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<DATE>2012-01-24</DATE>
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<NAME>Jayanthi Reddy</NAME>
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*Final validate and check Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ]. Converted [ ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible". DONE</ITEM>
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<STC T="S">24473.3</STC>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A DISCOVRSE <HI>OF</HI> ETERNITIE Collected and Compo&s;ed for <HI>the Common good,</HI> By W. T.</P>
<P><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>coat of arms for University of Oxford</FIGDESC>
<HEAD>ACADEMIA OXONIENSIS</HEAD>
<Q>SAPIENTIA FELICITATIS</Q>
</FIGURE></P>
<P><HI>OXFORD</HI> Printed by IOH: LICHFIELD, for WILLIAM WEBBE, <HI>An. D.</HI> 1633.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="book">
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>THE FIRST CHAPTER</HI> Containing an Introduction to the en&s;uing Di&s;cour&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>_THere is nothing can fully &s;atisfie the mind of Man but that which is aboue man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Feci&s;ti nos ad te domine, &amp; inquietum e&s;t cor no&s;trum donec requi|e&s;cat in te. <HI>Aug, lib.</HI> 1. <HI>Con&s;. cap.</HI> 1.</NOTE> all the trea&s;ures and riches vnder Heaven can|not make vp a proporti|onable object for the &s;oule. For that which mu&s;t terminate the de|&s;ires of &s;o excellent and divine a nature, mu&s;t bee of a corre&s;pondent &amp; like condition with it, that is, in|finite and immortall. Now no &s;ublunary ble&s;&s;ings ex|tend thus farre: All worldly happine&s;&s;e, and earthly delights haue their changes, and haue their death. They are &s;hort in their continuance, and vncomforta|ble in their end. For they leaue vs, when we leaue the world, and they nothing availe vs in the day of triall, when our bodies &s;hall de&s;cend into the &s;limie vally, &amp; our &s;oules returne to God that gaue them, then all the
<PB N="2" REF="3"> choice&s;t comforts of this life glide away from vs as the &s;treame, and the &s;unne of our ioy will &s;et for ever. Our beautie wherein wee haue &s;o much prided our &s;elues, &s;hall turne into rottenne&s;&s;e, our mirth into wormewood, our glory into du&s;t. Now if this be the condition, if &s;uch the &s;tate of our be&s;t plea&s;ing conten|tations here below, how vndi&s;creetly, improuident of our &s;oules welfare &s;hould we be, to bound our affecti|ons on the things of this world, what a madne&s;&s;e be|yond admiration, were it in vs, to trifle out our time, to wa&s;te and weare out our mo&s;t pretious daies in the va|nities vnder the &s;unne, as if God had placed vs here on earth, like the Leviathan in the Sea, to take our pa&s;time in it; to ingulfe our &s;oules into the &s;en&s;uall plea&s;ures of this life, as if we had neither hope nor ex|pectation of a life to come, what an intollerable &s;tupi|ditie were it, for the &s;hort fruition of a momentary content here, to plunge our &s;elues for everla&s;tingnes into a &s;ea, as it were of fire and brim&s;tone, where wee &s;hall &s;ee no bankes, and feele no bottome. Me thinkes the &s;erious con&s;ideration hereof, &s;hould even cut the heart, and damp the mirth, and wound the very &s;oule of the mo&s;t glorious and &s;elfe plea&s;ing worldling, who&s;e life is nothing but a change of recreations, to thinke vpon his fading &s;tate, his flowing condition, his declining ioy, his dying life, and endle&s;&s;e eternitie, to &s;ee how all things in him, and about him goe &s;peedily forward in a mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible declination, to behold with his eies, how his goods, and his greatne&s;&s;e, his liuings, and his life, and all the mo&s;t pretious delights which his &s;en&s;uall heart enioyes, are already winged as it
<PB N="3" REF="3" MS="y"> were for their flight, and mu&s;t &s;hortly bid him an e|verla&s;ting farwell. And then what &s;hall bee his &s;tay, where &s;hall be his &s;helter, what will remaine to bee done, but with that &s;ad and di&s;con&s;olate Heathen, to &s;hut vp all in that hopele&s;&s;e and helple&s;&s;e lamentation, <HI>Anxius vixi, dubius morior, heu quo vado,</HI> I haue &s;quandred out my life in an vnfruitfull way, I haue li|ved vnre&s;oluedly, and die doubtfully, and now whe|ther away O my &s;oule, woe is thee and alas for ever|more. And &s;uch is the bitter clo&s;e, and vncomforta|ble ende of all tho&s;e who goe de&s;perately on in the waies of their hearts, and in the &s;ight of their eies, and make not God their &s;trength; though their excellen|cy mount vp to the heauens (&s;aith <HI>Iob</HI>) and their heads reach vnto the cloudes, yet &s;hall they peri&s;h for euer as their doung, and the eye which hath &s;eene them &s;hall doe &s;o no more, <HI>Iob.</HI> 20.6. O then how deepely doth it concerne vs, to rai&s;e vp our de&s;ires to things a|boue, to fix our hearts vpon the true rocke, to drawe our waters of comfort from the euerliuing fountaine, to tru&s;t &s;o much more on God, by how much we haue le&s;&s;e on earth to tru&s;t to. Now for our better incou|ragement to this dutie, and to the end wee may the more ea&s;ily vnloo&s;e our affections from the imbrace|ments of this world, it will not bee vnworthy our la|bour to meditate a while vpon the nature of that Eternitie which doth vnavoidably abide for vs either in horror or happine&s;&s;e in the life to come.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="4" REF="4">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. II.</HI> Containing a de&s;cription of Eternitie, with a briefe declaration of the nature and condition of it.</HEAD>
<P>ETernitie is an infinite, endle&s;&s;e, bottomele&s;&s;e gulfe, which no line can faddome, no time can reach, no age can extend to, no tongue can ex|pre&s;&s;e. It is a duration alwaies pre&s;ent, a being al|waies in being, it is one perpetuall day, which &s;hall ne|ver &s;ee an Euening. Infinite are the de&s;criptions of the Ancients, and divers their expre&s;&s;ions, touching this Eternitie. The <HI>Egyptians</HI> conceiuing that God was eternall, and his duration and being to bee properly tearmed Eternitie, repre&s;ented the diuine power by a Circle, which had neither beginning nor end. And hence it was that the Ancient Romans erected Tem|ples which they dedicated to their Gods in a circular figure. Thus <HI>Numa Pompilius</HI> deuoted a round Tem|ple to the Maie&s;tie of <HI>Ve&s;ta.</HI> And <HI>Augu&s;tus Cae&s;ar</HI> the like in honour of all the Gods: <HI>Pythagoras</HI> the better to expre&s;&s;e that God was eternall, commanded his Schollers that &s;o oft as they accommodated them|&s;elues to the wor&s;hip of God, they &s;hould turne them|&s;elues round. The Turkes euery morning a&s;cend into an high Tower built in the fa&s;hion of the <HI>Egyptian Pyramides,</HI> where they deuoutly &s;alute their God and Mahomet, crying with a lowd and roaring voice, <HI>De|us &s;emper fuit, &s;emper&abque; erit,</HI> God alwaies hath beene, and euer will be. <HI>Mercurius Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> the mo&s;t fa|mous among the Philo&s;ophers, repre&s;ented God the
<PB N="5" REF="4" MS="y"> true Eternitie by an intellectuall &s;pheare, who&s;e Cen|ter was euery where, but without any circumference, becau&s;e he was the beginning and ende of all things, not bounded within any compa&s;&s;e, nor terminated in any limits. It was an v&s;uall cu&s;tome among the <HI>Na&s;o|mons,</HI> an ancient people in <HI>Africa,</HI> that they coveted to dye &s;itting, and would alwaie be buried in the &s;ame po&s;ture &s;itting in Cells vnderneath the earth, and this they did to fignifie by that vnmoueable ge&s;ture, that they &s;hould now &s;ing a <HI>requiem</HI> from the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of this trouble&s;ome world, and had now ariued at the hauen of eternall quietne&s;&s;e: Thus we &s;ee how the&s;e mi&s;erable heathen who had no other light but nature, no other guide but tho&s;e lame and corrupted princi|ples, which were left in them after the fall, did not|with&s;tanding according to their broken and weake apprehen&s;ions, tire out them&s;elues in the expre&s;&s;ion of Eternitie, and how euer they were vnhappily igno|rant in the waies of God in this life, yet they earne&s;tly laboured to know what &s;hould become of them&s;elues hereafter, and to finde out the &s;tate of the life to come: Oh how iu&s;tly might I (were it not a digre&s;&s;ion) take vp a lamentation and deplore the wretched condition of our times, how &s;hort doe wee fall, euen of the per|fection of Heathens, what man is there among&s;t vs, that ca&s;teth forth &s;o much as a thought vpon Eternity? wee liue here as if there were no life hereafter. Our Earth is our Heauen, and our plea&s;ures, our Para|dice, we crowne our heads with ro&s;e buds, wee eate of the fat, and drinke of the &s;weet, and &s;ay in our hearts, no euill &s;hall happen to vs, &amp; yet when we haue done
<PB N="6" REF="5"> all, <HI>Omnes humanae con&s;olationes &s;unt de&s;olationes,</HI> Hearts ea&s;e will not growe in this earthly garden, the true re&s;t will not be found, but in the true place, the eternall Hieru&s;alem, &s;ound and entire contentment hath no rooting in this world. For as one hath it ex|cellently<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Di&s;pone &amp; ordina omnia &s;ecundum tu|um velle &amp; vi|dere, &amp; non invenies, ni&s;i &s;emper a li|quid pati de|bere, aut&s;pon|te aut invite &amp; ita crucem &s;emper inve|nies.</NOTE> di&s;po&s;e &amp; mar&s;hall all things to thine own hearts de&s;ire, yet &s;halt thou (doe what thou can&s;t) &s;till meet with &s;ome cro&s;&s;e or pre&s;ure in the way. Since it is &s;o, let vs not then determinate our affections in the&s;e earthly things, which are of no continuance, but let vs &s;end our hearts before vs to tho&s;e heavenly man&s;ions where they &s;hall be crowned with fulne&s;&s;e of happine&s;&s;e, and &s;hall &s;wimme in &s;treames of plea|&s;ures for evermore. Certainely there is no true re&s;t but that which is eternall, &amp; the &s;weete&s;t refre&s;hment our &s;oules can finde in this world, con&s;i&s;ts in the &s;eri|ous meditation of the ioyes to come, in devoting our &s;elues and all we haue to his &s;eruice, from whom wee haue them, in tru&s;ting to him, and relying on him, for out of God the &s;oule findes no re&s;ting place to &s;et her foot on, but every where &s;tormes and waues, death &amp; hell abide her, when we haue improued our content|ments to the very height of our de&s;ires, when we haue attained as much happine&s;&s;e as the world can giue vs, yet then may we be cut off perchance in the mid&s;t of our daies, when our brea&s;ts are full of milke, and our bones full of marrow, or &s;uppo&s;e we &s;pinne the thred of our life to a longer day, and God crowne vs here with the ble&s;&s;ings of his left hand, the comforts of this life, and length of yeares, yea though all things fa|vour our longer continuance in this world, yet in the
<PB N="7" REF="5" MS="y"> end time and age will ruine vs. Wee &s;hall bring our yeares to an end, like a tale that is told, and &s;hall vani&s;h away like a &s;hadow, though we liue many yeares, and in them all we reioice, yet in the end we &s;hall remem|ber the daies of darkne&s;&s;e, &s;aith <HI>Solomon,</HI> and the time &s;hall come that the eye which &s;aw vs, &s;hall &s;ee vs no more.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Soles occide|re &amp; redire po&s;&s;unt, nobis cum occidet, &s;emel brevis lux, nox e&s;t perpetuo vna dormienda <HI>Cat.</HI></NOTE> The Sunne &s;ets, and ri&s;eth againe, but we alas when our gla&s;&s;e is runne, and the &s;hort gleame of our &s;ommers day is &s;pent, &s;hall neuer returne till our la&s;t &s;ummons, when the dead &s;hall heare the voice of the &s;onne of God, and they that heare it &s;hall liue, and come forth of their graues, they that haue done good to the re&s;urrection of life, and they that haue done e|vill to the re&s;urrection of condemnation, both to Eter|nitie, and then &s;hall follow that large day, that &s;hall ne|ver &s;hut in, that infinite continuation of time that &s;hall neuer end, that vnlimited Eternitie, which ever hath beene, and is, and will be the &s;ame for euer, when the Sunne &s;hall no more yeeld her light by day, nor the Moone her brightne&s;&s;e by night, but God &s;hall be our light, and the Lord our glory. But oh the vnhappy condition of our age, who is there that ponders the&s;e things with a dige&s;ted meditation, that lookes into the &s;tate of his &s;oule with a &s;erious eye, that examines his con&s;cience, vnvaileth his heart, and con&s;idereth his waies. That endeauours to lay a good foundati|on for the time to come, wee &s;tand at the doore of Eternitie, and while we liue, we are euery day entring into it, it's but a &s;troake of death &amp; we are gone, even in a moment, and whether? from our &s;hort and fading delights, to an endle&s;&s;e, ea&s;ele&s;&s;e gulfe, where our
<PB N="8" REF="6"> worme &s;hall never die, nor our fire &s;hall neuer out. Now let all tho&s;e who &s;wim in the &s;treames of their voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e, putting far from them the evill day, who labour to expell from their hearts, and to &s;tifle in the bud the &s;ad con&s;ideration of their approaching infelicities, let them (I &s;ay) knowe, that they may fall into this va&s;t gulfe of Eternitie, when they lea&s;t &s;u|&s;pect it; into which when once they haue vnhappily plunged them&s;elues, they may de&s;ire redemption, but &s;hall not finde it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Po&s;tqaum i&s;tinc exce&s;&s;u~ fuerit, nullus poenitentiae locus, nullus &s;atisfactionis effectus, <HI>Cyp.</HI></NOTE> It &s;hall be one of their torments, to know they &s;hall never be out of torment. All the gold of Opher cannot purcha&s;e them one minute of reliefe from their vnexpre&s;&s;ible mi&s;eries. But now, euen now is the jubile, now is the accepted time, now is the pro|mulgation of pardon, there remaines nothing for our parts, but to &s;ue it forth, we need not many hundred of yeares or number of daies to redeeme our mi&s;pent time, and to wa&s;h out our contracted pollutions, no, one day, may through Gods gratious favour, and lo|ving indulgence, procure more mercy here, then Eter|nitie of time may obtaine hereafter, one &s;igh from a true &s;orrowfull heart here, &s;hall prevaile to di&s;charge more debts, then infinite ages &s;hall acquit or &s;atisfie for hereafter. Here God with patience expects our repentance, but if we abu&s;e his forbearance and come not in, hereafter with trembling wee &s;hall abide his judgement:</P>
<P>Let vs therefore be wi&s;e in time, and remember our creator in the daies of our youth, before the evill daies come, and the yeares approach, wherein wee &s;hall &s;ay, we haue no plea&s;ure in them, before our du&s;t
<PB N="9" REF="6" MS="y"> returne into the wombe from whence it came, and our lungs be locked vp into the bre&s;tle&s;&s;e earth, be|fore that black and gloomy day, the day of death and di&s;&s;olution appeare to vs the which (if our timely re|pentance here prevent not our doome) will &s;eale vp our &s;oules to eternall darkne&s;&s;e. Let vs con&s;ider that where&s;oeuer we are, what&s;oeuer wee goe about, wee &s;tand euery minute of our time in the glorious pre|&s;ence of an<NOTE PLACE="marg">Immanife&s;tus omnia autem manife&s;tans per omnia ap|paret &amp; in omnibus.</NOTE> incomprehen&s;ible maie&s;tie, who&s;e bright and mo&s;t piercing eye, is ten thou&s;and times clearer then the Sunne, who knows all hearts, &s;ees all actions, vnder&s;tands all councells, viewes all per&s;ons, there's not a word in the tongue, not a thought in the heart, not a &s;parke of lu&s;t in the fle&s;h, though neuer &s;o &s;oftly blowne, and &s;ecretly kindled, but he beholds it altoge|ther, he is all eare to heare, all hand to puni&s;h, &amp; when and where he plea&s;e, all power to protect, and all grace to pardon, he that findes not his mercy, &s;hall feele his fury: and who among&s;t vs can dwell with devouring fire, who among&s;t vs can dwell with everla&s;ting bur|nings?</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. III.</HI> Expre&s;sing how all men doe naturally beleeue this Eternity.</HEAD>
<P>WIthin the&s;e hundred yeares many nations haue beene di&s;couered and many are di&s;co|vered &s;till which were vnfound in former ages. Among&s;t them &s;ome haue beene found to liue without law, without King, but yet none without
<PB N="10" REF="7"> &s;ome knowledge of God, and of &s;ome everla&s;ting be|ing in the world to come. What moued the <HI>Brack|mans</HI> in <HI>India,</HI> and the <HI>Magies</HI> among&s;t the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> to begin and end their vndertakings with prayers to God? What moued <HI>Publius Scipio</HI> never to enter into the Senate hou&s;e before he had a&s;cended the <HI>Capitall,</HI> avowing that principle as con&s;tantly in his practi&s;e as he did in his knowledge, <HI>A Iove principium?</HI> What made <HI>Caligula</HI> (which threatned the aire if it rained on his game-plaies) yet, to runne vnder his bed, and wrap his cappe about his head at a clap of thunder? What moued <HI>Attillius Regulus</HI> (who had no other teacher then a naturall illumination) to preferre the obligation of his oath before the &s;afty of his life, and rather then he would breake his ingaged word and promi&s;e to the <HI>Carthaginians,</HI> expo&s;e him&s;elfe to all the torments that the cruelty and malice of his eni|mies could inflict vpon him? what moued the <HI>Sagun|tines</HI> a people of <HI>Arragon</HI> to that vndaunted re&s;oluti|on of theirs, who hauing plighted their faith and loy|alty by &s;olemne oath to the <HI>Romans,</HI> cho&s;e rather to entombe them&s;elues voluntarily in a fire which they made in their Market place, then to breake their faith to the &s;aid <HI>Romans</HI> which they had &s;o &s;olemnly &s;wore and &s;acredly avowed vnder their protection? what, I &s;ay, could moue the&s;e meere naturali&s;ts to &s;uch a feare of an oath; to &s;uch a trembling at Gods iudge|ments, to &s;uch au&s;terity, and care, and cen&s;orious cir|cum&s;pection in all their waies and actions, but that they naturally apprehended what they truly &amp; di&s;tin|ctly vnder&s;tood not, <HI>viZ:</HI> Some immortall happine&s;&s;e
<PB N="11" REF="7" MS="y"> and everla&s;ting being? and this they conceaued was beyond the mountaines, or aboue them, or in &s;ome o|ther world, they knew not where, according as their &s;everall fancies led them.</P>
