1. Tertullian said The greatness of some goods were intolerable the which according to the Prophet Isaias is verified in this Divine good and benefit which we were not able to support Wherefore it is called in holy Scripture The good or the good thing of God because it is a good and a benefit which more clearly than the Sun discovers the infinite and ineffable goodness of God to the astonishment and amazement of a humane heart and therefore the Prophet Oseas sayes Osee 3. They shall be astonished at the Lord and at his Good because his Divine benefit amazes and astonishes the Soul of man to see how good the Lord is and how great the good which he communicates unto us All which tends to no other end than to make us despise the goods of the Earth and to esteem onely those of Heaven which we attain unto by this Divine mysterie For this therefore did Christ our Redeemer institute this most blessed Sacrament that by it we might withdraw our hearts from things temporal and settle our affections upon those which are eternal for which it is most particularly efficacious as those who worthily receive it have full experience §. 3. Wherefore let that Soul who goes to communicate consider Who it is that enters into him and Who he is himself who entertains so great a Guest Let him call to mind with what reverence the blessed Virgin received the Eternal Word when he entred into her holy Womb and let him know it is the same Word which a Christian receives into his entrails in this Divine Sacrament Let him therefore endeavour to approach this holy Table with all reverence love and gratitude which ought if possible to be greater than that of the blessed Mother For then the obligation of Mankind was not so great as now it is For neither she nor we were then indebted unto him for his dying upon the Cross Let him consider that he receives the same Christ who sits at the right hand of God the Father That it is he who is the supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth He whom the Angels adore He who created and redeemed us and is to judge the living and the dead He who is of infinite wisdom power beauty and goodness If a Soul should behold him as when St. Paul beheld him and was struck blind with his light and splendour how would he fear and reverence him Let him know that he is not now less glorious in the Host and that he is to approach him with as much reverence as if he saw him in his Throne of glory With much reason did St. Teresa of Jesus say unto a devout Soul unto whom she appeared after death That we upon earth ought to behave our selves unto the blessed Sacrament as the blessed in Heaven do towards the Divine Essence loving and adoring it with all our power and forces Consider also that he who comes in person to thee is that self same Lord that required so much reverence that he struck Oza dead because he did but touch with his hand the Ark of his Testament and slew 50000 Bethshamits for their looking on it And thou not onely seest and touchest but receivest him into thy very bowells See then with what reverence thou oughtest to approach him The Angels and Seraphins tremble before his greatness and the Just are afraid Do thou then tremble fear and adore him S. John standing but near unto an Angel remained without force astonisht at the greatness of his Beauty and Majesty and thou art not to receive an Angel but the Lord of Angels into thy entrails It adds much to the endearment of this great benefit of our Saviour that it is not onely great by the greatness of that which is bestowed but by the meaneness of him who receives it For what art thou but a most vile creature composed of clay and dirt full of misery ignorance weakness and malice If the Centurion held himself unworthy to receive Christ under his roof and St. Peter when our Saviour was in this mortal life deemed himself not worthy to be in his presence saying Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man and St. John Baptist thought himself not worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoe How much more oughtest thou to judge thy self unworthy to receive him into thy bowels being now in his glory seated at the right hand of God the Father The Angels in heaven are not pure in his sight What purity shouldest thou have to entertain him in thy breast If a mighty King should visit a poor Beggar in his Cottage what honour what respects would it conferre upon him Behold God who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes to visit thee not in thy house but within thy self Seaven years did Salomon spend in building a Temple wherein to place the Ark of the Testament Why doest thou not spend some time in making thy self a Temple of God himself Noah was a hundred years in preparing a Vessel wherein to save those who were to escape the Deluge Why doest thou not spare some dayes or hours to make thy self a Sacristy for the Saviour of the World Behold thy own unworthiness and what thou goest a-about Moyses when he was to make an Ark for the Tables of the Law not onely made choice of precious wood but covered it all with gold Thou miserable and vile Worm why doest thou not prepare and adorn thy self to receive the Lord of the Law Consider also what is the end for which thy Saviour comes unto thee It is by communicating his grace to make thee partaker of his Divinity He comes to cure thy sores and infirmities he comes to give remedy to thy necessities he comes to unite himself unto thee he comes to Deifie thee Behold then the infinity of his Divine goodness who thus melts himself in communication with his Creatures Behold what is here given thee and for what it is given thee God gives himself unto thee that thou mayest be all divine and nothing left in thee of earth In other benefits God bestows his particular gifts upon thee but here he gives thee himself that thou mightest also give thy self unto him and be wholly his If from the Incarnation of the Son of God we gather the great love he bore unto mankind passing for his sake from that height of greatness unto that depth of humiliation as to inclose himself in the Womb of a Virgin Behold how in this he loves thee since to sustain thee in the life of grace he hath made himself the true food of thy Soul and comes from the right hand of the eternal Father to enclose himself in thy most impure breast Jesus Christ comes also to make thee one body with himself that thou mayest after an admirable manner be united unto him and made partaker not onely of his spirit but of his bloud That which this Consideration ought to work in the breast of a
us Petrus Damianus in Gomor c. 23. saying If the subtle Enemy shall set before thee the frail beauty of the flesh send thy thoughts presently unto she Sepulcher of the Dead and let them there see what they can finde agreeable to the touch or pleasing to the sight Consider that poison which now stinks intollerably that corruption which engenders and feeds worms That dust and dry ashes was once soft and lively flesh and in its youth was subject to the like passions as thou art Consider those rigid nerves those naked teeth the disjoynted disposition of the bones and articles and that horrible dissipation of the whole Body and by this means the Monster of this deformed and confused figure will pluck from thy heart all deceits and illusions This from St. Peter Damian All this is certainly to happen unto thy self Wherefore doest thou not amend thy evil conditions this is to be thy end unto this therefore direct thy life and actions From hence spring all the errors of men that they forget the end of their lives which they ought to have still before their eyes and by it to order themselves for the complyance with their obligations With reason had the Brachmans their Sepulchers placed still open before their doors that by the memory of death they might learn to live In this sense is that Axiome of Plato most true when he sayes That Wisdom is the Meditation of Death because this wholesome thought of Death undeceives us in the vanities of the world and gives us force and vigour to better our lives Johannes Brom. in Sum. verb. Poenit num 12. Some Authors write of a certain Confessarius who when all his perswasions could not prevail with his penitent to do penance for his sins contented himself with this promise that he would suffer one of his Servants every night when he went to bed to sound these words in his ear Think that thou art to dye who having often heard this admonition and and profoundly considered it with himself he at last returned unto his Confessor well disposed to admit of such penance as should be enjoyned him The same thing happened to another who having confessed to to the Pope very hainous crimes said that he could not fast nor wear hair-shirts nor admit of any other kinds of austerity His Holiness having commended the matter to God gave him a Ring with this Poesie Memento mâ—ri Remember thou art to dye charging him that as often as he looked upon the Ring he should read those words and call death to mind Few hours after the memory hereof caused such a change in his heart that he offered to fulfil what ever penance his Holiness should please to impose upon him For this reason it seems God commanded the Prophet Jeremias that he should goe into the house of the Potter and that he should there hear his words Well might the Lord have sent his Prophet into some place more decent to receive his sacred words then where so many men were daily imployed in dirt and clay but here was the particular mysterie whereby we are given to understand that the presence of Sepulchers wherein is preserved as in the house of a Potter the clay of humane nature it was a place most proper for God to speak unto us that the memory of death might more deeply imprint his words in our hearts For this very reason the Devil strives with all his power and cunning to obstruct in us the memory of death For what other cause can be assigned why the meer suspicion of some loss or notable damage should bereave us of our sleep and that the certainty of death which of things terrible is most terrible should never trouble us CAP. II. Remarkable Conditions of the end of Temporal Life BEsides the misery wherein all the felicity of this world is to determine the end of our life hath other most remarkable conditions very worthy to be considered and by which we may perceive the goods of it to be most contemptible We will now principally speak of three First that death is most infallible certain and no way to be avoided The second that the time is most incertain because we know neitheâ— when nor how it will happen The third that it is buâ— only one and but once to be experienced so that wâ— cannot by a second death correct the errors of the firsâ— Concerning the certainty and infallibility of death it imports us much to perswade our selves of it for as it is infallible that the other life shall be without end so it is as certain that this shall have it And as the Damned are in despair to find an end in their torments so are we practically to despair that the pleasures and contents of this world are to endure for ever God hath not made a Law more inviolable than that of death For having often dispensed in other Laws and by his omnipotent power and pleasure violated as I may say divers times the rights of Nature he neither hath nor will dispense with the Law of death but hath rather dispensed with other Laws that this should stand in force and therefore hath not onely executed the sentence of death upon those who in rigour ought to dye but upon those unto whom it was no wise due In the conception of Christ our Saviour those establisht Lawes of Nature that men were not to be born but by propagation from men and breach of the Mothers integrity were dispensed with God that his Lawes should have no force in Christ working two most stupendious Miracles and infringing the Lawes of Nature that his Son might be born of a Virgin Mother was so far from exempting him from the Law of death that death not belonging to him as being Lord of the Law and wanting all sin even original by which was contracted death nay immortality and the four gifts of glory being due unto his most Holy Body as resulting from the clear vision of the Divine essence which his Soul ever enjoyed yet all this notwithstanding God would not comply with this right of Nature but rather miraculously suspended by his omnipotent Arm those gifts of glory from his Body that he might become subject unto death in so much as God observes this Law of Death with such rigour that doing Miracles that the Law of Nature should not be kept in other things he works Miracles that the Law of Death should be observed even by his own Son who deserved it not and unto whom it was in no sort due And now that the Son of God had taken upon him the redemption of Mankind for whom out of his most infinite charity it was convenient for him to dye the death of the Cross which reason failing in his most holy Mother unto whom death was not likewise due from Original sin she being priviledged according to the opinion of most Universities as well in that as many other things by her blessed Son yet would
