poore miserable men more unreasonable and without understanding then the beasts are wounded every day and that many times deadly and yet notwithstanding we seek for no medicine to cure our spirituall diseases We use the same diet we were wont to do we talk as freely and merrily as ever we did we go to bed at our accustomed houre and sleep according to our old compasse But Repentance is the Physick that goes against our stomacks Contrition cuts us to the heart Confession seems bitter in our mouthes we choose rather to continue sick then so be cured This is our miserable condition so foolish are we and void of understanding either not knowing or at least not embracing that which would make for our Eternall good If we would give eare unto the counsell of the heavenly Angels which seem in the Picture according to their description to give direction unto us and are indeed appointed by God as ministring spirits for our good if we would I say give eare unto their counsell then certainly we would neither suffer our eyes to sleep nor our eye-lids to slumber neither the temples of our heads to take any rest untill our peace and reconciliation were made with God They put us still in minde that our day is almost spent that the night draws on that our glasse is neare running out that death is at hand and after death cometh judgement But we securely walk on in our old way Let the day spend let the night draw on let the glasse runne out Come death follow judgement We are not troubled at it we care not we regard not no warning of the Angels will serve our turn We sweetly sleep and never dream of this Unhappy man whosoever thou art Potes hoc sub casâ— ducere somnos And canst thou sleep in such a case as this Canst thou go to bed with a Conscience thus laden with sinne Canst thou take any rest when thou liest in danger of Eternall death Canst thou lodge in the same bed with the brother of Death and entertain sleep into thy bosome I can I tell thee that I can and finde no harm at all by it Be not too confident That may happen in the space of one houre which hath not happened in a thousand Thou art not past danger For consider with thy self how long thou hast to live There is no great distance betwixt thy soul and death hell and Eternitie It is gone in a breath Thou mayst most truely say every houre I am within one degree of death within one foot yea within one inch Death need not spend all his quiver upon thee One Arrow the head of one Arrow shall wound thee to the heart and make such a large orifice that bloud and spirits and life and all shall suddenly run out together Either thou livest in a malignant and corrupt aire or else thou art troubled with distillations falling down from thy head upon the lungs or else there is some obstruction in the veins or in the liver or else the vitall spirits are suffocated or else the pulsation of the Arteries is intercepted or else the Animall spirits runne back to their head and there are either frozen to death or else drowned One way or other thou postest to the end of thy short race and presently thou art but a dead man carried away to Eternitie in the turning of an hand before thou couldst imagine or think upon it There are a thousand wayes to bring a man to his end I do not speak of lingring deaths before which there goes some warning but of sudden deaths that summon us arrest us and carry us away all in a moment He dies suddenly that dies unpreparedly Death is not sudden if it be foreseen and alwayes expected That 's sudden death which was unpremeditate and unpremeditate death is the worst of all deaths And from such sudden death good Lord deliver us It is good counsell for every one let him be of what age he will for no age is priviledged more then another death hath a generall commission which extends to all places persons ages there is none exempt It is good counsell then I say for every one at all times and in all places and in all companies to expect death and to think every day yea every houre to be his last Then let him die when please God he shall not die suddenly How many men have we heard of whose light hath suddenly been put out and life taken away either by a fall or the halter or poyson or sword or fire or water or Lions pawes or Bores tusks or Horse heels and a thousand more wayes then these As many senses as we have That number is nothing As many parts and members as we have And yet that is nothing As many pores as there be in all the parts of our body put together So many windows are there for death to creep in at to steal upon us and suddenly cut our throats Thou wast born saith Saint Augustine That is sure For thou shalt surely die And in this that thy death is certain the day also of thy death is uncertain None of us knows how neare he draws unto his end I know not saith Job how long I shall live and how soon my Maker may take me away or as our translation hath it I know not to give slattering titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away In the midst of our life we are neare unto death For we alwayes carry it in our bosome And who can tell whether he shall live till the Evening or no This murderer and man-stealer for so I call Death hath a thousand wayes to hurt us as by thunder and lightning storms and tempest fire and water c. Instruments of mischief he hath of all sorts as Gunnes Bowes Arrows Slings Spears Darts Swords and what not We need not be beholding to former ages for examples of sudden deaths Alack we have too many in our own dayes Have not we our selves known many that laying themselves down to sleep have fallen into such a dead sleep that they are not to be awaked again till they shall heare the sound of the trumpet at the last day Death doth not alwayes send his Heralds and Summoners before to tell us of his coming but often steals upon us unexpected and as he findes us so he takes us whether prepared or unprepared Watch therefore For ye know neither the day nor the houre There is a kinde of Repentance indeed in Hell but neither is it true neither will it profit any thing at all For it is joyned with everlasting and tormenting horrour and despaire Now now is the acceptable time of Repentance Now whilest it is called to day Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance The Night cometh when no man can work Work therefore while it is day The Day saith Origen is the time of this life which may seem long unto us
why so long in drawing his lines and so slow in the use of his pencill he made this answer I am long a doing whatsoever I take in hand because what I paint I paint for Eternitie And thus stands the case with all we paint also for Eternitie Whatsoever we do it so belongs unto Eternitie that a man may truely say of it thus I write I reade I sing I pray I labour whatsoever I do whatsoever I say whatsoever I think all is For Eternitie Now if this be the nature of our thoughts words and deeds if they shall remain For all Eternitie we had need have a care what we think speak or do it concerns us to look about us to minde our businesse not to go negligently and sleepily about our work not to let any thing go out of our hands rude and imperfect but to polish and perfect it with all the care skill and industrie that we can use We paint with Zeuxis For Eternitie When we have done our works they are presently transmitted to Eternitie to be viewed by a most judicious and all-seeing eye that no fault can escape and being viewed and censured they are to be committed either to be Eternally punished or Eternally rewarded What I have said before I here say again because it cannot be said too often though I should say it a thousand times Whatsoever we think speak or do once thought spoke or done it is Eternall it abideth for ever Will you heare what S. Gregorie saith In all our actions we must use great care and circumspection we must well weigh and consider with our selves what it is that we take in hand and to what end we do it that our mindes be not set upon any thing that is Temporall but upon those things which are Eternall Therefore in all thy actions labour to be perfect Pray for Eternitie study for Eternitie suffer for Eternitie contend for Eternitie labour for Eternitie So live to God that thou maist live with God So live on Earth that thou maist live in Heaven So live for Eternitie that thou maist live to Eternitie Heare also what S. Bernard saith Our works do not passe away assoon as they are done as they may seem to do but as seeds sown in time they rise up to all Eternitie The foolish man which hath no understanding will wonder to see such a plentifull increase rise up of such little seeds be it good or be it evil according to the nature of the seed which is sown But he that is wise will ponder these things and count no sinne little For he hath an eye still not to that which is present but to that which is to come not to that which is sown but to that which is reaped not to that which is done in time but to that which remains to all Eternitie Oh the dangerous and miserable madnesse of the sonnes of Adam God created us unto the possession of infinite and Eternall goods And why are we carried then with the whole bent of our affections to those things which are flitting and vanishing God made us heirs of Heaven and Eternall possessions And why do we so miserably entangle our selves in our vanities and run headlong to destruction Let us be wise in time let us look well to our steps let us make speed on the way of Eternitie Let us so live that we may live to Eternitie The way thither is short and narrow but the Term thereof is very large But O miserable and foolish men that we are We fain would obtain Eternall life but we are loth to tread in the way that leads to it we fain would be there but we will not take pains to go thither Every man desires to be blessed There is no man saith Saint Augustine of what condition or degree soever he be but hath a desire after that life which is blessed for ever Therefore that life is the common haven at which all men desire to arrive but all men know not how to steere their course aright It is a thing which all men without controversie would fain possesse but how to compasse it what course to take which way to go that is the point they cannot agree upon We may seek it long enough upon earth and it is a question whether we shall ever finde it or no Not that I condemne the seeking of it but the not seeking it in the right place One is of opinion that the Souldiers life is most blessed but another denies that and sayes The life of the Husbandman is most blessed And again this another denies and sayes that the Lawyers life is most blessed and he gives his reason for it For the Lawyer is worshipped by the people and is much sought unto he is ever taking of fees and pleading causes And again this another denies and sayes The Judges life is most blessed For he hath power of hearing causes and deciding them And yet again another denies this and sayes The Merchants life is most blessed For he sees divers countreys learns many fashions gathers together much wealth You see dearely beloved in so many severall kindes of lives there is not any one to be found that will please all But the life blessed for ever that is it which pleaseth all Blessednesse therefore is not to be expected here but is to be sought for elsewhere and never to be found out but by a good and godly death Ungodly men themselves desire to die the death of the godly but they will not live the life of the godly For to die well is the way to felicitie but to live well is matter of labour And yet that is not to be obtained without this Eternitie depends upon death and there is no dying well without living well Choose which thou wilt life or death If thou livest well thou canst not but die well and it shall be well with thee for ever If thou livest not well thou canst not hope to die well but it will be ill with thee for ever Not many yeares ago a man of a good house having more wit in his head then religion in his heart being asked what he thought of the strict lives of the religious and the loose lives of the licentious which he esteemed best answered thus I could wish to live like the licentious but to die like the religious Some wit there might be in his answer but I am sure there was little religion in it He had spoke like a Christian man if he had said thus I desire to live the life of the religious that my end may be like his Balaam could say Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his But he had said a great deal better if he had said thus Let me live the life of the righteous that I may die the death of the righteous and that my last end may be like his For whosoever liveth the life of the godly shall
THE considerations OF DREXELIUS upon ETERNITIE Translated by Ralph Winterton Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambr CAMBRIDGE Printed by Tho Buck Roger Daniel Will Marshall Sculpsit 1636. Are to be sould by Nic Alsop at the Angel in Popes-head alley THE CONSIDERATIONS OF DREXELIUS upon ETERNITIE Translated by RALPH WINTERTON Fellow of Kings Colledge in CAMBRIDGE 1632. CAMBRIDGE Printed by the Printers to the Universitie 1636. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL and truely religious Esquire Mr. Edw. Benlowes of Brent-Hall in Essex R. W. wisheth Internall Externall and Eternall happinesse IT was well answered by him who being asked What this life was said thus It is nothing else but the Meditation of Death If a man should ask me What Time is I think I might fitly answer thus It is nothing else but the Meditation of Eternitie Our Life is but a Posting unto Death and our Time a short dayes sail unto Eternitie In this Time of Life we are as Pilgrims and Strangers travelling towards our celestiall Countrey We are as Sailers bound for the Haven of Eternitie But we must runne through many troubles before we can come to our journeys end We must sail through salt and bitter waters and passe through the Gulf of Death before we can come to Land There is a Land which is called The Land of the living and there is a Land which is called The Land of Horrour and Despair There is a two-fold Eternitie either of the Blessed or of the Cursed There is a two-fold Life after Death either in Eternall joyes or Eternall punishments It is good therefore in this short Life to think upon that Life which never shall have end It is good whilest we are on the way to think upon our Journeys end It is good in Time whilest we are sailing to have an eye still upon our Compasse and think upon Eternitie To think upon Eternitie is a Soveraigne Preservative to keep us from falling into Sinne To think upon Eternall joyes sweetens the salt and bitter waters of Sorrows and Afflictions To think upon Eternall punishments makes us not to set our hearts upon Temporall Delights and Pleasures Heaven is even here on Earth in part enjoyed whilest we raise up our thoughts to meditate upon it And Hell may for ever be escaped if by serious and frequent thoughts thereof here in this life we descend into it Such thoughts as these moved Drexelius to write these CONSIDERATIONS and me also to translate them He wrote upon a Generall subject And every man may challenge a part in it What he wrote he intended for a publick benefit And so did I in the translating of it I hope He and His shall finde never the worse entertainment because He is a Stranger and come from beyond seas It is the honour of our Nation to be kinde and courteous unto Strangers He was commended unto me by a Traveller a most religious and learned Gentleman Be not angry with me Mr. Benlowes if I say He was as like you as can be in every respect For indeed he was bred and brought up in the Romish Religion and sent beyond seas to be confirmed in it but yet brought home again by divine providence and restored to his Mother the Church of England for the Conversion I hope of many singled out of all his kindred to be a most zealous Protestant born to good Fortunes and yet not given to Pleasures wedded to his Books and Devotion spending what some call idle time in the best companie for the edifying himself or others counting nothing good which he possesseth but onely that which he doth good withall taking more care to lay out his money for the good of others then others in laying up money for themselves To conclude A Gentleman of whom I may most truely say That his Conversation is in heaven his Discourse on things above and his thoughts upon Eternitie Upon such a mans commendation as this I could not but take a liking to the party commended and the more I grew acquainted with him the more I liked him It is the counsell of Horace Tu quem commendes etiam atque etiam aspice nè mox Incutiant aliena tibi commissa pudorem Beleeve me Mr. Benlowes I have had such experience of this party whom here I commend unto you that I dare confidently say If you entertain him into your service you shall never repent you of it Philip of Macedon appointed one every Morning to salute him with a Memento of Mortalitie Drexelius his office shall be if you please To be your Remembrancer and every Morning Noon and Evening to round you in the eare with a Memento of Eternitie But I know That is so often in your thoughts that you need not any to put you in Remembrance of it Neither yet do I intend here though I have a fair occasion to run over the Catalogue of your Christian Vertues specially that pair of Christian twins your Pietie and Temperance with your Charity and Bounty For the first they that daily converse with you cannot but see how you converse with them The other pair go along with you wheresoever you go and though you desire to hide them cannot be concealed in speciall many poore Scholars godly and devout Ministers in the Universitie and abroad of severall Colledges have had a feeling themselves of them and cannot but make them conspicuous nay palpable to others These shall praise you in your absence for my part I do not love to praise a man to his face But if the living hold their peace the dead shall rise up and praise you I mean those many and excellent books together with other rare monuments purchased at a great price which without any sollicitation at all out of meere affection you bore to Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge where you were sometimes a Student you have bestowed on their Librarie Their Librarie but the most magnificent work and Eternall Monument of the Mecoenas of our age John Lord Bishop of Lincoln the true lover of learning and Patron of Scholars And now it appeares Mr. Benlowes that you have lesse need of Drexelius his service then before But howsoever I pray you entertain him Let him have but the honour to weare your Cognizance And both He and I will put it upon the file of Thankfull Remembrance and register it for a singular act of your Beneficence Pardon my boldnesse in this And command me in what liberall service you please Ralph Winterton From Kings Coll. June 1. 1632. The Epistle to the Reader IF any man more curious in censuring what is done for a common good rather then studious himself to promote it should question me for medling in another mans profession I might answer him in his own kinde by way of question as Menedemus in Terence answered Chremes finding fault with him Tantúmne abs re tua est otii tibi Aliena ut cures eáque nihil quae ad te attinent Hast thou so much leisure as to