<P>Certainely they would never haue &s;o much vnder|valued their earthly contentments, and &s;old all the comforts of this life (as &s;ome of them did) at &s;o cheap a rate, but that they tru&s;ted to &s;ome future re&s;t of more enduring &s;ub&s;tance after this life, and comforta|bly expected the immortall fruition of &s;uch ioyes as &s;hould abundantly countervaile the lo&s;&s;e of all their plea&s;ures. When I revolue in my minde the <HI>Stoicall</HI> re&s;eruedne&s;&s;e, the moderation, the vnconquerable cou|rage of the&s;e mi&s;erable <HI>Heathens,</HI> when I &s;ee <HI>Cleombro|tus</HI> in hope of immortalitie to tumble him&s;elfe vo|luntarily downe a hill, when I &s;ee <HI>Socrates</HI> &s;mile vpon his hemlocke, and fullen <HI>Scevola</HI> burne off his owne hand without euer gna&s;hing his teeth at it, when I &s;ee <HI>Marcus Cato</HI> &s;corne his owne life becau&s;e his enimie gaue it him, and teare off the &s;alue from his bleeding &s;ides, which his owne &s;word had peirced: When I thus behold the&s;e vnhappy &s;oules in the light of na|ture, to conquer nature it &s;elfe, and to build the&s;e their re&s;olutions vpo~ no other ground but the &s;lender hope of &s;ome vnknowne contentment in the life to come, me thinkes the&s;e magnanimous acts of theirs howeuer they are not for the imitation of vs <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> yet doe they tend to our condemnation. Their hope did ex|ceed their knowledge, &amp; our knowledge doth exceed our practi&s;e. God hath revealed to vs the immortality of the &s;oule, and the eternity to come, in a farre more
<PB N="12" REF="8"> cleare and per&s;picuous manner, then euer to the hea|then Idolaters, and yet we le&s;&s;e regard it: what &s;hould more affect vs here &s;ince our life is but a vapour, then to knowe what &s;hall become of vs hereafter? and yet the con&s;ideration hereof lies like a waight of lead vp|on our &s;oules; and we iudge the very thought hereof a burthen. Wee readily apprehend &s;uch things as con|cerne vs in this world: our honours, our preferments, our plea&s;ures we looke on with a cheerefull eye: but alas with how &s;low and dull a pace doe we proceed in the pur&s;uit of our future ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e? wee meet with many &s;tops in our way, many turnings in our iourney: and the truth is wee mu&s;t not expect to arriue at &s;o happy a hauen without &s;ome &s;tormes; but what are the&s;e to Eternitie that long day that &s;hall neuer &s;hut in; that <HI>vnum perpetuum hodie,</HI> that beginning ever in be|ginning, in which the ble&s;&s;ed doe euerla&s;tingly enioy their happine&s;&s;e, and renew their plea&s;ures, and the damned are alwaies dying yet never dye? O that the meditation of this our future &s;tate could &s;inke deepe enough into our hearts, that we would make that the obiect of our thoughts here, which mu&s;t be the obiect of our accounts hereafter, that the &s;en&s;e of our &s;innes were the chiefe matter of our &s;orrowes, then &s;hould we enioy an eternitie hereafter boundle&s;&s;e for time, endle&s;&s;e for happine&s;&s;e, where our ioyes &s;hould bee &s;uch, as &s;hould neither change nor peri&s;h.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="13" REF="8" MS="y">
<HEAD><HI>CAP. IV.</HI> Explaining how Nature hath repre&s;ented and &s;haddowed out Eternity to vs in &s;ome of the creatures.</HEAD>
<P>NOw to the end wee &s;hould bee the farther en|couraged vnto the inqui&s;ition of eternity, God hath not only planted the knowledge hereof in the hearts of the <HI>Heathens</HI> but hath al&s;o re|pre&s;ented it in the nature of the creatures. For if wee &s;earch with a narrow eye into the &s;ecrets of nature, how many things &s;hall wee finde in the world; as liuely re&s;emblances, &s;hadowing as it were, and trace|ing out vnto vs this eternity? <HI>Solinus</HI> reports of a &s;tone in <HI>Arcadia</HI> which being once inflamed burnes perpetually. And of this matter were your burning lampes made, which continued (as <HI>Hi&s;tories</HI> &s;peake) &s;o many hundreth yeares in ancient Sepulchers. Like herevnto in the nature of it is your <HI>Linum vivum,</HI> a certaine kinde of linnen knowne in <HI>India</HI> which is vncombu&s;tible, nay it is not only, not con&s;umed by the fire but it is as it were clean&s;ed and wa&s;hed &amp; pu|rified by the heate thereof; and hence it was that the body of the ancient <HI>Romane Emperors</HI> when they were to be buried according to the funerall rites of tho&s;e times, were &s;hrouded vp into &s;uch linnen to pre&s;erue their a&s;hes and to avoide a confu&s;ion and mixture of their bodies with common du&s;t.</P>
<P>Behold, here nature it &s;elfe &s;ugge&s;ts an eternity to thy &s;oule, while it pre&s;ents to thee &s;uch things as the
<PB N="14" REF="9"> fire cannot con&s;ume, many other &s;uch <HI>Symboles</HI> and repre&s;entations of immortality may bee found in the booke of the creatures. The <HI>Salamander</HI> liueth in the fire and peri&s;heth not, tho&s;e famous hills in <HI>Sicily</HI> haue beene on fire continually, beyond the memory of man, and yet remaine whole and vncon&s;umed. The like we reade, of that <HI>O leum incombu&s;tibile</HI> (as <HI>Hi&s;torians</HI> call it) an oyle that ever burnes, but will never wa&s;te, &amp; of the matter of this was that burning torch compo&s;ed, which was found in <HI>Tulliola,</HI> daugh|ter of <HI>Cicero</HI> her &s;epulcher: which continued burning fifteene hundreth yeares. The&s;e and many other &s;had|dowes and traces of eternity, <HI>God</HI> hath vouch&s;afed vs to &s;tirre vp our dead and drow&s;y hearts to a more ex|act inqui&s;ition and &s;erious con&s;ideration of the time to come. For in the booke of the creature wee may &s;ee the power of the <HI>Creator</HI> and out of the&s;e particu|lar workes of his we may vnder&s;tand that, that <HI>God</HI> which hath endowed nature with &s;uch admirable qualities can giue the fle&s;h al&s;o &s;uch a condition, that it &s;hall endure according to his mercifull di&s;pen&s;ation either torments or happine&s;&s;e for evermore.</P>
<P>Now then to draw all this to an i&s;&s;ue, &s;ince it is vn|doubtedly true that <HI>God</HI> hath provided an everla&s;ting being for the &s;oules of men in the world to come: &s;ince he hath engrauen the knowledge hereof as with an Iron pen in the con&s;ciences of the <HI>Heathen,</HI> &s;ince he hath giuen vs &s;o many liuely re&s;emblances and tra|ces thereof in the &s;ecrets of nature, and in the workes of his creation, Oh how &s;hould the meditation of this take vp our deepe&s;t thoughts, our refine&s;t affections?
<PB N="15" REF="9" MS="y"> how &s;hould this cau&s;e vs to reflect vpon our &s;oules; to ponder our waies and with an vndazeled and vnde|&s;embling eye throughly to trye and to de&s;cry cleare|ly our owne &s;tate, whether we be already wa&s;hed with the blood of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and enliuened with a &s;upernatu|rall vigour and life of grace, or yet ly polluted in our owne blood?</P>
<P>Oh, how can any man be at re&s;t and quiet in his minde, till he be a&s;&s;ured and &s;ecured in this point; &s;ince that vpon it depend his everla&s;ting e&s;tate in another world? our daies wee &s;ee are wouen with a &s;lender thred, our time &s;hort, our end vncertaine, and when the oyle in our lampes is &s;pent, and our gla&s;&s;e runne out, then <HI>ex vnico momento pendet duplex aeternitas,</HI> we fly in a moment to an everla&s;ting being either in horror or happine&s;&s;e, where wee &s;hall receiue accor|ding to the workes of our hands. If wee haue appro|ved our &s;elues &s;incere in <HI>Gods</HI> &s;ervice, iu&s;t in our acti|ons, diligent in our callings, faithfull in our promi|&s;es, wee &s;hall then attaine the end of our faith, the &s;al|vation of our &s;oules; and the con&s;cience of our well &s;pent life, &s;hall at that di&s;mall day repleni&s;h our &s;oules with abundance of con&s;olations.</P>
<P>Then all our teares &s;hall bee wiped from our eyes; what we haue &s;owed in &s;orrow, we &s;hall reape in ioy, when we haue fini&s;hed our cour&s;e &amp; ended our com|bate with &s;inne and death: then &s;hall our crowne bee &s;ure, our victory glorious, and our triumph <HI>Eternall;</HI> our graue &s;hall be but as a &s;weet refre&s;hing place to our wearied bodies, and death &s;hall be our day &s;tarre to everla&s;ting brightne&s;&s;e.</P>
<PB N="16" REF="10">
<P>But on the other &s;ide; if wee haue in the whole cour&s;e of our warfare here, expended our pretious time in the &s;ervice of &s;inne and Sathan, and crumbled away the be&s;t and choice&s;t of our yeares in the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, and &s;ports of vanity; then the i&s;&s;ue of all will be death, and our end de&s;truction. Our mirth wil be turned into wormewood, and our ioy into heaui|ne&s;&s;e: all our delights in this earth &s;hall vani&s;h as the flower, our &s;un &s;hall &s;et in a cloud, and our daies of iol|lity and contentation &s;hall irrecoverably be involued and turned into perpetuall darkne&s;&s;e.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. V.</HI> Containing a &s;hort digre&s;sion touching the eternity of the damned.</HEAD>
<P>AND here it will not be vn&s;ea&s;onable, nor any digre&s;&s;ion from the point in hand to con&s;ider with our &s;elues, for our better encouragement to the waies of holine&s;&s;e, the condition of that eterni|ty which the damned haue in hell. O the vnhappy and ever deplorable &s;tate of tho&s;e poore &s;oules, who feele nothing for the pre&s;ent but wrath and vengeance, and can expect nothing to come but the vialls of <HI>Gods</HI> in|dignation to be powred on them, in a fuller mea&s;ure for ever after!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nec qui tor|quet, aliquan do fatigatur, nec qui tor|que tuc, a li|quando mori|tur, <HI>Bernard. meditat. cap,</HI> 3.</NOTE> And that which addes abundant weight to their mi&s;eries is; they &s;hall burne but not dimini&s;h; they &s;hall lye buried in their flames, but not con&s;ume; they &s;hall &s;eeke death, but &s;hall not finde it: they &s;hall de&s;ire it, but it &s;hall flye from them: their puni&s;hment con&s;i&s;ts not in the indurance of any pro|per
<PB N="17" REF="10" MS="y"> or peculiar paine, but in the accumulation &amp; heap of innumerable torments together. All the faculties of the &s;oule, all the &s;en&s;es of the body &s;hall haue their &s;euerall puni&s;hments, and that which is more, vn&s;epa|rable, and more then that, eternall: There &s;hall bee <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> degrees in their torments, but the lea&s;t &s;hal be infinite. For as the wrath and di&s;plea&s;ure of <HI>God</HI> toward them is everla&s;ting, &s;o &s;hall their pre&s;&s;ures be. They enioy an <HI>eternity</HI> like the <HI>Saints,</HI> but not the <HI>Saints eternity;</HI> for their eternity &s;hall beginne in horror, and proceed in confu&s;ion: their eternity &s;hall purcha&s;e and yeeld to them no other fruit but yellings and lamentations, &amp; woe. Their <HI>eternity</HI> is &s;uch as turnes all things into its owne nature: for all things where the damned doe in|habit are eternall. The fire is eternall: for the breath of God like a riuer of brim&s;tone hath kindled it, and it &s;hall neuer goe out night nor day; but the &s;moake thereof &s;hall a&s;cend for euer. The worme is eternall, for the con&s;cience of the damned &s;hall be everla&s;ting|ly tormented with the &s;en&s;e of their &s;inne: Their worme dieth not, (&s;aith the <HI>Prophet</HI>) and their fire ne|ver goeth out. The pri&s;on wherein they are inclo&s;ed is eternall. The prayers of the <HI>Church</HI> could open the pri&s;on doores to <HI>Peter,</HI> but no prayers can pierce the&s;e walls, no power can ouerthrowe them, no time can ruine them; out of Hell is no redemption, no ran&s;ome, no deliuery, <HI>Cruciantur damnati, cruciantur in aeter|num.</HI> This is the la&s;t &s;entence of the <HI>Iudge,</HI> his irrevo|cable decree, his immutable and eternall <HI>Iudgement</HI> vpon the damned, which &s;hall neuer bee reuer&s;ed:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ade&s;&s;e intole|rabile, abe&s;&s;e impo&s;&s;ibile.</NOTE> there is no appeale will lye from this <HI>Iudge;</HI> there is
<PB N="18" REF="11"> no rever&s;ing this judgement, when the &s;entence is once pa&s;t it &s;tands for <HI>eternity;</HI> Hence it was that the ancient <HI>Church</HI> repeated this &s;entence often in their di|vine &s;ervice, <HI>Peccantem me quotidie, &amp; non me peniten|tem, timor mortis conturbat me quia in inferno nulla e&s;t redemptio.</HI> Whil&s;t I daily &s;inne but repent not daily as I ought, the feare of death amazeth me, becau&s;e af|ter this life ended, out of hell is no redemption. The blood of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;hed on <HI>Golgotha,</HI> is fully &s;ufficient to &s;aue all man-kinde, but it belongs not to the damned. If therefore the yoake of repentance &s;eeme not &s;weet to thee (&s;aith S^t <HI>Bernard</HI>) thinke on that yoake which thou &s;halt be &s;ure to &s;uffer, which is Goe yee cur&s;ed into eternal fire. But the mo&s;t deplorable thing which is eternall in hell, is the irrevocable lo&s;&s;e of the beati|ficall pre&s;ence of <HI>God,</HI> the eternall priuation of <HI>Gods</HI> &s;ight, the vncomfortable want whereof, doth more grieue their hearts, and wound their afflicted &s;oules, then all their bodily torments. Thus wee &s;ee the vn|happy e&s;tate and condition of the damned in the other world, and how the highe&s;t linke in all this chaine of &s;orrowes, wherewith they are enuironed, is the mi&s;e|rable perpetuitie of their torments, when their re&s;t|le&s;&s;e thoughts haue carefully runne through many thou&s;ands of yeares, yet will they not then enioy one day, one little houre, one minute of re&s;t and re&s;pirati|on. Everla&s;ting darkne&s;&s;e is their portion, they beginne and end alike, with weeping and gna&s;hing of teeth. Now &s;ince this is certainely true, is it po&s;&s;ible that man &s;hould be &s;o forgetfull of <HI>God</HI> and him&s;elfe? Can he &s;o farre degenerate into a bea&s;t, and indurate into a
<PB N="19" REF="11" MS="y"> &s;tone, as to read the&s;e things and not beleeue them, or beleeue the&s;e things and not to tremble? Can the knowledge of the&s;e things &s;wim in our braine with|out a &s;erious and &s;ound dige&s;tion of them into our hearts? when we &s;ee, and knowe, and beleeue, that in|explicable, eternall, endle&s;&s;e, ea&s;ele&s;&s;e horrors, with|out true and vnfained repentance, abide vs hereafter; and on the other &s;ide we knowe not, nor can po&s;&s;ibly di&s;cerne with how &s;peedy and &s;wift a foot our end approacheth, nor how &s;uddenly wee &s;hall be &s;ummo|ned to giue the world our euerla&s;ting farwell; How can &s;o &s;ad and important a con&s;ideration as this, po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e our thoughts and not torment them? or how can this chu&s;e but imbitter our deare&s;t plea&s;ures, &amp; cro&s;&s;e our indulgence to our &s;en&s;uall affections? Did we but rea&s;on a while with our &s;oules, and euery one of vs in a particular application &s;ay within him&s;elfe: I am here floating like a &s;hip in the &s;ea of this world balla&s;ed on every &s;ide with the cares and di&s;quietings &amp; pre&s;&s;ures of this life, and I &s;ayle on with full cour&s;e towards the hauen of Eternity, one little bla&s;t of death is able to plunge me irrecouerably into this bottomele&s;&s;e gulfe, where one houres torment will infinitely exceed (for the paine of it) an hundred yeares bitter repentance. And &s;hall I now thus &s;tanding vpon the very battle|ments of hell, melt in my delights, cheere vp my &s;elfe in the dayes of my youth, &s;hall I tyre out my &s;pirits, trifle out my pretious time, rob mine eyes of their be|loued &s;leepe for &s;uch things, to the which the time will come, when I mu&s;t bid an euerla&s;ting farewell? Me thinks the thorough meditation of our future &s;tate
<PB N="20" REF="12"> &s;hould euen &s;trangle our &s;en&s;uall ioyes in vs, &amp; with|drawe our hearts from the embracements of this world, e&s;pecially when wee &s;hall to our endle&s;&s;e &s;or|row vnder&s;tand, our deare&s;t contents mu&s;t clo&s;e at the la&s;t in death and confu&s;ion, and all our precedent plea|&s;ures &s;hall yeeld vs no other fruit but their bitter re|membrance to augment our &s;orrowes.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CAP. 6.</HI> Wherein the que&s;tion is an&s;wered wherefore a finite &s;inne, is recompen&s;ed with an infinite puni&s;h|ment, wherein al&s;o is farther &s;hewed that the &s;everity of Gods iu&s;tice therein doth no waie dimini&s;h the greatne&s;&s;e of his mercy,</HEAD>
<P>NOW here ari&s;eth a que&s;tion to bee re&s;olved; how comes it to pa&s;&s;e, that our mercifull and gratious <HI>God,</HI> who is &s;o infinite in his good|ne&s;&s;e and &s;o abundant in his loue, who&s;e prai&s;es the Prophet <HI>David</HI> amplifies in his 136. p&s;alme, twenty &s;eauen times together, with this conclu&s;ion; <HI>for his mercy endureth for ever,</HI> how can it &s;tande, that this our God, who&s;e mercy is thus exalted aboue all his workes, &s;hould be thus infinitely mercifull, and yet &s;o infinitely iu&s;t too, as to inflict vpon a finite &s;inne an infinite puni&s;hment, that he &s;hould continue milli|ons of yeares, yea to <HI>everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e,</HI> in the avenge|ment of tho&s;e &s;innes which were committed as it were in a moment of time, &s;o that hee who hath of|fended
<PB N="21" REF="12" MS="y"> but temporally, &s;hould bee bound to &s;uffer paines eternally? I an&s;were, wee &s;hall &s;ufficiently vin|dicate and cleare <HI>Gods</HI> righteous dealing towards vs herein, if wee mea&s;ure his iu&s;tice but by our owne rules:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scelus non temporis lon|gitudine &s;ed iniquitatis magnitudine metiendum e&s;t. <HI>Aug. de Ci|vitat. Des lib.</HI> 21 <HI>cap.</HI> 11.</NOTE> for doth any law proportion out the time of puni&s;hment to the time only in which the offence is commited, and &s;o mea&s;ure the continuance of the pennalty by the time of the fault? Shall the pri&s;o|ner lye no longer in the Goale, then he is committing his villanie? Doe not wee here among&s;t vs often &s;ee &s;ome offences which were &s;uddenly thought of and as &s;oone executed, yet puni&s;hed with endle&s;&s;e date|le&s;&s;e bani&s;hments, which in compari&s;on to this life beare a proportion with eternity? Now if the wi&s;|dome of man doth follow this rule in proportioning of puni&s;hments, weighing offences by the fowlenes of the fact, Shall wee denie <HI>God</HI> the righteous <HI>Iudge</HI> of all the world the &s;ame liberty over the workes of his owne hands? Againe if this will not &s;atisfie our in|qui&s;itiue mindes, let vs but take our owne hearts to taske, and &s;ifte them to the bottome, and impartially weigh what a world of pollution and deceipte and perver&s;ene&s;&s;e is lodged in them, and then certainely wee &s;hall finde matter enough again&s;t our &s;elues with|out farther inquiry for our endle&s;&s;e condemnation: our owne con&s;ciences will te&s;tify to the confu&s;ion of our faces, that iu&s;t is the <HI>Lord,</HI> and iu&s;t are his <HI>Iudge|ments,</HI> that all the waies of the <HI>Lord</HI> are mercy and truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nec iniu&s;ta e|ius gratia nec crudelis pote&s;t e&s;&s;e iu&s;titia. <HI>Aug. de Civit. Dei</HI> lib. 21. c. 11.</NOTE> that his grace is not vniu&s;t nor his Iu&s;tice cru|ell: Adde herevnto that the fault of its owne nature is infinite, becau&s;e it is a &s;inne again&s;t an infinite maie|&s;ty?
