that he saw and would not see knew and would not know hee might haue askt and would not stoupe for it because he liked his owne waies Poore wretch forlorne miserable and forsaken wretch If he were in life againe what would he doe hee could tell how to vse the matter better then hee did Which I pray God we may learne to doe by his wofull example if we saw him It is not land or mony or goodly things or faire glozes that would damne him againe if he were aliue againe He was not so griping as he would now be giuing He was not so vpon aduantage as he would now giue aduantage He was not so ready to rend frō a man the one halfe as now to render fourefold not so sparing then towards common good as now more for the cōmon thē for his priuat not so proud then of his fortunes as now humble affable not so large then as now scrupulous not so auerted then from the poore as now compassionate and tender ouer the poore and rather delighting in them This day let all men assure themselues will one day come and will not bee long but they shall see how foolish they were for all their seeming wit how little for all their greatnes how poore and ragged for all their hourding scraping together how full of lip-labour all their praiers how course their conceits in heauenly affaires More shall they see vnder a silly winding sheete then vnder a Cannopy of gold more in the dumpes of their euerlasting melancholy then heere in the height of their iolitie But all to late after finall impenitence O that any teares of ours or sobs of endlesse lamentation might giue them ease but they will not I speake no more of them my heart doth bleede that any of these woes should fall vpon any one But it hath beene and will be Yet thankes be to God and truely let vs reioyce and clappe our hands all we that are yet liuing and are not as yet in that dolefull pitte There is no wrong but we may yet right And it may be there is yet no wrong but we may preuent Let vs be wise betimes and learne by other mens harmes Wee especially that professe our selues of Gods houshold and let vs accustome our selues to bee scrupulous and to doe nothing without counsell It will trouble vs much to restore againe when we haue wronged Wee finde by experience they will bee damned first as wise as they are before they will heare of it To thinke all ours that we force from a body by law or might it is folly To doe otherwise then we will bee done to is little honour or honesty To sooth our selues with ill custome where nothing warrants but ill custome is to cozen our selues and make sport for the deuill Now let vs cast vp our eyes to heauen if we be not cast-awaies and desperate Let not a little mony damne vs or hope of gaine gaine-say vs when we knocke at heauen gate Nay why should wee hazzard our best part so or put our heauenly portion in aduenture for it What reason haue wee to loose a certenty there for an vncertenty heere Why should we loose a thousand poundessure our owne for an hundred halfpence not sure our owne or how long we shall haue it away with it Let it not taint our chests and canker our soules Put it not together with that is well gotten In stead of giuing or lending where neede is let vs not take another mans without need and which no neede should compell vs vnto He that hath least hath enough of that little to answer for though he heape not on himselfe more by wresting from others If yee will be patient and milde and void of all passion if ye will free your selues from enuy and anger which I told you in the beginning is so necessary for vs and lastly if ye will goe light to heauen when ye dye and will be alwayes ready for it when God shall call away with your clogge of cupidity let it approach your heart no more but be indifferent to all things whether ye haue them or no and assure your selues ye shall gaine in the end by it Magnus questus pietas cum sufficientia Better a little with content 1. Tim. 6. then a great deale to trouble our braines withall at our last gaspe a little with true honesty then a great deale with prophane cupidity Will rich men and ambitious bodies giue credence to S. Paul who tels them wherein true gaine consisteth and how they shall get it Religion pietie and feare of God these make profite saith hee and gaine vs great matters Let these bee the plaine song to all our descant these the commanders of all our businesse O that we had the faith of Tobias Tob. 4. We lead saith he a poore life Yet what was his comfort We shall haue many good things said he if we feare God Where is our faith now is it asseepe See how Saints agree Magnus questus saith one Multa bona saith an other We shall haue many good things without hurting or wronging any O that we could looke out of Saint Pauls eye when he called it Magnus questus What were the riches he saw when he said it what purple robes yea they exceeded all purple What golde and siluer no treasure comparable What pearle or precious thing no pearle or iewell comes neere it What saw he then what inamoured his Eagles eye what fil'd vp his heart so that hee left no corner in it for worlds glory or mony-bagges What content tooke Tobias who had wife and children to prouide for and many childrens children yet none of these base things could fasten on him His Multa bona were in heauen not vnum bonum on earth His thoughts were high reachers as lowely as he was a little was enough heere What a world-skorning word is that of Saint Paul Cum sufficientia What he meant by it he explaines himselfe in an other place Habentes alimenta 1. Tim. 6. vnde tegamur his contenti simus If wee haue enough to feede vs competently and to couer vs conueniently to our estates we liue in for so is his meaning what seeke wee more why climbe we higher what necessity to make our selues great what neede lace vpon lace silke vpon silke dishes after dishes and a thousand curiosities more then meere decency Saint Paul loued it not nor would haue vs to loue it For hee speakes not this to priests and religious onely saith Saint Chrysostome but in generall to all that liue in the world lib. 3. cont Vitrup Now how will your Superfluum and this sufficiencie agree how will those lime twigges comply with your winges when yee shall come to vse them But I will conclude with a iudgement or a ruled case ruled by God himselfe in Saint Lukes Gospell Luk. 18. Quam difficile qui pecunius habent in regnum dei