How God punisheth here that he may spare hereafter A strange example Pag. 142 The sixth Consideration How the holy Scripture in many places teacheth us to meditate upon Eternitie Pag. 149 Chap. I. The Answer of the holy Fathers and the Church about this Pag. 152 Chap. II. Cleare testimonies of Divine Scripture concerning Eternitie Pag. 169 Chap. III. This life in respect of that which is to come is but as a drop to the Ocean Pag. 176 The seventh Consideration How Christians use to paint Eternitie Pag. 190 Chap. I. Christ inviting Pag. 195 Chap. II. Adam Lamenting Pag. 197 Chap. III. The Raven croking Pag. 202 The eighth Consideration How Christians ought not onely to look upon the Emblems and Pictures of Eternitie but come home and look within themselves and seriously meditate upon the thing it self Pag. 225 Chap. I. Eternitie doth not onely cut off all comfort and ease but even all hope also Pag. 232 Chap. II. Eternitie is a Sea and a three-headed Hydra It is also a fountain of all joy Pag. 237 Chap. III. How sweet and precious the taste of Eternitie is Pag. 244 The ninth Consideration Seven Conclusions about these Considerations of Eternitie 259. 265. 268. 272. 274. 280. 284. Chap. I. The Punishment of Eternall Death Pag. 299 Chap. II. The reward of Eternall life Pag. 313 Chap. III. The conclusion of all Pag. 331 The word of God most High is the Fountain of wisedome her wayes are everlasting commandements Ecc â— 5 The infant playes with Fate Nature the fool with ETERNITIE but the wise man shall have dominion over the starres CONSIDERATIONS upon ETERNITIE The first Consideration What Eternitie is SImonides being asked by Hiero King of Sicilie what God was desired one day to consider upon it And after one day past having not yet found it out desired yet two dayes more to consider further upon it And after two dayes he desired three And to conclude at length he had no answer to return unto the King but this That the more he thought upon it the more still he might For the further he busied himself in the search thereof the further he was from finding it The thing that we are here now to consider upon is Eternity And the first question that offers it self unto our consideration is What Eternitie is Boëtius saith that it is altogether and at once the entire and perfect possession of a life that never shall have an end And let no man take it ill if we say that it cannot be known and that the more we search into it the more we lose our selves in the search of it For how can that be defined which hath no bounds or limits If any man urge us further and desire us to shadow it out at least by some though obscure description Our answer is That it may easier be done by declaring what it is not rather then what it is so doth Plato concerning God What God is saith he that I know not what he is not that I know So Augustine Bishop of Hippo in his sixty fourth Sermon upon the words of our Lord describeth that true beatitude which is in heaven by removing from it the very thought of all evil We may more easily finde saith he what is not there then what is In heaven there is neither grief nor sorrow nor pâ—nurie nor defect nor disease nor death nor any evil So may we say concerning Eternitie For whatsoever in this life we either see with our eyes or let in by our other outward senses that is not Eternall For the things that are seen saith S. Paul are temporall but the things which are not seen are Eternall Hence every man may say This my joy these my pleasures and delights this treasure this honour this stately building this life of mine all is Transitorie nothing Eternall A man can point at nothing which shall not perish and have an end Indeed the ignorant multitude use to speak after this manner This structure is for Eternitie this monument is everlasting And the impatient man is wont to complain that his pains are without end But these Eternities are very short and a man may easily in words comprehend them Say what thou canst of the true Eternity thou must needs come farre short of it So saith Augustine Thou sayest of Eternitie whatsoever thou wilt But therefore thou sayest whatsoever thou wilt because thou canst not say all say what thou wilt But therefore thou must needs say something that still thou mayest have something to think which thou canst not say Trismegistus saith That the soul is the Horizon of Time and Eternitie For in that it is immortall it is partaker of Eternitie and in that it is infused by God into the body it is partaker of Time But before we proceed any further for orders sake let us see what men of former times Romanes Grecians Egyptians others have thought of Eternitie For they acknowledged it for certain and represented it divers wayes CHAP. I. What men of former times have thought of Eternitie and how they have represented it FIrst of all they have represented Eternitie by a Ring or a Circle which hath neither beginning nor ending which is proper onely to Gods Eternitie Seeing therefore that God is Eternall and his duration is properly called Eternitie the Egyptians used to signifie God by a Circle And the Persians thought they honoured God most when going up to the top of the highest tower they called him the Circle of heaven And it was a custome amongst the Turks as Pierius teacheth at large to cry out every morning from an high tower God alwayes was and alwayes will be and then to salute their Mahomet The Saracens also used to call God a Circle Mercurius Trismegistus whom I named before the most memorable amongst Philosophers who wrote more books then any mortall man beside if we may beleeve Seleucus and Meneceus said that God was an intellectual sphere whose centre is every where and circumference no where because Gods Majestie and immensitie are terminated no where For this cause the Ancients built unto their gods Temples for figure round So Numa Pompilius is said to have consecrated to Vesta a round Temple at Rome So Augustus Cesar in the name of Agrippa dedicated to all the gods a round Temple and called it Pantheon Hereupon Pythagoras to shew Gods Eternitie teached his scholars to worship him turning their bodies round about And there was a statute made by Numa as Brissonius witnesseth That they which were about to worship God should turn themselves round Therfore God is according to the Ancients a Circle but a Circle without a Peripherie or circumference whose Centre is every where because God is the beginning and end of all things Whereupon Job most justly cryes out Behold God is great we know him not neither can the number of his yeares be searched out Again they have represented Eternitie by a Sphere
I shall see an end of all The Prophet Danâ—â—l having reckoned up sundry calamities at length addeth these words Even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed Come hither Come hither all ye that are in affliction in sorrow need sicknesse or any other calamitie Why do ye drown your selves in your own teares why do ye make your life bitter unto you with impatience and complaining Here is comfort for you great comfort drawn from the time of that suffering Are divers calamities upon you Be not cast down Have a good courage They shall continue onely for a time Do ye suffer contumelie and reproach are ye wearied with injuries are other troubles multiplied upon you Cease to lament All these shall last but for a time they shall not last for ever your sighing shall have an end Teares may distill from your eyes for a time But sighs and grones shall not arise from your hearts for ever The time is at hand when you shall be delivered from all grief and be translated unto everlasting happinesse This is most cleare by that in Ecclesiasticus A patient man will â—ear for a time and afterward joy shall spring up unto him But ye also which think your selves the onely happy men on earth and the darlings of the world know thus much and be not proud neither lift up your horn All your seeming happinesse for it is no more at the best hath but short and narrow bounds and limits and is quickly passed over Your triumphing is but for a time your golden dreams last but for a time After a time and that not long Death will command you to put off Fortunes painted vizard and stand amongst the croud Then shall ye truely appeare so much the more unhappy by how much the more you seemed to your selves before in your own foolish imaginations most happy Therefore whether sorrow or joy all is but for a time in this world It is Eternitie alone which is not concluded within any bounds of time Whether therefore the body suffer or the minde whether we lose riches or honours whether our Patience be exercised by sorrow or grief cares or any other afflictions inward or outward all is but painted and momentanie if we think upon Eternall punishments For when fifty thousand yeares shall be passed after the day of Judgement there shall still remain fifty thousand Millions of yeares and when those likewise are passed there shall still remain more and more and yet more Millions of yeares and there shall never be an end But who thinks upon these things who weighs and considers them well with himself Sometimes we seem to have savour of things Eternall But we are tossed up and down with the motions and thoughts of things past and things future our heart wavereth and is full of vanitie Who will establish it and set it in a sure place that it may stand awhile and standing admire and admiring be ravisht with the splendour of Eternitie which alwayes stands and never passeth away Well did Myrogenes When Eustachius Archbishop of Jerusalem sent gifts unto him He did very well I say in refusing them and saying Do but one thing for me Onely pray for me that I may be delivered from Eternall torment Neither was Tullie out of the way when he said No humane thing can seem great unto a wise man who hath the knowledge of all Eternitie and of the magnitude of the whole world But Francis the Authour of the order of the Franciscans hath a saying farre better then that of Tullie The pleasure that is here saith he is but short but the punishment that shall be hereafter is infinite The labour that is here is but small but the glory which shall be here after is Eternall Take your choice Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their works Let us hasten our Repentance therefore whilest we have time It is better saith Guerricus to be purged by water then by fire and it is farre easier Now is the time for Repentance Let our timely Repentance therefore prevent punishment Whosoever is afraid of the hoare frost the snow shall fâ—ll upon him He which feareth the lesser detriment shall suffer a greater He which will not undergo the light burden of Repentance shall be forced to undergo the most heavy burden and most grievous punishments of Hell Saint Gregory hath a saying to this purpose Some saith he whilest they are afraid of Temporall punishments run themselves upon Eternall punishments Hither we may adde that of Pacian Remember saith he that in Hell there is no place for Confession of sinnes no place for Repentance for then it is too late to repent and the time is past Make haste therefore whilest you are in the way We are afraid of Temporall fire and the Executioners hands But what are these to the claws of tormenting Devils and the Everlasting fire of Hell The Counsell of S. Ambrose to a lapsed Virgin fits well in this place True Repentance saith he ought not to be in word onely but in deed and this is true Repentance indeed if thou settest before thine eyes from what glory thou art fallen and considerest with thy self out of what book thy name is blotted and beleevest that now thou art neare unto utter darknesse where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth without end And when thou art certainly perswaded that those things are true as indeed they are seeing that the soul that sinneth is in danger of Hell fire and there is no means after Baptisme left to escape but onely Repentance Be content to suffer any labour and to undergo any affliction to be freed from Eternall punishment The diseases of the body move the sick man to purge his body Let the diseases of our souls move us also to take the purgation of Repentance let the desire of our salvation move us let the fear of Eternall death and Eternall torment move us let the hope of attaining Eternall life and Eternall glory move us Let us embrace that which purgeth the soul and let us eschew that which polluteth it And nothing defiles the soul more then a filthy body Faithfull is this counsell of Saint Ambrose and worthy of us to be embraced O Christ Jesus Grant unto us that we may so possesse things transitorie and temporall that finally we lose not the things which are Eternall and give us grace to walk in their steps and to follow their good example of whom S. Augustine speaketh Many there are saith he that willingly come under the yoke and of proud and haughty men become humble and lowly desiring to be what before they despised and hating to be what before they were passing by like strangers things present and making haste with greedinesse after things to come They pant in their running towards their Eternall countrey preferring Abstinence before Fulnesse Watching before Sleep and Povertie before Riches
a sweet and pleasant dream and be after punished an hundred yeares for it would he think such a dream were to be desired And yet saith the Father As a dream is to an hundred yeares so is this present life to the life to come yea rather it is much lesse And as a drop is to the main Ocean so are a thousand yeares unto Eternitie And in another place What is there saith he to be compared unto Eternitie What are a thousand yeares in comparison of infinite ages which are yet for to come Are they not like unto the least drop of a bucket compared unto a bottomlesse Well Look for no end of torments after this life unlesse thou repentest before thou departest out of this life for after death there is no place of repentance no shedding of teares will profit thee or do thee any good Though a man in Hell should gnash his teeth and blare out his scorched tongue he shall not obtain so much as a drop of cold water Grant then that a man should enjoy pleasures all his life long what is that to infinite ages which are yet for to come Here in this life all things good and bad have at length an end but the punishments that shall be suffered hereafter shall have no end Set fire on the body here and the soul will soon depart But after the resurrection when the body shall be from thenceforth immortall and incorruptible the soul of the damned shall alwayes burn and not consume in Hell-fire They shall rise again incorruptible indeed But how Not to receive a crown of incorruptible glory but to suffer Eternall torments But let us heare what another of the Fathers saith Saint Gregorie makes answer to this common question Will not drunkennesse sooner steal upon a man in the wine-cellar standing by the hogshead then in the Parlour sitting at the table The Spouse of Christ triumpheth in the words of Solomon He brought me to the banquetting-house or as some reade it He brought me into his wine-cellar and his banner over me was love or He hath set his banner of love over me Upon which words Saint Gregorie discoursing saith thus By the wine-cellar what can we better or more fitly conceive then the secret contemplation of Eternitie For truely whosoever doth seriously consider with himself upon Eternitie and let this consideration sink deep into his minde he may truely rejoyce and triumph with the Spouse saying He hath set his banners of love over me For he will keep better order in his love loving himself lesse God more and even his enemies also for Gods sake But such is the nature of this profound consideration that it will presently make a man drunk Make him drunk How With the drunkennesse of the best desires such as will leade him to amendment of life carrie him to his heavenly countrey and bring him at length to joyes Eternall It was cast in the Apostles teeth that they were drunk with wine And so they were indeed but it was with wine out of this Cellar Saint Gregorie hath many excellent considerations and sayings upon Eternitie amongst others he hath this which is a very short one and a true one Momentaneum quod delectat AEternum quod cruciat That which delighteth is momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall Here I could wish with Job Oh that these words were written Oh that they were printed in a Book That they were graven with a pen of iron These words I say That which delighteth is momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall The Book in which this should be written is the heart of man the pen of iron with which it should be written is serious meditation the ink with which it should be written is the bloud of Christ. And these words so imprinted and ingraven in the breast are then especially to be called to minde and to be often repeated when pleasure fawneth when lust provoketh when luxurie inviteth when the flesh rebelleth and the spirit faileth when there is occasion of sinne offered and danger of falling into sinne But let us heare what another of the Fathers saith In the fourth place comes Saint Bernard He shall answer to the question here to be propounded In the lives of men there is such difference that almost now so many men so many judgements concerning afflictions There are found some so grievously and continually afflicted that they are ready to fall down under the crosse as being too heavy for them to beare One is oppressed with povertie another is afflicted with sicknesse another is overcharged with secret debts another is tormented with cares another is grieved and vexed with injuries and slanders every man thinks that most grievous which in present he suffers And many times it comes to passe that such as are faint-hearted and impatient wish for death runne into the water and make haste to the halter thinking thereby to finde an end of all their griefs and sorrows whereas indeed that supposed end becomes to them but the beginning of their sorrows and such sorrows as never shall have end But with the good and godly it is not so They patiently endure all submitting themselves in all things to Gods good will and pleasure They neither desire to die quickly nor yet to live long Is it Gods will they shall die They also are willing Will he have them die quickly They are willing to that also Will he have them live yet longer They are not against that What God willeth that they will What he willeth not neither will they Beside these two kindes of men there is a third and that is the greatest part of men that desire to live long And there is almost no man so old but he hopes and desires to live yet another yeare These men are never heard to say they have lived long enough Death makes too much haste with them he comes to them too soon yea and before his time Here now the question may be moved Who live or who shall live longer Saint Bernard in his seventeenth Sermon upon the ninetie first Psalme upon these words with long life will I satisfie him breaketh forth into this admiration What is so long as that which is Eternall What is so long as that which shall have no end Life Eternall is the good end which we are all to aim at and this end is without end And further he addes That is the true day indeed after which there follows no night where there is Eternall veritie and true Eternitie and therefore true and Eternall satietie So then the question may be determined thus That those onely shall live a long life truely so called whosoever shall never die but alwayes live in heaven And again That those shall die a lingring death alas too lingring a death whosoever shall alwayes die but never live in Hell for they shall live onely there to be tormented alwayes Let us heare but one more and so conclude
that never dieth What miserable and improvident men are we that having but â— short journey to go but full of dangers all the way go on notwithstanding so merrily and sportingly as if we were walking all the while through a Paradise or a most pleasant garden free from all fear of enemies and in the end of our walk presently to be received and admitted as citizens into our heavenly Countrey a place of all securitie For can we be ignorant if we be it is our own fault But we cannot be ignorant that at length we shall come to the two gates of Eternitie the one of the blessed the other of the damned And enter we must at one of them that is certain at which God knows it is according as we shall behave and carry our selves by the way Laurentius Justinianus wondring at the merry madnesse of such travellers breaks forth into this exclamation Oh the lamentable condition of mortall men which go on exulting all the way whilest they are but exiles or banished men from their own countrey Let us not settle our mindes upon any vain joyes and fond toyes by the way whilest we are travelling towards our countrey but let us so runne our race that at the end thereof we may obtain admittance in at the gate which is the entrance to Eternall blessednesse God hath indeed created us rather unto joyes and pleasures then unto labours and sorrows but we are much mistaken both of the time and place It is not here it shall be hereafter Joyes are prepared in heaven but none but the good and faithfull servants shall enter into them And by what means may a man obtain entrance Knowest thou not what Christ said The kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by sorce Think now â—hus with thy self Am I this vioâ—ent man Is this the violence here â—poken of To eat to drink to rise â—p to play to lie down to take my ease It is not certainly Fight we must but it must be the good â—ight like Christian Champions Run we must but so that we may obtain Strive we must but to enter in at the strait gate Labour we must and offer violence to the kingdome of heaven but it must be in due time and place Now whilest we have time here whilest we are on the way whilest we have life and strength that when we come to the point of death and so passe the Horizon of this world and depart into another never to return back again when we shall be translated from time to Eternity then at the last we may have joy for our life past and hope for that which is to come Let us labour therefore let us labour I say and offer violence to our selves fighting against our own froward wils and affections so shall we obtain by the mercy of God everlasting rest for short labour and Eternall glorie for a few dayes travell True and solid joy is not here to be found in vain delights and pleasures but in heaven where there is joy and pleasure for evermore God prepared a gourd and made it come over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd And what is all the pleasure or rather vanitie of this present world Is it not like Jonahs gourd flourishing for a time and yeelding a comfortable shadow Rich men have their gourd also that is their riches under the shadow whereof they rejoyce with exceeding great joy Drunkards and gluttons have their gourds also that is great tables and delicious fare under the shadow whereof they are merry and joyfull Voluptuous men also have their gourds too that is their unlawfull pleasures under the shadow whereof they lie down and sport themselves But Alâ—s sorrow follows after such joy and suddenly overtakes it Their mirth â—s soon turned into mourning And their delights and pleasures end â—n gall and bitternesse For what became of Jonahs gourd God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it â—mote the gourd that it withered Now tell me Jonah where is thy gourd What is become of it Where is now thy exceeding great joy They are both gone together Thy gourd is withered and thy joy is ended Such are our vain delights and pleasures such is our joy rather shadows of things then any thing indeed they passe away suddenly and become like Jonahs gourd that soon withered The joy of this world is but for a moment but the joy of the life to come is for all Eternitie CHAP. III. Here is declared by a most memorable example How sweet and precious the taste of Eternitie is THis knew Theodorus very well one born of Christian Parents and as it seems he learned it betimes when for yeares he was but a youth but an old man for judgement and discretion For on a great Festivall day kept throughout all Egypt there being a great feast at his fathers house and many invited thereunto when some were eating and drinking others laughing and playing and others sporting and dancing he amidst all these â—ollities retired himself to his inward closet finding himself wounded to the heart but with a chast arrow For thus he began to expostulate with himself Unhappy Theodore What would it profit thee if thou shouldst gain the whole world Many things thou hast indeed but canst thou tell how long thou shalt enjoy them Thou livest in abundance now thou maist feast it and make merry thou maist laugh and be fat thou maist rejoyce and skip for joy But art thou sure how long this â—â—all last I should like it well if 〈◊〉 would last alwayes But what shall I do Shall I for the enjoying of these short and transitorie pleasures and delights deprive my self of those joyes which are Eternall Tell me Theodore is this according to Christian Religion to frame unto our selves an heaven here on earth and think to passe from delights to delights from Temporall to Eternall Either I am much deceived or else Christ shewed unto us another way unto the kingdome of heaven and that is through many tribulations Therefore have no more to do with worldly vanities but preferre Eternall joyes before Temporall Thus he said and fell a weeping So then he retired himself into a withdrawing room and there prostrating himself upon the earth he prayed after this manner Eternall God my heart is naked and open before thee I send up my sighs as humble Oratours and Petitioners unto thee I know not what to ask nor how Onely this one thing I beg at thy hands that thou wilt not suffer me to die an Eternall death Lord thou knowest that I love thee and that I desire to be with thee that I may sing Eternall praises unto thee Lord have mercie upon me Whilest he was thus praying in comes his mother on a sudden and presently perceiveth by the rednesse and moistnesse of his eyes that