<PB N="22" REF="13"> <HI>Gods</HI> Iu&s;tice being infinite, the violation thereof by &s;inne mu&s;t needs contract an infinite debt; becau&s;e in &s;inning we rob God of his glory, which wee mu&s;t needs repaie him againe: Now the &s;atisfaction of an infinite debt, mu&s;t needs bee infinite either in re|&s;pect of time or mea&s;ure; And becau&s;e a finite ve&s;&s;ell is not able to hold or comprehend an infinite wrath fora&s;much as wee cannot beare <HI>Gods</HI> indignation, <HI>propter immen&s;itatem doloris,</HI> wee mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity &s;atisfie his Iu&s;tice, <HI>duratione temporis;</HI> the long con|tinuance of our &s;ufferings mu&s;t &s;upply what is want|ing in the weight of our puni&s;hments. Againe he that dies in his &s;inne without repentance, offends as much as if he had &s;inned eternally, <HI>quia omnis peccator e&s;t in aeternum, &s;i in aeternum vixi&s;&s;et, in aeternum pecca&s;&s;et; i.e.</HI> had hee liued eternally, his &s;inne had extended to the length of his daies<NOTE PLACE="marg">Peccandi vo|luntatem non ami&s;it &s;ed vi|tam. <HI>Greg.</HI></NOTE> for a man &s;ooner cea&s;eth to liue then to loue his &s;inne, and therefore God may iu&s;tly after many thou&s;and yeares torments in Hell, iterate their torments to the damned: becau&s;e if they had longer abode in their &s;infull fie&s;h, they would &s;till haue perpetuated their &s;infull tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions. Oh let not then &s;infull fle&s;h contend with its maker, let not vs prye into the heavens, nor curiou&s;ly &s;earch into the &s;ecrets of <HI>Gods</HI> will, to finde a rea&s;on of the obligation of a &s;inner to perpetuall puni&s;hment, but rather in the lowlines of our heartes crie out with <HI>Daniell,</HI> O <HI>Lord</HI> righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e belongs vnto thee, but to vs open &s;hame, becau&s;e wee haue rebelled again&s;t thee: let vs ca&s;t downe our &s;oules at the foote of his grace, and humbly acknowledge in the &s;ence of our
<PB N="23" REF="13" MS="y"> deformities, that ju&s;t is the <HI>Lord,</HI> &amp; ju&s;t are his judge|ments. Our weake vnder&s;tandings can no way fa|thome the depth of his coun&s;ells; his wi&s;dome is vn|&s;earchable and all his waies are truth: but did we truly apprehend the nature of our &s;innes, wee would never repine at the weight of <HI>Gods</HI> Iudgements, for whereas <HI>God</HI> made man a noble creature, both beautifull and glorious, and after &s;tamped on him his owne Image, righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and true holine&s;&s;e, how &s;trangely hath his &s;inne di&s;robed him of all his excellencies, what rebellion hath it &s;etled in all his members, what &s;taines and pollutions hath it wrought in all his faculties? It is our &s;inne which hath vnioynted the confedera|cies and &s;ocieties of the dumbe creatures, and hath armed them with an antipathy and rebellion one a|gain&s;t another. It is &s;inne which hath &s;o &s;trangely al|tered the manners and conditions of our times, that hath turned mens browes into bra&s;&s;e, and their hearts into &s;tones, and their hands into blood, and their tongues into Scorpions. It is &s;in which hath wrought &s;uch a confu&s;ion and Chaos in all things vnder the Sunne, which hath changed truth into flattery, &s;ub|&s;tances into formes, nature into arte, decency into new fangledne&s;&s;e, renting of hearts into cutting of gar|ments. It is &s;inne I &s;ay which in this our age hath di&s;&s;olued tho&s;e &s;weete obligations of peace and cor|re&s;pondency, which were formerly knitte betweene our neighbour nations, and in&s;teede thereof hath &s;ent in, fire and &s;word among&s;t them; &amp; that hath rowled vp within the&s;e few yeares &s;o many Noble &s;pirits in tho&s;e parts into blood and de&s;truction. And la&s;tly it
<PB N="24" REF="14"> is our &s;in that &s;hall at that la&s;t &amp; dreadfull day turne the very Elements into fire, and the whole frame of this world with all the things therein, into their pri|mitiue Chaos and Originall Confu&s;ion.</P>
<P>Oh that wee did &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider of, and &s;ound|ly dige&s;t the meditation of the&s;e things! For had wee but hearts to vnder&s;tande, and eyes to &s;ee the deformity of our &s;innes and did vnpartially compare the &s;taine and pollution of them with the purene&s;&s;e of <HI>Gods</HI> nature, and the brightne&s;&s;e of his Maie&s;ty, how &s;hould wee be confounded in our &s;oules, with the &s;ight of our owne filthine&s;&s;e? How ready &s;hould we be rather to admire <HI>Gods</HI> patience then que&s;tion his &s;everity? How &s;hould wee tremble at his glorious pre&s;ence; and dread his power, and iu&s;tly feare what wee haue worthily de&s;erued, his everla&s;ting iudge|ment, &s;ince our pollutions haue moved him to ab|horre the workes of his owne hands and to di&s;taine the beauty of his owne creation? But if now on the o|ther &s;ide wee advi&s;edly looke into <HI>Gods</HI> gratious pro|ceedings towards vs, and his louing indulgence in re&s;training his incen&s;ed di&s;plea&s;ure, notwith&s;tanding our infinite provocations, and in &s;hewing vs a way to e&s;cape his fury; I know not whether wee &s;hall finde greater cau&s;e to vindicate his ju&s;tice, or admire his mercy. For true it is, as &s;aith Saint <HI>Agu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus adeo bonus e&s;t vt malum nun|quam &s;ineret ni&s;i adeo po|tens fui&s;&s;et; vt ex malo bonum elice|ret. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> Soe <HI>Good</HI> is our <HI>God,</HI> that he would never haue &s;uffered vs to fall had not his power bene &s;uch, that hee could extract matter out of our &s;infulne&s;&s;e to advance his owne glory. Oh how vn&s;earchable, how botomle&s;&s;e, how &s;urpa&s;&s;ing the apprehen&s;ion of men and Angells
<PB N="25" REF="14" MS="y"> is the loue of <HI>God</HI> towards vs! whither can wee goe? which way can wee ca&s;t our eyes, where wee &s;hall not behold the admirable foote-&s;teps of his mercy? If wee looke vpward, his mercy reacheth vnto the Heavens, &s;aith <HI>David:</HI> If downeward, they that goe downe into the deepe &s;ee the wonders of <HI>God,</HI> &s;aith the &s;ame <HI>Prophet,</HI> and his mercies in the great waters. If round about vs, tho&s;e that put their tru&s;t in the <HI>Lord,</HI> mercy embraceth them on every &s;ide. And hence it is that the Apo&s;tle Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to the <HI>Ephe&s;i|ans,</HI> &s;o diver&s;ly amplifies the loue of <HI>God</HI> in &s;everall places of that Epi&s;tle, by &s;undry appellations or epi|thites, as his loue, his greate loue, his abundant loue, his loue pa&s;&s;ing knowledge: againe, the riches of his glory, the riches of his grace, the riches of his mercy; <HI>God</HI> who is mercifull &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, who is rich in mercy through his loue, his great loue, even when wee were dead by &s;innes hath quickned vs to|gether in <HI>Chri&s;t Eph.</HI> 2.4.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle al&s;o in the &s;ame Epi&s;tle and fir&s;t chapter expre&s;&s;eth the Lord, great in his power, abun|dant in his wi&s;dome, but rich, exceeding rich in his mercy. And why rich in mercy only? Is not the Lord rich in <HI>Angells,</HI> rich in the <HI>Saints,</HI> rich in the <HI>Heavens?</HI> Hath he not created the Cloudes, founded the Seas, wi&s;ely compo&s;ed the whole frame of nature? And is he yet rich only in mercy? True it is; the earth is the Lords and the fulne&s;&s;e thereof, all that wee haue, all that wee are, is his; but his mercy hath an excellency in it aboue all his creatures; yea (if I may &s;o &s;peake) a|boue all his attributes, aboue his Iu&s;tice; Mercy (&s;aith
<PB N="26" REF="15"> the Apo&s;tle) reioyceth again&s;t condemnation: A|boue his power; <HI>Iacob</HI> wre&s;tled with God and over|came him; aboue his greatnes; for he hu~bled him&s;elfe to take our nature on him; yea aboue all his earthly creatures; for his mercy reacheth to the Cloudes, there is nothing doth more illu&s;trate <HI>Gods</HI> omnipo|tency then his mercy. It was noe marvaile that <HI>God</HI> &s;hould make the Heauens becau&s;e hee is power it &s;elfe, or that he &s;hould frame the earth; becau&s;e hee is &s;trength it &s;elfe; or that he &s;hould governe the times becau&s;e he is wi&s;dome it &s;elfe, or that he &s;hould giue breath to all creatures, becau&s;e he is life it &s;elfe; But herein chiefly is <HI>God</HI> to be magnified, that hee who is infinitely iu&s;t, &s;hould yet bee mercifull to &s;inners; yea to &s;inners while they wallow in their blood; while they re&s;t in &s;innes, while they haue no eye to looke after him, no heart to embrace him, no foote to follow him, no tongue to glorifie him, but lye woeful|ly plunged in the dregs of their pollutions? Oh the vn&s;peakable goodne&s;&s;e of our <HI>God,</HI> who hath &s;o gra|tiou&s;ly invited tho&s;e &s;heepe, who are &s;o vnhappily &s;trayed from him: nay who doth with a<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnipoten|ti&s;&s;ima facili|tate homines ad &s;cip&s;um convertit Deus, &amp; vo|lentes ex no|lentibus facit. <HI>Aug. ad vita.</HI></NOTE> louing vio|lence irre&s;i&s;tably call tho&s;e who haue trampled on his graces, and reiected his loue. But what &s;hould moue the creator of all things who hath beene thus infinite|ly provoked, who is armed both with power to &s;trike; and meanes to be avenged, to compa&s;&s;ionate his enimies? Certainely there is, there can be no o|ther rea&s;on alleadged, but that which <HI>David</HI> &s;o of|ten iterates, <HI>becau&s;e he is gratious, &amp; his mercy endur|eth for ever.</HI> But alas how (may the afflicted &s;oule
<PB N="27" REF="15" MS="y"> &s;ay) can his goodne&s;&s;e extend to mee who am nothing but wormes and du&s;t, and woundes and &s;ores and cor|ruption? Who can giue him no oblation but my &s;innes, no &s;acrifice but my &s;orrow? What confidence now can I haue in this loue, what &s;trength in this mer|cy? Who ever thou art, that art thus, and no better di&s;po&s;ed to receiue the grace of thy God, bring forth this &s;mall provi&s;ion, offer this &s;acrifice vpon the Al|ter. Since thou ha&s;t nothing el&s;e to part with &s;urren|der vp thy &s;innes, yeeld him thy lu&s;ts, renounce thy whole intere&s;t in thy &s;infull delights, in thy immode|rate affections<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nullius rei tantum in in|ferno e&s;t, quantum pto|priae volunta|tis. <HI>Al&s;ted.</HI></NOTE> and then thy &s;orrowfull &s;pirit &s;hall be a &s;acrifice to <HI>God,</HI> thy wounded and broken heart hee will not de&s;pi&s;e; <HI>I am with him</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>who is of an humble &s;pirit and that trembleth at my wordes.</HI> Wee haue his owne word for his mercy, wee haue his promi&s;e for it, wee haue his oath for it. He is faithfull &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, who hath promi&s;ed; hee is faithfull, hee cannot deny him&s;elfe. The Apo&s;tle &s;aith not, hee cannot deny his mercy, but hee cannot deny him&s;elfe. If hee were any thing but mercy, then hee might deny his mercy, though hee did not deny him&s;elfe: but now by not denying him&s;elfe he giueth mercy, who by not giuing mercy &s;hould deny him|&s;elfe. And thus we &s;ee how <HI>God</HI> is faithfull and cannot deny him&s;elfe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superare &s;eip+&s;um pote&s;t de|&s;ertos mi&s;e|rando, nega<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;eip&s;um non pote&s;t mi&s;eri|cordiam dele|rendo.</NOTE> He may overcome him&s;elfe by pitty|ing the for&s;aken ones, but he cannot deny him&s;elfe by for&s;akeing his pitty. For how can he deny him|&s;elfe to vs, who hath given him&s;elfe for vs? How can he deny vs his mercy, who hath given vs his life?</P>
</DIV3>
<TRAILER>The end of the fir&s;t booke.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="book">
<PB N="28" REF="16">
<HEAD>THE SECOND BOOKE OF <HI>ETERNITY.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. I.</HI> Containing an Exhortation to holine&s;se grounded vpon the con&s;ideration of Eternity.</HEAD>
<P>_THE very &s;oule and life of Chri|&s;tianity con&s;i&s;ts in the life of a Chri&s;tian, as for outward forma|lities, they plau&s;ibly &s;erue to &s;hew forth a good man to the eye of the world, but cannot make him &s;uch; it's true, externall acti|ons adorne our profe&s;&s;ions: but it is, where grace and goodne&s;&s;e &s;ea&s;ons them, otherwi&s;e, where the &s;appe and juyce and vigour of religion is not &s;etled in the &s;oule, a man is but like a goodly heart-&s;haken <HI>Oake,</HI> who&s;e beauty will turne into rottenne&s;&s;e, and his end will be the fire. It was the &s;aying of <HI>Machia|vell;</HI> that the appearance of vertue was more to be de|&s;ired then vertue it &s;elfe. But <HI>Socrates a meere</HI> natura|li&s;t,
<PB N="29" REF="16" MS="y"> adui&s;ed better, who &s;aid, the good man is onely wi&s;e. Certainely our glorious &s;hewes, and high ap|plau&s;es, and exaltations among&s;t the &s;onnes of men will proue but mi&s;erable comforters in the clo&s;e of our age, when the daies of darkne&s;&s;e come. O then as we re&s;pect the eternall welfare of our poore &s;oules,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qualis videri vis talis e&s;&s;e debes. <HI>Gerb. Med.</HI></NOTE> let vs bee what wee would &s;eeme. Let vs turne our words into actions, our knowledge into affection, and our &s;peculation into practi&s;e. Let vs not only in a ge|nerall and confu&s;ed manner acknowledge <HI>God,</HI> but rather labour to know him; let vs not think it enough to beleeue that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> came as a <HI>Saviour</HI> into the world, but endeauour rather by a peculiar, per&s;onall, and applicatiue faith to make him our owne. Alas what availes it my &s;oule, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;hed forth his blood for the &s;innes of many; if he died not for mee? What ioy to my heart, that Chri&s;t is ri&s;en for the iu|&s;tification of &s;inners, if hee be not my portion?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non prode&s;t Chri&s;ti re&s;ur|rectio, ni&s;i in te quoque Chri&s;tus re|&s;urgat. <HI>Gerb. Med.</HI></NOTE> what comfort to my di&s;tre&s;&s;ed con&s;cience that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is come a light into the world, if I &s;it in darkne&s;&s;e and in the &s;hadow of death? What confidence of protection can I haue from hence, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is a carefull &s;heap|heard ouer his flock, if I am none of that &s;heepfold? O then let it be the chiefe de&s;ire of our &s;oules,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sit &s;copus vi|tae Chri&s;tus, quem &s;equa|ris in via vt a&s;&s;equaris in patria.</NOTE> and the vt|mo&s;t extent of our endeauours, not onely to confe&s;&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> but to bring him home to our hearts, to feele him, to affect him, to liue in him, to depend on him, to be co~formable to him: let vs willingly heare &amp; cheer|fully follow the voice of that &s;weet guid, who is both the way, &amp; the iournies end; that louing Phy&s;itian who comes to our wounded con&s;ciences with healing in
<PB N="30" REF="17"> his wings; that meeke and tender Lambe, who powred forth for vs teares of angui&s;h, &amp; teares of loue; teares of angui&s;h to redeeme our &s;oules, and teares of loue to compa&s;&s;ionate our mi&s;eries. Now what a pre&s;&s;ing per&s;wa&s;ion haue we here to liue vnto him, who thus died for vs; to make him our ioy who hath borne our &s;orrowes; to fix him in our hearts, who for our &s;akes was fixed to the Cro&s;&s;e?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Totus tibi fi|gatur in cor|de, qui totus prote figeba|tur in cruce.</NOTE> How &s;hould wee mourne in our &s;oules, and weepe in &s;ecret for him, <HI>quem totus mundus, tota elementa lugebant,</HI> at who&s;e &s;ufferings the graues opened, the Sunne &s;hut in his light, the earth trembled, and the whole frame of heauen in his na|ture and kinde expre&s;&s;ed its &s;orrow. One of the <HI>Rabins</HI> when hee read what bitter torments the <HI>Me&s;sias</HI> &s;hould &s;uffer when he came into the world (cried out) <HI>veniat Me&s;sias at ego non videam,</HI> Let the <HI>Me&s;sias</HI> come, but let me not &s;ee him. Did his torments &s;eeme &s;o di&s;mall to the &s;pectator, what were they then in the &s;ufferer? If &s;o ga&s;tly to the &s;ight what were they in the &s;u&s;taining? But what &s;hould we doe now? Shall we raile on <HI>Iudas</HI> that betrayed him, or on <HI>Peter</HI> that denied him, or the <HI>Iewes</HI> that pierced him, or the <HI>Apo|&s;tles</HI> that for&s;ooke him? No, no; let vs looke into our owne hearts, examine our owne waies: Doe wee not make his wounds bleed afre&s;h with our &s;innes? doe we not nayle him to the Cro&s;&s;e againe with our pol|lutions? doe we not grind him in our oppre&s;&s;ions, and as it were ma&s;&s;acre him in our murders? What &s;inne haue we euer for&s;aken for his &s;ake; what inordinate affection haue we abandoned for his loue? Can we &s;ay and &s;ay truly that wee euer &s;pared a di&s;h from our bel|lies,
