare of God CHAP. XIIII Of the fauours which Christ our Lord will do to the good at the day of Iudgement and of the Ioy which they shall conceaue by seeing the signes which precede that Iudgment and by beholding the glory of the Crosse which shall go before Christ our Lord. GREAT are the benefits which we find in that diuine Iudgment the fruits which we gather thence by our considering that which Christ our Lord will shew vpon the wicked For as we haue declared it doth cleerly discouer the greiuousnes of sinne and how mightily it is abhorred by our Lord God and it moueth vs to a hatred and a feare therof But yet greater are the blessings which we find in the Iudgement of God and the profit which we reap from theÌ„ce by considering that which Christ our Lord will then do for his seruants the fauours which he will impart and the felicity which he will communicate For in this doth he discouer his goodnes and the much that he loueth such as are good and the estimation which he makes of vertue he awaketh and prouoketh vs much to loue him and he doth animate and incourage vs much to labour hard in his seruice and that for the pleasing of him and complying with his holy will we must imploy our selues in all kind of vertue Let vs therfore go declaring the fauors which Christ our Lord will impart to the good in this his Iudgment to the end that we may gather this fruite from thence A great a How differeÌ„tly the same things do worke vpon the good and the bad benefit and fauour shall it be for the good that those very signes which are to precede the diuine Iugdment as namely the darkening of the Sunne the Moone Starres the swelling vp of the Sea the opening of the earth withal the rest which are to strike such excessiue horrour into the wicked and will cause in them such an extreme affliction and dismay so far as that they shall goe like persons euen distracted and mad with griefe shal euen be dryed vp and withered thorough the deadly paine and sorrow which they shal receaue as our Lord himselfe declareth saying Luc. 21. Men shall whither with the feare they will be in of those miseryes which they expect and of which those signes are the forerunners That these very signes I say shal giue to those iust men the seruants of God whome they shall find aliue great strength courage great confidence and security in God shall cause them great alacrity and comfort and they shall go all refresh't and fully at ease as being animated with a new spirit of hope and ioy For b The great reasons which good men haue to be glad of death and the day of Iudgment iust men who cordially doe loue Almighty God do much desire to leaue the miserable estate of this life where God is so many wayes offended and when themselues cannot forbeare to fal into some defects which although they be light veniall yet for as much as they goe against the will of God they feele theÌ„ much and much paine by them where they also find that they haue many impedimentes to keepe them from communicating with God from louing him and tasting him as they desire These persons do extremely couet the state of immortality glory where they shall most perfectly both in body and soule enioy the fauours and benedictions of God as the Apostle declareth c The sense is of the B. Apostle and it is opened and explained by our Authour saying Rom. 8. We know that all creatures that is to say all the whole machine of the world which conteyns all the sensible creaturs is groaning vnder the weight and mutability and corruption which it is subiect to And as a woman who being in labour of her child doth expect to bring him forth so doth it remaine with a kind of wearines and griefe from the very first beginning of the world till this instant desiring hoping to see it self free from this corruption and mutability to be all renewed according to the imitation and resemblance of that glorious liberty of the sonnes of God And we the disciples seruants of Christ our Lord who haue receaued the chiefe and first fruits gifts of the holy Ghost doe sigh groan withal the affectioÌ„ of our harts towards the perfect complete adoptioÌ„ of the sonnes of God which is the glory not only of our soules but euen of our bodyes also whereby the whole man shall be deliuered from all mortality and corruption and from all euill inclination concupiscence and shall perfectly enioy both in body and soule the redemption which was wrought by Christ our Lord. This is of the Apostle And for as much as this desire is of iust persons and that in it selfe it is so very internall and so vehement when they shall see the signes of the diuine Iudgement they shal know that the tyme is then close at hand wherein that desire of theirs is to be satisfyed and when they are to be possessed of that happy state and wherein they are to be free both in body and soule froÌ„ all corruption and misery both of sin and pennance And they shall be ful of glory in their soules and their bodyes being adorned
