Earth how necessitous how poor how miserable soever which the damn'd would not most willingly endure nay they would think themselves most happy were they permitted so favourable an Exchange This very Consideration wrought so much upon several of my Saints that there was no course of life so austere but they would undergo My beloved Disciple after he had discours'd of the smoke which ascended from the torments of the damn'd world without end Hic patientia sanctorum est qui custodiunt mandata Dei Apoc. 14.12 and how they had no rest night or day immediately adds here is the patience of the Saints meaning that seeing all the troubles of this life were only temporal and the torments of the other eternal nothing that they endur'd seem'd too much for them See what a penitent posture Manasses had put himself in after his conversion behold how he groans under the burden of his Sins and how he laments his iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledg'd himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confess'd were his offences that he was rather deserving of Hell then any favour at my hands hear his words and thou shalt believe them to be the products of a truly penitent Soul 'T is true says he O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy I have Sinned O my God I have Sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of the Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy Grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Behold how the Israelites in their Babilonical Captivity after the taking of Jerusalem cover'd with hair-cloth all their heads and bodys laid over with ashes prostrate on the ground cry out to me from the bottom of their hearts we have Sinned against thee O Lord in not obeying thy word To thee O Lord belongs Justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserv'd We have Sinn'd we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our prayers and our petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils done and performs due pennance for them Psal 6. How full of inward grief and trouble was David for the Sins he had committed O Lord says he rebuke me not in thine anger chastise me not in thy hot displeasure Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vex'd But thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul Save me for thy mercies sake For in Death there 's no remembrance of thee In the grave who shall give thee thanks I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my Couch with my tears mine eyes are consum'd with grief Psal 51. Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wash me throughly from my iniquity and clense me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Against thee only have I Sinned and done this evil in thy sight wherefore contemn not the Sacrifice which I offer unto thee of an afflicted mind and of an humble and contrite heart Behold O man what these great Saints have done to make mean atonement for their Sins and to avoid the everlasting torments of Hell See how they labour'd to mortify their Passions to depress their evil affections and to destroy all their sinister inclinations proceeding from the infection of their sensual concupiscences they knew this to be the only means to weaken the forces of their enemies and that nothing was more effectual to dismount their batteries against them then to chastise their bodies and keep them in subjection by a long and earnest practise of corporal afflictions In Jejunijs multis in multis vigilijs in fame siti frigore nuditate c. 2 Coâ— 11.27 this is the powerful remedy that all my Saints made use of and even my Apostles came to Heaven by the same means for they spent their whole lives in much fasting much watching hunger thirst cold and nakedness My beloved Apostle and Brother St. James tho' he was a man of extraordinary great Sanctity and was therefore Sir-nam'd the Just yet besides other austerities of apparel diet and all other mortifications his exercise of praying on his bare knees was so continual that the skin of them was as hard as the brawn of a Camels knee Philo the learned Jew and famous Philosopher giving an account of the first Christians in Alexandria under St. Mark the Evangelist sent thither from Rome by St. Peter to give a beginning to that Church which he perform'd says he with such exemplary Piety Sanctity of life Simplicity abstinence and mortification that he and his followers mov'd their Adversaries to extreme admiration But to what did all this rigour tend or what might be the end of all these extraordinary mortifications practis'd so exactly and for so many Ages as well by Monks Anachorites and Hermits as by the Founders of Holy Orders and by their Disciples to this very present Age and will continue with my assistance to the worlds end St. St. Aug. L. 1. Confess 5. Augustin will tell thee in these few words the prime motive thereof Moriar ne moriar that is to say I will dy to the end that I may not dy for ever I will mortify my body in this Life lest I should be of the unhappy number of the damn'd for ever St. Hierom is much upon the same point for being in the Desert of Syria he was set upon by the Devil who plagu'd him as he did St. Paul with suggestions of the Flesh but what weapons did he make use of to obtain the victory over so dangerous an enemy the fear of God and of the fire of Hell was an Armour of proof to him against all the temptations snares of so powerful an adversary Hear the relation he makes himself of his several conflicts and brave defence How often says he being in the Wilderness was I burnt up and scorch'd with the extream heat of the Sun how oft likewise was I tempted with the Roman delights tho' I was so far distant from those objects and so low
