it leaves not one sole dram of grace in the soul What merit soever hath been collected for many years one sole sin destroyes in a moment This is asserted by Ecclesiastes c. 9. He that shall offend in one point shall lose many good things If any one had made himself acceptable to God by the practise of all kinds of Vertue for fifty for an hundred years space if any one had lead a strict life and fasted every day with bread and water if any one had girt his loins with an Iron Chain whipped himself dayly and bestowed all he had in Almes and after all this should commit one mortal sin he would lose all the merits of his life past all the Grace of God and of a bosome Friend become a professed Enemy to God The matter is certain and admits of no contest You may give credit to the Prophet Ezechiel ch 18. If the just man shall turn away himself from his justice and do iniquity all his justices which he had done shall not be remembred Hast thou committed one sole mortal sin all thy former labours are lost all grace is lost thou hast lost Heaven God and all Wherefore either recover thy losses or resolve to bewail them Eternally Amongst other punishments threatned by God to Israel that as most dreadful is rehearsed by Osee c. 9. Woe to them when I shall depart from them This departure of God from the Soul is the death of it An incomparable evil an evil that surpasseth all the sufferings of Holy Martyrs yea the everlasting torments of all the damned Take a view I pray of the misery of man deserted by God for sin what ever such a man doth what ever he suffereth while destitute of Divine Grace though he remove Mountains leap into the fire pluck the Stars from Heaven set whole Fountains on fire and act wonders to be admired in all ages yet shall he not merit the least degree of Heavenly bliss while he continues in Gods disfavour The reason of what I affirm is manifest The Origen of all merit is divine grace therefore let him either purchase grace or despair of Heaven I adjoyn another point altogether as deplorable He that hath forsaken God as aforesaid might indeed throw himself down at his pleasure but all the strength he hath cannot rise again He cast himself into a ditch out of which he can never escape unless God by his singular favour lend him his hand An Echo returns no answer but when provokeed by a previous noyse and he who has sinned doth not true pennance except he be first excited by God Nevertheless let none despair of pardon though he have fallen a thousand times Hast thou offended Be of good courage After a slip our steps are more warily if not more constantly setled Seeing therefore the nature of sin is so cruel de simil ch 190. and its malice so detestable St. Anselm generously cryes out If on one side I saw the deformity of sin and on the other the horrour of Hell by one whereof I must needs be overwhelmed I would rather throw my self into those flaming Gulfs then admit of sin For I had rather go into hell innocent and free from sin then defiled with it be seated in Heaven since it is certain only the wicked are tormented in Hell and the just alone possess eternal happiness Hereupon likewise the same Author discourses in this manner Open thine eyes miserable Soul and see what formerly thou hast bin and what now thou art what was thy condition then and what now Thou wast an Espouse of the Highest a Temple of the living God a Vessel of Election a Bride-chamber for an eternal King a Throne of the true Salomon a seat of Wisdome a Sister of Angels an Heir of Heaven All these prerogatives thou didst enjoy but now with tears lament thy suddain change The Espouse of God is become an Adultress of the Devil the Temple of the Holy Ghost is turned into a Den of Theives the Vessel of Election into one of Corruption the Bride-Chamber of Christ into a puddle for Beasts to wallow in the feat of Wisdome into a chair of Pestilence the Sister of Angels into a companion of Devils yea she who ere while like a Dovesoared above the Heavens now like a Serpent creeps upon the earth Bewail therefore bewail O wretched Soul thy doleful state for the Heavens mourn for thee the Angels and all Saints deplore thy condition the tears of Paul and bloody streams issuing from the body of Christ our Lord condole with thee because thou hast sinned and hast not done pennance for sin committed Proceed we now to a fuller examination of this point He who hath sinned is either sepsible his Conscience is wounded or he is not sensible If he be sensible he is also miserable because he groans under most piercing grief a guilty conscience is an excessive torment But if he have no feeling of his inward wounds then he is miserable above measure it is the worst of evils to cherish ones own wickedness without perceiveing it and to have lost all sense after one is mortally wounded Thus Drunkards while they are Carousing perceive not the strength of wine which when digested they are sensible of Well said St. Chrysostome The chiefest wickedness is to be wicked Serm. 5. de jeju Albeit the Physitian doth not scarify a sick person yet doth his sickness still remain with him and although God doth not punish the offender nevertheless he that offends is diseased yea already dead Not unlike to this is that assertion of Seneca The prime and greatest punishment of sinners is to have sinned Neither is any crime without pain because the torment of wickedness is in wickedness it self The Conscience is scourged with what ever is done amiss Where Vice is there is also punishment Neither can a goared Conscience be without grief Though no one strike a wicked man though no one maim or torture him with rack or flames yet he himself is his own Executioner Peradventure he is insensible and hath lost all feeling of his sad condition He is therefore so much nearer to Hell fire by how much he is farther off from the knowledge of his own offences Such an one may be rightly termed dead and buried Who hath sinned and is not sorry who hath grievously transgressed and sues not for pardon who hath lost Gods grace and sighs not for it who is deprived of his right to Heaven and esteems it no damage who is ready to be tumbled into Hell and laughs at it What a bruite is this what a stone what a block this is the malignant nature of sin so to transform men into beasts stocks and stones as that they perceive not their own scars till they be discovered by hell fire We then begin to abhor sin when it is attended by rigorous chastisement Yea it often comes to pass that such as through impiety have lost all feeling