<PB N="31" REF="17" MS="y"> or one houre from our &s;leepe, or one fa&s;hion from our backs, for his &s;ake? And doe wee thus requite our redeemer?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus tuus parvus factus e&s;t, &amp; tu te magnificas exinaniuit &s;e maie&s;tas &amp; tu vermiculus intume&s;cis.</NOTE> Was <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;tretched on the Cro&s;&s;e, and &s;hall we &s;tretch our &s;elues on beds of doune? Did Chri&s;t &s;uck downe vineger for vs, and &s;hall we &s;urfet with plenty? Was Chri&s;t crowned with thornes, and &s;hall we crowne our &s;elues with Ro&s;e buds? O let it &s;hame vs to beare &s;o dainty a body vnder &s;o dolefull a head: but let vs conforme our &s;elues to his life, and let our conuer&s;ation bee an&s;werable to his doctrine. Let vs fix our eie on this true Serpent, and fa&s;ten our hold on this &s;ure anker. Let vs looke vp vnto <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> the author and fini&s;her of our faith: Where our trea|&s;ure is, there let our hearts be al&s;o. We haue an ine&s;ti|mable price, a glorious inheritance &s;et before vs, let vs carefully embrace all tho&s;e meanes that may fur|ther our progre&s;&s;e, as the hearing of the word, recea|ving of the Sacraments, earne&s;t and con&s;tant prayer to <HI>Almighty God:</HI> Let vs &s;triue as we ought, pre&s;&s;e for|ward with all violence. The woman in the Go&s;pell which was &s;o long vi&s;ited with her bloudy i&s;&s;ue, it was her holy<NOTE PLACE="marg">Victa e&s;t ad violentiam, quia violenta ad victoriam.</NOTE> violence and pre&s;&s;ing our <HI>Saviour</HI> that procured her health for her body and pardon for her &s;oule: Let this be our endeauour, let vs neuer thinke our &s;elues farre enough in the way to heauen, but pre|pare our hearts &s;till, and lay hold on euery aduantage that may further vs in our iourney. Behold now is the acceptable time, now is the day of &s;aluation, whil&s;t you haue time then doe good vnto all: whil&s;t you haue the light, walke as children of the light: Iudge thy &s;elfe here, that thou bee not iudged of the Lord
<PB N="32" REF="18"> hereafter. Let not thy eies &s;lumber, nor thy temples take any re&s;t, till thou ha&s;t found out an habitation in thy heart for the mighty <HI>God</HI> of <HI>Iacob.</HI> Remember him as <HI>David</HI> did, in thy bed, and thinke vpon him when thou art waking: <HI>God</HI> &s;aid of the Church of <HI>Thyatira,</HI> I gaue her time to repent of her fornication, and &s;he repented not. O let vs not giue our good <HI>God</HI> the like occa&s;ion to &s;econd the &s;ame complaint again&s;t vs. Behold <HI>God</HI> now graciou&s;ly calls vs and offers vs his mercy: Behold the &s;pou&s;e comes, let vs goe forth to meet him: He &s;tands at the doore, and knocks, let vs ari&s;e and open &s;peedily to our beloued, to day while it is called to day, let vs heare his voice, let vs not put off our time, as <HI>Felix</HI> did S^t <HI>Paul, goe for this pre&s;ent time, &amp; whe~ I haue a convenient lea&s;ure I will heare thee,</HI> as if the time pre&s;ent were not the fitte&s;t. Let vs not &s;tifle the checks of our con&s;ciences, or &s;ay, as <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> to <HI>Agrippa, to morrow thou &s;halt heare him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Non quaerit Deus dilatio|nem in voce corvina, &s;ed confe&s;&s;ionem in gemitu Columbino.</NOTE> All procra|&s;tinations in this ca&s;e are dangerous: Let vs therefore take hold of &s;aluation, whil&s;t occa&s;ion &s;erues vs. If we &s;hut out our welbeloued he will be gone. Therefore let our hearts euen melt within vs, whil&s;t he &s;peakes to vs in his word; if we an&s;wer not when he calls vs, then &s;hall we call and he will not an&s;wer. The <HI>Storke</HI> and the <HI>Crane,</HI> and the <HI>Swallow</HI> in the ayre know their &s;ea|&s;ons and ob&s;erue their appointed times, how much more &s;hould man, e&s;pecially &s;ince times &amp; moments, how long we &s;hall enioy them, are not in our owne power, but in the power of God. The Angell in the Re|velation &s;wore by him, that liueth foreuer, that time &s;hould be no more, the time pa&s;t can neuer be recalled,
<PB N="33" REF="18" MS="y"> let vs therefore take the pre&s;ent time: For the time pa&s;t was and is not, the time pre&s;ent is, but &s;hall not be, and of the future wee can promi&s;e to our &s;elues no fruition. But alas &s;uch is our blindne&s;&s;e, &s;uch an obdu|ration is growne over our hearts, that wee vnder&s;tand the&s;e things, but feele them not; wee haue them &s;wim|ming in our minds, but imbrace them not in our af|fections. The be&s;t of vs may take vp that complaint of Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Teneo in me|moria, &s;cribo in charta, &s;ed non habeo in vita. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> who averred of him&s;elfe, that his de&s;ires were better then his practi&s;e, our vowes are in heauen, but our hearts on earth; our de&s;ires are to|wards our home, but our endeavours flagge in the way, and we faint in our iourney: wee haue heavenly hopes; but earthly affections; wee all couet after hap|pine&s;&s;e, but wee would take no paines for it; wee would enioy Chri&s;t in his benefits, but wee refu&s;e to partake with him in his &s;ufferings; <HI>volumus a&s;sequi Chri&s;tum, &s;ed non &s;equi,</HI> wee would &s;hare willingly with our <HI>Saviour</HI> in his Crowne, but not in his com|bat; nay oftentimes wee in&s;tance <HI>God</HI> for &s;uch graces as we are loath to obtaine: like Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> who prayed for continency with a provi&s;o, Lord giue me continency but not yet; nay &s;uch is our intolerable &s;infulne&s;&s;e, and pollution of heart, that at the &s;ame in&s;tant, when our hands are lift vp to God for the par|don of old &s;innes, our heads are working in the con|triving of new; as <HI>Salvian</HI> hath it, <HI>dum verbis praeter|ita mala plangimus, &s;en&s;u futura meditamur.</HI> Thus we draw nigh to God with our lipps, when our hearts are farre from him, our affections are buried in the things of this life. Excellent is that &s;aying of <HI>I&s;idorus,</HI>
<PB N="34" REF="19">
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Regnum hoc &s;empiternu~ ex omni parte beatum e&s;t, omnibus pro|mi&s;&s;um, &amp; ta|men de illo altum inter nos &s;ilentium quotus qui&s;&abque; enim e&s;t qui de hoc com|memorat, hoc vxori, hoc li|beris, toti hoc familiae incul|cat. <HI>I&s;id.</HI> Coelum neg|ligimus, ter|ram non re|tiuemus, Dei favorem non acquirimus, mundi perdi|mus.</NOTE> The kingdome of heauen, &s;aith hee, is eternall, ble&s;|&s;ed every way and promi&s;ed to all men, but who is there almo&s;t that &s;pends one moment in the &s;erious meditation of it? What man is there that ever talkes to his wife, to his children, to his family of &s;uch a Kingdome? Wee can riot in the prai&s;es of our natiue &s;oile, but wee blu&s;h to &s;peake of, and are a&s;hamed to commend our true country, our everla&s;ting home. In our dealings about the things of this life, our vn|der&s;tandings are ready enough to apprehend them, and our hearts to entertaine them, and our tongues to di&s;cour&s;e of them; but in things that belong to the eternall &s;alvation of our &s;oules, how deepe is our &s;i|lence, how &s;low our &s;peech, how vnskilfull our ex|pre&s;&s;ions?</P>
<P>Thus wee for&s;ake heauen for the&s;e things which at la&s;t will for&s;ake vs, and trifle out our time in things that will not profit vs. How far are men now adaies from that &s;weete re&s;olution of Saint <HI>Hierome?</HI> Let o|thers, &s;aith hee, liue in their &s;tatues, in their co&s;tly mo|numents: I had rather haue S^t <HI>Pauls</HI> Coate with his heauenly graces, then the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes.</P>
<P>O that wee would looke thus lowly vpon our &s;elues; wee are Chri&s;tians in profe&s;&s;ion, O let vs bee &s;uch in practice: &s;eeing that God hath made vs &s;tew|ards of his trea&s;ures, let vs improue them to the be|nefit of our brethren: hath God giuen vs abundance of his ble&s;&s;ings? o let vs not hide our talents in a nap|kin: let vs &s;end our good workes before vs into Hea|ven: <HI>pauca da, maxima in coelo recepturus:</HI> the&s;e &s;lender
<PB N="35" REF="19" MS="y"> guifts, which thou doe&s;t chearefully di&s;tribute in this world, will procure thee an eternall compen&s;ation in the world to come. That &s;weete &s;peech of Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> is worth ob&s;ervation, <HI>ble&s;&s;ed are tho&s;e that dye in the Lord, they re&s;t from their labours, and their workes fol|low them.</HI> When our deare&s;t friends, our &s;weete&s;t plea|&s;ures, our mo&s;t glorious titles of honour, the world it &s;elfe, yea even our life it &s;elfe &s;hall glide away like a river, and turne to du&s;t, then &s;hall our good workes follow vs, <HI>non tran&s;eunt opera no&s;tra</HI> (&s;aith one) <HI>Sicut tran&s;ire videntur, &s;ed velut aeternitatis &s;emina iaciun|tur;</HI> our good deeds die not with vs, but they are &s;owne in earth and &s;pring in heauen; they are an in|exhau&s;tible fountaine, that &s;hall never bee dried vp: a durable &s;pring, that &s;hall never faile. They are acts of time, &s;hort in their performance, yet eternall in their recompence; they build vp for vs, through the mercies of our <HI>God,</HI> an everla&s;ting foundation for the time to come.</P>
<P>Loe then here wee haue &s;et before vs <HI>viam ad reg|num,</HI> the way to our eternity; let vs goe on herein without intermi&s;&s;ion; pre&s;&s;e forward with violence and &s;triue to attaine the crowne.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opulentia ni|mis multa e&s;t aeternitas, &s;ed ni&s;i per&s;e|veranter quaefita nun|quam in veni+tur. <HI>Bernard.</HI></NOTE> Eternity is an abun|dant trea&s;ure, an everla&s;ting wealth, but it is not gi|ven &s;aue to them that &s;eeke it; yea that &s;eeke it with their whole hearts. Certainty did we as truely know, as wee &s;hall one day vndoubtedly feele the bitter fruite, that our luke-warme profe&s;&s;ion, our gro&s;&s;e &s;tu|pidity, and vtter neglect of our everla&s;ting &s;tate will produce and procure vs in the end, all our thoughts and language, all our affections and inclinations would be more eagerly imployed, and more faithful|ly
<PB N="36" REF="20"> exerci&s;ed in the pur&s;uite of eternity.<NOTE PLACE="marg">illud propter quod pecca|mus, amitti|mus, et pecca|tum ip&s;um re|tinemus.</NOTE> Oh how &s;en&s;e|le&s;&s;e are wee, how &s;tupid in our &s;elues, and wickedly injurious to our owne wellfare, who for a &s;mall gaine, a fading plea&s;ure, a fugitiue honour wound our con&s;ciences, and hazard our &s;oules, to &s;tand as it were on the brinke of hell?</P>
<P>The whole world promi&s;ed for a reward cannot per&s;wade vs to endure one momentary torment in fire: And yet in the accu&s;tomed cour&s;e of our liues we dread not, wee quake not at everla&s;ting burnings. But &ocirc; thou delitious and dainty &s;oule, who cheri&s;he&s;t thy &s;elfe in the ioy of thy heart, &amp; the delight of thine eyes, who&s;e belly is thy God, &amp; the world thy Parra|di&s;e! &ocirc;, bethinke thy &s;elfe betimes, before that gloomy day, that day of clouds and thicke darkne&s;&s;e, that day of de&s;olation and confu&s;ion approach, when all the inhabitants of the earth &s;hall mourne and lament, and all faces (as the Prophet <HI>Ioel</HI> &s;peakes) <HI>&s;hall gather blackne&s;&s;e,</HI> becau&s;e the time of their judgement is come. Alas with what a dolefull heart, and weeping eye, and drooping countenance, &amp; trembling loynes wilt thou at that la&s;t and great A&s;&s;i&s;e looke vpon <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us,</HI> when hee &s;hall mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly appeare with innumerable Angells in flaming fire, to render vengeance on them that know him not? What a cold dampe will &s;eize vpon thy &s;oule, when thou &s;halt be|hold him whom thou ha&s;t all thy life long neglected in his ordinance, de&s;pi&s;ed in his members, reiected in his loue; when thou &s;halt &s;ee the judgement &s;eat, the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fiet apertio librorum &s;ci|licet con&s;ci|entiarum, quibus meri|ta, &amp; deme|rita vniuer&s;o+rum, &s;ibi ip&s;is &amp; caeteris, in|note&s;cent.</NOTE> bookes opened, thy &s;innes di&s;couered, yea all the &s;e|cret
<PB N="37" REF="20" MS="y"> coun&s;ells of thy heart, after a wonderfull man|ner manife&s;ted and laid open to the eye of the whole world? what horrour &amp; perplexity of &s;pirit will po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e thee to view and behold but the very &s;olemni|ties and circum&s;tances, which accompany this Iudge|ment; when thou &s;halt &s;ee the heavens burne, the E|lements melt, the earth tremble, the &s;ea roare, the &s;un turne into darkne&s;&s;e, and the moone into blood? And now what &s;hall be thy refuge, where &s;hall be thy &s;uc|cour? &s;halt thou raigne, becau&s;e thou cloathe&s;t thy &s;elfe in Cedar? &s;halt thou bee &s;afe, becau&s;e with the Eagle thou ha&s;t &s;et thy nea&s;t on high? O no, it is not now the greatne&s;&s;e of thy &s;tate, nor the abundance of thy wealth, nor the priviledge of thy place, nor the eminency of thy worth, or wit or learning, that can availe thee ought, either to avoide thy doome, or prorogue thy judgement. All &s;tates and conditions of men are alike, when they appeare at this Barre. There the prince mu&s;t lay downe his crowne, and the Peare his Robes, &amp; the iudge his purple, and the Captaine his banner; All mu&s;t promi&s;cuou&s;ly attend to giue in their accounts and to receiue according to that they haue done, whether it bee good or whether it be evill. Here on earth great men and glorious in the eye of the world, &s;o long as they can hold their habitations in the earth, haue both countenance to defend, and power to protect them from the iniuries of the times: but when the di&s;mall face of that terri|ble day &s;hall &s;hew it &s;elfe, then &s;hall they finde no eye to pitty, nor arme to helpe, nor palace to defend, nor rockes to &s;helter, nor Mountaines to cover them
<PB N="38" REF="21"> from the pre&s;ence of him that &s;its vpon the throne, and from the wrath of the lambe. Giue me the mo&s;t in&s;olent &s;pirit, the mo&s;t vndaunted &s;oule, that now breathes vnder the cope of Heauen, who now feares not any created nature, noe, not <HI>God</HI> him&s;elfe, yet when he &s;hall heare that terrible &s;ound, Ari&s;e yee dead and come to iudgement, how will his heart even melt, and his bowells quiver within him; when hee &s;hall haue his &s;evere judge aboue him, and hell be|neath him, and his worme within him, and fire round about him. O then who&s;oever thou art, die vnto thy &s;innes and vnto thy plea&s;ures here, that thou mai&s;t liue to <HI>God</HI> herafter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sic tibi cave, vt caveas te|ip&s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> goe out of thy &s;elfe, judge &amp; con|demne thine owne &s;oule for thy &s;innes again&s;t God in this world, that &s;o thou mai&s;t comfortably receiue thy &s;entence of ab&s;olution in the world to come. Let vs learne to be wi&s;e in time; let our &s;orrow for &s;inne anticipate and prevent our puni&s;hment, <HI>&s;atius e&s;t &amp; &s;uavius fonte purgari qu&agrave;m igne:</HI> Hee that grieues not heartily for his tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions here, &s;hall woefully &s;mart for them hereafter.<NOTE PLACE="marg">in inferno ex|omologe&s;is non e&s;t, nec paenitentia tunc tribul pote&s;t, con|&s;umpto te~po|re paenitendi.</NOTE> In hell there is no redemp|tion for the time pa&s;t, no confe&s;&s;ion, no repentance, but a &s;ad and heavy exchange and mo&s;t vncomforta|ble tran&s;lation, from a &s;hort and pa&s;&s;ing ioy, to an endle&s;&s;e, ea&s;ele&s;&s;e puni&s;hment. The &s;erious and advi&s;ed con&s;ideration of this eternall being in the life to come, was the ground of that ancient cu&s;tome in the <HI>Romane Church</HI> vpon the con&s;ecration of their <HI>Bi|&s;hops,</HI> at which time the&s;e words were recited with a loud voice, <HI>Annos aeternos in mente habe, i. e.</HI> remem|ber that eternall yeare, the date whereof will never