more Plut. vit Nauel all heathen on both sides Of Persians two hundred thousand slaine at one time by Melciades the Athenian Duke besides his owne all heathen on both sides Of Armenians and others three hundred thousand foote and horse were slaine almost together by Lucullus besides his owne side which was bloody enough all heathen on both sides Caesar in person was at the killing of one thousand thousand one hundred foure-score and tenne thousand besides a multitude of his owne and besides them that were slaine in the ciuill warres which he as ashamed to reckon all heathens and Idolaters Rex Alexander in three battailes against Darius onely slewe fifteene hundred thousand besides what else were slaine of his owne side all heathen people on both sides Iosep de Bell. Iud. Baroni The story of the Iewes ouerthrowe at Ierusalem is well enough knowne where were slaine of them and Proselites together besides forty thousand that went out before to flye Gods wrath eleuen hundred thousand persons and aboue whereof it was thought fewe or none were saued but died obdurate Latter histories relate vnto vs infinite battels of all heathens and some of heathen and Christians together Charles Martell slew three hundred threescore and fifteene thousand Sarazens in a short space and Rhodericus as many and more To say nothing of the terrible slaughters in our dayes betweene Turkes Moores Persians Muscouites Tartarians and Ethiopians and such like all heathens without number fighting one against another none of them better then other all striuing who should send downe most to their great Master whom they serued And they that escaped the sword were neuer the neerer They went the same way in the end and dranke of the same cuppe To say nothing also of them that dye of the Murreine plague or famine euery yeare Leo. Afer tenne thousand carried out of Cayro in a day of the plague and many other like accidents that wee heare not of God died for all but none haue the benefit of it but his little brood of the elect these were Jsraelites and Iewes before the incarnation Christians since the incarnation But what were all the Iewessaued are all Christians partakers of this reward though God cōfined himself most what to the Iewish nation in those dayes and now to Christians yet very fewe there bee either of them or vs in respect of them that miscarry that shall bee partakers of this so rare so noble and so royall a reward Heauen is not for Gods enemies or cold friends The Iewes were alwayes so cold of deuotion so prone to sinne so grumbling against God and superiours that he sware in his anger they should neuer see his rest Psal 94. Holy Dauid complained in his time how abhominable they became in their iniquities there was none that did good no not one Psal 13. in comparison of those that were otherwise And yet had they then a noble king ouer them and worthy Priests to gouerne them and guide them Saint Iohn Baptist also in his time couldscarce affoord them a faire word but called them Vipersbroode Mat. 3.12 Now to speake of Christians that came after although the primitiue sort of vs were more hotte Mat 20. and zealous yet Christ foretold vs for our better warning that many of vs should be called Luk. 13.23 and fewe chosen And in an other place being asked Si pauci saluantur whether but fewe should be saued he seemed to affirme it saying Striue yee to enter the streight gate And euen so hath it prooued in all ages They that were good were alwayes fewe In all the olde world 1 Pet. 3. eight persous onely were saued the rest were drowned What numbers haue there beene of heretiques and yet are that haue no part in the kingdome of heauen and of those that beleeue well how many bee there that liue well who delights in Gods seruice or holds himselfe to howers and orderly life who is there almost that hath not one fault to bring him to hell and yet will not leaue it vntill it leaue him how many more be there that haue many faults giue way to them all swallow all till all too late they repent them The broad way they be in they like well to go forward in loue ease loue security neuer seeke more and so dodge on till they die and dye as they liued Very fewe there be indeede and too too few that be chosen Many runne in the furlong saith Saint Paul yet but one gets the prize 1. Cor. 9. And why but one amongst many hee insinuates a reason a little after that no man may-despaire notwithstanding to get the gole if he will His reason is for that scarce one amongst many prepareth for the race as he should They be commonly so sloathfull and drowsie that they dyet not themselues they deny not their belly all excesse inure not their soules to daily practise and exercise in that heaueuly race so as they runne but vncertainely and as it were beating the ayre All follow vanities the proiects of their owne hearts and no man ponders or considers deepely the greatnesse of this heauenly gole hee runnes for and therefore looseth it Alas we cannot get trifles in the world without care Yea all the care we can we bestowe vpon them commonly But no man bestowes on heauen the least care come of it what will It is an ill dogge they say that is not worth whistling The most make worse then a dogge of heauenly felicity They hardly bestowe a sigh on it from their heart in a long time But it is not my purpose to shew reasons why it is so that so few be saued It is enough that wee haue prooued it to bee so euen amongst the professors of Christianity O greatnes of heauenly reward Who shall attaine thy holy hill Who shall be admitted to sit with Angels Omne paerclarum rarum Euery thing that is excellent in this world is also rare If kings were common and great persons euery where who could see their greatnesse Euen so it is of good folke who are as admirable as rare whatsoeuer men thinke of them O happy lot ô excellent reward Thy excellency is seene by thy rarenesse and hard to come by O worthy of worthies that the world sets so little by and is not worthy of How great art thou in thy height How great in breadth and largenesse Thou art big in place spacious in thy roomes large in thy beautifull territories The earth is little to thee Hell is nothing to thee Behold heere an admirable worke of God Heauen is aboue neere God Hell belowe neere the Center as is thought where most bee the place is narrowest to receiue them where fewest Soules bee there is roome to spare The number of damned soules is without number beyond those in Heauen and yet their place is infinitely lesse then it in heauen The way to hell is broad and
2. I said before the iust man liues by faith So doe you Stirre vp your faith that it lye not idle in you without fruit Let vs liue by faith as louers liue by loue Their loue is life to their thoughts and fire to their affections They will doe nothing against lawes of loue they ply her with all the seruice and good offices they can the ground of their hopes is but a word or a good looke or halfe a promise from her Can we not doe thus to God It is but changing the subiect and it is done Keepe your loue still be enamored still That which was to a creature Let now bee to the creator then yee are right hold your selues there so it be to God If nothing can please you but riches and splendour make vse of your faith and ye shall haue all contentment in him that ye can desire If beauty delight you reflect vpon your faith and ye will neuer seeke other then what yee finde in him Your hope shall not be so weake as louers hopes vpon a word or halfe promise Euery leafe in the Bible is fraught with promises She is your owne what seeke you more and if ye haue faith she bringes all that is good with her Doe as louers doe Serue God and obserue him whatsoeuer ye haue in hand Let your loue be t 'one end of your thought Marke what God loues in you and doe it note what he hates in you auoide it Let him be alwaies master of your heart to gouerne it mistresse of your loue to command it a most bountifull rewarder ye shall finde him and a most beautifull mistresse yet none so meane in the world but may haue her none so great in the world but may goe without her How can a man be idle and haue so sweet a mistresse to serue night and day hee cannot sinne in thinking on her But I leaue all to your good practise ye haue heard worthy friends all that one body can say in so short a time in words so fewe and in a businesse so aboue all measure necessarie and I may not spoyle with tediousnesse a matter so repleate with all pleasantnesse Shall I aske you a question to make an end withall yee shall not