is lost whom Eternity doth not draw to a better life he may take his course he may perish who is in such a dead-sleep as this dreadful thunder cannot awake him Here one may object The Flames of Hell-fire may well be cast in their way who run amain towards Hell why do you with them terrifie those that are dayly longing after Heaven that abstain from sin not so much for fear of punishment as for love of God What need these so frequently to contemplate those flames eternal They need very much Wherefore I shall lay down three documents whereunto we are concerned often to look back in this ensuing discourse SECT 2. THe first Document is All Holy men are partakers of no small comfort by this contemplation of Hell for whilest they assuredly trust themselves to be out of the reach of those scorching heats their hearts even leap for joy accompanied with most amorous thanksgiving most profound contempt of themselves and a most ample extolling of the Divine bounty But for as much as men of an upright conscience do slip and have their faylings therefore Eternity ever and anon plucks them as it were by the sleeve and sayes Beware look to thy self thou art not yet shot free thou knowst not whether in Gods favour thou shalt give up thy Ghost Final perseverance is a meer gift of God a meer Grace which we are not able by any actions of our own to merit in this point it is not lawful to call God our debtour he stands disingaged to every one If then God deny to bestow this grace upon thee thou art utterly undone for ever This serves as a strong bridle to every good man since we are not ignorant that divers have served God some forty some fifty years some longer and yet have sustained the loss of their former Holiness by a sinful end witness that unfortunate Hero of whom Cassian makes mention This if seriously weighed may stir up in each ones soul many pious affections The second Document is Wheresoever an attentive meditation of Eternity preceds there must needs follow a great care a fervour of spirit and a wonderful exactness in doing all our works This cogitation alone teaches manifestly that we owe all to God as to our Soveraign Lord and that we can never serve him so worthily as we ought but must needs acknowledge that what ever we do is not answerable to but far below so great a Majesty This same consideration of Eternity puts us in mind of the present condition of our life and withal warns us that now it is time to take pains in erning repose without end that years eternal will ensue in which we may neither labour nor merit any thing at all I remember to have read and that with admiration of a certain man who framed this conceit of Eternity What living man said he to himself endowed with reason and in his wits would lay claim to the Kingdome of France Spain Poland such wealthy Dominions as these upon condition that before he came to be absolute Lord of them he should lye with his face upward upon a delicate bed of Roses for forty years together It may so fall out that some one may be found overjoyed with the bargain and so may begin to throw himself upon that soft and well-sented lodging yet questionless he will not continue his posture for the space of three whole years but will forthwith depart from the former agreement and say Let me rise I would be deprived of three yea all Kingdoms rather then be constrayned to lye continually as I consented to do upon never so soft a bed And does the matter stand even thus Will no one of Reason if he might enjoy three Kingdoms take up his quarters as aforesaid during the space of thirty or forty years what raging madness then and blind folly is it for trifles for toyes for bables to will and do that for which thou maist be tormented upon a hot-glowing-Grid-iron not for forty nor four hundred nor four thousand nor yet four hundred thousand years but for all Eternity If therefore we provide not for our selves and affairs while we have time and space we are worse then mad and something more then Furies hath seised on us SECT 3. THe third Document I wish I could but obtain this one favour of all who read these things that they would accustome themselves to make use of two sorts of Spectacles the one Purple-coloured the other blew this later is to be used in this manner whensoever matters go well with us when the Body Soul or both are well disposed as often as comely and beautiful Objects are represented to the sight or harmonious concent tickles the Eares or delightful attractives charm the tast or Sabaean Odours satiare the Nostrils or things of smoothest temper flatter our touching or in brief when ever any thing contributes to our delight pleasure or satisfaction then then is the time to lay hold of our Sky-coloured Spectacle and reason thus with our selves Behold this pleases that satisfies the other gives content but what is all this compared to the Eternity of the Blessed what is this drop of Honey to that Sea of Delights in Heaven Wherefore do I debar my self from that Ocean of Pleasures above by gathering scattered drops here below O cast an eye up then towards that blessed Eternity aspire thither where there is all plenty of pleasure that either is or may be imagined Amongst Banquets and sporting yea amidst great variety of Dainties this Discourse may be serviceable unto us This Secret of Art may be made use of when we are soothed by any kind of Complacence whatever Lo this is the right use of the Azure Spectacle to raise the mind from things present and terrene to those to be met with hereafter in Heaven by this means we may be moderate amongst allurements to excess and environed with Pleasures may pass without peril But now on the contrary when we are not well at ease when pain Arrests the Body when sadness seizes on the Soul upon occasion of what Corrasive or Affliction soever take into your hand your Purple Glass and speak to your self as followeth Does this vexe thee so much does that Torture thee so far as almost to make thee Frantick Yet what a Flea-biting is this if thou regard the Eternity of the Damned Look down and take a view of Hell what ever here molesteth by Sufferings Crosses or Disasters is and may be reputed one of the choicest Felicities on Earth if we but lend an eye to those never ending Torments beneath Wherefore then dost thou burden Heaven and Earth with idle Complaints This both discovers thy Impatience and Folly T is clear thou knowest not what Hell is otherwise these Complaints would cease After all this thou tellest me thy Miseries are many thy Callamities intollerable What For want of house-room art thou enforced to lye in a Stall But the Damned are confined to Swine-sties
he teaches all the felicity of Angels to consist therein Mart. 18 They alwaies de see the face of my Father When in a Sermon he expounded that Parable of the Kings Marriage he concludes it with this saying of the King ch 22. Cast him into the utter darkness In the Hebrew Phrase under the notion of darkness is signified a most loathsome Prison such as we have none in this world St. Austin discoursing hereof saies He must needs be separated from God Psal 6. who while he has space will not become better Such is the condition of this life and pestered with so much sadness that sometimes we are only minded to be sad No Sirens charmes no gracious entertainments no Allurements of Pleasures past are of force to cheere us up so obsâ—inately are we sometimes bent to sadness It is Authentically Recorded of an Emperour of the last Age that he was so opprest with sadness as no Musical Harmony no Playes or Pastimes no mirth or pleasing conversation whatever was able to reduce him to cheerfulness Good Lord what means all this what instruction may we gather hence This surely O Mortals Do you not perceive that all humane affaires are a meer painted vanity See you not now that your selves and all you have wholly depends on God Learn this after all that all your Joyes amassed in one are not powerful without God to raise up to mirth a Soul drenched in Melancholy The matter stands thus indeed thou hast O God! guilty persons enough who confess this truth Nevertheless if but for one sole moment God did shew His Divine Countenance to a man overwhelmed with nere so much greif all Clouds of sorrow would in a trice be quite dispersed farr better then his would be who suddenly awakeing out of a dismal Dream