A DISCOVRSE OF ETERNITIE Collected and Composed for the Common good Being necessary for all seasons but especially for this time of calamitie and destruction The sinners in Zion are afraid a fear is come upon the Hypocrites who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwel with the everlasting burnings Esay 33.4 He that beleeveth in the Son hath everlasting life and he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Ioh. 3.36 Printed at London by George Miller for Christopher Meredith at the signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1646. To the Christian Reader IF any man would know the Patron of this discourse let him understand that it belongs to Every body For there is not a man under heaven be he King or Subject Noble or Ignoble Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free but lives unavoidably under the law of Death and within the Pale of Eternity Now as all men are equally inrolled into this book of Eternity so must they of consequence be equally interessed in this discourse Therefore I commend these short Meditations of a long Eternity for the favour of protection as in right they appertain to Every body But will every one countenance them with a friendly welcom Certainly such entertainment may rather be wisht then hoped for This Eternitie whereof I treat findes for the most part but slender countenance and cold respect amongst the sons of men For where is the man of so setled and well composed temper that can fix and terminate his thoughts upon that everlasting state which abides him in the life to come That can orderly frame readily dispose his heart to search into it and his tongue to discourse of it and his will to affect it I doubt not but flashes of Eternitie and transient thoughts thereof doe often swim in the brain and straggle about the heart of a sensuall worldling but there they lodge not they take not up their rest The covetous man soon strangles them in his money bagges the drunkard drowns them in his fulcups the Epicure swallows them with his daintie and superfluous fare every man in his way strives to keep that from his heart here which he cannot possibly deliver his soul from hereafter his endlesse Eternity Thus are we unhappily ingenious to deceive our selves wittie to invent new waies to put off the melancholy consideration of the evil day We plod daily onward towards our long home but we think not of any reckonings till we come to our journeyes end we fear not the pit till we be irrecoverably plunged into it we never know the true worth of time nor price to the desert our golden hours untill they be everlastingly lost and gone and then alas those precious dayes which we have prodigally expended in the lusts of our flesh and vanity of our eye we shall infinitely desire to redeem were it possible even with tears of blood Oh then whosoever thou art examine with due care the state of thy soul if thy lust be thy life and thy sensuality thy joy then gull not thy soul with hope of pardon Imagine not to finde two heavens one upon earth another above it assure thy self though thou make with the Eagle thy nest on high and seat thy habitation as it were in the clouds yet thy highnesse will not free thee from the stroak of death nor deliver thy soul from the nethermost hell Now if there be any man so unmercifull to his soul that notwithstanding all that is or shall be said will desperately on in his cursed way I say no more but this He that is filthy let him be filthy still The smart of this Eternity they that will not beleeve shall feel The Contents of the first Book CHAP. 1. Containing an Introduction to the ensuing discourse 2. Containing a discription of Eternity with a brief declaration of the nature and condition of it 3. Expressing how all men doe naturally beleeve this Eternity 4. Explaining how nature hath represented and shadowed out Eternity to us in some of the Creatures 5. Containing a short digression touching the Eternity of the damned 6. Wherein the question is answered Wherefore a finite sinne is recompensed with an infinite punishment Wherein also is further shewed that the Severity of Gods Justice therein doth no way diminish the greatnesse of his Mercy The Contents of the second Book CHAP. 1. Containing an Exhortation to Holinesse grounded upon the consideration of Eternity 2. Shewing that there is no other way nor possible means to attain to the true Eternity but by a confident affiance upon the Mercy of God in Christ 3. Certain conclusions drawn from the serious and devout consideration of Eternity 4. Directions for the better ordering of our lives in the way to a happy Eternity By the word procure p. 76. l. 22. I reâ—ate to a reward of grace not of debt THE FIRST CHAPTER Containing an Introduction to the ensuing Discourse Fecisti nos ad te domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Aug. lib. 1. Conf. cap. 1. THere is nothing can fully satisfie the minde of Man but that which is above man all the treasures and riches under Heaven cannot make up a proportionable object for the soul For that which must terminate the desires of so excellent and divine a nature must bee of a correspondent and like condition with it that is infinite and immortall Now no sublunary blessings extend thus farre All worldly happinesse and earthly delights have their changes and have their death They are short in their continuance and uncomfortable in their end For they leave us when we leave the world and they nothing availe us in the day of triall when our bodies shall descend into the slimie valley and our souls returne to God that gave them then all the choicest comforts of this life glide away from us as the stream and the sunne of our joy will set for ever Our beautie wherein we have so much prided our selves shall turne into rottennes our mirth into wormewood our glory into dust Now if this be the condition if such the state of our best pleasing contentations here below how undiscreetly improvident of our soules welfare should we be to bound ouâ— affections on the things of this world what a madnesse beyond admiration were it in us to trifle out our time to waste and weare out our most precious daies in the vanities under the funne as if God had placed us here on earth like the Leviathan in the Sea to take our pastime in it to ingulfe our soules into the sensuall pleasures of this life as if we had neither hope nor expectation of a life to come what an intolerable stupiditie were it for the short fruition of a momentary content here to plunge our selves for everlastingnes into a sea as it were of fire and brimstone where we shall see no â—ankes and feele no bottome Me
them Certainly they would never have so much undervalued their earthly contentments and sold all the comforts of this life as some of them did at so cheap a rate but that they trusted to some future rest of more enduring substance after this life and comfortably expected the immortall fruition of such joyes as should abundantly countervaile the losse of all their pleasures When I revolve in my minde the Stoicall reservednesse the moderation the unconquerable courage of these miserable Heathens when I see Cleombrotus in hope of immortality to tumble himself voluntarily down a hill when I see Socrates smile upon his hemlock and sullen Scevola burn off his own hand without ever gnashing his teeth at it when I see Marcus Cato scorn his own life because his enemy gave it him and tear off the salve from his bleeding sides which his own sword had peirced When I thus behold these unhappy souls in the light of nature to conquer nature it self and to build these their resolutions upon no other ground but the slender hope of some unknown contentment in the life to come me thinks these magnanimous acts of theirs however they are not for the imitation of us Christians yet doe they tend to our condemnation Their hope did exceed their knowledge and our knowledge doth exceed our practcie God hath revealed to us the immortality of the soul and the eternity to come in a farre more clear and perspicuous manner then ever to the heathen Idolaters and yet we lesse regard it what should more affect us here since our liâ—e is but a vapour then to know what shall become of us hereafter and yet the consideration hereof lyes like a weight of lead upon our souls and we judge the very thought hereof a burthen We readily apprehend such things as concerne us in this world our honours our preferments our pleasures we look on with a cheerfull eye but alas with how slow and dull a pace doe we proceed in the pursuit of our future blessednes we meet with many stops in our way many turnings in our journey and the truth is we must not expect to arrive at so happy a haven without some storms but what are these to Eternity that long day that shall never shut in that unum perpetuum hodie that beginning ever in beginning in which the blessed doe everlastingly enjoy their happinesse and renew their pleasures and the damned are alwaies dying and yet never dye O that the meditation of this our future state could sinke deep enough into our hearts that we would make that the object of our thoughts here which must be the object of our accounts hereafter that the sense of our sinnes were the chief matter of our sorrowes then should we enjoy an eternity hereafter boundlesse for time endlesse for happinesse where our joyes should be such as should neither change nor perish CHAP. IV. Explaining how Nature hath represented and shadowed out Eternity to us in some of the creatures NOw to the end we should be the farther encouraged unto the inquisition of eternity God hath not only planted the knowledge hereof in the hearts of the Heathens but hath also represented it in the nature of the creatures For if we search with a narrow eye into the secrets of nature how many things shall we finde in the world as lively resemblances shadowing as it were and tracing out unto us this eternity Solinus reports of a stone in Arcadia which being once inflamed burnes perpetually And of this matter or the like were your burning lamps made which continued as Histories speak so many hundred years in ancient Sepulchres Like hereunto in the nature of it is your Linum vivum a certain kinde of linen known in India which is uncombustible nay it is not only not consumed by the fire but it is as it were cleansed and washed and purified by the heat thereof and hence it was that the bodies of the ancient Roman Emperors when they were to be buried according to the funerall rites of those times were shrouded up into such linen to preserve their ashes and to avoid a confusion and mixture of their bodies with common dust Behold here nature it self suggests an eternity to thy soul while it presents to thee such things as the fire cannot consume many other such Symboles and representations of immortality may be found in the book of the creatures The Salamander liveth in the fire and perisheth not Those famous hills in Sicily have been on fire continually beyond the memory of man and yet remain whole and unconsumed The like we reade of that Oleum incombustibile as Historians call it an oyle that ever burns but will never waste and of the matter of this was that burning torch composed which was found in Tulliola daughter of Cicero her sepulchre which as story speaks continued burning fifteen hundred years These and many other shadowes and traces of eternity God hath vouchsafed us to stirre up our dead and drousy hearts to a more exact inquisition and serious consideration of