need answer me in words but in thoughts Is there any vnbeleeuer in this place Can any man perswade himselfe he shall liue long or that heauen wil be had without much care or that worldly cares do not hinder it and hazzard it exceedingly Doe they thinke they haue no such inheritance in heauen as I speake off Locum nominatum dabit eis pater meus My father will giue them a place by name or thinke they that the least flower in heauen is not much more worth then the fairest bower on earth that one glimps at Gods brightnesse if we might see it would not dimme and damne the worldes greatest happinesse that one peepe into heauen would not make our gold shew like leade faire fields like a desert the bright sunne like a sparkle beauty like the white skull of adead body if any such be heere asbeleeue nothing but what they see delight in nothing but what the basest dullest and most vulgar delight in I shall most humbly intreate them for the passion of Christ and for the true loue they owe themselues to informe themselues better by them that be better learned Let them not be sicke so dangerously and seeke after no remedy But if it be so as I haue no doubt but ye all beleeue mee then tell me I pray whether yee neede a spurre thither that haue so faire a baite of it whether yee neede a whippe that haue so faire allurements to it whether yee neede inuiting to your owne house any bidding to your owne banquet any inforcing to your owne possession or proper inheritance which if yee neede I doe not maruell much in this great opposition of flesh and blood which keepes you from seeing your inward marke and which vntill yeesee more perfectly minde more readily and aime at more feruently as you doe at outward things sure it is not with you as it should bee and your present remedy is to make a patterne of outward things whereby to guide you to the inward Who stumbles at money-bagge and needes be bidden take it vp who hath a a good legacy giuen him and needes perswading to goe fetch it who is a hungred and needes inforcing to fill his belly hauing good meate before him Sence furthers him in all this And shall our faith be weaker then sence to further vs to the contrary Sence telles vs money is better then Gods mercy itching pleasure better then Paradice present momentaries better then future euerlastingnesse And shall our faith lye dead the whilest Take courage in God and let not sence so preuaile against it Let not idlenesse drowne it passion ouerthrowe it and filthy custome cut the throate of it Let faith rather goe before and other things come after When we follow one by night our eye is neuer off him for feare we misse our way euen so let vs looke to our faith-ward alwayes that our sence seduce vs not in the darke of our vnderstanding If at any time ye be feasting or sporting turne your eye now and then inward and remember the grand-feast preparing for yee aboue Are yee in sorrow or heauinesse stirre vp your faith a little remember heauen and sorrow will vanish like a bubble Are ye at a royall maske or other great entertainement Thinke it all nothing to that is ready for yee in heauen against ye come there Haue ye lost a friend or deare companion Take the glasse of faith in your hand and ye find an hundred for one more deare to you then any can be vpon earth Haue ye sweetes at your nose or dainties in your taste Dwell not on them too long but reflect them higher Are ye tempted with disloyaltie or other disobedience Raise an heauenly thought and it will vntempt you Are yee in delight of harmony the Waites perhaps at your windowe to giue you the time of the day Let this make worke for your faith and quicken it and make it eager after her heauenly harmony Are ye melancholy at misfortune discontent with distresse dazeled with gloomy weather afflicted with reproach or obliquie Repaire to your liuely faith and it will banish all discomfort Your field musicke and trumpets that make you couch your lances and your horses stampe vnder you let these be your alarums against your triple enemie that baricado the way betweene you and heauen Let your inward trumpet sound with your outward to spend your spirits and animate your soules against any proffer to beate you from heauen Doe ye know what heauen is that noble heauen that golden heauen that glorious and delightfull heauen that euerlasting heauen where Angels becken you and looke euery day for you and will yee bee beaten from it Doe yee know your right to it the
Choromandell of Saint Thomas and in other places likewise the Pago-de is carried vpon mens shoulders where the Brachmans that carry it make as though the god will goe no further and they not able to carry it further And it may bee that the Diuell doth presse them so hard that they cannot stirre indeede Then come there many that are neuer wanting at such a time who stabbe themselues to death and there fall downe before it And yet the Pago-de will not stirre vntill the number be full as the deuill or Brachmans would haue it And then they goe forward to the temple againe well loaden with the spoyle of those damned creatures both body and soule Yet this they do and thinke they doe their god seruice in it And shall arise no doubt in iudgment against vs. Who know the true God and yet are so spiritlesse and dull in his true seruice as we be There is no neede of sliceing and wounding our selues as they doe yet it will not hurt vs to leape out of a warme bedde sometimes for a Pater noster while either to encounter an ill thought assayling vs or to pray for them that haue no where to lye or for them that be in danger that night by sea or land or if we chance to heare a passing bell God forbid we should kill or misdiet our selues with ouer much care and yet to pinch our selues a little for the poore or for abating our flesh that it rebell not are testimonies to our conscience that we feare and loue God Wee will not leaue our needefull businesse at randon and yet we will take our times to talke with God in secret or at publique praier and thinke long to be at it If wee haue a charge wee may not neglect it yet well may we thinke that any act of deuotion is more noble in it selfe then the mannaging of a kingdome Wee will not lye groueling a whole Sabboth till sunne sette Psal 6. Psal 118. as many Iewes doe yet let vs not thinke much to labour in our prayer with groaning as king Dauid did And if we cannot doe it seauen times a day as hee did yet once a day or a weeke it were noble and would profit vs much to pray so as if wee should then dye It may bee yee thinke I impose too much vpon yee now when I thrust these things into matter of saluation But mistake mee not I beseech you I know yee bee stout men and valiant and yee stand vpon your gentry but if yee be not good men also as I thinke ye are all your stoutnesse is nothing He is a stout man that is a good man and I shew you but some tokens how to know when yee are as you should be It is true Christ is our saluation and redemption But how Fac hoc viues Luk. 10. somewhat there is must bee done on our part And it will not be done without Labour We must decline from euill and doe good and both these will cost labour And if yee thinke these little things that I haue spoken of yee must remember with all what the Holy Ghost doth teach vs Qui spernit modica paulatim decidet Eccl. 9.19 they that set light by litle things by litle shall decay Neither are they so little as they can be done without labour If wee repent vs of our sinnes is this all Saint Ambrose tels vs that hee knewe many repenters but fewe that did the workes that belongs to it If we fast is this enough our Prophet tels vs in another place that our willes are founde in our fastings We labour not to weede out our owne willes Esay 58. 