shall pursue thee until thou perish Thy Carcase shall be meat unto all Fowls of the Air and unto the Beasts of the Earth and no man shall fray them away The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the Emerods and with the Scab and with the Itch whereof thou shalt not be heal'd The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart Thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blinde grope in darkness and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways and thou shalt be oppress'd and spoil'd evermore and no man shall save thee Thou shalt serve thine Enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things and he shall put a yoak of Iron about thy neck until he have destroy'd thee The Lord shall bring a Nation against thee from far from the end of the Earth as swift as the Eagle flys and shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and fenc'd-walls come down wherein thou trustest and thou shalt eat the fruit of thy own body the flesh of thy Sons and of thy Daughters which the Lord thy God has given thee in the Siege and in the straitness wherewith thine Enemies shall distress thee so that the man that is tender among you and very delicate his eye shall be evil towards his Brother and towards the Wife of his bosom and towards the remnant of his Children which he shall leave so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his Children whom he shall eat because he has nothing left him in the Siege and in the straitness wherewith thine Enemys shall distress thee in all thy gates The tender and delicate Woman among you which would not adventure to set the Sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness her eye shall be evil towards the Husband of her bosom and towards her Son towards her Daughter and towards her young one that cometh out from between her feet and towards her Children which she shall bear for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the Siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates Certainly these are most horrible dreadful punishments yet they and many more such like chastisements which I have heap'd upon the wicked even in this life for their Sins are no more then a very imperfect shadow and figure of what the damn'd do suffer in Hell for there my Justice shall act to its full extent and rigour against those that made nothing of my mercy in this life If the shaddow be so dreadful what will the reality be If now my Justice having a mixture of mercy with it and if the Chalice of my wrath temper'd with the water of my Grace seems notwithstanding so intollerable bitter what will it be when it shall come violently those unfortunate Souls without any mixture at all of my mercy Esa 27. When I shall Judge in measure against measure as the Prophet says Jer. 25. when I shall exercise Judgment in weight in Justice and measure Apoc. 20. 22. when I shall pay them home according to their particular works and according to the inventions of their deprav'd and rebellious hearts Psal 27. 61. when I shall command the Infernal Spirits to chastise all and each of them according to their demerits Apoc. 18. when I shall give them this charge of Babylon now thrown down into the Lake Look how much she has glorifi'd her self and how long she has liv'd in delights so much torments and afflictions give her and continue her the same entertainment for ever without affording her the least comfort or respit of ease The Holy Fathers and Doctors of my Church grounded upon my word believe a variety of torments in Hell for the Damn'd according to the variety of the Sins which they had committed in their Life for the Adulterer shall have one kinde of torment the Murtherer another the Thief another the Drunkard another the Lyer another and the rest accordingly The Proud shall be trodden under the feet of Devils and box'd by every one that meets him with a Sirrah to boot thou hast damn'd thy Soul for a point of Honour And thou Lady of pleasure for a Paint and a wash for thy face and hands forfooth to make them look white plump and smooth to the view of thy Gallants hast made thy Soul as black as even our master Devil O what a killing reproach will this be The Glutton shall have for his morning and evening drink Ps 148.8 fire hail snow froft the spirit of Tempest season'd with the unsufferable Stench of so many Millions of damn'd rotten rosted Carcases St. Bonaventure will tell thee that if one only body of the damn'd were brought into the world and laid in any part or corner thereof it were sufficient to infect the whole Earth Thou mayst Judge by this what a dreadful potion the Glutton is to have in Hell the Drunkard also shall have a full share of the same Cup. The delicious mouth shall be fill'd up with Gall and the delicate body fear'd with hot-burning Irons O man take notice how well the Doctrine of my Church agrees with the Dictates of the Holy Ghost for speaking of the wicked he says the bread in his belly shall be turn'd into the Gall of Serpents Job 20. He shall be constrain'd to vomit out again the Riches which he had devour'd God shall pull them forth of his belly He shall be constrain'd to suck the galls of Cockatrices and the tongues of Adders shall slay him He shall bear the smart of all that ever he has done and yet shall he not be consum'd but shall suffer according to the multitude of all his devices These words shew plainly that wicked men shall suffer particular torments for their particular crimes as Gluttony Extortion Oppression c. And that these torments shall be far beyond the expression of any mortal tongue what shall I say of the continuance and length thereof which is another circumstance no less terrible then the former for their torments shall be of the same extent with Eternity which has no end and withall there shall be no possibility of any jot of help ease intermission relaxation respiration or comfort And this is signifi'd by my words so often repeated Ligatis manibus pedibus projicite eum in tenebras exteriores Matth. 12. The Damn'd shall be cast into Hell bound hand and foot that is without all ability of resistance or strugling against their torments The dreadful shutting up of the gate which I fore-told in a doleful manner and with a heavy heart is a sufficient evidence of it Clausa est Januae The gate is shut up and made fast for ever that is to say in Hell the gate of all mercy Matth. 25. of all pardon of all
