the woman of Samaria makes often mention of Eternitie and life everlasting Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life I would we did thirst with the woman of Samaria after those waters and earnestly pray for them O Lord give me of this water that I thirst not Give me O Christ though but a drop of this water that is some thirst and desire after Eternall life In the yeare after the Nativity of our Lord fourescore and one as Suetonius Dion and Plinius Secundus tell at large on the first day of November about seven of the clock at the Mountain Vesuvius in Campania there was an horrible eruption of fire before which there went an unusuall drought and grievous earthquakes There was also heard noise under earth as if it had been thunder The sea roared and made a noise the Heaven thundred as if mountains had in conflict met together great stones were seen to fall the aire was filled with smoke and fire mixt together the Sunne did hide his head Whereupon it was thought by many that the world was almost at an end and that the last day was come wherein all should be consumed with fire For there was such abundance of ashes scattered up and down over land and sea and in the aire that there was much hurt done amongst men and cattell and in the fields that fish and fowl were destroyed that two cities the name of the one was Herculanum and the name of the other Pompeii were utterly ruined These and such other Caverns in the earth with Precipices and fiery mountains alwayes flaming but never going out are lively examples given us by God to put us in minde of the fire in Hell in which the bodies of the cursed shall be alwayes burning but never be burnt out Concerning this you may reade Tertullian Minutius and Pacian See O man how providently even Nature her self doth go before thee and as it were leade thee by the hand to the contemplation of Eternitie To conclude This Time of ours carryeth with it some signe and print of Eternitie Nature fain would have us learn the thing signified by the signe and take a scantling of Eternitie by the little module and measure of time It is the saying of S. Augustine This is the difference between things Temporall and Eternall We love things Temporall more before we have them and esteem them not so much when we have them For the soul cannot be satisfied but with true and secure Eternitie and joy which is Eternall and incorruptible But things Eternall when they are actually possessed are much more loved then before when they were onely desired and hoped for For neither could Faith beleeve nor Hope expect so much as Charitie and Love shall finde when once we shall be admitted to possession Why then doth not earth seem vile in our eyes especially when we must ere long forsake it And why do we not with ardent desire lift up our eyes to Heaven where we shall inherit a kingdome and that Eternall Thou art weighed in the balanceâ— and art found wanting Dan 5.27 That man regardeth not ETERNITE who weigheth his money more accurately then his life THE THIRD CONSIDERATION upon ETERNITIE Wherein the old Romanes principally placed their Eternitie PLinius Secundus thought those men happy which either did things worthy to be wrote or wrote things worthy to be read but those men of all most happy which â—ould do both So the Romanes thought they might three manner â—f wayes eternize their fame and â—ransmit their names unto posteriâ— First they wrote many excellent things many excellent indeed but not all not all chaste not all holy They committed to writing their own blemishes their dishonest oves and filthy lusts But this was no honest or Kings highway to Eternitie How many books have dyed before their Authours and according to Plato have been like unto the Gardens of Adonis as soon dead as sprung up They pleased not long which quickly pleased But suppose the books of all the Romanes should outlive time and be alwayes extant and exposed to publick view yet they should not be able to give life unto their Authours Again the Romanes did not onely write but also did many brave works worthy to be recorded by the pennes of eloquent and learned men and these works were of divers kindes They sought Eternitie in many things but found it in nothing as we are taught to beleeve They were great we do not deny it in civill and warlike affairs at home and abroad admirable for their skill in Arts and Sciences Magnificent and profuse in setting forth shews and bestowing gifts wonderfull even to astonishment for stately buildings Tombes Vâ—ults Monuments and Statues as you may guesse by these few particulars which I will briefly run over Augustus in his own name and at his own proper charges set forth Playes and Games foure and twenty times and at the charge of the common Treasury three and twenty times And never a one of those cost him under two Millions and five hundred thousand Crowns and this so great a summe of money I say was all laid out upon one shew The very meanest and cheapest that ever Augustus set forth came to a Million two hundred and fifty thousand Crowns Nero gilded over the whole Theatre the Ornaments of the Tyring house and comâ—â—al implements he made all of gold to these you may adde square pieces of wood or woodden Lots scattered amongst the people which had for their inscriptions whole houses fields grounds farms slaves servants beasts great summes of silver and many times jewels a great number To whosoevers lot fell any one of these he presently received according to the inscription The same Nero for a