that it may not onely be said to be joyful but joy it self The multitude of joyes in Heaven is joyned with their greatness and so great they are that the very least of them sufficient to make us forget the greatest contents of the Earth and so many they are as that though a thousand times shorter yet they would exceed all temporal pleasures though a thousand times longer but joyning the abundance of those eternal joyes with their immense greatness that eternal B iss becoms ineffable Wherefore St. Bernard sayes The reward of Saints is so great that it cannot be measured so numerous that it cannot be counted so copious that it cannot be ended and so precious that it cannot be valued Albert. Mag. in Comp. Theol. l. 7. c. 8. 1 Cor. 2. Isai 64. And Albertus Magnus to the same purpose So great are the joyes of Heaven that all the Arithmaticians of the Earth cannot number them The Geometricians cannot measure them nor the most learned men in the world explicate them because neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath prepared for those who love him The Saints shall rejoyce in what is above them which is the vision of God in what is below them which is the beauty of Heaven and other corporal Creatures in what is within them which is the glorification of their bodies in what is without them which is the company of Angels and men God shall feast all their spiritual senses with an unspeakable delight for he shall be their object and shall also be a mirrour to the sight musick to the ear sweetness to the taste balsam to the smell flowers to the touch There shall be the clear light of Summer the pleasantness of the Spring the abundance of Autumn and the repose of Winter §. 2. The principal joy of the Blessed is in the possession of God whom they behold clearly as he is in himself For as Honourable Profitable and Delectable according to what we have already said are not divided in Heaven so the blessed Souls have three gifts essential and inseparable from that happy state which correspond to those three kinds of blessings which the Divines call Vision Comprehension and Fruition The first consists in the clear and distinct sight of God which is given to the Just as a reward of his merits by which he receives an incomparable honour since his works and vertues are rewarded in the presence of all the Angels with no less a Crown and recompence than is God himself The second is the possession which the Soul hath of God as of his riches and inheritance And the third is the ineffable joy which accompanies this sight and possession The greatness of this joy no tongue can tell and I believe that neither the Blessed themselves who have experience of it nor the Angels of Heaven are able to declare it Yet it will not be amiss if we as much as our ignorance and rudeness is able to attain unto consider and admire it This joy hath two singular qualities by which we may in some sort conceive the immensity of it The first that it is so vigorous and powerful that it excludes all evil pain and grief This onely is so great a good that many of the Philosophers held it for the chief felicity of man Cicero de Fin. 5. Tuscul And therefore Cicero writes that Jeronymus Rhodius a famous Philosopher and a great Master to whom may be joyned Diodorus the Peripatetick speaking of the chief happiness of man taught that it consisted in being free from grief It being the opinion of those Philosophers that not to suffer pain or evil was the greatest and most supreme good But herein was their errour that they judged that to be the good it self which was but an effect and consequent of it For so powerful is that love and joy which springs from the clear vision of God that it is sufficient to convert hell into glory in so much as if to the most tormented Soul in hell were added all the torments of the rest of the Damned both Men and Devils and that God should vouchsafe him but one glympse of his knowledge that only clear vision though in the lowest degree were sufficient to free him from all those evils both of sin and pain So that his Soul being rapt by that ineffable beauty which he beheld would not be sensible of any grief at all O how potent a joy is that which cast into such an abyss of torments converts them all into consolations How mighty were that fire whereof one spark would consume the whole Ocean There is no joy in this World so intense which can suspend the grief we suffer from a finger that is in sawing off Griefs do more easily bereave us of the sense of pleasure than pleasures do of pains Yet such is the greatness of that soveraign joy in Heaven that it alone is sufficient to drown all the griefs and torments both in Earth and Hell and there is no pain in the World able to diminish the least part of it The other stupendious wonder which proceeds from the greatness of this joy is the multitude of those pleasures which as from a most fruitful root spring from it Who would not be astonisht that the happiness of the Soul should cause so many and so marvelous effects in the bodies of the Blessed So excellent is that beatifical vision which with ineffable joy possesses the spirit that it bursts forth into the body with all the evident demonstrations of beauty lustre and the other gifts of glory We see here that the heart is not able so farre to dissemble a great joy conceived as that it appears not by some signe in the body but that joy is so weak and feeble that it extends no further than to express some little chearfulness and mirth in the countenance But the beatifical Vision is so immense a joy that it wholly changes the body making it beautiful as an Angel resplendent as the Sun immortal as a Spirit and impassible as God himself working great miracles and prodigies in the body by the redundancie of that unspeakable comfort which the spirit feels O if one could place before the eyes of the World the body of some blessed Saint enendowed with the four gifts of glory full of clearness splendor and beauty casting forth a fragrancy infinitely more sweet unto the senses than that of Musk and Amber that men might see by this shadow how immense is that light and joy which thus illustrates and beautifies the flesh O mortals why do ye covet other pleasures with loss of Soul and Body and do not rather seek after these with the profit and glory of both O how different are temporal delights from eternal those especially if they be unlawful blemish and destroy the Soul and weaken and corrupt the body but these beautifie and embellish them both
the light and beauty which he beheld that his heart not being able to contain it it struck forth into his face with a divine brightness what joy shall the blessed Souls receive from the sight of God himself when they shall behold him as he is face to face not in passage or a moment but for all eternity This joy by reason of their strict union their Souls shall communicate unto their happy Bodies Albert. Mag. in Comp. Theol. l. 7. c. 38. which from thenceforth shall be filled with glory and invested with a light seaven times brighter than that of the Sun as is noted by Albertus Magnus For although it be said in the Gospel that the Just shall shine as the Sun yet Isaias the Prophet sayes that the Sun in these dayes shall shine seaven times more than it now doth This light being the most beautiful and excellent of corporal qualities shall cloath the Just as with a garment of most exceeding lustre and glory What Emperor was ever clad in such a purple what humane Majesty ever cast forth beams of such splendour Joseph l. 19. c. 〈◊〉 Herod upon the day of his greatest magnificence could only cloath himself in a Robe of silver admirably wrought which did not shine of it self but by reflection of the Sun beams which then in his rising cast his raies upon it and yet this little glittering was sufficient to make the people salute him as a God What admiration shall it then cause to behold the glorious Body of a Saint not cloathed in Gold or Purple not adorned with Diamonds or Rubies but more resplendent than the Sun it self Put all the brightest Diamonds together all the fairest Rubies all the most beautiful Carbuncles let an Emperial Robe be embroidered with them all all this will be no more than as coals in respect of a glorious body which shall be all transparent bright and resplendent far more than if it were set with Diamonds O the basenese of worldly riches they all put together could not make a Garment so specious and beautiful If here we account it for a bravery to wear a Diamond Ring upon our fingers and women glory in some Carbuncle dangling at their breasts what shall it be to have our hands feet arid breasts themselves more glorious and resplendent than all the Jewels of the World The Garments which we wear here how rich soever are rather an affront and disgrace unto us than an ornament since they argue an imperfection and a necessity of our bodies which we are forced to supply with something of another mature Besides our cloathes were given as a mark of Adams fall in Paradise and we wear them as a penance enjoyned for his Sin And what fool so impudent and sottish as to bestow precious trimming upon a penitential Garment But such are not the Ornaments of the Saints in Heaven their lustre is their own not borrowed from their Garments not extrinsecal without them but within their very entrails each part of them being more transparent than Chrystal and brighter than the Sun It is recounted in the Apocalyps as a great wonder that a Woman was seen cloathed with the Sun and crowned with twelve Stars This indeed was far more glorious than any Ornament upon Earth where we hold it for a great bravery to be adorned with twelve rich Diamonds and a Carbuncle and what are those in comparison of the Sun and so many Stars Yet this is short of the Ornament of the Saints whose lustre is proper to themselves intrinsecally their own not taken and borrowed from something without them as was that of the Womans The State and Majesty with which this gift of splendor shall adorn the Saints shall be incomparably greater than that of the mightiest Kings It were a great Majesty in a Prince when he issues forth of his Palace by night to be attended by a thousand Pages each having a lighted Torch but were those Torches Stars it were nothing to the state and glory of a Saint in Heaven who carries with him a light equal to that of the Sun seaven times doubled and what greater glory than not to need the Sun which the whole World needs Where the Just is shall be no night for wheresoever he goes he carries the day along with him What greater authority can there be than to shine far brighter than the Sun carrying with him far greater Majesty than all the men of the Earth could be able to conferre upon him if they went accompanying him carrying lighted Torches in their hands St. Paul beholding the gift of Clarity in the humanity of Christ remained for some dayes without sense or motion And St. John onely beholding it in the face of our Saviour fell down as if dead his mortal eyes not being able to endure the lustre of so great a Majesty St. Peter because he saw something of it in the transfiguration of Christ was so transported with the glory of the place that he had a desire to have continued there for ever Neither was this much in Christ since the people of Israel were not able to suffer the beams which issued from the face of Moses though then in a frail and mortal body Caesar lib. 12. mir cap. 54. Caesarius writes of a great Doctor of the University of Paris who being ready to give up his ghost wondered how it could be possible that Almighty God could make his body composed of dust to shine like the Sun But our Lord being pleased to comfort and strengthen him in the belief of the Article of the Resurrection caused so great a splendor to issue forth of the feet of the sick person that his eyes not being able to suffer so great a splendor he was forced to hide them under his Bed-cloathes But much more is it that in bodies already dead this glory should appear The body of St. Margaret Daughter to the King of Hungary sent forth such beams of light that they seemed to be like those of Heaven The splendor also of other dead bodies of the Saints hath been such that mortal eyes were not able to behold them If then this Garment of light do beautifie those dead bodies without souls how shall it illustrate those beautiful and perfect bodies in Heaven who are alive and animated with their glorious spirits for all eternity St. John Damascen said that the light of this inferiour World was the honour and ornament of all things How shall then the immortal light of that eternal glory deck and adorn the Saints for it shall not onely make them shine with that bright candor we have already spoken of but with diversity of colours shall imbellish some particular parts more than others In the Crowns of Virgins it shall be most white in that of Martyrs red in that of Doctors of some particular brightness Neither shall those marks of glory be only in their heads or faces but in the rest of their members And therefore