the time to come For in the book of the creature we may see the power of the Creatour and out of these particular works of his we may understand that that God which hath endowed nature with such admirable qualities can give the flesh also such a condition that it shall endure according to his wise dispensation either torments or happinesse for evermore Now then to draw all this to an issue since it is undoubtedly true that God hath provided an everlasting being for the souls of men in the world to come since he hath engraven the knowledge hereof as with an iron pen in the consciences of the Heathen since he hath given us so many lively resemblances and traces thereof in the secrets of nature and in the works of his creation Oh how should the meditation of this take up our deepest thoughts our refinest affections how should this cause us to reflect upon our souls to ponder our waies and with an impartiall eie look into our own estates and seriously consider with our selves whether are we in the number of those that are become Kings and Priests unto God and have our hearts inlightned with the supernaturall life of grace and godlinesse or lye we yet polluted in our own blood Oh how can man be at rest and quiet in his minde till he be assured and secured in this particular since that upon it depends his everlasting estate in another world our daies we see are woven with a slender threed our time short our end uncertain and when the oyl in our lamps is spent and our glasse runne out then we flee in a moment to an everlasting being Ex unico momento pendet duplex aeternitas either in horror or happinesse where we shall receive according to the works of our hands If we have approved our selves sincere in Gods service just in our actions diligent in our callings faithfull in our promises we shall then
soul for thy sinnes against God in this world that so thou mayest comfortably receive thy sentence of absolution in the world to come Let us learn to be wise in time let our sorrow for sinne anticipate and prevent our punishment satius est suavius fonte purgari quà m igne In inferno exomlogesis non est nec paenitentia tunc tritibui potest consumpto tempore paenitendi He that grieves not heartily for his transgressions here shall woefully smart for them hereafter In hell there is no redemption for the time past no confession no repentance but a sad and heavy exchange and most uncomfortable translation from a short and passing joy to an endlesse easelesse punishment Surely all the pressures and vexing distempers that befall us in this life all the crosses which the envy either of men or evil Angels can throw upon us are nothing if compared to eternall miseries Sapienti nihil magnum videri potest cui aeternitatis nota est magnitudo What if with Saint Paul I underwent labours and perills hunger and thirst iniuries and reproaches what is all this to eternitie What if I did bear in my flesh the most exquisite pains and bitter torments that created nature is capable of yet what were all this to eternitie For all the adversities and alterations which happen to us under the sun have their periods which they cannot passe however they disquiet us for the time yet as the Prophet Daniel saith the end shall be at the appointed time God will perform that which he hath appointed for me saith Iob yet usque ad tempus haec omnia the end shall be at the appointed time But of this eternitie there will be no end no bounds can limit it no time shall determine it Certainly first or last there will happen to thee such an evening as shall have no morning to follow or else such a morning as shall never see the close of the sun And therefore let not the vanishing cares trāsitorie disquietings of this world over deeply possesse thy heart but rather let the whole stream of thy meditations run upon thy latter end that at the time of thy dissolution thy affection being wholy alienated from the world thy thoughts may ascend before whither thy soule is coming after So shall thy sufferings here make way for thy crown hereafter But how few ô how few I say are there that weigh these things How few do make it their daily task to meditate on the evils to come They credit not such reports for they care not to beleeve what they are unwilling to practise Hence it is that they go on so securely in their course as if there were no heaven no hell no God no eternity Thus we naturally desire our dayes should be as happy as they are long and being miserably insensible of the sorrows to come we rashly expose our selves to an irrevocable downfall * Nos tales qui mortis nostrae neque negotium ridentes exequimur Greg. Without sense or sorrow wee run merrily to hell where we shall everlastingly feel what we did never fear death and darknesse weeping and gnashing of teeth O how different are our times from those of our Ancestors They were not more rigidly superstitious then we are vainly secure How did they pine their bodies and afflict their souls crucifie their most precious lusts forsake their friends their lands their inheritance yea their Crowns and Kingdoms nay which is more through the rigid and austere observation of their strict and severe laws expose themselves to the hazard and danger of their dearest lives and thrust themselves as it were out of the world and forgo all societie with men And wherefore all this but that they might disburden themselves the better by these means from all earthly allurements settle and dispose their hearts in a good preparation towards their home and to enliven their affections and inflame their mindes to a more serious contemplation of the joyes to come Me thinks the consideration of these former times should strongly invite us to a more serious meditation of our future state especially if we remember how swiftly our dayes draw to an end and how soon we are involved into everlasting darknesse For alas what is our life here Tota haec vita unius horulae mors est one hour at the last will swallow up all our live-long daies Let us thē not fear being so near our home let no storms affright us being so near our haven let us examine our accounts and cast up our reckonings that we may be able to give up a good account at the last day Certain it is what ever we goe about whatsoever be the scope of our endeavours we every day come nearer to the end of our course every houre is a nevv step onvvard So soon as ever a man enters this mortall life he beginnes a constant journey unto death quicquid temporis vivitur de spatio vivendi tollitur i. e. Each part of time that we passe cuts off so much from our life and the remainder still decreaseth So that our whole life is nothing but a course or passage unto death wherein one can neither stay nor slack his pace This we know our daily experience doth confirm this truth and yet do we persist as securely as ever in our trade of sinne Aegrè abstrahimur ab ijs quibus assuescimus i. e. we are hardly drawn from those things which custom and time hath inured us unto It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawn off from dainty fare full cups and good company We lye as dead men and senseles in our damned pollutions even drowned in our voluptu ousnes like brute beasts filled up and pampered for the day of slaughter Thus with the full stream of our endeavours we plod on in the habituall course of provoking the patience of a long suffering God without any sense of our sinne untill our short dayes begin to shut in and our evening approach at which time the weaknesse of our bodies and the strength of our sinnes make us as unable to repent as we were before unwilling We many times through the incitement of some good motion beginne well but fail in the execution * Fatemur crimina sed sic fatemur ut in ipsa confessione non dolemus Calv. we make faire promises but we doe not second them in our practice but let us not deceive our selves God will not be mocked non verbis paenitentia agenda sed actu let us not promise God better obedience with our lips then we perform with our hearts Be not rash to vow a thing before God but when thy word hath past thy lips then be as carefull to perform as thou wast forward before to promise Lastly let us alwaies follow that holy counsell given in Ecclesiasticus In all thy actions think upon thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse and that of the Prophet David
Make no long tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddainly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance But alas farre otherwise it is with us in our practice * Magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus maxima nihil agētibus tota aliud agentibus A great portion of our time is crumbled away in doing ill a greater part in doing nothing and our whole life in doing that which we should not or in matters as we say upon the by And as Archimedes was secure and busy about drawing lines on the ground when Syracuse was taken so is it with us Now that our eternall safety lyes at stake we lye puzling in our dust I mean in our worldly negotiations But for our eternity shortly approaching we seldom or rarely think of it We are like Martha trouble about many things when one thing is necessary But this one thing is that which of all other things is least regarded and in the last place We seldom seek heaven till death doth summon us to leave the earth we have many evasions to gull our own hearts many excuses to procrastinate our repentance like Dionysius the Sicilian king who to excuse himself for the present delivery of the golden garment which he took from his god Apollo answered that such a robe as that was could not be at any season of the year usefull to his god it would not keep him warm in the winter and it was too heavy for the summer So many there be saith S. Ambrose who play with God and with their own soul You must not say they seek for the vigour and life of Religion in the hearts of young men For youth as the proverb is must have his swinge neither can you expect it in the company of the aged for their age and those distempers which accompany it make them a burden to themselves and dulls the edge of their intentions unto all their serious undertakings Thus both the summer and the winter of our age are unfit for Gods service But let us not thus cheat ourselves If God be God let us follow him let us not put off the day of reconciliation and say in our hearts To morrow we will do it when yet we cannot tell vvhat shall be to morrovv for vvhat is our life It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Hence it was that Macedonius being invited a day before to a feast replyed to the messenger Why doth thy Master invite me for to morrow whereas for this many years I have not promised to my self one daies life Nemo mortem satis cavet nisi qui semper cavet No man dreads death as he ought but he that alwaies expects his summons and therefore we may truly judge such men wofully secure and wilfull contemners of the future good who can go to their beds and rest on their pillows in the apprehension of their known sins without a particular humiliation for them For how oft doth a sudden and unexpected death arrest men We see and know in our daily experience many lay themselves to sleep in health and safety yet are they found dead in the morning Thus suddenly are they rapt from their quiet repose to their irrecoverable judgement perchance from their feathers to flames of fire such is the frail condition of our brittle lives vvithin the small particle of an hour live and sicken and