Yet the Saints who are in glorie whose faces are marked with his splendour and doe shine like the Sunne for perpetuall eternities are yet incomparably more liuely pictures of the Diuinitie For euen as the Sunne meeting with a thicke and darksome cloude in the aire doth sometymes so deeply imprint its beames vpon its face that it appeares another Sunne so are the Blessed in Heauen so transformed into God that they shewe as so many Gods and as so many dearest children of the Highest as DAVID deliuers it This excellent beautie with which the Diuine presence doth adorne them was cause that S. IOHN espying an Angell whom he tooke for God had adored him if that spirit no lesse humble then glorious bright had not giuen him to know that he was his fellow-seruant And in my opinion in this neere resemblance to God the verie toppe of the eternall glorie of the blessed is placed For what thinke you is God's owne glorie and felicitie but the life which he hath eternally of him selfe the most cleare knowledge which he hath of his immutable Truth and the most ardēt loue which he hath towards his owne infinite Goodnes His Beatitude consisting in the vision loue and fruition which the Diuine and increated Persons of the Blessed Trinitie haue of their owne mutuall knowledge Loue and eternall perfect and infinite complacence Now the soule of the Blessed being raysed to the vision loue and fruition of the same Diuine Persōs and of their Diuine and most indiuisible Essēce ought not her supernaturall and inineffable life by the resemblance which is betwixt her and God's felicitie to be said to be the accomplishment of her glorie since that without all feare of change she is wholy attentiue to the cleare contemplation of the prime and soueraigne Truth inflamed with the loue of the supreme and increated goodnes and hath the fruition of the infinite and vnspeakable sweetnes of God O truly liuing and happie life when shall it be that we shall liue in thee and by thee when shall we ô my soule inhabite this heauenly Hierusalem built as a Citie and with her glorious Citizens be made participant of him who is still himselfe immutable and whose yeares neuer decay Of the felicitie of the powres of the soule and first of the memorie XLV THis essentiall Beatitude Athanasia is extended and doth spread it selfe out yet diuersly in the lower degree of the soule to witt there wherin the three principall faculties or powres doe reside For euen as the Prophete to rayse the widowes deade child did shorten himselfe vpon this litle body and did apply his mouth to its mouth his hands to its hands and his feete to its feete So God who shall be all to all shall fill all the soule with the abundance of his bountie and shall cōmunicate vnto it a Diuine life which shall not feare the assaultes of death The memorie being entered into the liberties of our Lord shall call to mynd the effectes of his iustice and no lesse those of his mercy for she shall sing no neuer will I forgett thy iustifications ô Lord since in them thou hast giuen me life Fild with this rauishing and no lesse pressing then present obiect she shall breath out the remembrance of his sweetnes and shall exalt his adorable iudgements This remembrance shall be her soueraigne delight O how she shall call to mynd the sweetnes of the duggs of this incomparable goodnes farr passing the fuming wines of worldly delightes In how high a strayne shall she take the memorie of this supreme sanctitie Alas how can she forget him whom she hath so inwardly present and who shall be more in her then her selfe and to whom she shall be so strongly tyed in adauantine and diamantine chaynes that nothing shall euer be able to diuerte her Blessed memorie replenisht with the fairest Idea's that can possibly inhabit a heart and which then shall be a Magazine and memoriall of heauenly wonders whether she make reflection vpon things past how dearely shall she conserue the memorie of the incomparable obligations which she shall haue to this Creatour Conseruer Redeemour and Glorifier of her beeing Such as grace shall haue led from greatest sinns to repentance fauours before bounding where malice did superabound ô God! how highly shall they sing the sacred Canticle of the Diuine mercy And those who by the same grace shall haue conserued the first stole of their innocencie and being preserued from the abomination of desolation whose deluge doth ouerflowe the whole vniuerse shall haue bene drawen to the safe harbour of saluation by the chaynes of loue and humanitie will not they haue reason to beare a part in the fame Canticle and to pronounce that that mercy which conserued them vnstayned amidest the worlds impurities is a portion of that which is eternally grounded and built in Heauē The royall Prophete calling to mynd out of what an Abisse of miseries the Diuine goodnes had reclaymed him recalling him so sweetly to the accnowledgment of his faults coniures his soule and all his interiour powres to blesse God exciting his memorie neuer to permitt his