short labour for rest Eternall Hast thou joy for a time Do not trust too much to it Art thou sad and sorrowfull for a time Do not despair of joy and comfort Neither let prosperitie puffe thee up nor adversitie cast thee down God hath promised unto thee Eternall life Therefore contemne Temporall felicitie He hath threatned Eternall fire Therefore contemne all Temporall sorrows To conclude then with the same divine authour Let us therefore be in love with Eternall life and thereby we shall come to know how much we ought to labour for the obtaining of it For we see that those men which are lovers of this present life which is but temporall and shall shortly have an end labour with might and main to preserve and prolong it as long as they can And yet they cannot escape death For that at one time or other will seize upon them All that they can hope for is but to put it off for a little time When death approacheth then every one is labouring and seeking to hide himself ready to give and part with any thing that he hath to redeem his life He sends for the Physician he will be ruled by him in any thing he will take any thing at his hands he will suffer any thing purging bleeding cupping scarifying and what not You see what charge a man will be at and what pains he will voluntarily endure to live here though but for a short time And yet he will scarce be at any charge or take any pains after this life ended to live for ever Brethren it should not be so If there be such labouring and watching such sending and going such running and riding such spending and praying such doing and suffering to live here a while longer What should we not willingly do and suffer to live for ever And if they be accounted wise which labour by all means they can to put off death a while longer being loth to lose a few dayes What fools are they which live so that finally they lose the day of Eternitie Think upon these things well with your selves O mortall men and foresee the day of Eternitie whether of joy or of torment before it cometh For although all other things passe away yet Eternitie still remains and shall never passe away CHAP. I. The Punishment of Eternall death THe Messenians had a certain prison or dungeon under earth void of aire and light and full of Hellish horrour which as it was a most dismall place so had it also a glorious title for it was called the Treasure-house This prison or dungeon had no doores at all to it onely one mouth at which the prisoners were let down by a rope and so it was stopped up again with a great stone Into this Treasure-house was Philopoemen that great Emperour of Greece cast and there by poyson he ended his life God also hath his Treasure-house under earth if I may so speak But I pray you what a one is it It is of most wicked and ungodly desperate and damned men Actiolinus a Tyrant of Padua as Jovius reports had many prisons so infamous for all kinde of miseries and torments that whosoever were cast thereinto counted their life miserie and their death happinesse Death might come in there without knocking he was so welcome unto them and so long lookt for For this was their hard usage They were laden with irons starved with hunger poisoned with stench eaten up with vermine and so in a most miserable manner they lived and died at length a long and a lingring death There every one was judged most miserable but he that was dead and could feel no misery Whilest they lived it was a punishment worse then death to have their habitation amongst the dead For the dead bodies lay on heaps rotting amongst the living in such manner that it might be truely said there That the dead killed the living But the very worst of these prisons is a Paradise and a most pleasant place if it be compared with the infernall prison of Hell Whatsoever miserie was suffered in Actiolinus his prison in this regard it was tolerable because it was of no long continuance being to last no longer then a short life and quite vanishing away at the houre of death But the Treasure-house of the damned which is Gods prison is void of all comfort The torments thereof are intolerable because they are Eternall Death cannot enter in there neither can those that are entered get out again But they shall be tormented for evermore For evermore What a fearfull thing is this They shall be tormented for evermore It was a most true saying of Cassiodorus As no mortall man can apprehend or understand what the Eternall reward is so neither can any man conceive or imagine what that Eternall torment is The Persians had a prison into which a man might enter easily but being once in could get out no more or if he did yet very hardly And therefore it was called Lethe or Oblivion It is an easie matter to descend down into Hell but to ascend up again it is altogether impossible Was ever any heard to return from Hell This prison of Hell is not without just cause called Lethe or Oblivion For God is so unmindefull of the damned that he will never remember them to have mercy upon them Hell is called the Land of Oblivion or Forgetfulnesse and that for two reasons as a godly and learned Writer observes First Because saith he they remember God no more for their good neither have they any memorie at all of things past but such as doth afflict and torment them All their pomp and glory pleasures and delights are quite forgotten or else not remembred without grief and sorrow Secondly To those that are in this horrid Region and lake of fire God hath forgotten to be gracious and mercifull neither will he send his Angels at any time to minister unto them the least comfort If once in there is no coming out again For what said Abraham unto the rich Glutton frying in Hell and desiring him to send Lazarus to cool his tongue with a drop of water Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would passe from hence to you cannot neither can they passe to us that would come from thence Oh gulf full of horrour and despaire Oh Eternitie of torments the very thought whereof is able to make a stout man quake and tremble The wicked and ungodly men dig their own graves and dwell therein for evermore But what manner of graves do they dig They dig as deep as Hell where the rich Glutton was buried from whence he lifted up his eyes in torments and saw Abraham afarre off and Lazarus in his bosome to his greater torment Oh what a terrible deep is this Oh what a fearfull grave is this Who lies here He that suffered Lazarus to lie at his gate having no compassion on him How is it with him now He
lodgeth in flames of fire in stead of his soft bed he is scalded with thirst and his sweet cups are taken from his mouth his table is removed and he hath no other food but fire and brimstone He is not now dancing and exulting for joy but gnashing his teeth for hellish desperation They that are shut up in prison here in this world have hope for their comfort it may be they shall be delivered and redeemed out of prison But from Hell there is no deliverance no redemption no not so much as any hope at all but Eternall desperation It is a short but a terrible Sermon that God preacheth by the Prophet Ezekiel in these words Say to the sorrest of the South Heare the word of the Lord Behold I will kindle a fire in thee and it shall devoure every green tree in thee and every drie tree The flaming flame shall not be quenched How many tall Cedars how many wicked and ungodly men flourish and wax green in this life for prosperous successe in all outward things and yet are dry and withered for want of vertue Heare this therefore every green and yet dry and withered tree I will kindle a fire saith the Lord and the flaming flame shall not be quenched In Hell whither you make such great haste there are no Holy-dayes no Festivals no set times in which the fire shall cease burning There is Eternall grief Eternall death Eternall sorrow without the mixture of the least comfort Night and day there is no rest no sleep at all but continuall watching and waking for grief and anguish and intolerable torments in everlasting fire There shall you alwayes have your being that you may alwayes be tormented there shall you alwayes live that you may alwayes die If you will not beleeve me beleeve Saint Augustine whose words are these The ungodly saith he shall live in torments but they which live in torments shall desire if it were possible that their life were ended But death heares them not there is none to take away their life Their life shall never end because their torments shall never end But what saith the Scripture The Scripture doth not so much as call it life For life is a name of comfort but what comfort can there be imagined in tortures and torments frying and broyling in everlasting fire But what doth the Scripture call it The second death that is a death which follows after the first and naturall death which is common to all men But how can the second death be called a death seeing that he that hath part therein never dieth We may better indeed expresse what it is not rather then what it is As it cannot properly be called a death so it may be truely said that it is no life And as concerning them that have part therein as they cannot properly be said ever to die so again it may be most truely said that they never live For so to live that a man shall alwayes live in sorrows and torments is not to live Therefore that life is no life But the onely life indeed is that life which is blessed and that life onely is blessed which is Eternall Again we have another place in the same Father to this purpose If the soul liveth in Eternall torments tormented with the unclean spirits This is rather to be called Eternall death then Eternall life For there is no greater or worse death then that death which never dieth Saint Gregorie also giveth the like testimonie In Hell saith he there shall be death without death end without end because death ever liveth and the end ever beginneth there death shall never die Oh death how much sweeter wert thou if thou wouldst take away life and not compell those to live who would fain die But so it is the number of the yeares in Hell are without number It pasleth the skill of the best Aâ—â—thmetician to finde out the number thereof God himself knowes no end thereof After a thousand thousand millions of yeares past there are still as many more to come and when those also are past there are yet as many more to come and still they are as farre from the last as they were at the first It is now above five thousand yeares since Cain that slew his brother Abel was cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone and yet the number of the yeares throughout which still he is to be tormented is as great still as it was the first day of his torment and after certain millions of yeares the yeares of his torments for their number shall be nothing diminished It shall be all one as if he were cast into the fire but this present houre And though the rich Glutton mentioned in the Gospel be tormented two thousand yeares together yet still he doth burn and shall burn for ever neither shall he obtain so much as a little drop of water though he use never so much intreatie not so much as a little drop of water to cool his inflamed tongue These things we often heare of and when we heare them we do but laugh at them Certainly we count it but a light matter to burn in Eternall fire Here a man might well ask the question where are your teares O mortall men ye that are given so much to laughing This is our condition A small losse if it be but a matter of three halfpence will wring great store of teares from us But as for an infinite and irrecoverable losse that we can brook easily we can digest that with laughter When we are cited to appeare at the barre of an earthly Judge then we quake and tremble But as we are going to Gods Tribunall for every day we rid some of our way we walk on step after step will we nill we and yet as we are going we sport by the way When we go to sea we are afraid of shipwrack But without either fear or wit we lanch into the deep sea of Eternitie and make but a laughing matter of it It is the wish of Saint Bernard Oh that men were wise that they were wise Oh that they were wise What then holy Bernard Oh then would the image of Eternitie begin to be reformed in them Then would they order things present wisely judge of things past understandingly and foresee things to come providently Here we have Saint Pauls command to the Ephesians and not his wish onely for his words runne in the Imperative Mood and not in the Optative Brethren see that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the dayes are evil The great businesse of our salvation ought circumspectly diligently and carefully to be regarded of us It is the most foolish thing in the world for a man having but little time allotted him to spend it prodigally in vain delights whereas he should like a thrifty merchant employ it rather for his best advantage to purchase
meddle with that which nothing concerns thee But to satisfie thee Courteous Reader who intendest I know with the Bee to gather Hony out of this Garden of Eternitie and not Poyson with the Spider I hold it fit to acquaint thee with the true occasion that moved me to translate this Book No Divine I am indeed neither yet can I be if I would never so fain I would I were but worthy the name of a Physician But howsoever being destinated by the statutes of my private Colledge to the studie of Physick in the first place I thought good to spend some time in Arithmetick as being a necessarie instrument and help in my Profession In which I made some progresse passing from Numeration Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Reduction To the Golden Rule or the Rule of Three The Rule of Falshood The Rules of Proportion and the Rules of Societie and the rest But the knowledge of this cost me so deare that I was forced to leave the studie of it For many nights together I was constrained against my will to practise Numeration oftener then I would telling the Clock and could take but little rest Whereupon I resolved with my self to leave the Arithmetick School and so I went unto the Physick and Musick Schools imploring at one and the same time the help of Hippocrates and the Muses For at that time I turned the first book of Hippocrates his Aphorismes into Greek verses hoping to procure rest by Physick and the Musick of Poeticall Numbers by which I found some rest indeed And therefore since I have well-nigh finished at spare houres the other six books which if God permit may ere long see light But though I found some rest yet I did not sleep so soundly as at other times So I left the Temple of Hippocrates and the Muses and betook my self into the Sanctuarie to learn of David divine Arithmetick which consisteth in the due numbring of the dayes of this short life by comparing them with the yeares of Eternitie And so I fell upon translating this book of Eternitie And this I found by dayly experience to be the best Hypnoticon that ever I used For it brought me to my rest better then if I had taken Diacodion Thus I found the old saying true Where Philosophie ends there Physick begins and where Physick ends there Divinitie begins which I interpret thus as I found it true by experience When Philosophie by Accident had done me harm and Physick could do me little good I found perfect help in Divinitie And having found so much good by this book my self I could not be so envious as not impart it unto others for a Soveraigne Medicine to procure quiet sleep Neither is it good for that onely but Farre unlike to other Medicines which are onely good for some one disease and falling into unskilfull hands oftentime do more harm then good It is a Medicine fitting All Ages Complexions Conditions Places Parts Diseases Spirituall and Corporall whatsoever It is a Medicine Preservative Curative Restaurative It is an Antidote against the poyson of sinne It is Dictamnum to drive out the fierie darts of Satan It is Catholicon to purge out all ill humours It is better then Exhilarans Galeni to cheare the Heart oppressed with Melancholie It is an Acopon for all wearinesse an Anodynon for all pains a Panchreston Profitable for all things or All-good It is Panacea Hearts-ease All-heal It is a rich Treasurie for Englishmen A storehouse for the diseased and The ready way to long life even to blessed Eternitie Let no man now challenge me for usurping another mans office or trespassing upon Divines I cannot see but Divines and Physicians may well agree together Both are busied about curing of diseases either Spirituall or Corporall And here is a Medicine for both Take it and use it Christian Reader And thou shalt finde by thine own experience that it hath all the vertues above mentioned So I commend thee to the Physician both of Body and Soul and heartily desire thy Temporall and Eternall Health and Welfare Ralph Winterton From Kings Coll. June 1. 1632. Upon this Book of Eternitie TO reach Eternitie our thoughts first climbe On the successive steps and stairs of Time And What is Time It is by Poets call'd And by most Painters represented bald But Poets and the Painters are too bold For Time was never yet a Minute old Nor yet God Saturn-like doth it devoure The issue which it breeds For every houre Were then a Murderer But while we strain And all created natures for to gain Time to their inch of Being in the strife They quite burn out the Taper of their life But what 's Eternitie Good Reader look Not on my verses but upon this Book Which I do wish and yet no harm may be To all e'â—elasting Stationer but to thee Richard Williams LOok on the Glasse of mans Mortalitie Behold the Mirrour of Eternitie This Book is both Herein behold thy face It waxeth old thy Glasse doth runne apace It is appointed all men once to die And after death succeeds Eternitie This Life 's no Life which Time doth comprehend But that 's true Life indeed which knows no end This Book will teach thee so to live and die That thou maist live unto Eternitie Thomas Gouge THis Book 's a Nautick Chard which kept in Eye Doth point at th' Haven of blest Eternitie O blessed Haven At which if thou wouldst land Let not this Chard depart out of thine hand The Contents The first Consideration What Eternitie is Chap. I. WHat men of former times have thought of Eternitie and how they have represented it Pag. 4 Chap. II. The secret sense and meaning of Scripture is unfolded Pag. 16 Chap. III. Why the place of Eternitie is called a Mansion Pag. 22 The second Consideration In what things Nature representeth Eternitie Pag. 27 Chap. I. What things are Eternall in Hell Pag. 31 Chap. II. Why Hell is Eternall Pag. 37 Chap. III. Other motives to the consideration of Eternitie drawn from Nature Pag. 42 The third Consideration Wherein the old Romanes principally placed their Eternitie Pag. 47 Chap. I. How farre the Romanes have gonâ— astray from the true way of Eternitie 6â— Chap. II. A better way then the former which the Romanes followed to Eternitie Pag. 71 Chap. III. That the way of Eternitie is diligently and carefully to be sought after Pag. 85 The fourth Consideration How holy David meditated upon Eternitie how we should imitate him Pag. 97 Chap. I. Divers Admonitions to think upon Eternitie Pag. 103 Chap. II. That Eternitie transcends all numbers of Arithmetick Pag. 106 Chap. III. What effect and fruit the consideration of Eternitie bringeth forth Pag. 114 The fifth Consideration How others even wicked men themselves have meditated upon Eternitie Pag. 123 Chap. I. The Comparisons of mans labours and the Spiders one with another 13â— Chap. II. What is the best question in the world Pag. 138 Chap. III.
