night and day to repeat While we have time let us work good to all An impure conscience is here unquiet hereafter it will be furiously tormented for ever SECT 7. THe force of conscience is incredible especially after the scene of this life is acted for in the presence of God every one will so blush at his own faults that though heaven were set open and the soul uncleansed were invited to enter nevertheless through horror of its own stains it would fly back and refuse to go in till all its spots were expiated So much the conscience has aversion of and blushes at her own offenses Therefore while we have time let us work good to all for as St. Austin discourses Who ever doth not deceive himself by flattery understands well in how great danger of eternal death and how far short of perfect holiness he lives during his pilgrimage here on earth Now then let us look to it and not resist the wholsom warning our conscience gives us The conscience is never silent if it meet with a peaceable and attentive hearer And truly this is exceeding profitable so to feel the worm in our bosom here as not to be troubled with it hereafter eternally St. Serm. DeiCon vert Bernard attests thus much saying It is best then to feel the worm when it may be stilled Therefore let it bite now that it may dye and so bite no more While it bites here it feeds upon what is putrified and biteing consume it that it may be consumed together with it lest being made much of it should become immortal It is therefore much better to be warned here then by our conscience to be murthered hereafter for as the same Saint adds Lib. de Animâ— Those who are exilled from heaven shall be tortured in flesh with fire and in spirit by the word of conscience There is pain unsuffâ—rable horrible fear incomparable stench death of soul and body without hope of pardon and mercy Yet shall they dye so as that they shall ever lâ—ve and so live that they shall ever dye What shall we do O mortals Our life is short the way long the end of the way doubtful time little nothing more certain then death nor uncertain then the hour the continuance of reward â—nd pain everlasting both which depend on a moment for eternity What then O mortals what shall we do CHAP. VIII The Seventh Torment of Eternity in Hell is the Place and Company CAto Censor A man of approved vertue was accustomed to give this admonition to them who were about to buy Land that in the first place they should be sure to provide for good neighbours An ill neighbour is a great evil whence that saying of Themistocles delivered by Plutarch is well known for having a farm to sell he commanded the cryer who gave notice of the sale he should likewise certifie That it had good neighbours A ruinous and inconvenient building if it be near bad company will meet with few buyers All exiled from heaven have such places of abode that our styes and dog-kennels compared to them might seem places or lodgings fit for Kings Besides the inconveniency of the place there is company displeasing beyond expression of so many millions of devils and damned men all sworn enemies to God so as if they were in Paradise they would make one abhor it This then is the seventh torment of eternity in hell the place and company that miserable above measure this detestable beyond imagination The Judg in his definitive sentence comprehended both saying This house of flames this dreadful prison which was prepared for the devil and his angels did not concern you in the beginning Mat. 25 but in regard you valued more the familiarity of mine enemies then my favour Go now go and dwell amongst them whose company heretofore you were so much taken with go into fire everlasting which was not prepared for you but for the devil and his angels It somtimes cometh to pass that a Schoolmaster for the fault of onâ— commands rods to be made ready but for as much as others by and by become faulty too he says These rods were not tyed together for you but because you have committed the same offence with that untoward boy you shall likewise be whipt with him In like manner Christ speaks to his enemies My intent was you should have enjoyed the society of Angels Paradise was made ready for you but since you have cast away all goodness and would not obey me but the devil Go therefore go go and make your abode in the devils den remain in that company your selves have provided Of this both place and company we now treat SECT 1. BEfore we enter into the Place le ts take a view of the ground Antientently at the left hand of the entrance into Yrimalcions house not far from the Porters lodg was painted upon the wall a mighty dog in a chain over whom was written in Capital Letters Take heed take heed of the dog Many such dogs as these are in hell so many Cerberus's as devils which are far more ravenous then all Cerberus's Here both by writing and words I exclaim Take heed take heed of these dogs But now let us look upon the place It is agreed upon as well by antient Fathers as Divines that those comfortless caverns of hell are seated in the center of the earth holy writt likewise affirmes the same For after they who rebelled against Moyses were separated from the people of God Num. 16 v 32 The earth brake in sunder under their feet opening her mouth devoured them with their tabernacles and all their substance and they went down into hell quick covered with the ground This prison of the wicked is rightly seated in the lowest place as the habitation of the blessed is on the highest noblest and most pleasant Of that prison we may frame this discourse In case the damned amount to thirty times a thousand millions of men or a hundred thousand millions and that fiery prison according to its whole dimenfion of height bredth and length contain one German mile it will have room enough for that wonderful number of men Streitness sutes well with the prison it being proper for liberty to enjoy an ample habitation But the croud of the damned those dogs and swine shall dwell in a narrow compass and shall be like grapes in a wine press or salt harrings in a barrel or bricks in a kill or pieces of wood in a pyle or hot glowing coles in an iron-grate or like sheep butcher'd in the shambles they shall be close and streitly thronged together The narrowness of the prison and their being pressed one near to another makes no small addition to their torments Into this slender compass God will conveigh all the sewers and filth of the world The greatest joy this world affords is not a little diminisht by loathsomness of place Who would esteem it a pleasure
miserable wretches shall fry in eternal flames for Eternity and longer In body they shall be tormented by fire and in spirit by the worm of Conscience There shall be pain intollerable horrible fear and stink incomparable death both of soul and body without hope either of pardon or mercy And yet shall they so dye as that they shall alwaies live and so live as that they shall ever dye Thus the soul of a sinner is either in hell tormented for sins or for good works placed in Paradise Now therefore let us choose one of the two either to be for ever tormented with the wicked or to rejoyce with Saints perpetually For good and evil life and death are set before us that we may stretch forth our hand to which we choose If pains do not terrify us at least let rewards invite us These things we are tought by Faith which yet as we declared before we either permit to degenerate into drowsness and sloath or wholly to perish Peter Barocius Lib. 2. de ratione bene moriendi Bishop of Padua recounts how a certain man famous for learning appeared after death to one of his intimate friends and spoke to him in this manner At the hour of Death in matters of Faith I was shamefully deceived by the Devil In which condition death found me carried me away and presented me to the judge by whom I was commanded to depart into flames Which though they be excessive yet should I deem them tollerable if after a thousand thousand years they were to have an end But they are eternal and so sharp as the like was never seen in this world Accursed be that knowledge which threw me headlong into so great misery After he had spoken thus he disappeared but his surviveing friend astonisht at the relation and especially strook with his friends eternal damnation consulted with his best friends what advice were most profitable for him in this case He became a new man and dyed holily The Conclusion THerefore St. Psal 68. Austin discoursed well Who saith he would not drink off a cup of temporal tribulation for fear of hell fire And who would not despise the sweetness of worldly pleasure out of love to the delights of everlasting life a greater fear makes us contemn smaller matters and a greater longing after Eternity makes us loath all temporal things As much saith St. Chrysostome as a grain of Sand Tom. 4. hom 11 in ep ad titum or a drop comes short of the immense abiss so far doth this present life differ from eternal and never ending treasures The things we have we do not truly possess we only make use of them and that improperly too T is vertue alone which will bear us company in our journey hence T is vertue alone which hath admittance into everlasting life Let us then at length open our eyes and quite extinguish all appetite to worldly wealth that all our desire may be placed on eternal But alas how great want of consideration is to be found amongst men how great blindness we wrangle for a half penny and make a laughter and jest on 't to lose Heaven Thus we are infected with the ordinary contagion of madness and take pleasure to perish for company Dost thou not blush saith St. Chrysostome to be so wedded to things present When wilt thou part with thy youth toyes and lay a side thy wonted folly What ever is here troublesome is of small continuance what is delightful there is everlasting Remove therefore thy mind from transitory and fading goods and settle it on better and eternal eagerly thirst after Heaven that thou maiest enjoy delights to come Is not reward of force to invite thee at least let fear of torment keep thee in awe Those punishments therefore saith Valerianus ought to have the first place in our thoughts where man lives while the pain lasts where neither pains are wanting to the body nor the body to pains To the like intent writes St. Chrysostome If the Ninivites had not been afraid of destruction Tom. 2. in epist 1. ad Thess they had bin destroyed If in the time of Noe they had feared the deluge they had not been drowned If the Sodomites had dreaded the fire they had not been burned It is a great misery to contemn menaces Nothing is so profitable as frequently to treat of hell speak of it every day that you may never fall into it A soul solicitous to escape hell cannot easily commit sin None of those who have a lively