be to the damn'd to be depriv'd of this unspeakable comfort for an Eternity 't is so deplorable that Scripture does place it in the first rank of all other losses damages torments miseries that can befall a damn'd Soul let the wicked man be taken away Tollatur Impius ne videat gloriam Dei Esai 16. to the end he may not see the glory of God says the Prophet From this loss proceeds that great and general torment so often repeated in Scripture by the name of the worm of Conscience so call'd because as a worm lies eating gnawing the wood wherein she abides so shall the remorse of their Consciences ly within the damn'd griping and tormenting them for ever it shall be to them a remembrancer to put them in minde of the means and causes of their everlasting damnation which will make them to fret and rage and admire their own folly to have hanker'd so much after the vanities of the World and neglected the grand work of their Salvation Hear how they exclaim in Hell what has our Pride Sap. 5. or what has the glory of our Riches profited us they are all now vanish'd like a shaddow We have wearied our selves in the way of iniquity and perdition and the way of our Lord we have not known This shall be their everlasting ditty thus shall their tormented Conscience rave in Hell O most gracious Saviour when I see to my great sorrow in this sad Age we live in poor Mortals so far blinded with their worldly interest so deeply engag'd in the mire of iniquity so much taken with their sinful recreations and pastimes so deaf to thy Inspirations and callings so avers'd to the practise of piety and devotion such great enemies to mortification and pennance I despair in a manner of their Salvation and the rather that these so powerful motives can't prevail with them or make them desist lusting after those poysonous baits which the Devll presents unto them dayly and at every moment and which they with as much ease swallow as he takes pleasure to destroy their Souls Their common discourse is 't is time enough to think of Pennance when we come to old Age for then we shall be fit for no other thing O most Sacred Saviour thou sayst thou wilt not the death of a Sinner wherefore be pleas'd to let them know the danger of delaying their conversion and of deferring their repentance untill their latter days SAVIOVR THere is a kinde of People in the World Rom. 16. Tit. 1. says my Apostle that do exteriourly and by words confess God and profess themselves to be as good Christians as the rest yet interiourly and by the products of their doble dissembling hearts they don't believe there is a God at least with those Attributes that are as essential to him as his divine Nature and which I call infinite knowledge Providence Care and disposition of humane affairs Justice Judgment Punishment and the like These they do not indeed believe because their life and actions are quite contrary to a well-grounded belief Scripture avers it with a wo unto the dissolute and careless in heart who do not believe God Vae dissolutis corde qui non credunt Deo Eccl. 2. Deut. 22. These are the men whom I do hate and detest with all my heart because they plow with an Ox and an Ass together because they sow their ground with mingl'd Seed and their Apparel is made of flax and wool together These are them I spoke of in the Revelations Apoc. 3. I would thou wert either cold or hot but for that thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot therefore will I begin to vomit thee out of my mouth These are they who can accord all Religions together and take up all Controversys by only saying that either they are differences of small importance or else that they are out of their Province and belong only to learned men to dispute of but not unto them moreover they are of opinion that both parts do erre in somewhat or may be agreed and go both to Heaven These are the men who can apply themselves to any company to any time to any Government to any Princes pleasure to any Religion but will not admit of any discourse of Devotion in their presence only they will have men eat drink and be merry with them tell news of the Court and affairs abroad Sing Dance Laugh and play at Cards and dice and so they spend their lives in their Sinful recreations without any thoughts of God without any care of Salvation without any apprehension of Death depending only upon a good Peccavi in their extremity and when God shall Summon them to another World but alas they shall finde themselves sadly mistaken Vae Impio in malum Esai 3. Ipsi videntes sic admirati sunt conturbati sunt commoti sunt tremor apprehendet eos Psal 47.6 for I shall turn them off with a wo to the wicked and then shall set before their eyes all their abominations and crimes their Usury their Drunkenness their whoredome their treacheries their false Oaths their Extortions and Oppressions of the poor their blasphemies and the rest of their wicked actions shall come in a crowd to confound their Souls their Gold and Silver their Estates and Fortunes which they had so unjustly acquir'd their pleasures treasures now the only object of their adoration shall then become the fatal Subject of their confusion and my Justice shall take delight to batter and break their understanding Conteret Dominus scelestos simul Peccatores Esa 1.28 and memory with the full knowledge of all their Sins and how often they had slieghted my Inspirations my Callings my amorous invitations other innumerable effects of my mercy O silly Souls says St. Paul be not deceiv'd be not so far overseen as to leade a licentious life in hopes to dye a good Death Nolite orrare quae enim seminaverit homo haec metet Qui seminat in carne de carne metet corruptionem Gala. 6.7 Mat. 7.16 for in that dreadful hour you shall reap no better grain then what you have sown if you have been such bad Husbands of your Salvation as to sow and plant nothing else in the Soil ground of your Souls but carnal works you can't pretend to no better Harvest then corruption and everlasting Damnation Do Men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good Tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt Tree brings forth evil fruit A good Tree can't bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt Tree bring forth good fruit Every Tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down cast into the fire These are my words 't is I the Eternal verity that speaks them Dicite justo quoniam bene fructum adinventionum suarum commedent Esai 3.10 and therefore they can't be contradicted or falsify'd let all men