tribulation and affliction would be too great to give satisfaction Well may he say I deserved to suffer greater torments and therefore will not complain of this my light suffering Beda de Gest Anglorum l. 5. Venerable Bede doth also write of one to whom the pains and torments as also the joyes and bliss of the other life were shewn and having obtained leave to return to this world again he renounced all he had in this life and betook himself unto a Monastery where he persevered in a most rigid manner of life to his dying day in so much that his manner of living gave perpetual testimony that although he was silent yet he had seen horrible things and that he had hopes to obtain other great ones which did indeed deserve to be thirsted after He entred into a frozen River which was near the Convent without putting off his cloathes having first broke the ice in several places that he might be able to get into the water and afterwards let his cloathes to dry upon his back Some admired that a man's body was able to suffer so great cold in the Winter time And to those who demanded How he could possibly endure it He replyed I have seen colds far greater And when they said unto him How can you so constantly keep such a rigorous and austere manner of life He replied I have seen far greater austerity Neither did he relent in the rigour of his penance even in his decrepit age but was very careful to chastise his flesh with continual fasts and his exemplar conversation and wholsome admonitions were such as he did much good to many and efficaciously stirred them up to the amendment of their lives We must make use of this self-same consideration to encourage our selves to suffer in this life all that can be suffered in regard that in the other we should suffer more than can be suffered Hell certainly is more unsufferable than fasting with bread and water farre more than a rough hair-cloth or a discipline though never so bloody far more than the greatest injuries or disgraces that can be put upon us Let us then suffer that which is lesser to be freed from that which is greater especially being so much greater by how much a living creature exceeds a painted one Let us not complain of any thing that may happen unto us in this life But let us rather be comforted that we who have deserved to be in those eternal flames without profit or hope of reward may by our patient suffering here some temporal afflictions expect an everlasting reward for them in Heaven The Mother of St. Catharine of Siena carried her to certain Baths to divert and recreate her because she was very weak Hist S. Dom. 2. p. lib. 2. and disfigured with leanness But the Saint could find in this entertainment a sharp cross which was that entring into the Bath alone she went to the Bathhead where the water came out in a manner boyling hot and there suffered her self to be scalded to that degree that it seemed impossible for a weak Damsel to have been able to endure it Her Confessarius asked her afterwards How she had so much courage to abide such heat and for so long a space She replyed That when she placed her self there she also placed her consideration in the pains of Purgatory and Hell-fire and withall begged of God Almighty whom she had offended that he would be pleased to change the punishments she had deserved by her sins into temporal pains and sufferings whereby all the pains of this life seemed very easie unto her to suffer and the great heat of the scalding water of the Bath seemed a refreshment to her in respect of the fiery Furnace of Hell in which the damned are for ever and ever to be tormented And in regard holy Scripture calls Hell a Poole or Lake of fire Pet. Damian l. 2. ep 15. ad Desid c. 4. I will here rehearse a story out of St. Petrus Demianus which will give us to understand the terribleness of this torment In Lombardy saith he there was a man cunning and crafty of a notable talking tongue and a friend of breaking jests on all occasions and commonly by reason of his quick wit he came off with credit And if at any time it happened to him otherwayes he knew how to put it off very handsomely In fine he was one of those that knew very well how to live in the world But what end had all his tricks and slights he died for against this stroak he had no defence His body was buried in the Church and his soul in the place which God grant no body may ever come in An holy Religious man being in prayer he saw in spirit a great Lake not of water but of fire which boiled like a Pot and cast flames now and then up into the heavens which sent forth sparks in so great quantity and with such fearful noise that it caused great horrour to hear and see it What would it be to suffer it The miserable foul of this man we speak of did suffer it in all extremity Moreover he saw that the Lake was encompassed round about with fearful Serpents and terrible Dragons which had their mouths open towards the Lake with many rows of sharp teeth to guard the Lake In this confusion of fire and cruel beasts the Soul of the miserable Babler was howling and crying and swimming upon the flames endeavoured to get to the banck and drawing nigh the comfort he found was that a Serpent stretching out a long neck and a wide mouth was ready to tear him in pieces and swallow him He endeavoured to turn another way in the Lake and drawing near the side he lighted upon a Dragon the onely sight whereof made him make more haste back again than he had done to come thither He swam in the Lake burning alive and where-ever he came he found the like encounter but which is worse he shall remain there whilest God is God without any remedy at all And with much reason saith St. Peter Damianus he suffered this punishment of not being able to get out of that Lake of fire in regard he in this life got so cunningly out of any adversity by his many shifts In this manner God Almighty gave to understand by this revelation the extremity of this torment But it is to be noted that it is farre greater than is here expressed because this was not so much to tell us what hell is as to declare by some similitude or representation which may remain fixt in our senses that which indeed exceeds all similitude or resemblance § 3. The pains of the Powers of a damned Soul THe Imagination shall no less afflict those miserable offenders encreasing the pains of the Senses by the liveliness of its apprehension For if in this life the imagination is sometimes so vehement that it hurts more than real evils in the other the torment
contempt of what is temporal since the first step unto Christian perfection according to the Counsel of Christ is to renounce all that we possess of earth that being so freed from those impediments of Christian perfection we may employ our selves in the consideration and memory of that Eternity which expects us hereafter as a reward of our holy works and exercises of vertue This horrid voice Eternity Eternity is to sound often in our hearts Thou not onely art to die but being dead eternity attends thee Remember there is a Hell without end and fix it in thy memory that there is a Glory for ever This consideration That if thou shalt observe the Law of God thou shalt be eternally rewarded and if thou break it thou shalt suffer pains without end will be far more powerful with thee then to know that the goods and evils of this life are to end in death Be mindful therefore of Eternity and resound in the inmost part of thy soul Eternity Eternity For this the Church when it consecrates the Fathers of it which are Bishops puts them in minde of this most powerful and efficacious memory of Eternity bidding them think of eternal years as David did And in the assumption and consecration of Popes they burn before their eyes a small quantity of flax with these words Holy Father so passes away the glory of the world that by the sight of that short and transitory blaze he may call to minde the flames eternal And Martin the fifth for his imprese and devise took a flaming fire which in short time burnt and consumed a Popes Tiara an Imperial Diadem a Regal Crown and a Cardinals Hat to give them to understand that if they complyed not with the duties of their places they were in a short time to burn in the eternal flames of hell the memory whereof he would preserve ever present by this most profitable Symbol §. 2. The name of Isachar whose Blessing from his Father was as we have formerly said to lye down and rest betwixt the two limits of Eternity signifies him That hath a memory or The man of reward or pay The Holy Ghost by this mystery charging us with the memory of eternal rewards And the Lord to shew how precious it was in his divine esteem and how profitable for us caused this name of Isachar to be engraven in a precious Amethyst which was one of those stones worn by the High-Priest in the Rational and one of those also rcveal'd unto St. John to be of the foundation of the City of God By it saith St. Anselme is signified the memory of Eternity which is the most principal foundation in the building of all perfection Truely if we consider the properties of this stone they are so many marks and properties of the memory of Eternity and of the benefits which that soul reaps Albert. Mag. Milius Ruiz v. Cesium de Min. lib. 4. p. 2. cap. 14. sect 14. which seriously considers it The Amethyst cause Vigilancy And what requires it more then the passage betwixt the two extreams of eternal glory and eternal pains What thing in the world ought to awake us more then the danger of falling into hell fire How could that man sleep which were to pass over a narrow plank of half a foot broad which served as a bridge betwixt two most high rocks the windes impetuously blowing and he if his foot slipt certain to fall into a most vast abyss No less is the danger of this life The way by which we are to pass unto Heaven is most streight the windes of temptations violent the dangers of occasions frequent the harms by ill examples infectious and the deceits of wicked Counsellors very many How then can a Christian sleep and be careless in so evident a peril Without all doubt it is more difficult to be saved considering the depravedness of our nature and the deceitful ambushes of the Devil then for a heavy man to pass over a heady and rapid river upon a small and bruised reed They say also of the Amethyst that besides the making him watchful who carries it it frees him from evil thoughts which how can that man have who