remembrance of hell will fall into it as none who sleight hell will escape it A certain man as Iohn Moscus relates came to Alexander Prat. spur c. 141. a venerable person who governed the Monastery of Abbot Gerasimus and said unto him Father I have a design to flit from my old habitation because the unpleasant situation of it is irksome to me To whom the good old man spoke in this manner Son this is a manifest sign you never consider with attention either the joyes of heaven or the pains of hell for if you did seriously weigh these things in your mind beleive me you would find no fault with your old habitation This was an Oracle of truth for who ever meditates attentively on heaven or hell either is not sensible of difficulty though never so great or if he be he makes his benefit of it and is most ready to undergo greater hardships so he may avoid eternal pains Of this temper was Abbot Olympius as Clymacus testifies who being asked how he could abide to live in such a Cave how he could endure such excessive heats or pass so many daies amongst whole swarms of gnats and flies he returned this answer I suffer these things willingly that I may be freed from future torments I am content to be bitten with gnats because I am afraid of the worm that never dyes heat is welcome to me in regard I stand in fear of fire everlasting for those sufferings pass away with time and will quickly have an end but these are without end and continue for eternity Wherefore these things deserve our dayly consideration and ought to be ruminated when our thoughts are most active As Physick is taken by way of prevention even when the body is well in health so likewise must our soul be prepared with these considerations to withstand vice I confess these thoughts are somewhat bitter but they are wholesome too they do not become familiar upon a suddain but by degrees time place and practise will nourish and bring them to maturity All idleness is a sworn enemy unto them which as it is pernitious to vertue so it opens an easy passage to let in all kind of vices Go too then c. 27. ver 4. who ever thou be and provide in time for thy own salvation Give ear to the Prophesy of Ecclesiasticus If thou hold not thy self instantly in the fear of our Lord thy house shall quickly be subverted It is now in thy choice whether thou wilt reign or perish A soft bed seldome makes a Souldier more valiant remember that beatitude is a daughter of labour and vertue Let none saith St. Tom. 10 ser 60. de tem Austin he ashamed to do pennance who was not ashamed to commit sin but let him strive without delay to renew himself by good works that he may be owned for a child by his father least being excluded from the Wedding feast and shut out from eternal bliss he have his hands and feet bound and be cast into exteriour darkness Excellently said Turtullian The ceasing from sin is the root of pardon the meditation of hell is the begining of salvation seeing hell abounds with all evil it wants chiefly that good which is the best amidst evils an end of Torment An End of this Treatise But where art thou O end of eternal Torments
dish though otherwise most vile which the appetite most longs for Hence it may come to pass that one may offend more grieveously with feasting on toad-stools then another on Partridge and Feasants Esau was reprehended for over greedily gurmandiling a dish of Pulse-Pottage not for eating fat Hens or Capons The third fault is to lavish too much time and treasure in feasting many feast in a Circle as the children of Iob did they leave scarce one day in a year free from Riot and Excesse in Banqueting Parents now and then Prophesie to their children Wo be to thee my boy when thou comest into strange countries where thou shalt want those dainties thou didst enjoy at home How uncouth will it be for thee either to take pains or starve The like may be returned to the Parents Wo be to you who feed plentifully every day how will you be able to digest Hunger and Thirst The fourth fault of Gluttony is rashly to violate the Laws of Fast or at least to expound them as they list Hence the fast of forty dayes in Lent is changed into ten or twenty dayes temperance Many beleive they are fasting when they are not drunk We are now come to that pass as to perswade our selves that fasting was only ordained for Religious People others are so favourable Interpreters of this Law as they still find some excuse to free them from fasting But the Physitian you say and my Confessour exempt me from fasting true but over entreated by your importunity I beleive they would be of another opinion if they met with one less eloquent and more indigent The first is Drunkenness the Origin of many crimes and of all Vices the most dangerous because if a drunken man chance to fall suddainly which is not unusual or be surprised with some disease which hales him to the Gates of Death where poor wretch unable to grieve for his sins or to raise his mind up to his Maker in the state of mortal sin and ignorant of his sad condition he is hurried away to Eternity alas a prey to Death and to the Devil SECT 2. VVO therefore wo to you that are filled In spec because you shall be hungry With good reason said Reginaldetus Infinite men shall be damned for this sin of Gluttony Gluttony has an ample command and is much assistent to all sorts of vices ch 16. Lo this saies Ezechiel was the iniquity of Sodom fulness of Bread and abundance and the idleness of her For this cause our Saviour most carefully warns us Look well to your selves Luk. 27.34 lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged wi h surfeting and drunkenness For that is the malice of this vice not only to burden the body but likewise to fasten the soul to earth to trample it under foot and throw it headlong into Hell Here is Hunger and Thirst here is a long fast Because you shall be Hungry Consider what a great share of our misery it is that we neither value nor sufficiently understand the affaires of the next life Which of us has made tryal of extream Famine Hence we weigh not our own nor the Famine in Hell A pattern of this manifestly appears in Cities Besieged and in close Prisons For to that extreamity are people brought by rageing hunger that not only Dogs Cats and Horses but also Mice Serpents and Toads are greedily devoured by them they pluck the Grass up by the roots they strip their Bucklers off their skins to feed on Hunger compels them to convert into mans meat the Excrements of Birds and Beasts yea and the bodies too of their dearest friends Cambises Lib. 3. de tra as Seneca relates conducted a vast Army through Sands and Deserts into Aethiopia but being scarce well entred upon their march their Victuals and Provision failed their way was unknown unto them and that barren and barbarous Nation afforded them no releif Tender sprouts and tops of trees supplyed their wants in the begining afterwards they boyled skins or what ever they met with to asswage their hunger in fine neither finding Herbs Rats nor Cattel they slaughtered every tenth man a remedy against Famine worse then Famine it self This was but a little Hunger put them upon more cruel designs The Mother 's butchered their own Children as if they had been Chickens and with their own teeth tore in peices members dearer then their life This may yet seem little when compared to more wild attempts How often have people in Prison massacred themselves through hunger and fed upon their own limbs what way soever they could lay hold upon arms or shoulders thither their teeth hastned to make a prey of themselves to their own destruction SECT 3. NOw to the matter in hand This hunger which we behold with our eyes we are not sufficiently capable of and how then shall we understand that most rageing and eternal Famine in Hell by how much our hunger is more Rampant by so much it is the shorter whereas that other though most furious is nevertheless everlasting Wo to you because you shall be hungry Good Lord what a Countrey is this which sets before us for great dainties Horseflesh raw Mice and Toads with Pigeon dung of which notwithstanding we cannot obtain our fill we would esteem it a special favour to part from life but even that is denied Apoc. c. 9. They shall desire to dye and death will fly from them Everlasting hunger is unexplicable everlasting thirst intolerable To these Torments that other may be adjoyned Divines affirme that the delights in Heaven shall be so aboundant as to fill all the Members and Senses of the blessed with peculiar happiness Hereupon the tast and tongue shall swim in a juice of most delicious sweetness in so much that each one of the blessed may seem to enjoy this Divine repast according to and beyond all they can desire Contrary wise that malignant tongue of the Damned shall flow in bitter Gall this was foretold by the Hebrew Prophet Deut. 2. ch 32. The Gall of Dragons their Wine and the Venim of Asps uncurable No sweetness can be of force to mitigate this hunger or temper the bitterness of this Gall their torments are uncurable Moreover some are of opinion that they are afflicted with most cruel fits of the tooth-ach who ever has experienced these in this life let him imagine how afflictive they will be after death In case there were no other torments in Hell besides those of the teeth or head-ake or Gout or Stone and these being to endure for ever what expences labour and royl would one undergo to be quit of them But we fear and fear not these things while with exceeding cheerfulness we commit sins more to be feared In Inns now and then wee feed plentifully we drink off full bowls we sing merrily we dance and skip about but as soon as the Host brings in the reckoning and calls his guests to an account they are