1. Cor. 5. 1. Reg. 16. nor to seuer our sowre leauen from that which is pure God lookes not on the stoutnesse of our person or highnesse of our worke but on our lowlinesse and meekenes withall and loues vs more for one act of Mortification then if wee gained him thousands yea although it were the whole kingdome of Turkie One temptation well encountred or passion ouercome is more glorious in his sight then all the conquests of Julius Caesar or the triumph of Aemilius And this is the labour God requires of vs and I exhort yee to This the labour our Prophet speaketh of and hath Saturity And the want of this Labour brings that heauy sentence vpon vs which fewe doe marke or take note of I beseech you marke what our Sauiour saith to this purpose Luk. 13.24 Multi querunt intrare saith he non poterunt Many shall seeke to enter heauen and cannot What a saying is this that many shall seeke to enter and cannot enter whom will not such a sentence terrifie or not make him or compell him to stirre about this businesse although he were halfe dead but what is the reason of this sentence No other but this They seeke and sit still They goe forward but mend no pace the bridegroome is come and gone the whilest They cannot abide to sweate at it or take paines They cry Domine Domine and will not put out their hand The Labour is not hard yea the burthen light and yet they will not lye vnder it It is little more paines then to see a play and yet they will not doe the one when they doe the other daily The Play-house doore is lowe and narrow and yet they sticke not to stoope and rend their cloathes with crowding It is beset with bils and halberds and they may haue a knocke and yet they feare nothing They may loose their purses or somewhat else and yet they will aduenture It will cost them money when they enter and a great many sit vneasie for their money or in danger of infection and yet they weigh it not Who labours for heauen thus who seekes heauen so laboriously feares no difficulty scornes no disgrace sets light by losse or a blowe biddes for the best place and will haue no nay vntill they bee in it They that seeke heauen thus shall bee sure to enter And they that seeke it not thus the sentence is ginen non poterunt they doe but goe by and looke at the place but they cannot goe in as our Sauiour saith And this may suffice for the second point which was Labour and Saturity whereby to stirre you and hasten you in your way to heauen There be two things belong to haste The one is to know the readiest way the next to loose no time in our speede if the matter bee of importance There is nothing imports vs more then our heauenly inheritance And I haue shewne the next way thither out of the Prophet Esay by holy vertuous life hearing reading and often receiuing which I prooued to be vnderstood by this word Bread in respect of all the properties of Bread that are found therein The worth of which bread hath beene declared vnto yee as also what Saturity and true contentment is and who they bee that labour and come short
heauen what is God who is the summe and substance of all reward and felicitie We that be Christians haue much more knowledge then heathens had Our light of reason is doubled with our light of faith annexed therunto by which wee both see more then we see with our eye what we beleeue we beleeue more then had we seen with eie What seek wee more We beleeue that heauen is truely great and our reward vnspeakeably great What seeke we further into the secrets of God to know how Let vs not be curious in matters not belonging to vs yet Let vs not destroy faith with too much curiositie If God would condescend to giue vs a sight of heauen and of our glory there we should rather refuse it with humilitie then expect it with importunitie Wee should rather say to him Satis domine thy promise is asmuch to me Lord as if I were there to see it It is enough to me that I knowe it is so O let me not see vntill it please thee to call This should be our speech to God and much heede wee ought to take that we diminish not his faith with least doubt of his promise or desire to haue it prooued by sence Sence knowledge derogats from faith knowledge If we see it once it is faith no more And wee may offend in it ere wee bee aware For hee that searcheth into Maiestie shall bee ouercome of glory Prou. 25. As much to say as he that will enter into Gods counsell before hee be called shall be punished as Phaeton was his owne pride will ouerthrowe him This alone may suffice for the greatnesse of our reward yee apprehend it with faith and that is enough yea a great deale more then any eloquence in the world can paint vnto you I omit therefore to speake of many things besides that would expresse this greatnesse As also of the many names whereby it is called in holy writ and ancient fathers which would greatly testifie the greatnesse of it As where it is called Mons pacis the Mountaine of peace where no disquiet or brabble can reach at vs and that which Princes haue much adoe to performe with all their power and policie is there done with ease No warre or dissentation can approach this hill where hearts and mindes are all one one will in all and there is not found a second It is called Domus dei Eccl. 4.17 Psal 22. The house of God Or if ye will Gods court and wee his courtiers or seruants in ordinary or if yee will Gods hospitall and wee his olde souldiers when age hath weakened vs infirmity disabled vs and death put downe the barre that we may fight no more O happy they that can get a place there where al sit rent free shal haueoile for their wounds ease for cumber pleasure for their paine and all things prouided for their hand and can neuer say this they want or this they would haue more Apoc. 3. Heauen is called also new Hierusalem and well may it bee so called For olde Hierusalem is in the enemies hands while all good people groane and will neuer linne grieuing I feare till God shall make them free of the new It is many times called regnum coelorum Mat. 5. Mat. 19. Luk. 7. the kingdome of heauen Let vs consider of this world a little A king and a kingdome are relatiues And he that hath a kingdome must needes bee a king What is a kingdome worth if a man should buy it or who hath price enough to buy a kingdome with It is a rare fortune to rise of nothing to be kings and yet such fortune some haue had Saul Dauid Ieroboam Iehu Darius and diuers Emperours and it is not euery ones fortune yet may it be euery ones fortune to haue a farre greater in heauen and it lyeth in his owne will Hee may haue his crowne there his robes and purple there and those more glorious there then we can imagine heere Iac. 3. And in this sence S. Iames doth call vs heires of the kingdom that God did promise Rom. 8. S. Paul doth likewise call vs heires of God and ioynt heires with Christ more then this he saith we shall reigne together with him Homer illiad For kigns are not there as they be heere where one crowne royall none can haue but one Non bona res multi domini rex vnicus esto Two kings in a kingdome will neuer stand long In heauen quite contrary It is no disgrace to a king to haue many fellowes Yea Angels themselues reioyce exceedingly and