be accused by every one to be charged of grievious crimes but that vvhich surpasseth all imagination is to be judged at the last appeale by the Soveraigne Judge of Judges this every one ought to apprehend vvith horrour that is not vvholly deprived of reason this vvill make every one to yeeld that is not vvorse then a Turk this vvill cause every one to vveep that beleeves he hath a soul to fall into the hands of God for to be feverly judged to be in the povver of no more a benigne Father for to condemn us vvithout favour or mercy to be chastized no more by the chast lamb vvho did so amorously shed even unto the last drop of his blood for to give us Heaven But by the roaring Lyon of Juda vvho comes to take revenge of all the faults committed against him O day most dreadful O Judg most terrible and vvithout mercy O judgment full of terrour But vvhat is there no meanes to procrastinate delay or prolong it never so little No no to demand any such thing is but time lost vvhetefore delay it seeing the crimes are manifest the offender hath not any thing to reply it is a very great folly to only think on it the knowledg of thy Judg is it not infinite is not his bounty and goodness unlimited unto vvhom canst thou make thy address vvho is more benign his justice is it not the rule of all justice unto what Court wilt thou appealc that can be more just his power is it not the omnipotence of a God who can resist or contradict him Thinke well on it Turne thee on all sides and putt thy self all postures retire thee in what place thou wilt it is done with thee thou canst not expect any thing but this great storme which is ready to fall on thy heade and to make thee know that thou art most justly condemned ALas condemned but to what to what to be never more the Child of the eternall Father who had adopted thee by Creation To what to loose the inheritance which Iesus Christ had purchased for thee in heaven by his bitter Fassion To what to be for ever separated from the delightfull and glorious Society of the Sacred Virgine of the Angels and Saints who did expect thee for to prayse God with them O inestimable O cruell separation To what unto torments a thousand times more intollerable then all the Tyrants could ever invent unto Fire a thousand times more burning then these of this world Fire alwayes flaming without light fire alwayes burning without diminishing is not this sufficient for thee who can not endure the roughnes of a haire cloth is not this too much for thce who can not suffer without complayning the prick of a pinn Thinke well on it For my part I am at a stand being unable to resolue to heare this sentence against thee which will make to tremble the Heavens earth and Hell Goe thou cursed begon far from me for ever since when ther was time thou wouldst not serve me depart from hence for to weepe in the bottemlesse pitt because thou hast not done it on earth Gett thou away for to burne in the fire which causing thee a thousand paines never shall consume thee Goe unto the company of the Divels who will make thee pay most dearely for all the follies of thy life Who can imagine the rage with which the Divels will seize on thee the promptnesse with which they will torment thee in Hell Deare Frlend is it not true that if this misfortune should happen unto thee Alas God of his goodnes preserve thee from it is it not true that thou wouldst profoundly sigh and say with a lamentable voice O if o if O if I had but one day of those which I have so unfortunatly lost if I could finde an houre of time which I have evelly imployed if at least one quarter of an houre were given me for to saye A good peccavi O with what a good Heart would I say it O how I would cast my self on my knees O how would I knock my breast how great a griefe would I have for my sinnes But what henders thee from doing all this now wherfore doest thou delay it courage I doe conjure thee by all that is most deare unto thee Cast thy self on thy knees say this good peccavi but say it staiedly and with feeling sly Mercy o my God mercy I repent with all my Heart for having offended thy divine goodnes because thou art my good God and my All I love thee and honor thee aboue all things I will never more offend thee thy grace assisting me and I will alwayes avoyed the occasions of sinning in satisfaction of my past faults I offer thee my life and all I have Receave me I beseech thee since thou hast moved me to aske it through the merits of thy Sonn Jesus Christ and never permitt me to offend thee again Hell THer are those who deeme it unmeet and inconvenient that a generous and brave spirite should make use of the consideration of Hell for to shun vice and to addict himself unto the service of God who having made all for love will that we serve him for love Seriously I do not conceave how it shall be unlawfull for any one to practice to do well by this meanes seing St. John Baptist made use of it to leade all the word unto God Preaching