wherwith they abouÌ„d and the wicked he calleth Goates for their barrennes in doing any thing that is good and for the ill odour of their vices and the impetuousnes of their passions to which they are subiect Three things there are which do principally afflict and torment the good when they are in company of the bad First they see before their eyes many and great offences committed against God and they are not able to preuent them This a He that finds not this griefe in his hart is not so much in loue with God as he perhaps conceaues is a greiuous torment and the more they loue God the fulfilling of his lawe so much greater is the griefe which they conceaue by seeing him offended and it despised This did S. Peter explicate when he said of Lot 2. Pet. 2. That he was a iust man as such he could not indure to see sins coÌ„mitted and yet he dwelt among such men as tormented his very soule by their sins Another thing which afflicteth good men when they liue and conuerse with such as are wicked is the danger b Thou little knowest the extrem danger into which ill company doth cast thee wherin they are of loosing the vertue which they haue For as the example of the good doth induce men to the loue of vertue so doth the example of the wicked to the loue of vice For this cause did the Apostle say to the CorinthiaÌ„s who were men of vertue 1. Cor. 15. Do not suffer your selues to be deceiued depart from the coÌ„pany and communication of the wicked for euill wordes do preiudice and corrupt goodworkes and so make men bad of good For as much therfore as d The more vertuous meÌ„ are the lesse they presume vpon theÌ„selues good men do vnderstand their owne frailty they do greately apprehend their spirituall hurt therfore do they feele great paine by running hazard of falling into such a thing as sinne which they do so much abhorre The third thing which afflicteth good men who finde themselues in the company of wilfull sinners is feare to be punished ioyntly with them For although in this life God doth not punish the soule of one for the sins of another yet e The iudgmeÌ„ts of God are sometymes secret but they are euer iust it happeneth that for as much as concerneth temporall things God sendeth punishment sometymes to some who are good for the sins of other with whoÌ„e they liue As he did to the Children of Israell Iosu 7. who for the sins of Acham who tooke some parte of the enemies spoyles against the commaundment of God retyred his hand of succour from them all and discontinued the strength which he had giuen them and so they were subdued and slaine by their enemies And God declared that he sent that punishmeÌ„t for the sinne of Acham saying The children of Israel shall not be able to resist their enemyes but they shall flye from before their face because they are polluted by his sinnes who tooke that which was solemnely forbidden I will no more declare my selfe in fauour of you till you punish him And so Acham being punished God returned againe to shew them fauour Now this course of Gods punishing in temporall things some one for the sins of another may be taken by Almighty God without the least iniustice to any one because he is the absolute Lord of all things and he doth whatsoeuer he doth vpon perfect reason to declare as S. Austine sheweth Augu. in Iosue q. â— what a wicked thing sinne is and how profoundly it is hated by him D. Thom. 2. â—…q 108. art 4. And this is to be vnderstood when the good who liue amongst the wicked do not yet participate with them in their sins for when they do partake or consent therin and doe f It is no smal 〈◊〉 for a 〈◊〉 not to â—…prehenâ— sinne in due tyme place not reprehend or correct them as they ought then God doth not onely chastise them in temporall things as of the body or goods but also in those other which concerne the soule and that not onely in this life but in that of the other also according to the quality of the fault These are the things which put good men in paine when they are in coÌ„pany of the wicked And so it wil be a most singular benefit and of supreme consolation and ioy for the good to see themselues separated that for euer from the society of the wicked And to knowe soe cleerly that then no longer they shall be able to see with their eyes nor to heare with their eares in those eternall habitations of theyrs any thing at all which may be of the least offence to God But that whatsoeuer they shall either heare or see is to be nothing els but the praising and glorifying of his diuine Maiesty with supreme perfection And to knowe that then they shall not be able to haue so much as any occasion or daunger of it nor that there shall be any one in heauen who may giue them example of sinne by deed or perswade them to it by word For all they whom there they are to haue for companions that for euer are to be Saints and so truly Saints that they