CHAP. I.
That it is strange Men having Death al­ways before their Eyes, and so great rea­son to think of it, do think nevertheless so little of it.

'TIS not onely of the Death of Martyrs that we may say with St. Augustine, De Civitat. Dei, l. 13. c. 4. That by the admirable Grace of [Page 2] our Saviour, the Pain of Sin is become the Instrument of Virtue; 'tis by the Death of all men. Death will be for them one of the most powerful means of their Salvation, and one of the greatest re­medies of their Evils, if they can draw the advantages which the divine mercy will procure them by this chastisement which his Justice exercises over them.

Man dies not but because he has Sin­ned, and it would suffice to Sin no more to think well that he must die. The Scripture it self assures us of it, by dis­covering to us thereby this secret of Gods bounty towards Sinners. Ecles. 7.40. Remember your End, and you will never Sin.

In effect what is more capable to make man think of himself, and more proper to make him out of Love with the World, to suppress his Pride, to strike him with a holy fear of Gods Judgements, than the thoughts of Death? Also God who saw how much this thought was beneficial for us, hath pleas­ed that it should be renewed in our minds by a number of different objects and actions, which presenting to us con­tinually the Idea of Death, permits us not to forget it, lest we should [Page 3] turn our Eyes willingly another way.

We are not only advised by so many men that we must die, who ever and anon part out of this World; by that of all other Animals to which we have been equalled in this point, in punishment for our sins; by sicknesses which happen to us; by continual weakness of the Body which we experience continually; by infinite accidents which threaten us every moment: we are so likewise by a great part of our actions, which tending to avoid death, ought continually to place the Image thereof before our Eyes.

For what is mans life but a perpetu­al combat with Death? We Eat only that we may not die for hunger. We Drink that we may not die for thirst. We Sleep that we may not die for want of it. We Labour to withstand Death, which want might cause. We take rest that we may not die with weariness. We are therefore at all turns grapling with Death. And being thus obliged to make continual endeavours to re­pulse it, it is very strange we should be able to hinder our selves from thinking of it.

Likewise God will not have the im­pression which Death makes upon the minds of men to be diminished by an artifice, which they make use of in re­gard of most truths which incommode them; it is to palliate the Evidence and certainty thereof by affected doubts. For although there is nothing more hard to nature than the necessity of dying, yet is there nothing more sure. We do not flatter our selves upon this score with vain hopes. And the experience of so many Ages, in which we have seen so many Men yield to Death without ex­ception or priviledge, does form in all Mens minds so clear a conviction, that even those who have desired to with­draw themselves from the rank of men, and make themselves adored as Gods, have never been so foolish as to think they should never die.

Every one therefore is perswaded he shall die. We receive from all parts conti­nual allarms thereof. And moreover Christian Religion teacheth us, that this so unavoidable Death ought to place us for ever in a state of happiness, or misery, and that these two Eternities which are so different, the one so de­sirable, and the other so frightful, de­pend [Page 5] on the disposition of the Heart wherein that last moment shall find us: That it will give it self at that instant an irrevocable decree which will decide our Lott for ever, and what renders this decree favourable or contrary, is the use we make of our life here, which is only given us to prepare our selves for it.

Who would not imagin but that men who make a profession of believing these Truths, should be employed continually a­bout these frightful objects? And indeed 'tis this which God pretends in placing them so frequently before our Eyes. 'Tis what Reason dictates to us, and what it makes us do in some Occasions of much less importance.

We need not advertise Criminals, shut up in Prison, in expectation of Judgment, where their Honour, their Goods, and their Lives are at stake, to think of the danger they are in, of the means to avoid it, of the ways to make their Judges favourable to them: Their State and Condition puts them in mind there­of, and their Thoughts incline them na­turally thereunto, without any need of using endeavours to apply themselves to it. But how much more would they bu­sie themselves about it, if they thought [Page 6] they could advance their Affairs by thinking on it, and that there were no better means to gain their Judges favour, and to render their Cause good, than by having the day of their Trial always in their minds?

This is the Image of Man's Condition, but not of his Conduct. He is a Priso­ner, like these Criminals we speak of: for the whole World is Man's general Prison, and we go not out of it but by Punishment, Death being one to which all Men are condemn'd by God's Justice. No Man dies properly of that which Men call a Natural Death. Every Death is the Execution of a Decree of God, who condemns us to it. Some are condemn'd to die by the Sword, others by Fire, some by Shipwrack, some by Poyson, some by the Plague, and Fevers, and by other Diseases; and the death of these last, although accompanied with Circum­stances less frightful to the Senses, is of­ten more hard and troublesom than the others.

We are in expectation not onely of the Execution of the Decree of Death, which is already given against us; but of another much more terrible, which is not yet pronounced, and which should [Page 7] make us happy or miserable for all Eternity.

We know that it might help us much to have the mind fill'd with these thoughts, and to represent to our selves often this last moment which will finish our lives and begin our Eternity. All that environs us puts us in mind there­of. And nevertheless the truth is, that there are very few who think of it, and a great many fewer that think seriously of it. Most Men on the contrary place all their care and study to banish all these objects out of their thoughts; to see death the least they can, to drive away all that represents it lively, and they prosper so well therein, that they all come almost to death, without ever having thought or dreamt of it.

This blindness which men procure themselves is doubtless one of their greatest misfortunes; and the Devil hath no greater means to destroy them, than to nourish them therein, and con­duct them thus brutishly to death with­out reflecting or foreseeing. 'Tis this ought to incline those whose Eyes God opens sometimes to see the misery and danger of this State, to do all possibly they can to dissipate those clouds which [Page 8] hide these objects from us, of which it is so necessary for us to think; and without doubt one of the best means to succeed therein is, to observe well the wiles which are used, either to banish ab­solutely out of the mind the remem­brance of Death, or to think thereof onely in so weak a manner, that it may not be able to make any impression upon the heart, nor hinder any ways the course of its passions.

CHAP. II.
Of the Artifice Men make use of to weaken the Idea of Death; which is, to look upon their Lives as long and certain.

THere are hardly any People who can hearken without trouble to the Commandment which the Prophet Isaiah made in behalf of God to King Ezechi­as, (Isa. 38.1.) to put his affairs in order, and to prepare himself for death: Di­spone domui tuae. The Image of Death, when both near and certain, does make the most firm and undaunted to quake: And when any one is told, that he hath but very little or no time to live, he is [Page 9] much more troubled to moderate the fear he apprehends thereof, than to in­cline him to think of it.

Every one is moved in these occasions, and pressed not onely to order the affairs of his House, but also those of his Con­science. The most wicked and impious are troubled thereat, and not daring to die as they have lived, they find more safety in making the best use they can of the Actions of Religion they have negle­cted in their life-time.

'Tis not then through a constancy of the Soul, that Men are so little concern­ed, during their health, at the fear of death: 'Tis not because they can under­go the sight of it without fear, nor that they can hinder themselves from thinking of it when it presents it self to them with all it hath that's terrible: 'Tis be­cause they represent it not to themselves in their Lives, but by so dim and so con­fus'd an Idea, that it is not possible to move or stir them.

To weaken and obscure thus the Idea of Death, they make use of divers In­ventions, which it is necessary should be discovered. One of the principal ones is, that imagining their Lives very long, they look upon Death, which ought to [Page 10] terminate it, so far off, that it diminish­eth infinitely the Impression that it might make upon their minds.

For how terrible soever an Object may be, we are generally little touched at it when we think it far off; because the mind applying it self to this long Interval which is between us and it, perceives much more the Good of being freed from this Evil during all that time, than the Evil it has reason to apprehend after the expiration of it. We imagine more­over, in regard of these Evils at so far a distance from us, that there will be time enough to think thereof when they shall be nearer us; but yet we can onely enjoy the rest which time permits; and what we do in respect of death is properly there. No Man would die not having con­sidered very well of it: But we imagine we shall think thereof one day or other, and that we shall have time to do it; and upon this false assurance we take all our lives the boldness not to think of it at all.

The Devil speaks not now to us, as he did to our Forefathers, You shall not die; this would be too gross a temptation, and no body would be deceived by it: But he tells them, You shall not die pre­sently, [Page 11] you have yet a great while to live: And by this means he deceives al­most all the World, because he finds in mens hearts an inclination to be flattered by these vain hopes, through a desire they have to enjoy more quietly some sensible things which they have a mind unto.

This Illusion includes two; the one, That we conceive the space we promise our selves to live, like something a long time off; the other, That we assure our selves, without reason, that this space will not be shortned by any of those so many accidents which threaten Mens Lives, and which make the greatest part of them to die much sooner than they thought of. So to dissipate it, we need onely consider, whether we have reason to look upon our Lives as either long or certain. And it is a very hard matter to examine these two Points truly, without being asto­nish'd at mens blindness.

CHAP. III.
Of the shortness of Life, and the Idea we ought to have of it.

IT is not meant here to convince men of the shortness of their Lives: They cannot oftentimes withstand the evi­dence which persuades them to it; and they complain somtimes of it, when they find it too short to execute their designs, or that it does not permit them to enjoy as long as they would the objects of their passions.

It is intended to persuade them, that this Life is short in relation to the end for which it is given us, which is to pre­pare us for Death and Eternity; that in what Age soever we be touched with this thought, it is never too soon to ap­ply our selves thereunto, although we should do nothing else all the remainder of our lives; that we ought to make haste to do it; and that it is a folly to put off this thought to another time: And as the Devil, to dissuade us from it, flatters us commonly with the Idea of a long Life, so we must endeavour to cor­rect this Idea, and to see fully what right [Page 13] we have to promise it to our selves.

It would suffice for that to tell men, that labouring to enter into a state of Eternity, no Time that is given us to prepare our selves for it ought to seem long and tedious. There is no Time finite which hath proportion with Eternity, which is endless. A Month, a Day, an Hour, a Minute, have some proportion with thousands of Years; because these thousands of Years comprehend onely a certain number of Months, Days, Hours, and Minutes: but thousands of Years have not any at all with Eternity; be­cause what Multiplication soever can be made, they will never make up the Mea­sure.

Although God should have obliged us to consider many millions of Years upon Death, and to accompany this Considera­tion with all imaginable Austerities, and with a general renouncing of all Humane Satisfactions, it would be yet much less than to oblige some People, who ought to enter upon some considerable Charge, to think thereof, and to prepare them­selves but for one hour.

There is but one Eternal Preparation which can have any relation to Eternal Happiness; and God would be in the [Page 14] right to require it, according to St. Au­stin, in Psal. 36. if he would act towards us with an exact Justice. Whether it be that we consider the Goods God has prepared in Heaven for his Elect, or we consider the Evils wherewith he will pu­nish the wicked, and which he desires we may avoid, by the use we shall make of Life; all time is short to deserve the one, and to warrant us of the other.

But if we must needs prepare our selves eternally to obtain the Riches of Heaven, says this holy Doctor, (Ibid.) when will the time of enjoying it come? It is therefore necessary that this Prepa­ration be limited to a certain time, to the end that this time being past, we may obtain that Happiness which shall never end. But although limited it may be long, and God might have obliged us to long Labours and Miseries, to deserve to be eternally happy: Although those Labours and Miseries should be for a thousand years, put them in the Scale with Eternity, and you shall see they will be nothing compared with it. Neverthe­less it is very requisite that this Prepara­tion which God requires from us, be not so long. It is not stretched forth to each of those who begin to consider it, [Page 15] but to what of their Life remains. Now what is mans Life? I do not speak of those whose Age or bad Health puts them every moment in mind of approaching Death: I speak of those who are in good health, and to whom Age permits them to promise themselves in their Life-time all that men can reasonably expect: And by how many think you ought that to be esteemed?

Those who make Treatises, whose Gain or Loss depends on the length of mans Life, build them upon this Rule, confirmed by Experience, That 'tis more rare, that any man, whatsoever he be, considered in any part of his Life, do live twenty years beyond the Age he is of, than that he should die before that term: that is, Take a certain number of men, of what age you will, there will be more of those dead twenty years af­ter, than there will be living. So that each of these men would do prudently to renounce the hopes of a longer Life, provided they should be assured to live twenty years.

But as these Agreements are not in our power, each man ought rather to be persuaded, that he shall not be in this World at the end of twenty years from [Page 16] the time he counts from, than that he shall. And 'tis from thence that one ought to judge whether there is reason to believe that the Life of Man is long, and whether there is not just grounds to prepare for Death.

For, is it possible that men can believe that 'tis too much to prepare themselves twenty years for Eternity, and that they can imagine this space of time as too long for that Work? How many several Em­ployments are there in the World, which require as long Preparations? Is there any one who would refuse to lead a labo­rious and troublesom Life twenty years, that he might become a Prince? And the World, is it not full of People who live a long time in a very toilsom manner, for very small Recompences? Will there be nothing then but Heaven for which we shall find every thing unsufferable?

If men will know what twenty years Hardship is, let them reflect upon those they have already passed, and consider with what swiftness they are fled away. It is hardly a day (said St. Augustine, in Psal. 3 [...].) since Adam was chased from the Terrestrial Paradise: Many Ages are past since that time, it is true; but what are become o [...] them? If you had lived [Page 17] since Adam's Banishment until this time, you would think your Life had been but short: Therefore what is twenty years in our eyes? I know very well, that we look upon those which are to come otherwise than those which are past: but 'tis a deceit of our Imagination; they will pass away with the same swift­ness: The Torrent of the World hurries them away, and in a trice we shall be amazed to find our selves come to the end. Greg. Nazianz. Or. 17.

The Gospel, to explicate to us this brevity, represents to us the whole course of Ages under the Figure of One day, and reckons the time of the Law of Grace but as the Evening and One hour of the day, Novissima hora. What part then took up twenty years in this Even­ing, and in this Last hour?

He who is but twenty years distant from death, is very near; and in stead of concluding that 'tis not yet time to think of Death, he ought to conclude, that 'tis time not to think now of the World, and that what time he hath to live is not worth the Pains. For what is it to be twenty years, more or less, a little rich­er or poorer; a little more at ease, or incommoded; a little higher, or lower; [Page 18] seeing that this time being ended, we ought to enter into a state of Eternity, where all these Differences will be de­stroyed, and where God will make other Differences amongst Men, which will be eternal? Behold what deserves thinking of; I do not say twenty years, but twen­ty millions of years, because by thinking thereof we may be much more able to contribute to assure and augment our Happiness; and by deferring to think of it, at least we put our selves in danger of being eternally miserable, and we shall certainly be less happy.

CHAP. IV.
Of the Ʋncertainty of Life.

GOD hath not onely commanded, that the time he gives men to pre­pare themselves for Death be short, but also that it be uncertain; and that Death being able to surprise them at every mo­ment, they had always reason to fear it. His design thereby hath been to render it always present to us, and to stir us up by this means to a continual Vigilance. 'Tis he himself who hath been willing to ad­vertise [Page 19] us of it, by telling us in the Go­spel, Watch, because you know neither the day nor the hour; Vigilate, quia nescitis di­em neque horam.

The Fathers, by following this Light, have drawn the same consequence of the incertitude of this Life: Seeing that Life is uncertain, say they, we must not put off being converted; because God, who promised Pardon to those who re­turned sincerely to him, does not promise it the next day to any one.

'Tis God's great mercy, saith St. Austin, (in Psal. 34. item in Psal. 101.144.) that in advertising us to live well, he hath hidden the day of our death from us, that we may promise our selves nothing for the time to come. For fear, says he, in another place, (in Joan. tr. 33.) that men through despair should precipitate themselves yet into more disorder, he has promis'd them the Port of Penance: And for fear that the hope of Pardon should be an occasion of their living evilly, he has made the day of their death uncertain.

But Men enchanted with the love of Wordly things find means to shift off this Counsel of Gods mercy to them. As they fear oftentimes, when there's no reason to fear, they imagin and con­ceive [Page 20] assurances, when there is no cause to be assured. What Examples soever they learn every day from Peo­ple who have been surprised by Death, either they will not make Reflection that as much may happen to them, or they suppose without ground, that they shall not be of the number of those miserable Creatures; and thus forming to themselves a cloud which hinders them from seeing the danger which threatens them at every turn, they continue to follow their passions, without being the least amused at the fear of Death.

But they contemn those dangers by not seeing them, and on the contrary by acting in such sort as not to see them; to deliver themselves from this illusion, they need only to open their Eyes, and consider seriously that life is as uncertain for us as for others.

There needs no proof to be convinced of this, a few Reflections concerning these things will suffice. There is nothing more common than Death; nor nothing so rare as not to be surprised by it. Many are overwhelmed at once by suddain deaths, others fall into sicknesses which presently take away their reason, though they do not take away their lives so soon, and [Page 21] do the same effect as sudden Deaths in what relates to the hindring them from preparing themselves for Death. Gre­gor. mor. l. 25. c. 2. Subitum est homi­ni quod ante cogitare non potuit.

But without any consideration of these accidents which are more rare, it may in one sense be said, that almost all Deaths are sudden and unprovided, because there are few that we have had time to foresee before hand.

The State of Health, and that of Sickness which brings Death is general­ly followed immediately, and is not se­parated by any sensible interval: So that the same day sometimes we are well and mortally sick in appearance.

We ordinarily foresee the Fall of Buildings, because we see almost all parts of it; and there are certain Signs to be assured of it, when we doubt. But Mans Body is an Edifice which we cannot vi­sit; 'tis a Machine whose Springs are hid­den, and which may be all ready to break and to fall to ruine, without any ones being aware thereof. Such an one thinks he is far from death, who carries it in his Bosom; and such an one is real­ly far from it at this moment, who shall be struck with it the next.

The Machine of the Body is composed of so many little Parts, of so many Ves­sels and Springs, that almost any thing will disorder it, and hinder its Moti­ons; and those who know the Structure of it the most exactly, are so far from being surpriz'd that men die so soon and so frequently, that they are astonish'd that they can last for any time.

Let us joyn to the Consideration of the weakness of our Bodies, and this great number of Accidents and Sicknesses to which they are subject, the Considera­tion of God's Providence, which dispo­ses Soveraignly of our Lives and Deaths, and whose Decrees are to us unknown; we shall see more clearly how many De­lusions there are to assure our selves of the length of this Life, and to put off thinking of Death to another time than that which God hath given us at pre­sent. For they are not properly Sicknes­ses which bring Death with them; 'tis the Decree of God's Will: We are dead before him from the very moment we were born, because he created us at a certain Instant, to make us die exactly at another.

All men, as we have said already, are condemn'd to Death by the Justice of [Page 23] God, and their Deaths are assigned to certain hours and moments. This Or­dinance is executed every day upon a very great number of Persons up and down in the World. Who can then be as­sured of any day which shall not be his last? We perceive not, said one, any Signs or any Presages of Death. It is very true: But amongst those who ought to die that same day, there are always many who are appointed to die without these Presages and Signs. And thus the confidence we may have not to be of that Number, is rash and groundless.

That which is strange, is, that we onely flatter our selves in this sort when we are busied in settling the Affairs of our Salvation: For when we are employ­ed in Humane Affairs, we scarce want the remembrance of the incertainty of this Life; and we are so much the more mindful thereof, as the Interests are greater. We resolve, for example, to hazard some small thing upon another Mans Life: but we are very careful in doing it when it concerns some great and considerable Sum: We will then have Security, because we know not, says one, what may happen. We prevent in these Contracts the Inconveniences that may [Page 24] arise from Mens Deaths, by a thousand Clauses and Precautions. In fine, we suffer oftentimes certain Losses, for not hazarding great Sums upon other Mens Lives, or our own: So much we are persuaded that there is nothing more uncertain than Life, nor nothing more frequent than to be surprized at Death. Nevertheless, by an incomprehensible subversion of the Mind, when it concerns Eternity, we stifle all fears, we are at quiet, we never dream of the incertain­ty of this Life, and we live as if it were exposed to no Accidents, and that we were fully assured that it must continue all the time we have promised to our selves.

It is impossible we should not condemn the indiscretion of this Conduct: But we must not stop there: Reason ought to correct the false Ideas wherewith our Imaginations are stuffed. And to hin­der our selves from beholding Death at this deceitful distance, which robs it of what it hath that's most terrible; or with this false assurance of not being surprized by it, upon which we rest satisfied; it ought to make us acknowledge, on the contrary, that it is indeed very near us; that it importunes and besieges us on all [Page 25] parts; that we have occasion to fear every moment and in every place to hear this frightful voice Echoing in our Ears: We must die, we must appear before God, and receive our sentence for all Eternity, there is no more delay. And from thence it is easie to conclude, that we cannot make too much haste to think seriously on it: That we have no time to lose, and that our trouble ought to be, that we have not always been mindful of it.

CHAP. V.
How dangerous it is to put off thinking of Death till our last Sickness.

I pretend not to speak here of some Regular persons, who, having their imaginations too quick, are struck too much with the thoughts of Death: For we allow that these persons do well to bear with their weakness, and to nourish their piety by other objects.

I speak of those to whom these thoughts may be useful, and who ne­vertheless avoid them. And as their being so remote from thence, may yet [Page 26] proceed from diverse causes, we ought to judge thereof differently.

For there are some, in whom this remoteness is an effect of a simple and meer Negligence, and a natural shun­ning some malancholy Objects, and who yet lead a life exempt from crimes, practising many good works, and de­siring sincerely to be with God.

There are some in whom it springs from an ill govern'd spirituallity, who love only what comforts or raises the mind, avoiding all that humbles it.

Likewise I will not deny that there are Souls who have no need at all of these thoughts, and which God draws to him by other ways.

But these three dispositions, joyned together, are not so ordinary as that which hinders the thinking of Death, because this Idea troubles the pleasures, and incommodes the passions. Most People omit thinking of Death as they omit to be Converted, and they put off the one and the other until their last sickness, because they can do it no longer.

In vain endeavour we to represent to them the brevity and the uncertain­ty of mans life. For sudden Deaths, [Page 27] which take away absolutely the means of thinking of it, are not so frequent as those which allow some time to prepare for it; the love they have for worldly things, being always more strong than the fear of an Accident, which they look upon as seldom hapning, does ne­ver permit them to think of death, until some violent Sickness take away the means of deferring it any longer. 'Tis not that all that is distinct in their minds; for they love to conceive these kind of things but confusedly: But it is easie to see that 'tis in effect what hapned there­in, and what caused the ground of their repose.

As this state and condition is very common, it is good to examine it par­ticularly, and to endeavour to give it the just horrour which is due to it; and 'tis what these following Considerations may make appear.

First, It is evident, that this Dispositi­on includes a resolution of hazarding Damnation, if we happen to be sur­prized by an unprovided Death, being we take no precaution against Death which overwhelms all at once. And this resolution is so Foolish in it self, that men never commit the like in respect of [Page 28] Wordly things. For example, have we seen a Prince so foolish to play his Kingdom against a Straw, to put Life and Honour in danger that he may gain a false Diamond? Neverthe­less these are follies infinitely less than that of exposing our selves to the ha­zard of being lost for ever, and become­ing everlastingly miserable, for any temporal thing whatsoever. 'Tis this nevertheless that all those do, who ex­pect to think of them when they shall be dangerously sick.

'Tis not only a Follie, 'tis a very Cri­minal one, which angers God by the Disdain which it offers; which violates the Command he gives us of being con­verted: which abuses his Patience and Mercy, which deserves that he refuse at our Deaths the favours we have neglect­ed in our life time.

Moreover this Follie is grounded up­on divers Errors, which every one may easily discover if they will. It is true, that sudden Deaths are more rare than others. But how many are those, which Men call not sudden, to which they can­not prepare themselves by the Sacra­ments? How many which do so over­whelm the mind by the violence of sick­ness, [Page 29] that it is impossible to think serious­ly of any thing, or to practise actions of Religion but after a brutish manner?

Do men think that it is very easie for a Soul, whose whole attention is busied about the Sentiment of her corporal evils, to consider of objects whereunto she is absolutely a Stranger, to recollect with bitterness her whole life, to ac­knowledge and condemn all her former faults? On the contrary, is it not clear, both by Experience and Reason, that al­most all men are never less able to think of Death, than when they are nearest it; and that most of their exterior actions of Piety in this Condition, may be indeed, in good men, marks of the disposition wherein Sickness found them, but in others nothing but the effects of Custom, which all those who make profession of any Religion, whatever it be, have, to die with the Ceremonies of their Religi­on; and even oftentimes of the weak­ness which renders the Diseased incapa­ble of resisting those who brought them thither?