and senseless with eyes and ears shut loosed the reins to lust and by joint example drew one another to destruction Hither unhappy that we are we posted amain and despâ—sing all admonition ran upon death alas death eternal What good do we reap now from all that the deceitful world fobb'd us with the memory of pleasures past is worse then death to us all delight is gone and quite vanisht away which though we might have enjoyed for some ages what had those joys been to these torments Alas we leaped only at a shadow of bitter pleasure Who was it that did so cruelly bewitch us O that we had but once a year seriously meditated on eternity O that we had now but one day one sole hour at our own disposal But O these wishes are in vain we are utterly undone all our hope is turned into despair Accursed be the day in which we were born accursed be God by whom we were created Here I stop my pen and send back these impious words thither from whence they came Let him be wise and beware in time whoever desires to escape this dreadful butchery of conscience SECT 5. IT were incredible if our eyes were not witnesses how industrious and witty how attentive and serious how watchful and quick-sighted how knowing and wary we are in amassing together things of this world When affairs of the body are to be looked after then it is we are wise careful and laborious here is the center of our lives and actions Behold I pray how exquisitely some have their Garments Embroydered see what artificial pictures edifices and statues others possess look upon that fine linnen which many wear for whiteness like snow for thinness equal to the spiders web look upon those master-pieces of art clocks musick with other forreign merchandise O how acute and unfatigable are we in raising works of handy-craft to perfection in heaping up wealth in dispatching worldly business and attaining honour When as God knows all these things are fading transitory and pass away in a moment Contrary-wise when any thing is to be done for heaven good Lord how dull and stupid how slothful and heedless how frosen and drowsie are we In this business alone we go coldly to work we languish we loyter we lay us down by the way T. Kem. l. 3 c. 3. It was most truly spoken For a little Prebend a long journey is undertaken for everlasting life many will scarce once lift a foot from the ground Here we are all as if we were struck with a palsie we snort and the devil stands centinel But when the soul once awakes indeed the conscience will no longer be lulled a sleep it will pinch gnaw vex and torture for eternity Their Worm dyeth not This Worm is fed with unexplicable dolours with sorrow void of all comfort The damned grieve for the loss of beatitude without hope of ever repairing that immense damage they think without ceasing it was their own folly drowned them in that Ocean of sadness neither will it ever be in their power to divert their fancy from that dismal thought to any other that may exhilerate them St. Bernard did contemplate these things attentively Lib. â— deâ— coâ—fiâ— c. 12. What is so painful saith he as always to have a mind of that which you shall never compass and always to loath that you shall ever have The damned shall for ever covet that which they shall never obtain and what they utterly dislike they must endure eternally Amongst so great a multitude of spectatours no ones eye will be more troublesome then every one 's to himself There is no sight either in heaven or earth which the darksome conscience would rather avoid but cannot Darkness is not covered from it self it beholds it self that can discover nothing else The works of darkness follow them they can hide themselves no where from darkness no not in darkness it self Here is the worm that dyeth not the remembrance of things past which being once cast into or rather bred in the soul by sin sticks so fast that henceforth it can never be pluckt away It doth not cease to gnaw the conscience wherewith being fed as with inconsumptive food it preserves its life perpetually I tremble at this gnawing worm Mat. 2â— and living death I tremble for fear of falling into the hands of living death and dying life Therefore while the soul endures the memory endures but what an one stained with sins rough with crimes swoln with vanity evergrown and neglected through contempt All which though they have gone before yet are they not passed they have passed from the hand to the mind That which is done cannot be undone wherefore though the doing was in time yet the having been done remains for ever that doth not pass away with time which goes away beyond all time It is therefore necessary that should torment for ever which thou shall ever remember to have done amiss Hitherto St. Bernard SECT 6. ADivine and Suffragan Bishop of St. Th Can Dominicks Order a faithful writer of the History of his time relates a strange passage in this manner A Bishop there was in in Germany of Princely race from which by his life and means he did degenerate This same man at first was somewhat bashful in gapeing after gold and in giving way to secret venery afterwards he proceeded further so as not careing to amend his life he loosed the reins to things forbidden and freely abandoned him self to rapine and luxury God checked him sundry ways one while by sickness another while by other calamities inviting him to reform his life In fine as he led a debaucht life so he took a miserable end At that very time Conrade Bishop of Hildeâ—heim was got out a bed to go to Mattins Hildemensis which ended he betook himself to his study to prepare for a Sermon next day Here being for some space in an ecstasy he thought he saw a Bishop with a Mitre on his head but with his face covered hurried away to judgment Presently his accusers laid to his charge that he was chiefly infamous for rapine and guilty of lust Here the Judg spoke to some of his attendance Examine his cause and give sentence They did so and forthwith the Executioners took away from the condemned Person his Mitre Ring and other Ornaments which they cast at the feet of the supream Judg. The attends rise up and as they go away each one for a conclusion of their Judgment says Therefore while we have time Paul Galaâ— c 6. vs 10. let us work good to all These things the foresaid Bishop beheld who after he came to himself found his head busied with enquiring what Bishop it might be which died at that time When lo one weeping at the Gate declares how his Master whom he named coming last evening ino the next village was suddainly dead Conrade at this lamentable accident fetcht a deep sigh resolving with tears
shall live in their torments but they shall so live in them as if it were possible they would dye but no one makes an end of them that their pains may last for ever Their pains there are not only endless but likewise so perpetually renewed as that they are always new They shall burn says Job c. 20. and all sorrow shall fall upon them Whence they will be seised with most desperate fury and most furious despair Some indeed despair and that but once because death allows them no longer time But in hell they despair a thousand times an hour yea their despair is without ceasing like unto a continual or hectick feaver Whatever the damned think on that is to them rageing despair they would if it were in their power tear themselves in pieces with their teeth stabbe themselves all over with sharp knives and draw death to them with open arms but death will fly from them SECT 2. SUch as despair through extream adversity somtimes bereave themselves of life by water sword halter poyson or precipices fancying hereby they shall find an end of their life and misery together whereas in hell no end may be found either of calamity life or death There is no water no sword no halter no poyson no precipice can kill them howbeit all these particulars do there torment them as doth also continual and never ending despair At which the Judges final sentence doth chiefly aime Depart from me accursed into everlasting fire from this no appeal may be granted the decree is irrevocable and as St. Austin speaks this sentence of God is unchangable The Angel which St. Apoc. c. 10. John saw swore by him that liveth for ever and ever that there shall be time no more But there shall be eternity and a reward of things done in time This immutable oath of the Angel this fatal sentence of our Lord the damned shall so certainly perceive that this storm of words this horrible thunder shall perpetually sound in their ears into fire everlasting into fire everlasting everlasting alas â—nto fire everlasting Not one syllable or tittle of these words fail of their effects these words which the damned hear and understand we hear and understand not Now as the habitation of the blessed is replenished with all delight so that of the damned is an epitome or abridgment of all dolours What ever is afflictive deplorable or dreadful those beneath are sensible of what ever is delightful pleasing or comfortable those above do plentifully participate In this world of ours no malady so great but has its remedy all affliction may if we will be mitigated Our grief is frequently appeased by reason by rest by pleasing conversation and chiefly by process of time one while our friends and kindred another while such as have suffered the like disasters but principally hope either wipes away or asswages our Calamity Whereas God knows in that region of utter desolation all gates are shut to the least solace No ease no comfort may be expected from heaven or earth from their condition past present or to come What way soever they turn their eyes they behold arrows of eternal death shot against them On every side they are environed with mourning and anguish grief and extream sadness together with torments exceeding all number They may truly say The sorrows of death have compassed me Psal 114 and the pangs of despair we have found tribulation and wailing Hereupon they will not cease to curse the name of our Lord perpetually SECT 3. THis despair of the wicked will be augmented above measure by the certain knowledge they have that with all their unspeakable sufferings not the least blemish of sin may be washt away such is the venom of one mortal sin that even venial defects accompanying it to hell must be chastised for ever Take this example our ordinary failings are idle words effused laughter some small excess in diet carelesness in the castody of our eyes distraction in prayer these and such like while we live are casily expiated One morsel for borne to curb our appetite one gentle sigh a litle patience or an easie keeping our hands or eyes in order blot out those lesser stains whereas if they be joined with one heinous crime in hell both shall be punisht eternally which adds no small fuel to enkindle the fire of despair We must needs acknowledge in this life the hand of God is armed with meekness when he strikes but in the other 't is heavier then lead harder then iron and when extended to revenge he never pulls it in again The despair we speak of ariseth from hope in excess which is called presumption this the wise man warns us to eschew Say not I have sinned and what sorrowful thing hath chanced to me for the highest is a patient rewarder Of sin forgiven be not without fear neither add thou sin upon sin And say not The mercy of our Lord is great he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins Slack not to be converted to our Lord and defer not from day to day for his wrath shall come suddainly and in time of vengeance he will destroy thee Ecclesiast c. 15. Admirably well sayd St. Gregory Lib 1 Râ—â— c 3 He hath an orderly trust in the mercy of God who corrects what he did amiss by repenting not repeating the same fault He that doth otherwise is not guided by hope but is thrust headlong by temerity SECT 4. T Is a point worthy of credit that scarce any Christian is adjudged to hell who in this life did not hope to live longer and thought death farther off then it was Out of this deceitful hope springs everlasting despair It is likewise a matter no less credible that amongst those desperate slaves scarce one may be found who during life did not often secretly despair in this manner Lo I but do and undo I shall never lead other life it is too too hard to relinquish old customes all my endeavour is to no purpose it is in vain to strive I shall never become better while I live let us therefore hold on and enjoy good things preseâ—t death posts on amain we must all be gone quickly let us then take our leave of these timely delights and solemnize our departure with pleasure Th s in reallity is to despair O Christians as you tender your selves and your own salvation I beseech you and by the death of Christ conjure you beware of this dargerous roek unless you desire without peradventure to suffer wrack It is never too late to amâ—nd while we live Have we fallen into the same offence a thousand times Let us â—iâ—e again a thousand times by pennance 'T is never past time to become better every day every hour each one may say with the Psalmist Psa 76. I sayd now have I begun He that is grown so feeble as that he will not endeavour to amend his failings but permits the reins to corrupt