die yet so grosse is our blindnesse that from one day to another nay from one yeer to another we triflingly put off the reformation of our lives untill our last hour creepes on us unlookt for and dragges us to eternitie Saint Augustine striving with all his endeavours against the backwardnes and slownes of his own heart to turne to the Lord bitterly complained within himself Quamdiu quamdiu cras cras Quare non hâc horâ finis turpitudinis meae How long saith he ô how long shall I delude my soule with to morrows repentance Why should not this hour terminate my sinfulnesse We are every minute at the brink of death every hour that we passe thorow might prove for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortalitie Now if it should please God to take away our souls from us this night as suddenly falls out to some what would then become of us In what Eternitie should we be found Whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happie were it for us if we were but as carefull for the welfare of our souls as we are curious for the adorning of our bodies if our clothes or faces do contract any blot or soiling we presently endeavour to cleanse the same But though our souls lie inthralled in the pollutions of sin this alas we feel not it neither provokes us to shame nor moves us to sorrow Wherfore let us look into our hearts with a severer eye Let the shortnesse of our dayes stir us up to theamendment of our sinful lives and let the hour wherein we have sinned be the beginning of our reformation according to that of Saint Ambrose Agenda est paenitentia nō solum sollicirè verumetiam maturè Our repentance must be not onely sincere but timely also whilest we have the light let us walk as children of the light Let us not any longer cheat our souls in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sins but rather lay open our sores and seek to the true Physician that can heal them All the creatures under the sun do naturally intend their own preservation and desire that happinesse which is agreeable to their nature onely man is negligent and impiously carelesse of his own welfare We see the Hart when he is striken and wounded looks speedily for a certain herb well known unto him by a kinde of naturall instinct when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blinde knowes how to procure them their sight by the use of her Celandine But we alas are wounded yet seek for no remedy we go customarily to our beds to our tables to our good company but who is he that observes his constant course of praier of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sins We go forward still in our old way and jogge on in the same rode Though our judgement hasten hell threaten death stand ar the door yet we thrust onward still in dulcem declinanamus lumina somnum But alas miserable souls as we are can we embrace quiet rests and uninterrupted sleeps with such wounded consciences Can we be so secure being so near our ruine But you will say we have passed already many nights without danger no sicknesse in the night hath befalne us hitherto why then should any fear of death amaze or trouble us Admit
more outwardly glorious then inwardly sincere Alas what a melancholy peece of busines will it prove in the end to be a man of praises as it were for a day and afterwards if repentance prevent it not to be a man of sorrows for ever to have this life comfortable and eternity miserable What ever thy hand shall finde to be done cast first in thy thoughs Whether durst I act this same thing were I now to die * Quicquid agis quicquid suscipis tecum prius cogita num tale aliquod ageres si hac hora esset moriendum It s good to live by dying principles A frequent arraignment of thy heart will render thy life comfortable thy death peacefull thy eternity glorious and shelter thee from many snares and temptations which otherwise sin and Satan would cast upon thee When thou settest upon any religious duty seriously weigh with thy self what the temper of thy heart is towards it Oh what a sad thing is it if judiciously balanced to think I have begun and ended a holy duty before a most holy God but felt not what I spake My heart was sealed up labour therefore above all things whilst thy soul in any exercise is in communion with God to keep thy affection on the wing and strive not so much to be long winded as heart-wounded in thy petitions as knowing assuredly that when once thy devotion is flatted though thy speech doe continue thy prayer is done We live in dismall dayes fire and sword rage round about us yet our greatest enemies lodge in our bosome Labour thou by thy prayers and pains to master thy corruptions Then cruell cut throats though they may pull thy heart from thy body can never take God from thy heart then death it self that king of terrors need not affright thee because hereby thy soul is but let out of a cage and her out going from this life is but an in going to a better When once thou hast devoted thy self to the service of God thou wilt finde thy heart to be a very busy thing Thou wilt ever and anon be forcing thy self upon vows and resolution to doe more for God to fight more eagerly more effectually against thy worser self but remember this by the way that self-confidence is an inlet to often failings Therefore ingage Christ with thee in all thy purposes and let S. Pauls profession in this particular be thy instruction and digest it into practice I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens me There is now adayes much wording of religioÌ„ in the world but favour and frowns like strange byasses doe frequently twist men round and this is the garb of these unhappy times but to avoid intanglements of this nature study to be quiet and meddle with thine own busines and as it is said of humble men be thou more troubled with thy self then with all the world besides Live as thou canst a disingaged man Innocency and Independency are prevalent means to keep the soul close to God I have done with directing thee the Lord direct us all that our reformation may be answerable to our incoms of mercy otherwise though all our enemies were destroyed yet shall we finde divisions enough at home to ruine us X. Now that we may be the better incouraged to raise up our endeavours to the attainment of this happy eternity Let us in a word consider the abundant and the ever-flowing happines in the world to come Neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard nor tongue can expresse the joys that God hath provided for them that love him Saint Augustine being ravished with the desire of this life breaketh out with an inflamed affection Uâ—â—nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum how great shall that happines be where there can be no unclean thing where no good can be wanting where every creature doth praise and admire his Creatour who is all in all things How great shall that reward be Fraemiun virtutis critipse qui virtutem dedit where the river of vertue shall be himself the reward of vertue how great shall that abundance be where the author of all plenty shall be unto me life and soul and rayment health and peace and honour and all things yea the end and compleat object of all my desires For in his presence is the fulnes of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore How great shall that blessednesse be where we shall have the Lord our debtor who hath promised to reward our good deeds where we shall have the Lord for our portion who will be to us as he was to Abraham our exceeding great reward How great shall that light be where the Sunne shall no more shine by day nor the moon by night where God shall be our light and the Lord our glory How great shall that possession be where the heart shall possesse whatsoever it shall desire and shall never be deprived of its possessions Here will be to the Saints an abundant everlasting overflowing banquet no grief can accompany it no sorrow succeed it Here is joy without sadnesse rest * Quies motus noÌ„ appetitus without labour wealth without losse health without languor abundance without defect life without death perpetuity without corruption Here is the beatificall presence of God the company of Saints the society of Angels Here are pleasures which the mindes of the beholders can never be wearied with they alvvaies see them and yet alwaies rejoyce to see them These are the flagons of wine vvhich comforted up David when he cried out According to the multitude of the sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soul In coelo est vita verâ— vitalis In heaven and onely in Heaven is the true life For there our memories shal live in the joyfull recordation of all things past our understandings shall live in the knowledge of God our wills shall live in the fruition of all excellencies that they can wish for all our senses shall abound in their severall delights Here is that white stone which Saint Iohn speakes of even glory and immortality to them that overcome Here is that water of life which our Saviour speakes of whereof whosoever drinks shall never thirst again Here is that river the springs whereof make glad the hearts of men And how earnestly are we invited to these delights come buy wine and oil without money Heaven is at sale and thou maist buy if thou wilt and shrug not at the greatnesse of the price give but thy self to God and thou shalt have it And who would not abandon his honours his pride his credit his friends nay himself Who would not be willing to passe thorow the gates of hell and endure infernall torments for a season so he might be certain of so glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter Let all the devils in hell saith Saint Augustine beset me round let fastings macerate my body
thinks the serious considera son hereof should even cut the â—eart and damp the mirth and wound the very soul of the most glorious and selfe pleasing worldling whose life is nothing but a change of recreations to think upon his fading state his flowing condition his declining joy his dying life and endlesse eternitie to see how all things in him and about him goe speedily forward in a most sensible declination to behold with his eyes how his goods and his greatnesse his livings and his life and all the most precious delights which his sensuall heart enjoyes are already winged as it were for their flight and must shortly bid him an everlasting farewell And then what shall be his stay where shall be his shelter what will remain to be done but with that sad and disconsolate Heathen to shut up all in that hopelesse and helplesse lamentation Anxius vixi dubius morior heu quo vado I have squandered out my life in an unfruitfull way I have lived unresolvedly and die doubtfully and now whither away O my soul woe is the and alas for evermore And such is the bitter close and uncomfortable end of all those who goe desperately on in the waies of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes and make not God their strength though their excellency mount up to the Heavens saith Job and their heads reach unto the cloudes yet shall they perish for ever as their dung and the eye which hath seen them shall doe so no more Job 20.6 O then how deeply doth it concerne us to raise up our desires to things above to six our hearts upon the true rock â—o drawe our waters of comfort from the everliving fountain to trust so much more on God by how much we have lesse on earth to trust to Now for our better incouragement to this duty and to the end we may the more easily