should find himself in some stately Palace surrounded with a joyful company of his Bosome-friends Moreover to see God is an Ocean of such immense delight that though a man were in Flames of fire yet whilst he saw God through excess of joy he would not be sensible of burning If you search narrowly what effect the sight of God imparts to the beholder it appears manifestly that the loss of it infinitely surpasses all sorrow all Grief all Calamity all Punishment whatever SECT 6 THis darkness or privation of the sight of God is the first and cheifest punishment of the Damned eternally herewith the blindness of mans heart is justly chastised it being the first and last of evils in this life He is altogether miserable who is possest with this blindness For neither Admonitions nor Examples nor Menaces nor Instructions nor any other warning will take hold to do him good This blind madness hath seised on him and leads him headlong into wickedness T is all one to commend a chast and sober life unto him as to praise colours in presence of a blind man Of this stamp were those two wicked old men treacherous Judges of the chast Susanna Dan. 13.9 who subverted their sence and declined their eyes that they would not see Heaven nor remember just judgements Impure Love had so besotted these men that their Conscience will and reason were involved in a night of darkness even as one who begins to tumble in obscurity sees not how to stop his course so they as they began to slide fell at length into horrid wickedness Hence let no man wonder if many polluted with foul offences proceed without scruple since blindness hath prepossest their souls Their former faults bereaved them of day so now they go on secure under the shadow of a wicked night they subvert their sense decline their eyes that they may not see Heaven Iob made a Covenant with his eyes that they should not behold a Virgin they with theirs not to look up to Heaven fearing perchance least it should strike them with terrour or amendment This is the property of a Soule plunged in darkness and sin which therefore the pain of loss does most justly torture you would not see God you shall not see him for ever Hereupon Hieremy the Prophet exhorts in this manner Give the Glory to our Lord your God before it waxe dark The Grecian Oratour St. ch 13. v. 16. Chrysostome delivers this most worthy rule of Christian Philosophy This t is true is sweet but not immortal which may be thus applyed to all things To Feast and pamper the body is sweet but short To please the Palate and seek after dainties is sweet but not permanent To loose the Reines to Laciviousness is sweet but not lasting To flow in wealth is sweet but changeable To be honoured and praysed by all is sweet but not eternal To be revenged of our enemies is sweet but not stable To live as I list and to follow my humor in every thing is sweet and pleasing but alas not perpetual Contrariwise to be excluded from the sight of God is most bitter and perpetual afflictive above measure and immortal Let us not therefore saith St. Tom. 4. ep in 2. ad Cor. Chrysostome abandon our selves to floath and delicasies for a moment for this present life is no more and thereby incurr the torments of infinite ages But let us take pains for a moment to merit a Crown everlasting Do not you see that even in worldly matters most men walk this path and prefer before a little toyl a long rest albeit they often meet the contrary How much sweat do they frequently spend for a little fruit and sometimes none at all Take a view of the Husbandman who labours the year about and in the end finds his Harvest shorter then his hopes Aswell the Commander as Common Souldier pass over their lives in perils if they be cut off by untimely death the one leaves his Wealth the other his Trophies to be buried in dust What excuse then shall we have who in secular affairs undergo much hardship for a little a very little and that uncertain ease and in spiritual matters do quite otherwise for a sloathful moment acquiring to our selves pains unexplicable Wherefore I earnestly beseech you awake at least now at length out of this dangerous Lethargy for the time will come when neither Father nor Brother Child nor Friend Neighbour nor any other shall be of power to deliver us but if we be destitute of good works we shall be left in the Lurch to our utter destruction SECT 7. VVEE are therefore excellently well admonisht by Isidorus Pelusiota Let us fix our eye upon Eternity as upon a mark and learn wisedome dayly out of the Oracles of Heaven let this alone terrify while each one saies to himself do I lose God in this moment I lose then all pleasure all good together with him eternally Let this alone comfort us do I deserve in this minute to see the Face of God with this I merit all pleasures all good for ever St. Gregory affirms the same you relinquish and yet retain all if
at a stand they look one upon another and at length break forth into these words would to God we had never come hither our shot is wonderful dear While we are here on our journey we live in an Inn and unmindful of the reckoning Feast jovially carouse till within night sing sport and dance But who will discharge the shot O people ill advised We must pay a just reckoning though a dear one T is we have Banketted Quaffed and playd the good fellows t is we have wasted our health age and substance in riotous company keeping Now mine Host calls for a discharge just debts must be paid Creditours will have satisfaction either from our Purses or Persons We have eaten but with excess with too much expence and delecacy we have Feasted but too often and at too high a rate We have fasted but in a prophane manner and too seldome we have buried our selves in Wine we must now digest the surfetting Wo because we shall be hungry eternal Famine thirsts eternal expects us O what a Supper after a full but short dinner while the damned lived they seem to have licked nothing but salt so rageing is their thirst in hell How horrible a torment thirst is it is hard for any one to express unless he have made some certain tryal thereof In this particular we may well credit the sick who are frequently so tortured with thirst that they esteem it the very dregs of their distempered cup or their greatest disease SECT 4. THe Rich Glutton thrusting out his scorched Tongue cries in hideous manner I am tormented in this flame O one drop from the tip of a finger to refresh me Lo how modestly be begs He does not crave a Bason of water nor a Barrel of Oyle nor a Vessel of Wine but what is most obvious a drop of Water which yet he obtains not This wealthy Banketter is grown so poor that he does not ask a Goblin of Chrystal but the extremity of a finger not the choicest Wine from Greet but a small parcel of water not to have some Noble Cub-bearer but the Beggar Lazarus Mark well what thou sayest O thou Purple Gallant Lazarus has scabbed hands thou wilt be loath to drink water which drops from his finger Ah! let me have but one sole drop and that from the hand of Lazarus which I shall esteem as the choicest of Distelled Waters For all this he gets nothing no body hearkens to him both Eares and Gates are close shut And why I pray is one drop denied to this Glutton in so extream hunger and thirst Abraham was a practiser of Hospitallity and might have said Give him one little drop it will do him no good so great a flame will not be asswaged by so small a dew But their