in our own bosoms the coals of wrath and envy We greedily expect everlasting repose but still continue our sloathful courses as if we meant to make a business of idleness and when industry is required to falter in the very onset O we men who do not offer violence to Heaven But rather O we blind men who choose rather to erre in the broad and smooth way then to go right in the rough and narrow Christ and his Saints call upon us Strive to enter by the narrow gate Luke ch 13. strive strive Because many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Make hast run we must cope with difficulties if we will overcome Strive But God knows we neither run nor hasten our pace nor strive at all we yawn and gape and like unto Camels and Lyons go slowly after step by step And God grant we go after and do not rather stand still Our resolutions and purposes are like to the feeble endeavours of one Sick who now and then raiseth himself up crawls off his bed and attempting to go points his foot to the ground and strives to walk but by and by for want of strength falls upon his bed again his Thighes and Legs are far too weak to bear the weight of his body he would fain take a turn but is not able Not much unlike are our endeavours we design great matters we attempt many things we resolve to become Saints we seem to have a will to do gallantly But these attempts are frivelous without strength we want alacrity of spirit we languish in all our actions Whence we willingly slide back into our former vices which we only intermitted for a time but did not quite abandon Thus we fall down again upon our bed which we were about to leave and are overwhelmed with our old Lethargy We read over the Legends of Saints and extol them but follow them not nor imitate them at all We honour vertue with specious titles but express it not in our actions we gape after a blessed Eternity but shun with all wariness the troublesome way which leads us to it After Prayers are ended and the Sermon is past we pack home sit down to table and within a short space renew our old customs It is our fashion to go to Church to hear a Sermon to fetch now and then a sigh which may manifest we are fallen out with our sins and are angry with our selves for sining But how long I pray is this fashion in request Almost in the turning of your hand all our former Sanctity is joyfully buried in oblivion We do something t is true but that with extream tepidity and so what we do is either worth nothing or very imperfect Whence it falls out that after six hundred Sermons we are no better then before we swear as we did we are as impatient as ever Lust Envy and wrath have as much power over us as formerly The wings of our Pride are nothing clipt we are big swoln with the same avarice and gluttony domineers as it was wont to do our old sloth still keeps us under we defile our Souls with our accustomed stains weare without changing the ragged cloathes of our bad habits O strange blindness of mankind which with an Ocean of tears may not be sufficiently deplored the Pulpit in every Church rings with Eternity Eternity Eternity and yet we are drawn away with pleasures present such a desire we have of our own Perdition SECT 4. MUch after the same manner as we hear Sermons and neglect them which come in at one ear and pass out at the other so we run over spiritual books from which we draw no profit but presently forget what we read Out of sight out of mind Inculcate Eternity as often as you will we are resolved to spin out the thread we have begun we approve of good things but follow worser we put on Piety and quickly throw it off again as if we were still minded to stick in the same mud O Christians Look up Lu. 2.21 and lift up your heads and hearts because your redemption is at hand Fix your eyes and hearts in Heaven Do all things fall out cross and trouble you it will not alwaies be so Heaven promiseth you something better which a little patience will put you in possession of Do matters go well on with you doth all succeed to your mind Put no confidence in that success nothing is permanent in this world all things ebb and flow in their several seasons Eternity still remains the same it is only Eternity which admits no change These things we deliver by word and writing these things we represent unto you with variety of Pictures But who gives them leave to take impression in his heart Who understands these points aright Who groundedly strives to beleive them O therefore once again blind mortals who then act most carelesly when the great business of Eternity is in agitation when our eternal welfare lies at stake Conc. 3. Dom. 2. advent Lewis of Granada famous for Learning and Religion gives an account of one who appeared again after death to a friend of his in this life and discovered unto him this stupendious blindness of mankind Two intimate friends quoth he there were you may call one of them Theseus the other Pirithous which were almost as one Soul in two Bodies Both of them lead an upright life both loved each other so tenderly and were so agreed amongst themselves as that they desired nothing more then to dy together But Death crost their agreement and dissolved their amity by dispatching one out of this life before the other However all their familiarity could not be extinct by death For not long after they were parted he that was dead appeared to his surviveing friend both in habit and countenance composed to sadness as if he meant he should ask him some question At first the living man was almost dead with fear to see his friend so unexpectedly present in so doleful a posture But after a while taking courage he demanded if his portion were among the blessed or how matters stood with him In answer to which demands the dead man fetching a deep sigh repeared thrice in a distinct but mournful tone these words No one beleives no one beleives no one beleives The other with trembling asked again what that was which no one beleives No one said the dead man beleives how exactly God calls men to an account how rigorously he judges how severely he punnishes After which words he disappeared leaving the other surprized with horrour and ruminating with himself in silence the whole passage SECT 5. O words most true No one beleives now accurate every way are the judgements of God and how severe his punishments these particulars are frequently delivered in Sermons that of St. Iohn is often inculcated Do pennance for now the Ax is put to the root of the trees Matt. c. 3. And no one
Amongst a hundred thousand men you shall scarce find one who seriously endeavours to dive into these matters or frequently ruminates them in his mind Our life would be far otherwise our manners would be reformed if our thoughts were other then they use to be Whence it comes that our Conscience which was strook deaf with vices receives its hearing in torments so much more sharply now is it afflicted and desperate by how much ere while it was lulled a sleep in a drowsy security St. Austins assertion is true In Hell there shall be pennance but too late Their worm shall never dye The seventh Torment is the company and place A convenient house with ill neighbours is a great inconvenience but an inconvenient house with most wicked neighbours is the worst of inconveniences This kind of habitation is in Hell Psal 48. Their Sepulchres are their house for ever The Damned shall burn as if they were shut up in Sepulchres which are houses very incommodious but they are debarred from hiering any other Besides their neighbours are the worst imaginable such as would make even Heaven infamous and hareful a croud of damned men and Devils O what neighbours are these Take our lords sentence of them It were good for those men if they never had bin born It were good for those spirits if they never had been created Look upon damned men As sheep they are put in Hell Psa 48. death shall feed upon them But how are they now become sheep were they not while they lived Tigers Swine Vultures Wolves Lions They were indeed but the vengeance of God hath made them sheep and so tamed them that they cannot withstand any punishment inflicted on them Death shall feed upon them For as sheep feed upon grass without plucking up the roots and clip it so as they leave the root entire to spring again that it may be cropt again so doth death feed upon those captives in hell It bereaves them not of life that they may be kept alive to be perpetually slaughtered This is the second death which ever lives whereof St. Austin makes this discourse Lib. 91. de civit ch 28. The misery of those which do not belong to this City shall be perpetual which is called the second death because the soul there cannot be said to live as being estranged from the life of God nor the body which shall groan under the weight of eternal torments Wherefore this second death will be worse then death because it can never have and end by death There pain continues that it may afflict and nature is maintained in being that it may be sensible of affliction both which are preserved without decaying least punishment should decay Here I am almost in a mind to imitate Solon who carried a mournful Citizen to the top of an high Tower whence he commanded him to look over all the buildings of the City underneath saying think with your self how much grief hath heretofore been in these houses how much is at this present and will be hereafter and then cease to bewail the misery of mortals as if they were your