shall neuer cease not so much as for one little single moment from louing God with the very highest top of all perfection from doing the holy will of God in all thinges with vnspeakable comfort and ioy And yet further to know that then they are free for euer from all kind of punishment from all danger to suffer any For as for any sinnes of their owne they cannot be punished for any such because they can commit none and as for the sinnes of others they cannot be punished for them because they haue not nor cannot haue the company of any such as can sinne But on g How euery one of the Elect will ioy in the glory of each other the other side they are to haue an augmentation of glory for the most holy society which they shall enioy of the Blessed through whose glory their glory also shall increase For the immense ardour of loue wherewith they will be carryed to God will be the cause why they shal take particuler gust in that loue wherwith euery one of those blessed soules shall glorify loue Almighty God And so also the supreme loue which euery one of the same blessed soules shall beare ech other wil mak theÌ„ receaue particuler ioy by euery one in particuler O most blessed creatures who are to liue in such a society and who are to enioy such a communication of felicity for all eternity If it be a great benediction to enioy the society of good men heere on earth what kind of blessednes will it be to enioy the company of blessed soules If it be a matter of much profit and comfort to participate in the communication of
for the getting of a little money passe through intollerable troubles both by Sea Land and do expose themselues to great danger of death All kind of tradesmen for the getting of a poore liuing do labour and sweat both day and night in their seuerall occupations The souldier for his miserable pay and for a little fume of honour is subiect to extreme inconueniences and runs hazard of his life at euery moment The seruants and Courtiers of great Princes for the obtayning of fauour which yet doe passe and change like any wind depriue themselues of their owne gust and deny their owne will and are hanging day and night vpon that of others and for the giuing of contentment to their Lords they take an aboundance of discontentment disgust to themselues They who are enamoured of this world the couetous for money the intemperate for curious fare the dishonest for that filthy pleasure the proud for that vaine delight in honour and commaund and all of them in fine for the poore cōmodities of this life do suffer greiuous paines and endure excessiue torments and sicknesses and other afflictions which vpon these occasious they incurre as themselues do confesse when the punishment of God shall haue laid their errour before their face And then they will say Sap. 5. We went astray from the way of truth and were estranged from that diuine light and did ouerworke and tyre our selues in the way of sinne and vice and there we endured many difficulties If then the men of this world for the obteyning of most base and transitory riches and of certaine pleasures which are vaine and pernicious both to body and soule for the giuing of contentment to mortall creatures for the yeilding of obedience to those infernall Diuels who perswade them to the loue of earthly things doe ingulfe themselues into such a sea of troubles and breake through such a world of difficultyes what in the name of God will it not be fit for Christians and the seruants of Christ to do for the being faythfull and loyall to that diuine Maiesty and for the exact complying with that obedience loue which they owe him both as to a father and as to a Lord and for the obtayning of the kingdome of heauen the possessing of those immortall riches of the house of God the honour glory of being the sons of God and consequently the ioynt heyres with Christ our Lord of his patrimony Royall and of his euerlasting entaile and for the inioying and that for euer of those incomprehensible delights of his beatitude Certainly it is most iust it is most due that they should vndergo any trouble and ouercome any difficulty and expose themselues to any temporall hazard how greatsoeuer For as the Apostle sayth by way of confirming this truth g 1. Cor. 9. All g This truth confirmed by S. Paul most diuinely excellently pondered by our Author men who striue and fight with others in the place deputed to that end as the vse of the Romains was to do in their entertainements and feasts do for the ouercomming of their opposites abstaine from all those thinges of gust which may be of any impediment to them in their combat as namely from delicate meates from wine from women and the like which are wont to make men dull and weake and they feed vpon grosse meats they obserue the rules of continency and temperance and they prepare and accustome themselues before hand to labour And all this they do to obtayne the reward