Donative to a common souldier commanded to be told two hundred and fifty thousand crowns Agrippina Nero's mother caused the like summe of money to be layd upon a Table thereby secretly reprehending and labouring to restrain her sonnes profusenesse Whereupon Nero perceiving that he was toucht commanded another summe to be added as great as the former and said thus Nesciebam me tamparum dedisse I forgot my self in giving so little The same Nero entertained at Rome for nine moneths together King Teridates and was every day at cost for him twenty thousand Crowns which came in nine moneths to five Millions and fourty thousand Crowns And at his departure he gave him for a Viaticum or to spend by the way two Millions and an half What should I tell you of their stately and magnificent buildings Caligula the Emperour made a bridge over an Arm of the Sea three miles long There were Temples in Rome foure hundred twenty foure most of them very magnificent Domitian spent upon the sole gilding of the Capitol seven Millions On the staires of the Amphitheatre which were
be compared with the unutterable and unsufferable scorchings and torments of this fire though they should last but for one houre If these answers be good and agreeable to right reason How comes it to passe O God that for a little gain and that but vile for deceitfull honour and that fugitive for filthy pleasure and that not long so many men so little regard Eternall punishment in Hell fire We cannot be perswaded with any reward no though it be to gain a whole world to stay but for one houre in fire Temporall And yet if either gain at any time invites us or if honour smiles upon us or pleasure allures us we never fear Hell and fire Eternall But thou wilt say I hope for better God is mercifull and his goodnesse will not suffer me to despair or to be terrified with the fear of evil to come So indeed we are wont to speak And the words in themselves are not impious if our works were pious But for the most part our works are such that if we rightly consider them we have little cause to hope for mercy It is a very dangerous and foolish part for a man to live in a constant course of ungodlinesse and to hope for Eternitie amongst the blessed Alas one sinne is sufficient to condemne us Knowest thou not what Christ hath threatned in the Gospell whosoever shall say unto his brother Thou fool shall be in danger of Hell fire Knowest thou not what Christ hath forbidden Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lâ—st after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heaâ—t Knowest thou not what Christ hath premonished Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heaven but he which doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Knowest thou not that Christ sâ—all shut many out of the gate He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me And he that taketh not his crosse and followeth after me is not worthy of me Knowest thou not what Christ hath openly and plainly said and again repeated Many be called but few chosen Few indeed yea very Few Knowest thou not how often Christ hath exhorted to amendment of life Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven If thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt and maimed rather then having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And not long after Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Knowest thou not how expressely Saint Paul recites up all those things that hinder us from entring into that blessed Eternitie The works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adulterie fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse idolatrie witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkennesse and revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdome of God Now if any man be guiltie to himself of any one of these sinnes here reckoned up and is not so grieved for it that he seeks by all means possible to avoid it for the time to come He may sing to himself if he will this vain Spero I hope and I hope but this mans hope is indeed none at all but meere rashnesse and presumption For a man to adventure the danger of stripes and blows is an evil that may be born To lose at play an hundred or a thousand Florens is a great misfortune but may be endured To lay his head at stake and to bring his life in danger is a bad adventure but at the worst it is but losse of life and that losse is not of all other the greatest But to hazard the Eternall salvation both of body and soul by living at uncertainties by hoping in words and despairing in works nullifying hope by a wicked and ungodly life This is the extremest of all evils This is the most grievous misfortune a man can fall into This is most pernicious rashnesse and boldnesse This is extreme folly and madnesse Now consider this ye that forget God lest he teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver you CHAP. III. That the way of Eternitie is diligently and carefully to be sought after LEt every Christian man therefore often ask himself and others also which are in the place of God this question What shall I do that I may obtain blessed Eternitie or Eternall blessednesse Am I in the right way that leadeth unto Eternitie Something I do indeed but it is but very little and not worth speaking of I thirst and breathe after the joyes which are immortall and Eternall But few are my works cold and imperfect at the best and altogether unworthy of an Eternall reward I think it long till I arrive at the