manner of proceeding is farr otherwise in the next world For as Heaven is repleanisht with Joy and Pleasure without the least mixture of sadness so Hell is stored with meer Grief and Pains void of all solace mitigation or ease Hence ellegantly and truly said St. Austin No death is worse or greater Lib. 6. de Livi. c. 12 then where Death dyes not So no Hunger and Thirst is more cruel or deadly then where Death cannot be obtained by Hunger and Thirst SECT 5. TWo brothers as it is recorded the one wise the oter a Fool went a Travellin together and came at length to a place divided into too waies Pet. Regin In spec The Fool was taken with the more pleasant way the wise man preferred the more rugged as more secure Here they fell at debate wherein the wise man deemed it better to yeild then contest So both were surprised by Robbers both were cast into Prison but the one a part from the other whence after a time they were brought before a judge Here the wise man accused the Fool and laid all the fault on him the fool retorts all the miscarriage upon his brother In conclusion the Judge makes this Decree Both are guilty the fool because he should have submitted to one wiser then himself the wise man because he should not have condescended to a fool This is plainly our condition the Soul and Body are brothers but extreamly unlike the soul by its descent being Noble and Wise is not afraid of a thorny way to Heaven she loves temperance and enters into strict league with Fasting as knowing well how these things avail her the spirit is prompt On the other side the body from its birth is foolish so espying a way that smiles with many delights it presently hastens thither it is forceably perswaded that all it has to do is to eat drink sport sleep well fly from labour follow idleness and repose amongst pleasures these things agree well with the body but toyl hunger watching it hates and avoydes as one would the Plague The Soul again endeavours with all her Rhetorick to evince that a smooth way leads not to Heaven as doth the sharp and stony and that they who cannot away with thorns covet not Roses But the body is slow in obeying dull in admitting wholesome counsel it will not be friends with subjection and frugallity so at length the soul yeelds and permitting the body to live as it lists becomes of a Master a slave In this maner they go and perish together thus they fall into the hands of theeves vices and Devils These brothers are parted in the end and committed to several prisons the body to the Grave and the soul to hell whence both are to make their appearance before the Soveraign Judge at the latter day where each will accuse the other Now because the foolish body would not be obedient to the soul and the wise soul was not of courage to subdue the wantonness of the flesh both convinced of impiety shall receive sentence of eternal torment This inevitable decree like a sharp two edged sword Apoc. c. 1. shall peirce through both soul and body Wherefore our Lord saies Matt. c. 10. Fear him that can destroy both soul and body into Hell Where hunger and thirst eternal shall serve as a sauce for their torments neither shall they have any other liquor to their feast then boyling brimstone Fire and Brimstone is part of their cup. Psa 10. SECT 6. ALL this notwithstanding men much addicted to Gluttony are little moved to what has bin said they gape after bankets and costly Viands they thirst after full cupps what ever you say of Famine in the next life O Christians a little more consideration would do well to eat and drink is not forbidden provided it be not against conscience or with neglect of Divine Laws We despise good counsel and dare transgress the commands of God not reflecting that the Gibbet is erected before our doors Wo to you that are filled because you shall be hungry Fault and punishment are linked together many crimes proceed from Gluttony not to be expiated even with most rageing hunger and
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
upon mutual consent they drew lots and the lot falling upon Jonas he was cast into the sea the rest who had thrown their goods into the water escaping While we live we sail in a tattered and leeking ship through a stormy and raging sea where we are as near to eternity as Marriners to the water we are often three fingers distant from death though many times not so much one breathing space sufficeth to act that which an entire eternity cannot expiate We are frequently minded of the danger we live in by one who speaks to us in this sort Why art thou oppressed with sleep Rise invocate God He that values his salvation shakes off drowsiness arises from the place of his repose and throws over board such ladeing as would hinder his safety I mean he betakes himself to prayer fasting and almes deeds and chooses rather to loose all then not to do pennance in good earnest for his sins Contrary-wise how many be found who refusing to submit to the will of God are in such a dead sleep as not to hear what peril is threatned by the roaring tempest to these kind of people eternity seems but a fable or a dream O dangerous lethargy which makes them pass over with a deaf ear wholsom admonitions till at length death seises on them and as it were betwixt sleeping and wakeing casts them into the vast ocean of eternity SECT 2. IT is recounted of a certain man Merff Ser 3. in dom 2. post Epiph. more commendable for his linage then his life that he was a mere worldling and hardhearted to the poor This same person attended by his servant betook himself to his rest when lo about midnight the servant is made partaker of this vision He beholds his master hurried away to Gods Tribunal where he is accused and condemned thence by a crue of infernal spirits who insult over him he is plunged into gulfs of fire where divers sad passages were represented unto him Lucifer welcoming his new guest said This friend of ours was much taken with hot bathes whence he used to repair to a warm and soft bed for his ease he was wont to chear himself up with full bowls and melodious harmony see therefore that all these particulars be prepared for him Here the miserable wretch crys out and furiously curses the day of his birth the glorious company of heaven yea and God himself Amidst these execrations and howling his unhappy soul was thrown down with horrid noise into a pool of flames Provided for him After this lamentable representation the servant awaking rises up and runs to his master whom he found stark dâ—ad Out alas how hiddenly does death steal upon us wo be to them whom it arrests at unnawares when they are asleep they shall make their entrance into their habitation for eternity whence they may never return to their former dainties or delights God in his wrath threatens most severely I will make them drunk that they may be drousie and sleep an everlasting sleep and not arise Jer. ch 15. Abundant examples bear testimony hereof Balthasar the Chaldean King sitting at a banket saw a hand writing on the wall whereat he was astonisht though he understood not what was written Daniel who was skilful in the interpretation of it he honoured with a purple robe and a chain and moreover decreed he should be esteemed as a person in the third place next to the King Where notwithstanding no mention at all is made of any repentance albeit that very night Balthasar was slain This same lot falls upon all them whâ—â— look on eternity as on a dream