and a Globe Therefore Faustina the Empresse had money stampt after this figure and superscription There was a Globe on which the Empresse sat stretching forth one hand and holding in the other a sceptre with this inscription ETERNITIE Hence it was that many of the Ancients thought the world to be Eternall because it was Round whom S. Basil answers very fitly Let the world be a Circle but the beginning of the Circle is the Centre In the third place they have represented Eternitie by a Seat by which is signified Eternall rest The Nasamones a certain people of Africa for the most part did not onely breathe out their last sitting upon a seat but also desired to be buried after that position as having then attained to Eternitie and a long cessation from all their labours As in many places at this day Kings and Emperours are found sitting in vaults under earth in silence and mournfull majestie And it was usuall with the Romanes to support with such like the molten statues of their deceased Emperours as having then the fruition of Eternity Some there are that thus reason with themselves oftentimes Behold I have been a long time held and oppressed with cares and labours But now why do I not take some respite why do I not make some pause why do I not rest from my labours I have laboured long enough let others labour as much as I have done for my part I 'le rest now and take mine ease So they set up their seats and promise unto themselves dayes of rest But alas they are of no long continuance They set up their seats and embrace their ease but neither in due time nor place Oh! how truely and devoutly doth that golden book of the imitation of Christ give us a pull by the eare in these words Dispose and order all things according to thine own will and the lust of thine own eyes and yet thou shalt never finde but thou shalt alwayes suffer one thing or other either willingly or by constraint and so thou shalt alwayes finde a crosse The whole life of Christ was a Crosse and Martyrdome and doest thou seek rest and pleasure Therefore we must set up our seat in heaven and not here for here amongst so many troubles it can never stand quiet and though all other things should spare it yet death at length will overturn it There is no true rest to be hoped for but that which is Eternall But if there be any rest in this life this is it For a man to commit himself and all that is his to the will of God to put his whole trust and confidence in him and to account all other things beside but vain So are we taught in Ecclesiasticus Trust in God and abide in thy place Without this rest of the soul all other things are meer troubles a meer sea of tempestuous waves and the very presence of Hell But I return to the Ancients In the fourth place they have represented Eternitie by the Sunne and the Moon The Sunne revives every day although it seems every day to die and to be buried It alwayes riseth again although every night it sets The Moon also hath her increase after every wane Catullus hath pretty verses to this purpose The Sunne doth set the Sunne doth rise again The day doth close the day doth break again Once set our Sunne again it riseth never Once close our day of life it 's night for ever In Hell there is Eternall night but without sleep There they sleep not because they slept here where they should have watched there they watch because here they slept in their sinnes indeed not long but longer they would if they could yea Eternally But it is farre otherwise with those that are in heaven For a perpetuall light shall shine forth to the Saints and Eternitie of time there is rest there is pleasure after long labours and watchings In the fifth place they have represented Eternitie by the Basilisk The Basilisk is the most venimous of all creatures and it alone of all others as Horus Niliacus saith cannot be killed by humane force yea it is so virulent that it killeth herbs with the very breath of it that it puts to flight all other creatures with the hissing of it that it makes all birds suddenly silent upon the first presence of it AElianus reports that in the desert of Africa a certain beast fell down being tired and that the Serpents came together as it were to a feast to devour the carcase and that they presently ran all away and hid themselves in the sand upon the sight of the Basilisk Eternitie whether of joy or of torment cannot be shortened or diminished much lesse taken away or avoided Neither is it strange if it affright all that are in their right wits with the very thought of it Infinite are the windings of this Basilisk unmeasurable and untwinable are the orbs and circuits of it Oh Dragon to be trembled at Let us divert a little to our selves It comes to passe sometimes when a man descends into himself and rips up his conscience by confession that he findes many Serpents nests and whole broods of vipers and thereupon much marvelleth in himself saying Whence is there so much venime in my breast Whence are so many fat Snakes so many grievous and deadly sinnes Whence is there so great an host of Lisards whence so many filthy and lustfull cogitations I am afraid my self at such a numerous and pestilent brood But marvell not we shall easily shew thee the cause thereof A moyst and a rude place is very apt to breed Serpents Lo then there is a double cause The moysture of the place and the negligence of them that should look to it So it is in the soul of man If we spend all our care upon our body handling it delicately feeding it daintily pampering it with feasts effeminating it with pleasures it must needs be confessed that the soul the inhabitant thereof hath her dwelling in a moyst place Adde hither slothfulnesse and neglect of divine duties Let no care be had at all of salvation so the body be sound and it goes well with it let no regard be had what happens to the soul Let confession of sinnes be seldome made unto God and when it is but in a negligent manner What marvell then if a multitude of Serpents and poysonous vermine breed there But O good Christian brother Let the Basilisk enter into thy Breast that is the cogitation of Eternitie and thou shalt presently perceive that these venimous beasts will soon vanish away Thou confessest that thy heart doth abound with these Snakes It is a signe therefore thou seldome thinkest upon Eternitie Amend therefore and now at length begin to think upon this with thy self That which delighteth is but Momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall In the sixth place they have represented Eternity after this manner There is a vast den
without ending What is Eternitie It is a Snake bowed back unto it self orbicularly holding the tail in the mouth which in its end doth again begin and never ceaseth to begin What is Eternitie It is a duration alwayes present it is one perpetuall day which is not divided into that which is past and that which is to come What is Eternitie It is an age of ages as Dionysius saith never expiring but alwayes like it self without changing What is Eternitie It is a beginning without beginning middle or end It is a beginning continuing never ending alwayes beginning in which the blessed alwayes begin a blessed life and alwayes abound with new pleasures in which the damned alwayes dye and after all death and struggling with death alwayes begin again to die and struggle with death As long as God shall be God so long shall the blessed be blessed so long shall they reigne and triumph so long shall the damned also fry in Hell and yelling cry We are tormented in this flame being still to be tormented and tortured for ever CHAP. III. Why the place of Eternitie is called a Mansion JOHN Patriarch of Alexandria a very devout and godly man was often wont to go to visit the sick took with him for his companion Troilus a Bishop which had more care of his money then of the sick The Patriarch whispered him in the eare and said I pray thee brother let us help the friends of Christ whereupon Troilus like a crafty companion concealing the disease of his mind to wit his covetousnes bad his servant give to the poore all the money which at that time he had about him to buy other things withall Not long after it happened that he fell into a Fever which his covetousnesse had caused whereof the Patriarch of Alexandria hearing and easily guessing at the cause of his disease went to visit him and carried with him as much silver as he had not long before given to the sick and after a little conference had with him he said thus I did but jest with thee the other day when I wished thee to bestow something to the relief of the sick and it was because my servant had no money about him But behold here in good earnest I restore unto thee the money which thou laidst out for my sake and I thank thee for it When Troilus saw the money told his fever began to leave him and his heat to abate and in every part he found himself much better whereupon finding himself gather strength he rose up to dinner and sat down at Table About noon tide when dinner was ended and the Table removed he went to sleep and sweetly took his ease and dreamed that he saw a very stately edifice and in the frontispice thereof over the gate this inscription Mansio AEterna Requies Troili Episcopi In English thus The Eternall Mansion and Resting-place of Bishop Troilus He was very much delighted with this dream But not long after he had another vision that troubled him For there came one with a company of workmen and gave them a strict charge saying Take away that inscription and put this in the place thereof Mansio AEterna Requies Joannis Archiepiscopi Alexandriae empta libris triginta argenti In English thus The Eternall Mansion and Resting-place of John Archbishop of Alexandria which he bought for thirty pounds With this vision he was very much affrighted but he made a very good use of it For presently of an hard and covetous man he became liberall and charitable especially to such as were in need So much did the very dream of an Eternall Mansion prevail with him But oh ye rather blessed mansions and therefore blessed because Eternall Oh! how exceedingly doth Christ desire that we should loathe and forsake these our tabernacles and ruinous houses and with earnest desire make haste unto those Eternall Mansions In my Fathers house saith he are many mansions No man is kept back from thence but by himself The place excludes no man for it is exceeding large Time shuts out no man for there is a Mansion and that Mansion is Eternall A Prayer O Eternall and mercifull God O Eternall Truth O true Love O beloved Eternitie So cure our blindnesse that by these present and short sorrows we may be brought to know and so escape the future horrible and Eternall punishments Direct us and teach us so to possesse things perishing and Temporall that finally we lose not the things which are Eternall Teach us so to lament for our sinnes committed that we may escape Eternall punishments Teach us so to behave our selves in the house of our pilgrimage that we be not shut out of the Eternall Mansions Teach us so to make our progresse in the way that at length we may be received into our Countrey The perpetuall hills did bowe His wayes are everlasting Habac 3.6 The Salamander the Basilisk the Phenix the golden ring the fiery mountain may here upon earth put us in minde of ETERNITIE but onely blessed ETERNITIE can make us eternall in heaven THE SECOND CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE In what things Nature representeth Eternitie THE Idolaters themselves therefore have acknowledged an Eternitie such as it was and have described it also by certain signes For God hath manifested it unto them so that they are without excuse How much dearer therefore and in what great esteem ought the consideration thereof be amongst all Christians to whom Eternitie is better represented and in a more lively manner Therefore thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that being often put in minde of Eternitie doest as often let it slip out of thy memorie Thou hast often in thy sight and before thine eyes Rings and Circles Spheres and Globes Sunne and Moon If thou lookest upon any of these they wil put thee in minde of Eternitie Nature her self like a good mother hath exposed them to publick view that when we see them or heare of them we might be invited to meditate upon Eternitie Solinus reports that there is a stone in Arcadia called Asbestos which being once set on fire doth continually burn wherefore in times past they were wont in Temples and sepulchres to make lamps of it of which Saint Augustine maketh mention I adde that Plinie Volaterranus Dioscorides and many others tell strange wonders of a certain kinde of Line or Flax which is called by divers names For some call it Linum Asbestinum others Carystium others Indicum and others Linum vivum This is not onely not consumed by fire but also is purged and cleansed wherefore the dead bodies of Kings heretofore when they were to be put into the fire and to be burned used to be wrapped about with a Linen cloth made thereof to keep their ashes from confusion and to distinguish them from others Of such Flax Nero had a Towel which he esteemed of more price then gold and precious stones Behold Nature her self like
a Mistresse and Guide leadeth thee by the hand and pointeth thee to a thing which the fire hath no power to consume So shall all the damned burn but never shall burn out They shall alwaies burn but never be consumed They shall seek for death in the flames but shall not finde it Therefore justly doth one cry out Oh wo Eternall that never shall have end Oh end without end Oh death more grievous then all death Alwayes to dye and never to be quite dead So saith divine Isaiah Their fire never shall be quenched And the Angel in the Revelation They shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them That the Salamander for a little time can endure live in the fire beside Aristotle Plinie Galen AElian Dioscorides S. Augustine also himself beleeved This creature is very cold and is generated of showers The sunne and drought are death to it Therefore according to Plinie it endures in the flame like ice Of the skin thereof lights are made for perpetuall burning lamps God who made the Salamander of Earth and Clay hath of his goodnesse formed man though of the same matter yet of a more excellent and noble nature He hath made him a little lower then the Angels He hath assigned unto him after this life the fellowship of the same kingdome with the Angels But man being in honour had no understanding and was compared unto the beasts that perish By his own malice he made himself such a Salamander that must alwayes live or alwayes dye in Eternall flames In those fiery prisons of Hell all things are Eternall but these six things especially CHAP. 1. What things are Eternall in Hell THe damned himself is Eternall and dyes not No man can make an end of himself or another They shall seek death and shall not finde it Yea the very desire of death in as much as their desire cannot be satisfied shall greatly increase their torment The Prison it self is Eternall It can never fall to ruine it can never be broken down it can never be digged through It is barred up with rocks and mountains The locks and barres are so firm and strong that none can get out If any of the damned should by Gods permission before the day of judgement come out from thence yet still he should carry an Hell about him and never be free from torment The fire there is Eternall Christ himself in Matthew saith as much expressely Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire or fire Eternall Doest thou heare this word Eternall The anger of the Lord doth kindle this fire and it shall never be put out To this beareth Isaiah witnesse saying The breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it it shall burn night and day and shall not be quenched the smoke thereof shall ascend up for ever and ever Eternall punishment and Eternall life are Relates as S. August speaketh and Relates are of like continuance To say therefore That Eternall life shall be without end and Eternall punishment shall have an end is very absurd Who therefore will deferre his conversion As the things mentioned before are Eternall so is the Worm and Conscience tormented with deep despaire for the life past Their worm shall not die So prophesieth Isaiah The Poëts of old translated this out of holy writ into their fables For what is that Tityus of whom Virgil feigneth That a flying Vultur every day gnawes and teares his Liver which is every night again repaired and made up that every day the Vultur may have more prey to gnaw upon What is the Vultur but the Worm we speak of And what is his Liver but the Conscience alwayes gnawen and tormented To this Eternitie of Hell belongeth also the last sentence and the last decree pronounced by Christ the Judge A decree Alas irrevocable immutable Eternall There is no Appealing from it If the sentence be once pronounced by the mouth of this Judge it stands irrevocable for all Eternitie In Hell there is no redemption not any no not any but Eternall desperation The bloud of Christ when it was newly poured out on the mount of Golgotha though of infinite efficacie for satisfaction yet reached not unto the demned If the yoke of the Lord saith Saint Bernard be a yoke of Repentance you think that in it self it is not sweet But this you must know That it is most sweet if it be compared with that fire of which it is said Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire The Punishment or Pain of losse also as they call it is Eternall being the privation of the sight of God for ever which together with all the other torments of the damned shall never have end because there can be no place for satisfaction For although these torments shall continue infinite millions of yeares yet there shall not one day no nor one houre no nor so much as a moment of rest and respite be granted There shall be vicissitude and varietie of torments but to their greater pain and grief Christ often foretold it by Matthew in plain words The children of the kingdome shall be cast out into utter darknesse There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth weeping for heat and gnashing of teeth for cold How then can man be so forgetfull of himself and God How can he so degenerate into a beast Yea rather how can he become like a rock or a stone so senselesse as when he shall think upon the unsufferable and unutterable torments of Hell which never shall have end then not to feare and tremble and say with himself thus I am for certain in the way to Eternitie and I know not how soon I may come to my journeys end I sit on the Stairs of Eternitie and every little thrust is ready to plunge me into the bottomlesse pit But if it seem so grievous and intolerable for a man to lye though but for one night on a soft feather-bed and never sleep or close his eyes but to sigh and grone for pain in his head or any other member for the toothach or for the stone If the night seems long and the day a great way off and the sun to slack his coming And yet as I said he lyes upon a good feather-bed and if he will have but a little patience he may hope to finde ease in the day and help from the Physician Alack Alack How intolerable shall it be to lye night and day in the fire for a thousand and a thousand and again I say a thousand yeares How intolerable shall it be there to watch to hunger to thirst to burn to be tormented extremely in every part and not to hope for any rest or so much as a drop of cold water but to be alwayes in despaire and so to fry and to be tortured for infinite millions of ages and to be so farre from