Christ our Lord disdaineth not to set vs by him 2 Tim. 2. and to communicate his crowne with vs. Saint Paules word is conregnabimus We shall bee fellow kings with him this were treason heere But wee must knowe that by this word king are vnderstood two great titles The one of necessity the other of honour the one a title of paine and charge begotten of common good for preseruing of peace and iustice among men the other a title of honour and greatnesse deserued by themselues or their ancestours or both In the right of the one 2 Pet. 2. Apoc. 20.19 ibid. 44. he carrieth a sword ad vindictam in right of the other he weareth a Crowne on his head as a conquerour The one needlesse in heauen where all be good the other needfull in heauen to despite the diuell and them that be bad And this kingly honour no king hath more on earth then soules haue in heauen 1. Pet. 5. who acknowledge no superiour there but God as kings doe heere Onely their crownes differ the one is of gold the other is of glory they differ also not a little in there estates the one is for life the other for euer And therefore in our creede it is called by another name Vita aeterna or life euerlasting Our estate in our kingdome there is for life but wee shall liue for euer How farre better this then your fee simple heere which yee say yee haue for euer yet cannot haue longer then for life nor so long neither many times And if they that follow you waste it where is your fee simple It may rightly bee called fee simple a simple for euer But ours not so it will bee for euer which no violence can wrest from vs no rust or moth weare away no time nor oldenesse wrinkle or disfigure no sickenesse consume no wrong hazzard or misinformation call in question Our estate there pure perfect and indefeazable tyed to no condition charged with no incumbrance or feare of forfeiture Subiect to no law like a king no mans vassall and doing no mans will but our owne and ours none of our owne but Gods What an inexplicable greatnesse is this and yet I cannot leaue it so the more I haue said the more me thinke I haue to say But I will bound my selfe to one or two considerations more and so
wide but narrowe and pinching when one comes there especially when they come to their bodies againe Most woefull it is to thinke on how they will lye thronging and crowding together for want of roome like bricks or tyles in a burning kill not able or not allowed to stirre hand or foote if they would neuer so faine men and women fatte and leane little and great hudling one vpon another confusedly without respect of age or sexe or any bodies ranke or place which they had in this world with Heauen all contrary The way thither narrow and streight and hard to passe it but when one is there and hath crowded through the little wicket he findes a large field and goes freely where hee will without end or wearinesse The nature of contraries is in cōtrary qualities hell is litle in ease because there is no ease little in pleasure because it is all in displeasure little in roome because it hath no roome for any repose Heauen therefore must needs be great faire goodly bright beautifull full of ease full of repose euery body would haue few will take paines for and therefore thousands to one shall not haue it as I said before I doubt not but all men beleeue as much as I or any man can say of this Angelicall subiect And I doubt as little but they thinke it well worthy of their studie and care and of their paines and cost if cost bee needfull for the obtaining of it But what is the paines that belongs to it that men and women so shrinke at and pull in their necks Is it losse of life or limme Not so but in case of Martyrdome Is it to giue all to the poore Mat. 19. Not so though Christ aduise it one that sought to be perfect Is it to suffer burning or paines of hell for it before wee come there Not so and yet Saint Augustine wisheth it with all his heart Medit. that hee might feelehell torments a good while together to bee sure to come thither and so doth venerable Bede See what apprehension these had of Heauens greatnesse What is then the let that stoppes them What the paine that terrifies Prou. 26. What Lyon in the way that puttes men out of the way What spirit or hobgoblin skares them so that they runne quite contrary and scarce looke backe againe Surely nothing else in the world but a loathing or wearinesse of well doing They thinke the paine nothing if it were short but to perseuere long in good courses they hold it a cruell thing They say in their hearts they could endure much for a day or an hower so Heauen would come presently without tarrying too long for it But to liue a long life and all the while in Battell all the while in withstanding temptations and allurements and denying their owne willes all the while expecting reward and none comming it is more then flesh and blood can beare and they will not endure it But how Dastardly a thought is this How erronious and wide from the matter That which they thinke so hard is with practise easie And that which they thinke is far off is rather neere as I shall prooue vnto you now I haue spoken hitherto of Reward how great it will bee when wee shall haue it Now hearken I beseech you for the Neerenesse also a word or two according to my promise and then I shall conclude Our Sauiour well foresaw this weakenesse of ours how weary wee would bee of well doing if hee were not at hand to vs with Reward he knew our pronenesse to euill and how soone wee were like to distast and forgoe this Bread of Trauellers if wee should stay too long for our Bread of Angels And therefore before hee manifested himselfe to the world he sent vs word by his fore-runner and the first words his Baptist spake next to Penetentiam agite were these Mat. 3. appropinquauit enim regnum caelorum The kingdome of Heauen is at hand A noble comfort if wee haue faith to beleeue Abac. 2. Veniens veniet non tardabit saith another Prophet Comming hee will come and make no delay And in another place Ecce venio citò merces mea mecum est Beholde I come quickly and my reward in my hand Hee doth as mothers doe by their children promise them to come quickly that they may not thinke long so heere venio citò Apoc. 3. ibid. 22. mothers speake it sometimes in pollicy but God saith it truely as wee shall finde it venio citò I come presently Non tardat Deus promissionem suam saith Saint Peter 2. Pet. 3. God is not slowe in rewarding vs how can wee say then that hee tarrieth long hee is farre off from vs and scarcely thinkes on vs It is a sinne against the Holy Ghost not to beleeue the Holy Ghost And if wee will beleeue nothing but reason very sence and reason will tell vs as much For it cannot be very farre off that wee feare rather is too neere Who is there that thinkes not or feares not that death is too neere for so said the Epicure Cras moriemur Esay 22. Wee shall dye to morrow And thus say they that would liue still and take their pleasure they are alwayes physicking and guarding themselues against death which they feare still is too neere If death then bee neere how is it that Heauen is not neere which wee cannot haue vntill wee dye Why complaine wee that Heauen is farre off when the doore of Heauen is too neere Some answer againe that death is too neere indeede but it is alwaies in respect of our vnreadinesse to dye onely Well then death and Heauen are neere But it is wee that are farre off Why say we then that Heauen is farre off when it is our selues are farre off with our vnreadinesse not Heauen farre off with our happinesse Indeede it is true if Heauen bee neere and we runne from it wee shall neuer come at it and then no fault in Heauens neerenesse but in our farrenesse Where otherwise if death bee neere Heauen must needes bee neere to them that shall haue it Mee thinkes this reason should conuince them For if death bee neere in our feare why should it not bee as neere in our hope Wee confesse the one therefore wee must confesse the other And yet I cannot deny but the Saints also in some sence doe thinke it farre off and shew some tokens of wearinesse But this is doubtlesse out of a true longing after heauen not out of a feare that they shall staye too long for it out of wearinesse they haue of the world not out of wearinesse of waiting and attending Gods pleasure out of their humility and vnworthinesse to come thither yet not out of floath or presumption that it is time enough yet out of a thirst they haue after God whose face the Angels feede on not out of temptation and weakenesse as we doe who if our