for such as these though they busie their thoughts with almost infinit matters yet they never seriously fasten them on Eternity but live as they list and wallow in wickedness To these as to King Balthasar this short writing is prophesied This life is a moment but on this moment Eternity depends Herewith they are terrified they tremble they have an horrour to be burnt in eternal flames they are amazed to think that after a thousand millions of years Eternity is no whit at all diminished they extoll this truth but make no use of it to amend their manners they reverence these mysteries but better not their lives they hearken to and esteem those who unsold these hidden secrets unto them mean while either they do no pennance or persevere not therein We believe these things say they yet they do not bid adieu to their accustomed vices After fear of short continuance they return afresh to carousing to voluptuousness to usury to envy and dissention as vicious if not more then ever To persons thus indisposed that which Daâ—iel told the King may be fitly applyed And thou O Balthasar after the knowledge of all these things hast not humbled thy heart And thou O Christian after all these particulars were declared unto thee hast not amended thy covetousness and injustice thy bawling and bitter tongue thy inveterate malice thou hast not corrected thy unbridled lust and lasciviousness are haunted as formermerly thy riot and drunkenness is not laid aside thou sports and rants as much as ever swearing is still in vogue with thee Eternity alas is carelesly thought on by thee it seems no more then a fearful dream eternity never took deep rooting in thy breast and now upon the suddain thou must be thrown into that immense ocean of eternity These matters thou might nay thou ought to have foreseen if thou wouldest continue under the notion of a Christian He may ascribe his own destruction to himself who being warned of his danger bewares it not SECT 3. SAul put the people of Ifrael into great fright for as it is recordâ—â— in the first book of Kings c. 11. The spirit of our Lord seised on Saul and his fury was exceeding wrath And taking both the Oxen he cut them into pieces and sent them into all the coasts of Israel by Messengers saying Whosoever shall not forth and follow Saul and Samuel so shall it be done to his Oxen. The Israelites were slow in coming to the Kings standard but so soon as they received this message The fear of our Lord invaded the people and they went forth as it were one man three hundred and thirty thousandmen Christ the commander of heaven and earth a King of far greater soveraignty then Saul menaceing in good earnest makes this proclamation Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say to you fear him Luke c. 12. He doth not threaten Oxen but men with fire eternal and yet what reckoning do many make of these threats they value them no more then a dream and thereupon with much boldness transgress the laws of God Tell me I pray What temerity would that traveller be guilty of who being weary upon the way should espy a wall full of chincks rotten and eady to fall down and yet by reason of his weariness should dare to take a
torments in Hell No one understands their length no one sufficiently weighs their eternity Out alas we are too much taken up with trifles in which we are often entangled till death we now and then wrangle for we know not what and as a Jest or a Dream think upon eternity whence it comes to pass that we seldome or sleightly correct our misdemenours I who write these things as well as others who have written on eternity do openly make this Proclamation We have cured Babylon Jeremy ch 51. It was in its free choice whether it would be cured or no. The way is streit the gate is narrow and few enter in thereat Many are called and few are chosen Therefore Hieremy the Prophet cryes out with a loud voice ch 51. v. 45. Let every one save his life If he cannot do it otherwise let him condemn himself to perpetual imprisonment and bury himself alive T is better to pass out of Prison to Heaven then out of a Palace to Hell The ancient Philosophers had notice of this truth Seneca exclaims I was well pleased with inquiring after the Eternity of Souls yea and I did beleive it too Epist 101. Behold how they pondered the Mystery of eternity who were deprived of the rayes of truth What are Christians obliedged to do The same Seneca spoke wisely when he said Amongst evils our best comfort is they will have an end The end is a lenetive against all misery You may meet with one who bewails the burning of his house another who complains he has no friend no one to assist him none that cares for him This man is afflicted through pains of body that grows pensive because he is in desolation of spirit One deplores his neediness and want another deems it worse then death to see himself despised To what purpose I pray are these lamentations The best remedy in misery is it will have an end this remedy eternity is destiture of It comprehends all kind of punishments but is wholly void of any end of them Hence the eternity of the damned is a torment unexplicable Lib. 5. Hist Angl Venerable Bede faithfully rehearseth a remarkable passage which hapned in his time In the County of Northumberland lived a man of great piety called Drithelm who through extremity of sickness was brought to the gates of death so as in the beginning of the night he seemed to be dead indeed and as such lay all the night following Next morning being unexpectedly restored to himself he said to the amazement of those present he was permitted to live yet longer but after a farr different manner then hitherto he had done Wherefore he addicted himself to spend more time in Prayer he distributed all his Goods amongst his Wife Children and the poor that done he renounced all worldly cares and betook himself to great austerity which gave sufficient testimony what horrible things he had been eye-witness of in the other world What he had seen he did not promiscuously relate to all but only to such as he knew were unfeigned friends of Eternity Amongst these was King Alfride a man of eminent Learning who frequently and attentively gave ear to Drithelm while he discoursed of Hell Concerning which he enlarged himself chiefly in the explication of that horrible darkness that incomparable stench those lamentable howlings and tears those swarms of Adders the insulting of Devils the balls of fire and bitter hail which served to afflict the Damned when they were forced to make a dismal exchange by being snatcht out of flames and thrown amongst Ice These particulars compared with the delights of Paradise Drithelm much insisted on Out of which narration the greatest profit redounded to himself for in a Monastery his abode was fevered from the rest and situate on the bank of a River where his principal employment was to cleave fast to God with his desires to visit Heaven to multiply Prayers without ceasing to chastist his body and with perpetual sighs â—o meditate on Eternity And that all might perceive he was in good earnest he used often for the mortifying his flesh to go into the River which ran by his Cell sometimes to the middle sometimes to the neck and stay therein so long till the Ice in Winter frose about his body at his comeing out he did not dry his clothes by the Fire or Sun but kept them on wet as they were to the greater vexation of his body in so much as he