But although we had in this condition all the liberty of mind that we could de­sire or wish for, can we imagine we ought to have any great confidence in these te­stimonies [Page 30] of Conversion, which go but just before Death? That is not the Judg­ment the Church has always given there­of: She, on the contrary, has always been doubtful of them, and has endea­voured to persuade her Children not to confide in them: She has sent those to do Penance she had reconciled in this condi­tion, as if they had not received Abso­lution, esteeming almost as nothing all they have done during their being sick. Divers Reasons may be brought; but I shall content my self with alledging one, which we have already made use of in another Treatise.

'Tis, That in the common way Mans heart does not change at once the Object and the End: We may well change in a moment our outward Actions; but Love, which enjoys the principal place in the Heart, scarcely changes in a moment; it is requisite that it be weakned by little and little, and that there be another to take its place by degrees. 'Tis thus that Humane Passions are changed; and God, who will that the Operations of his Grace be not sensibly distinguish'd from those of Nature, observes ordinarily the same method: He begins to shake the Heart by Fear, before he touch it with [Page 31] his Love; and oftentimes he touches it a long time by some Principles of Love, before he become Master of it by an over­ruling Love, which turns the Heart to­wards him as towards its last End, and which delivers it from the bondage of the Love of Creatures. Thus as the Conversion of dying Sinners cannot pass by these degrees, it must needs be mira­culous to be true. The Church despairs not of this Miracle; and 'tis for this rea­son that she grants the Sacrament to dy­ing Persons: but she fears very much that the Sentiments which appear in Sin­ners who are in this condition, are onely small beginnings of Fear, or of the Love of God, which are not sufficient for a true Conversion. 'Tis this which obli­ges Sinners not onely to labour, but also to labour seriously for their Salvation, that their Love may have time to en­crease, and to arrive at a state wherein we may say they are truly converted.

Father Jurseus, of the Society of Jesus, in his Book of the Knowledge of the Love of Jesus Christ, (lib. 2. sect. 19.) does al­ledge another Reason against those who defer their Conversion until Death, which is worthy to be related here; and it is in these Terms. My second Reason is, That [Page 32] thou oughtest not to put off thy Repentance, because thou knowest that to do it, whensoever thou dost attempt it, thou must necessarily have an efficacious Grace. And who has told thee that God will give it thee then? Hast thou assurance from him that it shall not be wanting? Expect also, that delaying to quit thy sin, and this sin sticking to thee by its proper weight, and swaying thee by a certain Moral Necessity to commit others, and so heaping sins upon sins, and crimes upon crimes, thou makest that God will be less disposed to give thee this Grace, and, as St. Paul says, Secundum duritiam tuam & cor impoenitens thesaurisas tibi iram in die irae; Thou obligest him conformly by the hardness and the obstinacy of thy heart, to refuse it thee at the day that thou shalt precisely have need of it for thy Salvation.

Also God hath been so far from promi­sing Sinners to give them at their death these sort of Graces, how necessary soe­ver they may be to them for their Con­version, that he hath promised, on the contrary, in some manner, not to give them to them; seeing he declares in the Book of Proverbs, that he will laugh at these sinners at the time of their death, Prov. 1.26. Ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo; that he will laugh at them, & sub [Page 33] sannabo, and that he will not hear them when they call on him; Tunc invocabunt me, & non exaudiam; which denotes at the same time, both that these invetera­ted sinners do not forbear to practice outward Actions of Religion, and that they do not obtain God's Mercy by these Actions.

Finally, This Liberty of Mind which some have in their last Sickness, and which those we speak of look upon as an assured Means to their Salvation, is so far from being an help to repair all the past disorders of this Life, that it gives leave often to the greatest Temptation which is able to attack Men in this state, which is that of an excess of Terrour, which casts the Soul into astonishment and despair; and there are none who are more exposed to it, than those who have never desired to think of death whilst they were in health.

'Tis a strange thing but to see our selves environed with deadly Griefs, to open at once our eyes and behold these terrible Objects, on which we have never dar'd to look, and to find nothing but Crimes in our Consciences. Those who have employed themselves most with the thoughts of death, do grant that there is [Page 34] an infinite difference betwixt seeing at a distance, and seeing near at hand.

The stoutest do give back when they are in this condition: What then must be the Convulsions of a miserable Soul, which, being voluntarily blind her whole life, thinking onely on what might divert her, comes on a sudden to discover Death, Devils, Judgment, and Hell?

Thus there are nothing but bottom­less Pits and Precipices on all sides, for those who defer thinking of Death until they are so near it: All things are equal­ly dangerous to them, stupidity and li­berty of Mind, forgetfulness and the re­membrance of Death.

We are then so far from being able to look upon this Condition as favourable to recover the Grace we have lost, that, on the contrary, it is visible it puts us in great danger of losing it. We ought to be so far from dispensing with our selves from being prepared for Death during our Health, by putting it off until we be forced to it by Sickness; that we ought, on the contrary, to think conti­nually thereof whilst we are in health, that we may not be obliged to think of it being sick.

And lastly, We must be so far from [Page 35] expecting to repair by those Actions of Piety which we may do in this extremity, the Disorders in which we have passed this Life, that we must endeavour, on the contrary, to obtain from God, by long exercises of Piety, the Grace not to faint or lose courage in these last Tentations, but to practice with Piety these last Acti­ons of Religion.

CHAP. VI.
That the Thought of Death is not onely help­ful to free us from Sin, but also a puis­sant Remedy to preserve us from falling into it. That 'tis good to represent to our selves the state of Dying Men.

THE last inconvenience which hap­pens to those who being unwilling yet to forsake Sin, banish out of their minds all thoughts of Death, and leave them to their last Sickness, is common with those who flye these thoughts through a wicked Delicateness, or a false Spirituallity, which gives them a taste only for the objects which comfort and puff them up. 'Tis for want of thinking upon Death, th [...]t they are deprived of [Page 36] one of the greatest succours, and one of the most efficacious means that God hath given us, to free us from the love of perishable things, to make us esteem those which are Eternal; to Judge well of the World and all that is therein; to moderate our passions, and lastly to flye Sin.

'Tis true, this may be said of all ob­jects of fear which Religion proposes unto us, which are all needful to uphold the Soul against Temptation. But it is certain, that amongst these objects, that of Death has a particular force to pa­cifie the passions, by an impression of terrour: For it does not only compre­hend the Ideas of Gods Judgement, and of Hell; that is, of what is most terrible; but it paints it likewise in the imagi­nation by more lively and more sensible Images than those other objects, because it enters there by our senses, and be­ing often spectators of Mens Death, we are also oftentimes Witnesses of the state dying Men are found in.

Now as those who have made Human Laws, having been willing to disswade Men from crimes by the fear of punish­ments, have had a care that they should be accompanied with certain dismal and [Page 37] tragical Pomps, the sight of which might cause Terrour in the Spectators; God, who had likewise a design that Death, to which all Men are Condem­ned, should serve to keep them in their Duties, hath been pleased that the sight thereof should be frightful; thereby to make them enter into themselves again, and consider what they are. Thus as it is necessary for this reason to assist at mens Death, so is it also to represent it to themselves, and to strike their ima­gination by Circumstances which ac­company it.

There are divers sorts. But we will speak only of those which happen in Mens Deaths which are called happy, to the end nothing may be said which is not seen in all Deaths. Methinks there is not any more to be desired than that where we see Men die in their Beds, in the midst of their Children, and Kins­folks, and Friends. Nevertheless there would be many things in this Spectacle which might be capable to frighten us, if we did not see it daily by an unfor­tunate Address in others, without dreaming that we our selves must sud­denly pass through the same state.

It is more dreadful than we imagine to [Page 38] see them stretched forth upon a Bed, a Cross in the hand, expecting the stroke of Death, and the execution of the sen­tence given against all Men; to see that not only those who environ us, but all Creatures together are unable to help us; to feel Death which seizes upon us by little and little, trying to over­whelm us, and lastly, to see our selves perish and be anihilated in respect of this World.

It is good to consider, that we all see our selves before we die in the lowest rank of Men, that is to say, in a state the most vile that can be amongst Men. There is, for example, not any King whatsoever at the point of Death who would not wish to be the meanest of his Subjects. And there is not so mise­rable a Slave who would change his for­tune for that of a Kings, if he had but a Quarter of an Hour to live: He is then in effect in this extream lowness. He is already deprived of all his Human felicity, and he has already experienced this Death, before that of the Body.

Thus all the Grandeurs and all the Pleasures have for limit, even from this life, the lowest degree of meaness and misery. That is the end which attends [Page 39] the most eminent life of this World. A dying Prince may say, that from that moment which begun his life even to Eternity, there is no more Human greatness nor pleasure for him. He does not only see them no more for the time to come, but he sees them not likewise in that which is past. These objects as to him change their nature, and appear to him only as vain phan­tomes which vanish a way; and if he have some sense of Religion, it is ra­ther a weight which overthrows him with the fears of the reckoning he is go­ing to make to God.

All men then are reduced before they die to the last degree of poverty, that is to be deprived of all good, and all Human pleasure, and to see themselves in an entire lack of power of ever injoy­ing them; which does not happen in some extremity of misery whereto Man may be reduced, not being as yet ready to die.

These are only the outward marks of Death; and I have no design thereby, but to terrifie the senses by the Image of the outward part of this state; but the inward is much more frightful and terrible. Which is what we shall en­deavour [Page 40] to unfold, to the end that the Idea of Death may have more force to stop our passions.

CHAP. VII.
The First manner of considering Death, which is to look upon it as the destructi­on of the World for every dying Person. The terrible effects of this destruction upon the Soul.

BEsides the cunning which Men have; never to consider Death but as as a great distance, or not to look upon it but in others, troubling themselves the least they can about dying mens condition, they have yet another which reaches very far; which is, they ima­gine to themselves so gross and so confused an Idea thereof, that it hides all that is terrible from them.

For they scarcely conceive this state, but as a want of knowledge, and a se­paration from the commerce of this life; so that when they say a Man is Dead, they mean only we see him no more, and that he has no concern as to the affairs of this World. In a word, [Page 41] they ground the Idea of Death, only upon what we cease to do in dying, and not upon what they begin to do and perceive at the hour of Death. Never­theless this Idea is not far from re­presenting to us what is most terrible in Death.

It is very true, that Death is a depri­vation of life and human Actions, but 'tis a privation which is perceived, and which produces very strange effects in the Soul.

To comprehend these effects, we must consider, that whilst the Soul is united to the body, her attention is di­vided by several sorts of sentiments, knowledges and passions, she perceives the objects which act upon the body, according to the divers ways of acting, and these different ways of perceiving them are called sentiments or actions of the senses. Upon this she forms the Ideas of all things. She is liken­ed thereto by her passions, and she is always busied about many of these ob­jects.

She is not only busied, but she builds and relies upon them, when she is not absolutely addicted to God. For being not made to be able to uphold [Page 42] her self, she must necessarily seek some means to do it out of her self; she is born to know and love, and she does not find enough in her self whereby to sa­tisfie these inclinations, she must there­fore fill with something else the Va­cuity she perceives in her self.

Some of these objects make very a­greeable impressions upon her Sense; others content her Curiosity and Vani­ty; others comfort her, perswading her against those which are troublesome; others nourish her hopes; others hearten her against her fears. The Soul then is inclin'd towards all these objects: She relies thereon: She is bound to them so, that she cannot free her self from them without grief and trouble.

Oftentimes she is not aware of these Inclinations, but begins to feel them by little and little, when she comes to be se­parated from what she loves; because she being deprived thereof makes her sensi­ble in proportion as her Inclination is; according to this Maxim of St. Austin, We lose not without grief any thing, except we enjoy it without passion; Hoc sine amore aderat, quod sine dolore discedit.

There are very few who have not a great quantity of these Inclinations: [Page 43] And although they are not well known but by the actual separation from the Objects, we may be able to conceive something of them by separating them by thought, and by imagining that we are deprived of them by some accident.

If we thought, for example, not to put our trust in the Objects of Sight, and that they contributed nothing to the tranquillity of the Soul; let us imagine in what state we shall be, if through blindness we were deprived of it, and we shall see, that we were effectively fix­ed to it, seeing that we look upon this state as one of the greatest Evils which can befal us.

The sole Sight of Men does comfort us, because we always see in them a cer­tain ground of compassion capable of giving us some assistance in our necessities, which at least nourisheth our hopes. Now hopes cause a kind of joy, according to the Apostle, Spe gaudentes.

Things themselves which are trouble­som to the Soul on one side, and which cause in her Motives of Fear, Aversion, Despite, Envy, do nevertheless buoy her up on the other, because these Passi­ons are not all together brought to re­main without action, and that the Imagi­nation [Page 44] furnisheth them always with some means or hope of being satisfied. Now the diligent searching into these means, or the hopes of obtaining what we de­sire, by busying the Soul, diverts and comforts her.

'Tis something for her to strive or aim at something, seeing she can aim at nothing but what she looks upon as a Good; and whilst she does so, she hopes to obtain it.

All those Objects to which the Soul is carried by her Senses, by her Imaginati­on, by her Understanding, or by her Passions, are her Riches and her Wealth; which shews that those we call poor, are yet very rich in these kind of Goods. Al­though they have no Palaces, and want even Houses, they have the Heavens, the Sun, and the Stars, the sight whereof is so excellent, that it hath caused St. Austin to say, That 'tis a greater satisfaction for a poor man to see the Heavens and the Stars, than for a rich man to see his gilded Rooms.

We are encouraged in this manner whilst we live, by the loss of certain Goods, by means of others, true or false, which we have, or which we hope for. And as the Body finds always something [Page 45] which sustains it, even in falling to the ground through weariness, it finds there something to uphold it; even so the Soul, when weak and feeble, makes her self always some Prop in this Life; and when she has none that's real, she forms ima­ginary ones, which, absolutely vain as they are, do nevertheless oversway her.

This need of Humane help is not par­ticular to wicked men; it is necessary in some degree for good men: For there is scarcely any one so perfect, who has not yet an inclination to something. The just are sometimes weak. Therefore the weak, saith St. Austin, in Psal. 40. endea­vour always to repose upon some terre­strial thing, because a continual atten­tion to God tires them too much: They seek therefore Humane helps, to refresh themselves thereby, as at divers Pauses. They are at quiet in their Houses, in their Family, Wives, Children, in their small Stock, their Lands, in a Close they have planted, and in a small Building which they have made.

Behold Mans state in this Life, and this state may help to comprehend what Death is, and what Effects it produceth. For we need onely imagine, that 'tis no­thing else but a Rupture of all that fixeth [Page 46] the Soul to Creatures; that is, a general separation of all the Objects of the Sen­ses, of all the Pleasures we find there, of all Humane Ties; and lastly, that 'tis an absolute deprivation of all that we love in this World. A man that dies does not lose onely what we call Riches; he loses the Heavens, the Sun, and the Stars, the Air, the Earth, and all the rest of Na­ture: He loses his Body, and all his Sen­timents, wherein the Soul took delight: He loses his Friends, Kinsfolks: He loses all Men: He loses all Support and Assi­stance, and generally all the Objects of his Passions and Desires.

In truth, if the Soul, which is yet so linked to these Objects, find her self bound to God by a holy Love, although the rupture of all these Ties cause in her some trouble, and that she bear the being deprived of Creatures with grief, by so much more, as because of some Inclina­tions which remain, she cannot yet re­unite in God all the power she hath of Loving; she will nevertheless not fall in­to despair. This excessive Inclination buoys her up; and her Love towards God becoming stronger and more acting, com­forts her through hopes of being reuni­ted presently, and plunged into that [Page 47] Abyss of Bounty, which is onely capa­ble to satisfie all the capacity which she hath to love.

But who can conceive the condition a miserable Soul finds her self in, which comes to be snatched away by Death from all the Objects of her Inclinati­ons, and from all that upheld her in this Life; and which finds nothing in her self which she can trust to? The inclination she hath to love, and to enjoy what she loved, becomes without comparison more lively and more ardent; and yet all she had loved leaves her, and flies away out of her sight with an eternal flight, no hopes being left of ever pos­sessing it again. She loses all, and finds nothing; all sinketh under her, all dis­appears, all vanisheth.

It is not possible in this World to com­prehend perfectly so wretched a state: All that can be said to give an Idea of it, is, That it is a terrible Lapse of the Soul, by the substraction of all her Props; that 'tis an horrible Hunger, by the de­privation of all her Nourishments; that 'tis an infinite Vacuity, by the annihila­tion of all that replenish'd her; that 'tis an excess of Poverty, by the entire loss she hath of all Goods; that 'tis a dismal [Page 48] Solitude, by the separation wherein she finds her self from all Union and Society; that 'tis a frightful Desolation; that 'tis a cruel Destruction, by the sad rupture of all her Inclinations.

We must not fancy Death in most part of Men as a Privation of all Worldly things which may be insensible to the Soul. On the contrary, when she is ad­dicted to the World, as almost all Men are, she is sensible of Death in so very a lively manner, that all the Griefs we ex­perience in this Life are nothing, compa­red to that. For whereas when the Soul is in the Body, and that she acts depen­dently on her Organs, a multitude of Melancholy Objects scarce make more impression upon her than one single Object; because not being able to con­ceive so many things at once, she must necessarily distribute her attention a­mongst divers Objects, or form to her self a certain confused Idea, which she esteems onely one. The Soul, on the contrary, having acquir'd by Death a quite contrary Activeness from that she had being yet in the Body, perceives di­stinctly and severally all her Losses; the Sentiment of one stifles not that of ano­ther; she applies her self to all: Each [Page 49] Inclination produceth its Vacuity and Grief, which is not diminished by the Va­cuity and Grief which another produ­ceth.

These griefs and bitternesses of Death which are produced by inclina­tions begin in some in this life it self in some degree, when they see them­selves ready to be separated from some objects of their passions. And 'tis that makes the Scripture say: Ecclus 41. c. 1. O Death! how thy remembrance is bitter to a Man in peace and plenty of riches! But there are some in whom they do not produce this effect during life, and who the yet quietly in appear­ance; which is seen in Poor People, who die almost all without any regret to life, because being pressed by the sentiments of their evils, they think to find some ease in Death: It happens also to many others that they are not sensible of their pronenesses, because they have some others more prevalent which bu­sie them. But after Death it will be otherwise. All pronenesses or propensi­ties will be awakened. They will make themselves be perceived, and that in manner proportioned to the activity of the Soul, and the rigour of Gods Ju­stice; [Page 50] which will cause in them this continual Death which St. Austin would denote, when he said, We cannot say of them that they are either Dead or A­live, but that they die always. De Ci­vitat. Dei, l. 13. c. 11. Nunquam Viven­tes, Nunquam Mortui, sed sine fine Mo­rientes.

CHAP. VIII.
Reflections arising from this manner of considering Death. That all we have to do in this World is to prevent our natu­ral Death by an Evangelical one.

THe Consideration of this State, so dismal and so terrible, ought not to produce in our minds a barren and fruitless astonishment: We must endea­vour to render it useful, by Reflexions which may be drawn from thence to go­vern Life by, and to judge truly of all that passeth in the World.

First, This Consideration makes us pe­netrate the sense of St. Paul's saying, Rom. 8.6. Prudentia carnis mors est; that is to say, The love of carnal things is death to the Soul: For that does not onely [Page 51] mean that this Love merits the death of the Soul, as a Chastisement or Punish­ment: Likewise as the same Apostle says, Stipendium peccati mors, Death is the sti­pend of Sin; the meaning of this is, That this Love is the death or the punish­ment it self of the Soul; because its Ob­ject coming to be taken away by the death of the Body, there needs nothing more to change it into Torment and Grief, see­ing that Grief is nothing but the fear of wanting what we love. Thus the Pro­pensities which Death finds in Souls are of themselves her Torments, and eternal Torments if they last always, as they do in wicked Persons.

This Consideration makes us compre­hend what is said in the Book of Wisdom, chap. 1. v. 16. That the Impious call Death by their Works and their Words, they think it their Friend, and they make alliance with it. For what do we else in the World, but fix our selves the most we can to Creatures? And what is that, but search­ing after Death more and more?

What St. Paul says, 1 Tim. 6.10. That Avarice is the root of all evil, and that some, abandoning themselves thereunto, engage themselves in many troubles, in­serverunt se doloribus multis, hath yet the [Page 52] same sense: They engage themselves in many Troubles, because they are enga­ged in many Affections; they are strait­ly linked to Creatures, and these Ties are the Sources of Griefs and Troubles, sometimes in this World, and always in the World to come.

What a blindness is it then to look upon the Possession of Creatures, plenty of Riches, Humane Honours, great Em­ploys, much Business, Pomp, Splendor, Reputation in the World, and all that flatters our Senses, and Mens Vanity, as a Happiness? Alas! are we happy by swallowing Poisons, and then must have our Bowels presently taken out? Are we happy by fixing our selves to the Wheel upon which we ought to suffer Punishment? What can produce in the Soul all these Objects of Covetousness, but, strong Ties and Obligations, but strait and strict Engagements? And what will these Ties and Obligations produce, when Death shall come and se­parate us from these Objects, but ter­rible Griefs? We love this Bed of Hu­mane Consolations, whereon our Infir­mity resteth; and yet this Bed will be­come all Fire for those who shall not [...]eave it before death. We love not the [Page 53] World Scot-free; the Love of the World becomes necessarily a Punishment, be­cause the World slips from us, and we cannot but be afflicted to lack what we love.

It is easie after this to understand why it is said in the Gospel, That the King­dom of God belongs to the Poor of Spi­rit; Beati pauperes spiritus, quoniam ipso­rum est regnum coelorum: These poor Peo­ple being those who are not tied to the World, and who desire nothing of it; it is evident they have not onely right to the Kingdom of Heaven, as all just men have, but that they are in a state to pos­sess it, and that nothing shall hinder them from enjoying it. Their Hearts shall not be torn in pieces by the deprivation of Creatures, whereto Death shall reduce them, seeing they shall not be linked to them; and Love, which is prevalent in them towards God, finding nothing in them to be destroyed, will straight­ways possess it self of their Souls, and render them in this manner fully happy. It is not the same with those who shall be rich at their death, that is, who shall yet have strong Ties to Creatures: Al­though with them they may have the Holy Ghost in their Hearts, neverthe­less [Page 54] the Kingdom of God is not yet for them, so long as they are in this State. If they have right to it, the possession of it is forbidden them, until these secret Ties be wholly unloosed.

Let Men do what they will, if they will enter into the Kingdom of God, they must be brought to Poverty, either in this World, or the next, seeing that this Kingdom belongs onely to the Poor, and no Cupidity can have entrance there. But there is this difference betwixt Po­verty which may be acquired in this Life, and that whereunto the Just shall be re­duced in the next, by the destruction of their Affections: The first costs infinite­ly less; If it is accompanied with some Grief, 'tis proportioned to the State of this Life, which is a time of Mercy, and of the condition of the Soul as yet uni­ted to the Body, which hath onely weak and languishing Sentiments. But the Griefs which shall purifie the Soul after death, being proportioned to the Acti­vity of a Soul separated from the Body, and in the time of the other Life, which is a time of Rigour, will be quite other­wise lively and sensible.

We must not then believe that Death is equally hard to the Poor and Rich in [Page 55] Spirit: For the Pains of Death spring, as I have said, from the separation of Creatures; this separation afflicts onely those who love them, and not those who do not: it is onely painful to those who have some Obligation to break, and not to those whose Obligations or Ties are already broken. Those who are dead to the World during this Life, die no more in dying; Death is to them but a Source of Life: But those whom Death finds yet absolutely wedded to the World, feel necessarily the Pains of Death; seeing that Love it self which lives in them, being deprived of its Ob­ject, becomes a Torment and a Death.

'Tis upon these so evident Truths that the Prayer St. Paulinus made to St. Au­stin, to teach him how to die before his death, by an Evangelical death, and to prevent, by a voluntary separation of Life, the Natural separation which shall be made of the Body and Soul by Death, is grounded; Doceas me mortem istam Evangelicam prius emori, qua carnalem resolutionem voluntario praeveniamus excessu. Aug. Epist. 249.