own The like in some measure may I say Behold O mortals and consider that dreadful den of sorrow in hell O how much wailing is contained in those Caverns of Eternity what a mass of calamities will be there after infinite ages are past Cease therefore to deplore your flea-bitings as if they were unsupportable evils Here indeed is a receptacle of all miseries a forge of lamentation Who ever thou be which travellest yet upon the way take heed thou so order thy journey that this place of torments serve thee not for a perpetual Inn. The Eighth Torment is Despair THis world we live in is replenisht with many afflictions yet in process of time all of them meet with an end Such as are opprest with poverty I see find an end of it such as are aspersed with slanders are cleared of them in the end such as are sick are in the end delivered of their malady On this side I behold stripes racks and other engines prepared to torture on that blood-thirsty enemies proud Citizens gripeing Landlords but I likewise behold the stroke of death brings all those to nothing and frees these from barbarous usage But in those fiery Gulfs where Devils abide I contemplate many horrid and unexplicable torments yet I cannot espy any end of them no there is no end at all to be found Death is the best invention of nature death ends all it relieves some by others it is desired and deserves better of none then of those to whom it comes before it be sent for Death sets slaves at liberty even against their masters will death unchains Captives and looses Prisoners death is a present remedy against all injuries of this life But alas there is none of this in hell I take a view of all their lurking holes yet can espy no death at all unless it be that living death which incessantly renews its own pangs As in hell there is no end of sorrow so is there none of dying The Damned themselves as Dionisius notes cast up their own reckoning Corth in speculo amatorum mundi After ten thousand years are gone an hundred thousand more will come and after them as many millions as there are Sands in the Sea or stars in the Firmament And when those long revolutions of ages are over as if we had suffered nothing at all we shall begin to suffer a new so without ceasing end or measure the wheel of our torments will be perpetually rowled about Hence will ensue most piercing despair to the most cruel torture both of Memory Understanding and Will What ever their memory represents unto them will afflict them what ever their understanding thinks on will redound to their torment their very will will be astonisht at its own obstinacy for it can never will what God wills and so shall ever find within it self a torture of its own malice How dreadful a thing is it to know for certain they shall have God for their eternal foe they shall never escape his severe hand they shall for ever be trampled under his feet Hence will arise in them a continual and most desperate fury and an implacable hatred of God Job 20. All grief will rush in upon them All evil will be thrown upon their guilty heads O ye wretched new inhabitants of the night your delights are gone and to speak with St Iohn Apostle Apo. 18. The Apples of the desire of your Soul are departed from you and all fat and goodly things are perished from you Now only despair is left all hope is quite vanisht away You shall call upon death and it will not come you are now entred that Dungeon whence no death will ever set you free You have now nothing left you but only despair You may remember how greedily like Bears you sought after the honey of pleasure the
A PLEASANT AND PROFITABLE Treatise of HELL WRITTEN By Hieremy Drexelius S. J. Fear him that can destroy both Soul and Body into Hell Matth. ch 10. v. 28. Printed 1668. The Translator to the Reader I Presume your intent is I wish the event may correspond to march on towards Heaven Now that you may not miss your way which is dangerous I have provided you of a Guide which is the Fear of God You must not begin your journey but by his Conduct nor hope to finish it without erring unless he go on with you hand in hand Be not dismaid if he lead you through the desert to the Land of Promise through Hell to Heaven for that is his Native Countrey whose passages he is well acquainted with and from whose desolate shades he is able to usher you to the comfortable splendour of Paradise He requires no other Salary for all his labour in the enterprise then your serious perusal of this slender Treatise of Hell Startle not at this frightful word least you discover humane fear to be more prevalent with you then that of God If it chance to be I fear at the first sight you will shrink back and either not undertake to read or quickly cast away the book with an I look for Novelties to chear me up not for sad discourses of Hell to drive me into Melancholly or I have other business and cannot attend to reading But with your good leave no business concerns you more then your right progress towards a blessed Eternity And it is undoubtedly a principal point of Wisdome to go down into Hel alive by reading and a lively consideration aswel to escape going thither after Death whence there is no return as also to vanquish humane fear which is prejudicial and beget in your soul a wholesome fear of God Without which you can neither begin nor hold on with success your intended journey towards eternal bliss Lay hold then on this Manual Book which if leisurely read will not a little conduce to attain the chiefest Good and avoid the worst of Evils Farwel A Treatise of Hell CHAP. I. The Authors design in this Book with Advice to the Reader LEarnedly spoke Philo the Jew Lib. de som The House of God is the thought of a Wiseman This House the Eternal Wisdome enters into this it Inhabits in this it sweetly reposes To see to speak to hear to write are humane actions yet such as are not wholly denyed to Brutes for Wild-Beasts do likewise hear and see and herein some of them go far beyond man himself Amongst Animals some are reported to have spoken unto the Elephant is ascribed something not unlike to writing but to think and discourse with reason is proper to Man alone God associates himself to men whose thoughts are Holy and without spot and here he abides as in his own Mansion-house hence flowed that learned saying of Philo The House of God is the thought of a wiseman Here now arises the dispute what is fittest for man to busie his thoughts in setting a part his Creatour In this quarrel King David enters the Combate and avers I thought upon old dayes and the eternal years I had in mind Ps 76.6 This thought is most profitable this becomes man and is not unworthy of God Here is discovered a plain of such vast extent to think on that none was ever able yet to run it over with thinking One may seek an end in this matter which he shall never find Eternity knows no end it s not acquainted with any bounds and for limits it admits of none Eternity best deserves to be thought on Ten years ago I exposed a draught of Eternity to the pulick view it remains now for us to set before your eyes something as to the eternity of the Damned this requires our more serious reflexion it being not sufficient for us to scrape somewhat from the outsides of it which may serve us to hear write or talk of we must proceed further and lodge Eternity in the very bosome of our souls wherefore the task of this Chapter shall be to declare what we mean when we write on the eternity of the Damned SECT 1. THe wiseman of Rome friendly expostulates with Lucilius in this sort Sen. ep 102 As he is troublesome who awakes a man from a pleasant Dream because he bereaves him of that counterfeit which yet resembles real pleasure So thy Epistle did me wrong for it took me off once and oftner from considerations that suted with me I was well pleased to enquire after yea and beleive too the eternity of Souls For well might I beleive the Opinions of great men Besides I had so much hope that I now began to be irksome to my self now I despised the remnant of my feeble age as being about to enter into that immense time and the possession of all ages But the receit of thy Epistle awakned me and so I lost my goodly Dream which notwithstanding I 'le to again when I have done with thee and hereby redeem what formerly I lost I am almost now of that Opinion which Flavius Lucius Dexter of Barâ—inona an ancient Historian one who had Command in the Eastern Empire and an intimate friend to St. Hierom delivers in a Chronicle of his at the year of Christ our Saviour sixty four in these express words Lucius Annaeus Seneca native of Cordova in Spain by intercourse of Letters betwixt him and St. Paul had a good Opinion of Christian Religion became a Christian privately and is beleived to have been his Disciple to whom he writ with much feeling during his abode in Spain For my part I affirm nothing in this particular but reverence the testimony of the Ancient Chronicler Yet certain it is Annaeus Seneca did not only begin to think of but likewise to beleive an Eternity We may observe this mans deep-searching Wit he attempted and went on most attentively to weigh Eternity in its proper Ballance The contemplation whereof he compares to a Dream which lulls asleep the toylsome watches of the outward senses and commands the inward to keep strict Centinel This this is to meditate and to be withdrawn from this Annaeus was much unwilling in regard this kind of meditation proved so beneficial to him as himself declares saying I contemned the small residue of my life and stretched my self forward into that Volume of Ages never to be unfoulded Seneca by this time had a loathing of all things if compared to the sole possession of that never ending Circle of times When Heathens meditate in this manner upon Eternity what does it behove us Christians to do Our beleif of Eternity is bootless if we seldome or tepedly think on it Many are the reasons which may move us dayly to meditate upon eternity take this one in lieu of many Eternity mollifies our hearts when they are as hard as flint and Steel it quite vanquisheth all the stubbornness of our Soul That man