alowd and clearly that every tree that is to say every Man that doth not yeeld good fruit shall be cutt downe and cast into the fire the Saviour of our Souls in the sermon of his last supper presented unto his Disciples the same remedie for to oblige them to be alwayes dutifull and obedient even as sayed he unto them the vine branches being separated from the the stock withers and is cast in the fire even so the sinner shall be cast out of my company shall loose all the guifts and all the virtue he had to doe good and shal be throwne into the eternal fire St. Athanasius relates that St. Anthony assaulted with strong and violent temptations in the beginning of his holy life overcame thē victoriously by seriously thinking on the torments of Hell And Metaphrastes recounts that St. Martinian being even lost and ready to committ a great sinn he cast him self on the fire and permitting himself to burne a little while discoursed with himself saying see Martinian if thou canst endure the eternall flames whether this sinne thou art goeing to committ will infallibly leade thee if thou resents so much this temporall fire which is extinguished with a little water if thou finde it so unsupportable what will be the eternall fire which can never be extinguished by this meanes he vanguished the temptation Well seing that this remedie is so profitable I beseech thee Thinke well on it TO the end that thou mayst make it more profitable inquire of any one that knowes it what Hell is Job will tell thee
that it is a country full of obscure darknes and noisome stinkes wher there is no order but an intollerable horror and eternal confusion Salomon will assure thee that it is a most bottomlesse pit from whence none can come that is fallen there in Jsayas will explicate it unto thee that it is a Prison full of a most vehement fire which although it be of the same nature with the elementarie fire is incomparably more efficacious to torment because it doth not act with the sole natural virtue but as the instrumēt of the infinit divine power of God which is elevated to torment the damned as much as Gods justice requires from whence it is that it needes not any matter for its maintenance it can never be extinguished because it is the breath of God to witt his infinite power that kindles it according unto Jsayas The Divines hold that it is replenished with all sortes of evils and voyed of all good it is in vayne for to dispute of it sayeth the devout Rusbroquius for when we have saied all that can be sayed of the paynes of Hell it will be much lesse in comparison of what it is then a drop of water compared unto the whole Ocean S. Augustine in one of his epistles sayeth that a dead man raised to life by the touching of St. Hierosmes haire shirt testefyed unto St. Cyrille Bishop of Hierusalem that the torments of the other life were so great that if any one had experimented the least he would choose rather to be even unto the day of judgment in a furnace wher all the fire of the world was inclosed then to suffer onc day in Hell are not these things dreadful Think well on it ANd following the counsell of St. Bernard descend often into Hell whilst thou livest by thy meditations to the end that after thy death thou beest not shut up there for al eternity Consider advisedly how the Souls of the damned are hideously tortured because they see themselves deprived for all eternity of the vision of God a torment farr greater then can be imagined in this world All their powers are full of bittternes and anguish inexplicable the memorie with the remembrance of past pleasures and of future evils the understanding with the perfect knowledg of all it hath done preferrlng the creatures before the Creator the transitorie goods and pleasures before those which shall never have an end the will with an inraged hate which they have against God which will make them utter a thousand blasphemies the imagination with the lively apprehensiō of the present payens and yett more to follow The fire acts with farr greater heate against them then doth our inflamed coales agaist a Barr of Iron which it burnes and inflames in the Furnace The remorse of Conscience excessively gnawes and vexes for the meanes representing them selves which it hath had of salvation although it doth not repent of the sinn as an offence against God yett it burstes with griefe and rage for having committed the evil which hath ruined it Esau roared like a lyon seeing that for a smal dish of porridge he had lost his right of inheritance the damned soul doth yet worse knowing that for a short pleasure for a base reveng for a little word she hath lost Heaven in good earnest is not this an ineffable heart breake Thinke well on it MArke how the body shall ther suffer an insupportable fire it shall be cast into an extreame cold it shall be hammered cruelly on most hard Anviles broken on wheels grounded in a mill Cut and shred with rasours pierced with leances Infinē imagine