'Tis in effect all we have to do in this World: For seeing we must necessarily die, and that it is so dangerous a thing [Page 56] to put off doing it to another time, our Interest it self does it not incline us to free our selves as much as we possibly can from all the Ties which link us to Crea­tures, and to avoid contracting any new ones, to the end we may not expose our selves in dying to these terrible Pains?

CHAP. IX.
The Second manner how to consider Death, which is to look upon it as the End of our Time in this World, and our Entrance into Eternity. Sentiments which this dou­ble Consideration will produce in the Soul.

ONE of the strangest Visions in the Apocalypse, is that of the Angel who will swear, as St. John says, Apoc. 10.7. by him who lives World without End, That there will be no more time; Quia tem­pus non erit amplius. Now if God do not give this Sentence by an Angel to every Soul which leaves the Body, he makes her know it by a lively impression of his Light, which makes her understand her time is finished, that there shall be no more for her, that the term wherein he has limited his Mercies is arrived, and [Page 57] that her State is stopped for all Eternity.

This Light causing her to make in a moment the just Comparison betwixt Eternity and Time, makes her see clear­ly, that all the Ideas she has had thereof even till then, were infinitely short of Truth; that her Imagination had given to Time, and to things temporal, Length, and a phantastick Greatness; and that she had, as it were, annihilated Eternity, and Eternal Goods, by the weakness and obscurity of the Ideas which she imagined and had formed thereof. The Soul con­demns then all these thoughts; she is a­stonish'd at her Blindness, and changes entirely her Prospects and Judgments.

Nothing that's Temporal can seem Great to her, nor nothing that's Eter­nal, Little; she enters by a quick appre­hension into the truth of what St. Austin said, De▪ Civ. Dei, l. 12. c. 12. That all Finite Space, compared to Eternity, which hath no end, ought not onely to be little valued, but ought not to be valued at al [...]▪

This Comparison of Eternity wit [...] Time, which the Soul makes at the mo­ment of separation from the Body an­nihilates then in her sight the reality o [...] the present World, with all its Good and Evils, and suffers nothing to subsis [...] [Page 58] more, as real and solid, but the Goods or Evils which are immovable and eternal.

It will not onely be the Just and Elect who shall judge so of Eternity and Time: it will be the Wicked and Reprobate al­so: They will have almost the same un­derstanding of Mind, but there will be nothing more different than the dispositi­on of their Hearts.

Those who shall be perfectly Just, will not trouble themselves at all to see disap­pear from before them temporal Goods, because they love them not; and they will be fill'd with joy at the ineffable Grandeur of Eternal Goods, which they shall enjoy without hinderance.

Those to whom there shall rest some Ties for the World, shall undergo very great Pains, by being deprived of these Goods, by the delay of their Beatitude, and by other means whereby it shall please God to purifie them. But amongst all these Pains, the Love they shall have for God will maintain them in perfect Peace, so that as they would willingly suffer all the Evils of this Life to advance one moment their Happiness, they would not for Felicity it self go out of the State wherein Justice shall have placed them, contrary to God's Order.

These will be the thoughts of the chosen in respect of Time and Eternity; but these two objects will excite many others in the damned.

Truly they shall know the wretched­ness of all temporal things they have loved, but they shall not forbear for all that to love them. And 'tis that which shall produce this hunger whereof we have spoken.

They shall know the greatness and the solidity of Heavenly goods, and they shall see themselves wanting power to love them, also they know they can­not be possessed by any but those who love them.

For, as St. Francis Sales observes, lib. 10. of the love of God. Chap. 1. one of the greatest punishments which God will make the wicked suffer, will be to make them know in part the infinite perfecti­ons of his Divine Essence, by leaving their criminal Will without the power of loving them.

This ardent love for temporal things, will then be only in the wicked, and the love of Eternal things in the good: But the sight of wretchedness of all Tem­poral things, and the reallity of all that's Eternal, will be common both to [Page 60] the good and to the bad. And 'tis a gene­ral disposition into which all Souls en­ter when they leave the body.

Thus it is that Souls will look upon time, and all it comprehends, in seeing it in it self: But this same sight will pro­duce another much different, which will discover to them the price of time in re­lation to Eternity.

Time is so far from appearing to them by this sight vile and base, that it will on the contrary appear the great­est and the most important thing in the World, as including Paradise and Hell, and all the effects of the mercy and justice of God. They will see that all this has been in their hands by the means of time; it being only thereby that we can deserve by our good acti­ons the goods which Gods mercy hath promised to his Friends, or bring upon us by our crimes the punishments which his Justice prepares for his Enemies.

At what price, think we, will a Soul penetrated by this light, and measuring time by this double Eter­nity of happiness and misery, value the least part of it? And at the price of how many thousand years of the most rigorous Penance would she re­deem [Page 61] some few hours and moments?

Who then can conceive the state whereinto a miserable Soul falls, when having this Idea of grandeur, and the im­portance of time, she sees at once the good use she might have made, and the bad use she hath made of it, and that she knows by a lively impression of Gods light, that her time is past; that she has no more to hope for; that the door of his mercy is shut against her for ever; that she must be judged ac­cording to her present state, without hopes of alteration? Ah! if the just themselves, who shall not have made that use they ought of their time which God hath given them, and who shall have contracted some spots which shall delay their happiness, shall conceive a grief infinitely greater then all those they can experience in this life, tho com­forted by the assurance God shall give them that they shall be cleansed from their staines; what can be said of that of the wicked, who shall see that there will be no remedy at all for the terri­ble wickedness they shall have pulled up­on themselves by the evil use of time? What repentance for them, what tearing and renting of the heart, what Abiss of despair?

CHAP. X.
Reflexions which ought to be made in this life, upon the considerations that ought to be had then of Time and Eternity.

THese are not vain speculations. We shall all pass through some of these states. We shall all have these thoughts of the greatness of time in relation to Eternity, of the wretched­ness of it in relation to what's good and bad in this World. We shall all hear this decree which shall be pro­nounced to each of us at the hour of our Death; There is no more time for you: and Death it self is only the executi­on of this decree. For to die is to finish the time which hath been given us, and which will never be given us again. Let us not then expect to know the price of time, 'tis not needful we do. Let us not despise it, whilst we have it, to regret it eternally, when we shall have it no more. Let us prevent these thoughts and sentiments which we shall necessarily have then. These thoughts are not less true at present, than they will be at another day, and [Page 63] we shall be deprived of them one day because they have been always true.

What will be our thoughts when we shall have but an hour or two to live, and that it will come into our minds, In two hours my time will be ended, the door of Gods mercy will be shut against me? Alas! Why do not these thoughts at present make the same impression upon us? For, is it not always true, that perhaps in an hour our time will be ended, perhaps in a year, in two, but assuredly in a cer­tain number of years? must this per­haps, or this small space of time, make so great a difference in our disposition? These disproportions are only between finite greatnesses. But the difference be­twixt finite and infinite is always the same. Infinity has nothing of time. We must therefore look always upon that mo­ment, with the same fear, whether we be an hour, a day, a year, or many years di­stant from it. But let us not insist upon a frivolous fear which hath no consequence. Let us consider what we would then have done, in the midst of life what would we do if we were to live again, in the exercises of piety which we shall pre­scribe out selves, if it were in our choice to dispose yet once of our time, [Page 64] in the opinions which we had then of our former life; let us at least dispose of what remains according to the con­siderations we shall have in that time.

Let us learn at the end of our time to judge of the price of time; and from the price of time to judge of the life of the World and of our own. For to what end do we employ it, or to what end have we our selves employed it hi­therto? What do we with this so pre­tious time? Some pass it in apparent disorders, others in vain amusements, others in chimerical designs and unpro­fitable labours, others know not what to do with it, and endeavour only to lose it. We part with it at the first coming. We suffer it to be taken from us without complaining. We are libe­ral of nothing but that. We think those wise men who waste it entirely, in ha­zarding their lives vainly, and those generous, who lose it through an opini­on of Honour. Mens lives are at all prices, and they venture them often for nothing, that is, they venture them a­gainst a trifle.

The conduct of Wordly Men is founded upon this sensless commerce. The Devil in the shape of all visible [Page 65] Creatures offers them I know not what pleasures, I know not what honours and dignities. And for I know not what they give him their time, that is, their eternity, and their all. If we have for­merly done it, let us forbear doing so hereafter, and think our selves happy that we have detected this illusion, have­ing yet time to remedy it. But as it consists in making us forget the price of our life, let us mend and rectify this forgetfulness by thinking upon Death, that is to say, on the end of this time which makes known the value of it.

If we are accustomed to behold Death with this consideration, it will make a quite contrary impression upon our mindes. For from whence comes this in­differency, and this coldness with which we speak and hear men speak of Death, but only that we conceive almost no­thing by the term of Death? If we say, for example, such an one is Dead, or that ten thousand Men died in a battel, we have no other Idea in our mind, but that we shall never see those Men more, and that they are become incapable of either helping or hurting us. But doubt­less we shall be otherwise concerned, if we [Page 66] considered that that favourable time wherein Gods mercy was open to them, was taken from them; and that in re­gard of the greatest part of them, the same stroke which gave them Death shut the door against them. If we were, say I, full of these thoughts, we should have a quite contrary Idea of War then we have, and we should have great rea­son to sigh and lament, in those which are most necessary, most just, and most happy.

'Tis likewise by this way of behold­ing Death that we ought to endeavour to undeceive our selves of the imagina­ry grandeur we give to temporal goods, and to raise the Idea we have of eter­nal ones. And to the end we may be less concerned at one, and more at the other, we must apply often to the one and to the other the rule of eternity, which makes us comprehend the dif­ference.

We must take delight in contempla­ting this rapid torrent which annihilates all things subject to time: Aug. in Ps. 58. Momenti transvolantibus cuncta rapi­untur, torrens rerum fluit. Either we pass by them if they have a little more so­lidity than we; or they pass by us if [Page 67] we are more durable than they. Aug. in Ps. 122. Necesse est transeat aut ipse per res suas; aut res ipsius per illum. But in fine, all is hurried away, and nothing of tem­poral remains.

Let us say then, whilst we can do it profitably, all things pass away, that we may not say one day, all is gone, Aug. in Ps. 32. Modo fructuose dicamus transe­unt, ne tunc dicamus in fructuose transi­erunt. Let us say it of all that pleases and flatters us in the World, to the end we may despise it. Let us say it of all that appears hard and terrible therein, that we may not fear it.

Let all that disappears, all the alter­ations we have seen, all the Ages we have past through, all the parts of our life which continually slide away, re­new in us without intermission the thought that all is ended, that there is no true good nor evil but in eternity, and that we are so near it, that we ought to reckon as nothing the small inter­val which separates us from it.

CHAP. XI.
The Third manner of considering Death, which is to look upon it as a state wherein we begin to see and understand God.

ALthough what we partake of here in divers considerations, may be united into one single one, in a Soul which quits the Body, and that the same im­pression of light which makes her see that the World is lost as to her, that her time is finisht, that she enters into Eternity, discovers to her yet an in­finite of other objects, which fills her with admiration, and produces in her di­vers sentiments, according to the dis­position she findes her self in; never­theless it is very good to distinguish in divers considerations this great object which she comprehends all at once, be­cause it is so vast and of such an ex­tent that it cannot be known in this World but by being thus divided.

The greatest and considerablest part of this spectacle, is, without question, that at the very instant that the Soul is separated from the body, she begins [Page 69] to know God in a quite different man­ner than she did in this life.

For 'tis a strange thing how weak and obscure the knowledge we have at present thereof is. God does all in the World: He is every where: All crea­tures have their being, their lives, and their motion from him. He guides and governs them according as he designes. They cannot go a j [...]t from the order of his Providence. And yet we see no­thing at all of that. God hides himself always in this World under the vail of some Creatures which he presents to our senses, and gives no evident testimony of his presence: so being absolutely bu­sied with Creatures, we never have any other than weak Ideas of the invisible power which moves them.

But it will not be so in the other life. From the very moment that the Soul shall be delivered from the prison of the body, she will begin to perceive the intimate and the essential dependance she hath on God, as to being, or act­ing, touching her happiness and mise­ry. She will know Gods power and her own weakness. She will see that she can­not substract her self from his power, and that she must remain eternally in [Page 70] the state whereunto his Divine Justice shall reduce her.

'Twill be then that this saying of Isaiah will be accomplished, in respect of us? cap. 2.11. Exaltabitur Dominus solus in die illa. He is humbled at present be­fore our eyes, because we know him not well; but he shall be exalted in that day, because we shall acknowledge the infiniteness of his power, and our littleness and wretchedness.

That day wherein God shall be exalted according to the Prophet, is the day of e­ternity, which begins at our Death. From that moment all Men shall have a continu­al prospect of Gods infinite greatness, and of Mankinds wretchedness. They shall not be able to forget God, nor to mistake him; and this double ignorance which the World is at present buried in shall be absolutely banisht in the other.

It is true, that this sentiment will be very different in the chosen and the re­probate. For he will cause eternal joy to the one, and eternal despair to the other. The chosen will place their happiness in seeing the greatness and powerfulness of God, because they will see at the same time his essence, his mercy, and his love, which will overwhelm them with joy; [Page 71] but the reprobates seeing onely the in­flexibility of God's Justice, and his ha­tred for them, and the infinite Power he has of punishing them, will find a great part of their Torment in this Sight.

They will not onely see this inexora­ble and all-powerful Justice armed to punish them; but they will see it for all Eternity, without being able to avoid it. They will see God, saith St. Gregory of Nazianse, Orat. 21. like a Fire, be­cause they would not see him as a Light: They shall see themselves in his hands, as it were in the hands of an Enemy, who will trample them under his Feet, with­out any hopes of delivering themselves from thence. Thus their Rage and De­spair will be turned against God, as Au­thor of their Misery. They will little consider all Creatures, and will be al­most always busied about God in this mi­serable and detestable manner.

Behold the State of Men, both Chosen and Reprobate, for all Eternity. And this State teaches us what we ought to do in Time: For seeing we cannot be happy but by the Sight and Love of God, it being the End whereunto we ought to tend, and that 'twill be our onely Em­ployment and Occupation in all Eternity; [Page 72] what ought we to do in this Life, which is onely a Preparation to Eternity, but exercise our selves to know and love God? Exercise your selves to possess God, says St. Austin, in Psal. 83. desire a long time what you ought always to have: Ad ca­piendum Deum exercere: Quod semper ha­biturus es diu desidera.

We shall enjoy him in Eternity but as we shall have exercised our selves in the World to enjoy him, that is to say, to know and love him: We shall not possess him but in proportion as we shall have desired him: For, we cannot imagine, that having always had him far from our thoughts and hearts in this Life, he will discover himself to us in the other, in this manner, which will cause the Happiness of the Saints. No man, saith St. Austin, in Psal. 148. is in a condition to enter into this most happy Life, unless he hath exercised himself during this Life here: Nemo potest idoneus fieri futurae vitae, qui se ad illam modo non exercuerit.

Nevertheless, what do men in this World, and what do they employ them­selves about? What place hath God in their Thoughts, in their Designs, in their Discourses, and in their Conducts? Do not most part of Men spend their Lives [Page 73] in the forgetfulness of God? and do not they even place their Happiness in this Oblivion? The Sight of God is never the Principle of any of their Actions, nor ever troubles the Conduct of their Lives.

They do not act thus in the affairs which regard the time present. If they foresee that they shall be obliged to live some part of their lives with such an one, and that their fortunes or their quiet de­pends of him, they endeavour to gain him, to manage him, to creep into his favour, and to adapt themselves to his humours. They are affraid to hurt or ex­asperate him. And yet although they know they shall be eternally in the hands of God, they will not so much as think of him, nor take any pains to obtain his friendship.

Let us have a horror for this uncon­ceiveable folly; and that our actions may be far remote from it, let us en­deavour to imprint these truths livelily in our minds; let us have only transi­tory ties with creatures, which are all broken by Death, and after Death let us be eternally separated from them, but let nothing be able to separate us from God; for Death will only make [Page 74] us feel more sensibly the dependance we have on him; for Man is so made for, and so related to him, that it is necessary that God cause either his happiness by his love, or his misery by his hate; for in the one or the other manner God will be eternally present; and so the sole means not to see him eternally his enemy, is to make it his principal care to ren­der himself a friend during this life.

CHAP. XII.
The Fourth manner of considering Death, as the entrance into the society of Spi­rits.

ALL that's discovered by the Soul at the very moment of Death, is a very small thing in comparison of God, who manifests himself to her as we have already represented. But as the Soul is not always touched in this life accord­ing to the greatness of the objects, but in relation to the impression they make up­on the imagination, it will not be amiss to consider yet the other parts of this great spectacle which presents it self to the Soul at her going out of the Body.

That which apparently makes the most considerable part after what we have already marked, is that great troop of Spirits, with which she finds her self at once infested, those Devils which she begins to see openly, that prodigi­ous number of damned, and happy Souls whereof God has given her some knowledge in what State soever she be; seeing that the book of Wisdom shews, that the damned know something of the happiness and the glory of Saints, which makes them cry out with rage and de­spair: Sap. 5.3. Hi sunt quos habituus aliquando in derisum & in similitudinem improperii. The Soul then discovers in an instant this dreadful number of Crea­tures, and she perceives a total subver­sion of the World which she has quitted. She sees that most part of those who have appeared in that with most splen­dor and pomp, are reduced in this to the last degree of misery; that those Kings and Princes who have made the whole World to quake, are only distin­guished from other men in this, that they are often the most miserable of all: There is no more question in the society of the Dead, of riches, of no­bility, of quality, of body nor of mind, [Page 76] nor of those other vain advantages by which Men endeavour to raise them­selves here one above another, but that all there is regulated according to the Laws of a Sovereign and invariable Ju­stice which placeth each in the rank of misery or happiness wherein he ought to be, and no one is able to go out of the place or rank which is assigned him.

But the principal difference she ob­serves amongst these two Worlds, is, that that of the living is composed of di­vers societies, and as it were of divers combinations, whereby Men are united together, either to help and assist one another in their necessities; or to resist their Enemies, or to set upon others. But in the World of Spirits there are no more societies nor combinations; because they have no need nor depen­dance of one another. All there have an immediate relation to God. 'Tis he who governs all; and each Spirit sees clearly that he is obliged by his order, and that 'tis not in the power of any Creature to substract him from thence.

Thus in what number soever the Spi­rits may be, they are in an entire s [...]pa­ration from one another. The Blessed [Page 77] love one another in truth with a per­fect love; and the happiness of each contributes to that of the others, through the joy they present thereby, which makes up the most holy and the most happy of all these societies; but it is not a society of dependance nor of mu­tual succours. They all draw their whole felicity from the fame sourse. They find there all they desire or wish for. And thus their society neither hin­ders nor troubles their solitude.

The wicked, on the contrary, are in a solitude which has nothing but what is dismal and frightful. They all hate one another. They do not hope for either help or succour, or consolation from any Creature. They do not see in any either power, or desire to do them any good. Thus the sight of this croud of Spirits is for them only an encrease of desolation, and it does no­thing but augment their despair, by gi­ving them a more lively Idea of their weakness.

We cannot doubt but that the pro­spect of this spectacle, so different from the Ideas a Soul retains of what she hath seen in the World she lately left, may cause in her a great suprise, that [Page 78] she may conceive an extream disdain for all she hath esteemed most therein, that she may be pierced with grief, to have set her affections on so many vain things, and to have had little esteem for what was truly durable and solid.

But by how much this prospect, this surprise, and these regrets are unprofi­table to the Souls of the Dead, because their lot is at once fixed by the decree of God, who assigns them their places; by so much 'twill be necessary for us to see these sentiments in this life, to busie our selves about this spectacle, to min­gle our selves in Spirit with this croud of the Dead, to consider there these eternal places, and these constant di­stinctions, this happy or miserable so­litude, to the end we may conceive a profound disdain for all grandeurs, all establishments, and all humane distincti­ons, and only make account of those secret differences which God puts in this world here amongst Souls by the gifts of his grace; and which will have such great effects in the other.

CHAP. XIII.
The Fifth manner of considering of Death▪ which is, to conceive that at the hour of Death each Soul discovers the Devils, and their rage towards her and all other men.

ALthough the Devils make part of the Spirits, whereof we have spoken in the foregoing Chapter, nevertheless it is good to make some reflexions upon the sentiments the Soul conceives in perceiving clearly these wicked Spirits at the instant she forsakes this body. We know in general, by faith, that they go about us like roaring Lions, which only seek how to devour us, and em­ploy all sort of Artifices to destroy us; but we know not what these Artifices are. We have only a confus'd Idea of their malice and rage against Men, and even oftentimes we scarcely discern their voices from that of Gods.

All these clouds are dissipated by Death. We shall see in that moment an innumerable multitude of those wick­ed Spirits spread over the Earth, pos­sessing and disquieting most part of [Page 80] mankind, endeavouring to surprise those which they do not as yet possess. We shall see in what manner they will deceive them, by presenting them some objects which will withdraw or irritate their passions, in procuring them the success which may entertain them in illusion, keeping them always out of themselves, and removing far from them all that shall make them know the miserable state wherein they are. We shall see them tied fast, haled along, imprisoned, wounded with a thousand wounds, and that these evil Spirits prepare in them the matter of their Condemnation and their Hell.

Although we shall make a difficulty of giving to Souls separated from the body so large a knowledge, yet we can­not deny but each will know at the mo­ment of her separation from the body all the Snares the Devil has prepa­red for her, all the precipices he has forced her down, and all the illusions wherewith he hath amused her. Now if God, notwithstanding all these sur­prises, hath given her the grace to over­come the Devil in these essential things; if she have avoided his worst snares, she enters into transports of joy, which [Page 81] the Prophet describes, when he makes a Soul say in the presence of this fright­ful number of snares she has avoided: Blessed be our Lord, who has delivered us from being a prey to be torn in pieces by their teeth. Our Souls have been saved even as a Bird saves her self from the F [...]wlers net. Ps. 126. v. 6.

But who can conceive the state of a Soul who comes to acknowledge that the Devil hath prospered in his wick­ed designes; that she has been as an instrument against her self; that she has seconded his desires, has delivered her self to her executioner, has laboured only to establish his Empire over her self? Who can comprehend her des­pair, when he comes himself with his whole rage to take possession of his con­quest, insulting over her, and placing before her Eyes how he seduced her to make her the companion of his mi­sery?

These are the insults and the scoffs the Propet feared when he said to God: Let not my Enemies deride me; let them not say in their heart, Our desires are ac­complisht; let them not say, We have de­voured him. Ps. 34.24.

'Tis through fear of these so terrible objects that St. Bernard excited himself: De divers. Ser. 26. n. 6: What, said he, will be thy fear, O my Soul, when being separated by Death from all those objects whose sight hath been so pleasing to thee, and familiarity so sweet, thou shalt enter alone into an unknown region, and that these horrible monsters shall come to thee unawares? Who will assist thee in this so extream necessity? Who will defend thee from these furious beasts ready to devour thee? Who will comfort thee? Who will guide thee?

All these sentiments come from this prospect of Death we spoke of, which makes us foresee this dismal state of a miserable Soul ready at the moment of Death to discover these horrible creatures, and which is delivered to them by Gods Justice as a prey upon which they satisfie eternally their rage.

The Holy Ghost who hath so often inspired this consideration to the Saints, shews us that we ought to have it continually in our thoughts.

What is there in effect more ca­pable of awakening in us this vigilance which is so much recommended to us by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, than the fear of falling into the hands [Page 83] of this cruel Enemy? What is more proper to hinder us from following our passions, than to imagin that in following them, we follow the desires of the Devil, we labour to establish his Empire, we make him master over us, and we become his instruments and ministers against our selves?

For we ought not to be deceived thereby. It is necessary that either God or the Devil Reign in us. There is no medium. Whoever does not endea­vour that God Reign in him, endea­vours to make the Devil his Master. God Reigns in us when his Spirit Reigns, when we act by his Spirit, when we have God in prospect, that is to say, Justice, Truth, and Charity. The Devil Reigns in us when we are governed by our passi­ons, when we seek only our Glory and our proper satisfaction; in a word, when there is only cupidity that acts in us.