seemed rather to be apparelled with Ice then Garments Some spectatours moved with compassion towards the man asked him How is it possible Drithelm you should be able to endure such piercing cold to whom he readily returned this answer I have beheld sharper things and more bitter colds then this Who ever shall ruminate with attention the punishments of eternity See writers of S. S. lives may pronounce the same of the greatest sufferings of Martyrs I have seen greater then these Iames a Noble Persian was by King Isdegerdes commanded to be cut in pieces from head to foot joynt by joynt But one that contemplates eternity will say I have seen sharper torments then these Serapion had all his bones broken Nicephorus Martyr after broyling on a Gridiron was cut piece-meal Yet still one may affirm I have seen more cruel usage Ianas Martyr not without bitter taunts had his fingers cut off as if they were to be sowen to spring up again his skin was pulled over his ears his tongue pluckt out himself was thrown into boyling Pitch and lastly all his Limbs were bruised upon an Engine His companion Barachisius was scourged with Thorns had his flesh miserably rent and in fine had all his bones torn a sunder and broken But I have beheld more bitter passages Saturninus being tyed to a wild Bull whom they made more wild with prickling was hurried through rough and craggy waies and so drawn in peices a horrible torment no doubt Nevertheless I have seen more horrible Martina a Noble Virgin being fastned to four stakes was beaten with staves and stripes was torn with hooks cast to the Beasts and condemned to the fire Emmeramus Bishop of Ratisbon after his fingers were chopt off his eyes pulled out his ears and nostrils divided from his head his hands and feet were cut away and his tongue out of his mouth Leodegarius Bishop of Auston in France when he had undergone Famine and long Imprisonment was deprived of his Eyes had the soles of his Feet wounded and seperated from his body his Lips cut away and his tongue pluckt out Yet worse pains then these I have beheld Alexander Bishop of Rome endured many stabs Cassianus a School master was run through with the Bodkins and Pen-knives of his Schollars whose hands by how much the weaker so much more grievous was his Martyrdome Mark Bishop of Arethusa being pricked with Lancets on all sides was anointed with Honey put into a wisket of Rushes and so exposed as a
and Swine as he did Herod with that of Fox Sin changes men into beasts as is apparent out of Holy Writ Psa 48. Man when he was in honour did not understand he was compared to beasts without understanding and became like to them This is no great change Sin converts a man into a Devil as Christ plainly said to his Discisples John 6. Of you one is a Devil He objected likewise unto the Jews You are of your Father the Devil John 8. Now the Devil according to St. Anselm though warned by terrour and menaces would not abstain from sin neither would man beware of it albeit he was threatned with death if he did transgress The Devil sinned once but man offends many sand times he rebelled against his Creatour whereas man impiously kicks both at his Creatour and Redeemer St. In cap. 9. Joan. hom 54. Chrysostome inveighs severely against an envious person An envious man is worse then the Devil the Devil indeed bears envy but to men not to his own companions whereas thou being a man dost envy men and practise hatred against those of the same kind and nature with thy self which Satan doth not A wicked man may rightly be stiled a Devil yea hell it self Apoc. c. 20. And Hell and death saith the Apostle were cast into the Pool of fire How could this be was hell cast into hell it was so if we credit Expositours upon this place because he who steers a wicked course may justly be termed an Hell For as hell is a place of torments and an abode for Devils so a man of debaucht carriage suffers the pangs of a guilty Conscience wherein the Devil hath taken up his quarters Thus then this Hell shall be cast into Hell O sin O blasting and pestiferous whirlwind which killest in the budd both blossoms leaves and fruit of humane actions which deprivest man of justice and innocency and robbest him of himself O Poyson which dost murther when beloved and infectest even the very Marrow of the Soul and canst not be asswaged by an Ocean of calamities nor extinguished by the flames of Hell God makes this question to our first Parent after his fall Gene. 3. Adam where art thou Adam might with reason have returned this answer I am no where He was then no where indeed For by sin committed he was separated from God and punishment for his fault exiled him from Paradise Neither was he in himself by reason of the remorse his Conscience endured neither was he in other creatures which his offence had moved to Rebellion nor in the world because of his own inconstancy He was then no where alas he was no where where he might find repose But he was like unto a swift running torrent whose streams in regard of their rapid motion can neither be affirmed to be here nor there Do you desire to know what sin is Take a leisurely view of Adams fall How many millions of men were plunged into the depth of miseries by it from it sprung Famine War and Pestilence from it all Calamities Disasters yea death it self Such a tree might well bring forth such fruits from such a cause such effects were easily produced True it is the Son of God was fastned to a Cross to expiate this crime and yet how many millions suffer wrack in hell through sin Who ever will attentively consider these things when soothing pleasure invites him to offend may freely say I will not buy eternal repentance at so dear a rate When the Heavens frown and burst forth into storms of Hail Snow Whirlwinds Thunder and Lightning the cause is that Exhalations and Vapours through their native lightness are easily drawn up and afterwards in various tempests fall down to the earth again No otherwise descend from Heaven upon us violent storms of Dearth Warr Plague Sickness and other miseries which God indeed rains down amongst us but after the Exhalations and Vapours of our transgressions had ascended on high that lecture we learn from the Schools of Phylosophy this of Divinity St. Gregory speaks to the purpose The evil we suffer our sins have deserved The same is attested by Ecclesiasticus Death ch 40. Bloud Contention and Sword Oppressions Famine and Contrition and Scourges For the wicked all these were created Sin Banisht us from Paradise into this vale of tears into this tempestuous Sea where boysterous Winds and lofty Surges cause frequent Ship-wracks and all other miseries Sin maketh people miserable saith Salomon Pro. 14. How came the Turks so often to infest Christendome Whence proceeded so many inroads of Barbarous Nations So many Victories obtained against us What is the cause we are so much pestered with Famine and Plague Why doth that Face of Heaven toward us seem to be all of Brass and either drown us with too much wet or make us pine away for want of Rain Whence do Diseases rush in upon us by whole swarms All these are effects of sin sin is an abiss of all calamities I must needs deliver my mind in Seneca's words Epist 95 He is deceived that thinks God can have a will to do hurt he cannot God neither doth evil nor hath evil Albeit he chastise some and keep them in awe with punishments His eyes are clean from seeing evil and cannot look toward