all the punishments that the Tyrants have invented to torment the Martyres the brasen Buls boiling Cauldrons Combes of Iron Crosses Fires Rasours all this was but an eesie and short Prentiship to that which the Divels make the damned to suffer in all the parts of their Bodies but especially in their five senses The sight shall be cruelly tormented with thick obscure darknesse which depriving them of all comfort of the light shall afford them I know not what unfortunat cleernesse which shall cause them to see hideous and ghastly spectacles of their torments and so many dreadful shapes of the infernall monsters the sight of which shall be intollerable without any relaxation Alas if the seeing of one Divell is able to cause the death of the most couragious what shall do I beseech thee the horrible spectacle of all the Divels and the damned The Hearing shall be incessantly frighted with the despairable cryes with dreadfull howlings and with most execreable blasphemies which these miserables shall utter against them selves and against God Imagine a thousand People in the fire even unto the chinn every one lamentably crying how insupportable will their clamors be and what is this in comparaison of a hundred thousand millions of the damned which burne in Hell The Ambitious shall saye I despaire with griefe Cursed vanities which hath brought me hether the Avaritious shall complaine I am enraged with the paynes cursed richesses which are the cause of my euil the Lascivious shall yell I burne cursed pleasures which have kindled me this fire c. The Taste inportuned with an exceeding hunger and extraordinary thirst shall have for viande loathsomes Toads and the gall of Dragons for drinke this shall but increase the Hunger and thirst witnesseth the cursed Richman who almost two thousand yeares since demanded a drop of water for to assuage the thirst which did torture him and as yet hath not obtained it nor never shall The Feeling shall be tormented through all that is sensible by fire which shall penetrate even unto the marrow cold shall succeede which shall congeale the bloud with in the veines with sharpe aches an hundred times in foure aid tweety houres the flesh shall be torne and the bones broken and as often redintegrated and repaired an hundred times shall be powred on the Body boiling oyle melted lead and they shall not consume The Smelling shall be infected with stinking and noisome smells which shal exhale not only from the infulphured fire and the tainted sinkes of Hell but also from the Bodies of the damned Odors so insupportable that St. Bonaventure affirmes that one Body of the damned would be able to infect the whole world with the plague In the lives of the Fathers it is written that a certaine religious man damned appeared unto his companion who asked him if the paines of Hell were so cruel as they preach know answered he that they are such that the tongues of men are not able to explicate the rigour of them Couldst thou not give me some proofe saied the companion I will replied the damned wouldst thou see heare taste or feele them Alas sayed the Religious I am not able to see or heare them for I am too timerous nether to feele them being too delicate much lesse am I able to taste them having so weake a stomack but I should be content
in a word wouldst thou harbour so much hautines in thy heart and in all thy deportments knowest thou not that God could not permits pride to be in heaven in the most eminent creatures which ever he made how will he indure it in thee Thinke well on it Boldly resolue to roote out of thy body even the least haire and put of thy soul the smalest thought which may nurish this vice least it should procure the wrauth of God on thee eternal dānation IF thou knewest most certaynly that within four and twenty houres thy Parents and Friends in recompense of what they enherite of thee must send thee into the other world sewed in one of the commune sheets of thy cofer wouldst thou be so covetuous of gaine wouldst thou so greedily runne after Gold wouldst thou heape up treasures so painefully for Heires who will remēber thee no longer then they are making good cheere of thyn what will availe thee the stately and sumptuous Howses which thou hast built when thou must lodg in a black Tombe what will profite thee to have left so much gold and silver in Banke when thy Soul shall burne in purgatory Thinke well on it Conclud that it is no smal follie in being so solicitous to heap up wealth which soon or late must be lost and so carelesse of thofc treasures which we may carry with us and enjoy for al eternity IF thou didst know that death were but two or three dayes from thee and didst see one of his forerunners with thee as it is very probable that thou art not without some corporall incommodity tell me in this apprehension wouldst thou abandon thy self in the ordure and filth of sensualitie wouldst thou wallow like a hog in the mire wouldst thou say with those