were so called for not sleeping because they were never all at once to sleep but still to be exercised in their course night and day in singing praises unto God These Acoemets were divided after this manner into three companies so that when the first company had made an end of singing divine praises the second should begin and when the second had made an end the third should begin By means of this godly institution the citie had in some sort heaven within it self alwayes sounding with the praise of God or at lest a type or representation of the Eternitie in heaven where God shall be praised for all Eternitie with great delight and cheerfulnesse and without all wearinesse Therefore hath the Psalmist good cause to crie out Blessed are they which dwell in thy House they will still be praising thee Then shall all the blessed say as Peter did upon the mountain It is good for us to be here For as S. Bernard speaketh Eternitie is true riches without measure but he addes this withall It is not found unlesse it be sought with perseverance But how shall we so seek that we may obtain it Heare what the good Father saith By povertie by meeknesse and by teares there is renewed in the soul the stamp and image of Eternitie which comprehendeth all times First povertie is the way to Eternitie Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of heaven Where poore men are despised and forsaken there is the heart and the money locked up together in the chest Where money is expended according to the rules of Avarice there is no affect or love of povertie there is no desire or love of Eternitie Secondly meeknesse By meeknesse we make our selves secure of things present and have an assurance of things to come Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth If any man ask What shall we say of him that is void of meeknesse and patience that can scarce at any time speak a milde word What gains he by his implacable impatience What doth it profit him to rage and fret with indignation to make outcries and tumults to shew his will to do mischief though he cannot effect what he would or to conclude to salute no man civilly as if he were an enemie to all humanitie and affabilitie What shall we say of such a man If there be any such he is sure to suffer losse of goods or good name or both for the riches which he hath he possesseth not but keeps them like a dog whose propertie is to bark at a man to flie upon him and to bite him As for his good name if he have any he shall not augment it by the title of impatience and as for heaven he loseth that before he hath taken possession of it Thirdly Teares For by weeping and mourning we redeem the time past we recover what we prodigally spent by sinning But this mourning and sorrow must not last for an houre onely or for a day for this is nothing else but to do as he did who at his mothers death put on mourning clothes forced for the present a few teares and so went along after the beare and left her not till he saw her buried but the same day or the next day after wiped away all teares from his eyes changed his weeping into laughing cast off his mourning clothes and put on colours This is not to mourn in good earnest to make an end of mourning so suddenly But this we do alas too often To day we make publike confession of our sinnes to God and heare absolution we repent us of our sinnes and receive the holy communion and within a day after we sinne again with delight and without fear and oftentimes more grievously then before We detest for the present the wicked course of our life past and we return again to the same passe We forswear the sinnes which we formerly committed and again the same day we commit the same So with the same tongue we proclaim Christ innocent and crucifie him afresh as if we were the tâ—ue brothers of Pontius Pilate who with one and the same mouth did both absolve him and condemne him confessing that he found no cause of death in him and yet adjudging him to be crucified We are very fickle and inconstant but in nothing more constant then in the repetition of a vicious course of life Alas alas we carrie too much of the Moon that is inconstancie in our breast Sometimes we are so zealous and so holy that we will not admit of a cheerfull countenance for fear lest it should hinder our sanctitie and devotion we look demurely casting our eyes down to the ground and knit the brows as being angry with our selves when we finde in our selves the least remissenesse or coldnesse in holy duties But this sanctitie and devotion doth never continue long After a while we begin to hate even pietie it self and the stream being turned we turn again to our former riot and intemperance and we are as ready to dissolve the knot of friendship made betwixt God and us as at the first we were unwilling to have it knit At length Pietie attended with sorrow and repentance presents her self again unto us and puts to flight lasciviousnesse untill the time comes that we begin to repent us of our repentance So we seldome continue long in any honest and godly course for it seems unto us too laborious and at every light beck we row down the stream of our former uncleannesse Such is the inconstancie of our life that it presents unto our mindes all sorts of pleasures and vices We make an outward shew of adoring vertue but in heart and minde we fall down and worship vice a most laborious kinde of service This is not the way unto Eternitie unlesse it be of punishment and torments which shall have no end Let us single out one Christian man of many and such a one especially as is most addicted to his pleasure let us carrie him along with us to the mouth of a furnace red hot and flaming and then let us begin to question him after this manner How much pleasure wouldst thou ask to continue burning in this furnace for one day He will answer to this undoubtedly I would not be tormented in these flames for one day to gain the whole world and all the pleasures in the world But let us propound another condition unto him What reward wouldst thou ask to endure this fire onely for half a day Propound what reward you will there is nothing so delicate so precious so deare unto me which I would be willing to buy at so deare a price as these torments But to trie once more What reward and pleasure wouldst thou ask to go into this furnace and to stay there but one houre His answer certainly will be this Let the most covetous and impudent man in the world ask what he can that is not to
be added together day after day they would at length farre exceed the drops of the Ocean for they have their number and measure and it is easie with God to say So many are the drops of the Ocean and no more But the teares of the damned exceed all number and measure Alas Alas How little do we think upon these things How freely and wilfully do we sinne and make our selves guiltie of Eternall punishment and that oftentimes for a very little short and filthy pleasure Yet there remains one way more of casting up this numberlesse number of yeares Suppose there were a schedule of Parchment a span broad but so long that it would begirt and incircle the whole Globe of the earth And suppose it were written all over very close with figures of 9. from one end to another Who so skilfull an Arithmetician that can tell the number thereof What mountain so great that consisteth of so many grains of dust or sand What Ocean so vast that containeth within it so many drops of water And yet this is nothing to Eternitie it stretcheth it self further then so it knows no bounds it is extended beyond all measure But how farre is it extended It is extended infinitely and without end If thy heart O Christian man be not turned into a stone it cannot but melt at the consideration of these things and the very thought of the bottomlesse pit and Eternall punishment will make thee fear and tremble If there be any sense in thee here it will thew it self But as I said before too few think upon these things and too many live so secure of their salvation as if there were no Heaven no God no Hell no Eternitie Every day they heap sinne upon sinne as if they laboured and studied to make their last day to exceed the former for the measure and number of their sinnes And so they passe unto Eternitie sporting and playing as if they went to prison but for a few weeks or dayes Such men as these saith Saint Gregorie when they should be mourning for their sinnes they are dancing for their pleasure and when they should be seriously meditating upon death they runne laughing unto execution This is blindnesse indeed this is oblivious madnesse For this short life which is but the shadow of Eternitie we labour beyond all measure but for the life which is Eternall and most happy we scarce take any pains at all And yet the not obtaining of this life is the incurring of Eternall death which as it is a torment more grievous then all the torments of this life so in this it is most grievous that there is no rest or mitigation of pain no not for one short houre in the infinite space of all Eternitie CHAP. III. What effect and fruit the consideration of Eternitie bringeth forth ANd this is it that hath made so many good Christians and so many holy Martyrs so prompt and ready to suffer any torments and any kinde of death that even in their greatest pains when they lay wallowing in their own bloud they were most stout and couragious and with a constant look and cheerfull countenance insulted over their Tormentours They had the yeares of Eternitie in minde This is it that hath made the world seem distastfull and unpleasant unto many insomuch that they have taken their leave of all pleasures and embraced and entertained a severe and strict course of life giving themselves wholly to reading meditation and prayer and such holy duties minding heaven and heavenly things They had the yeares of Eternitie in minde The thought of Eternitie will make all things in this life seem easie and pleasant though to flesh and bloud they seem most grievous and unpleasant It makes all labours seem light and very short Prayer study watching and such like holy duties it commends unto us and makes them seem amiable It seasons and sweetens hunger and thirst It mitigates the sense of pinching poverty It makes all manner of crosses in this life not onely tolerable but also gratefull and comfortable Whosoever hath the yeares of Eternitie in minde and imprints them within deeper and deeper by dayly meditation shunneth no labour neither is daunted with any losses Offer him a kingdome offer him all the delights and pleasures in the world and he will not change his poore estate and condition for them Such a man as this is never complaining he endures all things he submits himself to all For thus he thinks with himself What a small thing is this or that that or this and of how short continuance I will therefore endure it patiently it will not last alwayes It is but for an houre and that a very short one that mine enemies here oppresse me Well go to ye detractours bite me still if ye will ye envious I will not runne from you This is your houre and the power of darknesse But I expect the day of the Lord and the day of Eternitie and why should I afflict and torment my self with sorrow and lamentation All this life is but a death of one houre The victorie is not difficult but the triumph is Eternall Why should I be afraid of the raging waves of this troublesome world I have sight of the haven already Now it rains and thunders upon the heads of the good and godly but the storm will shortly blow over But upon his enemies God shall alwayes rain fire and brimstone storm and tempest this shall be their portion to drink And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth so prophesieth Daniel shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt In the old law God commanded Moses saying Make thee two trumpets of silver of an whole piece shalt thou make them If they blow but with one trumpet then the Princes which are heads of the thousands of Israel shall gather themselves unto thee When ye blow an alarm then the camp shall go forward Unto these two trumpets we may compare these two words NOW and ALWAYES This is the law of the world NOW let us be merry now let us rejoyce now let us enjoy our goods whilest we have them Come let us now crown our selves with Roses before they be withered now let us leave in every place the signes and footsteps of our joy They that attend onely to the sound of this Trumpet they that have eares to heare nothing but this NOW they live for the most part so as if there were no ALWAYES for to follow Therefore they do not remove the camp amidst their pleasures they wilfully forget that they are here but Pilgrims and strangers whithersoever the wanton flesh inviteth them they go with greedinesse they are busied altogether in heaping up riches and following pleasures And the sound of this NOW doth so obtund and dull their eares that they are deaf to all good counsels and precepts and they will not so much as lend an eare to that
ALWAYES which shall follow But they which open their eares to heare and their hearts to understand when the Church soundeth both Trumpets as it often doth and thereupon seriously consider with themselves and compare together this short NOW with that infinite and everlasting ALWAYES they will use no delay but presently remove the camp they live here as Pilgrims and strangers they have their loyns girt they remember that they are in a journey they send their riches and pleasures before them into their Countrey which is above they choose rather to enjoy them ALWAYES in heaven then NOW for a short time upon earth Certain it is whosoever heareth attentively and mindeth seriously the Alarm of these Trumpets and thereupon compareth together things present with things future and things transitorie with things Eternall He will presently make himself ready to depart he will prepare himself a place of buriall he will lay out his winding sheet he will send for his bear and furnish himself with all things necessarie for his journey remembring still in every place that he is passing on the way to Eternitie and conferring with himself every day after this manner How shall I be able to give account unto God for all my thoughts words and deeds and When shall I give up my account and What sentence will he passe upon me NOW therefore will I die unto my self that I may ALWAYES livâ— unto my self and unto God Welâ— is it with that man which timelâ— and dayly thus thinketh upon Eternitie Whatsoever we do we arâ— passing on our way and we do noâ— know how short it is unto thâ— gate which leadeth to Eternitie At the last houre of our life death shall bring us unto this gate and compell us to enter Let us therefore so live as if we were alwayeâ— expecting death that if it shalâ— please God at any time to visit uâ— with sicknesse the forerunner oâ— death we may entertain it cheer fully and beare it patiently liftinâ— up our eyes unto Christ hanginâ— upon the Crosse the true and perfecâ— pattern of Patience and when the time of our dissolution draweth neare praying thus Lord Jesu stand by me and comfort me Lord Jesu be present with thy servant that putteth his trust in thee Lord Jesu make me partaker of thy victorie Lord Jesu receive my spirit and leade me through the darksome valley and shadow of death leade me and forsake me not untill thou hast brought my soul into the land of the living O thou most potent conquerour of death O thou which art my light life and salvation Good Master what good thing shall I doe that I may have ETERNALL life Math 19. 16. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of God The love of riches of ETERNITIE are scarce resident in one heart THE FIFTH CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE How others even wicked men themselves have meditated upon Eternitie THe old historie of the Fathers tells us of a religious man that reading upon the nineteenth Psalme came at length having not thought of it to these words For a thousand yeares in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and here stuck For he could not conceive a reason why a thousand yeares and one day should be compared together Whereupon they say there was a little bird sent by God which so ravisht the man with her sweet singing that though he heard her sing a very great while together yet he thought the time very short scarce a short houre long The winde bloweth where it listeth Not good men onely have with holy David meditated upon Eternitie but even wicked men also and those oftentimes against their will Benedictus Renanus reports of a vain and ungodly fellow a very Epicure and meer worldling which never used to fast or watch one that could not endure the want of any thing but especially sleep Upon a certain night it seems this fellow could not sleep as he was wont being much troubled with unusuall dreams so he turned himself upon his bed from one side to another and could not by any means get any rest then he wished it were day But here the winde of the Lord began to blow though it were in a strange land for good thoughts were very rare in this man Being weary with watching and finding no ease or rest aâ— all thus he began to think with himself Would any be hired upon any condition to lie thus two or three yeares together in darknesse without the companie of friends though his sicknesse were not very grievous Would he be content to want his sports and playes so long Would he be content to be bound to his bed though it were a feather-bed or a bed of down and never stirre abroad to see any sights or shews or make merry with his friends I think no man would And shall I alone amongst all men enjoy rest and pleasure by an especiall priviledge and have no sense of grief and sorrow Surely no. Will I nill I needs I must sometime or other lie down upon the bed of sicknesse unlesse I be suddenly taken away by death which God forbid This was a good winde these were good cogitations But what bed shall I have next when death shall thrust me out of this My body must rot under earth For this is the condition of all men after death But what shall become of my soul in another world Surely all men do not go to the same place after death Do not some go one way and some another Is there not an Hell as well as an Heaven Wo and alas What kinde of bed shall the damned finde in Hell How many yeares shall they lie there In what yeare after their first entrance shall the flames cease and be put out Assuredly Christ doth not onely in word threaten to cast the wicked into everlasting fire but will also cast them in indeed This thing is certain and very manifest Therefore the damned shall burn in Hell for ever Therefore a thousand and a thousand and again I say a thousand yeares will not suffice to purge away the â—innes of this short life Therefore they shall never see the Sunne any more nor Heaven nor God being most miserable Eternally and without end With such thoughts as these this man became so vigilant and watchfull and proceeded so farre that night and day he could not be at rest but Eternitie did still runne in his minde Fain indeed he would have shaken off the thoughts thereof as gnawing worms but he could not Therefore he followed sports and pastimes went to merry meetings sought out companions like himself and sate oftentimes so long at his cups that he laid his conscience asleep and so seemed to take some rest But when he came again unto himself his conscience being awakened did presently accuse him and suggest unto him afresh sorrowfull thoughts of Eternitie Thus finding no rest