benefites to fall into a disloyall obliuion for he it is that pardons saith he all thyne infirmities who cures all thy wounds who recouers thee from eternall death and who crownes thee with his mercyes O God what must this King of penitents needs say in heauen if he spoke thus in this vaile of teares reduced by a holy repentance from his iniquities to the state of grace When the Saintes whom God hath pardoned many faultes for there are in Heauē penitent sinners of all kinds shall see them selues deliuered from the innumberable torments which they contemplate in the accursed Eternitie and which they had as oft deserued as by their malice they had bene separated from God will they not haue great reason to say with the Psalmist Thy mercy ô Lord and thy iustice shall for euer be the subiect of our song vpon this shall our Psalme-singing be imployed whilst we walke in this immaculate way in which thou hast put vs. And if the memorie of paynes and perills past euen in this world be so delightfull how much more shall the Saintes and martyrs who haue suffered much for the Almighties sake haue cause to reioyce in this memorie While they walked in the way of this mortall life they sowed in teares but in the heauenly Sion they shall reape an eternall ioy They shall sing this pleasant Song We haue past through fire and water but in the end we are entred into refreshment And they shall blesse those light and transitorie moments of tribulation which brought them to eternall glorie And if their memorie doe stay vpon the present felicitie which they feele and of which they haue a liuely sense with what contentment shall they not be crowned in tasting the ineffable goodnes of God who rewards them infinitely beyond their merits Yea if they enlarge themselues vpon the
his sonne into a burning fornace that thence thou oughtst to coniecture an enormious crime in the child as well by reason of the greeuiousnesse of the punishment as by the Fathers rigour ô Eternall Father whose mercies are numberlesse what an inward hate must thou needs conceaue against the vniust and iniustice since thou dost punish so rigorously and so eternally the soules thou bought at so great a price as is the bloode of thyne owne sonne blood which cryed better then that of Abel bloode able to fetch out any stayne to wash of all offences and to render them sknowie white whom sinne had made cole-blacke so that this ISOPE this sopewort be applyed in a fitt tyme in a tyme capable of receauing this plentuous redemption Where are our thoughts ô my soule how doth not dread put vs into a traunce while sinne presents it selfe vnto our eyes what a monster must it needs be for whom so darksome a Dungeon and boisterous tempest is prepared and fince that God who is infinitly good is irreconciliably irritated against those reprobate soules How oft my poore heart haue we merited those horrible punishmēts wa st not as oft as we withdrew our selues from our dutie by mortall crimes sinthens all the Diuels there were damned for one sinne And are they not then so many singular obligations we haue to God who expected vs so long to repentance in not suffering his vengance to to take vs in the manure If we slile the Doctors who by their care and skill recouere vs out of a dangerous sicknesse our Esculapeses If a deliuerie out of prison draw such an obligation vpon vs towards the workers therof If a Princes grace doe so much ingage vs to him as likewise the fauour of being freed from fire or water to our deliuerers What shall we render to this good God who as often as we haue offended hath recouered vs frō death and death euerlasting Death whose torment doth far surpasse all that can be said or thought of it Propose vnto thy selfe ô my soule a thing that shall neuer happen according to the order of the Diuine Prouidence and Iustice though otherwise possible to him that can doe all that God had drawen out of this darke hole into which redemption enters not some one of the damned crue to giue him tyme of repentance for his sinns and consider what thankes he would render to his Creatour for so great a benefit and how well he would husband this precious tyme to regayne himselfe out of the midst of his dreadfull tortures Now my deare soule thou must needes haue lost all sense and iudgment if thou accnowledge not the benefit of preseruation to be no lesse then this imaginarie deliuerāce since it withdrawes thee from the same tormēts merited by so many faults Why doe not we then spend our selues in thankes giuing why are we negligēt in redeeming lost tyme sloathfull in running to the remedie of Penance The onely Table of safetie after the shipwrake of grace O God full of Goodnes who desires not the death of a sinner but his conuersion and life Ah! I begge this fauour of thee that at least I may performe some part of that which he would doe whom by thyne extraordinarie power and mercy without president thou migstest haue deliuered out of this Gulfe of horrour Ah! Lord I know this onely part would worke my whole