unloose our affections from the imbracements of this world it will not be unworthy our labour to meditate a while upon the nature of that Eternitie which doth unavoidably abide for us either in horror or happinesse in the life to come CHAP. II. Containing a description of Eternitie with a brief declaration of the nature and condition of it ETernitie is an infinite endlesse bottomelesse gulfe which no line can faddome no time can reach no age can extend to no tongue can expresse It is a duration alwaies present a being alwaies in being it is one perpetuall day which shall never see an Evening Infinite are the descriptions of the Ancients and divers their expressions touching this Eternitie The Egyptians conceiving that God was eternall and his duration and being to be properly termed Eternitie represented the divine power by a Circle which had neither beginning nor end And hence it was that the Ancient Romans erected Temples which they dedicated to their Gods in a circular figure Thus Numa Pompilius devoted a round Temple to the Majestie of Vesta And Augustus Caesar the like in honour of all the Gods Pythagor as the better to expresse that God was eternall commanded his Scholars that so oft as they accommodated themselves to the worship of God they should turne themselves round The Turkes every morning ascend into an high Tower built in the fashion of the Egyptian Pyramides where they devoutly salute their God and Mahomet crying with a lowd and roaring voice Deus semper fuit semperque erit God alwaies hath been and ever will be Mercurius Trismegistus the most famous among the Philosophers represented God the true Eternity by an intellectuall sphear whose Center was every where but without any circumference because he was the beginning and end of all things not bounded within any compasse nor terminated in any limits It was an usuall custome among the Nasomons an ancient people in Africa that they coveted to dye sitting and would alway be buried in the same posture sitting in Cells underneath the earth and this they did to signify by that unmoveable gesture that they should now sing a requiem from the businesse of this troublesome world and had now arrived at the haven of eternall quietnesse Thus we see how these miserable heathen who had no other light but nature no other guide but those lame and corrupted principles which were left in them after the fall did notwithstanding according to their broken and weak apprehensions tire out themselves in the expression of Eternity and how ever they were unhappily ignorant in the wayes of God in this life yet they earnestly laboured to know what should become of themselves hereafter and to finde out the state of the life to come Oh how justly might I were it not a digression take up a lameÌ„tation and deplore the wretched condition of our times how short doe we fall even of the perfection of Heathens how few are there in comparison of the generallity of people that cast forth so much as a thought upon Eternity we live here as if there were no life hereafter Our Earth is our Heaven and our pleasures our Paradise we crown our heads with rose buds we eat of the fat and drinke of the sweet and say in our hearts no evil shall happen to us and yet when we have done all Omnes humanae consolationes sunt desolationes Hearts ease will not growe in this earthly garden the true rest will not be found but in the true place the eternall Hierusalem sound and entire contentment hath no rooting in this world For as one hath it excellently * Dispone ordina omnia secundum tuum velle videre non invenies nisi semper aliquid pati debere aut sponte aut invite ita crucem sem per invenies Dispose and marshall all things to thine own hearts desire yet shalt thou doe what thou canst still meet with some crosse or pressure in the way Since it is so let us not then determinate our affections in these earthly things which are of no continuance but let us send our hearts before us to those heavenly mansions where they shall be crowned with fulnesse of happinesse and shall swimme in streams of pleasures for evermore Certainely there is no true rest but that which is eternall and the sweetest refreshment our souls can finde in this world consists in the serious meditation of the joyes to come in devoting our selves and all we have to his service from whom we have them in trusting to him and relying on him For out of God the soul findes no resting place to set her foot on but every where storms and waves death and hell abide her when we have improved our contentments to the very height of our desires when we have attained as much happinesse as the world can give us yet then may we be cut off perchance in the midst of our dayes when our breasts are full of milk and our bones full of marrow or suppose we spinne the threed of our life to a longer day and
attain the end of our faith the salvation of our souls and the conscience of our well spent life shal at that dismall day replenish our souls with abundance of consolations Then all our tears shall be wiped from our eys what we have sowed in sorrow we shall reap in joy when we have finished our course and ended our combate with sinne and death then shall our crown be sure our victory glorious and our triumph Eternall our grave shall be but as a sweet refreshing place to our wearied bodies and death shall be our day-starre to everlasting brightnesse But on the other side if we have in the whole course of our warfare here expended our precious time in the service of sinne and Satan and crumbled away the best and choicest of our years in the desires of the flesh and sports of vanity if our lusts have been our law and we have traded in pleasure all our dayes then heare our dreadfull doom Our mirth will be turned into wormwood and our joy into heavines all our delights in this earth shall vanish as the flower our sun shall set in a cloud and our daies of jollity and contentation shall irrecoverably be involved and turned into perpetuall darknesse CHAP. V. Containing a short digression touching the eternity of the damned ANd here it will not be unseasonable nor any digression from the point in hand to consider with our selves for our better encouragement to the wayes of holinesse the condition of that eternity which the damned have in Hell O the unhappy and ever deplorable state of those poor souls who feel nothing for the present but wrath and vengeance and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of Gods indignation to be poured on them in a fuller measure for ever hereafter And that which addes abundant weight to their miseries Nec qui torquet aliquando fatigatur nec qui torquetur aliquando moritur Bernard meditat cap. 3 is they shall burn but not diminish they shall lye buried in their flames but not consume they shall seek death but shall not finde it they shall desire it but it shall flee from them their punishment consists not in the indurance of any proper or peculiar pain but in the accumulation and heap of innumerable torments together All the faculties of the soul all the senses of the body shall have their severall punishments and that which is more unseparable and more then that eternall There shall be degrees in their torments but the least shall be infinite For as the wrath and displeasure of God toward them is everlasting so shall their pressures be They enjoy an eternity like the Saints but not the Saints eternity for their eternity shall beginne in horror and proceed in confusion their eternity shall purchase and yeeld to them no other fruit but yellings and lamentations and woe Their eternity is such as turns all things into its own nature for all things where the damned do inhabit are eternall The fire is eternall for the breath of God like a river of brimstone hath kindled it and it shall never goe out night nor day but the smoak thereof shall ascend for ever The worm is eternall for the conscience of the damned shall be everlastingly tormented with the sense of their sinne Their worme dyeth not saith the Prophet and their fire never goeth out The prison wherein they are inclosed is eternall The prayers of the Church could open the prison doors to Peter but no prayers can pierce these walls no power can overthrow them no time can ruine them out of Hell is no redemption no ransome no delivery Cruciantur damnati cruciantur in aeternum This is the last sentence of the Judge his irrevocable decree his immutable and eternall Judgement on the damned which shall nevever be reversed Adesse intolerabile abesse impossibile there is no appeal will lye from this Judge there is no reversing this judgement when the sentence is once past it stands for eternity Hence it was that the ancient Church repeated this sentence often in their divine service Peccantem me quotidie non penitentem timor mortis conturbat quia ex inferno nulla est redemptio Whil'st I daily sinne but repent not daily as I ought the fear of death amazeth me because after this life ended out of Hell is no redemption The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha is fully sufficient to save all man-kinde but it belongs not to the damned If therefore the yoak of repentance seem not sweet to thee saith St Bernard think on that yoak which thou shalt be sure to suffer which is Goe ye cursed into eternal fire But the most deplorable thing which is eternall in hell is the irrevocable losse of the beatificall presence of God the eternall privation of Gods sight the uncomfortable want whereof doth more grieve their hearts and wound their afflicted souls then all their bodily torments Thus we see the unhappy estate and condition of the damned in the other world and how the highest link in all this chain of sorrows wherewith they are environed is the miserable perpetuity of their torments when their restlesse thoughts have carefully runne thorow many thousands of years yet will they not then enjoy one day one little houre one minute of rest and respiration Everlasting darknesse is their portion they beginne and end alike with weeping and gnashing of teeth Now since this is certainly true is it possible for man so to degenerate into a beast as to beleeve these things and not to tremble Can the knowledge of these things swim in our brain without a serious and found digestion of them into our hearts when we know and stand convinced that inexplicable eternall endlesse easelesse horrors without true and unfeigned repentance abide us hereafter and on the other side we know not nor can possibly discerne with how speedy and swift a foot our end approacheth nor how suddenly we shall be summoned to give the world our everlasting farewell How can so sad and important consideration as this possesse our thoughts not torment them Or how can this chuse but imbitter our dearest pleasures and crosse our indulgence to our sensuall affections Did we but reason a while with our souls and every one of us in a particular application say within himself I am here floating like a ship in the sea of this world ballasted on every side with the cares and disquietings and miseries of this life and I saile on with full course towards the haven of Eternity one little blast is able to plunge me irrecoverably into this bottomlesse gulf where one houres torment will infinitely exceed for the pain of it an hundred years bitter repentance And shall I now thus standing upon the very battlements of hell melt in my delights cheer up my self in the dayes of my youth shall I tire out my spirits trifle out my precious time rob mine eyes of their beloved sleep for such things