Thus as Men do almost nothing all their lives but follow their own passions, it follows necessarily, they do nothing but labour for the Devil, and to fur­ther his designes. Horrible Employ­ment! detestable Ministry! But w [...]o ne­vertheless comprehends all that's done in the World by those who think they [Page 84] are the greatest and the happiest therein.

The best means to have a detestati­on for it, is to consider the end of it, and to place before our Eyes the rage of these Monsters, when they shall ap­pear openly to a Soul, having malici­ously deceived her. We ought often to represent them to our selves in this state whilst we live, to hearten us to withstand them, and not to follow their desires and their designs: And as there are no temptations wherein we may not be able to make use of this means, it may be said, that this manner of be­holding Death, is a remedy against all temptations.

CHAP. XIV.
The Seventh manner of considering Death, as a day that dissipates our lack of Light, and makes us see things such as they are.

WE say oftentimes of Death, That it will draw a Curtain, and make us see an Infinity of things which we are ignorant of; and it is what we might have already seen, by all those several ways of beholding it which we have pro­posed. [Page 85] But what I pretend to explicate here, is, How we may make use of the Meditation of Death to correct the fal­sity of the Judgments we make of all things in the World, and principally con­cerning our selves, our Actions, and our proper Conduct.

We are born into the World environ'd with such thick Clouds of Darkness, that we know neither our true good, nor our true evil, nor the rules by which we ought to Judge of them. Our desires, our fears, and our other passi­ons which spring from the bottom of our corruption, makes us conceive a vast number of false Ideas as to what they make use of as Objects; and as we judge of these Ideas, the greatest part of these our Judgements are false. And so our memory becomes a Magazin of all sorts of falsities.

But what is yet worse, is, that these false Judgments do not only infect the mind, they infect the heart, fortify the passions from whence they spring, and produce all the sins Man is guilty of. For there is no sin without some false thought, seeing, as St. Austin saith, In Ps. 148. We cannot sin having onely good thoughts; Non potest fieri ut habeat [Page 86] mala facta, qui habet cogitationes bonas.

Therefore as our greatest interest is to avoid sin which is the cause of all evils, we ought to labour with all imaginable care, to destroy those false Judgements which are the source there­of, and to fill our minds with those true thoughts from whence good acti­ons do arise.

'Tis true, 'tis from the light of faith we must expect it, seeing, as St. Paul saith, of our selves we are not capable of producing one single good thought. But this dependance does not exclude the application to certain objects which assist us to find out the truth, nor the practice of certain means which drive far away from us what hinders the di­scerning it.

This is the foundation of an advice which St. John Climace, Degr. 6. atributes to a Holy Father, and of which per­sons very learned, and far advanced in Holiness do recommend the practice. It is to look upon each day as the last of this life, and to enter, in regard of all affairs to which we are obliged, into the disposition we would desire to be in, if we were to give an account to God within five or six hours.

The reason of this advice, is, That nothing is more capable to put out of our mindes the false Ideas evil de­sires produce, than the thoughts of death, and what ought to follow. Methinks the passions dare not appear before this object, and that it awakens all that rea­son, light, and force we have. We see more clearly what ought to be done, and we execute it with greater resolu­tion, and more intension, and more free from humane considerations.

But that we may draw more advan­tage from this practice, it is good not to judge simply of all things as if we were to die presently, but to have access as much as possible we can to the consi­derations and sentiments we shall have at the very moment of the Souls leaving the body.

It is most certain, that being Judged by God at that moment, He will place before our Eyes all the actions of our lives; that the Soul will know what is Judged of her, and will in this manner form Judgements of all that hath pas­sed through her mind during her abode in the body. That is to say, she will determine of all her Judgements and thoughts, and will condemn all falsities [Page 88] and injustices she shall have committed.

'Twill not only be the Souls of the Elect who shall know clearly, then, all their Erors; but also the Souls of the Re­probate. For although the Scripture tells them they have erred and gone astray from the way of truth, and that the Sun of Justice has not shined upon them, it shews they shall be convinced of their digressions, and of the false lights whereby they have been guided.

If then they do not condemn the Judgements they have made during their lives through the love of Justice, they will condemn them through the love of themselves. They will be for­ced to grant they were full of folly. They will call themselves foolish Men: Nos insensati. Now they cannot do it, but they must judge that Wisdom would have them do quite contrary to what they have done.

The Judgements which the Souls have of their actions in that moment are not only true, but they are moreover eternal, and what they judge then, they judge it for ever, because there will be no more in them what is called variety in thoughts.

Now what will be true for all eternity, is so at present. All our care should be never to guide our selves by these tran­sitory judgements, which only appear true when the passions are stirred; but so to judge and act according to these stable, invariable, and eternal considerati­ons, which we shall have after our Death.

Thus what secure object is presen­ted to our selves, or strikes our ima­ginations, instead of consulting our senses, our passions, and our small inte­rests, we ought, that we may judge truly, consider seriously what we shall judge of it after our Death; what we would have done, when we shall be judged by Jesus Christ. What we think may be approved by this just Judge: Finally, what we our selves shall approve in eternity. Let Cases of con­science decide without trouble in favour of this light! Let false subtleties vanish away! Let vain phantomes disappear.

Happy are those who in this manner make themselves Disciples to Death, who make use of its light to dissipate the darkness of their hearts; and who think at present what they shall consi­der hereafter: Truly, 'tis to be dead to the World, to live in this manner, [Page 90] seeing that it is neither to think nor act any more according to the light of life, which is that of this World, but according to the lights of the other life which are those of eternity.

We ought not then, after all the ad­vantages which we have shewn may be drawn from the thoughts of Death, be astonisht, that St. John Climace hath said, Degr. 6. That as of all foods Bread is most necessary, also of all Spiri­tual practices the meditation of Death is most useful; it makes the Religious who live in community to undertake the labours and exercises of Penance, and find the greatest pleasure in being humble and dis­dain'd; and as to those who live in solita­ry places, far remote from all tumult and trouble of the World, it produceth in them an entire relinquishing of all Earthly cares, continual praying, and an exact vigilancy over their thoughts.

In a word, it may be said of this holy excercise, that 'tis the source of lights whereby to know what is our duties, an universal remedy against all our passions and vices, a powerful help against temptations, a School of Vir­tues, and a means to sweeten all the mischiefs of this life.

And to end where we have begun, It is, according to the wise Man, an efficacious means to avoid all sins. Now as he who sins not is just in this World, and will be happy in the other, it follows, that the meditation of Death is the way to holiness and beatitude.

CHAP. I.
How necessary it is to think of Judgment. Why the Church proposes commonly to her Children the Ʋniversal Judgment, rather than the Particular.

WHat St. Austin saith to his Peo­ple, in one of his Sermons upon Psal. 147. That he ought to speak to them continually of Judgment; shews, that we should always think thereof, being the Pastors ought not to speak to us of it, [Page 93] but that we ought to have it in our Me­mories.

We are obliged so much more to do it, by how much we shall want means to do it after this Life. For, as this Holy Doctor saith, Epist. 70. the last day of the World we shall be in the same state wherein we shall find our selves the last day of our Lives: And such as we shall be when we come to die, such we shall be judged in that terrible day. So it is true, as he yet adds, the day of death is esteemed by each as a day of Universal Judgment, because Death fixeth the State wherein we shall be judged.

From hence it follows, that as every Christian is obliged to be upon his guard, that he may not be surprised by the Day of judgement; according as Jesus Christ commands in the Gospel, he ought not to watch with less care of that of his Death. 'Tis what we may conclude of the belief wherein the Church is, that the damnation of the wicked, and the recompence of the good, are not put off to the Day Judg­ment, as some of the ancients have be­lieved; but that the Souls who have no more to expiate, enter at the very in­stant which follows Death into possessi­on [Page 94] of glory, and those whose sins de­serve Hell, begin to suffer torments when they leave the body. For it fol­lows clearly from hence, that as God will not punish the one, nor crown the other, not having been judged, and judged by Jesus Christ, to whom all judgement hath been given, we must believe that Jesus Christ will judge each Soul in particular at the moment she shall be separated from the body.

Seeing therefore that we have so short and uncertain a space in this life to prepare us for eternity, which shall be d [...]cided by the decree which Jesus Christ shall pronounce at the day of our Death, and that this decree will be the same with that he will pro­nounce at the last day, is it not the greatest imprudence and the greatest folly that can be, to stuff the minde with all other things, and never to think of this one?

We need not very much reason to consent to this truth; but there wants something besides reason to practise it. We are oftentimes convinced that we ought to fear, but we do not fear ef­fectively; and that there is but one thing to think of, yet we scarcely ever [Page 95] think of it in effect. Our hearts follow not reason, and it continues often cold and without motion even when the mind is most persuaded that it ought to be livelily touched.

Doubtless there is nothing but grace that can remedy this coldness, and soften this hardness. But as God bids us to have recourse at the same time to outward means, which contribute thereunto when aided by grace, it is good to approach as near as we can these objects with our imagination, and to force it to apply it self often there­unto, instead of banishing them when they present themselves, as most Peo­ple do.

This is the reason the Church hath to make us call to mind the last Judg­ment in divers Gospels. She begins by this means the preparation to the coming of Jesus Christ, whereinto she pretends to make the Christians enter in the time of Advent. This is one of the first objects she shews to her Children to dispose them to the Pe­nance of Lent. 'Tis whereby she finish­eth the Ecclesiastical year, the Go­spel of the Sunday which preceeds Ad­vent being yet of Judgement; there­by [Page 96] to shew us that we ought to begin and end all our works and all our life in the sight of Gods judgement, and that as our Penance ought to be con­tinual, this object ought to be always before our Eyes.

But as the use of this meditation con­sists chiefly in exciting in our hearts the sentiments of fear which produ­ceth true security, as St. Austin saith: Aug. in Ps. 146. Terror ille securitatem parit; territi enim praecavemus, praecaven­tes securis erimus. The Church judg­ing that these circumstances of the ge­neral Judgement are more capable to terrifie us, than those of a particular judgement, doth propose it ordinarily to us; and it is by following her Spi­rit that the holy Fathers, and above all the primitive Christians, appear so busied therein.

'Tis this that made St. Gregory of Nazianze say, Orat. 9. p. 174. That the fear of future judgement, did not per­mit him to breathe, [...].

And St. Ephraham, That he could not think of the last judgement without feeling a trembling in all his members, and an universal decay.

Other Saints have had the same thoughts and sentiments: And the pri­mitive Christians had them so lively that they took Wars, Famin, and other Calamities which happened in their days, for those frightful signs which ought to be the forerunners of an universal Judgment.

And indeed, what is more capable to make impression upon our minds than mediating of Jesus Christs descen­ding from Heaven, accompanied with all his Angels, to declare to all men uni­ted together in the midst of the Clouds, the judgment which shall decide their state for all eternity.

Who would not be affrighted, in con­sidering the subversion of all Nature which shall accompany this judgment, whereof Saint Peter says, That in the noise of a terrible tempest, the Heavens shall pass, the Eliments inflamed shall be dis­solved, the Earth with all it contains shall be consumed by Fire?

If the sight of one Angel reduced Daniel unto such a weakness, which made him say: In visione tuae dissolutae sunt compages meae: What will be the state of a miserable reprobate, in whom fear, horror, and the other passions [Page 98] cannot be lessened by the decay of the body, and in whose Soul there shall be no force to uphold the impressions of this dismal spectacle, but to feel them more lively?

The Fathers did not make their Spi­rituallity to consist in dispersing these objects from their minds, to entertain themselves with sweet and comforta­ble meditations. They thought they were of the number of those who had need to be affrighted thereat, and they have made very great use of them for themselves, and for others.

I am afraid, says St. Gregory of Nazi­anze, (Orat. 15.) of the saying of the Prophet, who cried out: What shall we do at the day wherein God shall enter into a reckoning and into judgment with us: When he shall convince us of all our crimes, present to our faces all our sins as cruel accusers, and place the iniquities whereof we shall have rendred our selves guilty, in opposition to the good deeds we should have received of him? When he shall demand an accompt of us of the Majesty of his Image he had imprinted in us, and which we have quite spoil'd and disfigured [...]y our disorders? when he shall make us co [...]demn our selves, and shall reduce us [Page 99] not to be able even to say, that we suffer unjustly? Who shall be our Advocate be­fore this judge? By what pretences, by what false excuses, by what artificial co­lours, by what invensions, how subtile soever, shall we be able to disguise the truth be­fore this Sovereign Tribunal, and avoid the invariable rectitude and justness of this judgment? He shall put our actions, words, and thoughts, into the Scale. There shall be weighed the good and the bad, to the end, that having seen those which out­weigh, there may be proposed a Decree af­ter which there shall be no Appeal, no su­perior [...]udge to whom we can have re­course unto, no means to destroy these wick­ed actions by contrary ones, no Oyle to be bought of the wise Virgins, or of those who sell it to light the extinct Lamps with: All will be terminated at this last only and dreadful Decree, more just yet than terrible, and so much more terrible as it's more just. It shall be when the Thrones shall be placed; that he whom the Scrip­ture calls the Ancient of days, will be seated in the first: That the Books shall be opened: That we shall see roull a flood of fire; that the light shall be on one side, and darkness on the other, ready to receive those who shall be precipitated there­into.

It would be too long to relate the descriptions which the other Fathers, but but above all St. Ephram makes, of this judgment, and it may suffice to pro­pose what St. Bernard says thereof, (Ser. 16. in Cant.) who comprehends in few words what the others do. I fear, saith he, the sight of this Judge, able to make the An­gels themselves to tremble. I fear the wrath of this mighty God. I fear the marks of his fury. I fear that destruction of the World turn­ed topsy-turvy; that conflagration of the E­lements; that dreadful tempest, that voice of the Arch-Angel; that hard and [...]rible word. I tremble in thinking of the teeth of that infernal fiend; of the Gulf of Hell; of those devouring Lyons, ready to devour their prey. I am struck with horror with the Image of that worme which gnaws the Wicked, with the fire which burns them, with this Smoke and sulfurious vapour; with those impetuous winds and outward darknesses. Who will pour upon my head a source of water, and who will give to my eyes a fountain of tears, to prevent by my cryes those eternal ones, and those hor­rible gnashing of teeth, those cruel bonds, and the weight of those chains which shall overwhelm, inclose, and burn the damned, without consuming them?

But although these circumstances be so terrible, they are yet much less in ef­fect than the impression which God makes upon the Souls by the knowledge he will give them of their sins, of his justice, and of all other things upon which the eter­nal decree, which he shall pronounce upon each of them, shall be grounded. And as this impression happens also in the particular judgment, by which God makes the Soul know the place which belongs to her, and by what actions she deserves it; it is to meditate at the same time each judgment, to endea­vour to comprehend as much as we can in this life, what this light of God discovers to the Soul when he judges her; 'tis what we shall parti­cularly insist upon in the following Chapters.

CHAP. II.
Of the consideration we shall have of the mul­titude of our sins. Concerning the two judgments.

ALL Christians believe that God will make the Soul know all her [Page 102] sins, whether in the particular judgment he will make of them, when she leaves the body, or in the publick judgment he shall pronounce at the end of the world in the sight of all men. All flesh rings at this threat, that there is nothing so secret in our actions, in our thoughts, in the motions of our hearts, which may not be discovered, he will place all that before our eyes, and he will make thereof a very rigorous ex­amination. Nevertheless, hardly any one will be concerned at this so terrible a truth. It seems that 'twill not concern us, and that 'tis not we who ought to be examined so severly.

It happens to us in regard of this truth, what happens to all others. We are at first a little affrightened, but at length we become accustomed to them, and learn to hear them without any concern. It is not either that these truths change, or that our minds are fortified by custom. What is terrible, will be always so, if we conceive it always in the same manner. But the effect of custom is to change our Ideas, to ren­der them more superficial and confu­sed, and to cause the mind to apply it [Page 103] self thereto more lightly. To remedy this evil effect, it is requisite we con­ceive sometimes these truths in them­selves by some Images which may ren­der them more sensible, and perchance that which we shall make use of here will contribute something thereunto.

Let us then imagin a vast Room, but yet obscure, and that a man labour his whole life to fill it with Vipers and Serpents: Let him bring daily a great quantity, and employ divers per­sons to assist him to make a heap of them; but that as soon as these Ser­pents are in the Chamber, they are be­nummed, being heaped one upon ano­ther, in such a manner that they per­mit this man to lie upon them, with­out stinging or doing him any harm. Let this state continue for a conside­rable time, that this man is accustomed to it, and that he apprehends nothing of harm from this heap of Serpents. But when he shall think the least there­of, the Windows of this Chamber chance to fly open suddenly, and ad­mit in a great Light, all these Serpents waken immediately, and cast them­selves upon this miserable Man, they pull him in pieces by their bitings, and [Page 104] not one of them but makes him feel his Venom. How terrible soever this Image is, 'tis only a weak draught of what men do commonly, and what happens to them at the day of their deaths.

Man lives here plunged in so thick clouds, that he has much a-doe to per­ceive the most gross faults, and yet he forgets them frequently as he com­mits them. His conscience is this ob­scure place where he heaps them, and he does almost nothing but augment and encrease their number, because he does all for himself and nothing for God Almighty.

Often likewise he makes use of other mens assistance, as if he had a design to gather a greater number together, For there are many, who besides their own sins, charge themselves with other mens, and who have under them an infinite of persons who sin, if I may say so, on their account; because the sins they commit are imputed to them by Gods justice.

All these sins are as it were senceless during this life, because they do not perceive them. They suffer them with­out trouble. They take their rest. They [Page 105] apprehend nothing. They take no care to get rid of them. And on the con­trary only encrease every day the num­ber of them.

Death then finds most men in this wicked excercise. 'Tis this which brings in this light which awakens all these sins. The light God gives to the Soul at the instant of death withdraws her from this insensibleness, and being thus awakened comes of a sudden to disco­ver all these monsters which death in­closed in her bosom. She does not on­ly discover them, shee feels the mor­tal stings. She is cruelly torn, there not being any of her sins which does not make her feel it.

Who can comprehend the multitude of them? All those man has known in committing them, and which after­wards he would willingly have forgot­ten; all those he has dissembled; all the vain thoughts he has insisted upon; all the evil actions he has consented to; all his omissions, the neglect of his duty, the scandals he has given, and the evil consequences of them, all these will be set before his eyes di­stinctly, how unwilling soever he may be to see them. That is to say, he [Page 106] will see for the most part that he has done nothing all his life but sucked up poison, been oppressed with new trou­bles; and prepared new punishments for himself.

There is no sinner who ought not to tremble at the fear of this horri­ble spectacle, which Gods justice will discover to him at the hour of his death: But there are none who ought to be more affraid than those who are in eminent places, who are to give an ac­count to God, not only for their own sins, but also for the sins others com­mit who are under their charge.

What a throng of Crimes present themselves at the hour of death to the Soul of a Bishop who came wrongfully to his Charge, and hath continued all his life to abuse his Ministery? And who can conceive in what excess of despair he enters; when he sees him­self charged at the Judgment Seat, with as many Sacriledges as he hath of­fered Sacrifices, as he hath adminstred the Sacraments, and performed Episco­pal Functions; and that he acknow­ledges moreover, that Gods justice im­putes to him all the Sacriledges of the Priests he hath ordained rashly, all the [Page 107] precipitated Absolutions they have given, all the Scandals they have cau­sed; and lastly, that she judge him guilty of as many Spiritual homicides, not only as there are Souls, to whom he hath brought death by the scandal of his life, or by that of his Ministers he hath chosen, or suffered by negli­gence, but also of as many as these evil examples have been able to cast away, although the grace of God hath upheld them: Because as many as have relied on him, he has destroyed, as St. Austin saith: Aug. de Paster. c. 4. Non sibi ergo blandiatur quia ille non est mortuus, & ille vivit & iste homicida est: So that a wicked Bishop shall be treat­ed by God as a Murtherer of all the Souls of his Diocess.

But it is not necessary to have re­course to these Examples, to be fright­ned at this multitude of sins which the Soul discovers in appearing before God. Those who have lead the most retired lives, and the freest from the commerce and corruption of this World, have but too much reason to fear it, and it ought to suffice them to conceive the just fear we ought to have thereof, to know that [Page 108] they are to render an account of the use they have made of all the favours they have received, of all the truths they have heard, of all the Sacraments of which they have participated, of all the good examples they have seen, of all the good works they ought to have done, and lastly, how they have made use of their time, of their Souls and Bodies.

‘What care soever, saith St. Gregory the Great, Mor. in Job. l. 24. c. 7. most People have had to avoid all the sins they could call to mind, when they consider yet that they are to appear before a severe Judge, they are seised with fear, chiefly because of some sins they may be guilty of without know­ing them. For who can comprehend the number of faults they commit by the restless and unconstant thoughts to which they are subject? The acti­ons of sin may be avoided: But there is nothing harder than to guard the heart from these wicked, dishonest, and unlawful thoughts. And yet it is written: Miserable are you, who entertain your selves about unprofi­table thoughts.’ Behold the subject of most just mens fear. Now how [Page 109] much greater reason have those who lead a loose life to be in continual fear and trembling?

CHAP. III.
How terrible both judgments are by the ani­hilation which will be made of all hu­man works which flatter men.

IF Gods judgment be so terrible, by what appears to us therein, it is not less by what disappears, and which is destroyed and anihilated. I speak not of grandeur, titles, pomps, prai­ses, and all other things men see them­selves absolutely robbed of in the other World. I speak of all apparent good works which make up a considerable part of their support, confidence and rest.

For every one desiring to be at peace with himself, is naturally swayed to fancy a kind of conscience, and to ga­ther together what ever is best in this life to be able to bear a favourable judg­ment of it. But as we do not make this Examen with a design of pleasing God, but to procure our selves human peace, we do not observe therein any [Page 110] great exactness. We judge of our selves for the most part by the outward man, by the body of our actions; by the esteem and approbation of other men, by the example of some honest men who have done the same things as we have; by putting away of some certain wicked considerations which have not been observed in us; by crimes which we abhorr'd, and which we have not committed; by comparing our selves with others whom we thought more wicked than our selves, and who act what we would not; and above all we raise a certain Edifice of this life to our selves, wherewith we are content, and which we think may subsist with Gods judgment, and even deserve some recompence. For in effect, di­vers good works enter by this means; Prayers, receiving the Sacraments, out­ward works of piety. Those who are in the Ministry of the Church may add thereto preaching, directions, and in­structions, which make them hope for the Reward God hath promised to those who have done and taught these things.

But who will be able to express how many of these Edifices will be ruined, when they come to pass through the fire [Page 111] of this judgment, which shall consume, as St. Paul saith, all the Straw, Hay, and all the Wood which shall be found there; what shall be the astonishment of a de­ceived Soul, who having placed her hopes therein shall acknowledge clearly, by the light of God, the vanity and mi­serableness of all her works?

'Twill be there, saith St. Bernard, De Divers. ser. 26. n. 6. that what we take for Gold shall be changed into Dross, that the impurity of all our works will be discovered, and that the time of truth be­ing come, after that given us by God is past, shall judge our justness. 'Twill be there that all our upright dealings which flatter us, shall appear horrible to us; that all we look upon as small, all we neg­lect by a wicked dissimulation shall be con­sumed by those revengeful flames.

It sufficeth to make us conceive what we have to fear, to say, that there will be nothing but what we have done by the motive of the Spirit of God, which will subsist at the judgment, and that Gods Spirit acts only in us what hath God for its end, and is ruled by the light of his wisdom; that thus all that we do only for our satisfaction; for our honour; for our quiet; for our [Page 112] own interest; and by some other mo­tive than that of the true love of God, is no more than Hay, Wood, or Straw.

That which is more terrible, is, that those works whose source is corrupted, are not destroyed but in the false ap­pearance of good works, and subsist as sins. All these false Virtues being unmasked will appear in their natural deformity. So, instead of being the prop and support of the Soul in this judgment, they will only serve to de­press and overthrow her.

How many who think they are rich in good works, are reduced then to a shameful poverty, seeing all they have put their confidence in, had only for Princi­ple, interest, vanity, and the desire of mens good opinions; and what they thought an inspiration of God, nothing but a suggestion of the Devil, who only en­deavoured to dazle them by a false splendour of their actions, that he might hinder them from thinking seriously of themselves.