bears Eternity in his mind how can he think upon the short pleasures of his senses who considers the eternal torments due unto his soul if he shall but consent to the least mortal sin The Amethyst also resists drunkenness preserving him that wears it in his senses and judgment and there is nothing that more preserves a mans judgment in the middest of the wine of delights in this life then the memory of the other and that for the pleasure of one moment here he is not only to suffer for hours for dayes for moneths for years but for worlds and a world of worlds hereafter The Amethyst besides this preserves the wearer from the force of poison And what greater Antidote against the poison of sin then to remember Hell which he deservs and Heaven which he loses by committing it The Amethyst also quiets a man and settles his thoughts And what can be more efficacious to free us from the disturbance of this life to bridle the insolence of covetousness to repress the aspiring of ambition then to consider the blessings of Eternity which attend the humble and poor in spirit Finally the Amethyst conferrs fruitfulness and this great thought of Eternity is fruitful of holy works For who is he that considers with a lively faith that for a thing so sleight and momentary he may enjoy the reward of eternal glory and will not be animated to work all he is able and to endure and suffer what shall happen for God Almighty and his Cause O how fruitful of Heroical works is this holy thought Eternal glory expects me the Triumphs of Martyrs the Victories of Virgins the Mortifications of Confessors are the effects of this consideration O holy thought O precious Amethyst that makes vigilant and attentive the negligent and careless that gives wisdom and judgment to the most deceived that heals those who are most ulcerated and corrupted with the poison of sin that quiets and pacifies the motions and troubles of our concupiscences that makes the most tepid and barren of vertues fruitful of holy works who will not endeavour to obtain and fix thee in his Soul O that Christians would so grave thee in their heart that thou mightest never be blotted out nor removed from thence How differently would they then live to what they now do how would they shine in their works for although the memory of Hell Heaven Death and Judgment be very efficacious for the reformation of our lives yet this of Eternity is like the quintescence of them all and virtually contains the rest CAP. IV. The Estate of Men in this life and the miserable forgetfulness which they have of Eternity BEfore we come to declare the conditions of Eternity whose consideration is so necessary for the leading of a holy
comes it then that a Dwarf or Pigmey in time affrights us and an armed Giant in eternity makes us not tremble how is it that eternal hell moves us not and yet we fear a temporal pain how is it we do not penance for our sins why have we not patience in our afflictions why suffer we not all that which can be suffered in this life rather than to suffer one onely torment in eternity The pains of this valley of tears being they are to have an end are not to be feared in comparison of those which shall never have it how contentedly then ought we to suffer here a little and for a short time that we may be freed from suffering much hereafter and for ever What we have considered in evils and afflictions the same is to be considered in goods and blessings If one were to enjoy all the pleasures of the senses for a thousand miriads of years but were to pass no further we ought to change them all for one onely pleasure that would last for ever Why then exchange we not one perishing pleasure of the earth which is to last but for a moment for all those immense joyes which we are to possess in Heaven for a world without end All the temporal goods of the world might well be quitted for the securing of only one that were eternal how is it then that we secure not all the eternal by forbearing now and then one which is temporal It would infinitely exceed the Dominion of the whole world so long as the world shall last to be Lord but of one little Cottage for eternity time holds no comparison with it all that is temporal how great soever being to be esteemed vile and base and all that is eternal how small soever high and precious And that we may exaggerate this consideration as much as possible the very being of God himself if it were but for a time might be quitted for some other infinitely less excellent which were eternal And shall then the covetous man satisfie himself with those poor treasures which death may quit him of to morrow and perhaps the Theef to day despising for them the eternal treasure of Heaven For certain if God should promise as to enjoy the pleasure of one onely sense for ever in the next life we ought for it to part with all the pleasures we have in this how huge a folly is it then that promising all those immense joyes of Heaven we will not for all them together part with some of those poor ones on earth The second way by which Eternity unto whatsoever it is joyned makes the good infinitely better and the bad infinitely worse is because it collects it self wholly into every instant so that in every instant it makes us sensible of all that which it is to contain in its whole duration and being to endure for an infinity it amasses as it were into every instant a whole infinity of pleasure or pain every instant being sensible both of what it contains at present what is past and what it shall contain in future So as a Doctor sayes Les de perfec divi lib. 4. c. 3. In Eternity all the good a thing can contain successively in an infinite time is recollected into one instant and made perceptible and enjoyable all at once As if all the pleasures a most delicious Banquet could afford successively by parts and that in an infinite time should be resumed all at once and all that delight should be conferred joyntly and together for eternity certainly this would make it infinitely better and of more esteem The same thing Eternity causes in evils and pains recollecting them in a certain manner into one and making them sensible all at once and although they be not all really and actually together yet it causes them to be apprehended altogether and so produces in the Soul a grief infinite and without limit Those then are truly evils which are totally and every way evils both in extension their duration having no end and in intension their being and essence having no limit or measure What afflicted person who considers this can be impatient since all the griefs of this life have both an end and limit The greatest temporal evils are but as biting of gnats in respect of the least of those which are eternal and therefore that we may escape all the eternal it is not much to suffer one temporal Let us tremble at the consideration of those two lances of Eternity those two infinities whose wounds are mortal and pierce the damned from side to side those two unsupportable rocks which overwhelm and crush whom they fall upon into pieces All that we suffer here is to be laughed at a fillip with a finger a trifle in respect of the eternal which embraces all times and with the evils of them all falls every instant upon the head of the damned §. 2. Besides what hath been already said Goods and Evils eternal have this condition that they are not onely qualified and augmented by the future but also by what is past although temporal so as the blessed Souls in Heaven not only enjoy the glory which they have in present and that which is to come but also what is past even unto those real and true goods of this life to wit their vertues and good works with the memory of which they recreate and congratulate themselves for all eternity in so much as all goods past present and to come concur in one to fill up the measure of their joy and the goods of all times even of those of this life are amassed and heaped up in their felicity How different from this are temporal goods since even those which we possess in present suffer not themselves to be entirely enjoyed here is no good which is not alloyed by some want danger or imperfection And if for the present they afford so little content much less do they for the future since the security of what we possess is so uncertain that the fear of losing it often disseasons the present gust The same fear also robbs our remembrance of the comfort of what is past since we fear to lose that most which we have formerly taken most pleasure in enjoying On all sides then the eternal goods are much more excellent unto which we ought to aspire and strive to purchase them even at the cost of all which is temporal and in this life as much as may be to imitate the same eternity the which is to be done by the practice of those three Vertues which St. Bernard recommends unto us in these words Serm. 1. in Festo Om. Sact. With Poverty of spirit with Meekness and Contrition of heart is renewed in the Soul a similitude and image of that Eternity which embraces all times For with poverty of spirit we merit the future with meekness we possess the present and with the tears of repentance recover what is past And truely he
who esteems Eternity hath no more than to exercise himself in the practise of those three Vertues The first by quitting with spiritual poverty all that is temporal and changing it for the eternal not setting his heart upon any thing in this life that he may find it bettered in the other For as Eternity does infinitely augment that good or evil unto which it is annexed so time diminishes and draws violently after it all that is in it Things therefore which are to finish require not much to leave them and those that are to end in nothing are to be reputed for nothing For the second Vertue a Christian ought with patience and meekness to persist in doing well and in overcoming the difficulties of vertue since the slight troubles of this life are to be rewarded with eternal happiness in the other And who seeing hell open and the abyss of its evils without bottom would not bear with patience the rigour of penance and with meekness suffer the impertinency of an injury not troubling at all the interior peace of his Soul but attending wholly even through fire and water to live vertuously and please his Redeemer who looking upon Heaven which awaits him will not be animated to do what is good chearfully and to suffer all crosses for God Almighty's sake with fervour and courage Ruffi nu 107. Pelag. libel 7. n. 28. Ruffinus relates that a certain Monk coming unto the Abbot Aquilius complained unto him that he found much trouble and tediousness in keeping of his Cell To whom the discreet Abbot answered My son this proceeds from not meditating on the perpetual torments we are to suffer nor upon the eternal joy and repose which we hope for If thou shouldest seriously but think on that though thy Cell were filled and swarmed with worms and vermin and thou stoodst up to the throat in the middle of them yet wouldest thou persevere in thy recollection without weariness or trouble The third Vertue is with tears and grief of Soul to endeavour a recommpence for our sins past and to satisfie for them with a dolorous contrition and bitterness of heart that so the eternity of happiness which by them was lost may with repentance be regained contrition being a vertue so potent that it repairs what is ruin'd and although it is said that what is done hath no remedy and that there is no power over what is past yet this most powerful Vertue is able to undoe what is done and to prevail upon what is past since it takes away our sins and makes them as if they had never been committed CAP. VIII What it is in Eternity to have no end But all these definitions and declarations of Eternity are not yet sufficient to express and truly set forth the greatness of it neither is it well understood as Plotinus notes what the Authors who define it thought of it That may be rather said which was said by Simonides the Philosopher Cic. l. 2. de naturae deorum who when Hieron King of Sicily intreated him to declare what thing God was demanded a dayes space to think before he gave his answer the which past he said he had need of more time to consider it