have no eye to look after him no heart to embrace him no foot to follow him no tongue to glorifie him but lye wofully plunged in the dregs of their pollutions Oh the unspeakable goodnes of our God who hath so graciously invited those sheep who are so unhappily strayed from him nay who doth with a * Omnipo tentissima facilitate homines ad seipsum convertit Deus volentes exnolentibus facit Aug. ad vita loving violence irresistably call those who have trampled on his graces and rejected his love But what should move the Creator of all things who hath been thus infinitely provoked who is armed both with power to strike and means to be avenged to compassionate his enemies Certainly there is there can be no other reason alleadged but that which David so often iterates because he is gracious and his mercy endureth for ever But me thinks I hear the afflicted soul bewail it self here is a fountain of mercy indeed had I heart to draw out of it Can his goodnesse extend to me who am nothing but worms and dust and wounds and sores and corruptions Who can give him no oblation but my sinnes no sacrifice but my sorrow What confidence now can I have in this love What strength in this mercy Who ever thou art that art thus and no better disposed to receive the grace of thy God bring forth this small provision offer this sacrifice upon the Altar Since thou hast nothing else to part with surrender up thy sinnes yeeld him thy lusts renounce thy whole interest in thy sinfull delights in thy immoderate affections * Nullius rei tantum in inferno est quantum propriae voluntatis Alsted and then thy sorrowfull spirit shall be a sacrifice to God thy wounded and broken heart he will not despise I am with him saith the Lord who is of an humbled spirit that trembleth at my words We have his own word for his mercy we have his promise for it we have his oath for it He is faithfull saith the Apostle who hath promised he is faithfull he cannot deny himself * Supe rate seipsum potest desertos miserando negare seipsum non potest miscricordiam deserendo He may overcome himself by pittying the forsaken ones but he cannot deny himself by forsaking his pitty For how can he deny himself to us who hath given himself for us How can he deny us his mercy who hath given us his life The end of the first book THE SECOND BOOK OF ETERNITY CHAP. I. Containing an exhortation to holinesse grounded upon the consideration of Eternity THe very soule and life of Christianity consists in the life of a Christianâ— as for outward formalities they plausibly serve to shew forth a good man to the eye of the world but cannot make him such it 's true externall actions adorn our professions but it is where grace and goodnesse seasons them otherwise where the sap and juyce and vigour of religion is not setled in the soul a man is but like a goodly heart-shaken Oak whose beauty will turne into rottenesse and his end will be the fire It was the saying of Machiavell that the appearance of vertue was more to be desired then vertue in self But Socrates â—meer naturalist advised better who said the good man is only wise Certainly our glorious shews and high applauses and exaltations amongst the sonnes of men will prove but miserable comforters in the close of our age when the days of darknesse come O then as we respect the eternall welfare of our poor souls let us be what we would seem Letus tume our words into actions Qâ—alis videri vis talis esse debes Gerh Med. our knowledge into affection and our speculation into practise Let us not onely in a generall and confused manner acknowledge God but rather labour to know him * Let us not think it enough to beleeve that Christ came as a Saviour into the world but endeavour rather by a peculiar personall and applicative faith to make him our own Alas what avails it my soul that Christ shed forth his blood for the sinnes of many iâ— he died not for me What joy to my heart that Christ is risen for the justification of sinners if he be not my portion what comfort to my distressed conscience that Christ is come a light into the world if I sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death What confidence of protection can I have from hence Non prodest Christi resurrectio nisi in te quoque Christus resurgat Gerh. Med. Sitscopus vitae Christus quem s quaris in via ut assequaris in parria that Christ is a carefull shepherds over his flock if I am none of that sheep fold Other let it be the chief desire of our souls and the utmost extent of our endeavours not onely to confesse Christ but to bring him home to our hearts to feel him to affect him to live in him to depend on him to be conformable to him let us willingly heare and cheerfully follow the voice of that sweet guide who is both the way and the journies end that loving Physitian who comes to our wounded consciences with healing in his wings that meek and tender Lamb who powred forth for us tears of anguish and tears of love tears of anguish to redeem our souls and tears of love to compassionate our miseries Now what a pressing perswasion have we here to live unto him who thus died for us to make him our joy who hath borne our sorrows to fix him in our hearts who for our sakes was fixed to the Crosse * â—otus tibi figatur in corde qui totu sprote figebâ—tur in câ—uce How should we mourn in our souls and weep in secret for him quem totus mundus tota elementâ— lugebant at whose sufferings the graves opened the Sunne shut in his light the earth trembled and the whole frame of Heaven in his nature and kinde expressed its sorrow One of the Rabins when he read what bitter torments the Messias should suffer when he came into the world cryed out veniat Messias at egâ— non videam Let the Messias come but let me not see him Did his torments seem so dismall to the spectator what were they then in the sufferer If so ghastly to the sight what were they in the sustaining But what should we doe now Shall we raile on Judas that betrayed him or on Peter that denyed him or the Jews that pierced him or the Apostles that forsook him No no let us look into our own hearts examine our own ways Do we not make his wounds bleed afresh with our sinnes doe we not nayl him to the Crosse again with our pollutions doe we not grinde him in our oppressions and as it were massacre him in our murders What sinne have we ever forsaken for his sake what inordinate affection have we abandoned for his love Can we say and
say truly that we ever spared a dish from our bellies or one houre from our sleep or one fashion from our backs for his sake and doe we thus requite our Redeemer Was Christ all in gore blood for our sinnes and shall we swim in pleasure Did Christ indure such contradictions of sinners and cannot we put up a slight disgrace * Deus tuus parvus factus est tu te magnificas exina nivit se magests tu vermiculus intumescis Was Christ stretched on the Crosse and shall we stretch our selves on beds of down Did Christ such down vineger for us and shall we surfet with plenty Was Christ crowned with thorns and shall we crown our selves with Rose buds O let it shame us to bear so dainty a body under so dolefull a head And think we with our selves surely sinne against God must needs be more then men commonly esteem it for which no way of expiation could be made but by the bitter passion of Christ Oh then let us not think any thing to dear for him who thought nothing to dear for us We have an inestimable price a glorious inheritance set before us let us carefully embrace all those means that may further our progresse as the hearing of the Word receaving of the Sacrament earnest and constant prayer to Almighty God Let us strive as we ought presse forward with all violence The woman in the Gospell which was so long visited with her bloudy issue it was her holy * Victa est ad violentiam quia violenta ad victoriam violence and pressing our Saviour that procured health for her body and pardon for her soul Let this be our endeavour let us never think our selves farre enough in the way to Heaven but prepare our hearts still and lay hold on every advantage that may further us in our journey Behold now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation whilst you have time then doe good unto all whilst you have the light walk as children of the light Judge thy self here that thou be not judged of the Lord hereafter Let not thy eyes slumber nor thy temples take any rest till thoâ— hast found our an habitation in thine heart for the mighty God of Jacob. Remember him as David did in thy bed and think upon him when thou art waking God said of the Church of Thyatira I gave her time to repent of her fornication and she repented not O let us not give our good God the like occasion to second the same complaint against us Behold God now graciously calls us and offers us his mercy He stands at the door and knocks Hear his sweet acclamation Open unto me my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is full of dew and my locks with the drops of the night Song of Solomon chap. 5. What a strange humiliation is here for the king of kings to wait to have mercy Let us arise and open speedily to our beloved to day while it is called to day let us heare his voice let us not put off our time as Felix did St Paul goe for this present time and when I have a convenient leasure I will heare thee as if the time present were not the fittest Let us not stifle the checks of our consciences or say as Festus to Agrippa to morrow thou shalt heare him * Non quaerit Deus dilationem in voce corvina sed confessionem in gemitu columbino All procrastinations in this case are dangerous Let us therefore take hold of salvation whilst occasion serves us If we shut out our welbeloved he will be gon Therefore let our hearts even melt within us whilst he speaks to us in his word If we answer not when he calls us then shall we call and he will not answer The Stork and the Crane and the Swallow in the aire know their seasons and observe their appointed times how much more should man especially since times and moments how long we shall enjoy them are not in our own power but in the power of God The Angel in the Revelation swore by him that liveth for ever that time should be no more The time past can never be recalled let us therefore take the present time For the time past was and is not the time present is but shall not be and of the future we can promise to our selves no fruition But alas such is our blindnesse such an obduration is grown over our hearts that we understand these things but feel them not we have them swimming in our mindes but embrace them not in our affections The best of us may take up that complaint of Saint Augustine Teneo in memoria scribo in charta sed non habeo in vita Aug. * who averred of himself that his desires were better theÌ„ his practice Our vows are in Heaven but our hearts on earth our desires are towards our home but our endeavours flagge in the way and we faint in our journey we have Heavenly hopes but earthly affections we all covet after happinesse but we would take no pains for it we would enjoy Christ in his benefits but we refuse to partake with him in his sufferings volumus assequi Christum sed non sequi we would share willingly with our Saviour in his Crown but not in his combat nay oftentimes we instance God for such graces as we are loath to obtain like Saint Augustine who prayed for continency with a proviso Lord give me continency but not yet nay such is our intolerable sinfulnesse and pollution of heart that at the same instant when our hands are lift up to God for the pardon of old sinnes our heads are working in the contriving of new as Salvian hath it dum verbis praeterita mala plangimus sensu futura meditamur Thus we draw nigh to God with our lips when our hearts are farre from him our affections are buried in the things of this life Excellent is that saying of Isidorus * Regnum hoc â—empiternum ex omni parte beatum est omnibus promissuÌ„ tamen de illo altum inter nos silentium quotus quisque enim est qui de hoc commemorat hoc uxori hoc liberis toti hoc familiae inculcat Isid â—oelum negligimus terram non retinemus Dei favorem non acquirimus mundi perdimus The Kingdome of Heaven saith he is eternall blessed every way and promised to all men but who is there almost that spends one moment in the serious meditation of it What man is there that ever talks to his wife to his children to his family of such a Kingdome We can riot in the praises of our native soile but we blush to speak of and are ashamed to commend our true countrey our everlasting home In our dealings about the things of this life our understandings are ready enough to apprehend them and our hearts to entertain them and our tongues to discourse