he resolved at length to amend his manners and to betake himself to a better course of life And thus he began to reason with himself Miserable man that I am what do I here I so enjoy the world that indeed I enjoy it not I suffer many things I would not I want many things which I fain would have I serve like a slave but who will pay me my wages I see well enough how the world rewardeth those that love it and do all their lives nothing else but serve it But suppose I had the fruition of all the delights and pleasures in the world that my heart could wish what certainâ—ie can I have how long they shall last I am not certain whether I shall live till to morrow or no Daily Funerals sufficiently prove this Oh Eternitie if thou wert not Oh Eternitie If thy place be not in heaven though it be on a soft down-bed thou canst not but be bitter and unpleasant It is true indeed it is a hard matter to withdraw our selves away from those things whereunto we are accustomed whether it be feasting or drinking or company-keeping or such like But whilest we delay and deferre the time death may prevent us and take us away from all these Why then dost thou delay Why dost thou not impose an honest and happy necessitie upon thy self Why dost thou not resolve thus presently with thy self Well I will be another man then I have been if it please God I live This life lasts not long but Eternitie endureth for ever I must walk now in a new way I am resolved upon it And Now I begin Where art thou blessed Eternitie I am seeking for thee I am travelling towards thee To conclude he did as he said he took his leave of the world he changed the course of his life and so lived and died an honest and godly man Oh Eternitie How few are they that think thus seriously upon thee But certainly there are very few scarce any that weigh and consider well with themselves what thou art and so continue and persist in that consideration We seek earnestly after all other things onely Eternitie seemeth vile unto us and not worth the looking after Our thoughts runne after riches and yet the possession of them is very uncertain we know not how soon they shall forsake us or we them We are ambitious after honours and yet they are slippery and soon slide away from us We are in love with pleasures and yet they have sorrow and bitternesse in their latter end We desire rest but it is of no long continuance We knit the knot of friendship with others but it is such as death shall quickly dissolve We are never well but when we are conversing with others but our conversation is never in heaven where it should be We seek for abundance but it is there where it will soon fail But surely if we did more often and seriously think upon Eternitie we should not have such a fervent desire after things of so short continuance I call Saint Bernard to witnesse who saith thus He that longeth after things Eternall cannot but loath things transitorie There are that have often in their mouthes I know not what Eternitie that will promise and sweare and make good resolutions of amendment and say thus As long as I live I will beware of such a place or such a place where I have formerly been tempted to sinne I will never come neare such a man or such a woman or such a one that was my companion in evil I will never come neare him as long as I live As long as I live I will never go to such and such meetings where there useth to be gluttonie and drunkennesse dancing chambering and wantonnesse and such like It shall suffice me that I have been there once and again and perhaps oftner that I have done as the company did that I have sinned with such and such These are good resolutions In this I commend thee O man Because sinne is to be feared thou dost well in purposing to avoid the occasion of sinning and I could wish thou wert as religious in observing what thou hast promised as thou art ready to promise But alas after a day or two yea an houre or two too forgetfull of thy promise and good resolution thou dost again the very same thing which lately thou didst detest abhorre and forsweare Therefore before thou makest a vow or promise unto God it is good to use due consideration and foresight and when thou hast made a vow or promise unto God it is necessarie to use after-care and Christian fortitude in performance Thou must promise nothing rashly and unadvisedly unto God But what thou hast promised thou must religiously and constantly keep and observe How severe God is in punishing such as break their vowes and promises we are sufficiently taught by the wofull experience and lamentable example of others CHAP. I. The comparison of mans labours and the spiders one with another THere is another Eternitie and that the worst of all which those men promise to themselves which will needs erect up unto themselves an heaven out of heaven and be blessed before they be dead Wherefore heare the word of the Lord ye scornfull men saith the Prophet Isaiah Because ye have said we have made a covenant with death and with Hell we are at agreement O ye mad men How vain and none at all is this your Eternitie There is nothing permanent and perpetuall in this prison Elegantly doth the Kingly Prophet declare this we spend our yeares saith he as a tale that is told c. we spend our yeares in musing like the Spider for so some reade it He could not have declared it better and in fewer words For what are all our yeares but a continuall musing and wearisome exercise All the time of our life is consumed and wasted away with vain labours many sorrows sundry fears often suspicions and innumerable troubles Even as the Spider spends her self in the weaving of her web Our labours are continuall linked one unto another our sighs and groans continuall partly in the pursuing of our profits and pleasures and partly in the removing and eschewing those things which we count evil We do many things we undertake many labours troublesome and grievous to be born and mean while alas such is our folly we perceive not that we do but weave the Spiders web taking a great deal of pains with little successe to no end or purpose we spend our yeares in musing like the Spider It is a great deale of pains and care that the Spider takes in weaving of her web she runs much and often up and down she fetcheth a compasse this way and that way and returns often to the same point she spendeth her self in a multitude of sine-spun threeds to make her self a round cabinet she exenterates her self and worketh out her own bowels to make an artificiall and
curious piece of work which when it is made is apt to be blown away with every puffe of winde she hangs it up aloft she fastens it to the roof of the house she strengtheneth it with many a threed wheeling often round about not sparing her own bowels but spending them willingly upon her work And when she hath done all this spun her fine threeds weaved them one within another wrought her self a fine Conopie hanged it aloft and thinks all is sure on a sudden in the twinkling of an eye with a light sweep of a beesome all falls to the ground and so her labour perisheth But here is 〈…〉 all Poore Spider she is either killed in her own web or else she is taken in her own snare â—aled to death and trod under foot Thus the silly Animal may be truely said either to weave her own winding-sheet or to make a snare to hang her self Just so do many men like the Spider waste and consume themselves to get preferment to enjoy pleasures to gather riches to keep them and to increase them In such projects they spend all their wit and oftentimes the healths of their bodies running up and down labouring and sweating carking and caring wearying themselves and weakning their bodies even as the Spider doth by the spinning out of her own bowels And when they have done all this they have but weaved the Spiders web to catch flies Yea oftentimes they are caught in their own nets they are instruments of their own mischief The dayes of mirth which they promise unto themselves prove often times the dayes of moâ—â—ning That which they call their palace becomes their burying place So we spend our â—eares in musing like the Spider â— say in musing for the most part For we often purpose to do many things and do them not And what we do most an end were better undone Those things which we pursue with such greedinesse for the most part fly from us and those things which we contend for with such earnestnesse we seldome attain to But suppose we did Alas they have no perpetuitie So the covenant with death shall be disanulled and the agreement with hell shall not stand We all consume away and die and which is worst of all we blindly rush headlong into Eternitie from whence there is no return Guerricus hearing these words read in the Church out of the book of Genesis And all the dayes that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirtie yeares And he died And all the dayes of Seth were nine hundred and twelve yeares And he died And all the dayes of Enos were nine hundred and five yeares And he died And all the dayes of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine yeares And he died c. Hearing I say these words read the very conceit of death wrought so strongly upon him and made so deep an impression in his minde that he retired himself from the world and gave himself wholly to his devotions that so he might die the death of the godly and arrive more safely at the haven of Eternall felicitie which is no where to be found in this world CHAP. II. What is the best question in the world SAint Matthew tells us of a young man that came unto Christ and propounded a question unto him And Saint Mark describeth the manner of his coming to our Saviour and his good carriage For saith he There came one running and kneeled to him and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit Eternall life And our Saviours answer was Thou knowest the Commandments If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments At Philippi a Citie of Macedonia the keeper of the prison came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and moved this question unto them Sirs what must I do to be saved This was a very good question A better and a more profitable could not be moved But O good God where is this question now in the world The world is full of other questions but this is scarce any where to be heard Most men do now adayes betray themselves by their own questions and bring to light and so make others witnesses of their simplicitie or curiositie or some such hidden disease of minde He which makes diligent search and enquirie where the best wine is to be sold doth sufficiently declare what he loves best and where his chiefest care is Another asketh such questions as a modest man would blush to heare And this man shews that his heart is full and that out of the abundance thereof his mouth speaketh All mens mouthes in all places are full of questions such as these are But it is a rare thing to heare one man ask another this question Do you think this is the way to heaven It is a fault common to every vicious man but more proper to the libidinous and lustfull the luxurious and riotous man though he be plunged into the deep and begins to sink and to be overwhelmed yet seldome or never to enter into a serious consideration with himself and with a sincere minde ask himself this question Shall I ever think to obtain Eternall felicitie by this course of life Is this the way to heaven But of all men those especially least think upon such questions as these those I say that live a soft life fare deliciously and wallow in pleasures that feel little or no sorrow and affliction or if they do at any time feel never so little labour what they can to be senselesse of it To suffer they count the greatest of all evils If it goes well with them they care not how it fares with others If it be well with them for the present they take no care what shall follow after They never once think upon Eternitie This is their dayly ditty The heaven of heavens is the Lords but the earth he hath given to the sonnes of men They want neither strength of body or minde by which to escape the hands of men But God hath long hands he shall surely finde them out they must appeare before him who is the judge of all the world they cannot escape his judgement they shall surely suffer Eternall punishments for their wickednesse and their offences But if God in his secret judgement casts away any man as a reprobate and suffereth him to live after his own lust and pleasure He giveth him his portion of prosperitie and felicitie in this life he spareth him here that he may punish him hereafter And if at any time he doth any thing that is good he presently receiveth his reward Of such unhappy-happy men the kingly Prophet saith thus They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men They go a whoring with their own inventions And this is a most miserable state and condition of life if there be any For whom God hath predestinated to bring into the way
in these words of our Saviour Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Is it not cleare enough that this promise is of blessed Eternitie when we have securitie given us of receiving an hundred-fold reward Again Christ according to the same Evangelist forewarning of the latter judgement three times makes mention of Eternitie expresly in these words everlasting or eternall fire everlasting or eternall punishment and life Eternall Seeing therefore the holy Fathers the Church and the sacred Scripture do so many wayes propound unto us the serious consideration of Eternitie It is our part and dutie as many of us as look for Eternall life in heaven it is our part and dutie seriously to meditate thus with our selves every one Oh my God! How seldome have I heretofore thought upon Eternitie or if I have thought upon it in what a cold and negligent manner have I done it notwithstanding every day yea every houre and minute I draw nearer and nearer unto Eternitie But for the time to come by the assistance of thy grace I will minde it more carefully then heretofore I have done and if at any time through thy bounty riches shall increase I will not set my heart upon them though the world should smile upon me though I should want no temporall thing that my heart can desire though I should seem to flow in never so much abundance yet will I still remember Eternitie In the midst of my prosperitie these shall be my thoughts But how long shall this last will this fair weather never change Will this comfortable sunne alwayes shine upon me Or if I should live in prosperitie all the dayes of my life what shall it profit me after death After this sweet but short pleasing but perilous unhappy happinesse there shall shortly follow Eternitie Eternitie But if the world goes ill with me if it frown upon me if I meet with many crosses troubles and affictions if misfortunes befall me if they rush upon me like waves one in the neck of another if I be turmoiled and tossed up and down then these shall be my daily thoughts Well let the world have its course I am content to bear it Gods will be done Let the sea be troubled let the waves thereof roare let the windes of afflictions blow let the waters of sorrows rush upon me let the clouds of tentations threaten rain and thunder let the darknesse of grief and heavinesse compasse me about yea though the foundation of the world should seem to shake yet will I not be afraid These storms will blow over these windes will be laid these waves will fall this tempest cannot last long and these clouds shall be dispelled Whatsoever I suffer here shall shortly have an end I shall not suffer Eternally Come the worst that can come death will put an end to all my sorrows and miseries But no storm to that storm of fire and brimstone which the damned shall suffer in Hell Eternally and without end All things here shall have an end but the torments there shall have no end Whatsoever is not within the circle of Eternitie is short swift and momentanie it is but a shadow but a dream so saith S. Chrysostome It is but a Modicum or a thing of nothing a little a very little for a little while yea a very little while Often doth our Saviour beat upon this speaking to his Disciples All his own sufferings yea his most bitter death upon the crosse he calleth but a little All the sufferings punishments and violent deaths of the Apostles all but a little And why should not I also think it but a little whatsoever here I suffer though I should suffer it an hundred yeares together For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarrie I will therefore suffer patiently whatsoever can happen and account one thing onely necessarie and that is To do nothing against my Conscience and displeasing unto God For all is safe and sure with him who is certain and sure of blessed Eternitie CHAP. III. This life in respect of that which is to come is but as a Drop to the Ocean a little stone to the sand upon the Sea-shore a Centre to the Circle a Modicum a little a very little time a Minute to Eternitie And such are the sufferings of this life in respect of the joyes that shall be hereafter MOst true it is Whatsoever labour or sorrow we suffer in this life it is but a Modicum or for a little while It is the saying of S. Augustine This Modicum or little while seems long unto us because it is not yet all past and gone But when it shall come to an end then shall we perceive and understand what a little while this Modicum was The wisest of men being to shew the vanitie and shortnesse of this present life though it should be lengthened to an hundred yeares which few men can reach unto makes choice of the most minute things in the world whereby to expresse it and set it forth by way of resemblance For thus we reade expresly in Ecclesiasticus The number of a mans dayes at the most are an hundred yeares As a drop of water unto the sea and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand yeares to the dayes of Eternitie And why then do ye rejoyce in this ye long-liv'd men that you have lived an 100 yeares All our yeares are What are they They are as a drop of water unto the sea and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand And what is a little stone to those exceeding high mountains of sand And what is a small drop of water to the deep and fathomlesse Sea such are fifty sixty yea an hundred yeares Heare this ye old men they are but a Modicum a very little while but a Minute of time indeed nothing at all to the dayes of Eternitie And yet foolish and miserable men we are overjoyed with this little stone this small drop Our life is indeed a little stone but no jewell no precious stone it is made of no better matter then sand Our life is a drop but not of sweet and fresh water it is salt and brackish as the sea-water is For all his dayes are sorrows and his travell grief yea his heart taketh no rest in the night So saith the Preacher It is the counsell of S. Augustine Recall to minde saith he the years that are past from Adam to this present day runne over all the Scripture It is but almost yesterday since he fell and was thrust out of Paradise For where are those times that are past Certainly if thou hadst lived all the time since Adam was thrust out of Paradise even unto this present thou wouldst perceive and confesse that thy