<PB N="39" REF="21" MS="y"> expire. So likewi&s;e when the <HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> is brought to his pontificall chaire, one goes before him, &s;haking a burning torch and proclaiming three times <HI>Pater &s;ancte, &s;ic tran&s;it gloria mundi.</HI> Certainly it would worke &s;omewhat towards the enliuening of our drow&s;ine&s;&s;e, &amp; quickning vp of our dull &s;ecurity if we did in the beginning &amp; end of all our vndertakings &s;ay within our &s;elues, <HI>Annos aeternos in mente habe;</HI> Re|member &ocirc; my &s;oule tho&s;e daies of darkne&s;&s;e which &s;hall neuer clo&s;e. For all the pre&s;&s;ures and vexing di&s;tempers, that befall vs in this life; all the cro&s;&s;es, which the envy either of men or evill Angells can throw vpon vs, are nothing, if compared to eternall mi&s;eries. <HI>Sapienti nihil magnum videri pote&s;t, cui aeternitatis nota e&s;t magnitudo.</HI> What if with Saint <HI>Paul</HI> I vnderwent labours &amp; perills, hunger &amp; thir&s;t, iniuries and reproaches, what is all this to eternity?</P>
<P>What if I did beare in my fle&s;h the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite paines and bittere&s;t torments, that created nature is capable of, yet what were all this to eternity? For all the adver&s;ities and alterations, which happen to vs vnder the &s;unne, haue their periods, which they can|not pa&s;&s;e: however they di&s;quiet vs for the time, yet as the Prophet <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;aith, <HI>the end &s;hall bee at the ap|pointed time,</HI> God will performe that which he hath appointed for me &s;aith <HI>Iob:</HI> yet <HI>v&s;&abque; ad tempus haec om|nia</HI> the end &s;hall be at the appointed time. But of this eternity there will be no end, no bounds can limit it, no time &s;hall determine it. Certainly fir&s;t or la&s;t, there will happen to thee &s;uch an evening as &s;hall haue no
<PB N="40" REF="22"> morning to follow; or el&s;e &s;uch a morning, as &s;hall never &s;ee the clo&s;e of the Sunne: And therefore let not the vani&s;hing cares and tran&s;itory di&s;quietings of this world over deepely po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e thy heart; but rather let the whole &s;treame of thy meditations rnnne vpon thy latter end; that at the time of thy di&s;&s;olution; (thy affection being wholy alienated from the world) thy thoughts may a&s;cend before, whither thy &s;oule is comming after: So &s;hall thy &s;ufferings here, make way for thy crowne hereafter.</P>
<P>But how few, &ocirc; how few I &s;ay are there that weigh the&s;e things? How few doe make it their daily taske to meditate on the evills to come? They credit not &s;uch reports; for they care not to beleeue what they are vnwilling to practi&s;e. Hence it is that they goe on &s;o &s;ecurely in their cour&s;e, as if there were no heauen, no hell, no <HI>God,</HI> no eternity. Thus wee naturally de|&s;ire, our daies &s;hould be as happy as they are longe, and being mi&s;erably-in&s;en&s;ible of the &s;orrowes to come, wee ra&s;hly expo&s;e our &s;elues to an irrevoca|ble downefall.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos tales, qui mortis no&s;trae neque negotium ri+dentes exe|quimur. <HI>Greg.</HI></NOTE> Without &s;en&s;e or &s;orrow wee runne merrily to hell, where wee &s;hall everla&s;tingly feele what we did never feare, <HI>death and darkne&s;se;</HI> weeping and gna&s;hing of teeth. O how different are our times from tho&s;e of our Ance&s;tors? They were not more rigidly &s;uper&s;titious, then we are vainely &s;ecure.</P>
<P>How did they pine their bodies and afflict their &s;oules, crucify their mo&s;t pretious lu&s;ts, for&s;ake their friends, their lands, their inheritance, yea their Crownes, and Kingdomes; nay which is more, through the rigid and au&s;teere ob&s;eruation of their
<PB N="41" REF="22" MS="y"> &s;trict and &s;evere lawes expo&s;e them&s;elues to the ha|zard and danger of their deare&s;t liues, and thru&s;t them&s;elues as it were out of the world, and forgoe all &s;ociety with men. And wherefore all this, but that they might disburthen them&s;elues the better by the&s;e meanes from all earthly allurements; &s;ettle and di&s;|po&s;e their hearts in a good preparation towards their home; and to enliuen their affections, and inflame their mindes to a more &s;erious contemplation of the ioyes to come? Mee thinkes the con&s;ideration of the&s;e for|mer times &s;hould &s;trongly invite vs to a more &s;erious meditation of our future &s;tate; e&s;pecially if wee re|member how &s;wiftly our daies draw to an end, and how &s;oone we are involued into everla&s;ting dark|ne&s;&s;e. For alas what is our life here, <HI>Tota haec vita v|nius horulae mors e&s;t,</HI> one houre at the la&s;t will &s;wal|low vp all our liue-long daies.</P>
<P>Let vs then not feare being &s;o neare our home; let no &s;tormes affright vs being &s;o neare our haven: Let vs examine our accounts and ca&s;t vp our &s;ummes, that we may be able to giue vp a good account at the la&s;t day. Certaine it is what ever we goe about; what&s;oe|ver be the &s;cope of our endeavours; wee every day come nearer to the end of our cour&s;e, every houre is a new &s;tep onward.</P>
<P>So &s;oone as ever a man enters this mortall life, hee beginnes a con&s;tant iourney vnto death, <HI>quicquid temporis vivitur de &s;patio vivendi tollitur: i. e.</HI> Each part of time that wee pa&s;&s;e, cuts off &s;o much from our life, and the remainder &s;till decrea&s;eth; So that our whole life is nothing but a cour&s;e or pa&s;&s;age vnto
<PB N="42" REF="23"> death, wherein one can neither &s;tay nor &s;lacke his pace. This wee know, our daily experience doth con|firme this truth: and yet doe wee per&s;i&s;t as &s;ecurely as ever in our trade of &s;inne: <HI>Aegrae abstrahimur ab ijs quibus a&s;&s;ue&s;cimus, i.e.</HI> wee are hardly drawne from tho&s;e things which cu&s;tome and time hath invred vs vnto. It is a grievous burthen to a licentious heart to be drawne off from dainty fare, full cups, and good company. Wee lye as dead men and &s;encele&s;&s;e in our damned pollutions, even drowned in our voluptuou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, like brute bea&s;ts filled vp and pampered for the day of &s;laughter. Thus with the full &s;treame of our indeauours we plod on in the habituall cour&s;e of tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing, without any &s;en&s;e of our &s;inne, vntill our &s;hort daies begin to &s;hut in, and our evening ap|proach; at which time the weakne&s;&s;e of our bodies, and the &s;trength of our &s;innes make vs as vnable to repent, as wee were before vnwilling. Wee many times through the incitement of &s;ome good motion beginne well but faile in the execution; wee make faire promi&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fatemur cri|mina, &s;ed &s;ic fatemur, vt in ip&s;a con+fe&s;&s;ione non dolemus. <HI>Salv.</HI></NOTE> but wee doe not &s;econd them in our pra|cti&s;e; but let vs not deceiue our &s;elues, <HI>God</HI> will not be mocked <HI>non verbis paenitentia agenda, &s;ed actu:</HI> let vs not promi&s;e God better obedience with our lippes then wee performe with our hearts. Bee not ra&s;h to vow a thing before <HI>God,</HI> but when thy word hath pa&s;t thy lips, then be as carefull to performe, as thou wa&s;t forward before to promi&s;e.</P>
<P>La&s;tly let vs alwaies follow that holy coun&s;ell gi|ven in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticus, In all thy actions thinke vpon thy latter end, and thou &s;halt never doe ami&s;&s;e:</HI> and that of
<PB N="43" REF="23" MS="y"> the Prophet <HI>David, keepe innocency, and doe the thing that is right; for that &s;hall bring a man peace at the la&s;t:</HI> peace with <HI>God,</HI> peace with men, and peace with our owne con&s;cience. In the world &s;aith our <HI>Saviour</HI> &s;hall yee haue trouble, but in me yee &s;hall haue peace. The world is our &s;ea, but <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is our haven; the world is our warfare, but <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is our re&s;t: The world is full of &s;tormes, but <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is our peace;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Solus is cha|rum non a|mittit, cui ille charus e&s;t quinon amit|titur.</NOTE> in me you &s;hall haue peace. Hence it was that the Saints of <HI>God</HI> alwaies haue taken exceeding ioy in their tribulation; becau&s;e Chri&s;t was their comfort and peace: hee &s;weetned all their &s;orrowes. Hence it was that Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;o re&s;olutely brake forth; <HI>Hic vre, hic &s;eca, mod&ograve; in aeternum parcas;</HI> he regarded not what pre&s;&s;ures God laid vpon him, So he vouch&s;afed him patience here and heaven hereafter. What ever we doe or can &s;uffer in this life, the abundance of our eternall ioy &s;hall in|finitely recompence the weight of our &s;orrowes: Our light afflictions which are but for a moment doe cau&s;e vnto vs a farre more excellent and exceeding weight of glory. Our combat here is &s;hort, but our triumph eternall. And who would not endure a few cro&s;&s;es &amp; windings in his way when he knowes they will bring him to his journies end? Who would not for a little &s;ea&s;on expo&s;e him&s;elfe to the mercy of the waues to be to&s;&s;ed on the &s;ea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Impo&s;&s;ibile e&s;t, vt in v|tro&abque; &s;eculo bearsu &s;is, vt in caelo &amp; in terra appa|reas glorio&s;us <HI>Hier.</HI></NOTE> when he is a&s;&s;ured with S^t <HI>Paul,</HI> to come &s;afely to the &s;hore?</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, wee mu&s;t not expect to e&s;tabli&s;h our hap|pine&s;&s;e here and to enioy our heaven hereafter. It is impo&s;&s;ible a man &s;hould flow in his delights in this world; and then drinke at the fountaine of everla&s;ting
<PB N="44" REF="24"> bli&s;&s;e in the world to come.</P>
<P>O then let vs imbrace the conflict, that we may ob|taine the Crowne. <HI>Melior e&s;t modica amaritudo in faucibus, qu&agrave;m aeternum tormentum in vi&s;ceribus: i. e.</HI> a little gall in the mouth is not &s;o painefull, as conti|nuall torments in the bowels. Farre better it is to Summe vp our reckonings here, then to haue our debts vpon the &s;core hereafter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vna hora erit gravior in paena, quam centum anni in amari&s;&s;ima paenitentia. <HI>Thomas de Kemp.</HI></NOTE> farre better to vn|loo&s;e our &s;oules from the immoderate embrace|ments of the comforts of this world, and to endure the &s;traits and pinchings of a more re&s;erued &amp; home|ly cour&s;e for &s;ixty or &s;eaventy yeares in this life, then to &s;uffer but one torment in the life to come: farre better to be lightly afflicted here, then eternally tor|mented hereafter.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> hath an excellent expre&s;&s;ion to this purpo&s;e: Suppo&s;e a man, &s;aith he, much de&s;iring &s;leepe, and in his perfect mind, had an offer made him of one nights &s;weete re&s;t, vpon condition to be pu|ni&s;hed a hnndred yeares for it, would he accept (thinke you) of his &s;leepe vpon &s;uch tearmes? Now looke what one night is to an hundred yeares, the &s;ame is the life pre&s;ent, compared with that to come. Nay looke what a drop of water is to the &s;ea; the &s;ame and no more is a thou&s;and yeares to eternity. Who then of &s;ound judgement, for the &s;hort fruition of a tran&s;i|tory contentment in this life, would expo&s;e him&s;elfe to the horror of eternall flames in the life to come? And therefore whiles wee haue our abode in this vale of mi&s;ery, we &s;hould alwaies pray with Saint <HI>Bernard, da domine, vt &s;ic po&s;sideamus temporalia, vt non perda|mus
<PB N="45" REF="24" MS="y"> aeterna, i.e.</HI> grant vs <HI>Lord</HI> that wee may &s;o partake of temporall felicities, that wee may not loo&s;e eter|nall. All things vnder the Sunne haue their alterati|ons and changings, but things aboue are permanent, and of an enduring &s;ub&s;tance. <HI>Omnia ei &s;alua &s;unt, cui &s;alva e&s;t beata aeternitas;</HI> hee that can be &s;ecure, and &s;ure of the happine&s;&s;e to come, builds vp his hou&s;e vpon a firme foundation. How &s;mall a modell of time, how &s;hort a period is the longe&s;t life, when once it is fini&s;hed? Recollect with thy &s;elfe, &s;aith Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> the yeares that are pa&s;&s;ed from <HI>Adams</HI> time vntill now; run over the whole &s;cripture, and the time &s;ince the fall will &s;eeme but as ye&s;terday. For what are the times pa&s;t? If thou had&s;t liued from <HI>Adams</HI> day till this houre; thou would&s;t ea&s;ily haue judged, that this life hath no perpetuity in it, which flies away &s;o &s;wiftly. For what is the life of any man, &s;uppo&s;e the longe&s;t age? It is but like the morning dew, like the twinkling of an eye, in a trice it is gone. I haue &s;eene an end of all perfection &s;aith <HI>David.</HI> But here &ocirc; Chri&s;tian, let me deale more plainely with thee; thou wilt readily acknowledge all things vnder the frame of Heaven are peri&s;hing, and heauen is thy thought, Eternity is thine ayme. Now if it bee &s;o, why art thou then &s;o dul in thy cour&s;e of holi|ne&s;&s;e, &s;o frozen in thy zeale, &s;o inclinable to every motion of &s;inne, &s;o ea&s;ily ouercome by euery incitement to wantonne&s;&s;e, never more calme and vn|&s;ea&s;onably patient, then when thy affections &s;hould be enflamed, and thy heart kindled with a iu&s;t indignati|on in Gods cau&s;e: and on the other &s;ide neuer more
<PB N="46" REF="25"> fretting, whining and vnquiet, then when thou &s;houl|de&s;t be meeke and patient, and cheerefully di&s;po&s;ed vnder the burden of of afflictions? How can it be that we &s;hould haue eternity in our mindes, and yet liue no better in our manners? Now that we may the ea&s;ier di&s;cerne the deceitfulne&s;&s;e of our hearts herein; let vs examine our &s;elues by the example of <HI>Iacob.</HI> This <HI>Pa|triarch Iacob</HI> &s;erued his vncle <HI>Laban</HI> &s;eauen yeares for <HI>Rachell</HI> his daughter, and the greatne&s;&s;e of his affecti|on towards her, made that time &s;eeme but as a few dayes. (to apply this:) Thou art a &s;eruant as <HI>Iacob</HI> was, but thou &s;erues not &s;uch a Ma&s;ter as <HI>Iacob</HI> did, thou &s;erues not man but God, thy maker and a faithfull re|warder; thou &s;erues not for a wife, but for a kingdome; not for an earthly contentation, but for an heauenly habitation: And yet behold the &s;hort affliction of one day can eneruate thy loue, and vnlocke thy affections from God and heauen: Euery cro&s;&s;e accident &s;tops thee in thy cour&s;e, Euery little &s;orrow di&s;quiets thy &s;oule, and le&s;&s;ens thy contentment. Behold here, mea|&s;ure by the example of <HI>Iacob</HI> the &s;trength of thy loue: <HI>Iacob</HI> could &s;erue &s;eauen yeares with chearefulne&s;&s;e for a wife, but thou can&s;t hardly &s;erue thy <HI>God</HI> &s;o ma|ny dayes with a true affection for heauen: For reckon vp all the nights thou ha&s;t &s;pent in prayer, &s;umme vp all the dayes that thou ha&s;t worne out in religious ex|erci&s;es, and can&s;t thou then truly &s;ay to <HI>God</HI> as <HI>Iacob</HI> did to his vncle, in thy &s;eruice night and day haue I macerated my body with heat and cold, and my &s;leep departed from mine eyes; twenty yeares haue I labou|red in thy &s;eruice: could&s;t thou &s;ay thus, and &s;ay it tru|ly,
<PB N="47" REF="25" MS="y"> &ocirc; then what would be the end of thy labour, what would thy reward be? not flocks and cattell, not the daughters of <HI>Laban,</HI> but God him&s;elfe would be thy exceeding great reward, thy life and happine&s;&s;e; Hee would be vnto thee every thing that, thy heart can de&s;ire or long for; Thy &s;oule &s;hould flowe, and even melt in abundance of &s;pirituall delights.</P>