of winning a corruptible crowne which might perhaps be some Iewell or some suite of clothes or some garland of bayes or flowres or some vaine applause and flying prayse of men What then are we Christians obliged to do in this spiritual contention and strife which we are making against sinne for the obtayning of that crowne of immortality and glory of that celestiall kingdome It is most certain that if for the giuing of contentment to Almighty God and for the obtayning of that eternall and immense beatitude it were necessary to suffer all those pains put togeather which al the men of the world from the beginning of it to the end will haue beene to suffer and which all the holy Martyrs haue endured it were all reason that we should willingly be content to endure them all And if it were necessary not only to suffer all the paines of this life but to endure yea and that for many ages all the torments of hell yea and of many hells it h The ioyes of heauen are more to be desired then euen the paines of hell to be auoyded were most iust fit to endure them all for the obtayning of the kingdome of heauen afterward For greater is the good of the glory of heauen then the euill of the paines of hell And how much then more iust and more conuenient will it be to suffer the payne and difficulty which belongs to vertue and which accompanyeth the fullfilling of Gods commandments Which i How the difficultyes of vertue grow delightfull through the goodnes of God besides that all temporal labour is light since it is so short difficultyes besides that they are short for as much as at the most they last no longer then this life they are with all both light and sweet For the loue of God and the heauenly consolations which he communicateth to his seruants doth make them sweet and the helps and succours of grace which otherwise he giues thē make them light So doe iust persons find this to be by experience as the Apostle confesseth saying 2. Cor. 1. After the rate of the tribulations and afflictions which we suffer for Christ our Lord and whereby we go in imitation of him so do the consolations which are giuen by Almighty God through the vertue and merit of our B. Sauiour increase and copiously abound in vs. If k Consider seriously of the conclusion of this discourse then the labours troubles of this life be on the one side so momentany and so short and on the other so sweet and light and the reward of glory and of that celestial kingdome so eternal and immense and that as our good workes doe grow to be increased so also doth the reward of glory go increasing in such sort as that to euery of our good workes yea l O infinite bounty of God! And are we then in our wits when we be either sinnefull or euen but slouthfull in Gods seruice and to euery one of our desires and euen to euery moment of a life which is lead in state of grace there is a distinct degree of glory which correspondeth what man is that who will not labour for the leading of a vertuous life Who will not be diligent in making resistance to all temptations whatsoeuer Who will not suffer any iniury or paine for liuing well And who will not resolue with strength and courage to perseuere in
and who powre out the drink of spiritual comfort and ease to such as are afflicted and deiected that so they may beare their miseryes with patience who cloath their soules with vertues and celestiall guifts who are naked depriued of al spiritual graces and who cure and recouer out of their miserable infirmityes and who draw and deliuer out of that horrible captiuity them who are sicke of sinne and are taken prisoners and made slaues by Sathan Most certain it is that although all they who expresse mercy towards their neighbours shall be esteemed honored in that Tribunal shal be sublimed with glory and royall dignity yet these others who haue imparted it towards the soules of mē shal be much more esteemed and honoured by Christ our Lord and his Angels shal be raised to greater glory more aduaūced in the kingdom of heauen It is also to be considered that although these works of mercy whether they be corporall or spirituall and which respect the spirituall or corporall good of our neighbour are excellent and of great value and merit as we haue already sayd yet the interiour and exteriour workes of Fayth Hope Charity and Religion which haue e How highly gratefull those acts of vertue are which do immediatly respect Almighty God imediate relation to Almighty God and to the worship seruice which is due to him as our God and our Creatour are more excellent and of greater value merit then the workes of mercy which ayme but at the cōfort of our neighbours And so much more as any vertue doth draw neere approach to God so much more is the vertue more excellent Now the vertues which are called Theological which are Fayth Hope Charity do looke vp and serue immediatly honour Almighty God belieuing his truth and louing