haven But I am afraid of the troublesome waves and tempests by the way When as yet notwithstanding that is the safest and best way unto heaven which is most rough and narrow This the very Truth it self of Gods mouth pronounceth and Christ proclaimeth saying Enter ye in at the strait gate For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be Alack too many that go in thereat Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be Alack too few that finde it Again Strive to enter in at the strait gate For many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Oh what a fearfull word is that MANY and that FEW How should it make us tremble But we miserable men deceive our selves rashly promising unto our selves Eternitie And yet I cannot tell whether we may be more truely said to hope or to dream that we shall be reckoned amongst those few before mentioned I would to God now even now whilest it is the accepted time and the day of salvation we would have a diligent and an intent eye upon Eternitie and reason thus with our selves Alas what is all this that I suffer or that I see others suffer It is nothing if it be compared with Eternitie What if I could reckon up as many labours and perils as Saint Paul himself did undergo as they are by him set down in his second Epistle to the Corinthians and the eleventh Chapter If I should endure hunger and thirst enmities and injuries sicknesse and povertie Yea more what if I were stoned with Saint Paul and beaten with rods What if I suffered shipwrack All these are nothing to punishments Eternall Therefore in all adversitie I must thus think with my self
in these words of our Saviour Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Is it not cleare enough that this promise is of blessed Eternitie when we have securitie given us of receiving an hundred-fold reward Again Christ according to the same Evangelist forewarning of the latter judgement three times makes mention of Eternitie expresly in these words everlasting or eternall fire everlasting or eternall punishment and life Eternall Seeing therefore the holy Fathers the Church and the sacred Scripture do so many wayes propound unto us the serious consideration of Eternitie It is our part and dutie as many of us as look for Eternall life in heaven it is our part and dutie seriously to meditate thus with our selves every one Oh my God! How seldome have I heretofore thought upon Eternitie or if I have thought upon it in what a cold and negligent manner have I done it notwithstanding every day yea every houre and minute I draw nearer and nearer unto Eternitie But for the time to come by the assistance of thy grace I will minde it more carefully then heretofore I have done and if at any time through thy bounty riches shall increase I will not set my heart upon them though the world should smile upon me though I should want no temporall thing that my heart can desire though I should seem to flow in never so much abundance yet will I still remember Eternitie In the midst of my prosperitie these shall be my thoughts But how long shall this last will this fair weather never change Will this comfortable sunne alwayes shine upon me Or if I should live in prosperitie all the dayes of my life what shall it profit me after death After this sweet but short pleasing but perilous unhappy happinesse there shall shortly follow Eternitie Eternitie But if the world goes ill with me if it frown upon me if I meet with many crosses troubles and affictions if misfortunes befall me if they rush upon me like waves one in the neck of another if I be turmoiled and tossed up and down then these shall be my daily thoughts Well let the world have its course I am content to bear it Gods will be done Let the sea be troubled let the waves thereof roare let the windes of afflictions blow let the waters of sorrows rush upon me let the clouds of tentations threaten rain and thunder let the darknesse of grief and heavinesse compasse me about yea though the foundation of the world should seem to shake yet will I not be afraid These storms will blow over these windes will be laid these waves will fall this tempest cannot last long and these clouds shall be dispelled Whatsoever I suffer here shall shortly have an end I shall not suffer Eternally Come the worst that can come death will put an end to all my sorrows and miseries But no storm to that storm of fire and brimstone which the damned shall suffer in Hell Eternally and without end All things here shall have an end but the torments there shall have no end Whatsoever is not within the circle of Eternitie is short swift and momentanie it is but a shadow but a dream so saith S. Chrysostome It is but a Modicum or a thing of nothing a little a very little for a little while yea a very little while Often doth our Saviour beat upon this speaking to his Disciples All his own sufferings yea his most bitter death upon the crosse he calleth but a little All the sufferings punishments and violent deaths of the Apostles all but a little And why should not I also think it but a little whatsoever here I suffer though I should suffer it an hundred yeares together For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarrie I will therefore suffer patiently whatsoever can happen and account one thing onely necessarie and that is To do nothing against my Conscience and displeasing unto God For all is safe and sure with him who is certain and sure of blessed Eternitie CHAP. III. This life in respect of that which is to come is but as a