this subscription Cras Cras Tomorrow Tomorrow The Earth opens her mouth and flames of fire break forth and tend aloft in which these words are written AEternum quod cruciat That which tormenteth is Eternall Christ coming down from the clouds Two adore with bended knees of diverse sex in the place of all mankinde Behinde them there is a running Houre-glasse or a Diall measuring houres by the running of water called a Clepsydra and a Book lying wide open On one page there is written They spend their dayes in mirth and in a moment go down to the grave On the other page Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Before them stand Two heavenly Angels which embrace them with their arms and pointing at Christ bid them lift up their eyes unto him This is the Picture The meaning follows CHAP. I. Christ inviting CHrist the Eternall sonne of the Eternall God came into this world clad with no other garment then we that is stark naked The garment of immortalitie and innocencie we lost by Adams disobedience And now alas how miserably arayed do we come into this world Christ together with us yea for us suffers punishment and yet was not guilty of any sinne But what means this Crosse upon the shoulders of the Sonne of God It is a bed on which he sâ—ept in death Gâ—lgotha was his chamber The thorns his pillow And the Crosse his bed Which many religious men of former times well considering with themselves have voluntarily and freely chosen to lie hard and take little rest that at the day of resurrection they might rise joyfully to rest Eternall Some as we may reade have made the earth their Mattresse Sackcloth their Sheet and a Stone their Boulster And many there are which do so still to this day But I leave them and return to Christ. He suffered death even that most bitter and shamefull death of the crosse To what end That he might save us from death Eternall Die we must all of us but our death is but short In a moment in the twinkling of an eye the soul is snatched from the body and this is all that which we call Death But it is not so with them in Hell Their torments farre exceed all the sorrows and pangs of death not onely because they are more grievous for their qualitie but also because they are of longer continuance beyond all comparison For they are Eternall So then their torments are alwayes to be tormented and their death to die alwayes And from this death hath Christ the Sonne of God delivered us the Childe that we see described walking amidst the clouds Under his feet is a bare Sceleton or the bare bones of a man which by all signes we may gather to be our forefather Adams Hearken ye children and ye childrens children hearken unto the words of your forefather Adam thus speaking unto you CHAP. II. Adam lamenting O My children happie then indeed if your forefather had known his own happinesse but now miserable and that even in this because mine By me were you destroyed before you were begotten by me were you damned before you were brought forth I fain would be as God and by that means I am left scarce a man Before you could perish you all perished in me I my self do not know whether you may better call me a Father or a Tyrant and a murderer I cannot wonder or complain justly that you are so vicious and so sinfull for you learnt it of me I am sory that you are so disobedient but this you learnt also of me I was first disobedient unto God that made me The Angels in heaven blush and are ashamed to see your gluttonie and intemperance but this is your fathers fault Your pride hath made you odious and detestable before God but this monster first conquered and triumphed over me and so pride became more proud then she was before This is the inheritance you receive from me nothing else but an heap of miseries God indeed of his free good-will gave unto me by a sure promise heaven for an inheritance and intailed it upon you But I have undone you all cut off the intail and prodigally made away all for one bit I valued my wife and an apple more then you all more then heaven more then God A cursed and unhappy dinner for which I deserved to sup in Hell many thousand yeares after I lived in Paradise a garden full of all delight and pleasure beyond imagination God gave me the free use of all things therein onely the fruit of one tree was forbidden me I was Lord of all the creatures I was wise and beautifull strong and lusty I abounded with all manner of delights The aire was then as temperate as could be desired the clouds were clad in bright blew the heaven smiled upon us the Sunne did shine so pure that nothing could be more All things seemed to gratifie us at our new marriage Our eyes could behold nothing but that which was flourishing and pleasing to them Our eares were continually filled with musick the birds those nimble Choristers of the aire ever warbling out their pleasant ditties The earth of it self brought forth odoriferous cinamon and saffron I was compassed about with pleasures on every side I lived free and remote from all care sorrow fear labour sicknesse and death I seemed to be a God upon earth The Angels in heaven rejoyced to see my happinesse there was none that did envy me but my self But because I obeyed not the voice of God all these evils fell upon me I was driven out of Paradise banished from the sight of God and for shame I hid my face Labour sorrow mourning fear teares calamities a thousand miseries seized upon me and quite wearied me out you feel it as many as are of my familie and that which seems to be the end of all temporall miserie and sorrow is oftentimes the beginning of Eternall O my children learn by your own wofull experience learn by your own losse and mine learn I say to be wise at length I will give you but one lesson and it is but in three words which you shall do well to learn by heart and that is To hate sinne Behold Do you not see a grievous flame breaking out hard by me It hath burnt ever since sinne first entred into the world and shall never be put out All other punishments are but light and shall shortly have an end But the damned shall be tormented in this flame for ever and ever Now if we will we may escape it Heaven is set open to all but there is no coming to it but by the way of repentance and the gate of the crosse He that walketh in this way and entreth in at this gate may be certain of his salvation and eternall joy in the kingdome of heaven where he shall have an everlasting habitation This is the counsell of Adam to his children I say
he had been a weeping and thereupon she saith My Sonne what is the matter with thee Why weepest thou Why mournest thou Why keepest thou out of sight to day Why dost thou not come to the table The rest are all there Thy companie is desired Come away But Theodore answered and said I pray you good mother have me excused I finde my self somewhat ill at stomack I pray you do not urge me to eat or drink against my stomack So with a fair and colourable pretence he sent away his mother Then being alone he conferred with God himself about Eternity and strictly examined all the course of his life saying unto himself What am I or What have I been How hath it been with me heretofore or How shall it be with me here after if I lose my part and fellowship in the kingdome of heaven and blessed Eternitie There are divers wayes to heaven Some go one way some another It is no matter which way we go so we come thither But because all wayes are not alike neither are all natures alike every man ought to choose that way which is most convenient There is a short way and a long a safe way and a dangerous If then I be afraid to go a long and dangerous way there is a shorter and a safer which if I shall choose without all doubt I shall have the Angels for my companions and comforters and they will rejoyce with me But my friends will grieve at it at the first it may be but after a while they will also rejoyce Well Theodore deferre a while but not too long and do not yeeld too much I hope I shall one day grow a strong man and then I shall be better able to deal with mine enemies for I shall finde those that are strong But what if they be easie flattering fawning and such as will even weep for me The truth is I am most afraid of such But pluck up a good heart man and though by nature thou art flexible and easily moved yet pray unto Christ and he will make thee strong and immoveable But what if thy mother falls a weeping beseecheth thee with her teares trickling down her cheeks What if she hangs about thy neck and desires thee to spare thy self What if she shews thee her breasts which gave thee suck Will not all these move thee Here remember what Saint Hierom saith Notwithstanding all these importunities run with speed unto the Standard of Christs Crosse It is a vertue and praise-worthy to be cruell in such a case as this It is the portion and inheritance of thy mother the Church to stand under the Crosse of Christ So did Mary the mother of Christ and so must thou if thou wilt have God thy Father in heaven and the Church thy mother on earth And so thou wilt do if thou beest a true Sonne and no bastard But must I do it now in my youth in the very flower of mine age That 's hard So it is indeed to flesh and bloud But experience teacheth it that God is not well pleased with late service for late services are seldome good Therefore they do well that begin to serve God betimes that seek him early and that remember him in the dares of their youth and learn to submit their tender necks unto the yoke of Christ. But I have been brought up tenderly I have been fed with dâ—â—nties and shall I now enter upon a strict and rigid course of life and bid adieu to all my pleasures Shall I be able to endure it I hope I shall But How long For a yeare or two That 's not enough I must go further and continue to the end even as long as I live Therefore weigh and consider the matter well with thy self before thou resolvest and either never begin or else continue to the end I will by Gods assistance for I hope he will not leave me alone to strive with these difficulties which of my self I shall not be able to overcome But it is a hard matter to strive against custome I have hitherto lived like a Noble man and a Freeman and shall I now live like a poore man and a slave or if I do How long shall I live so If I put on the poore mans person and act in the Theatre of this world when shall I put it oft At the end of the last Act. And how farre is it thither As long as it is to the last breath Thy part is not ended till thou art to depart out of this life If thou once comest forth in the poore mans dresse there is no putting it off again Thou must not once think of thy silks fattens and velvets Purple and fine linen thou must not weare untill thou beest clothed with the robe of immortalitie and glory Theodore what thinkest thou shalt thou be able to hold out to the last Act I will strive what I can and comfort my self by the example of other good Actours that have gone before me And whom should I choose rather to follow and imitate then Christ the Sonne of God who voluntarily became poore and made himself of no reputation humbling himself above measure to do and suffer like a servant being Lord of all And shall not I do and suffer any thing after his example Shall not I take up the Crosse and follow him Am I better then he Why should I be afraid to follow when I have such a Leader For who is it Who bids me follow him It is the voice of man that I heare but it is the will of God whom I ought to obey because he commands But this is too high a point of Philosophie for a man to forsake his riches and to embrace povertie And what wilt thou do Theodore Resolve with thy self what to do Why do I thus long doubt and dispute within my self Why do I waveâ— thus between hope and feare Have I not the example of my Lord before mine eyes Did not he suffer many things not to be uttered Was not he nailed to the Crosse and despitefully used He forsook his heavenly treasures and came poore into this world His birth and death showes it At his birth he wanted a cradle in his life he had not where to hide his head and at his death he had not wherewithall to cover his body Naked came he into this world and naked he went out How was it with him in life He was fain to slee from one place to another He was often wearied with travell scorched with heat and drie for thirst He was as indefatigable in doing as he was patient in suffering and both in an high degree Was ever any one so well bent to poverty so patient in labours and so gentle milde when he was reproached And should I be ashamed of such a Leader Should I blush to be called one of his followers Shall not I be content to be such as my Lord and Saviour will have me to
be I am ready for love of him to suffer hunger thirst cold nakednesse povertie and such like I am willing for his sake to be bound burnt and cut in pieces These sufferings are but short they cannot continue long But the joyes or torments of Eternitie are long indeed for they shall never have end Therefore farewell all the world and the things that are in it I care not for you I regard you not Farewell I say But welcome Eternitie whensoever thou comest Thou art the onely thing that I seek after my soul longeth after thee there is nothing that I desire in comparison of thee With the heat of such cogitations his soul was so set on fire that it was inflamed with the love of Eternitie which the blessed shall enjoy in heaven Therefore he resolved to take leave of his parents to forsake his riches and bid adieu to his delights for ever He did not resolve hastily but continued in his resolution constantly He was not soon hot and soon cold He was not altered all on the sudden He did not passe from one extreme to another He did not strive for the highest pitch at the first but rose up by degrees and became one of Pachomius his Scholars You have heard the Prologue But there follows no Tragedie after it For contrarie to the law of a Tragedie we have a sorrowfull beginning but a joyfull ending He came forth with a Lachrymae but went off with a Plaudite At his Intrat there was weeping for grief but at his Exit there was clapping of hands for joy Thus you have heard the life and death of Theodorus whose soul fed as it were upon thoughts of Eternitie and was delighted therewith as with marrow and fatnesse He was not of the worlds minde which counteth Eternitie but a fable but refused not himself to become a fable and a by-word in the world being perswaded fully of a blessed Eternitie and earnestly desiring and thirsting to have a part in it Christian brethren shall I speak a free word but a true or not I but Theodorus Most men live so as if there were no such thing as Eternitie as if it were but a meer fable and feigned thing But what do I tell you of Theodorus Will you heare what Saint Peter saith The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall râ—elâ— with servent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of men ought we to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse But where are these men now adayes by whose holy conversation and godlinesse a man may judge that they beleeve Saint Peter that the day of the Lord is coming and that Eternitie shall follow after But if you will not beleeve Saint Peter heare what truth it self saith Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Certainly men would not go in at the broad gate of destruction if they did think they should come out no more if they did once dream of Eternitie But as I said before most men make Eternitie but a feigned thing a wittie invention to keep men in aw and a good honest fable And yet how many are apt to say We beleeve that there is a blessed Eternitie after this life we hope to have part in it we have a desire and longing after it But alas How little is their faith how vain is their hope How cold is their desire Present pleasures money in the hand the allurements of the flesh steal away the hearts of many and by little and little make the desire and love of Eternitie grow quite cold in them as if they had drowned and buried it in the grave of oblivion We heare it often read and preached Thus saith the Lord This is the commandment of the Lord And as often as we heare it we still neglect it Say the Lord what he will command what he will our old way pleaseth us best We will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart Therefore thus saith the Lord Ask ye now amongst the heathen who hath heard such horrible things Had the people which knew no God but known these secrets of Eternitie certainly they never would have contemned and neglected them Go to now O ye sonnes of men Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hands and no man regarded I will also laugh at your calamitie I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwinde when distresse and anguish cometh upon you when Eternitie shall suddenly overtake you If Death seize upon you in this miserable state and condition there is then no hope of mercy The gate is presently shut there is no opening of it The sentence of condemnation is past there is no repealing of it Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Watch therefore good Christians watch I say The Judge stands at the gate That may happen in a minute that you may be sory for for all Eternitie Antonie the great in a certain Sermon which he made to his people spake thus unto them Dearly beloved brethren in matters of this life we have a care to make good bargains we will be sure to have a penyworth for a peny I lay out for instance so much money and I have the worth of it in wares I give so many crowns and I have so many bushells of wheat So many pounds and I have so many quarters of Malt. But we are not so wise in heavenly matters we will not give things Temporall in exchange for things Eternall Eternall life is a thing not worth looking after we much undervalue it we will scarce give any thing for it we will not take any pains or labour to obtain it And yet what is our labour suppose the greatest we can undergo If it be compared unto life Eternall the reward of it it will not amount to so much as one halfpeny in respect and reference to a Million of Gold For what saith the Psalmist The daves of our life are threescore yeares and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourescore yeares yet is their strength labour and sorrow But suppose a man should live an hundred yeares to speak with the most and all that while serve God zealously and faithfully were it not time well spent to gain Eternitie were not the labour well bestowed to purchase a kingdome I do not mean a kingdome to continue for an hundred yeares onely but throughout all ages not an earthly kingdome but the kingdome of heaven Therefore Christian brethren be not puffed up with vain
glory be not ambitious after worldly honour be not wearied out with well doing be not cast down with afflictions do not sink under the burden of the Crosse but beare it patiently and cheerfully rejoycing with the Apostles that you are counted worthy to suffer For I reckon saith S. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Let no man when he hath forsaken the world think that he hath forsaken any great matter For what is earth in comparison of heaven It is but as a Centre to the Circle a Minute to Eternitie a Drop to the Sea and a Grain of dust to the Drie land What are our riches Fading and uncertain moveables We are soon taken from them or they from us Though with much ado we keep them as long as we live yet whether we will or no we must part with them when we die we cannot carry them to our graves Why do we not then make a vertue of a necessitie why do we not willingly part with them whilest they are ours seeing that shortly we must part with them whether we will or not when death attacheth us for a debt due to Nature and then they can be no longer ours Why do we not lay them out like good Merchants for the Margarite or precious pearl of Eternall life Thus sweetly goes on Athanasius But I must leave him and draw to a conclusion Pachomius was wont whensoever he felt any unlawfull thoughts or desires arise in his minde to drive them away with the remembrance of Eternitie and if at any time he perceived them to rebell again he still repelled them by meditating seriously upon Eternitie the Eternall punishments of the damned the torments without end the fire that never goes out and the worm that never dyeth And here I will conclude this consideration with the exhortation of the same Pachomius Before all things saith he let us every day think upon the last day Let us mâ— time remember Eternitie Let us every minute we have to live so live as if we lived in fear of everlasting torments that so by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ we may for ever escape them 〈◊〉 him be glory both now and 〈◊〉 ever Amen 2 Pet 3. â—8 Because man shall go to his ETERNALL habitation Ecclius Alas how vnlike are the houses of ETERNITIE One of them we must inhabit we must either for ever rejoyce in heaven or for ever burne in hell THE NINTH CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE The first Conclusion NO man living is able in word to expresse or in thought conceive the infinite space of Eternitie Between a true man and a painted man true fire and painted fire there is a great deal of difference and yet these are in some kinde one like unto another But between our common fire and the fire of Hell between the sorrows of this life and the pains of Hell there is no comparison no proportion at all For this life and the sorrows of this life are measured by space of Time but the life to come and the sorrows thereof cannot be measured by any thing but onely Eternitie which also is without measure This doth our Saviour most elegantly expresse in the Gospel of S. John by the Parable of the Vine-branch If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned In these words is Eternitie briefly and plainly described for mark the words well they runne not in the future He shall be cast forth and shall wither and men shall gather them and shall cast them into the fire and they shall be burned I say they runne not in the future but all in the present tense He is cast forth and withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned They are burned This is the state and condition of the damned They are burned that is alwaies burning When a thousand yeares are past and gone As it was in the beginning so it is still They are burned And when a thousand and a thousand more yet are gone As it was so it is They are burned And if after certain millions of yeares the question be asked What is now the state and condition of the damned What do they What suffer they How fares it with them There can be no other answer made but this They are burned still burning continually inutterably Eternally from one age to another even for ever and ever Upon this place excellently saith Saint Augustine One of these two must needs be the condition of the vine-branch either it must abide in the vine or else be cast into the fire if not in the vine then certainly in the fire But that it may not be cast into the fire let it still abide in the vine The Second Conclusion IF those men which do still continue in their sinnes did but know how neare they are unto Eternitie and everlasting torments if they did consider well with themselves how that God in a moment in a breath in the twinkling of an eye as we speak may suddenly take them away in their sinnes and deliver them up unto death Then surely if they had it they would give all Spain all the treasures of Asia all the gold of India yea all the world to obtain but one houre to confesse their sinnes to repent them of the same and to ask God pardon and forgivenesse They would not certainly they would not still hug and embrace their sinnes they would not every day multiply them as they do they would not lodge them every night in their bosome and lie snorting in them For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Though thou losest every thing else in the world yet O man have a care to keep thy soul. It were needlesse here to reckon up a Catalogue of the Martyrs of Christ in all ages There are whole books of them in great volumes they are recorded to all posteritie and their names shall be had in everlasting remembrance But the greatest honour that we can do them is to follow their good example to learn of them Christian fortitude and magnanimitie to fear God more then man God which is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell rather then man which can onely kill the body but is not able to kill the soul to love God more then all the world to be willing to part with all for Christ to lay down our lives for Christ to lose all to save our souls and gain Eternitie I will conclude here with that excellent exhortation of Saint Augustine What then shall we do brethren What What else but whilest we have time amend our lives where we have done amisse do so no more become new men That what is