of them but in things that belong to the eternall salvation of our souls how deep is our silence how flow our speech how unskilfull our expressions Thus we forsake Heaven for these things which at last will forsake us and trifle out our time in things that will not profit us Hovv farre are men novv adaies from that sweet resolutioÌ„ of Saint Hierome Let others saith he live in their statues in their costly monuments I had rather have St Pauls Coat with his Heavenly graces then the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes O that we would look thus lowly upon our selves we are Christians in profession O let us be such in practice seeing that God hath made us stewards of his treasures let us improve them to the benefit of our brethren Hath God given us abundance of his blessings Let us not hide our talents in a napkin let us send our good works before us into Heaven these slender gifts which thou doest cheerfully distribute in this world will procure thee an eternall compensation in the world to come That sweet speech of Saint John is worth observation blessed are those that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them When our dearest friends our sweetest pleasures our most glorious titles of honour the world it self yea even our life it self shall glide away like a river and turn to dust then shall our good works follow us non transeunt opera nostra saith one sicut transire videntur sed velut aeternitatis semina jaciuntur our good deeds die not with us but they are sowne in earth and spring in Heaven they are an inexhaustible fountain that shall never be dried up a durable spring that shall never fail They are acts of time short in their performance yet eternall in their recompence they build up for us through the mercies of our God an everlasting foundation for the time to come Loe then here we have set before us viam ad regnum the way to our eternity let us goe on herein without intermission presse forward with violence strive to attain the crown * Opulentia nimis multa est aeternitas sed nisi perseveranter quaesita nunquam inver itur Bâ—rnard Eternall joy is an abundant treasure an everlasting wealth but it is not given save to them that seek it yea that seek it with their whole hearts Certainly did we as truly know as we shall one day undoubtedly feel the bitter fruit that our luke-warm profession our grosse stupidity and utter neglect of our everlasting state will produce and procure us in the end all our thoughts and language all our affections and inclinations would be more eagerly imployed and more faithfully exercised in our preparations for that building given of God a house not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens Oh how senselesse are we how stupid in our selves Illud propter quod peccamus amittimus peccaâ—um ipsum retinemus and wickedly injurious to our own welfare who for a small gain a sading pleasure a fugitive honour wound our consciences and hazard our souls to stand as it were on the brink of hell The whole world promised for a reward cannot perswade us to endure one momentary torment in fire And yet in the accustomed course of our lives we dread not we quake not at everlasting burnings But ô thou delicious and dainty soul who cherishest thy self in the joy of thy heart and the delight of thine eyes whose belly is thy God and the world thy Paradise O bethink thy self betimes before that gloomy day that day of clouds and thick darknesse that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and lament and all faces as the Prophet Joel speaks shall gather blacknesse because the time of their judgement is come Alas with what a dolefull heart and weeping eye and drooping countenance and trembling loyns wilt thou at the last and great Assize look upon Christ Jesus when he shall most gloriously appear with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold damp will seize upon thy soul when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long neglected in his ordinance despised in his members rejected in his love when thou shalt see the judgement seat the †books opened Fiet apertio librorum scilicet conscientiarum quibus merita demerita univâ—rsorum sibi ipsis caeteris innotescent thy sinnes discovered yea all the secret counsells of thy heart after a wonderfull manner manifested and laid open to the eye of the whole world What horrour and perplexity of spirit will possesse thee to view and behold but the ry solemnities and circumstances which accompany this Judgement vvhen thou shalt see the Heavens burn the Elements melt the earth tremble the sea roar the sun turne into darknesse and the moon into blood And novv vvhat shall be thy refuge vvhere shall be thy succour shalt thou raign because thou cloathest thy self in Cedar shalt thou be safe because vvith the Eagle thou hast set thy neast on high O no it is not now the greatnesse of thy state nor the abundance of thy wealth nor the priviledge of thy place nor the eminency of thy worth or wit or learning that caÌ„ avail thee ought either to avoid thy doom or prorogue thy judgement All states and conditions of men are alike when they appear at this barre There the Prince must lay down his crown and the Pear his robes and the Judge his purple and the Captain his banner All must promiscuously attend to give in their accounts and to receive according to that they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil Here on earth great men and glorious in the eye of the world so long as they can hold their habitations in the earth have both countenance to defend and power to protect them from the injuries of the times but when the dismall face of that terrible day shall shew it self then shall they finde no eye to pity nor arm to help nor palace to defend nor rocks to shelter nor mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb Give me the most insolent spirit the most undaunted soul that now breaths under the cope of Heaven who now fears not any created nature no not God himself yet when he shall heare that terrible sound Arise ye dead and come to judgement how will his heart even melt and his bowels quiver within him when he shall have his severe judge above him and hell beneath him and his worm within him and fire round about him O then whosoever thou art die unto thy sins and unto thy pleasures here that thou mayest live to God hereafter * Sic tibi cave ut caveas teipsum goe out of thy self judge and condemn thine own
keep innocency and doe the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last peace with God peace with men and peace with our own conscience In the world saith our Saviour shall ye have trouble but in me ye shall have peace The world is our sea but Christ is our haven the world is our warfare but Christ is our rest the world is full of storms but Christ is our peace in me you shall have peace Hence it was that the Saints of God alwayes have taken exceeding joy in their tribulation because Christ was their comfort and peace he sweetned all their sorrows Solus is charum non amittit cui ille charus est qui non amittitur Hence it was that Saint Augustine so resolutely brake forth Hic ure hic seca modo in aeternum parcas he regarded not what pressures God laid upon him So he vouchsafed patience here and heaven hereafter What ever we doe or can suffer in this life the abundance of our eternall joy shall infinitely recompense the vveight of our sorrovves Our light afflictions vvhich are but foramoment doe cause unto us a farre more excellent and exceeding weight of glory Our combat here is short but our triumph eternall And who would not endure a few crosses and windings in his way when he knowes they will bring him to his journeys end Who would not for a little season expose himself to the mercy of the waves Impossibile est ut in utroque seculo beatus sis ut in caelo in terra appareas gloriosus Hier. to be tossed on the Sea when he is assured with S. Paul to come safely to the shore Besides we must not expect to establish our happinesse here and to enjoy our heaven hereafter It is impossible a man should flow in his delights in this world and then drink at the fountain of everlasting blisse in the world to come O then let us embrace the conflict that we may obtain the Crown Melior est modica amaritudo in faucibus quà m aeternum tormentum in visceribus i. e. a little gall in the mouth is not so painfull as continuall torments in the bowels Farre better it is to summe up our reckonings here then to have our debts upon the score hereafter * Vna hora erit gravior in paena quam centum anni in amarissima paenitentia Thomas de Kemp. farre better to unloose our souls from the immoderate embracements of the comforts of this world and to endure the straits pinchings of a more reserved course for sixty or seventy years in this life then be eternally tormented for ever more Saint Chrysostome hath an excellent expression to this purpose Suppose a man saith he much desiring sleep and in his perfect minde had an offer made him of one nights sweet rest upon condition to be punished a hundred years for it would he accept think you of his sleep upon such termes Now look what one night is to an hundred years the same is the life present compared with that to come Nay look what a drop of water is to the sea the same and no more is a thousand years to Eternity Who then of sound judgement for the short fruition of a transitory contentment in this life would expose himself to the horror of eternall flames in the life to come And therefore whiles we have our abode in this vale of misery we should alwaies pray with Saint Bernard grant us Lord that we may so partake of temporall felicities that we may not lose eternall All things under the Sunne have their alterations and changings but things above are permanent and of an induring substance He that can be secure and sure of the happinesse to come builds up his house upon a firm foundation How small a modell of time how short a period is the longest life when once it is finished Recollect with thy self saith Saint Augustine the years that are passed from Adams time untill now turne over the whole Scripture and the time since the fall will seem but as yesterday For what are the times past If thou hadst lived from Adams day