Drop to the Ocean a little stone to the sand upon the Sea-shore a Centre to the Circle a Modicum a little a very little time a Minute to Eternitie And such are the sufferings of this life in respect of the joyes that shall be hereafter MOst true it is Whatsoever labour or sorrow we suffer in this life it is but a Modicum or for a little while It is the saying of S. Augustine This Modicum or little while seems long unto us because it is not yet all past and gone But when it shall come to an end then shall we perceive and understand what a little while this Modicum was The wisest of men being to shew the vanitie and shortnesse of this present life though it should be lengthened to an hundred yeares which few men can reach unto makes choice of the most minute things in the world whereby to expresse it and set it forth by way of resemblance For thus we reade expresly in Ecclesiasticus The number of a mans dayes at the most are an hundred yeares As a drop of water unto the sea and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand yeares to the dayes of Eternitie And why then do ye rejoyce in this ye long-liv'd men that you have lived an 100 yeares All our yeares are What are they They are as a drop of water unto the sea and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand And what is a little stone to those exceeding high mountains of sand And what is a small drop of water to the deep and fathomlesse Sea such are fifty sixty yea an hundred yeares Heare this ye old men they are but a Modicum a very little while but a Minute of time indeed nothing at all to the dayes of Eternitie And yet foolish and miserable men we are overjoyed with this little stone this small drop Our life is indeed a little stone but no jewell no precious stone it is made of no better matter then sand Our life is a drop but not of sweet and fresh water it is salt and brackish as the sea-water is For all his dayes are sorrows and his travell grief yea his heart taketh no rest in the night So saith the Preacher It is the counsell of S. Augustine Recall to minde saith he the years that are past from Adam to this present day runne over all the Scripture It is but almost yesterday since he fell and was thrust out of Paradise For where are those times that are past Certainly if thou hadst lived all the time since Adam was thrust out of Paradise even unto this present thou wouldst perceive and confesse that thy
and a Globe Therefore Faustina the Empresse had money stampt after this figure and superscription There was a Globe on which the Empresse sat stretching forth one hand and holding in the other a sceptre with this inscription ETERNITIE Hence it was that many of the Ancients thought the world to be Eternall because it was Round whom S. Basil answers very fitly Let the world be a Circle but the beginning of the Circle is the Centre In the third place they have represented Eternitie by a Seat by which is signified Eternall rest The Nasamones a certain people of Africa for the most part did not onely breathe out their last sitting upon a seat but also desired to be buried after that position as having then attained to Eternitie and a long cessation from all their labours As in many places at this day Kings and Emperours are found sitting in vaults under earth in silence and mournfull majestie And it was usuall with the Romanes to support with such like the molten statues of their deceased Emperours as having then the fruition of Eternity Some there are that thus reason with themselves oftentimes Behold I have been a long time held and oppressed with cares and labours But now why do I not take some respite why do I not make some pause why do I not rest from my labours I have laboured long enough let others labour as much as I have done for my part I 'le rest now and take mine ease So they set up their seats and promise unto themselves dayes of rest But alas they are of no long continuance They set up their seats and embrace their ease but neither in due time nor place Oh! how truely and devoutly doth that golden book of the imitation of Christ give us a pull by the eare in these words Dispose and order all things according to thine own will and the lust of thine own eyes and yet thou shalt never finde but thou shalt alwayes suffer one thing or other either willingly or by constraint and so thou shalt alwayes finde a crosse The whole life of Christ was a Crosse and Martyrdome and doest thou seek rest and pleasure Therefore we must set up our seat in heaven and not here for here amongst so many troubles it can never stand quiet and though all other things should spare it yet death at length will overturn it There is no true rest to be hoped for but that which is Eternall But if there be any rest in this life this is it For a man to commit himself and all that is his to the will of God to put his whole trust and confidence in him and to account all other things beside but vain So are we taught in Ecclesiasticus Trust in God and abide in thy place Without this rest of the soul all other things are meer troubles a meer sea of tempestuous waves and the very presence of Hell But I return to the Ancients In the fourth place they have represented Eternitie by the Sunne and the Moon The Sunne revives every day although it seems every day to die and to be buried It alwayes riseth again although every night it sets The Moon also hath her increase after every wane Catullus hath pretty verses to this purpose The Sunne doth set the Sunne doth rise again The day doth close