<P>But now take a little view of thine owne vilene&s;&s;e, thy owne nakedne&s;&s;e, thy vttter di&s;ability to any thing that may be truly called good. Thy hands are feeble to Gods worke, thy feete are &s;low to Gods temple, thine eyes are &s;eared or &s;hut vp towards heaven; But for the workes of fle&s;h and Sathan, thy heart is hot to envy, thy minde prone to revenge, thy tongue vo|luble to bla&s;pheame, thy affections even glued and in|corporated as it were into the &s;en&s;uall embracements; And is this to &s;erue God for heaven? &s;hall the ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e of the <HI>Saints,</HI> and the glory of <HI>Angells,</HI> and the ioy, and fruition of <HI>God</HI> him&s;elfe bee powred forth vpon &s;uch workes as the&s;e? Do&s;t thou thus requite thy maker.</P>
<P>O con&s;ider, con&s;ider I &s;ay thy waies in time; labour to &s;erue <HI>God</HI> as <HI>Iacob</HI> did: labour to approue thy &s;elfe as faithfull to <HI>God</HI> as <HI>Iacob</HI> was to his vnckle <HI>Laban:</HI> And if the weight of the labour di&s;courage thee, or adver&s;ity oppre&s;&s;e thee, or pro&s;perity &s;educe thee; then lift vp thine eyes to heaven, as <HI>Iacob</HI> did to his <HI>Rachell:</HI> Let heauen be thy loue, thy &s;pou&s;e, the de|light of thine eyes, the ioy of thy heart; Behold thy <HI>Rachell</HI> is faire, and louely, heaven is both beautifull and glorious: Let thy de&s;ires goe before whither thou
<PB N="48" REF="26"> meane&s;t to ha&s;ten after: &s;uffer for a &s;ea&s;on thy light affliction, hauing an eye to the recompence of reward; yet and but a little while,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&ograve; dirigendus e&s;t &s;piritus quo aliquan|do e&s;t itutus.</NOTE> and thou &s;halt approach the haven, where thou &s;halt enioy &s;o much the more hap|pine&s;&s;e, by how much the deeper thou ha&s;t drunke in &s;orrow; and by how much the more ardent thy affe|ctions haue beene towards <HI>God</HI> in this life, the more abundant &s;hall thy reward be in the life to come; then &s;hall thy cro&s;&s;es proue thy gaines, and that well-&s;pring of ioy which &s;hall ever ri&s;e in thy heart, &s;hall &s;wallow vp all thy &s;orrowes.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. II.</HI> Shewing that there is no other way nor po&s;sible meanes to attaine to the true eternity, but by a confident affiance vpon the mercy of <HI>God</HI> in <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI></HEAD>
<P>SVch and &s;o deplorable is the condition of every man con&s;idered in his corrupted and degenera|ted &s;tate, that albeit he bee able by that &s;mall &s;parke of naturall illumination, which is left in his mind to &s;ee as in a gla&s;&s;e darkely and ob&s;curely an e|ternity to come; yet is hee vtterly ignorant of the true way therevnto, neither hath he any po&s;&s;ibility in nature to finde it out: Hee is in no better &s;tate then the poore creeple at the poole of <HI>Bethe&s;da,</HI> who &s;aw the waters that could heale him before his eyes, but found no meanes to helpe him into them. For that &s;ound and perfect knowledge of the true way, which man was adorned with in his fir&s;t creation, is whole|ly
<PB N="49" REF="26" MS="y"> lo&s;t &amp; extingui&s;hed in him, he is now a meere <HI>&s;tran|ger from the life of God,</HI> Eph. 4.18. <HI>dead in Tre&s;pa&s;&s;es and &s;innes,</HI> Eph. 1.2. <HI>reprobate to every good worke.</HI> Tit. 1.16. <HI>his very minde is defiled,</HI> Tit. 1.15. <HI>his wi&s;dome is death,</HI> Rom. 8.6.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nemo aliun|de Deo placet, ni&s;i ex eo quod ip&s;e do|naverit.</NOTE> He is no more able of him&s;elfe to lead a holy life, acceptable to God, then a dead man is to performe the actions of one that is aliue. Being thus di&s;robed of all &s;pirituall endowments and &s;auing grace, how &s;hall hee attaine to that ioyfull <HI>Eternity,</HI> which his &s;oule (as I haue &s;aid) may long for, but can no way reach? Certainely there is no light to lead him, but that<NOTE PLACE="marg">Si Chri&s;tum habes, aeterni|tatem per Chri&s;tum in te habes. <HI>Al&s;t,</HI></NOTE> light of the world; no way for him to take to, but that <HI>new &amp; liuing way, even him,</HI> who hath &s;tiled him&s;elfe, <HI>the way, the truth, and the life;</HI> no rocke to cleaue to, but this <HI>&s;trong foundation;</HI> no name vnder heauen to be &s;aued by, but this, euen this alone, <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, ye&s;terday and to day, and the &s;ame foreuer.</HI> Hee, and he alone is the onely &s;ure, effectuall, infallible meanes of our &s;aluation: Hee alone is the true <HI>High Prie&s;t,</HI> who was once offered to take away &s;innes, and after that entred into the true <HI>&s;anctuary,</HI> the very <HI>Hea|ven,</HI> to appeare in the &s;ight of God for vs, where <HI>hee is able perfectly to &s;aue them, which come vnto God by him, &s;eeing he euer liueth to make interce&s;sion for them.</HI> Heb. 7.26. He alone is the ground of our hope, the crowne of our glory, and the &s;trength of our confidence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oculum tuum Domine non excludit cor clau&s;um, nec manum tuam repellit duri|tia hominum. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> It's he alone, who by the &s;weet influence of his grace, and by the &s;ecret working of his &s;pirit, can (when he will) and doth (when hee plea&s;e) &s;ubdue and bring vnder the mo&s;t obdurate gaine&s;aying, and rebellious heart, to a cheerefull, willing, &amp; ready obedience to his hea|venly
<PB N="50" REF="27"> will. O the infinite &amp; in expre&s;&s;ible tenderne&s;&s;e of our louing Sauiour towards vs! When we, like &s;heepe, had gone a&s;tray, his mercy reduced vs: When we lay wallowing in our blood, his pitty refre&s;ht vs: When we were dead in our &s;innes, his death did reuiue vs; and here we may truely &s;ay with <HI>David, his mercy reacheth to the heauens.</HI> From the heauens came the price of our redemption. We were not, neither could we be redeemed by the blood of bulls and goats, by thou&s;ands of riuers of oyle, by the cattle that are vpon a thou&s;and mountaines. It was not the trea&s;ures of the world, the power of men or Angels could purcha&s;e this freedome, nothing could clean&s;e vs, but the blood of the <HI>Lambe:</HI> He was that fountaine, opened for &s;inne and for vncleane&s;&s;e; He was that <HI>Sonne of righteou&s;nes,</HI> that came with healing in his wings. His were the wounds, that healed our &s;ores; his was the backe, that bare our &s;orrowes; his was the price, that quit our skores; he a&s;&s;umed our fle&s;h to redeeme vs here, and he raignes as a king to crowne vs hereafter. Now what remaines after all this to be done on our parts? Let vs re&s;t on this <HI>Anchor,</HI> let vs fly to this <HI>hold,</HI> and build on this <HI>foundation: For no other foundation can any man lay, then that which is laid, Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> Let vs ca&s;t our &s;oules into the armes of our <HI>Saviour: In brachijs Salvatoris mei &amp; vivere volo et mori cupio,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Bernard:</HI> O let this bee our de&s;ire: Now the gate is open, let vs not deferre the time of entrance: Now is the acceptable time, let vs not procra&s;tinate the fea|&s;on: Now he offers his mercy, he &s;hewes his long &s;uf|ferance, let vs not turne his grace into wantonne&s;&s;e;
<PB N="51" REF="27" MS="y"> let vs follow the coun&s;ell of the &s;onne of <HI>Sirach:</HI> Ec|clus the 5. <HI>Make no long tarrying to turne to the Lord,</HI> and put not off from day to day: For &s;uddainly &s;hall the wrath of the Lord breake forth, and in thy &s;ecuri|ty thou &s;halt bee de&s;troyed, and thou &s;halt peri&s;h in time of vengeance. But alas farre otherwi&s;e it is with vs in our practi&s;e:<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Magna pars vitae elabitur male agenti|bus, maxima nihil agenti|bus, tota aliud agentibus.</NOTE> A great portion of our time is crumbled away in doing ill, a greater part in doing no|thing, and our whole life in doing that, which wee &s;hould not, or in matters (as we &s;ay) vpon the by. And as <HI>Archimedes</HI> was &s;ecure and bu&s;ie about drawing lines on the ground when <HI>Syracu&s;e</HI> was taken; &s;o is it with vs. Now that our eternall &s;afety laies at &s;take, we lye puzling in our du&s;t, I meane, in our worldly ne|gotiations: But for our eternity &s;hortly approaching, we &s;eldome or rarely thinke of it. We are like <HI>Mar|tha,</HI> troubled about many things, when one thing is nece&s;&s;ary: But this one thing is that, which of all other things is lea&s;t regarded, and in the la&s;t place. Wee &s;el|dome &s;eek heauen, till death doth &s;ummon vs to leaue the earth: wee haue many eua&s;ions to gull our owne hearts, many excu&s;es to procra&s;tinate our repentance; like <HI>Diony&s;ius,</HI> the <HI>Scicilian</HI> king, who to excu&s;e him|&s;elfe for the pre&s;ent deliuery of the golden garment, which he tooke from his <HI>God Apollo,</HI> an&s;wered that &s;uch a robe as that was, could not bee at any &s;ea&s;on of the yeare v&s;efull to his God: it would not keepe him warme in the winter, &amp; it was too heauy for the &s;um|mer: So many there be, &s;aith S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> who play with God and with their owne &s;oule. You mu&s;t not (&s;ay they) &s;eeke for the vigour and life of religion in
<PB N="52" REF="28"> the hearts of young men; For youth, as the prouerbe is, mu&s;t haue his &s;winge: Neither can you expect it in the company of the aged: for their age, and tho&s;e di&s;|tempers, which accompany it, make them a burden to them&s;elues and dulls the edge of their intentions vnto all their &s;erious vnder&s;tandings. Thus both the &s;um|mer and the winter of our age are vnfit for Gods &s;er|vice. But let vs not thus cheate our &s;elues. If God bee God, let vs follow him; let vs not put off the day of reconciliation, and &s;ay in our hearts to morrow wee will doe it, when yet we cannot tell, what &s;hall bee to morrow: for what is our life? It is euen a vapour, that appeares for a little time and afterwards vani&s;heth a|way. Hence it was that <HI>Macedonius,</HI> being inuited a day before to a fea&s;t, replied to the me&s;&s;enger, why doth thy Ma&s;ter inuite me for to morrow, whereas for this many yeares I haue not promi&s;ed to my &s;elfe one daies life? <HI>Nemo mortem &s;atis cavet, ni&s;i qui &s;emper cavet. i.e.</HI> No man dreads death as he ought, but hee that alwaies expects his &s;ummons; and therefore wee may truly iudge &s;uch men wofully &s;ecure, and wilfull contemners of the future good, who can goe to their beds, and re&s;t on their pillowes in the apprehen&s;ion of their knowne &s;innes, without a particular humiliation for them. For how oft doth a &s;uddain &amp; vnexpected death arre&s;t men? We &s;ee and knowe in our dayly ex|perience, many lay them&s;elues to &s;leepe in health and &s;afety, yet are found dead in the morning. Thus &s;ud|dainly are they wrapt from their quiet repo&s;e to their irrecouerable iudgement, perchance from their fea|thers to flames of fire; &s;uch is the frayle condition of
<PB N="53" REF="28" MS="y"> our brittle liues, within the &s;mall particle of an houre, liue and &s;icken, and dye: yet &s;o gro&s;&s;e is our blind|ne&s;&s;e, that from one day to another, nay from one yeare to another, wee triflingly put off the reforma|tion of our liues, vntill our la&s;t houre creepes on vs vnlookt for, and dragges vs to eternity.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;triuing with all his endeavours again&s;t the backwardne&s;&s;e and &s;lowne&s;&s;e of his owne heart to turne to the Lord, bitterly complained with|in him&s;elfe, <HI>Quamdiu, quamdiu, cras, cras? Quare non h&acirc;c hor&acirc; finis turpitudinis meae?</HI> How long (&s;aith he) &ocirc; how long &s;hall I delude my &s;oule with to mor|rowes repentance? Why &s;hould not this houre ter|minate my &s;infulne&s;&s;e? Wee are every minute at the brinke of death, and every houre, that wee pa&s;&s;e through, might proue (for ought we know) the even|ing of our whole life, and the very clo&s;e of our mor|tality. Now if it &s;hould plea&s;e God to take away our &s;oules from vs this night, (as &s;uddenly falls out to &s;ome) what would then become of vs? In what E|ternity &s;hould wee be found? Whether among&s;t the damned, or the ble&s;&s;ed? Happy were it for vs, if wee were but as carefull for the welfare of our &s;oules, as wee are curious for the adorning of our bodies: if our clothes or faces doe contract any blot or &s;oiling, wee pre&s;ently endeavour to clean&s;e the &s;ame: But though our &s;oules lye inthralled in the pollutions of &s;inne, this alas we feele not; it neither provokes vs to &s;hame, nor moues vs to &s;orrow. Wherefore let vs looke into our hearts with a &s;evearer eye: Let the &s;hortne&s;&s;e of our daies &s;tirre vs vp to the amendment of our &s;in|full
<PB N="54" REF="29"> liues; &amp; let the houre, wherein we haue &s;inned, be the beginning of our reformation, according to that of S^t <HI>Ambro&s;e, agenda e&s;t paenitentia, non &s;olum &s;olicit&egrave; ver&ugrave;m etiam matur&egrave;, i.e.</HI> our repentance mu&s;t be, not only &s;incere, but timely al&s;o, while&s;t wee haue the light, let vs walke as children of the light: Let vs not any longer cheate our &s;oules in &s;tudying to invent e|va&s;ions or pretences for our &s;innes; but rather lay o|pen our &s;ores, and &s;eeke to the true <HI>Phy&s;itian,</HI> that can heale them. All the creatures vnder the &s;unne doe naturally intend their owne pre&s;ervation and de&s;ire that happine&s;&s;e, which is agreeable to their nature: onely man is negligent, and impiou&s;ly carele&s;&s;e of his owne welfare. Wee &s;ee the Hart, when hee is &s;tri|ken and wounded, lookes &s;peedily for a certaine hearbe, well knowne vnto him by a kinde of natu|rall in&s;tinct; and when he hath found it, applies it to the wound. The &s;wallow, when her young ones are blind, knowes how to procure them their &s;ight by the v&s;e of her Celandine: But wee alas are wounded, yet &s;eeke for no remedy; wee goe cu&s;tomarily to our bedds, to our tables, to our good company; but who is he that ob&s;erues his con&s;tant cour&s;e of praier, of repentance; of hearty, and &s;incere humiliation for his &s;innes? Wee goe forward &s;till in our old way, and jogge on in the &s;ame rode: Though our judgement ha&s;ten, hell threaten, death &s;tand at the doore, yet we thru&s;t onward &s;till; <HI>&amp; in dulcem declinamus lumi|na &s;omnum:</HI> But alas mi&s;erable &s;oules as we are, can wee embrace quiet re&s;ts and vninterrupted &s;leepes with &s;uch wounded con&s;ciences? Can wee be &s;o &s;e|cure,
<PB N="55" REF="29" MS="y"> being &s;o neare our time?</P>
<P>But you will &s;ay, wee haue pa&s;&s;ed already many nights without danger; no &s;ickne&s;&s;e in the night hath befalne vs hitherto, why then &s;hould any feare of death amaze or trouble vs?</P>
<P>Admit all this, yea bee not too confident; one houre may effect that, which a thou&s;and yeares could not produce: and thinke with your &s;elues, what a lit|tle di&s;tance there is, betweene your &s;oules and death: Let me aske the &s;tronge&s;t of men on earth, what cer|tainty of life can&s;t thou promi&s;e thy &s;elfe, &s;eeing that either a little bone in thy throat may choake thee, or a tile from thy hou&s;e may braine thee, or &s;ome ma|lignant ayre may poy&s;on thee, and then where art thou? There are a thou&s;and waies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu te prius ad aeternita|tem abrep tum mirabe|ris, qu&agrave;m me|tueres abripi|endum.</NOTE> whereby &s;uddain|ly a man may come to his end; and certaine it is that; <HI>Mors illa maxime improvi&s;a e&s;t, cuius vita praecedens non fuit provida, i. e.</HI> that death is the &s;uddaine&s;t, which is not v&s;hered in with a foregoing preparation. It is therefore a &s;peciall point of wi&s;dome to thinke every day our la&s;t, yea to account every houre the period of our liues. For looke how many pores there are in the body, &s;o many windowes are there to let in death: yea we carry our deaths continually about vs in our bo&s;omes; and who can promi&s;e him&s;elfe his life till the evening? Hath not our owne experience &s;howne vs many, who&s;e &s;leepes in their beds haue proued &s;leepes vnto death; who haue beene carried from their chambers to their graue? Death doth not alwaies &s;end forth her harbingers to giue notice of her comming; &s;hee often pre&s;&s;eth in vnlookt for, and