penance for neuer would myne eylidds waxe dry the aples of myne eyes would euer swime in their fountaines night and day should I weepe My cheekes should alwayes be watered and my teares should be my dayly bread I would imbrace all sorts of exteriour and interiour sorow to auoyd those deuouring flammes and the eternall rageings of that abominable Mansion where thou art perpetually blasphemed O God my mercy Saue me from the Iawes of those roaring Lyons prepared for their prey Remoue me from before the sharpe hornes of those sauage Vnicornes Indew me ô Lord with the spirit of Compunction and Penance which is so necessarie to auoyde this Abisse And thou my soule why dost thou dwell vpon this thought of horrour why art thou vexed in it Lift vp thy heart and hope in the mercy of the Highest I thou shalt yet againe praise him the tyme of his mercy is not expired to thee He is the saluation of thy face and thy true God no no by his assistance and grace thou shalt beare no part in the abominable blasphemies of the region of the shadow of death but thou shalt be aggreable vnto him and shalt sing his prayses in the Land of the Liuing A passage to the blessed Eternitie XXXVIII HAppie land of the liuing Athanasia LAND OF PROMIS flowing with the milke and honie of Diuine fauours and blessings Land without thornes free from the captiuitie of IACOB How glorious things are reported of thee ô Citie of God! Sacred citie whose fundations are placed vpon the holy mountaines of Eternitie who art watered with an impetuous flood of felicitie and glorie and with torrents of celestiall delightes How louely are thy tabernacles O mansion of the God of vertues my soule and body doe swoone in the contemplation of thy wonders O Lord how happie are they who doe inhabite thy house◠they praise thee for euer and euer Blessed is he whō thou hast elected and receaued into thy armes he shall remayne for euer in the wishfull porches of thy heauenly Sion Certes Athanasia my heart changing this vnfortunate obiect wherin my pen was imployed in the precedent strokes to this other wholy delightfull one of the blessed Eternitie doth resent the same ioy which the Mariners doe experience when after a rough storme they meet with a calme the same alacritie which doth enlarge the victors hearts when after a dangerous battell they triumphe ouer their foes and diuide the plentuous spoyle Now it is that I may vsurpe the words of the Diuine Epithalamion Winter is past the raine and snow are blowen ouer and flowres begin to appeare in our land but flowres that are of fruite of honour and honestie admirable fruites of the Land of Promis There it is that God doth wipe away the teares of his saintes There are there no greiues or plaintes for all sortes of euils doe vanish in the presence of this vniuersall felicitie euen as shades doe disappeare in the light 's approach And as wine doth taste sweeter after bitter amandes and honie after the tast of wormeseed as deformitie doth raise the luster of an eminent beautie it being the propertie of contraries the one to aduance the other by their neighbourhood so after the harsh contemplation of so many astonishinge torments the splendour of the eternall glorie doth shine in myne eyes as a lightsome day following out an obscure night Such as doe exercise their Arts about fornaces are accustomed from tyme to tyme to releiue their weakned sight in beholding some pleasing table or to recreate them vpon some delightfull prospectiue Sweet light of
Hell's Eternitie as that we doe not more thinke of his Eternitie who made them both this for the Diuells and their associates that for the Angells and the Elect. O eternall Diuinitie ô Diuine Eternitie thou art he whom I consider and whom I seake for to thee onely it is that I aspire for without thee the created Eternitie would not bee since it doth not subsiste but by the eternall essence of the essentiall Eternitie which is no other thē God himselfe And yet further to purisie myne affection and bring it to its full perfection henceforth I will not so much loue the Eternitie of God as the God of Eternitie though God be that same Eternitie and that same Eternitie be God himselfe And if by the imagination of an impossible thing one could be in Hell with his grace his accursed Eternitie would not be dreadfull nor is the Blessed Eternitie to be desired but that eternall life is to see God eternally eternally to depēd vpon him O eternall God! who is like vnto thee who is like vnto thee who is like vnto our Lord God who inhabites in the places aboue And what Eternitie can be compared vnto his from whom proceedes all Eternitie seing he hath made the ages of ages O Great God direct my wayes in thy presence and make me walke before thee in perfection that is perfect in such sort my intentions that forgetting myne owne interest and nether staying my selfe in the blessed or accursed Eternitie I may onely looke after thyne essentiall Eternitie which is thy selfe to whom be honour and glorie from generation to generation for