the day doth break again Once set our Sunne again it riseth never Once close our day of life it 's night for ever In Hell there is Eternall night but without sleep There they sleep not because they slept here where they should have watched there they watch because here they slept in their sinnes indeed not long but longer they would if they could yea Eternally But it is farre otherwise with those that are in heaven For a perpetuall light shall shine forth to the Saints and Eternitie of time there is rest there is pleasure after long labours and watchings In the fifth place they have represented Eternitie by the Basilisk The Basilisk is the most venimous of all creatures and it alone of all others as Horus Niliacus saith cannot be killed by humane force yea it is so virulent that it killeth herbs with the very breath of it that it puts to flight all other creatures with the hissing of it that it makes all birds suddenly silent upon the first presence of it AElianus reports that in the desert of Africa a certain beast fell down being tired and that the Serpents came together as it were to a feast to devour the carcase and that they presently ran all away and hid themselves in the sand upon the sight of the Basilisk Eternitie whether of joy or of torment cannot be shortened or diminished much lesse taken away or avoided Neither is it strange if it affright all that are in their right wits with the very thought of it Infinite are the windings of this Basilisk unmeasurable and untwinable are the orbs and circuits of it Oh Dragon to be trembled at Let us divert a little to our selves It comes to passe sometimes when a man descends into himself and rips up his conscience by confession that he findes many Serpents nests and whole broods of vipers and thereupon much marvelleth in himself saying Whence is there so much venime in my breast Whence are so many fat Snakes so many grievous and deadly sinnes Whence is there so great an host of Lisards whence so many filthy and lustfull cogitations I am afraid my self at such a numerous and pestilent brood But marvell not we shall easily shew thee the cause thereof A moyst and a rude place is very apt to breed Serpents Lo then there is a double cause The moysture of the place and the negligence of them that should look to it So it is in the soul of man If we spend all our care upon our body handling it delicately feeding it daintily pampering it with feasts effeminating it with pleasures it must needs be confessed that the soul the inhabitant thereof hath her dwelling in a moyst place Adde hither slothfulnesse and neglect of divine duties Let no care be had at all of salvation so the body be sound and it goes well with it let no regard be had what happens to the soul Let confession of sinnes be seldome made unto God and when it is but in a negligent manner What marvell then if a multitude of Serpents and poysonous vermine breed there But O good Christian brother Let the Basilisk enter into thy Breast that is the cogitation of Eternitie and thou shalt presently perceive that these venimous beasts will soon vanish away Thou confessest that thy heart doth abound with these Snakes It is a signe therefore thou seldome thinkest upon Eternitie Amend therefore and now at length begin to think upon this with thy self That which delighteth is but Momentanie but that which tormenteth is Eternall In the sixth place they have represented Eternity after this manner There is a vast den
and watches his time when he may set upon us when we think not of him What shall become of us whither will he carry us if here we have lived wickedly To the barre of Christs judgement and from thence to the pit of Hell And from thence there is no redemption Nobility from thence sets no man free Power delivers no man The applause of men formerly given yeelds there no comfort Let us here seek the favour of God and his glory That is the true glory which is got by the shunning of vain glory And there is no true glory but that which is Eternall Solomon in the Proverbs describeth wisdome like a Queen attended by two waiting maids Eternitie and Glorie the first on the right hand the second on the left Glorie is nothing worth if there be not joyned with it Eternitie that which all we Christians do expect For here we have no continuing Citie but we seek one to come Eternall in the heavens The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance To give an almes to a poore man to moderate a greedie appetite to resist the enemie of chastitie These are works that require not much pains or time for the doing And yet the remembrance of these together with their reward shall be Eternall What a small thing was it that Mary Magdalene bestowed upon our Saviours feet How quickly had she done it And yet it is made known throughout the whole world Some others it may be would have admired other things in her her cherrie cheeks her comely countenance the pleasant flower of her youth her rare grace her great riches her affabilitie and courtesie and such like These were not the things which Christ commended in her but it was the office which she performed unto his feet The thing it self was not great And yet it was a means to procure for her Eternall glory and a never-dying name It shall be preached throughout the whole world This is the testimonie of Christ. This work of hers was not engraven in marble nor cast in brasse nor promulged in the market place nor proclaimed with a Drum and a Trumpet And yet it hath continued for a memoriall of her to