till this hour * Da Domine ut sic possideamus temporalia ut non perdamus aeterna Omnia ei salva sunt cui salva est beara aâ—ternitas thou wouldst easily have judged that this life hath no perpetuity in it which flees away so swiftly For what is the life of any man suppose the longest age It is but like the morning dew like the twinkling of an eye in a trice it is gon I have seen an end of all perfection saith David But here ô Christian let me deal more plainly with thee thou wilt readily acknowledge all things under the frame of Heaven are perishing and Heaven is thy thought Eternity is thine aym Now if it be so why art thou then so dul in thy course of holinesse so frozen in thy zeal so inclinable to every motion of sin so easily overcome by every incitement to wantonnesse never more calm and unseasonably patient then when thy affections should be enflamed and thy heart kindled with a just indignation in Gods cause and on the other side never more fretting whining and unquiet then when thou shouldest be meek patient cheerfully disposed under the burden of afflictions How can it be that we should have eternity in our mindes yet live no better in our manners Now that we may the easier discern the deceitfulnes of our hearts herein let us examine our selves by the example of Iacob This Patriarch Iacob served his uncle Laban seaven years for Rachel his daughter and the greatnes of his affection towards her made that time seem but as a few dayes To apply this Thou art a Servant as Iacob was but thou serves not such a Master as Iacob did thou serves not man but God thy maker and a faithfull rewarder thou serves not for a wife but for a kingdom not for an earthly contentation but for an heavenly habitation And yet behold the short affliction of one day can enervate thy love and unlock thy affections from God and heaven Every crosse accident stops thee in thy course every little sorrow disquiets thy soul and lessens thy contentment Behold here measure by the example of Iacob the strength of thy love Iacob could serve seaven years with chearfulnes for a wife but thou canst hardly serve thy God so many dayes with a true affection for Heaven For reckon up all the nights thou hast spent in prayer summe up all the dayes that thou hast worne out in religious exercises and canst thou then truly say to God as Iacob did to his uncle In thy service night and day have I macerated my body with heat and cold and my sleep departed from mine eyes twenty years have I laboured in thy service couldst thou say thus and say it truly ô then what would be the end of thy labour what
all this yet be not too confident one hour may accomplish that which a thousand years could not produce and think with your selves what a little distance there is between your souls and death Let me ask the strongest of men on earth what certainty of life canst thou promise thy self seeing that either a little bone in thy throat may choak thee or a tile from thy house may brain thee or some malignant ayre may poison thee Tu te prius abreptum miraberis quam metueres abripiendum and then where art thou There are a thousand waies whereby suddenly a man may come to his end and certain it is that Mors illa maxime improvisa est cujus vita praecedens non fuit provida i.e. that death is the suddenest which is not ushered in with a foregoing preparation It is therefore a speciall point of wisdom to think every day our last yea to account every hour the period of our lives For look how many pores there are in the bodie so many windows are there to let in death yea we carry our deaths continually about us in our bosomes and who can promise himself his life till the evening Death doth not alwayes send forth her harbingers to give notice of her coming she often presseth in unlookt for and suddenly attacheth the unprovided soul Watch therefore because ye know neither the day not the hour work whilest ye have the day for the night comes wherein no man can work look towards thy evening and cast thy thoughts upon that long Eternitie Death first or last will apprehend thee expect it therefore at every turn and of this assure thy self * Qâ—alis quisque in hac vita moritur talis in die novissimo judicabitur as death leaveth thee so shal judgement finde thee How improvidently secure then are those who set up their rest in the comforts of this life and overly-regard their eternall welfare This is the generall carelesnesse of our times If a man have a perpetuitie but of five shillings yearly rent what travel and pains and sweat what beating of his braine and exhausting of his treasure wil he run thorow before he will lose one dram of his right Yet our eternall inheritaÌ„ce is cast behinde us undervalued as a trifle not worth the seeking this shews our small love to our home for we little esteem of that which we take small pains for All other things which conduce to our temporall well being we seek with circumspection and enjoy them with content but matters of Eternitie we conceive of as things far distant from us we scarcely entertain them in our thoughts We busie not our understandings in the search of those things which we see not things present obvious to our sight do best affect us We are ill sighted upward weak and dim eyes have we towards heaven The truth of this appeares even in children who presently even from the cradle drink in the rudiments of vice they learn to swear riot drink and the like enormities with the smallest teaching but they are utterly indisposed to any vertuous inclinations They soon apprehend what belongs to the curiositie of behaviour and deportment of the body and the fashions of the times Hoc discunt omnes ante Alpha Beta puelli but for Heaven and that Eternity they are wholly averse from it they are utterly uncapable of the things above they carry about them as the liverie of their first parents not only an indisposition but a very opposition to goodnesse And whereas for other imployments and undertakings they have certain naturall notions in them bending their intentions to naturall works some one way and some another yet they have not so much as any apprehension of the things of God * Homo sine gratia praeter carnem nihil sapit intelligit aut potest Thus it is with children and thus it is with all men even those of the ripest and most piercing understanding untill the light of Gods Spirit hath shined on the hearts and powerfully wrought some spirituall holy dispositions in in them The naturall man saith the Apostle neither doth nor can discern the things that are of God O how infinitely miserable and deplorable is his state who having neither knowledge of the true life nor possibilitie of himselfe to finde it out * Cum exul sit a patria exultat in via yet runnes on securely in his damned way untill he fall wofully and irrecoverably into the pit wher he will not have no not when he hath uncomfortably worne out millions of years the least intermission of sorrow or drop of comfort or hope of pardon Here on earth malefactors condemned to die have this comfort though wretched that one hour commonly terminates all their griefes in this life but the torments of the damned are not concluded in an age nay the end and period of ten thousand yeers will not end their sorrow And this is it which adds more to their sufferings even their unhappie knowledge of the perpetuitie of them they have not so much as any hope of releasment Hope in this life hath such a power in it that it can yeeld some comfort in the middest of trouble the sick man whilest his soul is in him he hath hope but after this life this small refreshment is denied the damned all their hope is turned into desperation The prophet Daniel cap. 4.14 heard the voice of an holy one crying Hew down the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit nevertheles leave the stump of his root in the earth Thus it is with men in this world saith Ambrose their leaves and their flowers are shaken their delights are taken from them but the roots remain and their hope is not abolished But it is not so in hell saith he There both flower stump nay even all hope too are banished away froÌ„ them The day of the Lord saith the prophet Malachi shall burn them up leave them neither root nor braÌ„ch The very hope saith SalomoÌ„ of the wicked shal perish what should this teach us but whilst our hope remains to improve our few daies to our best advaÌ„tage to make straighter paths to our selves to abridge our inordinate appetites in some measure of their vain and fruitlesse joyes and with all the power of our affections strive to attain that haven where no billow shall affright us no storms astonish us no perils indanger us Then shall our dissolution prove our gain and our death our glory if otherwise we persist wilfully in the paths of our voluptuousnes and solace our selves in the vain ioyes of our own hearts in the sight of our eyes certainly it will be bitternes in the later end * Extâ—ema gaudii luctus occupat All our earthly delights will glide away lik a swift river The rejoycing of the wicked is short saith Iob and the joy of a sinner is but for
shut up and when it was too late namely when he was thrown to hell then began he to look upward and about him So many now adaies they goe on in a pleasing and easie way And * In via nemo errat sed in fine viae via pluribus placet sed displicet terret viae tâ—rminus they are never sensible that they are out of the way till they arrive at the end of their journey All the misery lies in the close of the day For out of the pit is no redemption when once the soul is split upon this rock it gives to the world his everlasting farewell according to that of Job cap. 7.9 as the cloud vanisheth and goeth away so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more he shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more VII It is recorded of Lazarus that after his resurrection from the dead he was never seen to laught The stream of his affections were now turned into another chanell his thoughts were fixt in heaven though his body was on earth and therefore * Aeternis inhianti in fastidio sunt omnia transitoria Bern. he could not but slight temporall things when his heart was bent towards eternall Oh that we could work our hearts and souls to a vehement thirst after Christ the true eternity For if Christ be our end our joy shall be endlesse nullo fine regnabis cum Christo si Christus tibi finis VIII The minde of man is so much the more sensible of the evil present by how much lesse it meditates on the good to come For he that looks towards the reward will vilify the sufferings Saint Austin runs on sweetly in his meditations upon this subject Eternall labour saith he is but an equall compensation for an eternall rest But if thou shouldest endure this eternall labour thou couldst never arrive at that eternall rest Therefore hath the mercy of God ordained thy sorrows to be temporall that thy joys may be eternall and yet saith he * Ubi est cogitatio Dei nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes Dei Aug. who is there that thinks on God as he ought Such thoughts are irksome to us But for temporall vanities we think of them with delight and enjoy them with contentment Now saith he look in and about thy self Noli gaudere ut piscis qui in sua exultat esca nondum enim traxit hamum piscator Aug. see where thou art God hath his hook in thy nostrills and can pluck thee up when he pleaseth and though he suffer thee according to thy calculation a long time yet what is the longest time