iniquity Therefore he bears extream hatred against sin Even as light of its own nature hath opposition with darkness Comliness with Deformity Goodness with Malice Purity with Uncleanness Life with Death So hath sanctity with all wickedness Wherefore as God loves sanctity beyond expression in like manner his aversion from sin is infinite Marks of his aversion are these that follow First he withdraws himself and his grace from a sinner Then he punisheth sin with many calamities as with present coyn even in this life Thirdly he takes from the Malefactour all right to Heaven Therefore we must either do true pennance or bid adieu to Heaven Fourthly every mortal sin he chastiseth with flames eternal and yet which cannot be exprest without admiration the chastisement is less then the sin deserves All Divines unanimously affirm an everlasting torment is decreed for every mortal sin neither can it ever truly be said This sin hath been punisht sufficiently What then is a mortal sin Alas alas Let all Angels answer this question which yet they are not able fully to declare that which lurks under one deadly sin is infinitely abominable That which Ludovicus Blosius recounts to stir up detestation of mortal sin is exceeding dreadful Monil spur c. 1. If the Mother of our Lord the most Blessed Virgin had sinned mortally and had dyed without contrition she had never attained Heaven but must have been tormented with the Devils in Hell So rigorous is Gods justice This likewise was revealed to St. Lib. 4. ch 7. Brigit who heard the Devils cry out to the supream Judge in this manner If that thing which thou lovest
above all things which is the Virgin that bore thee and which did never sin if I say she had sinned mortally and had dyed without due contrition thou art such a friend of Justice that her soul could never have arrived in Heaven but must have been with us adjudged to hell The nature of one mortal sin is wonderful to amazement Pliny admires Silver Gold and Brass sealed up in a bag can be melted with Lightning and both seal and bag remain untoucht Much more worthy admiration it is that the soul can be so murthered by the secret admission of one deadly sin as thereby to become a prey to eternal death without ever dying or being destroyed Hom. 4. ad Pop. St. Chrysostome gives this prudent admonition Brethren be not children in your understanding but as to malice become little ones for it is a childish fear to fear death as children do who are afraid of Vizards and not of fire to which they apply their hand after the same manner we stand in fear of death which is but a contemptible bug-bear and fear not sin which indeed ought to be feared Because it robs us of all Gods grace makes us lyable to all sorts of miseries and guilty of eternal Flames Thus much concerning our third assertion SECT 4. THe fourth assertion is Who ever sins mortally loseth Heaven for all Eternity Sin shuts against us the gate of Heaven the Empyrial Heaven which is adorned with all delight which is for situation most sublime for extent most ample and in every respect most compleat in a word the worlds wonder from this heaven doth only deadly sin debar us We acknowledge the Soveraign Kings decree promulgated by St. Paul Eph. 5. No Fornicator or Unclean or covetous person which is the service of Idols hath inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God This loss is not the last though it be the worst For in case no other harm proceeded from sin yet this alone were abundantly enough and too too great to be for ever excluded from the joyes of Heaven We may mention this damage t is true yet are we unable to make a right estimate of it well said St. Austin If it were in our power brethren Psa 49. to hinder the coming of the day of judgement yet in my opinion we ought not to lead a wicked life Suppose then the fire of divine judgement should afflict no body but each one might swim in what pleasures he listed for ever notwithstanding if they were separated from the face of God and never must enjoy the sight of their Creatour their loss would be infinite their punishment immense so as to speak with St. Austin they would have cause for all eternity to bewail their condition though they were not guilty of sin Amand. hoâ— sap Lib. 1. ch 4. That expression seems to have been framed amongst Rhetoricians Who will furnish me with Parchment as large as the heavens who will provide me of Quills which for number should equal the leaves of the trees Who will give me a Sea of Ink that I may write down the harms which proceed from mortal sin yet this is no exaggaration for though there were so many Quils so much Parchment and Ink to write with still it would go beyond the art of man to summ up what damage accrues to man by sin since it is eternal Truth it self proclaims to the world It were good for him Mart. 26 if that man had not been born Since God hath quite blotted out his image in Heaven and that most deservedly in regard of that infinite affront offered to so Soveraign a Majesty which is so much more notorious by how much the good preferred before God is of less value But all treasure delight and Honour are infinitely below God therefore the wrong done to God is infinite and consequently the punishment must be proportionable Is not he much obleiged to the giver who bestows on him gratis an hundred Marks in Gold Now our Tongue or Eyes alone which God hath freely gigen us are infinitely more worth then a thousand Marks in Gold to say nothing thing of our Soul and Body which are far more estimable then a thousand worlds Giles one of St. Francis his companions Catechising an ignorant person said A certain man wanted Hands Feet and Eyes to whom one of his friends spoke in this manner My friend if one should restore thee both Hands Feet and Eyes what requital wouldst thou make him I would quoth he become his servant all the dayes of my life Well then replyed Giles who gave thee Hands Feet Eyes Tongue Ears Soul and Body together with the good thou injoyest God without doubt If then thou wouldst be his servant that only restored some few Limbs what is it meet thou shouldst do for God who gave thee all Tell me now what a base part it is to offend him with thine eyes that bestowed them on thee or to affront God by word or deed who framed both tongue and hands for thee Hence ariseth in us an infinite obligation to serve God from which if we swerve by transgression both fault and punishment must needs be infinite Because according to St. Bernard what was short in time or action was certainly long in the setled resolution of the will Now as he is justly condemned that wilfully persists in vice so is he blame-worthy that strives not to better himself in vertue In like manner he who dies in sin hath a living death in eternal pain wherein he must abide for ever that he may suffer torment for ever but never be consumed Alas one merry moment of nimble winged time we prefer before treasures of glory and delights eternal we lose a needle and are sorry for the loss Heaven is snatcht from us and we laugh at it We know full well that upon every greivous crime an happy or wretched eternity depends the privation of that and possession of this is due to every great offence Thus much we know and yet sin boldly especially while we are not certain of one minute of life For who I pray after sin committed hath so much as one sole moment sure to do pennance in Nevertheless in a business of huge consequence and such extreme uncertainty we expose our eternal weal to manifest hazard of eternal wo so freely do we exchange everlasting glory for endless torments and in effect fools as we are demonstrate our hatred to Heaven For Heaven he hates who by contempt or carelesness intangles his soul with sin A Lacedemonian saies Plutarch made a vow to throw himself headlong from the Summit of Lucas But when he beheld the dreadful height of the Rock he was strook with horrour and altered his purpose Afterwards being upbraided for want of courage he answered I did not imagine that for performance of my vow I needed a greater vow Who ever designs to execute some difficult exployt must take upon him a resolution