also by the greatnesse of mans vnderstanding which is able to conceiue all things in the world but not the least things in heauen What is nôt in heauen I haue also shewne you Nothing there to offend or that can offend a priuiledged place from all arest of trouble or of least molestation as by the seuerall names it is called by and the price that hath beene giuen for it and by the fewnesse of Buyers it may appeare and I haue there alleadged And in this abundance of compleate happinesse yea haue heard also what estate wee shall haue not for a yeare or yeares life or liues or to vs and our heires but to vs and our selues for euer And least haply we should make voide our faith in any sort with ouermuch curiosity faith being no faith if we beleeue not without eye knowledge I haue importuned you not to be too busie in matters aboue your reach as to know how what or when and how long first Which I haue lastly prooued vnto you not to be long at the longest and is most commonly as neere vs as we can wish Tract 110. in Ioh. Hoc modicum longum videtur dum hic agitur saith Saint Augustine This little seemes long to vs heere Sed cum finitum fuerit sentiemus quam modicum fuerit but when it is ended saith he wee shall see how little it was And so no doubt we shall finde when we come once to that heauenly Sanctuary that city of refuge that hauen of all our hopes where a hundred yeares shall seeme as nothing if wee liued heere so long in feare of God and vertuous life Verily we shall wonder at our selues then that we could thinke the time here long beleeuing heauen as we did to be so long in lasting and so neuer toward ending What 's a stones cast of foule way to a world of faire way Is it to be stucke at What 's a spoonefull of gaule to a sea of Rose water Is it to reckon of For shame of our selues let vs thinke no time lost or long in Gods seruice For if we doe must we not looke to be punished for it and that by so much the more by how much the more mercifull hee is vnto vs in tempering as he doth our length of daies with so many delights and pleasing businesse in the world while either we recreate our selues moderately sleepe and rest our selues temperately conuerse with others familiarly bestirre our selues in our vocation commendably see the fruits of our labour not without comfort We are not alwayes at our deuotions not alwayes praying reading and mortifying our selues Yea the yeere it selfe which is the measure of our age is also distinguished for vs into seuerall seasons Winter comes but once a yeare Then comes the spring bedeckt with violets below and blossomes ouer head Then the summer full of day-light and ripening sunne Then haruest with all inticing fruits to fill our mouthes and hands full all the yeere long till new come in and euery season hath his lawfull pleasures Which if we abused hitherto or haue spent our time vnprofitably or haue liued badly so mercifull is God that he will not exact of vs to beginne all our time anew as tradsemen doe by their apprentises but will take the rest for good payment that wee haue to liue though it be but a yeare so we pray hard and will yet resolue to amend Haply hee will content himselfe with two houres in a day or with lesse so it be with feruour And this is not the tenth part of our life nor eight houres of the day as king Alfred vsed notwithstanding his warres and common-wealth affaires What cause haue we now to complaine If we be weary of kneeling we may stand or sitte Gen. 24. if weary of sitting wee may walke Isaack went into the fields to meditate Againe when God sends crosses hee interlaces them with promises our vnhappinesse hee delayes with comforts our mischances with assurance of his presence and assistance if we forsake him not In Mat. 8. Psal 91. Rebus mestis iucunda permiscuit saith Saint Chrysostome And holy Dauid What measure wee haue in sorrowes the like measure wee haue in comforts All these helpes hee allowes vs against wearinesse all these fauours against tediousnesse of life In hell they would bee glad of the least of them Yet thus God doth by vs as it were stealing away time from vs that wee may not feele it or thinke it long Let no man say therefore hereafter it will bee long first I will thinke of these matters tenne or twenty yeares hence No let them not say I will begin to morrow yea why not euen now Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Saith an olde Poet Thinke euery day to be thy last Take hold of time ere time be past Let vs learne of an heathen what danger is in protracting and dallying with God If we haue beene slacke and mistrustfull of Gods promises hitherto euen now let vs beginne and turne ouer the leafe I haue spoken many words to day if any of them be to the purpose I beseech you let it not fall or come againe emptie Let vs make our confession with holy Dauid Psal 54. and say with him ecce elongani fugiens Not heauen farre off but wee farre off with flying it and making our selues strange to it with our guilty consciences Yea although in respect of our sinnes wee may cry with him otherwhiles saying Ne reuoces me in dimidio dierum meorum Psal 101. Cut vs not off in the middest of our daies before we amend and in zeale of Gods seruice Non moriar sed viuam Psal 117. et narrabo opera domini I will liue still and will not die but will tell the workes of God yet in via virtutis as there he saith in the way of vertue patience and penitence in this life it is profitable for vs to thinke of our short life and to make that our daily prayer and comfort saying Paucitatem dierum meorum nuncia mihi Let mee alwaies haue these tydings in my eare that my daies be short and soone at an end And let vs not onely say it but also thinke it and hope it to be very true Oh that we might amend hereafter and spurre the faster that we may one day all of vs meete and neuer depart againe If any difficulty bee in it it is all in the beginning All our paines will be at the first A little vse will make it easie and the hardest that is will breake no bones It will breake a sleepe indeed to pray as we should pray and to force our willes at the first to the rule of reason Make hast I beseech you for I haue showne you the way Let no impediment stoppe you no time or temptation weary you in so important a businesse Waken your soules that reason sleepe not Diet your bodies that it rebell not Rom 1. Abac.