Happy are those who in this fire, which shall destroy all human endea­vours, shall find they have the solid foundation of Jesus Christs love, which cannot be destroyed; and some little [Page 113] of this Gold and those precious Stones which shall subsist, and become more famous.

But miserable are those who shall have neither this Gold, nor those pre­cious Stones, nor this solid Foundation, and whose whole Labour shall be con­sumed by the devouring fire of Gods justice.

It is certain that this so frightful mi­sery will happen to a great many, who shall have walked in those paths which the wise man speaks of, which appearing streight to those who walk in them, do nevertheless lead them to death: and that there are many who shall find in the examination that will be made of their actions, that all their life hath been a continual illusion, and that those pains which got them mens esteem, were only grounded upon the love of themselves. And it is moreover certain, that no man can know with any certainty whether he be not of the num­ber of the wicked; whether his works be not such as have only the appear­ance of Piety; without truth or essence; whether he have not some poison hid in him which spoils and poisoneth them at the root; and whether he shall not [Page 114] see the ruine and firing of them at the day of judgment.

We know certainly that we are full of sin, but we know but imperfectly that we have any good works. We know that we have some fewel for the fire of the other life; and we cannot certainly know that we have any thing that can subsist there.

'Tis likewise this consideration which hath held the Saints in a continual trembling, and given them a holy dif­fidence of all their Labours. ‘I will have a care, saith St. Bernard, lest I take Tares for good Grain, and Straw for Wheat. I will examin all my ways; that he who shall come to examin, not the Babylon of the world which is already judged, but Jerusalem it self, and who will judge it by the light of his Lamps, may find nothing in me which hath not been examined. Who will do me the favour, that I may detect and penetrate now in such sort the great number of debts I am accoun­table for, that I may have no rea­son to doubt or fear the piercing Eyes of Almighty God? But alas! he sees me, but I see him not; nor do [Page 115] I see my self. That Eye which sees all does not discover it self. 'Tis then this secret Judge concerning what is most secret in our Souls that I ought to fear. 'Tis this Judge who says, he will judge upright dealings, and who sees at this present that in­finite number of debts, which I know not.’

How much more cause have we, saith St. Bernard, to be distrustful of our works, and to apprehend the judgment God shall give of them? Yet instead of being always dejected and cast down under the Majesty of our Judge, we live in a stupid repose, and act as if we were absolutely certain of our Sal­vation.

CHAP. IV.
How terrible the judgment of God is by the sight we shall have of his rigour and justice.

IF the form of our Eyes, which now makes us see bodies in a certain greatness, happened suddenly to be changed in that of a Microscope, so as to represent worms to us like unto Ele­phants, [Page 116] and Elephants like Mountains, without doubt this new spectacle would cause in us an extream surprise, and yet more if we had the liberty to take this new manner of seeing these objects for the true, and of beholding these such as we saw them before, as an illusion of our senses.

The World would be quite new to us. We should acknowledge nothing therein, and we should have much adoe to comprehend how this could come to pass, that we should lessen in this man­ner such great Bodies, as to form such little Images.

Now what never happens in respect of the Eyes of the Body, does in respect of those of the Soul, in a more frightful man­ner. For there would always be some pro­portion betwixt these two different ways of seeing the same Bodies. But there is none at all betwixt the Idea we have of sins during this life, and the other.

We must then suppose that the light which God gives to a Soul when he sets it before her Eyes, does not only discover to her an innumerable multi­tude of sins she never thought of, but it discovers to her the least of these [Page 117] sins in so monstrous a greatness, that it exceeds all our imaginations.

The cause of this small Idea we have of them in this life, is the little know­ledge which we have here of Gods justice; and the cause on the contrary of this prodigious greatness we shall see them in the other life, is the clear sight God gives us of this justice. We shall see even to what point sin is hated by God, the terrible deformity it causeth in the Soul, the horrible disorder it in­cludes, the opposition it hath to holi­ness and the justice of God. We shall all be convinced of the rigour and the in­flexibility of this justice. And this pro­spect will be so dreadful to the wicked, that 'twill make them wish for Hell to hide themselves in. They shall be redu­ced there according to the thoughts of a holy Soul as to a place which is most agreeable to them, and where they shall be the least penetrated by the burning rayes of this light which shall chace them from all other places, and which will only permit them that Abyss.

Who can then deplore enough the extream blindness of men; who receive in their hearts these monsters, not only without trouble, but even with joy: [Page 118] who open all the doors to them, who likewise often commit vanity?

To tell a man that he loses his for­tune, or that he ruins his health by some action, is to oblige him. But to tell him he loses his Soul, his eternity, his God, and his all, is to offend him mortally. We employ all our power to hinder these discourses, and we make our grandure to consist in being more private than others, and to damn our selves with less contradiction. You see here what the World aspires to, and whereof it endeavours to possess it self by all sorts of ways.

But to conceive yet more lively how the sight of Gods justice shall be for the reprobates so great a torment, that to substract themselves from his sight, they will cast themselves into Hell, it must be considered that they will see no­thing in nor out of God which may not help to convince them of the enormity of their crimes, and which it does not arm in some sort against them, by the just re­poaches it draws from thence.

It will arm the power of God a­gainst them, by letting them see that the more force God hath to punish sinners, the more insolency they have to refuse to [Page 119] obey him. For who is able to express, saith St Austin, the greatness of a crime a crea­ture commits when she does not obey so great a power, and is not stopped by the fear of so terrible punishments wherewith God threatens her? Quis enim satis explicet verbis quantum sit mali non obedire tantae potestatis imperis, & tanto terrenti sup­plicio?

This sight of Gods justice will do the same by his knowledge, his eter­nity, his immensity, his holiness, his title of Creator, Conservator of men, and Soveraign Good, and Last End. But above all, it will make use of his bounty and mercy to confound them.

For the more they shall have felt the effects thereof, the more they will judge themselves guilty in the abuse they have made thereof. Thus all the effects of Gods bounty will rise in judg­ment against them. They are so many witnesses which Gods justice prepares against the wicked, according to those words of Job: Instaurat adversum me testes suos. And as all these witnesses will convince them of the greatness of their crimes, there shall be a terrible in­crease of their misery and punishment.

'Tis in this manner that this threat [Page 120] of the Scripture will be accomplisht, all the whole World will oppugne the foolish: Sap. c. 5. v. 21. Est pugnabit orbis terrarum contra insensatos.

For Creatures having been given to men, only to incline them to glorifie, love, and to fear God, they become culpable and guilty of injustice in mak­ing use of them for any other end: So that all these Creatures being marks and proofs of their crimes, they will serve as instruments of Gods justice to punish them.

The Scripture exempts none, saying, That the whole World will oppugne them, because they will be convinced to have abused all creatures, not making use of them to glorifie God. They will see they have not only abused Heaven, the Earth, and all the Elements; but that generally they have made bad use of all that is sweet and comfortable in the World, and of all that is hard and bitter; they have abused the good turns and the chastisements of God; his menaces and his promises; their Friends and Enemies; good and bad Examples; the Angels and the Devils; Paradise and Hell; and finally, they have abused their Souls and Bodies, their [Page 121] lives and beings. For there is nothing in all these that they might not have made use of to excite them to praise, admire, to fear and obey God.

If the good turns themselves, shall cover the reprobates with confusion; what will it be with those they have received of Jesus Christ in quality of Redeemer, and what use will the justice of God make against them concerning his whole Life, Actions, Sufferances, his Blood, his Mysteries, and all his Sacraments and Favours which have been offered and given them, and which their sole malice hath hindered them from participating of?

This is the reason why St. Austin thinks it is probable, that Jesus Christ will conserve in his judgment the marks of his wounds, and shew them to the wicked, Aug. de. Symb. 2. Cath. lib. 2. c. 8. and Serm. 179. de. Temp. as it is mentioned in the Scripture: They have seen him whom they pierced. Viderunt in quem transfixerunt. Behold, will he say, the wounds you have given me: See here the side you have pierced. 'Tis for you, and by you it hath been opened, and yet you would not enter. Videtis vulnera quae inflexistis. Agnoscitis latus quod pu­pugistis [Page 122] quoniam & per vos, & propter vos apertum est, nec tamen intrare voluistis.

'Twill not be only the Jews, but all the wicked, who shall then see that they have put Jesus Christ to death, that they are guilty of the inutility of his death for them. That death and those wounds which have caused other mens happiness, shall be for ever the object of their despair. Jesus Christ will up­braid them with them, in making them know the enormity of the Crime by which they have slighted his favours. This is that terrible wrath of the Lamb spoken of in the Apocalypse, which will cause Princes and Potentates of this World to say: Apoc. 66.16. Mountains fall upon us, and hide us from the sight of him who sits on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

This wrath of the Lamb will be to shew to them, and expose to their Eyes all his Mercies, to make them know by that the excesse of ingratitude with which they have despised them, and what this disdain deserves accord­ing to the immoveable and inflexible rules of his Justice.

O incomprehensible spectacle of hor­ror! that Jesus Christ himself can be [Page 123] the weight which casts down the wick­ed, his Mercy the measure of their Crimes and Punishments, and that this so sweet and comfortable an object can become for them the height of their misery and confusion!

There will then be no need to dis­pute, whether they are faulty for not having had the same help as the Elect, they shall go out from before the Judge condemned by themselves, and they shall not have, saith St. Gregory of Nazian­zen, Orat. 15. p. 229. the satisfaction of saying, they suffer something [...]n­justly. They will all be convinced that they are unjust, and that God is just; that their malice is the cause of their ruine, and that God hath no share therein; that they can complain of none but themselves, and that 'twas their own faults they did not parti­cipate of the graces of Jesus Christ. And although, as St. Austin saith, his com­ing hath been as happy for the Elect, as it hath been dreadful to the Wick­ed; they will see nevertheless clearly, that 'tis through their fault, and a vo­luntary corruption of the heart; that they are able to impute nothing of it to Jesus Christ; but that he, on the [Page 124] contrary hath right to impute to them the inutility of his Sufferings and Death.

So which way soever the Wicked cast their eyes, they will see nothing but the cruel reproaches of their injustice, and they will meet every where Gods justice as it were an enemy pursuing them.

If the sence we have in this life of a single reproach given us by some con­siderable person, be sometimes so live­ly and piercing, that it carry the Soul even to despair; what shall be the vio­lence of that which the Wicked shall re­ceive of God, and all Creatures join­ed to [...]od?

Shall we wonder after that, That those to whom God hath been pleased to shew, in this life, some small part of this spectacle, may be inclined to some extraordinary resolutions, even to lead the remainder of their lives inclosed within four walls, that they may have no other object in their minds but this, as St. John Climachus reports of a soli­tary person of his acquaintance: And shall we not rather wonder that men are so insensible, that they are yet in a con [...]ition to busie themselves in the [Page 125] World about so many trifling things?

In truth there is something so won­derful in mens stupidity, and in the bewitchings which link them to the World, that human reason cannot com­prehend it. For if we knew not by experience the way how they live, and that consulting reason simply, we would conjecture in what manner People go­vern themselves, who believe with an infallible certainty that in a short time they are to undergo this terrible judg­ment, that they shall appear before God to give an account of all their acti­ons, and shall see all we have lately repre­sented; we should never imagine that the greatest part of those who believe all this should almost never think of it at all; that it were the least of their fears, and had no care to prepare them­selves for this judgment. There is no­thing but the sensible experience we have of it, from others, and from our selves, which can render this dreadful insensibility believeable by us; and no­thing doubtless can make us know this obscurity of the mind, and corrupti­on of mans heart better.

CHAP. V.
That it is necessary to apply the mind to consider the judgment of God.

PErchance if we were moved too vio­lently with the fear of Gods judg­ments, we might be advised not to insist too long upon so terrible an Object: But there are very few who have need of this precaution. The common People are tempted only with forgetfulness and insensibility in regard of this judg­ment. Thus nothing is to be feared, but that we may not apply our selves thereunto with diligence.

If we had a care to do it as we ought, we should find by experience that there is no object more capable to hum­ble the Soul to Gods Majesty, to make her re-enter into her wretchedness; to take from her the esteem of Worldly things; and that there are many temp­tations whereof this thought is the most natural remedy.

For example, there are few things which make more impression upon our minds, than the judgments men have of us whether in good or evil. It is [Page 127] strange what a relation these judg­ments have with our Actions. Their suspicions, their rash judgments, their disdain trouble us, exasperate us, and disturb us. Their praises, their appro­bation, their constancy, their affection gain us, uphold us, raise us, and bring us joy. We rely thereon, we trust there­unto, and by this means we think we are stronger.

All these oblique Considerations whereby the Soul is swayed towards mens judgments, always divert her from God, make her lose the merit of her Actions, and reduce her una­wares to a shameful poverty, even when she thinks her self rich in good works.

Those therefore who weigh well their salvation, ought to be extreamly careful of these secret corruptions, and the best way to do it, is to consider often of the small account we shall make of all mens judgments, when we shall appear before God.

'Tis by this means that St. Austin opposed the desire of mens praises. That man, said he to God, who desires to be praised by men when you blame him, shall not be defended by them, when you shall judge him, nor be secure from your [Page 128] wrath, when you shall condemn him. Qui laudari vult ab hominibus vituperante te, non defendetur ab hominibus judicante te, nec eripietur damnante te.

'Tis true, as this Holy Doctor saith, that having to do with a just Judge, who will condemn us upon the Testi­mony of our conscience, we need fear nothing but our cause. Inter judicem justum, & conscientiam tuam, noli timere nisi causam tuam. And it is also true, that we have nothing to hope in but our cause, and that all men together will signifie nothing to us. Their dis­allowing will not hurt us, neither will their approbation do us any good. All that will come to nothing before our Eyes. We shall see that we have no need of any thing but God, that our dependance is only on him, and that there is nothing but his judgment which can make us either happy or miserable. This is the State we shall then be in, and that wherein we ought to endea­vour to establish our selves in this life, by the consideration of this dreadful judgment.

What is there that can help us more to disperse the clouds of self love, and to discern, for example, whether [Page 129] the engagements whereunto we feel our selves inclined, and the designs to which we have a propensity are truly useful for our Salvation, than to repre­sent our selves before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ; and to examin whether it be more advantageous for us to ap­pear there in the State we propose, than in another where it is free for us to place our selves, or to continue. For it is indubitable, that what shall be the best then, is so at present, and that what shall be for us at that time a cause of repenting, ought to be re­garded in this life it self as a misery. How many Priests, Bishops, Magistrates, and great Persons of the World, would not be placed in eminent places where­to their ambition hath carried them, if they had performed this Examen exactly.

The Author of the imperfect Com­ment upon St. Matthew, who hath gone for a long time under the name of St. Chrysostom, holds that those who labour under hand for Bishopricks do be­lieve nothing of the judgment of God, that is to say, that he believed that the faith of the judgment cannot sub­sist with the ambitious searching after Ecclesiastical Dignities.

And it is by the same consideration that St. Bernard saith generally, that the knowledge of the last Judgment, Ber. Ser. 3. in Vigil. Nativ. is not of all, nor of many, but of few. Non omnium ista est scientia, sed nec multorum pauco­rum est. Do you think, adds he, those who rejoyce at their crimes, and place their pleasure in their disorders, know or have in their minds that Jesus Christ will come? When they shall say, beware of be­lieving them; because that man who saith he knows God, and keeps not his Command­ments, is a lyar.

Lastly, Jesus Christ teacheth us in the Evangelists, that there is no mo­tive more pressing to stir up vigilance in us, and to excite us to Prayer, and to move us to forsake Worldly things, than the thought of his judgment. For 'tis that which he proposeth to us to incline us to these essential duties of piety: Luc. 21. v. 34. Watch, saith he, and have a care that your hearts be not made heavy with excess of Wine and good Chear, and with the cares of this life, for fear that this day surprise you sud­denly. For this day will be like a snare, whereinto all those will fall who dwell up­on the face of the Earth, when they shall [Page 131] think the least of it. Therefore watch and pray at all times, that you may be able to avoid all these misfortunes.

Seeing then that we must watch and pray continually, to avoid being surpri­sed at this day; we must therefore have it always in our minds. Thus the thought of judgment is the source of vigilance and prayer. And as vigilance and prayer are the source of all favours we receive from God, we may say that this thought is in us the first principle of all our good.

The meditation of judgment ought not only to cause us to watch, but al­so to act. For it is now the time wherein we may do something to ren­der it favourable. 'Tis the conclusion which St. Austin teacheth his People, in one of his Sermons. This Judge who is Justice it self, saith he, is not to be gained by favour. He will not be touched with pity. He will not be corrupted with presents. He will not be mollified by excuses. Let the Soul then do for her self all she can, whilst ther is yet Mercy. For then she will have no more to do or act. Because this will be the time of justice. Let her do pennance here, that the Judge may change his De­cree. Let her give Alms here, to re­ceive. Salvation hereafter, Let her do [Page 132] acts of mercy here, that she may deserve pardon in the time to come. Hîc agat anima poenitentiam, ut illic possit mutare sententiam: Hic det panem ut accipiat postmodum sa­lutem. Hic faciat misericordiam ut ibi in­veniat indulgentiam.

CHAP. VI.
Of Hell. What is related of Hell in Scripture.

IT has not been possible for us to speak of Death and Judgment with­out speaking often of Hell, because what renders Death and Judgment terrible, is that Hell always comes after them, in regard of the Wicked.

Nevertheless it will not be amiss to reduce all these several Treatises into one Draught, and to observe direct­ly this hideous conclusion of all the Wicked, without mingling other Ideas which may disswade us from it.

My design here is not to draw a Picture of it according to fancy, nor to gather together without choice all the evils which the imagination may conceive, to compose this state of So­veraign misery, which is called Hell. [Page 133] I will give no other Idea of it than what the Scripture does. All that I pretend to do, is to unfold it, and to endeavour to make it be conceived such as it is.

Let us see then what the Scripture speaks of it in the several places where­in it threatens the Wicked.

Saint John beginning to Preach of pe­nance, to prepare men to receive the publication of this new Kingdom, which had not yet been published clearly to the Jews, discovers to them at the same time, what is the punishment which attends those who shall not take pains to appease God by worthy fruits of penance.

He hath, said he, Math. 3.12. speak­ing of Jesus Christ, the Fan in his Hand: He will cleanse perfectly his Flour, he will heap up his Corn in the Granary, but he will burn the Straw in a Fire which shall never be put out.

Jesus Christ made the same threat in ch. 13. of the same Gospel. And this Eternal Fire is also denoted, Math 25.41. in that terrible Decree which he will pronounce at the last day, in these words: Go ye accursed into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his [Page 134] Angels. After which it is said, that these shall go into everlasting punish­ment, and the just into life everlasting.

Saint John in the Apochalypse calls Hell, a pond of Fire and Brimstone. ch. 20.10.

These words give yet only an Idea of some horrible pains which the Wick­ed shall feel in their bodies; but there are others which denote the interior pains wherewith at the same time they shall be torn in pieces in their minds. St. Thomas, after the other Fathers, be­lieves that they are expressed by that Worm which never dies, wherewith Christ threatens the Wicked, in these words: Mark 9.46. It were better for you, that having but one Eye you might en­ter into the Kingdom of Heaven, than to have two and be cast headlong into Hell, where the Worm that gnaws them never dies, and where the Fire never goes out.

It is true that St. Austin saith, De Civ. Dei. l. 21. c. 11. That it is not with­out appearance, that it must be under­stood by these words, of true Worms and Serpents which shall live in the Fire like the Damned, and that so it is not a meditation altogether ground­less, to imagin that in this pond of Sul­phur, [Page 135] there will be Serpents which will cause the Wicked to suffer in all the parts of their bodies, griefs and pains proportioned to their Crimes.

But besides that, this Father seems to approve more than we understand by this Worm, the remorse of conscience; if these inward pains are not clearly marked by this word, they are at least very neatly expressed by those which the Book of Wisdom speaks to the Wicked. Sap. 5. The Wicked, at this sight of Glory and happiness of the just, shall be seised with trouble, and horrible fear, they shall be surprised and amazed, seeing the just at once saved in spite of their endeavours.

They shall say within themselves, being touched with regret, and sighing from the bottom of their hearts. These are those whom heretofore we have had in derision, and whom we gave for example as persons worthy of all sorts of reproach.

Fools as we were, their lives seemed to us a folly, and their deaths shameful, and yet behold them raised to the Degree of the Children of God, and their shares are with the Saints.

We therefore have erred from the way of truth, the light of justice hath not shined [Page 136] unto us, and the Sun of understand­ing hath not risen upon us.

We have tired our selves in the ways of iniquity and perdition. We have walked in crooked ways, but the way of our Lord we have not known.

If those are not their words, at least they are the sentiments of their hearts: And by this means we learn that there will be not only Corporal punishments in Hell, but Spiritual ones also; that the Wicked will be in trouble and fear; that they will be tormented by envy and jealousie against the Saints, they will condemn their former wandring, and will be seised with a bitter grief to see themselves de­prived of the Glory and Felicity of the just.

We may add to this, that 'tis yet certain they shall be subject to the Devils, they being called, the Kings of all misbelievers, and the Apostle de­clares that whosoever is conquered by another becomes his Slave. I will sup­pose no other principles than these to shew the inconceiveable greatness of the torments of Hell. I pretend only to explicate them by some considera­tions.

CHAP. VII.
That the Souls shall have in the other life a quite contrary understanding than they have in this.

TO shew the extent of a Souls un­derstanding in the other life, I need only one single proof; 'tis that which furnisheth the general judgment, and that Book of life, by which the dead shall be judged according to their Works. The whole Church believes, with the Holy Fathers, that that Book is nothing but the light by which God shews every Man all his actions, and generally all that's necessary as a foun­dation to the judgment God shall make of him. We must understand, saith St. Austin, by this divine Book, a certain divine force, De Civit. Dei. l. 20. c. 14. by which every mans actions, as well good as bad, shall be called again into his memo­ry; So that the mind shall know them all with an admirable exactness, that the consci­ence shall be convinced thereof by a certain knowledge. And all in particular and ge­neral shall be judged after the same man­ner.

This prospect, by which the Soul shall know all the thoughts which have passed through her mind, all the motions her heart hath formed, all the actions these motions have pro­duced, all the consequences these acti­ons have had, and shall know them with an evidence which will not leave her the least doubt, demands yet a pro­digious extent of knowledge, and which surpasseth infinitely the or­dinary ability of Mens minds. But yet this is but the least part of what God will make him know at this great day.

For he will not cause this great As­sembly of all mankind to judge them simply in the same place, but to the end they may all be witnesses of the judgment he shall give to each of them. He will justifie fully his conduct before them, and convince them all of the justness of all his Counsels as to Crea­tures.

Now for this 'tis necessary, that not only all men, as well the Elect as the Wicked, know one another mutually; but further that they know what each of them hath done, and why he is judg­ed in such a manner. This knowledge [Page 139] is necessary for the just to glorifie God in the chastisement of the Wicked; and for the Wicked that they may be convinced that 'tis but just that God recompence the Elect. This is what is observed by the words of St. Paul, 1. Cor. 4. v. 5. That God will discover what is hidden in the dark, and that he will make manifest the secrets of the heart. For it is not for himself that he will discover them, because nothing can be hid from him; 'twill be for others, to whom he will make appear by his light the most secret thoughts of other Men. Theodoret and Theophilact con­clude the same thing in this other pas­sage of the same Apostle: We must all be made manifest before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ. And the Divines have made it an opinion expressed by Li­ranus in these terms: Judicium apparebit omnibus justum, singulis videntibus bona vel mala aliorum.

But this is not all. For, Saint Au­stin adds, De. Civit. Dei. l. 20. c. 2. That God will not make appear only in this day the equity of the judgment which he shall pronounce upon every Man, but also that of all the particu­lar judgments he hath made in all Ages.

That is to say, we shall then know why this Man hath been rich, that poor; this a slave, that free; this happy, that miserable; why this man lived a long time, this but a short time. Why God sends sometimes prosperities to the just, and Temporal evils to the Wicked; which as St. Austin says, is more in­comprehensible than when he sends evils to good Men in this life, and temporal good to the Wicked; and in a word, we shall know the secret reasons of all that shall happen to each Man, whether good or bad. Now as all the accidents in the World are the effects of Gods secret counsels, it is evident that this knowledge includes all that's arrived since the beginning of the World to the end.