been sufficient to appease most barbarous Tyranny Whereas sin more cruel then any Monster or Tyrant is not glutted with murthering man once but murthers him eternally When you behold an Offender hurried to Execution and his flesh pluckt off with hot Pincers you forthwith imagine his crimes were hainous since his punishment is so excessive How grievous then must that fault be which can never be expiated with flames eternal This point is often treated these pains are frequently denounced by God and yet we are backward in forbearing sin These particulars we are assured of and still hold on to violate divine Laws with extreme temerity This fault we know deserves to be eternally banisht from Heaven that crime makes its Actour punishable with fire everlasting both in soul and body in so much as sin may seem to blow the Coals and to subminister Fuel for the duration of torments He that would seriously weigh what is here delivered would he not bridle his unruly appetites would he not restrain himself from sin and tread a better path It is down right madness to choose rather to perish then amend ones life O Mortals consider these things this matter is exceeding ferious and of mighty consequence Heaven is not purchased with doing nothing All this notwithstanding men sin with as much freedome and security as if God were ignorant of their acting they go on as boldly as if God had not forbidden them and offend as confidently as though God did nor look on while they offend We admire the foolishness of Esau who valued a dish of Pottage above his birth-right Let us now admire no more all we that esteem a bruitish pleasure at a higher rate then our title to the Kingdome of God all we that sell our Inheritance of Glory for an empty blast of humane praise What is now become of those Heroick resolutions I will rather lose my life then sin Plutarch tells you how Lysimachus was reduced to that extremity by thirst that he gave himself and his Army up into the hands of his enemies and after he had swallowed a cup of cold water he cryed our wo is me base fellow that I am that have parted with a Kingdome for so small pleasure With how much more reason may one that sins mortally exclaime O wretch that I am and unworthy the name of man who for a fleeting and beastly delight sell my right to Heaven prefer creatures before my Creatour Vice before Vertue Death before Life and Perdition before Salvation Ah! covetous miscreant for how slender gain dost thou sell away Heaven Alas Lacivious beast why dost thou change eternal joyes for a moments pleasure O wrathful and envious man how seldome dost thou meditate on hell And thou O Drunkard why wilt thou quaff away an Ocean of Celestial Nectar Good Lord what height of folly is it when a blessed eternity lyes at stake to part with everlasting happiness for a minutes delight Lust Revenge Drunkenness and all other vices please but for a moment and merit torments for an entire eternity Wherefore do we now wonder that God eternally punishes the wicked since the reward of the vertuous is without end Again he that sins mortally for a transitory pleasure sells away himself to the Devil what marvail if the buyers title become perpetual This made Elias speak plainly to King Achab I have found thee mine enemy 3. Kings ch 21. for that thou art sold to do evil in the sight of our Lord. Moreover it is notorious that he who grows obstinate in sin augments his own pain seeing therefore those in Hell are obstinate in their sins for in Hell there is neither pennancenor amendment they likewise increase their injury Understand then these things you that forget God Psa 49. lest sometime he take you violently and there be none to deliver you The very same who is now offended will be your Judge from whom there lyes no appeal to any other no frivolous defence or foolish excuse will then be admitted favour at that time is bootless intercession vain pleading comes too late delayes may not be expected For the judge cannot be moved with flattery nor corrupted with Bribes the last sentence is irevocable the decree eternal aswell as the punishment ensuing CHAP. XV. Why one Mortal Sin is punished with Eternal Torment NOne wonders to hear one say a magnificent City was burnt to the ground by neglecting to have care of one spark of fire We know by experience the activity of fire and its unsatiable appetite it has a devouring stomach while competent matter is set before it it feeds greedily and by feeding grows bigger it spares nothing that is fitly disposed for its pallate it swallowes up Houses Cities and Kingdomes it makes no distinction betwixt friends and foes it layes all wast it consumes all it has inflamed whole towns and we beleive it will bring the world into conflagration What Jaws what Panch may I say it hath whose hunger so much provision of sustenance is not able to asswage We do not therefore wonder that by one spark entire Cities become desolate but that the flames were no sooner extinguisht In like manner we do not gain-say any one that affirms our life to be but a moment and indeed compared to Eternity it scarcely deserves to be called a moment Now if you say further Eternity depends on this moment I shall not contradict you because I know an eternal reward is acquired with temporal pains for in case the labour were eternal the recompence could not be perpetual Neither shall I contest with any who avoucheth everlasting joy may â—e obtained in the twinkling of an eye since this blessing is not due to our deserts but to the merits of Christ This then is that which holds us in admiration that eternal punishment is frequently incurred in a short time in a moments space with one sole thought Actions vertuously performed deserve an endless Crown by reason of our Saviours merits which are of infinite value But how our sins should be of infinite malice and consequently merit infinite pain this passes our understanding this argument of Divinity we are not capable of For what malice I pray lurks under the sweetness of a filthy Lust in which one freely lingers for an hour or part of an hour or a minutes space which may not for all eternity be sufficiently expiated even in flames eternal This it is we mervail at this altogether transcends our capacity Something in answer to this difficulty hath formerly been alledged yet in regard the matter is weighty and hard to be understood we shall enlarge our selves in the declaration of it and unfold this Riddle Why a sin committed in a moment is punisht with eternal torment where by the way we shall discover the efficient cause of this doleful Eternity SECT 1. IN Christian Religion several mysteries are contained which humane reason is not able to comprehend Of this nature we particularize five