<PB N="56" REF="30"> &s;uddainly attached the vnprovided &s;oule. Watch therefore, becau&s;e yee know neither the day, nor the houre: worke while&s;t yee haue the day; for the night comes, wherein no man can worke: looke towards thy evening; and ca&s;t thy thoughts vpon that long E|ternity; Death fir&s;t or la&s;t will apprehend thee: expect it therefore at every turne, and of this a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qualis qui&s;&abque; in hac vita motitur, talis in die novi&s;&s;i|mo iudicabi|tur.</NOTE> as death leaueth thee, &s;o &s;hall iudgement finde thee. How improvidently &s;ecure then are tho&s;e, who &s;et vp their re&s;t in the comforts of this life, and overly-re|gard their eternall welfare? This is the generall care|le&s;ne&s;&s;e of our times.</P>
<P>If a man haue a perpetuity but of fiue &s;hillings yearely rent, what travell and paines and &s;weat, what beating of his braine and exhau&s;ting of his trea&s;ure will he runne through, before he will loo&s;e one dram of his right? Yet our eternall inheritance is ca&s;t be|hind vs, and vndervalued as a trifle, not worth the &s;eeking; and this &s;hewes our &s;mall loue to our home: for wee little e&s;teeme of that, which wee take &s;mall paines for. All other things which conduce to our temporall well being, wee &s;eeke with circum&s;pecti|on, and enioy them with content; but matters of <HI>Eter|nity,</HI> wee conceiue of, as things farre di&s;tant from vs, wee &s;carcely entertaine them in our thoughts. Wee bu&s;y not our vnder&s;tandings in the &s;earch of tho&s;e things which we &s;ee not: things pre&s;ent, and obvious to our &s;ight doe be&s;t affect vs; wee are ill-&s;ighted vp|ward, weake and dimme eyes haue wee towards hea|ven.</P>
<P>The truth of this appeares even in children, who
<PB N="57" REF="30" MS="y"> pre&s;ently even from the cradle, drinke in the rudi|ments of vice; they learne to &s;weare, riot, drinke and the like enormities with the &s;malle&s;t teaching; but they are vtterly indi&s;po&s;ed to any vertuous inclinati|ons. They &s;oone apprehend what belongs to the cu|rio&s;ity of behaviour, and deportment of the body, &amp; the fa&s;hions of the times; <HI>Hoc di&s;cunt omnes ante Alpha &amp; Beta puelli;</HI> but for Heaven and that Eternity, they are wholly aver&s;e from it, they are vtterly vncapable of the things aboue; they carry about them, as the li|very of their fir&s;t parents, not only an indi&s;po&s;ition, but a very oppo&s;ition to goodne&s;&s;e: And whereas for other imployments and vndertakings, they haue cer|taine naturall notions in them, bending their intenti|ons to naturall workes, &s;ome one way and &s;ome ano|ther; yet they haue not &s;o much as a naturall appre|hen&s;ion of the things of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Homo &s;ine gratia, praeter carnem nihil &s;apit, intelli|git aut pote&s;t.</NOTE> Thus it is with chil|dren, and thus it is with all men, even tho&s;e of the ripe&s;t, and mo&s;t peircing vnder&s;tanding, vntill the light of <HI>Gods</HI> &s;pirit hath &s;hined on their hearts and powerfully wrought &s;ome &s;pirituall, holy di&s;po&s;iti|ons in them. <HI>The naturall man</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>nei|ther doth, nor can di&s;cerne the things that are of God.</HI> O how infinitely-mi&s;erable and deplorable is his &s;tate, who hauing neither knowledge of the true life, nor po&s;&s;ibility of him&s;elfe to finde it out:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum exul&s;it a patria exul|tat in via.</NOTE> yet runnes on &s;ecurely in his damned way, vntill he fall woeful|ly and irrevocably into the pit, where hee will not haue, (no not when hee hath vncomfortably worne out millions of yeares) the lea&s;t intermi&s;&s;ion of &s;or|row, or drop of comfort, or hope of pardon? Here
<PB N="58" REF="31"> on earth malefactors condemned to dye, haue this comfort (though wretched) that one houre com|monly 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 thou&s;and yeares will not end their &s;orrowe: And this is it which addes more to their &s;ufferings, even their vnhappy know|ledge of the perpetuity of them; they haue not &s;o much as any hope of relea&s;ement.</P>
<P>Hope in this life hath &s;uch a power in it, that it can yeeld &s;ome comfort in the midde&s;t of trouble; The &s;icke man, while&s;t his &s;oule is in him, he hath hope, but after this life, this &s;mall refre&s;hment is denied the damned, all their hope is turned into de&s;peration. The Prophet <HI>Daniell,</HI> cap. 4.14. heard the voice of an holy one, crying, <HI>hew downe the tree, and cut off his branches, &s;hake of his leaues, and &s;catter his fruit, neuerthele&s;&s;e leaue the &s;tumpe of his roote in the earth.</HI> Thus it is with men in this world &s;aith <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> their leaues and their flowers are &s;haken; their delights are taken from them; but the rootes remaine, and their hope is not aboli&s;hed. But it is not &s;o in hell; (&s;aith he) There both flower and &s;tumpe; nay and even all hope too, are bani&s;hed away from them. The day of the <HI>Lord,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet <HI>Malachy,</HI> &s;hall burne them vp, and leaue them neither roote nor branch. The very hope, &s;aith <HI>Salomon,</HI> of the wicked &s;hall peri&s;h; what &s;hould this teach vs, but while&s;t our hope remaines to improue our few daies to our be&s;t advantage, to make &s;traighter paths to our &s;elues, to abridge our inordi|nate appetites in &s;ome mea&s;ure of their vaine &amp; fruit|le&s;&s;e
<PB N="59" REF="31" MS="y"> ioyes; and with all the power of our affections &s;triue to attaine that hauen, where no billow &s;hall af|fright vs, no &s;tormes a&s;toni&s;h vs, no perills indanger vs? Then &s;hall our di&s;&s;olution proue our gaine, and our death our glory: if otherwi&s;e wee per&s;i&s;t wilfully in the paths of our voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;olace our &s;elues in the vaine ioyes of our owne hearts, and in the &s;ight of our eyes; certainly it will be bitterne&s;&s;e in the latter end.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Extrema gau|dii luctus oc|cupat.</NOTE> All our earthly delights will glide a|way like a &s;wift river: <HI>The reioycing of the wicked is &s;hort,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Iob, and the ioy of a &s;inner is but for a mo|ment.</HI> Though his excellency mount vp to the hea|ven, and his head reach vnto the cloudes, yet &s;hall he peri&s;h for ever like his dongue, but the righteous is like a &s;trong mountaine and he &s;hall bee had in ever|la&s;ting remembrance.</P>
<P>Wherefore to draw to a conclu&s;ion, iu&s;t occa&s;ion might here be taken for deploring the negligence, and vnhappy condition of our times. Where are there a|ny that take into their thoughts the due con&s;iderati|on of the time to come? Where &s;hall wee finde any truly provident for immortality? <HI>Sic pleri&abque; vivimus, ac &s;i fabula e&s;set omnis aeternitas;</HI> wee &s;o liue as though wee conceiued of Eternity, but as of a fable, or a dreame; the &s;weete allurements of &s;in doe &s;o &s;trange|ly beguile many, that by gentle degrees they oblite|rate and extingui&s;h in them all loue of vertue, and the very inclinations them&s;elues to any thing, that may be truly tearmed good.</P>
<P>But let vs no longer delude our &s;elues by fancying a perpetuity on earth, behold the judge &s;tands before
<PB N="60" REF="32"> the doore:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Momento fi et quod tota doleat aeterni+tas.</NOTE> The &s;tronge&s;t holds in the World will not be able to detaine vs one minute, when God &s;hall be plea&s;ed to call for our &s;oules: and therefore<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ante oculos prae omnibus habeamus di|em vltimum, &amp; momentis &s;ingulis &s;up|plicia timea|mus dolotum aeternorum.</NOTE> let vs be|fore all things haue continually in our &s;ight the la&s;t day: and let vs every moment feare the puni&s;hments of eternall paines.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. III.</HI> Certaine conclu&s;ions drawne from the &s;erious and devoute con&s;ideration of Eternity.</HEAD>
<DIV4 N="1" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The fir&s;t conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>IF they, who runne on in any notorious &s;inne, did but rightly weigh how fa&s;t they goe towards the Eternity of torments, (&s;ince that by the lea&s;t com|mand or &s;troke of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Confecto de|mum &s;celere, eius magni|tudo intelligi|tur.</NOTE> they may bee vnavoidably hurl'd to death and de&s;truction:) Certainely they would not for all the kingdomes in <HI>Europe,</HI> for all the trea&s;ures of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> nay not for the whole world, de|ferre their repentance one houre; much le&s;&s;e would they goe &s;o confidently to their beds, without feare or horror, being &s;o neare the pits brinke; and lying in the danger of &s;o great a &s;inne. For what would it profit a man, to winne the whole world, and loo&s;e his &s;oule? wherefore whoeuer thou art <HI>Nulli parcas vt &s;oli parcas animae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnia &s;iper|das animam &s;ervare me|mento.</NOTE> what ever become of all other things, yet haue a &s;peciall care for the &s;alvation of thy pretious &s;oule.</P>
</DIV4>
<DIV4 N="2" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The &s;econd conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>The greate&s;t part of men doe not belieue this Eter|nity, which &s;hall vndoubtedly follow either in Hea|ven,
<PB N="61" REF="32" MS="y"> or Hell to all; For were they a&s;&s;ured of that truth, they would &s;hew more evident proofe thereof in the reformation of their liues. Some indeede will &s;eeme to credit it in their words, but deny it in their actions. Their apprehen&s;ions and conceits may per|chance &s;ometimes glance at it, vpon &s;ome checke of con&s;cience, it being as a thorne in their &s;ides, and a mountaine in their way towards their earthly con|tentment; but they are &s;oone taken off. Such thoughts haue no rooting in the ground of their hearts, but are &s;uddenly choaked by &s;ome intervenient imploy|ments: they are commonly nipt in their very bud, and killed in their birth; So that they neuer come to any i&s;&s;ue. Thus many there are, who<NOTE PLACE="marg">Caeci ad aeter|nitatem ade|unt, ex qua nunquam ex|ibunt.</NOTE> runne headlong and blindfold to their long home, like the rich glutton in the Go&s;pell, which never began to open his eyes and looke vpwards, till he was in torment: All the while he liued on earth, his eyes were &s;hut vp, and when it was too late, namely when he was throwne to hell, then began he to looke vpward and about him: And certainely it is no marvaile, this rich glutton, and ma|ny more like him, ha&s;ten thus vnhappily to their vn|evitable downefall.</P>
<P>For they goe on in a plea&s;ing and ea&s;y way. And<NOTE PLACE="marg">In via nemo errat &s;ed in fi|ne viae, via pluribus pla+cet, &s;ed di&s;pi|cet &amp; terret viae terminus.</NOTE> they are never &s;en&s;ible that they are out of the way, till they arriue at the end of their journey. All mi&s;e|ry lies in the clo&s;e of the day, For out of the pit is no redemption: when once the &s;oule is &s;plit vpon this rocke, it giues to the world his everla&s;ting farewell, according to that of <HI>Iob.</HI> cap. 7.9. <HI>as the cloud vani&s;h|eth and goeth away; &s;o he that goes downe to the graue,
<PB N="62" REF="33"> &s;hall come vp no more, hee &s;hall returne no more to his hou&s;e, neither &s;hall his place know him any more.</HI></P>
</DIV4>
<DIV4 N="3" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The third conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>Who&s;oeuer &s;hall de&s;cend into him&s;elfe, and take a &s;trict and &s;erious view of this eternity, certainly the meditation thereof &s;oundly dige&s;ted, cannot but terminate his de&s;ires to a moderate and &s;paring frui|tion, even of lawfull contentments.</P>
<P>This will imbitter his carnall mirth, take off the edge from his &s;weete&s;t delights, and at length make him &s;ay with <HI>Salomon,</HI> I &s;aid of laughter thou art madde, and of joy what doe&s;t thou?</P>
<P>It is recorded of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> that after his re&s;urrecti|on from the dead, he was never &s;eene to laugh; The &s;treame of his affections were now turned into ano|ther Channell; his thoughts were fixt in heaven, though his body was on earth, and therefore<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aeternis in|hianti in fa&s;ti|dio &s;unt om|nia tran&s;ito|ria, <HI>i.e. Bern.</HI></NOTE> hee could not but &s;light temporall things, when his heart was bent towards eternall. Oh, that wee could worke our hearts &amp; &s;oules to a vehement thir&s;t after <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> the true eternity! that wee could cleaue to that rocke with &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e, and with vnmoueable affections! For if <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> be our end, our joy &s;hall be endle&s;&s;e, <HI>nul|lo fine regnabis cum Chri&s;to, &s;i Chri&s;tus tibi finis.</HI></P>
</DIV4>
<DIV4 N="4" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The fourth conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>The minde of man is &s;o much the more &s;en&s;ible of the evill pre&s;ent, by how much le&s;&s;e it meditates on the good to come. For he that lookes towards the re|ward, will vilify the &s;ufferings. Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> runs on &s;weetely in his meditations vpon this &s;ubiect; Eter|nall labour, &s;aith he, is but an equall compen&s;ation
<PB N="63" REF="33" MS="y"> for an eternall re&s;t. But if thou &s;houlde&s;t endure this eternall labour, thou could&s;t never arriue at that eter|nall re&s;t: Therefore hath the mercy of God ordained thy &s;orrowes to be temporall, that thy ioyes may bee eternall; and yet &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vbi e&s;t cogi|tatio Dei? ni|mi, profundae factae &s;unt co|gitationes Dei <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> who is there, thinkes on God as he ought? Such thoughts are irke&s;ome to vs; But for temporall vanities we thinke of them with de|light; and enioy them with contentment: Now, &s;aith he, looke in and about thy &s;elfe, &s;ee where thou art; God hath his hooke in thy no&s;trills,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Noli gaudere, vt pi&s;cis, qui in &s;ua exultat e&s;ca: nondum enim traxit hamum pi&s;ca|tor. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> and can plucke thee vp when he plea&s;eth: and though hee &s;uffer thee (according to thy calculation) a long time, yet what is the longe&s;t time of man to Gods eternity? Yea though thou &s;houlde&s;t lengthen out thy daies to ma|ny hundreths of yeares; yet &s;till thou art tran&s;itory and expo&s;ed to the common condition of all men. Then fixe thy heart on <HI>God,</HI> and &s;o enioying that eter|nity, thou &s;halt make thy &s;elfe eternall; and be not di&s;|couraged for thy tribulations, and daily di&s;quietings in this world: for &s;uch is Gods loue, &s;uch his abun|dant kindne&s;&s;e towards his elect; that hee<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ideo Deus ter|renis faelici|tatibus amari|tudine~ mi&s;cet vt alia quaera|tur faelicitae, cuius dolcedo non e&s;t falla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> corrects them here, to the end they might not bee condemned with the world hereafter; <HI>boni laborant, quia flagellan|tur vt filij, mali exultant quia damnantur vt alieni;</HI> God &s;pareth tho&s;e, who are aliens from grace, but whom he chu&s;eth, he cha&s;ti&s;eth; Bee not therefore (I &s;ay) ca&s;t downe with any cro&s;&s;es what&s;oeuer, that may befall thee in this life; for the things that are pre|&s;ent, are temporall, but the things to come are eter|nall. When we &s;ee the friends of this world, the ea|ger embracers of the comforts of this life, vpon every