See here what will be the spectacle God will expose to all Mens minds, and by consequence to the Wicked, and which he will make them perceive so clearly, that they shall not have the least doubt.

If they shall have need of some small space of time to run over successively this prodigious multitude of different objects, as St. Thomas believes; we should always suppose that their minds [Page 141] shall have an unconceivable nimble­ness. But it seems that reason inclines to conclude, that they shall see them all in an instant, and by a single sight of the mind.

For the end why God will make them know all their own actions, and those of others, by little and little, will be to convince them of the just­ness of the Decree he shall pronounce against every one. Nevertheless if the sight of these actions were successive, that is to say, if the Soul conceived them but one ofter another, and that she had forborn to conceive one when she conceived another, it would be impossible that she should be able to see at once the proportion the Judges sentence shall have with all these acti­ons: This comparison not being to be made without knowing at the same time, and in the same moment the two terms which we compare.

It is very true, that in this life we cannot be convinced of the equity of a Decree given against Criminals, with­out remembring all the crimes upon which it is grounded: But at least we must have a confused Idea of them. And that which causeth that we have no [Page 142] need of a more distinct one, is be­cause the proportion of the punish­ments ordered by the Judges of this World, is neither precise nor indivisi­ble, and that they order oftentimes the like for very unequal crimes. And so it sufficeth to know confusedly those crimes to judge of the equity of the punishments. Besides that, the judg­ments of Men, being grounded only upon these confused knowledges, never have any obsolute evidence.

It will not be so with the judgment God shall give of the Wicked. For there will be a proportion and a re­lation very particular and precise, as to all the differences of their crimes. There shall be, saith St. Austin, as much di­versity betwixt the punishments, as there shall be betwixt the sins. God will measure the chastisements, saith Origen, according to the quality, the number, and the De­gree of sins. Nothing therein shall be omit­ted. There shall be no difference in the sins, how little soever they be, to which God hath not a regard in the chastisement.

2. This admirable proportion of the punishment of Crimes, wherein the Justice of this judgment consists, shall be clearly known by every one of the [Page 143] Wicked. Now to know it, it seems necessary at the same time they shall comprehend the Decree and perceive the punishments, that they do see at the same instant all that's useful there­unto as a foundation.

The same reason which proves that every one shall know in an instant all things for which he shall be judged, to the end he may be able to know the justice of what God will judge him for, shews likewise that to know the judgments God will give of other Men, every one ought to know all the ground thereof.

But as God will not shew his justice of condemnation to the Wicked, to the end he may convince them for a moment, but that they may never doubt of it, it seems that there is rea­son to conclude, that what they shall know then shall never be blotted out of their memories, and that the specta­cle of the last judgment will be al­ways present to them, without ever being able to forget it.

We may say likewise, that 'tis a neces­sary consequence of the state of the other life, which is firm, invariable, and opposite in that to the state of [Page 144] Travellers, where all is subject to changing. For as the Soul will not change the Will then any more, it ap­pears not that she can change her Knowledge. What she loves she will always love. What she hates, she will always hate. All her passions will be Eternal, and by consequence all the knowledges which her passions shall form will be so likewise.

Also there is not any reason to be­lieve that the sentiments of the Wick­ed, expressed in the Book of Wisdom, can be transitory ones. They say, and always will say in their hearts, what the wise Man made them say. They shall be in a perpetual trouble of envy against the just, in a continual repen­tance of their former life. They will never cease condemning themselves, and consequently they will always be mind­ful of their digressions and their sins. Now if they remember their sins, they will remember all. For why should they forget some, seeing they shall be judged for all, and shall suffer punish­ment for all?

It is evident by the same reason, tha [...] they will be mindful of all the sins o [...] others. For the confusion wherewit [...] [Page 145] God will cover the Wicked, in make­ing their crimes known to all Men by his judgment, shall not be transitory. And therefore David to express that which he feared, and which he hoped to be delivered from, said to God that he should not be confounded for ever. Non confundar in eternum.

Now as this confusion happens in the Wicked from the manifestation of their Crimes to all men, it is clear that this manifestation subsists. For if men came to forget them and to think no more of them, this cause of confusion would be taken away from the Wicked, and consequently their confusion would not be eternal. Thus every one of them conserves the knowledge of other mens crimes, seeing that this knowledge is part of their punishment, which ought to be eternal.

That which makes us change our knowledge in this life, even when our passions subsist, is, that acting depen­dently of the Organs of the body, and the Organs being tired, it is neces­sary that the mind be separated from its object, and that it pass on to others which it knows by different im­pressions. [Page 146] Moreover the Soul, being tied to the body, is constrained to have cer­tain sentiments which hinder the con­tinuity of her actions. We must Eate, Drink, and Sleep, otherwise we fall into sickness. All these interrupt the actions of the minde, and when they are interrupted, other objects take place of those wherewith she was bu­sied. If she comes to be struck again a­new, she does not always look upon it with the same face, nor receive the same impression.

But it is not so with a Soul sepa­rated from the body, or reunited to the body by the Resurrection. She hath none of these dependences. She sees always the objects in the same manner, and by all their faces. She has always the same passions, and in the same Degree. Thus these passions applying always their imagination in the same fashion, it is necessary that she see the same objects, and always in the same Degree of perspicuity.

If that were not, it would follow that the Soul would be unequally miserable at divers times. For doubtless there is amongst those objects some which touch her more than others; for [Page 147] being unequal amongst themselves, we ought not to suppose they will stir up in those Souls sentiments alike violent. So by passing from one object to ano­ther, forgetting one to think of ano­ther, she will be sometimes more, sometimes less miserable. Now as the Wicked are always equally guilty, it seems that 'tis against Gods justice that they should be unequally punished.

Lastly, It is very hard to compre­hend what should stir up an Idea when the Soul shall once have ceased to apply her self to it, and wherefore amongst these Ideas there should be some more durable than others: So that although there be some difficulty to conceive in the Wicked this terrible extent of the mind in so many different objects, there are fewer yet to suppose an actual and invariable application of the minde to all objects which shall torment them, than to imagin that they can apply themselves now to one and now to ano­ther, without seeing any cause of this variety, or that it can be made to accord with their state.

It seems then more reasonable to be­lieve, that the sight which God shall give to each of the Wicked at the [Page 148] day of judgment of all their actions, and of all those of others; of the deformity of the Soul, of the enormity of her of­fences, of the contrariety there will be with the justice of God, of the hap­piness they shall have lost, of the punish­ments they shall be condemned to, and of all other things which he shall make them know at that moment, shall not be a transitory sight, but an eternal one. What is that dreadful cry where­with he threatens the Wicked in Isaiah? c. 42 v. 14. Sicut parturiens loquar. By which he will break silence which he hath kept towards them during their whole lives, by letting them follow their passions, and live in ignorance of the state of their Souls, and the grandeur of their sins; and thus there is this difference betwixt Gods silence, and this cry of God, that this silence ends with this life, whereas this terrible Language shall be eternal, being no­thing then but the constant and perma­nent impression, by which he will make them know for ever what they are, and what they deserve.

CHAP. VIII.
Of the prodigious violence of the motions of the Soul of the Wicked.

IF it be true, as it seems we cannot doubt, that the Souls knowlege se­parated from the body is far more live­ly, clear▪ and extended than that of the Souls which are in the body; we ought not to question but that the pas­sions do increase in the same propor­tion, and incline towards their objects with a violence which surpasses all our thoughts. We should be out of the body to comprehend exactly how much the Body out-weighs the Soul; how much it slackens all her motions, in dark­ening all her Ideas; but we may very well conceive in this life that there will be an extream difference betwixt these two states.

The Soul is only love. That's her Nature and Essence. She cannot be without love. She likewise understands not but to love. But her love is as it were a-sleep in this life, through the obscurity of her knowledge. As she penetrates little good or ill of ob­jects, [Page 150] she is not carried thereunto with all her force. Her stupidity acts in regard of her passions, what Sleep doth in regard of the griefs of the body. She feels them but little, and she has only cold and languishing motions. But when death shall have as it were awa­kened her from this dulness, when her eyes shall be opened, when she shall have lively Ideas of all things, 'tis not to be conceived in what sort her love will increase, and with what impetuosity it will tend towards its object. 'Twill be like an unbent bow, or a weight freed from what kept it in, and which begins to tend towards its center with all its activity and force.

When I speak of her love, I un­derstand all her passions; for love com­prehends them all. So this name in­cludes her desires, her fears, her ha­tred, her despair, her jealousies; all her passions being only diverse forms which love takes according to the se­veral relations it hath with its objects.

Now as the Wicked die void of the love of God, it is evident that their Souls will not be found filled with any other love than that of themselves and of Worldly things, and a general de­sire [Page 151] of Felicity. So that becomming immoveable by death, all these passi­ons will also become immoveable, and will act in them according to the im­petuosity of the nature and state of the Soul. Thus, as they shall know at the same time that they are for ever ex­cluded from this felicity they desire, that they shall never enjoy those Tem­poral things they love, that they shall never have this elevation, this honour, and this excellence they wish for, but that [...]n the contrary they shall be for all eternity in reproach, in dejected­ness, and in the griefs wherein they shall see themselves, it is impossible to con­ceive the excess of despair they shall be in. And all that can be said, is, that the violence of these sentiments will be conformable to the greatness of their loss, and the frightful circumstances which accompany it.

For as they shall know clearly these circumstances, so these circumstances will act upon them, and stir up griefs proportioned to the greatness of the object they shall see, and to the clearness with which they shall see it.

They will know that they have lost by their faults this happiness which they [Page 152] shall see themselves excluded from; that others have not lost it like them; that 'tis Gods justice which has banisht them by an irrevocable Decree, and that they are deprived thereof by the search­ing after vile and perishable Goods. They will see that they love these Goods, and that they cannot chuse but love them. And all these sights, being lively and penetrating, will pro­duce motives of rage, fury, and envy, against the Just, of hatred against God, and themselves, which surpass infinite­ly all that can be conceived, or be said thereof.

This is what may help to compre­hend the Doctrine of St. Austin, where­of we have spoken already in another place, that God being the Soveraign Beatitude, and the Soveraign Glory, does not from himself draw the in­ward chastisements wherewith he punish­eth the Soul, but effects by the mar­vellous Counsel of his Wisdom, that the same things which have served as instruments to men to Offend him, serve him to punish them withall. Conf. 67. Ʋt quae fuerunt delectamenta homini peccanti, sint instrumenta Domino puni­enti.

And for this, there needs no more, but that the Soul know her true state, to abandon her to her passions, and to hinder her from satisfying them. The Soul does the rest, she makes her Hell, and she makes it by her proper passi­ons which become her Executioners, and tear her in an unconceivable man­ner. All the Ideas which we can fan­cy thereof are infinitely short of what it is in effect. Nevertheless we may increase a little, by these following con­siderations, those which are made ordi­narily thereof.

CHAP. IX.
Divers considerations which may help us to consider the greatness of the inward pains of the Damned.

CHAP. X.
Of the pain of Fire.

AS Men have a very great Idea of grief which Fire causes, the ima­gination can scarcely advance any fur­ther; they are inclined to lessen this Idea, by changing the Fire wherewith God threatens the Wicked into a Spi­ritual and Metaphorical Fire, which they think is not near so grievous.

This hath caused the opinion of those who have pretended, as St. Austin re­ports, that Hell Fire shall be no other thing than a trouble for the loss of eternal [Page 166] happiness, wherewith the Wicked shall be afflicted; which they ground, in re­spect of the Devils and Souls separated from the body, upon this argument, that 'tis impossible for a material Fire to act upon Beings absolutely Spiritual, as the Devils are.

But it is easie to shew that this opi­nion is as little solid, according to the light of reason, as it seems contrary to Scripture and Tradition. For how little soever we examin what it is we call grief, we shall find that 'tis altoge­ther as conceivable, that Spirits with­out bodies are as susceptible thereof, as Spirits joyned to bodies.

Some ask how the Fire can act upon the Devils? And I demand how it can act upon living Souls, which are no less Spiritual than Devils and Angels? For 'tis not the body that feels pains. Let the Soul be applyed elsewhere, you may burn the body if you will, it will feel nothing of pain, as it happens in cer­tain extraordinary sicknesses. It is true, that this pain passeth from the Body to the Soul, that is to say, that the mo­tion which is made in the Body, stirs up in the Soul this sentiment which is called grief. But it is not through a [Page 166] necessary consequence of this corporal motion, which has no connection with this sentiment; 'tis by the Decree of Gods Will, who hath establisht that this sentiment should be excited in the Soul, at the same time as this corporal motion should be in the Body. 'Tis impossible to find any other reason for it, and there is no more to be done but to make use of it to shew how the Devils may feel the impressions of a material Fire. For likewise 'tis only to say that God hath ordained they shall have this sense of grief when such and such a motion shall be made in the substance wherein they shall be inclosed.

There is then no necessity, even ac­cording to reason, to conceive another Fire than what we know, nor another grief than what we experience when acting upon the body.

The Devils are as susceptible thereof as Men, and so 'tis not strange at all that the Reprobates and Devils may be threatned with the same Fire by the Decree of their Judge: Ite maledicti in Ignem aeternum qui paratus est Diabolus & Angelis ejus.

By taking therefore this Fire which shall cause the punishment of the Wick­ed for a true and corporal Fire, it seems that we ought not to be much troubled to augment the Idea of grief it may cause, seeing that we conceived it already as something unsupportable, and that the crueltie of the most bar­barous Men were not able to invent greater torments.

Nevertheless the Fathers assure us that this Fire hath infinitely more force and activity than ours, and that the pain this ordinary. Fire causes is nothing in comparison to that Hell Fire causeth. Non erit iste Ignis sicut focus tuus, saith St. Austin. And reason inclines us to conclude it from some circumstances of the state of the other life.

For the grief this Fire causeth, is not a simple action of the Fire upon the Body. It is the application of the Soul to this motion. If she did not ap­ply her self to it at all, she would suf­fer nothing at all, and she feels more of it in proportion as she applies her self more to it. Now 'tis certain, the application of the Soul in this life is al­ways weak because of the Organs of the body whereof she depends, which [Page 168] being weak and delicate will destroy themselves by too violent action. But in the other life the organs of the Body being incorruptible, the Soul will ap­ply her self to the objects which will cause her grief with all the activity of her nature.

The Fire of this life never acts uni­versally upon the whole body; other­wise it would destroy it in a moment, and would hardly cause any grief or pain. It must, to the end we may feel it lively, act only upon some few parts, and render them in a short time insen­sible, by consuming them. But if it did act upon all the parts without destroy­ing the body, it would doubtless be a redoubling of the pain. And it is pro­perly what shall come to pass in Hell. They shall be, saith the Evangelist, abso­lutely penetrated with Fire, as flesh salt­ed is penetrated with Salt. Omnis enim Igne salietur, & omnis victima sale salie­ [...]ur. The Fire will act upon all the parts of their bodies, as it acts upon all the parts of a red hot Iron. There will be neither nerves, fibres, nor tendons, which shall not be moved, and cause a violent pain. And as none of these parts will ever be consumed by the Fire, but [Page 169] will remain always in the same agitati­on, the punishment will always subsist in the same violence.

This pain will be so much greater, as it is properly that which shall be imposed upon them by Gods justice, and where it shall act by it self, all other pains being nothing but con­sequences of their wretchedness and malice, except God act there otherwis [...] than by leaving them to themselves.

I shall make no difficulty to relate here what St. Teresa said of a Vision by which God shewed her something of the punishment of Hell; and I am not afraid to say, that 'twould be a viola­ting of the mind not to be affrighted at it, and to think it but an imagina­tion. We should be assured that 'twas one, to have reason to slight it. Now we are very far from being able to have this assurance in respect of some Visions which she relates. On the con­trary, we may truly say, that there be­ing two things which may be doubted of in these kind of things; First, If the person who relates them be sincere; Se­condly, Whether it is not an illusion of the Imagination; persons of sense who shall examin without prevention [Page 170] the works of this illustrious Saint, will be presently fully convinced of the first, which is her real sincerity; and in re­gard of the other, they will have much ado to persuade themselves, that ima­ginations put Souls in a state and con­dition so Holy and so Divine as that wherein it seems God placed▪ her by these visions, nor that God was willing to joyn so many miraculous effects to Phanatical Illusions.

See then in what sort she tells what God shewed her concerning the pains of Hell. Life of St. Teresa, c. 32.

‘Being one day in Prayer, said she, I found my self in an instant in Hell, without being sensible how I was car­ried thither. I only comprehended that it pleased God I should see the place which the Devils had prepared for me, and my sins deserved. That lasted but a very short while. But al­though I should live yet many years, I do not believe that it would be pos­sible for me to forget it.’

‘The entrance apeared to me like one of those little narrow long Streets which are shut at one end, and such as would be that of an Oven, very low, very close, and very obscure. The bot­tom [Page 171] seemed to me to be as it were ve­ry filthy dirt, of an insupportable stench, and full of a great number of venomous creeping creatures. At the end of this Street was a hollow made in the Wall, in form of a Niech, where­in I saw my self lodged very close. And although all I have now said were yet much more frightful than I represent it, it may pass for pleasing in comparison of what I suffered when I was in this kind of Niech.’

‘This torment was so terrible, that all that can be said cannot represent the least part of it. I felt my Soul burn in so horrible a Fire, that I had much ado to describe it such as it was, see­ing that I could not even conceive it. I have experienced the pains the most unsupportable by relation of Physicians, that can be endured in this life; as well by this contraction of the nerves, as in many other ways, by other evils than the Devils have made me feel; but all those pains are nothing in comparison to what I suffered then, joyn'd with the horror I had to see that those pains were eternal; and even that is yet but little, compared to the pain and ago­ny [Page 172] wherein the Soul finds her self. She thinks she is choaked, strangled; and her affliction and despair go to such an excess, that I should undertake in vain to relate them. 'Tis nothing to say that it seemed she was torn in pieces, because that would be a strange violence which would take a­way her life, whereas 'tis she that tears and cuts her self in pieces. As to that interior Fire and despair which are as it were the heighth of so many horrible torments, I confess I am less able to represent them, I know not what made me endure them; but I felt my self burn and as it were hacked in pieces; which me thought was the most terrible pain of all.’

‘In so frightful a place, there re­mains not the least hopes of recei­ving any consolation, nor is there room enough either to sit or to lie down in. I was there as in a hole made in the Wall, and these hor­rible Walls (against the order of na­ture) squeeze and press what they in­close. All is stifled in that place. There are nothing but thick clouds without any mixture of light, and I do not comprehend how it can hap­pen, [Page 173] that whereas there is no light there, we should see what is most trou­blesome to the sight.’

‘Although it be about six years that what I even now related happened, I am yet so frightned at it in writing it, that methinks my Blood is Frozen with fear in my veins. Thus what evils and pains soever I experience, I can­not remember what I suffered then, but all that can be endured here must seem nothing. It seems to me that we complain without cause. And I consider as one of the greatest favours, that God hath shewn me a thing so terrible as that which I have related, when I consider how much it hath profited me, as well to hinder me from apprehending the afflictions of this life, as to oblige me to suffer with patience, and to give God thanks, for that I have cause to be­lieve that he will deliver me from these terrible and dreadful pains, whose continuation will be eternal.’

Doubtless God shewed to this Saint only the Image of a part of Hell, and so much as was requisite for the good of her Soul. So we have reason to conclude that Hell in all reallity is [Page 174] quite another thing than this Image she hath drawn thereof.

CHAP. XI.
Consequences that ought to be drawn from the considerations of these pains.

I Do not pretend to shew at large here all the consequences which reason may draw from this frightful state which we have newly represented, and wherewith all Men are threatned; for there is hardly any thing in morality which does not follow it. I pretend only to shew some of the most gross and most sensible of them, and princi­pally those which the Fathers them­selves have drawn from thence.

The first of these thoughts which ought to be given us, is, that 'tis not only Faith and Religion that condemns the con­duct of those who believing that there is a Hell to be feared, do not make it their principal care to avoid it; but that it ought to appear intirely unrea­sonable according to the ordinary un­derstanding of common sense.

Truly there is something in the va­nity of human mind which may incline [...]o approve and esteem a Man who see­ing himself condemned, and no hopes of avoiding it, nor any consideration of the other life, should employ three or four hours which he shall have at the time of execution, in playing and diverting himself. And this is that which makes us not troubled at the praises Seneca gives to a Roman named Canius, who expecting that Caligula's Ministers should come to execute the Decree of death which he had given against him, was busied about playing at Chess.

But if on the one side the punish­ment of this Man was horrible, and if on the other he might avoid it by employ­ing three or four hours in doing juster and lawful actions, is there any Man would not count him a fool and an extrava­gant fellow, if the love of a ridiculous pastime should hinder him from embra­cing so lawful means to avoid so shame­ful and cruel a death?

However this resolution which we never take in regard of Temporal death, is taken daily in regard of Eternal. We expose our selves thereto, we [Page 176] throw our selves headlong therein­to, for pleasures, interests, for hon­nors, which have not so much pro­portion to this dreadful misery where▪ to we engage our selves, as three hours of play have to a cruel death. Also St. Austin having represented in one of his Sermons the excess of this disorder of Mans mind, concludes expressly, that Faith must be blotted out of them.

Hell Fire, saith this holy Doctor, shall not be lîke to that which you may feel here below. And yet if you be threatned to have your hand burnt, you will use all your endeavours, how bad soever, to avoid it. God to oblige you to do well, tbreatens you Eternal mischief, if you do not, and yet you do not do it. The threats of some evil, what ever it may be, should not be able to engage you to do ill, no more then hinder you from doing well: And God himself does not threaten you with any thing less than Eternal Fire, if you do ill, and do not do good. From whence then comes it that you make so little account of these threats? 'Tis doubt­less because you have not faith.

Indeed we must believe nothing at all of that Faith which makes impressi­on upon the heart: But it may be done [Page 177] yet, and it happens even very often, that we do not cease to believe it by another perswasion which is only in the mind. Thus we believe it and we do not believe it. The heart causes in the minde false judgments conformable to its inclinations. It makes it prefer the present before that that's to come, and to look upon the goods and evils of this life as some thing more real than all that can be said of the goods of the other, and reason suffers not at the same time to conclude the contrary, but after so cold and speculative a man­ner, that it is not capable to with-hold the inclinations of the heart.

Nevertheless, when we are careful to fortifie our Reason in applying it more to these objects, the fear we have of it becomes capable thereby to retain at least the hand, if it does not cure the heart, and so cut off the outward effects of the passions, if it do not stop the inward motions; and in sepa­rating us thus from the objects which encrease concupisence, it prepares the place for charity.

'Tis by means of this fear, a [...]imated by the hopes of recompences w [...]i [...]h God promises to the just, that we are [Page 178] capable of disdaining all the promises of Men. Tremble, saith St. Austin, at he evils wherewith the Almighty threatens you. Love what he promiseth you, and you will not value Mens promises nor threats. (In Epist. Joan. tr. 3.) Exhorresse quod minatur Omnipotens. Ama quod promittit Omnipotens, & vilescit omnes Mundus sive promittens sive terrens.

For all this we ought to labour stron­ly to establish our selves in this prin­ciple, whereof reason cannot doubt, provided that it give attention to it, that the evils of the other life being so horrible and so far surpassing the greatness of all the goods and evils of this present life, they ought to serve us as a rule and measure to judge of these here, and that this we ought not at all to be­hold under the Idea of good, but un­der the Idea of a great evil, all that leads to Hell.

'Tis then by this means we must judge of the difference of the states and con­ditions of this World. All t [...]ose where­in it is difficult to save our selves, ought to appear misfortunate to us, and we ought on the contrary to look upon as advantageous all those which are fa­vourable to salvation.

It is by this we ought to rule our joy and sadness, in all successes and in all accidents that happen to us. For to know whether we have reason to re­joyce or to be afrighted thereat, we need only ask our selves whether they render salvation easy or difficult to us.

These are common truths. But 'tis not a common thing to have them livelily imprinted in the mind, to conform our judgments and actions thereunto; to look upon all Worldly things by a light which we draw from thence.