out of the pulpit But because it was not honourable they would none of it So say I. Is there sinne in it then not honourable Is there no way to quit our selues but to strike God almighty Remember in your assaults of anger what Philip of Macedon said to Demochares the Athenian Oratour when hee tolde the king it would please the Athenians well if hee would goe hang himselfe Seneca saith the king was not mooued with it nor touched him for it as hee might but willed him goe aske his masters that sent him which was more honourable to giue those words or to take them An answer most worthy the father of Alexander But let vs ende where wee began My deare louers and friends let vs neuer be so hotte as to forget to be Christians And let vs bee also Christianlike And whatsoeuer fault wee haue as who hath not yet let vs hate no man no not our enemy but pitty him and inwardly loue him for his loue and Pitties sake who gaue his hearts blood for his mortall enemies His loue brought him from heauen to earth and your loue must bring you from earth to heauen Our learned say and I beleeue it well There is no vertue such as this to indeere vs to God nor any thing the diuell bestirs him more in then to breake in sunder the linkes that chaine vs together Let vs be wise in this or in nothing Say we be suddenly mooued to breake amity or peace Yet let it not bee much or if much Eph. 4. yet Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram Let not the sunne goe downe in your wrath It will not ill become a redde scarfe and a plume of feathers to heare the trumpet of God speake Let not the sunne go downe in your anger saith Saint Paul As who should say when ye lye downe lay downe What must ye lay downe Lay downe your weapon lay downe all malice and hatred More then that Lay downe anger and all thoughts of reuenge So farre be it from yee to thinke of challenge or answer in that kind Vanquish your selues ouercome your selues shewe your selues Gods men and conquer your selues If ye were hotte in the day bee coole at night If yee were hasty when time was yee haue respite to thinke on it double not your folly with a new daies sinne The sunne is downe yee must thinke no more of it Haue yee vowed reuenge Haue yee tenne times vowed it The sunne is downe yee are bound to breake your vowe Aske your learned if it be not so Euery time you goe to pray they will tell you yee must lay aside quarrels Forget and forgiue if yee will bee heard of God Especially at two times and then it is sacriledge they say or sinne against the holy Ghost to keepe a quarrell in your breast The one is when yee goe to receiue the Sacrament The other in any likeli-hood of death be it by seruice or sicknesse as yee may learne also by the heathen aforesaid Phocion Let Duellors looke to this at their perill that goe to dye or may dye and carry so bloody a mind with them in steade of a winding sheete Let vs not be harder hearted then Pagans in the new Orbe where the Lords or Naires would stab their seruants dayly vpon their least miscarriage towards their Masters Mat 9. They leaue it now rather then loose the Church-rites Euen so must we do by rancour and reuenge We may not carry such baggage to Church with vs. If yee bee wronged I denie ye not to right your selues by law or other meanes lawfull and if lawes releeue you not I wish they might But this I must tell you Ye may not looke to haue all that is wrong to be righted heere in this world or not so suddenly as your heat and hastinesse many times expects If all things were right heere there were no matter of patience in this life 2. Cor. 6. Saint Paul was content with good fame and badde The testimony of a good conscience was to him sufficient And ye are no better then Scipio and Coriolanus that died in banishment by malice of their enemies Some are kept from lands some from goods or good name and shall not be righted till Doomse-day And yet if a man haue patience the case is very rare but he may bee righted heere But it may bee yee are in haste ye cannot stay the Magistrates leisure nor your friendes And what will ye do if ye be sore hurt must ye be whole in haste or not at all will ye giue time to your Surgeon for your curing and none to the Magistrate for your satisfying Bee not to earnest and hotte in your parly Be not furious as some be nor giue euill words A lauish tongue was neuer graft on a noble hart I haue noted that the worthier the persons be the sooner they be at one And Caesar when he perceiued his mortall enemy Caluus but a little inclining to peace he preuented him streight and wrot vnto him first But I make an end Set God before yee I beseech yee Let it not be nobis vtile that is turpe deo And yee may know the foulnesse of your fault alwaies by your vnwillingnesse to be aduised in it by any reuerend man I haue beene long but it may be for your profite if ye escape a scourge by mee Haply yee will one day say with King Dauid Psal 34. Congregata sunt super me flagella et ignorabam When ye shall see your fault and seeke to amend it God will drawe the vaile from before your eyes and shewe you the whippes that were readie for yee if yee had continued in this errour But yee haue time now to consider of it Once againe remember S. Paul Sol non occidat Is the Sunne downe Cry truce to anger truce to reuenge Free your soules from passion and vnquietnesse True honour bee your ground Weare no colours but of God and your Prince and relye vpon them boldely So shall yee bee as truely honourable as yee bee duely obsequious Iacta super dominum curam tuam Cast your care vpon God and your countrey Psal 54. and they will protect your honour and defend your fame and will not suffer yee to goe to your graues with the least disgrace FINIS TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR FRANCIS BACON KNIGHT BARON OF VERVLAM LORD HIGH Chancellour of England SIR you are the highest Iusticer in this land or next the highest And therefore this peece of my labour if it be worth so much I thinke fit to dedicate to your Honor. In this garden of English iustice you are a principall gardiner where euery subiect should be a weeder to pull vp that by the roote which makes you endlesse worke This roote of Auarice is not so great but the compasse of a heart containes it The biggest man hath no bigger plat to weed in and yet your Lordsh findes to your paines that it is not