this day and so shall for ever and It shall be preached throughout the whole world If you consider the action it self Judas Iscariot the covetous Pursebearer found fault with it Simon the swelling and proud Pharisee condemned it If the matter it was but an Ointment at the most not worth above thirty small pieces of gold If the place it was private If the witnesses present they were but few If the person she was a woman and one infamous And yet for all these It shall be preached throughout the whole world How many Emperours have advanced their colours displayed their victorious and triumphant Eagles and set up their standards in their enemies Camp How many warlike Captains have led popular Armies and commanded them worthily How many provident Governours have ruled their people very wisely How many Kings have erected rare monuments and statues and built Castles and Cities How many learned men have wasted their brains in new inventions and have like Chymicks distilled them into Receivers of Paper And to what end all this To keep their names in continuall remembrance and to be recorded amongst worthy and memorable men And yet notwithstanding they lodge in the bed of silence and lie buried in the grave of oblivion But one good work that the righteous doth shall be had in everlasting remembrance Time and envie shall never deface and conceal it The wisest men Captains Prelates and Kings themselves shall with reverence reade and heare it It shall be preached throughout the whole world The onely way then to immortalitie and true Eternitie is To live well so to die well Go to now ye Romanes If ye will seek Eternitie in Statues and Mâ—rble monuments but you shall never finde it there I for my part will wish rather with S. Hierom in the life of Paul the Eremitâ— Oh remember saith he Hierom a sinner who if God had given him the choice would have preferred the poore cloak of Paul with his good works before the Scarlet robes of kings with their kingdomes Let us Christians here whilest we have time make over our riches for fear lest we lose them let us send them before us into another world Heaven stands open ready to receive them We need not doubt of the safe carriage the carriers are very faithfull and trusty but they are the poore and needy of this world We make over unto them here by way of exchange a few things of little value being to receive in heaven an exceeding Eternall weight of glorie For so hath Christ promised upon the performance of his precept I say unto you Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations But let us passe from the Romanes unto others CHAP. II. A better way then the former which the Romanes followed to Eternitie DArius the king of the Persians most notable for his slaughter had in his Armie ten thousand Persians which he therefore called immortall as Caelius Rhodiginus interprets it not because he thought they should never die For where are there any such but because as any of the number was diminished by sword or sicknesse it was presently made up so that still there was neither more nor lesse then ten thousand Thus Darius framed unto himself a kinde of immortalitie and Eternitie But alas it was a very short one For within a little space he and all his armie utterly perished The Presidents and Princes assembled together unto Darius and said thus unto him King Darius live for ever Alas how vain was this wish and how short this Eternitie We live but seventy or eighty yeares at the most We are but in a dream if we think to live here for ever Not without cause therefore Xerxes when for the conquering and subjugating Greece as Herodotus reports he carried with him out of Asia two great armies both by sea and land in number three and twenty hundred thousand seventeen thousand and six hundred beside others that attended upon souldiers upon a day taking his prospect from a Mountain and beholding his souldiers fell a weeping And being asked the reason why He said it was because after a matter of fiftie or sixty yeares of so many hundred thousand men so select and strong scarce one should be found alive We may dream and feigne unto our selves I know not what Eternities But in the mean time we must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground Another and better type of Eternitie was found out at Constantinople in the yeare of our Lord 459. The Church of Constantinople in the time when Gennadius was Bishop was augmented by a new and noble foundation of a Monasterie of Acoemets dedicated to S. John Baptist. These Acoemets
lovers of this world as they walk through the plain of the broad way do not love to come neare but keep off as farre as is possible But as for gain and profit the fawning and flattering of inferiours abundance of riches honours and places of dignitie these are the high places of the earth which whosoever is worldly minded and hath setled his affections on things here below he I say esteemeth highly because to him they seem great But whosoever is heavenly minded and hath setled his affections on things above he I say esteemeth them not because to him they seem what they are that is vile and base For as it is with a man going up an high mountain still the higher he goes the lower he sees the earth beneath him So is it with him whose conversation is in heaven The higher he mounts from the earth with the wings of pious cogitations the farther he flies from the earth with the wing of his affections He knows that all the glory of this world is nothing and therefore his thoughts and