'Tis also a very common thought to say as St. Austin did, that we ought to make use of the consideration of Hell to despise and set at nought all the ev [...]s of the Body. Tem. 9. de verbis Excid. c. 4. Ʋnusquisque Christianus quando ali­quam afflictionem Corporis patitur, Gehen­nam cogitet, & videat quam leve est quod patitur. But 'tis not very common to re­duce it into practice.

What St. Austin saith in another place upon this Subject, gives us reason to add, that as Hell ought to make us despise all the evils of this life, so the evils of this life ought to make us re­member Hell, and to make use of it [Page 180] as a continual advertisement to think seriously how to avoid it. For this ho­ly Doctor doth teach us in one of his Sermons, that light chastisements in this life only tend to put us in mind of amending, to the end that God may have reason to punish us in his rigor; that this Sovereign Judge may make us know thereby that he will come presently, and that this conduct is an effect of the design he hath, that we may not be abso­lutely lost. If he had a design, saith he, to condemn us, he would be silent. Never any one, having a design to strike another, cries out unto him, Have a [...]are.

Thus as it is evident that the Earth is [...]ll of Gods chastisements, and that there is none who sometimes does not experience them, it follows, that God makes this terrible but wholsom voice Eccho over all the Earth, That Hell is at hand, and the Judge comes. Mortals, saith he to them thereby, have a care of your selves, and banish from your hearts all that may condemn you to the Eternal Fire Behold what these Scour­ges God sends over the Earth, these Wars, these Plagues, these Famines, these Calamities both publick and parti­cular, signify. They are like Sparks [Page 181] which exalt themselves from Hell Fire, which is the treasury of Gods wrath. But 'tis by counsel of mercy he permits them to go out, that he may give us notice by that means to shun these ter­rible Fires wherein he will cast the Wicked headlong in the other life.

Even when these prospects of Hell shall not be necessary to make us fly sin, and that we shall arrive to that Degree where Charity banisheth all fear, which is very rare in this World, and where it is very dangerous to imagin to arrive when God has not as yet raised us thereunto; they would nevertheless be useful and necessary for us, as well to entertain in us the sentiments of of acknowledging that we ought to have them, as to excite thereby a compassion we ought to have for Souls who preci­pitate themselves into this Abyss of evils. And it is but reading what St. Teresa said upon this Subject with that inimi­table eloquence which sprung from the zeal of her Charity, to judge what this consideration should produce in us if we had as much Charity as she.

‘How, saith she, Meditat 11. upon the Command. can I be able to express what my grief is, when I represent to [Page 182] my self the state of a Soul, who ha­ving seen her sef in the World always considerable, always loved, always o­beyed, always caressed, always re­spected, at the very moment she leaves this life, shall see she is lost for ever, and shall clearly comprehend that her misery shall never have end; that it will assist her nothing at all to divert her mind with the truths of Faith, as she was accustomed to do; she shall see her self seperated and as it were forced from her recreations and plea­sures, even when she shall think she hath not as yet begun to taste them, because in effect all that's acted in this life is nothing but a blast and a vapor; she shall see herself environ'd with this so hideous and cruel com­pany with which she must suffer Eter­nally; she shall see her self plunged in­to a stinking Lake full of Serpents which shall exerecise upon her all their rage and fury; and lastly, she shall find her self as it were swallowed up in this horrible obscurity, which ha­ving nothing but a darksom flame as a light, shall not permit her to see any thing but what may maintain for ever her pains and torments.’

‘O how inconsiderable is what I say to what it is! O Lord! and who then hath cast in this manner dirt into the Eyes of the Soul, that she hath not percieved this dismal state until she should see her self reduced there­unto for ever? Who hath stopped their Ears in such a manner, that they cannot hear what has been told them a thousand and a thousand times of the greatness and the eternity of these torments? O life, eternally miserable! O punishments without end! Is it pos­sible that those do not fear you at all, who fear the least inconvenien­cies of the body, that they cannot suffer with patience one nights lodg­ing in a hard bed?’

‘O Lord! how I regret the time where­in I have not comprehended these truths! But, O God, seeing thou know­est the displeasure I suffer in seeing the great number of those who will not understand them, make at least, I conjure thee, that thy light may il­luminate some Soul which may be capable to inlighten many others. I do not ask thee, O my God, to do it for the love of me being unwor­thy thereof: But I beg it through [Page 184] the merits of thy Son. Cast thy Eyes, O my God, upon his wounds. And when he hath pardoned them, par­don us also the sins we have commit­ted against thee.’

Thus as it appears by the example of this Saint, the fear of Hell is not only the introduction of Charity, when it is not as yet mistress of the heart; it is not only the guardian thereof, when it is yet very feeble and im­perfect; it is also the nourishment thereof, when it is purest and most perfect, with this sole difference, that in the two first states it looks up [...]n us more than others, and in the third upon others more then us.

CHAP. I.
That it is profitable to treat of Heaven having treated of Hell. How much the knowledge of these two great Objects is linked to that of Mans nature.

AFter the fear of torments, nothing makes more impression upon Mens minds than the hopes of recompence, which has given occasion to those who made Laws, to joyn ordinarily these two mo­tives [Page 186] together, to keep Men in their duty.

God follows almost the same order in the operations of his grace. For ha­ving shaken the heart by the fear of tor­ments wherewith he threatens the Wick­ed, he draws it to him self by the hopes of the glory he promiseth to the just.

To follow then the same Dgrees, reason commands, that having proposed the fittest Objects to fill the Soul with terror, which are Death, Judgment, and Hell; we propose to them those which are the properest to attract their desires, which are the ineffable and eter­nal goods God hath reserved for his Chosen.

It is much more necessary to joyn these Objects together, by how much we know not how in any sort to con­ceive them well separately. For the principal part of the Misery of the Wicked consists in the loss of the Hap­piness of the Just; and the deliverance from the miserable state of the Wicked, causeth a considerable part of the Felici­ty of the happy Souls.

Not only the knowledge of each of these two Ends is inseparable from that of the other; but they are both so strict­ly tied by the Nature of Man, that we [Page 187] cannot know them well without know­ing Man, nor know Man well without the knowledge of them.

Truly if we examine the Source of all the vain Fancies of Philosophers touch­ing Sovereign Happiness and Misery, we shall find these Fancies have had no other rise than the ignorance they were in con­cerning the Nature of Man. For it be­ing imagin'd that the Soul was not ca­pable of other Actions than those they observed in her in this Life; as those Actions are all weak and languishing, they were of opinion that she could not be fully satisfied with a fading Happi­ness, such a one as that which we have in this World; and that she hath no other Evils to fear but those she may feel here.

But had they well apprehended, that this Soul which is at present in this lan­guishing state of Darkness and Obscu­rity, must be by Death placed in ano­ther state, where her Knowledge will be infinitely larger and clearer, and her De­sires more impetuous and violent; they would have changed all their Idea's, and by following this Light they would have come very near the knowledge of Heaven and Hell.

For by this 'tis clear, that the Soul coming to be separated from the Body, and placed in a state of Liberty, will begin to tend towards the Objects of her Love with quite another vehemency than that wherewith she is carried at present; and thus casting her self to­wards these Objects with this violence, either she will enjoy them, and conse­quently she will have a Joy so much greater as her Love shall be violent; or she will not enjoy them, and then she will be melancholy proportioned to the vehemency of her Love; seeing that Sadness is only the Sentiment of being deprived of the Object we love.

This concludes already, That the Soul must necessarily be at the hour of her Death in a State of extreme Joy or Sad­ness; and that by her Nature she is un­capable of indifferent Sentiments.

But we shall urge these Consequences further, if we add thereto two Princi­ples which Reason and Faith render evi­dent. The first is, That 'tis impossible God's Justice can grant to the Soul in the other Life, which is fixt and immovable, the Enjoyment of her Desires which shall be disorderly and criminal. The second is, That not being made to enjoy the [Page 189] Creatures, all desire she shall have to enjoy them is wicked and disorderly.

From whence it follows, That all the Souls who go out of this World, and shall have no love but for Creatures, shall be deprived thereof for ever; be­cause God cannot permit that this De­sire, being bad, may be satisfied with the enjoyment of their Objects; and conse­quently, they shall fall into a terrible Sadness: And that, on the contrary, all those who shall love God, who is the only legitimate Object of their Love, shall be united to him, and enjoy him, because if they should not enjoy him, they would be miserable; and as it is unjust that they be joyful in loving what they ought not to love, it would be unjust that they should be sad in loving what they ought to love.

See here in what manner the know­ledge of Mans Nature conducts us to conceive Hell and Heaven. And it may be said also, That the knowledge of Hea­ven and Hell makes us know what Man's Nature is: For, the necessity there is of partaking of the one or the other of these two Ends, is an evident proof of its Greatness; for it shews that God de­signs it nothing of mediocrity; it must [Page 190] be either very happy or very miserable, there is no medium for it: It is born to be heaped with all sorts of Good, with­out any mixture of Evil; or overwhelm­ed with all sorts of Evil, without the least tincture of Good: and thus it is not made for the World, because all there is a mixture of Good and Evil; and the Good or Evil which may be had there, is not very great.

This Life through which we ought to pass, is not given it but to make choice of the one or the other of these two states; and this choice is the only em­ployment and the only exercise of this present Life: For 'tis not done by one single Action; they contribute all there­unto, and serve all to advance it towards the one or the other.

There is only this difference, upon this Point, betwixt Hell and Heaven; That to fall into Hell, it sufficeth to take the way that leads thereunto, without any need of desiring it; but to arrive at Fe­licity and Happiness, we must have a sincere desire for it. So, as we cannot desire it without knowing it, our first care ought to be to labour to acquire this Knowledge: And it is what this Book is intended for.

CHAP. II.
That 'tis a strange thing that true beatitude is so little desired by Men. Heresie of the mind, Heresie of the heart upon this Subject.

ALthough there is nothing so diffe­rent as Heaven and Hell, and me­thinks that if the horror which caus­eth the consideration of the first of these Objects, hinders Men from thinking thereof, the fulness of all the good which is discovered in the other should withhold and stop their thoughts there; it is nevertheless true, that Men scarce­ly think more of Heavn than Hell, that they are as little concerned for it, and that they live very near in a equal obli­vion of the one and the other.

This ought to appear presently more strange than the first, (Aug. De. Trinit. l. 13. c. 4.) The most stirring, and the most essential desire Man hath is that of being happy. This desire is imprinted in the bottom of Nature, and disperseth it self into all its actions. Man aims on­ly at this end, he acts nothing but for that purpose, nothing can please him but through this consideration. Man hath [Page 190] never been without this desire, there hath been none, there could have been none, saith St. Austin in Ps. 128. m. 1. and in Ps. 32. without it. It is not necessary to excite it in them. Finally, though this in­clination be the source of all the divi­sions of Mankind, by the bad use they make thereof, there is nothing in which which they can be more uniform than in this inclination.

Saint Austin adds in another place That this desire of Beatitude is so ingraven in the heart of all Mankind, that although sin and misery be inse­parable, they are not inclined neverthe­less to sin, but that they may avoid being miserable. Cum sit malitiae indivi­dua comes miseria, isti perverti non solum mali esse volunt, & miseri nolunt, quod fieri non potest; sed ideo mali esse volunt ne miseri fiunt.

Nevertheless it is true, that this er­ring is more easie to be comprehended in those who being ignorant of the lights of faith apply this general desire of be­ing happy through error, to some ob­jects which render them effectively mi­serable.

But what is more surprising, is, that those on whom God has bestowed the [Page 193] incomparable favour of declaring to them this great and happy news of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the incon­ceiveable happiness he has promised to those who shall be partakers thereof, which he had kept hid the space of four thousand years from all the World, are nevertheless so little touched there­with, that this great object is that where­on they think the least, and which makes the least impressions upon them.

For does it not seem, that this violent inclination which they have of being happy, should unite all their passions and all their desires towards this ineffable happiness God discovers to them? They seek it with disquiet and trouble; they have experienced, a thousand ways, that they can find on Earth nothing but false happiness: we shew them a true and solid one; they grant they believe it. From whence comes it then that they do not make it the most agreeable and the most continual occupation of their minds? 'Tis doubtless whereunto rea­son inclines them; but they have in them a principle stronger than reason, which hinder them, which is the cor­ruption of the heart.

For it is to be observed, that there [...] upon this Subject two kind of Heresie [...] the one may be called the Heresies [...] the mind, because the mind approv [...] them, consents thereunto, and ma [...] tains them with all its light: The othe [...] may be called the Heresies of the hea [...] because they spring from the passio [...] which force the mind to frame Ide [...] and judgments which are conform ther [...] ­to, although there be at the same tim [...] in this mind contrary lights which bel [...] these false judgments.

The divers judgments of Philosophers touching beatitude, are of th [...] nature of those which we have nam [...] Heresies of the mind. This matte [...] hath appeared to them very fit t [...] exercise their subtlety and eloquence [...] They have divided themselves upo [...] this point into divers Sects. Some have placed happiness, I mean beatitude, in the body; some in the mind; others i [...] both. Varron joyning some circum­stances thereunto, makes the number o [...] their opinions amount to 288. and St. Austin reduceth them to twelve, b [...] cutting off the unnecessary difference [...]

Christian Religion hath had no tro [...] ble to destroy these Imaginations o [...] [Page 195] Philosophers, whereof the most part served rather as Subjects to their Di­scourses and Disputes, than as an End to their Desires, or Rule to their Acti­ons.

But it hath not rooted out with the same facility the Heresies of the second kind, which we have named the Here­sies of the Heart. Christian Religion hath found one of this nature upon the Subject of the Beatitude, diffused into all Men, which makes them establish the Sovereign Good in this Life, in the En­joyment of sensual Pleasures, of curious Objects, of Honours, of the Glory and Power of the World, and of all that leads thereunto.

This Heresie is nothing but the trip­ple Concupiscence to which St. John doth reduce all Mens Passions and Actions, when he says, cap. 1. ver. 16. All that is in the world is concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, and pride of life.

So this is the general Heresie of Man­kind, which first corrupts the Hearts of Men, and after that their Minds.

We need only seek in this universal Heresie the cause of this coldness and this insensibility, which is observed in most Men in respect of true Beatitude. [Page 196] Christian Religion finds it established and domineering in their Hearts; and although it banish it by its Light of the Mind from some, and that it cure like­wise their Heart from what is mortal and criminal; yet it destroys it not en­tirely: so that there remains always some root at the bottom of the Soul, un­til Death, which always produceth therein some gust for the Goods of the Earth, and some disgust for those of Heaven.

Those Goods which Religion propo­seth to us are not present Goods, and Concupiscence de [...]es present Goods: It must expect them; and Concupiscence being hasty and violent, will not expect: We do not see them by the Senses; and Concupiscence is concerned at nothing but what toucheth the Senses: We can­not have Honour in the World; and 'tis this Honour of the World Concu­piscence covets: Lastly, To arrive there­unto, we must be separated from those sensual Objects, and renounce Honours; which is what Concupiscence cannot suf­fer.

Concupiscence opposes the seeking and the Meditation of the Goods of the other Life, as it were the annihilating [Page 197] its own. It spreads disgust upon all the Actions by which the Soul would incline thereto. It draws it low, when it should raise it self aloft, and by an horrible subversion represents this Source of all the true Good, and true Joy, under black, sad, and melancholy Idea's.

Those whose Hearts it possesseth, un­derstand not likewise what is said there­of; the Fever of Iniquity has made them lose this Taste. What will you have me to do to you, saith St. Austin to them, in Psal. 30. seeing that you cannot taste the true Goods, I am not able to make you com­prehend them. Give me a Heart which may love them, and understand what I say. Give me a Heart to desire them, which may hunger after them; who sees it self in the Desart of this World, as out of its Country; who sighs with an ardent desire after this Fountain of our eternal Country: Give me, say I, a Man in this disposition, and he understands what I say; but if I speak to a cold and insensible Heart, it cannot tell what I say. Se frigido loquor nescit quod loquor.

'Tis Concupiscence which spreads this cold and distaste over the Heart; and as it is more strong and lively in some than in others, it disperses it un­equally, [Page 198] and in different degrees. It makes some entirely bent against Di­scourses and Thoughts of the other Life▪ It makes others tire themselves present­ly with it. It hinders others from ap­plying themselves thereunto, furnishing them with other Objects.

Behold its Propensity and Inclination, and we need but sound a little our own Hearts, to acknowledge them in some degree in our selves: But it is good at first to consult the Lights of Reason, to learn in what manner we ought to consi­der this Malady, which with reason we have called the Natural and Universal Heresie of depraved Man, even then principally when it is so strong, that it stifles entirely in us the desire of Heaven­ly Goods.

CHAP. III.
That 'tis a Criminal Condition not to desire the Beatitude of the other Life.

WE consider very ordinarily the Beatitude which Faith promi­seth to the Just, as a Good which should be the principal Object of all Mens de­sires; [Page 199] and we condemn, as an unanswe­rable Stupidity, the pronity they have to worldly things, which hinders them from thinking thereof. But we scarce­ly regard this desire of a happy Life as a disposition both essential and necessary to arrive thereat: nor the being depri­ved of this Desire, by an Inclination to this present Life, as a state of Sin which renders us Criminals. Few Persons ex­amine themselves upon this Point, and we hardly see any who reviewing their former Lives, consider it as a great dis­order, to have spent part thereof with­out desiring the other, and hating this.

Nevertheless, as there are some Acti­ons which of themselves are mortal, and exclude those who commit them out of the Kingdom of Heaven; there are also states and dispositions which of themselves are incompatible with this Kingdom.

Now betwixt these Dispositions, the Fathers have placed this, of finding themselves well in this World; of con­tenting themselves with the Goods they enjoy therein, and of not desiring the happy Life which Jesus Christ promiseth them in the other Life.

'Tis St. Austin who did it expresly: 'Tis, saith he, after the heavenly Jeru­salem we sigh, in considering our selves as it were Strangers and Captives under the foot and bondage of a mortal Body. 'Tis after this same Object we shall sigh in our Pilgrimage, by forbearing to rejoyce in our Native Country. But he who laments not as a Stranger on Earth, shall not rejoyce as a Citizen in Jerusalem, because the de­sire of a happy Life is not in him. Qui non gemit ut peregrinus, non gaudebit civis, quia desiderium non est in illo. St. Aug. in Psal. 148.

This holy Doctor saith the same thing in another place, in a more short man­ner, in explicating these Words of the Apostle, Infoelix ego homo. Let that man, saith he, in Psal. 146. hope for felicity who acknowledged himself miserable in this World: Ille speret foelicitatem qui confite­tur infoelicitatem. That is to say, That he who doth not acknowledge himself miserable, ought not to hope for Felici­ty. And therefore he decides neatly elsewhere, That whosoever is happy in this World, or rather whosoever be­lieves himself happy, and lets himself be transported by the sensual Pleasures he enjoys, by the temporal Goods he possesseth, [Page 201] and by the felicity wherewith he is enviro­ [...]d, hath the voice of Ravens and not of Doves; because Ravens make a great noise with their Cries, whereas the Doves do no­thing but sigh and lament: Habet vocem Corvi, vox Corvi clamosa est, non gemebanda. St. Aug. in Joan. tr. 6.

'Tis by the same Principle he hath al­ways considered the Love of this pre­sent Life, by which we would almost al­ways remain as it were opposite to the Love of God. That Man, saith he, in Psal. 85. to whom his Pilgrimage is sweet, loves not his Country. And if our Coun­try be sweet to us, it must necessarily be that our Pilgrimage is hard and trouble­som.

But is the Love of God compatible with this deprivation from the desire of the other Life? No, saith St. Austin, in the place before cited: And it is by this means he would have us try whether we belong to God, or no. Do not consult the Flesh, saith he, consult the Spirit; inter­rogate thy Heart, and hearken what it an­swers. Give ear to Faith, Hope, Charity, which have begun to be in thee. If thou hadst received assurance of being always filled with temporal Goods, and that God should say, Behold thy share, but thou shalt [Page 202] not see my Face; wouldst thou rejoyce at those Goods? Is there any one would be glad of this Share, and would say in his heart, Behold me in an abundance of temporal Goods, I esteem my self happy, I desire no­thing at all more? That Man who should say so, hath not yet begun to love God, nor to sigh and lament as a Stranger on the Earth. Nondum coepit esse amator. Dei, nondum coepit suspirare tanquam peregri­nus.

If he who loves not God, is yet under the Anathema pronounced by St. Paul, 2 Cor. 16.11. Qui nos amat Dominum Je­sum Christum, sit Anathema: If he be not separated from the Children of the De­vil, nor received into the number of those of God, seeing that according to St. Austin, in Epist. Joan. tr. 15. there is only the Love of God which distinguisheth betwixt the Children of God and the Chil­dren of the Devil: Sola dilectis discer [...]t inter filios Dei & inter filios Diaboli: If he hath not received the Spirit of Adop­tion, which makes us Heirs; Si filii & haeredes, Rom. 8.17. And lastly, If he is in death, as St. John saith, 1 Joan. 3.14. Qui non diligit manet in morte: Who can doubt that this deprivation from the desire of heavenly Beatitude, incuding [Page 203] that of the Love of God, is not a Cri­minal Disposition?

Not to sigh as a Stranger, nor to love God, are two inseparable things, accord­ing to St. Austin: Nondum coepit esse ama­tor Dei; nondum coepit suspirare tanquam peregrinus.

He who loves not God, does not sigh after Life everlasting; he who sighs not after Life everlasting, does not love God. Now he who loves not God, be­longs not to the New Law, nor can he have a part in the Recompences thereof.

The first Effect of God's Spirit in us being to make us pray, his first Effect is to make us lament and figh▪ For the Prayers of the Holy Ghost are Sighs and Lamentations. He prays for us, saith St. Paul, by Sighs which cannot be rela­ted: Postulat pro nobis gemittibus inenar­rabilibus. Now to sigh, we must find our selves ill where we are, and desire another State: So he who does not sigh and lament, prays not; and he who prays not, obtains nothing from God.

Prayer is therefore a Proof that the state we speak of is a state of Sin; and whoever finds himself in this condition when he is a dying, cannot expect the Kingdom of Heaven. For Prayer is a [Page 204] necessary Means to obtain this Kingdom, in respect of those who have the use of Reason. 'Tis likewise a Duty to beg it, seeing it is one of the Demands of the Pater noster. Now whoever does not desire it, does not ask it: For Prayer consists not in Speech, it consists in the Desire, and it is likewise nothing else but a holy Desire, according to St. Au­stin. He that desires always, prays al­ways; and he who desires not, never prays.

Thus those who have no desire of the Life of Heaven, which is the Kingdom of God, not demanding this Kingdom, it is not strange they do not obtain it, being they do not vouchsafe to ask it.

Christian Hope being also absolutely necessary for Salvation, furnisheth yet another Proof of this Truth. For Hope includes the desire of what we hope for; seeing that as Desire is only a Love which enclines towards an absent Ob­ject, so likewise Hope is only a desire of this absent Object; which is looked up­on as a thing which may be acquired. If to destroy Hope, be to take away the thought of obtaining what we desire, 'tis yet to destroy it more, to take away the Love and the Desire. It is then clear, [Page 205] that he who is content with this present Life, and who does not desire the Feli­city of the other, hath not Christian Hope, and that thus he is not less out of a state of arriving at Salvation, than if he had no Faith.

In fine, This Doctrine is nothing else than what all Divines teach after St. Au­stin, That 'tis a mortal Sin to establish his last End in any Creature whatsoever. For it is very visible, that he who does not desire a happy Life, which consists in the possession of God, doth not esta­blish his End therein; seeing it is by Love and by Desire that we establish it there, and not by an Action of the Un­derstanding. It is necessary then that we establish it in the Enjoyment of some Creatures; we must love them as our last End, and as the Object of all our Desires. Now there is no question but this Disposition is criminal, and that it renders even the Affections criminal, which otherwise were not so. There­fore St. Thomas examining how these ve­nial Sins can become mortal, decides expresly, That the venial Affections or Inclinations for Creatures become mor­tal as soon as we establish our End and our Sovereign Happiness therein: and [Page 206] it is clear that we establish it therein, when we desire nothing more; it being impossible, that Man can be without some principal End whereto he relates his Actions and himself.