and required other two dayes at the end of those he asked four which also ended his answer was that the more he thought upon it the more he found he had to think and knew less how to express it and that the further he entred into the consideration of it the more it hid and obscured it self from him The same may be said of Eternity the which is an Abyss so profound that humane understanding finds no footing but hath still more to consider the more it ponders De Myst Theo. St. Dionysius Areapagita speakiug of God confesses that it cannot be said what he is but onely what he is not and beside what he is In like manner Eternity cannot better be declared then by what it is not and beside what it is Eternity is not time it is not space it is not an age it is not a million of ages but it is more then time space or millions of ages The life wherein thou now art and which must shortly have an end is not Eternity the health which thou at present enjoyest is not Eternal thy pleasures and entertainments are not Eternal thy possessions treasures revenues are not Eternal that wherein thou trustest is not Eternal the goods of this world in which thou so much delightest are not Eternal Thou must leave them all A far greater thing is Eternity above Kingdoms above Empires and above all felicities Whereupon Lactantius and other Authors Lact. de falsa rel lib. 1. c. 2. not being able to declare it by what it is declare it by what it is not some saying it is that which hath no end others that which endures no change others that which holds no comparison which is as much to say it is that which is unlimited immutable and not proportionable with any thing besides it self It shall suffice therefore to declare and as it were Anatomize these three conditions of Eternity if not to give a perfect knowledge of what it is yet at least to beget a fear and reverence of that which most concerns us and withal to create in us a contempt and scorn of all which is Temporal as being little limited and mutable § 2. For the first Condition Ces dialog 3. which is to have no end Cesarius says that Eternity is a Day which wants an evening because it shall never see the Sun of its brightness set which is to be understood of the Eternity of Saints that of sinners being a Night which wants a morning upon whom the Sun of Glory never shall arise wherein the damned shall remain in perpetual sadness and obscurity eternally tormented both in Soul and Body If he who is sick of a Calenture though laid upon a soft and downy Bed thinks each hour of night an Age and every minute expects and with impatience wishes for the day how shall it fare with those who because in this life they slept when they were to watch shall in the next lie awake for an eternal night in a Bed of burning fire without ever hoping for a morning And certainly if there were in Hell no other pain than to live in that eternal night and sadness it were enough to astonish and confound all humane understanding This very condition of wanting end the Ancients deciphered by the figure of a Ring which because a Circle is endless But with greater Mystery David calls it a Crown whose roundness also admits no end thereby signifying according to Dionysius Carthusianus that an Eternity without end is either to be the reward of our good works or the punishment of our bad We ought to tremble at the sound of this voice without end for them who do ill and to rejoyce at this without end for them who do well It
the place whither he is to goe How comest thou then to forget death whither thou travellest with speed and canst not though thou desirest rest one small minute by the way For time although against thy will will draw thee along with it The way of this life is not voluntary like that of Travellers but necessary like that of condemned persons from the prison unto the place of execution To death thou standest condemned whither thou art now going how canst thou laugh A Malefactor after sentence past is so surprised with the apprehension of death that he thinks of nothing but dying We are all condemned to die how come we then to rejoyce in those things which we are to leave so sodainly Who being led to the Gallows could please himself in some little flower that was given him by the way or play with the Halter which was shortly to strangle him Since then all of us even from the instant we issue out of our Mothers wombs walk condemned unto death and know not whether we shall from thence pass into hell at least we may how come we to please our selves with the flower or to say better with the hay of some short gust of our appetites since according to the Prophet all the glory of the flesh is no more than a little hay which quickly withers How come we to delight in riches which oftentimes hasten our deaths Why consider we not this when we are certain that all that we do in this life is vanity except our preparation for death In death when as there is no time nor remedy left us we shall too late perceive this truth when as all the goods of this life shall leave us by necessity which we will not now leave with merit Death is a general privation of all goods temporal an universal Pillager of all things which even despoils the body of the soul For this it is compared unto a Theef who not onely robs us of our treasure and substance but bereaves us of our lives Since therefore thou art to leave all Why doest thou load thy self in vain What Merchant knowing that so soon as he arrived unto the Ports his Ship and Goods should both be sunk would charge his Vessel with much Merchandise Arriving at death thou and all thou hast are to sink and perish why doest thou then burthen thy self with that which is not needful but rather a hinderance to thy salvation How many forbearing to throw their Goods over-board in some great Tempest have therefore both themselves and Goods been swallowed by the raging Sea How many who out of a wicked love to these Temporal riches have lost themselves in the hour of death and will not then leave their wealth when their wealth leaves them but even at that time busie their thoughts more about it than their Salvation Whereupon St. Gregory sayes That is never lost without grief which is possest with love Humbert in tract de Septemp timore Vmbertus writes of a certain man of great wealth who falling desperately sick and Plate of gold and silver to be brought before him and in this manner spake unto his Soul My Soul all this I promise thee and thou shalt enjoy it all if thou wilt not now leave my Body and greater things I will bestow upon thee rich Possessions and sumptuous Houses upon condition thou wilt yet stay with me But finding his infirmity still to encrease and no hope left of life in a great rage and fury he fell into these desperate speeches But since thou wilt not do what I desire thee nor abide with me I recommend thee unto the Devil and immediately with these words miserably expired In this story may be seen the vanity of Temporal things and the hurt he receives by them who possesses them with too much affection What greater vanity then not to profit us in a passage of the greatest necessity and importance and what greater hurt then when they cannot avail our bodies to prejudice our souls That they put an impediment to our salvation when our affections are too much set upon them were a sufficient motive not onely to contemn them but also to detest them Robertus de Licio writes that whilest he advised a sick person to make his Confession and take care of his Soul his Servants and other Domesticks went up and down the house laying hold every one of what they could the sick man taking notice of it and attending more to what They stole from him than to what He spake to him about the salvation of his Soul made deep sighs and cried out saying Wo be to me Wo be to me who have taken so much pains to gather riches and now am compelled to leave them and they snatch them from me violently before my eyes O my Riches O my Moneys O my Jewels into whose possession are you to fall and in these cries he gave up the ghost making no more account of his Soul than if he had been a Turk Vincentius Veluacensis relates also of one Vincen. in spec moral who having lent four pounds of money upon condition that at four years end they should pay him twelve he being in state of death a Priest went to him and exhorted him to confess his sins but could get no other words from the sick person than these Such a one is to pay me twelve pounds for four and having said this died immediately Much what to this purpose is a Story related by St. Bernardin of a certain Confessarius who earnestly perswading a rich man at the time of his death to a confession could get no other words from him but How sells Wool What price bears it at present and as the Priest spake unto him Sir for Gods sake leave off this discourse and have a care of your Soul the Sick man still persevered to inform himself of such things he might hope to gain by asking him Father when will the Ships come are they yet arrived for his thoughts were so wholly taken up with matters of gain and this world that he could neither speak nor think of any thing but what tended to his profit But die Priest still urging him to look to his Soul and confess all he could get from him was I cannot and in this manner died without confession This is the Salary which the goods of the earth bestow on those who serve them that if they do not leave or ruine them before their death they are then certain at least to leave them and often hazard the salvation of those that dote upon them O foolish Sons of Adam this short life Is bestowed upon us for gaining the goods of heaven which are to last eternally and we spend it in seeking those of the earth which are to perish instantly Wherefore do we not employ this short time for the purchasing eternal glory since we are to possess no more hereafter than what we provide for here Wherefore do we not
arrogant clay an insolent dust and a sparkle which in a moment is extinguished a flame which quickly dies a light which vanishes into air a dead leaf withered hay faded grass a nature which consumes it self to day threatens and to morrow dies to day abounds in wealth and is to morrow in his grave to day hath his brows circled with a diadem and to morrow is with worms he is to day and to morrow ceases to be triumphs and rejoyces to day and to morrow is lamented immeasurably insolent in prosperity and in adversity admits no comfort who knows not himself yet is curious in searching what is above him is ignorant of what is present and scoffs at what 's to come he who is mortal by nature and out of pride thinks himself eternal he who is an open house of perturbations a game of divers infirmities a concourse of daily calamities and a receptacle of all sorrow O how great is the Tragedy of our baseness and how many things have I said But it cannot better be declared than by the voice of the Prophet In vain doth man who lives trouble himself For truly the things of this life which shine and glister most are of less profit than a putrified Carcase This is of St. John Chrysostome in which he clearly sets forth the misery of Man the shortness of his life and the vanity of things temporal § 3. And that the perfect knowledge of our selves may not be wanting unto us Man is not onely thus vile and base whilest he lives and much more being dead but even his Soul whilest it remains in his Body is not of much greater esteem For although the Soul be of it self of a most noble substance yet our vices do so much vilifie it that they make it more abominable than the Body And without doubt the Soul when it is dead in mortal sin is more corrupt and stinking in the sight of the Angels than a Body dead eight days agoe for if that Body be full of worms this is full of devils and vices And even whilest the Soul lives and is free from any mortal sin yet by committing those which are but venial it becomes full of imperfections and although it be not dead yet it is more weak feeble and languishing than a sick Body and if a man knew himself well he would be more affrighted at the misery of his Soul than at that of his Flesh The devout Father Alfonso Roderiguez a most excellent Master in matters of spirit