his goodnes and hoping in his mercy And the vertue of Religion doth respect and exercise the worship and veneration which is due to God as being soueraigne Authour and Lord of all thinges And these vertues being more excellent then that of Mercy towardes our Neighbour it is cleare that those faythfull Christians who with firme and liuely fayth haue beleeued in Christ our Lord and who confessed his fayth in the face of Tyrants who placed all their confidence in Christ searching with care after his glory and resigning themselues entirely to his most holy will and honoring him reuering him with true worship with pure prayers and with an exact performance of their promises and the vowes which they make to his diuine Maiesty certaine I say it is that in the day of his diuine Iudgment they shall be more esteemed and honoured by Christ for hauing done and suffered these thinges then either they or any others shall be for any other inferiour works which they may haue wroght towardes their Neighbours And therefore the reward of glory being so illustrious and so high which for the workes of spirituall and corporall mercy they shall receaue considering that yet the reward which these others shall obtayne is to be much more eminent and great and since notwithstāding that the kingdome which is to be giuen in reward of these workes of mercy is celestiall eternall yet for these acts of faith and Charity and Religion a greater and a better portion shall be allotted and set out in the same kingdome let vs be most diligent in the leading of a good life in cōseruing our soules pure and cleane in exercysing our selues in the acquisitiō of vertue And let vs be full of feruour towards the works of mercy whether they be spirituall or corporall euery one according to his Tallent O happy f Conclusion and for euer most happy they who shall thus imploy themselues Happy because they were elected from all eternity by almighty God Happy because they were called in Tyme to his faith and Religion and were instructed therin Happy because they did correspond to that vocation of God and did begin to lead a good life Happy because they did contynue therin Happy because if they fell they quickly rose againe by penance and were constant therin And Happy beyond all happies because when our Lord came to call them to accompt at the houre of their death he found them imployed in a good life and watchfull in the exercise of good workes expecting the tyme of his comming to receaue the reward of their labours at his mercifull and most liberall handes For it is sayd by no lesse then Truth it selfe Luc. 12. Happy is that seruant whome his Lord when he commeth shall find watching and imployed in the discharge of his duety with fidelity and prudence and complying with his obligations whether they be common to all Christians or particulerly belonging to his state I tell you as an vndoubted truth that to such a seruant as this his Lord shall deliuer vp the possession of all his goods That is Christ our most mercifull Lord and our God will rayse him vp from the blessinges of grace in this life to the blessinges of glory in the next and from the basenes of this earth to raigne eternally together with himselfe in heauen Amen THE CONCLVSION TO THE READER MAKE accompt good Reader that this discourse is a Letter this which now thou art reading is the Postscript of it Thou hast seene the torments of Hell and the ioyes which are imparted to the elect in heauen Thou hast seene that if thou dye in mortall sinne thou wilt for euer be chayned in those torments for euer be depriued of those ioyes Take heed therefore of all sinne and especially take heed of the sinne either of Schisme or Heresy which are of the greatest that can be cōmitted The nature of Heresy consisteth in this That a man will make election of some one doctrine or more which is contrary to the beleefe of that true Church which is celebrated in the Creed of the first Councell of Nice to be One to be Holy to be Catholike to be Apostolike Be sure thou be of that one true Church which soeuer that be for thogh myself be resolued yet I will not heere handle that question by way of Controuersy but there is but one wherin a Christian can be saued one in the faith which it professeth howsoeuer it may be accounted many in respect of the infinite persons which it conteyneth and consequently of the particular Churches which it imbraceth The nature Wher in the nature of heresy doth indeed consist therfore of heresy doth not consist in the multitude or quality of the Articles of Religion which are held in difference from the dotrine and direction of the holy Catholike Church but it consisteth properly in the pride and presumption of that hart which dares preferre a priuate opinion of any one or seuerall Countries or any interpretation of holy Scripture which interpretation is also no more then a For he will make the scriptur affirm