Hell where the wretches are ever a dying and never dead indeed Alas the night is long which exceeds a year and extends it self beyond the limits of an age That night is excessive long after which never day appears that night is full of Horror which is enveloped in eternal darkness with such night with such obscurity as this does God revenge himself of his enemies whose dwelling is remote from Sun Moon and Stars Job 3. A darksome hurlwind possesses their night it is not counted in the daies of the year nor numbred in the Moneths Darkness and the shadow of death obscure it a mist possesseth it and it is wrapped in bitterness The Damned neither see nor ever shall see their Maker for whose sight nevertheless they were made This darkness is their first Torment of which SECT 1 THere be two kinds one called utter darkness or of body the other of the mind or inner darkness Those farr surpass that of Aegypt though never so horrid and palpable Fire burns in Hell but gives no light so that all are shut up in a darksome Prison Elegantly speaks St. Ad Theod laps Chrysostome of this punishment saying We shall all mourn most sadly when the Fire with vehemence oppresseth us We shall see none besides those who are fellows in damnation and a vast sollitude Who can express what dreadful frights will arise from this darkness As that fire has no power to consume so it cannot shine otherwise there would be no darkness which brings upon those Inhabitants Fear Trembling Solitude and a numness with amazement As for inward darkness which Schoolmen term Pain of loss or a privation of the sight of God this is so great a punishment that none greater can be inflicted For as to see God is bliss it self and the top of Felicity so to be deprived of the vision of God for ever is the chiefest pain of the Damned whence ariseth in their wills a marvellous kind of sorrow The Faulcon while his eyes are covered with the hood flies neither after Duck nor Mallard Heron nor other Prey but so soon as the hood is pluckt off and he espies his game to the persuit whereof he is carried by Nature t is not facil to keep him quiet on the Fist he baits he strives to break the Lures and is in danger either to hurt himself or weary his Faulconer so violently is he carried after the Fowl he once sets Eye on Not unlike to this is mans condition While we live in this world we seem to be hoodwinkt we walk in darkness Hence t is no marvail that we are not ravisht with desire to see God there is a veil betwixt him and us which takes off our eagerness but immediately after Death has rent the Veil and the souls at liberty from bodily contagion it being now plac'd in the vast extent of Eternity and put into possession of its freedome will forthwith be carried away with such violence towards its Creator that of all Torments this will be greatest to be but one sole minute debarr'd from the fruition of God What then will it be to be divorced for all Eternity from the beloved Center of Bounty the very height of bliss is to see God which King David prudently weighing saies Ps 16.15 I shall be filled when they Glory shall appear The extract then of all miseries will it be for ever to be banisht the presence of God SECT 2. Every loss is so much the greater by how much the greater good it deprives us of T is a great Fine to be enforced to pay ten thousand Crowns twenty or thirty is greater but above all is an hundred thousand Yet this is far exceeded by another damage which robs one of many Millions of Gold yea of all Treasures too during life Such a mulct as this is that penalty of darkness which at one stroke divides from all good not only for life but O! for all Eternity Here St. Chrysostome astonisht In this point saies if you mention a thousand Hells Tom. 5. ad pop you come short of the grief a Soul endures by her separation from Heaven Hell I must confess is intollerable yet far more unsufferable is it to lose the Inheritance of Bliss Let this matter serve to busie thy thoughts in Tom. 2. in Matt. He inculcates the same in another place A thousand hells put into one scale weigh nothing to the being exild from Glory to the being hated of Christ and hearing from him I know you not Every tree that doth not yeild good Fruit Matt. 3.10 shall be cut down and cast into the fire Here is a double punishment of the Tree To be cut down and cast into the fire A tree were more gently dealt with if it were singed with fire then if it were so grubbed up by the roots that hereafter you may despair to have it either flourish or bring forth fruit The like is mans case in this particular whose pain would be milder to undergo those scorching heats then to be for ever banisht from the Face of God A semblance or shadow of what I say may be met with even in this life Such as have grievously sinned against God are sometimes scourged with a twofold whip The first of pain so Antiochus and Herod yet alive burst out into swarms of Vermin as if they had been dead Carcasses or rotten Cheese certainly they were smitten by God The second is the scourge of Anguish or sadness whereby all solace is taken from the offender who by this time finds no comfort in God This is an ante-past or foretast of Hell whereof notwithstanding eminent Saints have had their share Therefore Holy David cries out Cast me not away from thy face turn not away thy face from me Now as it fares both with Saints and Sinners who even in this life tast of the pain of Sense and Loss that they may be informed what passes in Hell So those whose wickedness hurls them down thither groan under the heavy burden of both kinds of punishment and shall see no light for ever SECT 3. ANy one mortal sin is sufficient to make us lose this blessed Vision of God for as the Master of Divines delivers who ever commits a mortal sin turns away his will from his last end and thereby deserves never to attain that end for which he was created Long ago was the Sentence pronounced against thse Matt. 7.23 Depart from me all ye that work Iniquity This is a most grievous punishment which by mans Fault is yet much increased as will appear by the following example A certain person might have been possest of an Inheritance worth ten thousand Crowns but through a sloathful carelesness lets the time slip and so falls short of it When t is too late he perceives what a Fat Morfel has escaped him whereupon he storms he rages he is ready to tear himself in peices and sometimes by violence of greif dies indeed
the sea over floweth not In like manner all sorts of pains as so many streams empty themselves into eternity in hell yet eternity like an immense ocean is always the same neither ebbing nor flowing but infinite but unchangeable After a hundred centuries of ages are disburdened into this abysse a hundred more will be swallowed up and still more and more without end After the damned crue shall have dwelt in hell so many ages as to think they have lived in flames for all eternity by past yet eternity is not one jot diminisht After the revolution of so many ages eternity is not a minute less it is ever entirely the same After a thousand thousand years are come and gone the circle of eternity is as large as whole as unavoidable as it was in the beginning This is the ninth unspeakable unconceivable torment in Gods prison Now forasmuch as people yet alive busie their thoughts with eternity we assign a triple difference thereof eternity which makes the pious daily sigh eternity which is a fearful dream of the wicked and eternity which is an everlasting punishment to the damned The first of these three is the subject of this present chapter SECT 1. THe divine espouse commending the humanity of her beloved says Cant. 2. His left hand under my head and his right hand shall embrace me Under these words lyeth hid a mystery which must be unfolded In the left hand of the beloved are honours wealth and plenty in the right length of dayes or eternity Here the espouse as if she were wittingly and willingly blind exclaimes the left hand I see not because it is under my head so little do I value honour riches or transitory goods But the right wherewith he shall embrace me I behold though yet I enjoy it not all the eyes I have are fixed in contemplation of eternity things eternal are they I esteem Yet in regard I have not possession of a blessed eternity nevertheless I rest assured He shall embrace me Eternity delayed breeds torment as Hope that is differred afflicteth the soul Prov. 13. Eternity stirs up in the vertuous a dayly longing after it Boniface a Citizen of Rome having for some time kept company with Aglae a noble matron became at length so penitent for his fault that he resolved to wash out that stain by the practice of most heroick vertue This made him sl ght all danger of looseing the goods of fortune yea and his own life too this made him visit martyrs in prison and kiss their chains this made him encourage such as were to suffer and after death to bury their bodies Being taken up with these employments he took his journy to Tarsus where he performed the like good offices to the champions of Christ His dayly exhortation was they should be constant in their sufferings their labour though short would merit reward without end With these words he mervailously excited himself and others to lay down their lives couragiously While he was busie with these employments he was apprehended and had his flesh torn off his bones with iron hooks they thrust under his nails sharp needles and poured into his mouth melted lead Amidst these torments he persevered constant he believed his pains momentary and the crown he expected to be everlasting he repeated to himself his former exhortation and often redoubled I give thee thanks O my Lord Jesu In this manner he gloriously finisht his combat Eternity is cause of continual sighing to the godly SECT 2. ST Frances of Assisium the Jewel of his age through frequent weeping began to be troubled with sore eyes Divers perswaded him to forbear his dayly tears to whom with a deep sigh he said For the love of that light which is common to us flies I do not judge it meet to debar my self of the rays of light eternal Being likewise asked how in such thin clothes he could endure the austerity of winter He answered if we were warmed with love of our eternal country we should easily be sheltered from cold here This life was to St. Francis occasion of patience as eternity was of desire Christ our Lord undertaking to teach his followers how to sigh incessantly after eternity said Mat. 10 Fear ye not them that kill the body A hidden argument but according to art Do not for this reason fear saith he because they kill If any one had power to detain another in the fire or such like punishment alive him you might justly fear The sharper the pain inflicted by men the sooner it bereaves of life the more grievous the torment the quicker the end You have then no reason to fear them who can kill the body but once and that often with one blow fear him that redoubles dayly mortal wounds and always killing never kills Behold the antitheses of this divine Oratour The fear of a short death is to be overcome by fear of death eternal Our Lord therefore would glve us to understand that the souls of men are immortal subject to the sole pleasure of God and that the bodies are to be raised from death to reward or punishment everlasting Behold likewise with what artificial brevity of words Christ comprehended great mysteries the immortality of the soul the resurrection of the body and an eternity of well or wo. Eternity causeth in the vertuous continual sighing Sir Thomas More Sand. Lib. 1 a man every way accomplisht was cast into prison not to his disgrace but for manifesting his sanctity to the world His wife came to visit him with an intent to bring him off his resolution But in vain She â—â—ade her onset with a two forked argument and pleaded her cause with prayers and tears beseeching him chiefly by all conjugal fidelity he would preserve his life yet a while What fault have I made quoth she wherein have your children kinsfolk and family so much offended as to be so soon deprived of you my beloved husband All our lives depend on yours For my part I had rather dye a hundred time 〈◊〉 survive after your death 〈◊〉 my dearest More subscribe to the Kings decree and you make your self and us all live many years longer Are you so much fallen out with this present lifâ— as that you will obstinately run upon your own death Death knowes well when it is to come for us why then do we of our own accord send for it as if it had forgâ—tten us That you may have compassion for many of your friends have pitty on your self and do not despise the best share of your life which is yet behind I doubt not but God out of his goodness will grant you many more years to live in case your self be not out of liking with your own life Her Husband gave eaâ— pâ—tiently to what she said and when she had ended her speach How many years quoth he doest thou think I shall live my dear Aloysia to whom she quickly made answer you may well live