writes of a holy Woman who desired light from God to know in what condition she was and saw in her self such ugliness and deformity that she was not able to suffer it and therefore besought God again saying Not so much O Lord for I shall faint and be dismaid Father Master John d'Avila saith that he knew a person who often had importuned God to discover unto him what he was It pleased God to open his eyes but a very little and yet that little had like to have cost him dear for he beheld himself so ugly and abominable that he cried out aloud Lord of thy mercy take from before mine eyes this mirrour I desire not any more to behold my figure Donna Sancha Carillo that most fervent servant of Christ after she had led a most perfect and admirable life besought our Lord to give her a sight of her Soul that seeing the filthiness of her sins she might be further moved to abhorre them Our Lord was pleased to grant her request and shewed it her in this form One night as she sat alone in her Sala the door open there passed before her an ancient Hermite his hair all gray and in his hand a staffe to support him She amazed at the sight of such a man in such a habit at so unseasonable an hour was a little surprised with fear yet recollecting her self said unto him Father what seek ye for here to whom he answered Lift up my Cloak and you shall see She did so and beheld a little Girle sickly pale and weak with the face all covered over with flies She took it in her armes and demanded of him Father what is this Doest thou not remember replyed the Hermite when thou earnestly desired'st of our Lord that he would give thee a view of thy Soul Behold the figure of it after this manner it is This said the Apparition vanished and she remained so confused and affrighted that it seemed unto her accordingly as she after confessed that all her bones were displaced with such grief and pain as had it not been for the great favour and mercy of God it had been impossible for her to endure it She passed that night almost overwhelmed with the waves of her sad and troubled thoughts The manner of that Girle so feeble and discoloured afflicted her extremely contemplating it as the image of her Soul especially when she reflected on the face covered with those impertinent and troublesome little creatures her grief was doubled and it seemed unto her as if it had smelt like something that was dead or some old sore which made her send up a thousand sighs unto heaven and to desire a remedy and mercy from our Lord. No sooner did the day so much desired by her appear but she repaired instantly unto her Confessor a person of great vertue and learning and desired him with many tears to explicate unto her the meaning of that Vision and to tell her whether those little creatures did signifie any grievous and hidden sins which her soul knew not of The Confessor took some short time to recommend his answer unto our Saviour which done he returned and said unto her Madam trouble not your self but render hearty thanks unto God for the favour which he hath done you and know that the feebleness which appeared in the Image of your Soul was an effect of venial sins which weaken but kill not cool but extinguish not the charity in our Souls for if they had been mortal sins the Girle would have been dead for those deprive the Soul wholly of life those which be venial onely take away our fervour and promptness in the service of God and the perfect accomplishing of his holy Law If then the Souls of so great Servants of God are so full of miseries wherein can miserable man boast since he is so both in soul and body CAP. IX How deceitful are all things Temporal FRom what hath hitherto been said may be collected how great a lie and cozenage is all that which passes in time and that the things of the earth besides that they are base inconstant and transitory are also deceitful and full of danger This is signified unto us in the Apocalyps by the Harlot by which was denoted humane prosperity who sat upon that monstrous Beast which is the World And amongst other Ornaments as the Scripture sayes she was adorned with gilded gold which gives us to understand her falshood Since it was
and peopled with such a multitude of beautiful Citizens as are as farre above any imaginable number as the capacity of the City is above any imaginable measure Some famous Mathematicians say of die Empyrial Heaven that it is so great that if God should allow unto every one of the blessed a greater space than the whole Earth yet there would remain as much more to give unto others and that the capaciousness of this Heaven is so great that it contains more than ten thousand and fourteen millions of miles What wonder will it be to see a City so great of so precious matter The Divines confess the capaciousness of this Heaven to be immense but are more willing to admire it than bold to measure it Joan. Gailer in suo Peregrino Howsoever there wants not one who sayes that if God should make each grain of sand upon the Sea-shore as big as the whole Earth they would not fill the Concave of the Empyrial Heaven and yet this Holy City possesseth all that space and is all composed of matter far more beautiful and precious than Gold Pearl and Diamonds For certain our thoughts cannot conceive so great riches and wonders for which we ought to undergoe all the pains and necessities of this World St. Francis of Assisium being afflicted with a grievous pain of his eyes in so much as he could neither sleep Chron. Frat. Min. p. 1. c. 60. nor take any rest and at the same time molested by the Devil who filled his Cell with Rats which with their Careers and noise added much unto his pain with great patience gave thanks unto the Lord that he had so gently chastized him saying My Lord Jesus Christ I deserve greater punishment but thou like a good Shepherd suffer me not to stray from thee Being in this meditation he heard a voice which said unto him Francis if all the Earth were of Gold and all the Rivers of Balsame and all the Rocks of precious Stones wouldest thou not say that this were a great treasure Know that a treasure which exceeds Gold as farre as Gold does Dirt Balsam Water or Precious-stones Pibbles remains as a reward for thy infirmity if thou be content and bear it with patience Rejoyce Francis for this treasure is Celestial glory which is gained by tribulations Certainly we have reason to suffer here all pains and poverty whatsoever since we are to receive in glory so much the greater riches Wherefore we ought to lift up our souls and weaning our hearts from the frail felicity of these temporal goods of the Earth to say with David Glorious things are said of thee City of God So did Fulgentius who entring Rome when it was yet in its lustre and beholding the greatness beauty and marvelous Architecture of it said with admiration O Celestial Jerusalem how beautiful must thou be if Terrestrial Rome be such A shadow of this was shewed unto St. Josaphat whose History is written by St. John Damascen In vita Josaph Barl. St Josaphat being in profound prayer prostrate upon the earth was overtaken with a sweet sleep in which he saw two men of grave demeanour who carried him through many unknown Countries unto a Field full of flowers and plants of rare beauty laden with fruit never before seen The leaves of the trees moved with a soft and gentle wind yielded a pleasant sound and breathed forth a most sweet odour there were placed many Seats of Gold and precious Stones which shined with a new kind of brightness and a little Brook of Chrystal water refreshed the air and pleased the sight with a most agreable variety From thence he was brought into a most beautiful City whose Walls were of transparent Gold the Towers and Battlements were of Stones of inestimable value the Streets and places shone with Celestial beams of light And there passed up and down bright Armies of Angels and Seraphins chanting such songs as were never heard by mortal ears Amongst other he heard a voice which said This is the repose of the Just this the joy of those who have given a good account of their lives unto God But all this is no more than a dream and a shadow in comparison of the truth greatness and riches of that Celestial Court. In regard that all the Blessed together with Christ are to raign in this most rich City and Kingdom how great shall the riches be who was ever so rich as to have at the entrance of his House a massie large piece of Gold two or three yards long What riches will those be of Heaven because all the Kingdom of Heaven is to be of pure Gold all the Streets and all the Houses of that Holy City and not only Gold but more than Gold The holy Scripture to make us on one part understand the riches of this Kingdom of God and on the other part to know that they are of a higher and more excellent nature than those of the Earth expresses them with the similitude of the riches of this World as Gold Pearl and precious Stones because by these names we understand things of great wealth and value but withall sets them forth for such as are not to be found upon earth so as when it speaks of Pearls it sayes they were so great as they served for the Gates of a City when it speaks of Emeralds and Topaz's it makes them to suffice for the foundatian of high Walls and Turrets when of Gold it makes it transparent as Glass or Chrystal All this is to signifie that in Heaven there are not onely greater riches but of a more sublime and high quality than ours upon Earth And with reason is that Holy City called the Kingdom of Heaven to let us know that the same advantage that Heaven hath above Earth the same have Celestial honours riches and joyes above those which are here below If the whole Earth is no more than a point in respect of the Heavens what can those short and corruptible riches be in respect of the eternal § 3. Of those incomparable riches the Blessed are not onely to be Lords but Kings as appears in many places of holy Scripture Neither is the Celestial Treasure â—or this Kingdom of Heaven less or poorer by having so many Lords and Kings It is not like the Kingdoms on Earthy which permit but one King at once and if divided become of less power and Majesty but is of such condition that it is wholly possessed by all in general and by each one in particular like the Sun which warms all and every one and not one less because it warms many The effects of riches are much greater and more noble in Heaven than they can be upon Earth Wealth may serve us here to maintain our power honours and delights but all the Gold in the world cannot free us from weakness infamy and pain The power of a rich King can reach no further than to Command his Vassals and those