it is I am not as I should be when I do nothing all the day long but my own wil nor am angry or melancholie at any thing but my own will crossed some way or other which perhaps was thy sending and then I should be glad My reason instructed with reading and hearing hath taught me that I cannot haue heauen heere and in the world to come And yet my shunning at griefs and crosses and againe my labouring and laying for temporall emoluments tell me to my face that I haue sought nothing but my heauen heere howsoeuer I haue looked vpward in my prayers towards thee for a fashion My reason and grace how little soeuer it be dareth not deny but thou art truth And thou hast said The way to heauen is narrow and fewe doe finde it And yet my life and actions doe make it seeme broade Mat. 7.14 Rather I am to suspect that I am out of the way by the broadnesse of it and am in my reason to doubt and aske that I may be set in my right way and not to rest vntill I be in it And it is hard to finde First because I neuer went it Secondly because I vse not to aske it I aske not because commonly I thinke not of it hauing found by the way goodly meddowes and fine earthly things or at the least the desires of them that haue holden me distracted and busied one way or other vntill I want day almost to goe any further Moreouer I cannot but listen and beleeue them that haue trodden this path before me The practise and authority of thy knowne Saints that being sometimes as I was when I doubted so little of my selfe and as euery one is at this houre that is not yet conuerted confesse how maliciously they were ouer borne by their own will euen to perdition and yet saw it not no more then I did then followed their owne likings as I did then thought they did enough as I thought then counted others ouer scrupulous as I did then if they had much care of their conscience and all this thy Saints haue found as soone as they cast off the yoake of their owne wils and had giuen their names to thy holy seruice From which time being afterward thy speciall seruants and I hearing and reading their true opinions what they thought of themselues when they were as I was and thought my selfe so sure good God what reason had I to thinke my selfe safe and not rather to aske the way of some skilfull body and forsweare this closenesse to my selfe as long as I liued Thy noble Doctor Saint Augustine sheweth me that when I thought or perswaded my selfe that I went forward daily vnder the sailes of my own will I went iust backward For so saith this Doctor hee did and yet thought verily that he went forward I trusted saith hee sometimes in my owne power Mcd. and when I meant so to runne where I thought I should stand most euen there I fell most and was cast behind hand and not forward and that which I thought verily to catch went further and further from me But now I know thou hast illuminated mee Because what I thought I could most that could I alwaies least of my selfe I had a will but I wanted ability I had ability but I wanted will because I trusted in my owne strength But now I confesse vnto thee my Lord God father of heauen and earth that a man shall not growe strong in his owne strength nor foolish presumption of any flesh vaunt it selfe before thee And in another place he saith I thought I was somewhat and I was nothing I said I would become wise and I became a foole I thought I was wise and I was deceiued Thus farre and much more to that effect hath this Doctor How much more then may wê say it that liue abroade and haue to doe with the world where euery thing distracteth vs from thee euery toy dulleth vs delights darken cares oppresse and much busines confoundes our vnderstanding and disableth it wholly of it selfe to iudge what is best for vs without a Doctor And yet I cannot deny my Lord but true it is that shamefully and blasphemously we beare our selues in hand that we are ruled by thee when yet wee haue nothing else in vs but a bundle of concupiscences and desires that tend not to thee but daily pull from thee As couetousnes and pride vncleane life and ribauldry hatred and emulation brawling swearing drunkennesse and epicurisme and some worse then these which the dooers of them do daily father vpon thy blessed will Not by saying that those acts be thy will but by saying or thinking they doe thy will daily when yet these bad fruites and none but these growe vpon them more and more with little or no amending at all Whom when I see notwithstanding to be holden wise yea in all ages some such graced in the world for their naturall gifts and fortune which thou hast bestowed vpon them what a mirrour is this that thou hast giuen mee to see my selfe by as I said in the beginning and to fly selfe-gouerning as a mortall enemy Lastly from my cradle in a manner thou hast taught mee how corrupt our nature is how proane to euill and apt to follow our selues and our owne wayes And hereupon we wish when we be young that we were growne to be men hoping then that we shall rule our selues and doe what we list And when we haue our wish and the bridle in our own hands what haue we gotten euen that which in our childhood and weake iudgement and before we had fully the vse of reason we desired and thought a very good thing euen that our corrupt nature loueth and imbraceth most to rule our selues Which my vnderstanding then must needes conclude If so desired of children of corrupt nature of those that bee most weake and imperfect ergo childish ergo an imperfect thing and tending to corruption of body in bodily things and of soule in soule busines Againe if so desired in childhood and corrupt nature ergo to be resisted and subdued in mans estate and reasonable nature as well as other childrens toyes that we blush to vse when we be men Which when I haue done the contrary that is to say maintained it and nourish't it in me by seeking and plotting my desires though not in childish things as children vse to doe yet in other things answerable to my yeares and estate and haue shunned alwaies to be ruled or heare counsell to the contrary I had iust cause therefore in my light of reason to misdeeme and suspect my actions both to be childish in the respect of the originall of them and also wicked in respect of the discretion and other abilities which thou gauest me to discerne it withall But now my Lord God and king of eternall Maiestie I know thou hast illuminated me as thy seruant Saint Augustine saith because I see I can doe