euer and euer in the Eternitie of Eternities Amen An aspiration of Hope LXXIII BVt ô Lord will it not be too great a presumption for a worme of the earth to rayse it selfe towards thyne infinite Eternitie and promisse himselfe one day in thy glorie to be vnited thervnto Yea verily it were a manifest vanitie if a soule should persuade her selfe that of her selfe and by the strength of her owne winge she could wind her selfe thither But as of her selfe she can doe nothing so together with thee being fortified by thee what can she not performe ô great God since she holds her whole beeing of thy Grace What may she not what ought she not to expect from thy grace since it is written that thy grace is eternall life And againe with what confidence must not her heart needs be encouraged when she shall cast the eyes of her consideration vpon the great price and infinite merites of thyne eternall Sonne ô eternall Father a Sonne who hath layed her open the way to Eternitie not by the blood of gotes or calues but acquiring vnto her by his owne blood an eternall and plentuous redemption O my soule what are we not to hope from the Mercy of so good a God and who hath loued vs with an eternall and excessiue Charitie a Charitie so excessiue that he bestowed his owne Sonne to be the propitiation for our Sinnes When we were dead by our crymes his grace restored vs to life Our Sauiour dying vpō the Crosse did quicken vs by his death and the same reuiuour doth promise vs a like resurrection and ascending vnto heauen he goes to prepare vs a place before the Throne of his glorie Which made the great Apostle writing to the Ephesians say that God who is rich in mercy for his exceding Charitie wherwith he loued vs euen while we were dead by sinnes quickened vs together in CHRIST by whose grace we are salued and hath raysed vs vp with him selfe making vs sit with him in the celestials in IESVS CHRIST shewing to future ages the abundant riches of his grace through his benignitie towards vs in IESVS CHRIST And the Prince of the Apostles S. PETER Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST who according to his great Mercy hath regenerated vs vnto a liuely hope by the resurrection of IESVS CHRIST from the deade vnto an inheritance incorruptible and incontaminate and that cannot fade conserued in the Heauens in you For what ought not those to hope for who are inrowled as members in the misticall body of the Holy Church whose heade he is being most reasonable that the Champions should follow their Commander in his triumph if they did accompanie him in his Combats vnder the Banner of the Crosse You that haue followed me said he to his Apostles you shall be set vpon seates in the Kingdome which my Father hath prepared for you in Eternitie There it is that the Elect like vnto Eagles shall flocke about the bodie of the glorious humanitie of our Redeemour and where crowned with the crowne of Iustice they shall lay them downe at the feet of this Lābe Conquerour of the earth and who vanquished the world And if the eternall Father hath giuen vs his Sonne how will not he giue vs all things with him especially since this Sonne hath the key of DAVID key Scepter of his Empire vpon his shouldiers A key with which he opens and none can shut Behold saith S. IOHN what Charitie the eternall Father hath communicated vnto vs that we should be named and be his Sonnes and if his Sonnes his Heires also Heires truely of God and Coheires of CHRIST It was this holy hope that moued the Psalmists heart so generously to lanch out as by so many flightes towards the blessed Eternitie Come let vs ascend into the Hill of our Lord and into the house of the God of IACOB Hope in him all yee congregations of the faithfull for those that hope in him vnderstād the truth of his promises those that are faithfull in his loue doe place their confidence therin Those that hope in him shall not be confounded for euer for such as put their confidence in him shall be no more shaken then the Mountaine of Sion but replenished with ioy in the expectation of the eternall felicitie they cryed out I reioyced when I was told that we were to goe into the house of our Lord. And indeed what is not a man to hope of an infinite Bountie what ought not one to expect from so solemne promises and whose truth remaynes for euer No Lord neuer neuer will I forget thy iustifications for it is by them that thou hast giuen me life I doe firmely beleeue that if my soule doe constantly adheare vnto thee thy right hand will receaue one into thy bosome O how happie are those whom thou hast chosen and taken as thyne for they shall dwell in thyne eternall Court for euer and euer Let 's make no doubt of it my soule he that by his grace moues vs to tend to this goale will not forsake vs in the midst of our course and in so faire a way but since his workes are perfect he will heape grace vpon grace and will make vs happily arriue at the Port and point of all consummation O God draw vs after thee sith it is thee alone whom we search and