of the Meadows the brightness of the Sun the sweet taste of Honey the pleasantness of Musick the beauty of the Heavens the comfortable smell of Amber the contentfulness of all the senses and all that can be either admired or enjoyed To this may be added that this inestimable joy of the vision of God is to be multiplied into innumerable other joyes into as many as there are blessed Spirits and Souls which shall enjoy the sight of God in regard every one is to have a particular contentment of the bliss of every one And because the blessed Spirits and Souls are innumerable the joyes likewise of every one shall be innumerable Ansel de Simil. cap. 71. This St. Anselme notes in these words With how great a joy shall the Just br replenished to accomplish whose blessedness the joy of each other Saint shall concur for as every Saint shall love another equally as himself so he shall receive equal joy from his happiness to that of his own And if he shall rejoyce in the happiness of those whom he loves equally unto himself how much shall he rejoyce in the happiness of God whom he loves better than himself Finally the blessed Soul shall be surrounded with a Sea of joys which shall fill all his powers and senses with pleasure and delight no otherwise than if a Sponge that had as many senses of pleasures as it hath pores and eyes were steeped in a Sea of milk and honey sucking in that sweetness with a thousand mouths God is unto the Blessed a Sea of sweetness an Ocean of unspeakable joyes Let us therefore rejoyce who are Christians unto whom so great blessings are promised let us rejoyce that Heaven was made for us and let this hope banish all sadness from our hearts Pallad Hist ca. 52. Palladius writes that the Abbot Apollo if he saw any of his Monks sad would reprehend him saying Brother why do we afflict our selves with vain sorrow let those grieve and be melancholy who have no hope of Heaven and not we unto whom Christ hath promised the blessedness of his glory Let this hope comfort us this joy refresh us and let us now begin to enjoy that here which we are ever hereafter to possess for hope as Philo sayes is an anticipation of joy Upon this we ought to place all our thoughts turning our eyes from all the goods and delights of the Earth The Prophet Elias when he had tasted but one little drop of that Celestial sweetness presently lockt up the windows of his senses covering his eyes ears and face with his mantle And the Abbot Sylvanus when he had finished his prayers shut his eyes the things of the Earth seeming unto him unworthy to be looked upon after the contemplation of the heavenly in the hope whereof we onely are to rejoyce CAP. V. How happy is the eternal life of the Just BY that which hath been said may sufficiently appear how happy and blessed is the life of the Just But so many are their joys and so abundant that eternal happiness that we are forced to insist further upon this Subject When the Hebrews would express ablessed person they did not call him blessed in the singular but blessings in the abstract and plural and so in the first Psalm in place of Beatus the Hebrews say Beatitudines and certainly with much reason since the Blessed enjoy as many blessings as they have powers or senses Blessings in their understanding will and memory blessings in their sight hearing smell taste and touch Nay their blessings exceed the number of their senses and the very pores of their bodies so as that life is truly a life entire total and most perfect wherein all that is man lives in joy and happiness The Understanding shall live there with a clear and supreme wisdom the Will with an inflamed love the Memory with an eternal representation of the good which is past the Senses with a continual delectation in their objects Finally all that is man shall live in a perpetual joy comfort and blessedness And to begin with the life and joy of the Understanding the Blessed besides that supreme and clear knowledge of the Creatour whereof we have already spoken shall know the Divine mysteries and the profound sense of the holy Scriptures they shall know the number of Saints and Angels as if they were but one they shall know the secrets of the Divine providence how many are damned and for what they shall understand the frame and making of the World the whole artifice of Nature the motions of the Stars and Planets the proprieties of Plants Stones Birds and Beasts and shall not onely know all things created but many of those things which God might have created all which they shall not onely know joyntly and in mass but clearly and distinctly without confusion This shall be the life of the Understanding which shall feast it self with so high and certain truths The knowledge of the greatest Wisemen and Philosophers of the World even in things natural is full of ignorance deceit and apparence because they know not the substance of things but through the shell and bark of accidents so as the most rude and simple Peasant arriving at the height of glory shall be replenished with a knowledge in respect of which the wisdom of Salomon and Aristotle were but ignorance and barbarism Blos de Mon. Spirit c. 14. Ludovicus Blosius reports that a certain simple and silly Maid appeared after death unto St. Gertrude and began to instruct her in many high and sublime matters The Saint admiring such great and profound knowledge in so ignorant a person asked her from whence she had it to whom the Virgin answered Since I came to see God I know all things Wherefore St. Cregory said well It is not to be believed that the Saints who behold within themselves the light of God are ignorant of any thing without them What a content were it to behold all the Wisemen of the World and the principal Inventers and Masters of Sciences and Faculties met together in one Room Adam Abraham Mayses Salomon Isay Zoroastes Plato Socrates Aristotle Pythagoras Hâ—mer Trismegistus Solon Lycurgus Hipocrates Euclides Archimedes Theophrastus Dioscorides and all the Doctors of the Church How venerable were this Juncto how admirable this Assembly and what journies would men make to behold them If then to see such imperfect scraps of knowledge divided amongst so many men would cause so great admiration what shall be the joy of the Blessed when each particular person shall see his own understanding furnished with that true and perfect wisdom whereof all theirs is but a shadow Who can express the joy they shall receive by the knowledge of so many truths What contentment would it be to one if at once they should shew unto him what ever there is and what is done in the whole Earth the fair Buildings so sumptuous all the Fruit-trees of so great diversity
to obtain it If thou shalt therefore fall into such a poverty as thou hast nothing to sustain thee if it conduce to thy salvation think thy self the happiest man in the world and embrace it with a hundred hands for as all things which hinder us from our end are to be contemned so whatsoever helps us to the obtaining of it although it be grief pain or death it self is to be esteemed above all value So great a matter it is to be a means of thy salvation that Christ our Lord who is the beginning and end of all things disdained it not himself incarnating dying and remaining for that end in the most blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood And if it cost the Son of God so dear to be a means of thy salvation do not thou stick at any thing how horrible soever it appear to humane nature that may advance and secure it but esteem it as a Paradise though it be infamy shame or dishonor Thou travellest towards Heaven that 's the end of thy journey Make thy voyage secure whatsoever it cost thee He who goes for the Indies if he may embark bark in a strong and well-rigged Vessel will not make choice of that which is rotten and worm-eaten Take the certainest way for Heaven and believe me there is none more ready then that of the Cross of Christ his Humility and Mortification In all things thou desirest still the best for thy self Know there is nothing better or more imports thee than a good life Make it then a good one and content not thy self with this which thou now livest if thou canst make it better and no way more ready available to improve it than by imitating the life of thy Redeemer to despise all that is Temporal This is the most proper and certain way of obtaining the Eternal whereunto thou art to aspire and for which thou were born Have still thy end before thine eyes for thou errest so often as thou doest not behold it and canst not erre without great danger St. Greg. Isid Clar. Many compare this life unto a high and narrow Bridge so narrow that it is scarce broad enough for our feet and if we fall we precipitate into a filthy Lake where Serpents and Dragons wait to devour us And who being to pass such a Bridge in an obscure and dark night having no other guide to direct him but a little light placed in the end of the Bridge durst for one instant remove his eyes from it In the like condition are we This life is a straight Bridge over which we are to pass in the night and darkness of this world We cannot come off safely in this dangerous passage without still looking at our end and at that divine light which enlightens our Souls Let not our eyes wander from it lest we fall into that Gulph and perish for all eternity This perdition David signified in the Title which he gave unto his 13. Psalm which he calls For the End where he sayes That those who look not upon God as their utmost End making no more account of him than if he were not That such became abominable and corrupted in their intentions That there was not one amongst them who did well That all became vain and unprofitable and failed in their thoughts words and actions That their mouths were as pestilential as an open sepulcher which none could endure for the stench of worms and corruption That the poison of Asps was in their lips and deceit and bitterness in their mouths That all their wayes were wickedness and That therefore their feet ran swiftly to shed blood That their hearts were full of fearful imaginations and That they trembled where there was nothing to fear finally That all their courses were nothing but ruine and unhappiness That they did not invoke and pray unto the Lord That they knew not the wayes of peace That the fear of God was not before their eyes All this which David deciphers happened as he saith unto this wicked people because they had not God in their hearts nor did propose him as the end of their actions And truly from this defect springs all that is evil For without God there is neither quiet peace nor vertue for true peace consists in seeking nothing but God and for God In this consists the liberty of the sons of God the contempt of the World the tranquility of the Minde and the conformity with the Will of God And most certainly the foundation of all vertue is to know that we are born for nothing but the service of God and so forget it as the wicked do is as David sayes a certain kind of Atheism making us live as if there were no God in looseness of manners without prayer and without the quiet and repose of the Soul To these three heads the Prophet reduces the disorders of those who think not of their chief End nor remember that there is a God And therefore he who to the contrary shall still fix his thoughts upon that whereunto he is ordained shall be endued with vertuous Customs fervour and frequency of prayer and possess the quiet and peace of minde For as the Iron touched by the Loadstone rests not until it respect the North no more shall a heart ever enjoy repose but in beholding his chief and utmost End which is God CAP. II. By the knowledge of our selves way be known the use of things Temporal and the little esteem we are to wake of them BEfore we pass further I must here advertise you of a point of great importance which is that for the right use of things the knowledge of the things themselves and the end whereunto they serve is not sufficient but there is required also a knowledge of the person who is to use them It is not enough for the wise Physician to know the use and property of his Medicaments unless he know the nature and quality of his Patient his temper strength age and other circumstances that according to them he may administer his Remedies And therefore having shewn the End of man to be eternal and that the things of this world are onely to be used as means to obtain it we shall now for the compleating of this matter speak something of the estate and quality of Man as he now is that he may thereby know what use of things temporal is most convenient for him Humane nature is at the present in a far different condition from that wherein it was when God at first created man and placed him in Paradise so as a farr different use of things temporal from that which was then lawful and convenient is now to be required And therefore it is fit that we know what Man is that we may acertain the use of Man and the things of Man which cannot be done without the knowledge of what he is in general and also that every one know what he himself is in particular