Prey to Bees Wasps and Gnats Notwithstanding I have seen more harsh dealing then this Blessed Maximus after he had bin rent with Hooks and had suffered the Rack and bin beaten with clubs was stoned to death Anthimus Martyr was tormented with hot glowing Aulls broken potsheards fiery shooes and stretched upon a Rack Zoe wife to Exuperius Martyr after six daies Famine endured in a dark Dungeon was hung up by the hair of her head and stifled with smoak of burnt Excrements Glycerius haveing been beaten till his bones appeared was cast into the fire Peter the Exorcist companion to Marcelliuus Martyr first was torn with whips then had Vinegar and Salt poured into his gaping wounds and lastly was roasted with a flow fire Christiana Virgin was likewise roasted and basted with Oyl Serpents were let loose against her her tongue was pluckt out and shot to death with Arrows Maxima and Donatilla were cruelly beaten with rods then had their wounds rubbed with quick Lime and finally being broyled on a Gridiron were condemned to the beasts Theonilla had the top of her head taken off with a Rasour which was afterwards Crowned with Thorns and Brambles then being tyed to four stakes she was barbarously beaten with thongs of Lether and had hot Coales thrown upon her belly amongst which torments she gave up the Ghost Horrible pains were these no doubt and sharp sufferings Albeit I have seen sharper and more horrible Pantaleon haveing been for a long time burned was at last thrown into a Cauldron of molten Lead Paul and Iuliana Brother and Sister were tortured on the Rack were afflicted with boyling Pitch beaten with rods of hot iron seated in Chaires and cast upon beds strook full of Nails and after three dayes abode amongst Snakes were for the Faith of Christ consumed with fire Blessed St. Barbara was cruelly rotmented with burning Torches stripes and iron hooks and having her breasts cut off suffered her head to be barbarously smitten with Hammers Auxentius had his feet bored through with iron and then being hanged upon a Wheel was so long pierced with hot auls till he ended his Martyrdome Quintinus of the illustrious order of Senatours in Rome underwent mervailous torments for after he had been dressed with boyling Oyle Pitch and Fat his sides were scorched with burning Torches all his body was beaten with Chains Mustard Lime and Vinagre were poured into his mouth O strange kind of drink and himself was thrust through with two Iron Spits from the Neck to the Thighes having besides sharp needles strook into all his fingers between the Flesh and Nails Do these seem great extremities of cruelty But far greater are to be found in Hell and those eternal in comparison whereof the former may be reputed as a Play-game or a jest We have seen far sharper pains then all before mentioned Even this Age we live in hath been witty in inventions of Tyranny In some places the bellies of men consecrated to God being ripped open and stuffed with Provend have served as Mangers for Horses or troughs for Hogs to feed in Quick Mice have likewise bin placed upon mens naked bellies and covered there under Basons on the tops whereof a fire being made the little creatures were compelled to seek for their liberty which finding no other way they eate into the bowels of liveing men Hence Caligula thou maist learn something to imitate In other places mens bodies were cut asunder joynt by joynt burning Torches were put under their Armpits and applyed to their whole breasts Hooks were thrust into their entrals and that they might be longer tortured before death fires were kindled under them Some have been cloathed in Bears-skins and so baited by Mastive Dogs till they were devoured Some again have been rowled on sharp stones some have been covered with a board and pressed under a thousand pound weight and so bruised to peices with so much more cruelty and pain by how much their death was slower These are cruel most cruel sufferings yet who ever looks upon the pains of Hell with the eye of contemplation will constantly pronounce of all the torment of Martyrs together I have seen much more cruel I have beheld much more dreaful All the inventions of cruesty found out by Tyrants are small are nothing at all in respect of the Torments in Hell which are eternal alas alas they are eternal SECT 4. GOd commanded Ezechiel to make this Proclamation That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my Sword out of his Scabbard not to be revoked ch 21. ver 5. Where this Sword is once unsheathed it will never be put up again it is irrevokable For the better understanding hereof let us I pray betake ourselves to a quiet posture as he did in Mount Choreb who did contemplate Eternity with much attention Let us sit down and cast up our accounts on Paper or on our fingers ends in this manner The Damned shall be tormented in Hell a thousand years that is not enough Two thousand years nor that Three thousand years that is too little Four thousand years and that too Five thousand years that is not sufficient Ten thousand years neither will that suffice Twenty thousand years that falls short of their due Fifty thousand years so likewise does that A hundred thousand years this compared to eternity is nothing it will not do the deed To what summe would our computation amount it we should go on reckoning half a daies space as we reckoned before What book of accounts would contain that summe By midday he that Calculated would be overwhelmed with his own work in fine he would be constrained to say the measure of Eternity is not to be taken by the fingers it cannot be reckoned it cannot be summed up by any numbers what ever it is altogether numberless Joyn what numbers you please together let your product rise to what height you will Eternity goes beyond it how farr Infinitely it surpasses all computation and hides its end in that endless revolution of Ages Ah Mortals ah Christians ah how little do we consider these things how seldome do we leisurely cast up our accounts in this manner Indeed no one beleives no one beleives no one beleives These things I must tell you are not dreams they are no Fables nor Rhetorical flourishes here are no amplifications no exaggarations at all Matt. c. 25. Eternal truth has uttered the Oracle Depart from me accursed into fire everlasting The Sun is not clearer then these words which makes me repeat No one beleives no one beleives no one beleives In our first part of Eternity we lead the Reader on by the hand to a right consideration of Eternity Here now imagine a thousand Cubes a thousand Millions of years These are soon said but not so soon considered with attention They make thus many years 1000 000000000000000,000,000,000,000 or a thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand times a thousand thousand years After
sutable to the exploit But alas what comparison betwixt this precipe from a high Mountain to casting ones self headlong from Heaven to Hell How then do so many throw themselves down from the fruition of bliss to thraldome amongst Devils They shut their eyes ere they attempt to do so they consider not the infinite malice of sin nor the inexplicable windings of eternity They jogg on towards Hell blindfolded He that is not pleased with his own blindness endeavours by all means possible to escape this downfal and chooses rather to undergo what ever happens then to be cast into that abisse whence there is no redemption SECT 5. OUr fifth assertion is Who ever commits a mortal sin throws himself into Hell fire for ever Fire everlasting is an unexplicable punishment of sin Were there no other mischief in sin this assuredly would be an abridgement of all evils The reward of sin is death eternal The soul that shall sin Ezechi ch 18. the same shall dye the justice of the just shall be upon him and the impiety of the impious shall be upon him Admirable is St. Psal 49. Austins discourse How great a punishment is it only to be deprived of the sight of God Such as have not tasted of that sweetness if they do not desire to see the face of God let them at least be afraid of fire those who are not invited with reward may be terrified with torments If what God promiseth seem to thee of small account tremble at what he threatens The sweetness of his presence is offered to thee and thou art not changed nor moved nor sighest after nor desirest it Thou still huggest thine own sins and the delights of thy flesh Thou heapest to thy self straw and fire will come upon thee Fire will burn in his sight That fire will not be like thine into which notwithstanding if thou wert compelled to thrust thy hand thou would rather do any thing then that If he that compels thee should say Either sign this wrighting against the life of thy Father and Children or thrust thy hand into thy own fire thou wouldst obey him rather then burn thy hand or any member of thy body which could not abide in pain forever Thy enemy therefore threatens a sleight evil and thou dost evil God threatens eternal evil and wilt thou not do good What trouble soever the Devil causeth in our souls it is by means of sin Hence our passions rebel and we are molested with fear suspicion inconstancy grief anxiety despair whereby mans soul is reduced by sin to resemble Hell Esay 48. There is no peace to