threatned and shall certainly come upon wicked and ungodly men may not fall upon us not because we shall not be but because we shall not be like unto them Whatsoever is written in the Scripture is written for our learning it is the voice of God Observe and make good use of what you reade Whatsoever we suffer in this life is but the gentle rod of our most mercifull father who correcteth us here as his deare children that we be not tormented with the damned hereafter Why then do the light afflictions of this life seem so grievous unto us Why do we even tremble and quake for fear when we do but heare of them The most grievous sufferings of this life if we judge aright of them in comparison of everlasting fire are very small yea indeed none at all The Third Conclusion AMongst Christians God knows there are a great many that either beleeve there is neither Heaven nor Hell or else if they did truely beleeve it would certainly live otherwise then they do As concerning such men the question may be very fitly asked when the Sonne of man cometh shall he finde faith upon the earth Some there are that would fain be thought to be true beleevers They confesse it indeed with their mouthes but dissemble with their double hearts If their words may be beleeved they may go for true beleevers but if their lives be examined they may be thought to be no better then Insidels They never think upon Eternitie or very seldome and when they do they do but think upon it and there is all it is gone in a thought they never weigh well with themselves what it is they never seriously meditate upon it they never rouse their understanding to be intent upon it they never bend their wills and affections to seek after it they never imprint it in their deep cogitations that so they may remember it They scarce begin to think upon it but their mindes are presently somewhere else their thoughts go a wandring their imagination is working upon somewhat else And if at any time some sparks of devotion and godly desires arise in their hearts they are presently quenched and choked with cares of this world with multitude of businesse with profits or pleasures and such like And thus miserable men they stop their eares and close their eyes and without fear or understanding they run hudwinkt in the way that leadeth to Eternall death It is observed by the holy Fathers of the Glutton in the Gospell that he never lifted up his eyes till he was in torments All his life long they were shut against the poore and against all godlinesse He opened them not till he was in Hell when it was too late And it is no marvell that so many men runne blind-fold to the house of slaughter and Eternall sorrow For the way is very broad and pleasant smooth and plain a man can hardly go out of it there is no fear of losing himself till he comes to the end thereof Then he shall perceive that all the while he was travelling he was quite out of the right way then I say when there is no returning back again Many would like this way well if there were no end thereof For though it rids merrily it ends miserably and therefore they do wisely that leave the great rode and travell on in the rough way that choose rather to go through briers and thorns unto an Eternall Paradise then through a pleasant Paradise to an Eternall prison that resolve with themselves to break through all difficulties counting it better to go on weeping and mourning in the narrow way of salvation rather then laughing and rejoycing in the broad way of destruction Most true it is which Job speaketh As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more The Fourth Conclusion WHosoever useth to descend into a deep and serious consideration of Eternitie he will be so farre from living licentiously and wantonly that you shall hardly ever see him laughing heartily It hath been observed of as many as have been raised from the dead and turned again unto life that they were scarce ever seen to laugh at all In particular it hath been observed of Lazarus of Bethanie whom Christ loved He and they as many as have been raised from the dead might truely say with the Preacher I said of laughter It is mad and of mirth what doth it Not without cause in this doth Cyrill of Alexandria confesse himself to be fearfull For he saith thus I am afraid of Hell and the punishments thereof because they have no end I am afraid of the devouring worm because it never dieth Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Whosoever is not bettered by the consideration of Eternitie I dare boldly say and think I may say it truely either he hath no faith at all or if he hath any faith he hath no heart at all or at the best it is but an heart that is dead and without all sense It was the witty saying of a learned man That marriage was a short and a sweet song but that it had a long and a dolefull close So we may most truely say of all the pleasures that we take in sinne That it is a short and a merry song but it ends in mourning and lamentation or rather It is a song short for Tune and sweet for Tune as long as it â—asteth for it runnes much upon Quavers and Semiquavers of 〈◊〉 and Jubilation But the Time suddenly changeth and the Tune is altâ—red for there follows without any rest the Larges and Longs of sorrow and lamentation which cannot be measured by 〈…〉 For the torments of 〈…〉 Eternall Oh Eternitie Eternitie Eternitie The Fifth Conclusion WHensoever we speak of Eternitie we speak alwayes with the least but we can never speak too much of it Whatsoever is said comes short of it No words can utter it no figures number it no time can measure it For Eternitie is of this nature take from it what you will it is still the same It is neither increased by addition nor diminished by subtraction Suppose there were subtracted from it so many yeares as there are starres in the firmament drops in the sea sands on the shore leaves on the trees grasse in the field moâ—es in the Sunne dust on the earth What remains As much as there was before the subtraction Suppose there were so many yeares added to it What then is the Result The same that it was before the addition The totall summe is neither more nor lesse then what it was that is Eternitie As long as God is so long shall the damned be tormented This we have shadowed out before by some similitudes and resemblances unto which we will adde one more out
present ever Thou hast peace that ever lasteth Health and life that never wasteth God is all in all Glorious things are spoken of thee O Citie of God In thee have their habitation all those that rejoyce In thee there is no fear in thee no sorrow All desires are turned to joyes Whatsoever a man can wish for is present with thee Whatsoever can be desired is in thee in abundance They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light when we shall see thee in thy self and thee in us and our selves in thee living in everlasting felicitie and enjoying the beatificall vision of thee for ever And though this felicitie be everlasting yet a man may obtain it in a short time and with little labour I have compassion on the multitude saith our Saviour because they have now been with me three dayes and have nothing to eat Sweet Saviour dost thou count it such a matter for us to abide with thee three dayes and eat nothing And why sweet Jesus dost thou not rather tell us of the dayes of Eternitie and the everlasting joyes wherewith we shall be abundantly satisfied in the kingdome of heaven God taketh notice of the least service that we perform and it is precious in his sight He telleth the very hairs of our heads and much more then will he tell the drops of bloud that are spilt for his sake and put them up in the bottle of his remembrance We may therefore very well cry out with Saint Hierom Oh! How great a blessednesse is this To receive great things for small and Eternall things for Temporall and further to have the Lord our debtour But thou wilt be ready to say It goes hard to be in sufferings every day and though all other things might easily be endured yet death is terrible Christian brother I am ashamed to heare thee say so it is foolishly spoken and like a childe Knowest thou not thus much I know that I ascend to descend flourish to wither am young to grow old live to die and die to live blessed Eternally Trust therefore in the Lord for ever For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Again S. Augustine comes unto my minde who upon the words of our Lord saith thus Our Lord and Saviour concluded with these words saying These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life Eternal It is life Eternall that is here promised Because men love to live here upon earth therefore life is promised unto them And because they are much afraid to die therefore life Eternall is promised unto them What wouldest thou have Life Well thou shalt have it What art thou afraid of Is it Death Well thou shalt not suffer it But they which shall be tormented in Hell fire shall have a desire to die and death shall flie from them To live long therefore is no great matter yea more To live alwayes is no great matter but To live blessed that is a thing to be desired that is a great matter indeed Therefore thou shalt live in heaven and shalt never die There shalt thou live blessed for evermore for neither shalt thou suffer any evil neither shalt thou be in fear of suffering for there it is impossible to suffer any evil There shalt thou possesse whatsoever thou canst desire and what thou possessest thou shalt desire still to possesse Thou canst not be cast out of possession And this shall satisfie thee It was there that David did expect to have his thirst quenched and his hunger satisfied In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore and again My soul thirsteth after thee and yet again As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse This is a new and a strange voice for a King He hath his table well furnished with all kindes of dishes and yet as if he were hunger-starved he hopes to be filled at anothers table His own bread and his own wine would not serve his turn to appease his hunger or to quench his thirst There was other bread that he had a minde to and other liquour that he so thirsted after the bread of heaven and the water of life For what is the plenty and abundance of all the Kings of the earth It is nothing else but meere want And what is the daintie fare at their great tables It is but like the beggers pitcher if it be compared with the fatnesse of Gods house and his heavenly table Come eat and drink and be filled my beloved shall the King of heaven say This feast of mine shall never be ended there shall come no sorrow after it As it is To day so shall it be For ever and ever Neither can Saint Augustine here contain himself but he breaks forth again into this exclamation Oh life of lives surpassing all life Oh everlasting life Oh life blessed for ever where there is joy without sorrow rest without labour riches without losse health without sicknesse there is no such matter in this life abundance without defect life without death perpetuitie without corruptibilitie beatitude without calamitie where all good things are in perfect charitie where all knowledge is in all things and through all things where the Majestie of God is seen in presence where the minde of the beholders is filled with the bread of life They alwayes behold Gods presence and still they desire to behold it they desire to behold it and yet without anxietie they are satisfied with it and yet without satietie And that thou maist understand and know good Christian brother that this superexcellent glory these celestiall riches this heavenly kingdome is to be bought heare what the same Saint Augustine saith I have to sell saith God I have to sell come and buy it Lord what is it that thou hast to sell I have rest Come and buy it What is the price of it The price is labour And how much labour is Eternall rest worth If thou wilt speak the truth and judge aright Eternall rest is worth Eternall labour It is true indeed but do not fear For God is mercifull For should thy labour be Eternall thou shouldest never attain to rest Eternall But that thou maist attain at length to rest Eternall therefore thy labour shall not be Eternall not but that it is worth so much but that thou maist at length get the possession of it Indeed it is worth the price though it be labour Eternall But that it may be purchased and possessed it is necessarie that the price thereof be but labour Temporall Therefore Christian brethren let us rouse up our selves and stirre up one another with this exhortation of Saint Augustine which here followeth Let us
be sure to die the death of the godly And whosoever liveth the life of the ungodly shall be sure to die the death of the ungodly once he shall die but that once shall be alwayes and that alwayes for ever and ever A certain Souldier being called in question by Lamâ—chus a Centurion for some misdemeanour or other committed in the camp earnestly desired pardon for that once and promised never to offend in the like kinde again But the Centurion made him this answer In bello bone vir non licebit bis peccare Oh Sir know you thus much There is no offending in warre twice But in death alas there is no offending once There is no hope of pardon Once dead and alwayes dead He that dies once ill is damned for ever There is no returning again to life to amend what was done amisse There is no appealing from the sentence of condemnation if it be once passed As death leaves a man so judgement findes him and as judgement leaves him so Eternitie findes him It is the saying of Iphicrates That it is a shame for an Emperour at any time to say with the fool Non putâram I did not think it But it is a greater shame for a Christian man to say Non putâram I did not think there had been such a difference between a chaste life and a voluptuous life I did not think that Eternitie was to follow after this life I did not think that I should have died so suddenly Alas Alas How sleepily do we go about the businesse of Eternitie whereas the nature of this mortall life of ours is such that we cannot be certain at any time that we shall live for any time no not so much as for one minute when as we know for certain that we must depart from hence and yet are most uncertain at what houre we shall depart and when that houre shall come then also we shall seem not so much to have lived as to have posted unto death in a moment Here we are but as sojourners in a strange land and not as citizens in our own countrey we are but Tenants at will and not Freeholders Will we nill we we must depart For here have we no continuing Citie but we seek one to come The holy Prophet Baruch asketh this question Where are the Princes of the heathen become and such as ruled the beasts upon the earth that hoorded up silver and gold and made no end of their getting Do they retain and keep their kingdomes and their glory still Not so For thus saith the Prophet answering his own question They are vanished and gone down to the grave and others are come up in their steads They are vanished saith the Prophet For they were but sojourners and no citizens they are gone and others are come up in their steads their houses are let out to others and they are cast out themselves and gone down to the grave But if the question be asked again Where are the Princes of heaven whose dwelling is above the seventh Sphere where are they It may be answered likewise that They are also vanished and others are come in their steads but they are translated to the kingdome of heaven there to abide for ever without all fear of being dispossessed Let us crown our selves with Rose buds sing those men of most loose and deplorate lives Why with Rose buds Because the beauty and smell of them is gone in one day and they are withered and such fading crowns do best become those which shall shortly perish But as for the Blessed it is not so with them but they are crowned with jewells and precious stones whose beautie never fadeth The woman mentioned in the Revelation had upon her head a crown not of Rose buds of the garden nor of jewels of the sea but of the Starres of heaven As then the heavenly orbs are incorruptible so likewise they that inhabite them are incorruptible they are not subject to any change they are immortall The righteous live for evermore All worldly things are transitorie but heavenly things are everlasting Here are we wearied with labour but there shall we be refreshed with Eternall rest Why do we seek for rest before our labour is ended We are yet upon the Stage Therefore we must act our parts We have to deal with potent enemies Therefore we must be alwayes prepared to fight We are still in our race Therefore we must hold out to the last Let us then so act our parts that the Angels may rejoyce to be Spectatours let us so fight that we may winne the Crown let us so runne that we may obtain Well saith S. Gregorie If we well consider with our selves what and how great things are promised unto us in heaven all things on earth will seem vile unto us For what tongue can sufficiently expresse or what heart conceive how great the joyes be in that Citie which is above Where we shall beare a part in the heavenly Quire with Angels evermore lauding and praising God where we shall be in Gods presence and see him face to face where we shall behold light incomprehensible where we shall be in no fear of death where we shall have the priviledge of heavenly Saints and Citizens to be for ever incorruptible Me thinks I finde my minde inflamed and set on fire whilest I am speaking of these joyes and me thinks it should set on fire all that heare it Me thinks it should so work upon us all that even now we should most earnestly and ardently desire to be there where we hope to be for ever hereafter But thus much we must know That there is no coming there without much labour It is not I but Paul the Preacher that saith it A man is not crowned except he strive lawfully Let then the greatnesse of the reward encourage us and prick us forward and let not the labour and pains the short labour and the little pains hinder us or keep us back We must go on and we must go on with perseverance we must not so much consider the roughnesse of the way as the blessed Eternitie which is the end thereof And this the same holy Father declares most excellently saying This is a speciall badge and cognizance of the elect that they know how to carry themselves in the way of this present life in such manner that by the certainty of hope they are assured that they have attained unto a great pitch in as much as they see all transitorie things farre beneath them and for the love of Eternitie trample all sublunarie things under their feet And this is it which the Lord speaketh by the mouth of his holy Prophet saying unto every soul that followeth him I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth For as for losses reproaches povertie disgrace and such like these are as I may so call them the lower places of the earth which the