<PB N="64" REF="34"> &s;ummons of death &s;triue to deferre, what they cannot vtterly avoide, their corporall di&s;&s;olutions; oh how great care, what indefatigable diligence what re&s;t|le&s;&s;e endeavours &s;hould we v&s;e, that wee might liue for ever? Let vs againe, and againe, meditate on the&s;e things and with due care fore&s;ee eternity, before wee vnexpectedly fall into it. Certaine it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnia tran|&s;eunt, &s;ola re|&s;tat &amp; non tranfibit ae|ternitas.</NOTE> all things pa&s;&s;e away in this life, only eternity hath no period: let vs redeeme the time, and worke while wee haue the day; for if wee neglect good duties here, we &s;hall never regaine the like opportunity hereafter. This life (&s;aith <HI>Nazianzen</HI>) is as it were our <HI>faireday</HI> or mar|ket day, let vs now buy what wee want, while the faire la&s;ts. While we haue time let vs doe good vnto all men:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu dormis &s;ed tempus tuum non dormit, &s;ed ambulat imo volat. Bene illis qui &s;ic vivunt, &s;icut vixi&s;&s;e &s;e vo|lunt cum mo|riendum erit faciantque ea quae in aeter|nitate con&s;ti|tuti feci&s;&s;e &s;e gaudebunt. <HI>Amb.</HI></NOTE> Happy is the man that &s;o liues here, that the remembrance of his well-&s;pent life may yeeld him ioy hereafter; For otherwi&s;e <HI>levis hic neglectus, aeternum fit di&s;pendium, i.e.</HI> A &s;mall neglect in the or|dering of our time in this world, will bee &s;econded with an eternall lo&s;&s;e in the world to come.</P>
</DIV4>
<DIV4 N="5" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The fift conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>Death is the ending our daies, not of our life. For when our day &s;hall clo&s;e, and our time &s;hall bee no more, then &s;hall our death conduct vs to a life, which will la&s;t for all Eternity: For we dye not here to dye, but to liue for ever. Therefore the be&s;t guide of our life is the con&s;ideration of our death: and hee a|lone leads a life an&s;werable to his Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;i|on, who daily expects to leaue it. Me thinkes 'its &s;trange-men &s;hould be &s;o indu&s;triou&s;ly carefull to a|voide their death, and &s;o carele&s;ly improvident of the
<PB N="65" REF="34" MS="y"> life to come, when as nothing makes death bad, but that e&s;tate which followes it: but the rea&s;on is, wee are &s;piritually blind and &s;ee not, nor know, in this our day the things that belong to our peace, wee haue naturally neither &s;ight nor feeling of the ioyes to come. But when God &s;hall enlighten the darkne&s;&s;e of our mindes, and reveale his &s;onne in vs when once the <HI>day dawneth,</HI> &amp; that <HI>day-&s;tarre</HI> ari&s;eth in our hearts &ocirc; then our death will be our joy, and the reioycing of our hearts, then &s;hall wee infinitely de&s;ire to bee di&s;&s;olued and to be with <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> Let vs therefore with vnwearied endeavours labour to bring <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> home to our hearts, and to keepe him there. Let vs dye to our &s;elues and to our lu&s;ts here, that &s;o in the world to come, we may everla&s;tingly liue vnto Chri&s;t and in him.</P>
</DIV4>
<DIV4 N="6" TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The &s;ixt conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>Now that we may bee the better incouraged to rai&s;e vp our indeavours to the attainement of this e|ternity; Let vs in a word con&s;ider the abundant and the ever-flowing happine&s;&s;e in the world to come; neither eye hath &s;eene nor eare hath heard, nor tongue can expre&s;&s;e the joyes that <HI>God</HI> hath provided for the~ that loue him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vbi nullum e|rit malum, nullum late|bit bonum-</NOTE> Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> being ravi&s;hed with the de&s;ire of this life, breaketh out with an inflamed affection, how great &s;hall that happine&s;&s;e bee, where there can be no vncleane thing, where no good can be wanting;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Praemium vir|tutis erit ip&s;e, qui virtutem dedit.</NOTE> where every creature doth prai&s;e and ad|mire his <HI>Creator,</HI> who is all in all things. How great &s;hall that reward be, where the giver of vertue &s;hall be him&s;elfe, the reward of vertue: how great &s;hall
<PB N="66" REF="35"> that abundance be, where the author of all plenty, &s;hall be vnto me, life and &s;oule, and rayment, health, and peace, and honour, and all things; yea the end and compleat obiect of all my de&s;ires: For in his pre|&s;ence, is the fulne&s;&s;e of joy, and at his right hand there is plea&s;ure for evermore. How great &s;hall that ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e be, where we &s;hall haue the Lord our debtor, who hath promi&s;ed to reward our good deeds; where wee &s;hall haue the Lord for our portion, who will be to vs, (as he was to <HI>Abraham</HI>) our exceeding great reward? How great &s;hall that light bee, where the Sunne &s;hall no more &s;hine by day, nor the moone by night; where <HI>God</HI> &s;hall be our light, and the <HI>Lord</HI> our glory? How great &s;hall that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion be, where the heart &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e what&s;oever it &s;hall de&s;ire, and &s;hall never be deprived of its po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions? Here will be to the Saints an abundant, everla&s;ting, overflowing banquet; no griefe can accompany it, no &s;orrow &s;uc|ceede it. Here is ioy without &s;adne&s;&s;e, re&s;t<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quies motus non appeti|tus.</NOTE> without labour, wealth without lo&s;&s;e, health without languor, abundance without defect, life without death, perpe|tuity without corruption. Here is the beatificall pre|&s;ence of God, the company of Saints, the &s;ociety of Angells. Here are plea&s;ures, which the mindes of the beholders can never be wearied with; they alwaies &s;ee them, and yet alwaies reioyce to &s;ee them: The&s;e are the flaggons of wine which comforted vp <HI>David,</HI> when he cried out, according to the multitude of the &s;orrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts haue refre&s;hed my &s;oule: <HI>In coelo e&s;t vita ver&egrave; vitalis,</HI> In heaven, and only in heauen is the true life. For
<PB N="67" REF="35" MS="y"> there our memories &s;hall liue in the ioyfull recorda|tion of all things pa&s;t, our vnder&s;tandings &s;hall liue in the knowledge of God; our wills &s;hall liue in the fruition of all excellencies that they can wi&s;h for, all our &s;en&s;es &s;hall abound in their &s;euerall delights. Here is that white &s;tone, which Saint <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;peakes of, even glory and immortality to them that overcome. Here is that <HI>water of life</HI> which our <HI>Saviour</HI> &s;peakes of, whereof who&s;oever drinkes &s;hall never thir&s;t againe. Here is that river, the &s;prings whereof make glad the heartes of men: And how earne&s;tly are wee invited to the&s;e delights; come, buy wine and oyle without mony? Heaven is at &s;ale,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Coelum vena|le e&s;t nec mul|tum exae&s;tues propter pretij magnitudine~: teip&s;um da, &amp; habebis il|lud. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> and thou mai&s;t buy it if thou wilt, and &s;hrug not at the greatne&s;&s;e of the price, giue but thy &s;elfe to God, and thou &s;halt haue it. And who would not abandon his honours, his pride, his credit, his friends, nay him&s;elfe? Who would not be willing to pa&s;&s;e through the gates of Hell, and in|dure infernall torments for a &s;ea&s;on, &s;o he might bee certaine of &s;o glorious and eternall an inheritance hereafter? Let all the divells in hell (&s;aith Saint <HI>Au|&s;tine</HI>) be&s;et me round;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bone Ie&s;u qui parcendo &s;aepius nos &agrave; te abijcis, feriendo effi|ce, vt ad te re|deamus <HI>Ger. med.</HI></NOTE> let fa&s;tings macerate my bo|dy; let &s;orrowes oppre&s;&s;e my minde; let paines con|&s;ume my fle&s;h; let watchings dry me, or heat &s;corch me, or cold freeze and contract me; let all the&s;e, and what can come more, happen vnto mee, &s;o I may in|joy my Sauiour. For how excellent &s;hall the glory of the iu&s;t be? how great their ioy, when euery face &s;hall &s;hine as the &s;unne, When or <HI>Saviour</HI> &s;hall martiall the Saints in their di&s;tinct orders, and &s;hall render to eve|ry one according to his workes? O were thy af|fections
<PB N="68" REF="36"> rightly &s;etled on the&s;e heauenly man&s;ions, how abiect &amp; vnderneath thee woulde&s;t thou e&s;teeme tho&s;e things, which before thou &s;et&s;t an high price vpon? As he which a&s;cends an high mountaine, when he cometh to the top thereof, findes the middle &s;teppes low &amp; beneath him, which &s;eemed to be high to him while he &s;tood in the bottome; &s;o hee which &s;ends his thoughts to heauen, however hee e&s;teemed of the vani&s;hing plea&s;ures of the world when his heart lay groueling on the earth below, now in this his tran|&s;cendency he &s;ees them vnder him &amp; vilifies the~ all in regard of heauenly trea&s;ures. Let vs therefore cheer|fully follow that advi&s;e of a Reverend Father:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quod ali|quand&ocirc; per nece&s;&s;itatem amittendum e&s;t, pro aeterna remuneratio ne &s;ponte e&s;t di&s;tribuen|dum.</NOTE> Let vs here willingly part with that for heauen, which we mu&s;t fir&s;t or la&s;t nece&s;&s;arily leaue vpon earth, and let all the &s;trength of our &s;tudies, and the very height of our endeauours bee di&s;pended for the attainment of eternity. For certaine it is how&s;oeuer wee liue here like &s;ecure people of a &s;ecure age, and howeuer we la|vi&s;h out the &s;trength and flowre of our daies, as if wee &s;hould neuer account for it; yet our iudgement is mo&s;t &s;ure, and &s;hall not bee avoided: The &s;entence of the Iudge will be one day mo&s;t a&s;&s;uredly publi&s;hed, and &s;hall not be revoked: <HI>Wee mu&s;t all appeare</HI> (&s;aith Saint <HI>Paul) before the iudgement &s;eat of Chri&s;t, that euery one may receaue the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.</HI> Then &s;hall our wickedne&s;&s;e be brought to light which now lies hid in darkne&s;&s;e. <HI>I &s;aw the dead</HI> (&s;aith S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> Rev. 20.12.) <HI>both great and &s;mall &s;tand before God, and the books were opened and another booke was opened which is the
<PB N="69" REF="36" MS="y"> booke of life, and the dead were iudged of tho&s;e things which were written in the bookes, according to their workes; and who&s;oeuer was not found written in the book of life was ca&s;t into the lake of fire.</HI> Thus it is evident, every man &s;hall giue vp his account; euery &s;oule &s;hall fir&s;t or la&s;t come to his reckning: <HI>Multorum vocatio, paucorum electio, omnium retributio,</HI> many are called, few cho&s;en, but al rewarded according to their deeds. Oh then let vs prepare our &s;elues to meet our God; let vs come before him with feare, and tremble at his iudgements. <HI>Feare not him</HI> (&s;aith our Sauiour) <HI>who when he hath killed the body, can doe no more, but feare him, who can ca&s;t both &s;oule and body to hell; I &s;ay him feare.</HI> Oh how many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they haue meditated vpon the la&s;t iudgement. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;aith, as oft as I thinke of that day, how doth my whole body quake, and my heart within me tremble?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quoties diem illum cogito toto corpore contremi&s;co. Timeo Gehen nam quippe interminatam</NOTE> <HI>Cyrill</HI> &s;aith, I am afraid of Hell, becau&s;e the worme there dies not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A dentibus be&s;tiae infer|nalis contre|mi&s;co, quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum, vt praeveniam fletibus fletu~ &amp; &s;tridotem dentium.</NOTE> and the fire neuer goeth out: I horribly tremble (&s;aith <HI>Bernard</HI>) at the teeth of that infernall bea&s;t. Who will giue to mine eyes (&s;aith he) a fountaine of teares, that by my wee|ping here, I may prevent weeping and gna&s;hing of teeth hereafter? Let the examples of the&s;e Saints of God &s;tirre vp in our hearts the like affections. Let it be the pitch of our de&s;ires, and the highe&s;t &s;traine of all our endeauours, to attaine tho&s;e heaue~ly man&s;ions which our Saviour hath prouided for vs;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Momentane|um e&s;t quod delectat, aeter|num quod cruciat.</NOTE> and to avoid tho&s;e endle&s;&s;e, ea&s;ele&s;&s;e flames which God hath pre|pared for the Diuell and his Angels. Who would gaine the purcha&s;e of a &s;hort and tran&s;ient plea&s;ure,
<PB N="70" REF="37"> at &s;o high a rate, as the heavy price of eternall fire? Be&s;ides how &s;hall our tender bodies, which &s;o &s;hrinke at the prick of a pin, or flame of a candle endure tho&s;e la&s;ting pre&s;&s;ures?</P>
<P>Who can dwell (&s;aith the Prophet) with eternall fire, who can abide with euerla&s;ting burnings? Oh, let vs &s;et before our eyes the judgement to come, and what&s;oeuer we finde our &s;elues worthy to be condem|ned for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ce&s;&s;at vindi|cta divina, fi conver&s;io praecurrat hu|mana.</NOTE> by the ju&s;t Iudge at that day. Let vs fir&s;t con|demne our &s;elues; for where mans conuer&s;ion begins, there Gods di&s;plea&s;ure maketh his period. Excellent is that adui&s;e of S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> weigh (&s;aith he) and con&s;i|der the errors of thy life while thy time &s;erues; Trem|ble at that &s;trict judgement to come while thou ha&s;t health,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Culpam tuam (dum vacat) pe~&s;a, &amp; di&s;tri|ctionem futu|ri iudicii (dum vales) exhor|re&s;ce, ne tunc amaram &s;en tentiam audi as, cum nullis fletibus eva|da<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> lea&s;t thou heare that bitter &s;entence <HI>(Goe yee cur&s;ed)</HI> goe forth again&s;t thee when it is too late. Did man knowe what time he &s;hould leaue the world, hee might proportion his time, &s;ome to plea&s;ure, &amp; &s;ome to repentance. But hee that hath promi&s;ed pardon to the penitent, hath not a&s;&s;ured the &s;inner of an houres life. Since therefore we can neither preuent, nor fore|&s;ee death, let vs alwaies expect it, and prouide for it. Let vs dye to our &s;innes here, that wee may liue to Chri&s;t hereafter, and let vs &s;uffer with Chri&s;t in this world, that we may reioyce and raigne with him in the world to come. <HI>Recu&s;at e&s;&s;e in corpore, qui non vult odium &s;u&s;tinere cum capite.</HI> When we depart this life, we goe to an eternity, to an eternity I &s;ay, which &s;hall neuer end, to an eternity <HI>quae facit omne bonum infinit&egrave; melius, et omne malum, infinit&eacute; mole&s;tius,</HI> which ma|keth euery good action infinitely better, and euery e|vill
<PB N="71" REF="37" MS="y"> action infinitely wor&s;e. Oh the vnhappine&s;&s;e and everla&s;ting woe of tho&s;e men, who preferre the &s;mall and trifling things of this life, before the eternall weight of glory hereafter: who to enioy the &s;hort comfort of a mi&s;erable life here, are content to loo&s;e the pre&s;ence of <HI>God and &s;ociety of Angells hereafter.</HI></P>
</DIV4>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="prayer">
<HEAD>A PRAYER.</HEAD>
<P><HI>O</HI> Mercifull God thou that art the eternall truth, the true charity, and long eternity, &s;o illuminate the blindne&s;&s;e of our vnder&s;tandings that the &s;erious con&s;i|deration of our &s;hort and tran&s;itory mi&s;eries which wee run through in this life, may driue vs to a more feeling apprehen&s;ion of tho&s;e eternall paines which abide vs in the world to come Settle our hearts vpon the true ioy, teach vs &s;o to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the&s;e tran&s;ient things, that we loo&s;e not the enduring &s;ub&s;tance, &s;o to lament our &s;innes, that we may e&s;cape the puni&s;hment, &s;o to proceed in the way, that we fayle not of our iournies end. <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>The&s;e faults are to be corrected in &s;ome Copies.</HEAD>
<P>Pag. 9. line 2. read <HI>breathle&s;&s;e.</HI> p. 12 l. 1. r <HI>per&s;picuous.</HI> p. 34. l 6 r: <HI>run.</HI> p. 52. l. 6. r. <HI>vndertakings.</HI></P>
<PB REF="38">
<PB REF="38">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