France There she taught her Brother how to order a Dairy milk Cows and make Cheeses and after found a way to have him received into a certain Grange of the Cistercians where he performed this office to such satisfaction of the Monks that in a short time he was admitted amongst them a Lay-Brother His Sister Matilda seeing him thus placed said one day unto him Brother certainly a great reward attends us from the Lord for having thus left our Parents and our Country for the love of him But we shall receive a far greater if for the short time of our lives we deprive our selves even of this content of seeing one another and that we so give our selves over to that Divine and Soveraign Majesty that we meet no more until we meet in Heaven where we shall see and converse one with another in true and eternal comfort Here the Brother fell a weeping apprehending this as the greatest difficulty he had hitherto encountred in the whole course of his life But at last he master'd it and they both parted never to see one another more upon earth The holy Virgin went unto a certain Town nine miles distant where she lived retired in a little Cottage and sustained her self wholly by the labour of her hands admitting neither present nor alms Her Bed was the ground or little better she eat upon her knees and in that posture spent many hours in prayer wherein she often was so rapt from her senses that she neither heard the noise of thunder nor perceived the flashes of lightning Alexander was never known whilest he lived But St. Matilda was nine years before her death and therefore attempted often to have left the place but was so strictly watched she could not She wrought many miracles both during her life and after death A certain Monk sick of an Imposthume in his breast offered up his prayers at the Tomb of Alexander and to him the Servant of God appeared more resplendent than the Sun adorned with two most beautiful Crowns The one of which he wore upon his head The other he carried in his hand And being demanded of the Monk what those two Crowns signified he answered This which I bear in my hands is given me for that temporal Kingdom which I forsook upon earth The other of my head is that which is commonly given to all the Saints of Heaven And that thou mayest give credit to what thou hast seen in this Vision thou shalt find thy self according to thy faith cured of thy infirmity In this manner God honours those who humble themselves for his glory CAP. IX The love which we owe unto God ought so to fill our Souls that it leave no place or power to love the Temporal WE have already produced sufficient motives and reasons to breed in us a contempt of the things of this world and to wean our affections from them as well for being in themselves vile transitory mutable little and dangerous as for that the Son of God hath done and suffered so much to the end we should despise them I will onely now add for the conclusion of this matter That though they were of some real worth or value as they are not yet for all this we ought not to love them since so great is that love and affection which is due from us unto God that it ought so fully to fill and possess our hearts that it leave no room for any other affection than it self For if it were commanded in the Law when men had not the obligation which we now have the Son of God not having then died for our redemption that we should love him with all our heart all our soul and all our powers how are we to love him when our debt is so much greater and that we have a further knowledge of his divine goodness If then there ought to be no place for any love but his how can we now turn our eyes unto the creature or set our hearts upon it when a million of hearts are not sufficient for our Creator There is no one Title for which God is amiable but upon that title we owe him a thousand wills a thousand loves and all what we are or can be What do we then owe him for all together Consider his benefits his love his goodness and thou shalt see that though thou hadst as many hearts as there are sands upon the Sea-shore or atoms in the Air all were not capable of that great love which is due unto him How canst thou then divide this one heart which thou hast amongst so many creatures Consider also the multitude and greatness of his divine blessings and deal but with God as one man doth with another If we say of humane benefits that gifts break rocks how comes it that divine benefits do not move a heart of flesh Prov. 22. And if as Salomon sayes Those who give gifts steal the hearts of the receivers how comes it that God robs not thee of thy soul who not onely gives thee gifts but himself for a gift Consider the benefits thou didst receive in thy Creation They were as many as thou hast members of thy body or faculties of thy soul Consider those of thy Conservation Thou hast received as many as there are distinct natures in Heaven and in Earth The Elements Stars and the whole world were created for thy preservation without which thou couldest not subsist Look upon the benefits of thy Redemption They are as many as are the evils of Hell from which they have freed thee Look upon those of thy Justification they are as many as the Sacraments which Christ hath instituted and the examples which he hath left thee Think what thou owest him for having made thee a Christian pardoned thee so often and given thee still fresh grace to renew thee All these and a thousand other benefits and obligations demand and sue for thy love And not onely these benefits from God but even those from men cry out unto thee to love him For there is no benefit which thou receivest from man but comes from God On all parts then and for all things thou art obliged to love God for it is he who does thee good in all and is worth unto thee more than all How comes it then that since he hath done all this for us we yet think not what we are to do for him nor how we shall express our thankfulness for such and so great benefits David was troubled with this care when he said What shall I return unto the Lord for all which he hath given me And yet the Lord had not then given him the Body and blood of his Son nor had his Son then been born or died for him Since then he hath done all this for us why doe we not study how we may be grateful for such infinite and unspeakable mercies But what can we return which we have not received Let us deliver him back our
souls hearts and bodies looking upon our selves hence forward as on a thing not ours but his acknowledging that we owe him more than what we are or can do So shall we not debase our love by placing it upon the creatures If we shall then consider the infinite love which God bears us we shall finde that we have no love left to bestow upon any thing but him no not upon our selves To know truly the greatness of this divine love we are to suppose that true and perfect Love consists much in action but is most apparent in patience and suffering and also in communication of its proper goods unto those whom it loves See then how great is his love who hath wrought such stupendious works for thee as are his Incarnation and thy Redemption and continues still untill this hour working for thy good after a thousand wayes in all his creatures making the Corn to grow which is to feed thee the Wooll to encrease which is to cloath thee supports the Sun which is to enlighten thee draws Waters from the veins of the earth to quench thy thirst and in every thing still operates for thee Consider how he gives a being unto the Elements life to Plants sense to Beasts understanding to Angels and all to thee working in thee alone all which he works in the other degrees of nature How apparent then is the love of God in his works who does so great things for the good of man who deserves to be forsaken by him and reduced to nothing Consider then the excess of love in his patience who hath endured such cruel torments and so painful a death for thee and hath born with thee as often as thou hast offended him And if patience be a tryal of love where shall we find so great an example How excessive were that love if a King who after his Vassal had a thousand times attempted to murther him should not onely pardon but continue stil to favour and enrich him with his own Rents and Revenues who would not be amazed at such a love and think that King infatuated O goodness and longaminity of God who suffers us a thousand times to turn again and crucifie thee our Redeemer the King of Glory and art still silent Behold also his love in communicating all the good he hath unto us The Father delivers up his onely Son the Son his Body and Blood for us and they both together send the Holy Ghost by whom we are by grace made partakers of the Divine Nature See if a more great more real or more tender love than this can be imagined wherein he shares with us all he has and gives us all he can And if love be to be paid with love what love doest thou owe him See if thou hast an affection yet free to be imployed apon any but thy Lover and thy God Requite then this excess of good will by having no other will but his and answer his love with a love like his of works and patience Our Lord is not content we should onely love him with our tongues but reprehends those who cry unto him Lord Lord and doe not what he commands For even good words if they want works are condemned as false and feigned Let us love him then in earnest let us suffer for him and communicate with him all we have Let us not think to come off with this love gratis it is to cost us all is ours If we love our God truely who so much loved us we must resolve to lose honours wealth and pleasure in serving and requiting him Above all if we consider him to be God who is infinitely beautiful good wise powerful eternal immense immutable there is no heart possible which can equal the love which he deserves for any one of those Divine Attributes What shall then his whole infinity deserve which eminently contains all the beauties and perfections of his Creatures either real or imaginable for all are but as a drop in respect of an immense Ocean all depend upon God who so communicates his beauties and perfections to the Creatures as they still remain in himself after a more excellent manner and in such sort distributes them as he parts not from them but unites them all in one simple perfection From whence as from a fountain all that is good flows and is yet still in the Original in a more high and transcendent manner And if men as the wise man sayes admiring the beauty of some creatures adored them as Gods let them hence understand how beautiful is the Lord of all things since he who made them is the Author and Father of Beauty And if they wonder at their force and vertue in their operations let them know that he who made them is more powerful than they And by the beauty and greatness of the created let the understanding climbe to the knowledge of the Creator and hence collect that if the effect be good the cause must needs be so too for nothing can give what it hath not And therefore he who made things so beautiful and so good cannot choose but be most beautiful and most excellently good himself So as if the imagination should joyn in one piece all the good and all the perfection of all creatures possible or imaginable yet God were infinitely more perfect and more beautiful than that From hence it follows that as God is infinitely perfect and beautiful so he must be infinitely amiable and if infinitely amiable we are to love him with an infinite love so as if the capacity of our heart were infinite it were wholly to be employed in loving him How can we then since our hearts are limited and the object infinite spare any part of it for the things of this life Besides such is the loveliness of God that we are not to love our selves but because he loves us and if we are not to love our selves but for his sake how are we diverted to love other things for their own sake O infinite God! how doe I rejoyce that thou art so good so perfect so beautiful the source and original of all beauty and perfection as that I ought not onely to withdraw my love and affection from all other creatures but even from my self and place it wholly upon thee from whom my being and all the good I have is derived as the beams from the Sun or water from the Fountain For as the conservation of the rayes according to a mystick Doctor depends more upon the Sun than upon themselves and the current of the stream more from the Fountain than it self In such manner the good of man depends wholly upon God who is the Spring and Fountain of all his good and perfection from whence it follows that man when he relies upon himself is sure to fall and when he loves himself loses himself but flying and abhorring himself preserves himself according to what is written in the holy Gospel He who loves