shallou braines in the second chapter of wisedome Come threfore and lett us enjoy the creature as in youth Lett us fill our selves with precious wine and oyntmentts and let not the flowre of the time passe us let us crowne our selves with Rofes before they wither lett ther be no medow which our riott shall not passe through let none of vs be exempted from our rioteousnes every wher lett us leave signe of joy because this is our portion and this our lot wouldst thou with these people have led a life of an Athest and a beast or lived like those of Sodome to be swalloved up by the earth Thinke well on it Thou wilt avoyde all occasions of defyling thy body and Soul imitating the faire Hermine who for fear of defyling her whit skin with the durt permits her self to killed IF a maligne fever did torment thee in thy bed having dispatched many with in twise foure and twenty houres Wouldst thou not be vexed for having harbored so long hatred and envie in thy soul against thy Neighbour for having endeavored to distroy him and to blemish his honor without gaining any thing but a bitter remorse of conscience and the maledictions of Cain Thinke well on it Thou wilt compassionat the envious seeing them macerated with the prosperity of others and thou wilt avoyde envy which tortures the heart and consumes the body IF thou didst imagine that within three dayes that thy body should be reduced into dust wouldst thou have so much deked and cockered it and taken so much care to nurish it affording it all that it desired without consulting with reason Wouldst thou be like unto the rich Gluton who from a plentifull table was draged into the eternall flaming fires wher he could not obtayne a little drop of water to releave his thirst which infinitly tormented him Thinke well on it Conclud that they most miserably vnfortunate vvho for being too indulgent unto their bodyes exposeth their bodyes and souls unto the danger of eternall damnation IF thou vvert sick in bed and an expert and shilful Phisician should desire thee to put all things in good order for that thou art in great danger of death vvouldst thou not exceedingly grieve to have ben so often impatient to have cursed and injured thy servants domesticks and neighbours and to never have suffered any the least thing for God and for thy saluation vvhich is better either to indure same little thing for God and to gaine Paradise according unto the example of Saints or to suffer in the next life vvithout any benefitt Thinke well on it Firmely resolue to subdue thy Choler and to suffer all things patiently seeing that the grievous malice of men in the vvorld is not to be compared vvith the rage and fury of the divels vvhich torment in the other vvorld IF now the holy Oyle were brought wouldst thou not tremble and shiver considering the negligence thou hast used all thy life to save thy soul wilt thou not be ashamed for having used so much slacknes in kneeling every morning in making thy intentions in frequenting the holy Sacraments in visiting the sick in hearing Masse would not thy heart faynt seeing so few good workes accompaning thee before God what shame is it vnto a child of a noble familie to see himself ill attended when he presents him self unto his Father before a noble assembly Thinke well on it Thou wilt boldly say that it is a devillish inchaunting to see men so diligēt in gaining the goode which death will wholy deprive them of if they do not before loose them and so laisy in seeking after those treasures which will accompany them after death and comfort them for all eternity IF thou hadst thy soul even on thy lips and ther wanted but one breath for the departure of it wouldst thou not be in a shamefull confusion to have sold and lost the merit of thy good actions for little vanity for an humane respect for a foolish compliance Is it not childish to leave a piece of gold for a putrifyed nutt is it not most brutall to sweate and kill himself with labour to be solaced with a little winde Is it not worse then folly to do wel meerely for to be esteemed and praysed by men Thinke well on it Be a fraide to receave the answere which God gave unto those vvho after having prayed much and ben well mortefyed thinking to be rewarded therfore heard I tell yee in truth that yee have already receaved your salary and wages Resolue to have a good intention in all your actions to please God rendring him all the glorie that he will conserve thee entierly for to enjoy him eternally LEt us conclud all in a vvord If thou vvert in the passage vvhich all must make from this life unto the other wouldst thou have done sayd or thought any the least thing a gainst the Majesty of him before vvhom thou art going to receave the sentence of death or life eternall Thinke seriously on it nether more or lesse then if on this thought depended thy eternity of felicity or misery Thinke lively on it nether more or lesse then if thou hadst a strong assurance that after this half