of man to eternity Yea though thou shouldest lengthen out thy dayes to many hundred of years yet still thou art transitory and exposed to the common condition of all men Then fix thy heart on God and so enjoying that eternity thou shalt make thy self eternall and be not discouraged for thy tribulations and daily disquietings in this world for such is gods love such his abundant kindnes towards his elect that he * Ideo Deus terrenis faeli citatibus amaritudinem miscet ut alia quaeratur faelicitas cujus dulcedo non est fallax corrects them to the end they might not be condemned with the world hereafter Be not therefore I say cast down with any crosses whatsoever that may befall thee in this life for the things that are present are temporall but the things to come are eternall When we see the friends of this world the eager embracers of the comforts of this life upon every summons of death strive to deferre what they cannot utterly avoid their corporall dissolutions oh how great care what indefatigable diligence what restlesse endeavours should we use that we might live for ever Let us again and again meditate on these things and with due care foresee eternity before we unexpectedly fall into it Certain it is * Omnia transeunt fola restat non transibit aeternitas all things passe away in this life only eternity hath no period let us redeem the time and work while we have the day for if we neglect good duties here we shall never regain the like opportunity hereafter This life saith Nazianzen is as it were our fairday or market-day let us now buy what we want while the faire lasts while we have time let us doe good unto all men * Tu dormis sed tempus tuum non dormit sed ambulat imo volat Bene illis qui sic vivunt sicut vixisse se volunt cum motiendum erit faciantque eaquae in aeternitate constituti fecisse se gaudebuÌ„â— Amb. Happy is the man that so lives here that the remembrance of his well-spent life may yeeld him joy hereafter For otherwise levis hic neglectus aeternum fit dispendium i.e. A small neglect in the ordering of our time in this world will be seconded with an eternall losse in the world to come IX Death is the ending of our dayes not of our life For when our day shall close and our time shall be no more then shall our death conduct us to a life which will last for all Eternity For we dye not here to dye but to live for ever Therefore the best guide of our life is the consideration of our death and he alone leads a life answerable to his Christian profession who daily expects to leave it Me thinks ' its strange men should be so industriously carefull to avoid their death and so carelesly improvident of the life to come when as nothing makes death bad but that estate which follows it but the reason is we are spiritually blinde and see not nor know in this our day the things that belong to our peace We have naturally neither sight nor feeling of the joyes to come But when God shall enlighten the darknesse of our mindes and reveal his sonne in us vvhen once the day dawneth and that day-starre ariseth in our hearts ô then our death will be our joy and the rejoycing of our hearts then shall we infinitely desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Let us therefore with unwearied endeavours labour to bring Christ home to our hearts and to keep him there Let us dye to our selves and to our lusts here that so in the world to come we may everlastingly live unto Christ and in him Some directions for the better ordering of our lives in the way to a happy eternity SInne and grace are both eternall both reach to eternity and so doe all the actions that proceed from either Hence it follows that a gracious life is the beaten path-way to a glorious eternity Therefore to the end thy Being hereafter may be as happy as it must be long take in these directions In all thy dealings amongst the sonnes of men be that thou seemest amuse not the world with flourishes labour not to be
* Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudine 〈◊〉 te ipsum da habebis illud Aug. let sorrows oppresse my minde Bone Jesu qui par cendo sae prus nos à te abijcis feriendo effice ut ad te redeamus Ger. med let pains consume my flesh let watchings dry me or heat scorch me or cold freeze and contract me let all these and what can come more happen unto me to I may enjoy my Saviour For how excellent shall the glory of the just be how great their joy when every face shall shine as the sun when our Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his works O were thy affections rightly setled on these heavenly mansions how abject and underneath thee wouldest thou esteem those things which before thou setst an high price upon As he which ascends an high mountain when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steps low and beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottom so he which sends his thoughts to heaven however he esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groveling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them under him and vilisies them all in regard of heavenly treasures Let us therefore chearfully follow that advice of a reverend Father * Quod aliquando per necessitatem amittenduÌ„ est pro aeterna remuneratione sponte est distribuendum Let us here willingly part with that for heaven which we must first or last necessarily leave upon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeavours be dispended for the attainment of Eternitie For certaine it is howsoever we live here like secure people of a secure age and however we waste out the strength and flower of our dayes as if we should never account for it yet our judgement is most sure and shall not be avoided The sentence of the Judge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked We must all appear saith Saint Paul before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Then shall our wickednesse be brought to light which now lies hid in darknes I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn Revel 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged of those things which were written in the books according to their works and whosoever was not found witten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall give up his account every soul shall first or last come to his reckoning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let us prepare our selves to meet our God let us come before him with fear and tremble at his judgements Fear not him saith our Saviour who when he hath killed the body can do no more but fear him who can cast both soul and body to hell I say him fear Oh hovv many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they have meditated upon the last judgement Hierom saith as oft as I think of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart vvithin me tremble Cyril saith I am afraid of hell because the worme there dies not and the fire never goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth * A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisâ— quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut prç eniam fletibus fletuÌ„ stridorem dentium of that infernall beast Who will give to mine eyes saith he a fountain of tears that by my weeping here I may prevent vveping and gnashing of teeth hereafter And have the Saints of God thus shrunk at the thoughts of hell hovv should then the loyns of the vvicked quake and tremble Come novv thou prophane vvretch of a prophane age vvho at every vvord almost that drops from thy irreligious mouth speakest damnation to thy soul bealching out ever and anon these or the like execrable speeches Would I were damned if I knew this or that God damne me body and soul if I doe it not Alas alas seemeth it a light thing in thine eyes to play with flames to sport thy self with everlasting burnings Tell mee dost thou know or diddest thou ever cast it in thy thoughts what a condition it is to be damned Hear a little and tremble Thou shalt there to thy greater horrour and amazement see much joy but never feel it for thou shalt see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God thou thy self thrust out Luke 6.13.28 As touching thy company Though here on earth thou wouldest not perchance be hired to lodge one night in a house haunted with spirits yet there thou must inhabite with unclean divels for evermore Matth. 25.41 And to conclude in this thy cursed estate thy heart and tongue shall be full of cursings and blasphemies Thou shalt blaspheme the God of heaven for thy pains and sores thou shalt curse those that were the means to bring thee thither curse the time that ever thou lost so many goldeÌ„ opportunities of getting grace that thou hast heard so many sermons and no whit bettered by them Curse thy self that slightest so many wholsom reproofs which might have happily been improved to the saving of thy soul Say now desperate fearles sinner canst thou be content in the apprehension of these miseries to curse thy self again to the nethermost of hell or on the contrary dost thou now begin to be ashamed and confounded in thy self and is thy conscience affrighted with the ugly face of thy sins and of those bitter torments that abide them Know then thou hast to deal with a God who when thou art truly moved for thy sins an mourn for thy sufferings Jer. 31.20 Thou hast to deal with a God who will meet thee when thou approachest to him if thou worke righteousnes and remember him in his way Isa 64.5 Thou hast to deal with a God who doth account it his strange work to punish Isa 28.21 And he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 Yea thou hast to deal with a God who hath graciously proclaimed to the whole world that he delights to shew mercy yea with his whole heart and with his whole soul Jer. 32.41 Oh then be wise now for thy soul in time and think it a mercy that thou art yet on this side hell And whatever thou judgest thy self worthy to be condemned for at that terrible barre condemn thy self for it before hand that the Lord may say I will not judge this man because he hath judged himself already And be assured where mans conversion begins there Gods displeasure makes its period Excellent is that advice of Saint Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errours of thy life while thy time serves Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health lest thou hear that bitter sentence Goe ye cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man know what time he should leave the world carnall wisdom would prompt him to proportion his time some to pleasure and some to repentance But he that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Culpam tuâ—m duÌ„ vacat peÌ„sa districtioneÌ„ su uâ— judicij duÌ„ vâ—les exhorresce ne tunc amaram sententianâ—â—â—udias cum nul lis fletibâ— evadas Since therefore we can neither prevent nor foresee death let us alwaies expect it and provide for it Let us dye to our sinnes here that we may live to Christ hereafter and let us suffer with Christ in this world that we may rejoyce and raign with him in the world to come When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall never end never never me thinks this word never hath a mountanious weight in it to an eternity which maketh every good action infinitely better and every evill action infinitely worse Oh the unhappines everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enjoy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to lose the presence of God and society of Angels for ever hereafter FINIS