affections are altogether upon another world This is the man that is lifted up above the high places of the earth You have heard what S. Gregorie saith It will not be amisse in the next place to heare likewise what Saint Augustine saith What is that It is a lesson worth our learning That which we must lose saith he one time or other upon necessitie it is wisdome to distribute abroad in time that we may purchase thereby the reward of Eternitie Moses lived long indeed he lived in health but at length he died Methuselah lived longer then he but it follows And he died This is or shall be every mans Epitaph Et mortuus est And he died For we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground But the soul is immortall it is Eternall it shall live for ever either in Eternall glory or else in Eternall torments Here our lot is cast in which Eternitie we shall have part and there is no revoking it Oh blessed Eternitie oh Eternall blessednesse How comes it to passe that seldome or never we think upon thee or if we do at any time we do it but upon the by How comes it to passe that we do not labour more for thee that we do not seek for thee that we are not sollicitous for thee O Lord God open thou our eyes that we may see and know what Eternitie is both that of glory and that other of torment and how infinite both how blessed the one and how miserable the other Thou hast created us unto thee Thou hast created us unto Eternitie For thou art Eternitie Thou wouldst have us be partakers of thy Eternitie Lord let it be according to thy will Thou hast said it Lord let it be according to thy word Thou hast promised Lord make good thy promise Make us partakers of thy Eternitie Grant that we may spend the short moment of time granted unto us here in this life Grant we beseech thee that we may spend it in such a religious and godly manner as men that labour for Eternitie contend for Eternitie suffer for Eternitie To this end cause thy ministers often to call upon us to think still upon Eternitie make us call one upon another in every place to think upon Eternitie that so by thy mercy we may reigne with thee O Eternitie and as many as it is possible may be kept from perishing everlastingly Heare this ye Christians all heare it ye Pagans heare it ye Kings and Princes heare it ye Germanes heare it ye French heare it ye English yea let all the world heare it There can be no sufficient securitie where there is danger of losing Eternitie Oh long Oh profound Oh bottomlesse Oh Eternall Eternitie Blessed are they O Lord that dwell in thy house they shall be still praising thee They shall praise thee throughout infinite myriads of ages Moses being neare unto his death commending unto God in his prayers his people Israel and blessing them thus took his leave of the tribe of Asher and said Let Asher be blessed with children let him be acceptable to his brethren and let him dip his foot in oyl Thy shoes shall be iron and brasse and as thy dayes so shall thy strength be There is none like unto the God of Jesurun who rideth upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellencie on the skie The Eternall God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms Thus God stretcheth forth the arms of his power throughout heaven infinitely and by his arms all the world all time and all things in the world are directed guided and governed So God from the beginning yea from the Eternitie of his predestination hath carried in his breast all the godly and doth protect them daily and hourely and as it were embraceth them with his arms Ascend therefore O my soul and have no more to do with earth and clay Stretch forth thy self and ascend up unto him that rideth upon the heavens ascend up unto thy God whose dwelling is in the highest mountains those mountains of Eternitie There shalt thou sit in safetie and behold the earth beneath and so shalt thou plainly perceive how little and of none esteem all things are here below which now either sollicit thee with love or terrifie thee with fear thou shalt plainly perceive what a small thing it is whatsoever is contained within the Centre of the world that little globe or point of earth thou shalt plainly perceive how that all things created are vain weak short vile yea vanitie it self yea rather meere nothing in respect of God and of Eternitie Therefore seek thou after the onely true and soveraigne good and regard not other things Trust in God relie on him open thy heart wide to entertain him tread under the feet of thy affections whatsoever is under the Sunne and Moon whatsoever allureth thee with smiles or terrifieth thee with frowns think upon Eternitie and alwayes keep in minde that excellent saying of Saint Hierome No labour must seem hard no time must seem long all the while we are seeking after Eternall glory It is reported by Saint Hierome that there was upon a time a certain Camell haunted by an evil spirit which being brought before Hilarion a devout and godly man began to rage in such a strange and terrible manner as if it would presently have devoured him But the holy man nothing afraid spake thus unto the evil spirit Do not think to fright me thou evil spirit although that thou hast got a Camel on thy back it is all one to me whether thou comest in a Camels skin or in a Foxes skin And presently the fierce Camel fell down before him and became very tame and gentle to the great laughter of all those that stood by Such are all flatteries fawnings allurements and tentations of this world such are all fears frowns