the impious saith our Lord. Such as abandon themselves to sin are loaden with so many Chains by the Devil till at length with their own weight they sink down into hell While they live they draw nearer to hell as a great stone tumbled from the top of a Mountain tumbles so often till in the end it lye in the bortome In this manner while a notorious theif went up the Ladder the Hangman encouraged him saying You have but one step further to go and so he turned him off In this manner little birds with others of the same feather fly again and again to take their food till at last they are ensnared In this manner Drunkards animate their pot-companions this one cup and no more This course they continue till they drown each other in strong liquor And the like method is observed by sinners In the beginning they think it much to commit one sin by and by they double redouble and multiply offences till they come to hundreds Thus he who at first sinned privately and with much bashfulness by degreeâ—s puts on a bold face and dares now aâ—â—t confidently what ere while he blusht to think on Thus the first naughtiness is seldome acted alone but drawes after it a long train of impurities The beggining was indâ—ed with one crime then two afterwards more till in procesâ—s of time the number encreased almost above number Thus a sprout growes up into a wood thus a drop swells into an Ocean thus a spark becomes a fire of that greatness as it is not to be extinguisht for all eternity All these proceedings serve to recompence sin Whence some have arrived to such a generous resolution that they choose rather to dye then admit of one sin The most chast Ioseph would rather lose his good name together with his life then to undergo the least impeachment of Chastity Daniell ch 13. The modest Susanna breaks forth into this exclamation It is better for me without the act to fall into your hands then to sin in the sight of our Lord. It was more pleasing to her to be stoned to death then stained with Adultery Blessed St. Paul was sure that death it self could not separate him from the love of Christ St. Ambrose was resolved to undergoe all hardship whatever rather then act any thing misbecoming his profession Foâ—t when Ruffinus put Theodosius the Emperour in hope the Holy Bishop would change his resolution No quoth Theoâ—dosius I know well the constancy of Ambâ—rose no fear of temporal Majesty can make him forsake the Law of God St. Chrysostome with equal fortitude opposed himself against the menaces of Eudoxia the Empress and was so far from being dismaied with her fury that she was told in these express words It is in vain to go about to terrify the man he fears nothing but sin Lewis King of France being yet a child learned this lesson of his Mother Blanch Rather to part with life then consent to a mortal sin St. Anselm Bishop of Canterbury would rather leap into Hell then commit a mortal sin St. Edmund his successour in the same See frequently said I would rather throw my self into a burning Furnace then wittingly commit any sin against God Democles a comely youth to escape the unnatural dealing of King Demetrius leapt into a hot boyling Cauldron Such a death suted better with his generous mind then an unchast life So Papinian the Lawyer though no Christian resolved to dye before he would Patronise the design of Caracalla Emperour against his Brother A man defiled with mortal sin is more vile and contemptible then a Dog a Swine or a Toad For these owe but one death to nature he two the first to nature which is soon past the second to God which continues for eternity A man plunged in sin may fitly be termed a nest of Basiliskes a Den of infernal Theives of whom take St Pauls affirmation They shall suffer eternall pains in destruction from the face of our Lord and from the Glory of his Power they are quite excluded for ever 2. Thess ch 1.9 Out alas What age ever brought forth such a Monster that would not have its fury satisfied with one death What Executioner what Tyrant contented not their cruelty with Malefactors dying once but after that would proceed to a second death One death hath
blessed life replenisht with never ending and perpetual delight Have patience therefore yet a while 2. Cor. ch 4. Our momentary and light tribulation worketh an eternal weight of glory in us We shall one day remember with joy what we now have difficulty to endure Whatsoever sufferings therefore occur Coll. 1.11 bear them In all Patience and longanimity with joy giving thanks to God These and many other particulars are much inculcated to little purpose whereunto scarce any other answer is returned Es c. 28. but that of the Jews Command recommand command recommand expect re-expect expect re-expect What ever befals us hereafter we will glut our Eyes and Hands with things present pleasure draws us too and fro in which t is hard to observe a mean Our appetite must be satisfied though it cost us never so dear God is good and merciful who will easily pardon such as offend him With these charms they strive to stop your mouth but O miserable and blind mortals do you not know these pleasures you thirst after are forbidden doth not your own Conscience Preach this Doctrine to you doth not reason disswade you do not Gods Laws command the contrary Tell me I pray do you not beleive all the pleasure this world affords how lasting soever it be lasts but a moment withers in a trice and ends in eternal sorrow All Eternity of this world compared to true Eternity is but a minute a point and less then nothing But do you consider or give credit to these things If you will be known by the name of Christians you must both think on and beleive them If you acknowledge mans condition to be such that we are unmindful of eternal and eagerly pursue things present which is the cause why you have so many scars are so grievously wounded and drowned in the sink of Vice I shall own your Confession as good in case it be accompanied with amendment of life SECT 2. GIve me leave to propose yet another question Do you beleive these Vices which are so familiar with you are punisht eternally by God We do beleive it say they Why then are you both so forgetful and bold as to tread under foot so confidently the laws of God insomuch as neither fear of chastisement nor dread of hell nor horrour of everlasting fire nor love of Heaven are able to restrain you from sin From want of this fear proceeds your debaucht life your impatience in adversity your forgetfulness of Hell in prosperity and that multitude of vices which ensnare you Indeed Eternity hath no place in your thoughts which though you beleive you do not consider it with attention Jeremy ch 12. There is none that considereth in the heart Eternity is frequently in our mouth seldome in our heart Admonitions concerning Eternity knock at our Ears but are not admitted to enter Scarce any one weighs attentively the Secrets of eternity Now and then perchance we have some thoughts of those endless windings of eternity but they quickly vanish we sometimes read what others have written of eternity but we soon forget it we hear in Sermons of that bottomless Gulf of Eternity but even that too stayes not long with us a croud of other thoughts stifle in our minds those wholesome considerations So eternity ere it be well entred into our souls is overwhelmed with pernicioâ—â— desires whence all the blandishments of our former impurities creep into our hearts and nestle there as before Thus our Faith which we boast of is a drowsy or indeed a dead faith Michael Mercatus the elder as Baronius relates from persons of undoubted credit entered into a league of intimate friendship with Marsilius Ficinus Tom. 5. anno 411. a man of an excellent capacity this tye was faster knit together by their joynt applycation to the study of Phylosophy Both of them were well read in Plato Whence it came to pass that they engaged in a dispute amongst themselves what was the state of man after death whither his soul went what semblance belonged to matters in the next world All which they resolved first to deduce but of Plato's principles and afterwards to establish according to the tenets of Christianity When they had long debated the business they came at length to this agreement that they should shake hands and promise each other that whether dyed first should if God were so pleased faithfully inform the surviver how the case stood in the next life This was their covenant to which they mutually consented and confirmed it by Oath In process of time they were so parted as that they setled their habitation in different Cities Which done Michael Mercatus being early one morning busiy at his study of Philosophy he heard a horseman in the next street posting amain towards his Gates and Marsilius his voice calling aloud He meanes things touching the immortality of the soul O Michael Michael those things are true they are true indeed they are most true Michael acquainted with the voice of his familier friend left his books ran to the window looked forth and saw Marsilius his back riding on a white horse and now almost out of sight at a turning whom he pursued with a nimble voice and called Marsilius Marsilius but the rider in white admitting no delay was presently out of sight Mercatus astonisht with this unexpected apparition was solicitous to know what was become of his Marsilius After a while he understood Marsilius was dead at Florence that very hour wherein he both heard and saw him at his own house From that time forward Mercatus though otherwise a man of an upright life and approved integrity took his leave of Philosophy and resolved to adhere more exactly to the principles of a better Philosophy taught Christian Religion Whereupon being dead to himself and the world be bestowed the remainder of his life upon things to come and meditated every day upon eternity SECT 3. AN attentive meditation on eternity is the beginning of a better life Vertue is commended but coldly where love of eternal life is wanting The road is smooth and easy to hell when the mind is not dayly employed with the consideration of a blessed or damned eternity These things we both know and beleive and yet we loyter and neglect our chiefest good T is true you may hear some say O Eternity But in the interim they cheerfully lay fast hold on a full cup and carouse so long till the liquor damm at the top of their throat Now and then with a deep sigh we breath out Eternity and in the mean while our heart swimms in impure and lacivious thoughts it digests secret lust and by hidden contrivances steals away it self from God We run in quest after the treasures of Heaven but cease not to smile upon money which is the scum of the earth and privately offer sacrifice to Mammon We make a shew as if we were afraid of flames eternal and yet hold on to kindle