CHAP. IV.
That most part of Christians are in this Disposition.

ALL the Principles whereof this Doctrine is a necessary Conse­quence, being acknowledged by all the World, there will be found doubtless very few who will dispute it: But I can­not tell whether there will be many who can perceive how many there are to whom it gives leave to mistrust their state and condition; and fear or judge even with reason, that they are in this Disposition incompatible with Salvation, as we have just now represented.

I speak not of those who are enga­ged in manifest Crimes; for those, in leaning to the Actions to which God hath fastned the exclusion of his King­dom, do clearly make appear, that they prefer the Pleasures they take [Page 207] therein, before the possession of this same Kingdom which they banish; and even their crimes consist in this pre­ferring creatures before the possessing of God. I speak of those who in ap­pearance lead a more orderly life, and to whom no actions visibly Criminal can be imputed, and I say there are many who have great reason to believe that they have not in their hearts this desire of a happy life, without which they cannot arrive at Heaven.

For example, Can we believe, that those who hardly so much as ever think thereof; that harken only with distaste to what men say of it; that have their minds busied with nothing but the thoughts of fortune, and being fixed in this World, can have a hearty desire for the other life, a dislike for this?

Can it be imagined that those whose lives are only a chain and a circle of di­vertisement, and whose great business is to make their pleasures succeed one another, without any interuption save that whe [...] is necessary to refresh and re­create them, can pass their lives in this lamenting and sighing condition, with­out which, according to St. Austin, there is no pretending to the joy of the Citizens of Jerusalem?

It is true, that trouble and disgust do not forbear to find them in the midst of their pleasurs; but this disgust comes from the desire of the Goods of another nature. 'Tis a disgust which springs from the greatness of their cupidity, and not from their weakness. It hap­pens because they are not yet content with the pleasures they enjoy, and be­cause they would have still greater. 'Tis a disgust which comes from the arden­cy with which they covet earthly goods, and not from the desire nor the Idea of Heavenly goods, on which they do never think at all.

This sighing whereof we speak, is not a dislike of certain pleasures: 'Tis a dislike of all pleasures. It does not include a disdain for certain honours and certain grandeurs of this World, but a disdain for all Worldly honours and grandeurs. 'Tis a dislike which makes us believe our selves miserable, being separated from God, being out of our Country, being subject to sin, being every moment in danger of lo­sing the happiness whereunto we aspire. What is it that afflicts the heart, saith St. Austin? 'Tis for that it is not with Jesus Christ, for that it is out of tis Country.

'Tis this made that holy Doctor say, That this present life is a continual afflicti­on for vertuous Men. If you behold your self therein, saith he, as a stranger, either you scarcely love your Country, or you must be afflicted there. For who would not be troubled that he is not with him he desires? From whence comes it that you do not re­sent this affliction? 'Tis for want of love; love the other life, and you will soon find bitterness in this, with what prosperity so­ever it may flatter you, or what delights soever it may be replenished with. Ama alteram vitam, & videbis quia ista vita tribulatio est, quacunque prosperitate ful­geat, quibuscunque deliciis abundet atque circumfloreat. Aug. in Ps. 131.

It is very true, that this affliction and this sighing does not exclude all sort of affection for Worldly things; but it in­cludes nevertheless such a preference of Eternal life before Temporal, how happy soever we may think it, that we account as the greatest of miseries, the enjoyment of all earthly things, and the being eternally deprived of the sight of God.

But perchance we shall find this sighing and this desire more easily in poor folk then in rich; amongst the miseries and [Page 210] the labours of this life, than amongst plea­sures and divertisements: we should have doubtless cause to believe it, if it were sufficient to find sighs and tears; for we find them in great abundance in the World, as we do miseries. But for all that, it is not enough to sigh and weep. We must sigh and weep, not because we are deprived of Earthly pleasures, but for being deprived of Heavenly pleasures. Covetousness hath its tears as well as Charity. And there are many, saith St. Austin, in Ps. 136. who shed Babylonian tears, because they know only Babylonian joys. Multis fle [...] fletu Babylonia quia gaudent gaudiis Ba­bylonis.

Many may be found, saith this same St. in Tr. 6. in Joan. in Ps. 48. who sigh under the weight of the afflictions of the Earth, or because they have lost their Goods, or are forced to prison and chains, or cast down with sickness, or forced to submit to the artifices of their Enemies: But they do not sigh like Doves, because it is not the love of God, nor the Holy Ghost which makes them to sigh. Therefore you see that when these persons are delivered from these afflictions, they cast forth great cries, and make appear by their tran­sports [Page 211] they were Ravens and not Doves.

God does not distinguish the poor and the rich by the outward Goods: he distinguisheth them by their desires. 'Tis by their heart, saith St. Austin, he examins them, not by their Chests and Houses, in Ps. 51. Divites & pauperes in corde interrogat Deus, non in Arca & Domo. What doth it avail you, saith he again, for that you are void of earthly goods, if you burn with a desire to have them? Quid tibi prodest quod eges facul­tate, si ardes cupiditate? He makes the same distinction of sighs and tears, and he placeth in the rank of those who have their consolation upon earth, those who weep and sigh that they have it not; those who thirst not after justice, but after Wordly goods, and who hate this life only because it is not permitted them to enjoy it as they would.

And 'tis this which gives leave to conclude, that this sighing is not less rare amongst the poor and miserable, than amongst the rich and happy; be­cause if we see more miseries there, we see not less concupisence; they think no more of the other life, and they are not less filled with the desire of the goods of this.

If we will know whether there be many who desire sincerely life everlast­ing, 'tis but examining whether there be many we can say who lay up their trea­sure in Heaven, seeing that, according to the Evangelist, Mans heart is where his treasure is. Note, It is certain, accord­ing to the same Evangelist, that we have not our treasure in Heaven, but when we treasure it in Heaven, and not up the Earth; that is, when we heap up good works, which we send before us to nourish us in eternity, when we trans­port what we can of our goods thither, as those do who would establish them­selves in another Country by leaving their own. 'Tis for this reason we may acknowledge what is the place we look upon as our Country, or rather, 'tis this makes us see there are few who look upon Heaven as their Country, seeing there are very few who transport their goods thither, or make there a treasure of good works; but that, on the con­trary, we see that all the cares and all the actions of the commonalty of the World tend only to the Earth, and are only for the Earth.

To desire life everlasting, is to desire Justice, is to be in a thirst after it. For [Page 213] life everlasting will consist in the pos­session of perfect Justice. Now I know not whether, considering the life of the commonalty of the World, and seeing how little we are concerned at our faults, how little care we have of avoiding them, how little we dream of advancing our selves in piety, it may very well be be­lieved, there are many who be in this thirst and desire of Justice.

All this shews that we have no great­er interest than to make this desire of the felicity of Heaven spring up in us, and this sighing for our exile, if we have them not, and to nourish them if we have them. But as these sentiments have two considerations; one towards this present life, which is a considerati­on of disdain and aversion; the other towards the life of Heaven, which is a consideration of Love and Desire; it is clear, that to excite them it is necessary to know the miseries of this present life, and the incomprehensible goods of the other very well, which is what we shall endeavour to represent in the se­quel of this Book.

CHAP. V.
Of the Exterior miseries of this life.

THE heighth of misery, saith St. Au­stin, is to be miserable and not to be concerned for it. Quid miserius mi­sero non miserante seipsum? Nevertheless this heighth of misery makes the common state of Men, and nothing almost hap­pens more generally to them, than to be absolutely cast down with, and insensible of those evils which overwhelm them.

This insensibility happens not in them from the disdain they have for the mi­series of this life; but by their blind­ness, and the being carried away by their passions. For see here in what manner they procure to themselves the rest and joy they seem sometimes to possess. First, in respect of past Evils, they think no more of them. They esteem as nothing all future Evils, and without all those solid reasons Philosophers have endea­voured to furnish them with, they de­liver themselves from the fear they may have of them, either through rash hopes, or simply by not thinking at all on them.

They know not the greatest part of their spiritual Evils, and they make ve­ry few Reflexions upon those they do know. Their self-love dissipates from their sight most of those Objects which should make any Impression upon their Minds: And by this means they become capable of applying themselves to some of the Objects of their Passions, which they see but by halves, and whose dis­mal Consequences they do not at all consider: And this is what Men call Pleasures, and the Joys of this World.

With all these miserable Consolations which their Blindness or their Passions procure them, they cease not to be often dejected by Sadness and Melancholy; because there are infinite of Evils in this Life, which they cannot avoid see­ing and feeling; but there is this diffe­rence betwixt their Goods and Evils, that their Goods appear such only by a mistake of their Imagination, and their Evils have commonly more reality than they are aware of.

If this Ignorance wherein they are, of the most part of their Miseries, had no bad Effects, perhaps we should be tempt­ed to look upon it as a kind of Good; but there lacks a great deal of that [Page 216] [...] [Page 217] [...] [Page 216] coming to pass. This false Idea they have of the Goods and Evils of this life, entertains their affections, nourisheth their passions, and hinders them from thinking of themselves. And thus no­thing is of more importance than to be undeceived, and not to palliate the real and effective Miseries of humane life.

It would be an endless discourse to pretend to represent here all these mi­series, we must be content to trace out a small pourtraicture of them. We shall chiefly borrow it of St. Austin, who having been much taken up with this Object, has made divers pictures there­of in his works.

He begins it ordinarily with the state of Children; Behold, saith he, Children, and consider with how many Evils they are overwhelmed. Amongst how many Vanities, Errors, and Frights they are educated. Aug. cont. Julian, l. 4. c. ult. Intuere parvulos quot & quanta mala pati­ [...]ntur, in quibus vanitatibus, erroribus, terroribus crescant. Although we may be accustomed to observe their state without horror, as imagining they will come out thereof, however it is such that there is no Man who is discreet [Page 217] and wise who had not rather die than be reduced to this Weakness, Igno­rance, and Imbecillity of Mind and Bo­dy as is seen in Children. Aug. de Civit. Dei. l. 21. c. 24. Thus we begin our whole life in a state which we judge worse than death, and this so wretched state compleats a great part of this life.

'Tis true, that Reason unfolding it self by little and little, we forget some of our Childish weaknesses by means of instruction. But that, saith St. Austin, De. Civit Dei. l. 28. c. 12. is not done without a great deal of care and pains. How necessary are threats and chastise­ments to keep Children within their limits, and to fit them for something that's useful? And how seldom it pro­spers, in regard of the greatest number, notwithstanding all these chastisements? The torrent of natural corruption car­ries away the most part of them, and the obscurity and dulness of Mind hin­ders others from comprehending what we would gladly shew them. 'Tis a mi­sery to remain in Ignorance and Bru­tality, which we bring with us from our Birth; and 'tis another misery to free our selves from them by such painful and labo­rious means.

The only advantage Children have, is, that they are Miserable without know­ing it, or without discerning their E­vils, if that may be called advantage; but this is taken away by the encrease of Age, which giving them a more di­stinct sentiment of their inclinations, renders them also more miserable; as being always deprived of some part of what they desire.

We would not die, nor have any pain of Body or Mind; we desire not to be de­ceived; Non mori, non offendi, non falli; yet we are every hour exposed to death, to griefs, and to errors.

Who can, saith St. Austin, I doe not say express, but comprehend all the Miseries whereunto Men are subjct, and which are consequences of their Mise­rable conditions? What apprehension and what grief does the death of Neighbours, the loss of Goods, con­demnations, treacheries, false suspiti­ons, violences, which we suffer, as Rob­ing, Captivity, Fetters, Imprisonment, Banishment, Tortures, loss of Limbs, In­famies and Brutalities, and a thousand other horrible things, cause in us, which very often happen? Who can rely upon his innocence to be free [Page 219] from the insults of the Devils, seeing that sometimes they torment Children so cruelly who are newly Baptised; God, who permits it, teaching us thereby to deplore the misery of this life, and to desire the felicity of the other? What shall I say of the Sicknesses which are in such great numbers, that even Phy­sical Books cannot contain them all? And the most part of remedies which are administred to heal and cure them, are so many torments, so that a Man cannot be cured of one grief but by another.

The ordinary state and condition of Mankind is nothing but a continual Sickness, which hath need of remedies, and these remedies are other kind of Diseases, which afterwards we must en­deavour to cure. Hunger and Thirst would kill us, if we did not put a stop thereto by nourishments and drinks. We become weary if we stand long, and we are refreshed by sitting down; but this remedy begins presently to be troublesome to us, and we cannot sit any long time. We are weary with Watching, Standing, Walking, Sitting, Eating, and which way soever we turn our selves to take some rest, we find [Page 220] there weariness and trouble. Quidquid nobis providerimus ad refectionem, illic rursus invenimus defectionem.

'Tis true, that all these Evils may serve as exercise to Virtue, but if Virtue can make good use of them, and can suffer them, nevertheless it cannot love the Evils it suffers, nor ought not to love them. For that is not the natural state of Man; 'tis a consequence of sin, and as we must desire the destruction of it, we must also wish and desire that of its consequences. 'Tis a state of War, which permits us to enjoy no Peace: Yet it is just to incline to the first or­der, and to this peace which sin hath dis­quieted. The state of War can be nei­ther Natural nor Eternal, for every thing tends to Peace. In a word, it is lawful and conform to the order of God, and his Eternal Law to desire to enjoy it without any trouble or disturbance of Body or Mind, seeing 'tis what he has designed Man for, and that he must be Miserable out of this order, in which and for which he hath created him.

CHAP. VI.
The Image of Mans inward Miseries in this life.

BUT all outward Evils, whereof Man is continually a mark in this World, compose only a small part of the Miseries of this life. Those which [...]flict his Mind, ought to have infinitely more power to make him hate it. Al­ [...]hough there should be only this hor­rible uncertainty of the grace or the [...]atred of God, doubtfulness of our Salvation or of utter loss, wherein we [...]ost absolutely pass this life; should it [...]ot be sufficient to fill it with bitter­ [...]ss? What Criminal was ever pleased in a Prison, wherein he was confin'd, and there to expect a Sentence which ought to decide either his death or his [...]fe?

Now if we open our Eyes to see these continual dangers wherein we are of being lost Eternally, the precipices which environ us, the snares which our ways are full of, the malice, force, and the tricks of our Enemies, our weak­ness and want of light; must we [Page 222] not be stupified not only to believe our selves happy in this state, but also not to esteem our selves most miserable?

It is true, that the grace and light of God might be our defence against all these dangers, and a support to our weakness against such terrible Enemies: But alas! what do we do to deserve it? What are our Prayers which ought to gain it? What weight or charge does not the Soul expe­rience, when she would raise her self up to God? How much doth this mortal and de­praved body cause her of trouble and obstacles, which call her to the Earth and withdraw her from God? What innume­rable crouds of Phantomes and Tentations come to molest and disturb her? and does she not feel in her self as it were a multi­tude of Worms gnawing her, which spring from the bottom of her corruptions? Aug. in Ps. 102.

What Misery to be Master neither of Mind nor Body, and to see the one busied with a thousand ridiculous and disorderly thoughts, and the other agi­tated with an infinite of evil desires and corrupted sentiments, and not able to stop this miserable crowd! to be obli­ged to live with this throng of interior Enemies, always at variance with them, [Page 223] and never able to exterminate them!

To cast our selves away, there needs nothing but that we deliver up our selves to them, and that we give over oppo­sing them; and we cannot warrant our selves, but by continual resisting. ‘It behoves us, saith St. Austin, de Civit. Dei, lib. 22. cap. 23. to watch continu­ally, for fear lest a false appearance deceive us, lest an artificial Discourse surprize us, lest some Error make it self Master of our Minds, lest we take Good for Bad, or Bad for Good, lest Fear dissuade us from doing our Duties, lest Passion precipitate us to do what we should not do, lest the Sun go down upon our Wrath, lest Ha­tred sway us to render Evil for Good, lest excessive Sadness deject us, lest we be unthankful for a good turn done, lest evil Sayings trouble us, lest we commit rash Judgments, lest those which are made of us do molest us, lest Sin reign in our mortal Bodies, by inclining us to second its desires, lest we make our Members serve as Instru­ments of Iniquity to Sin, lest the Eyes follow their disorderly Appetites, lest a desire of Revenge oversway and pro­voke us, lest we fix our Looks and [Page 224] Thoughts upon unlawful Objects, lest we take delight in hearing some in­jurious or dishonest talk, lest in this War, so painful and so full of dangers, we do promise our selves the victory by our proper forces, or attribute it to our selves, in lieu of attri­buting it to the favour of him of whom the Apostle saith, Thanks be given to God who gives us victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Who can deny that 'tis not a great Misery to be thus devided and torn in our selves, and obliged to this conti­nual combate. The Spirit carries us a­loft, says the same St. Austin, the weight of the flesh forceth us downwards. So in these two different strifes, whereof one elevates us, and the other humbles us, there is a continual War in us, and this War is properly the Affliction and Misery of this life. Spiritum rursum vocat, pondus carnis deorsum revocat. Inter duos conatus suspensionis & ponderis colluctatio quaedam est, & ipsa colluctatio pressura nostra est.

Behold the condition of this life, but how troublesom is it? How many vi­sible and invisible wounds receive we thereby? How much reason have we to fear the event of it, seeing there [Page 225] needs but one single sight, and one single consent to destroy us?

Likewise we cannot regard with cer­tainty the favours which we have re­ceived of God, and the good works which they have done us. We spoil them, we sully them, and we lose them often, in fixing our Eyes stedfastly there­on, as well as in exposing them to others. And how troublesom soever the Spectacle of these our Evils and Defects may be for us, it is yet less to be fear­ed than that of our good and our vir­tue.

What if in diverting our Minds a lit­tle with our inward Miseries, we pre­tend to comfort our selves by the com­merce of Creatures, and by a prospect of what passeth in the World? we shall not find therein any thing but occasi­ons of hating this life. For what do we discover therein but interest, in­justice, violent passions, oppressions of truth and justice, blindness, errors, pre­ventions, wiles, disguisements, and va­nity? Wherein is reason harkened un­to? Where are Men guided by true interest?

Not only, as the Prophet saith, there is no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of [Page 226] God upon Earth, that is to say, in the World: But the small number of Peo­ple who have the Mercy, Truth, and Justice of God in their heart, know not how to practice it in respect of People of the World. We know not how we ought to receive them, nor what we ought to say to them. We must fear angering and hurting them, instead of assisting them, we must likewise fear wanting the Charity which is due to them. This double fear keepeth the Mind in a continual agitation and un­certainty, and what precaution soever we apply, oftentimes we cannot avoid seeing our selves engaged with them in Wicked contestations.

‘It is a hard thing, Brethren, saith St. Austin, in Joan. tr. 35. to be at quiet with all the World, and to contest with no Man. God calls us to an agreement, he commands us to be peaceable. 'Tis the mark we ought to aim at, and we ought to use all our indeavours to arrive at perfect peace. Nevertheless it happens often that we fall into dispute with those we would serve. A Man is in an error, you desire to lead him back into the way of life, he resists you with a sharp wit. 'Tis thus the Pa­gans [Page 227] and Hereticks resist those who oppose the Errors and Doctrines of the Devil, whereunto they cleave so fast. A bad Catholick will not live well, and you are obliged to reprove him though he be in the bosom of the Church. What troubles have we not to seek out ways to correct him, to be able to give a favourable account of him to a common Master? How many see we spring thus in all parts from the occasions of contests and disputes? It happens often then that being cast down with trouble, we say within our selves, What have I to do to suffer so many contradictions on the behalf of those who return me bad for good? I will procure their happiness, and they will lose them­selves. I consume my life in contest­ing, I have no Peace nor Quiet, I do nothing but procure my self Enemies, of those who should have an affection for me, if they did consider that which I have for them, why do we always continue in these troubles and sufferings? Were it not better to busie our selves about our own oc­casions, to rob our selves of all, and to be content in praying to God? But [Page 228] shut up your self in your self as much as you will, if you have begun to fol­low God, you will find a contra­diction there; and what contradicti­on? The Flesh strives against the Spi­rit, and the Spirit against the Flesh.’

If it be a difficult thing to serve Men, it is no less to defend our selves from them. For there is nothing in the World which may not be contagi­ous, its Maxims, Spirit, Passions are communicated insensibly to those who live therein. We find our selves, with­out thinking thereof, covered with its dust, and we lose truth in the obscuri­ty it causeth.

The sight of a Person absolutely Worldly imprints I know not what Evils in the Soul of a good Man. For there is as it were a hidden Air in the Minds of all Wicked Men, which commu­nica es it self more insensibly into Souls which have some commerce with them, than the Air of Bodies infected with the Plague doth communicate it self to those who approach it. Letter of M [...]de S. Ceran. tom. 1. l. 56. See▪ tom. 2. Let­ter. 1.

Those who have known the World very well, represent it to us as a great [Page 229] Fire, or rather as a source of Fires made of the tripple concupiscence which reigns there, whose flames spreading themselves over all parts, do devour Souls by the boisterousness of the Fire which issues out. These boisterous storms enter by the Eyes and the Ears into the Substance of the Soul, and makes her lose the life of the Spirit, in leaving her that of the Body, and they enter in divers and sundry man­ners, according to the [...]everal passions they excite in the heart. Sometimes they poison it by a mortal sweetness, sometimes they cast it down by a cri­minal timidity, sometimes they exaspe­rate it by hatred and wrath. For all is dangerous in the World; its friend­ship as well as its hatred, its carresses as well as its persecutions. All this serves to tempt the Soul, and often oc­casions scandal and a relapse.

If the World wherein the Devil reigns were separated by some sensible marks from that where he reigns not, perhaps we might take some Measures to guide our selves therein surely. But it is not so: All is covered with darkness in this Life: The good and bad are not on­ly mingled, but confounded there: They [Page 230] are only distinguished by the bottom of the Heart, which is not seen, and where­of it is not permitted to judge. Thus by thinking to be united to honest Men, and to find amongst them true Friends, we many times find our selves united to wicked and envious Men, and indeed Enemies.

To become such, they need only di­scover sharp and wicked Passions against us, it sufficeth that they have Intentions contrary to ours. ‘Who, saith St. Au­stin, can doubt, but that they are our Enemies, seeing they have a design to render us Companions of their Punish­ments? And 'tis a great thing, adds he, to be struck every day with their Di­scourses, and not go aside from the way of God. For the Soul often wil­ling to go to God, is seized with fear, and staggers in the way; she dares not accomplish her Desires which are good, for fear of shocking those with whom she lives, who love and seek transitory and perishable Goods.’ Et magnum est inter eorum verba versari quo­tidie & non excidere de itinere praeceptorum Dei. Sepe enim mens tutens pergere in Deum, concussa in ipso itinere trepidat, & plerumque propterea non implet bonum pro­positum, [Page 231] ne offendat eos cum quibus vivat, alia bona peritura & transeuntia diligentes.

Nevertheless we must grant, that there is some consolation in the obligation or strict alliance we may have with vertuous Men; and 'twas the only one St. Austin found in this Life. But with how many Bitternesses is this Consolation mingled? Even when we have the most reason to be satisfied with them, they only then ren­der us most miserable; all their Evils becoming common to us. So Humane Friendship of it self is only an extension of our Miseries, because we are exposed thereunto not only in our proper Per­sons, but also in that of our Friends. 'Tis a multiplication of Fears, Sadnesses, and Melancholy. But what is more troublesom, is, That as those with whom we contract these strict Ties are Men, we are often deceived by them, and we often discover in them afterwards some incommodious Defects, which we scarce­ly expected. What care soever we ap­ply, not to shock them, we see them of­tentimes wax cold towards us upon these Suspicions, these Reports, and these ill-grounded Imaginations. They let them­selves be tired sometimes with us, through a pure Inconstancy, or by new Passions [Page 232] wherein they are engaged. If we be re­served towards them, they complhin; if we be too free, they abuse it. It sufficeth them often to have an aversion for us, to believe that we have no esteem for them. So after a Familiarity of many years, we find our selves many times less united, than if we had never seen them. And there are few Contracts among Men which are not terminated, and which are not reduced at last to meer simple Civi­lities by this means, without any true Union.

Where can we find Persons who con­cern themselves seriously about our Sal­vation; who insinuate themselves into our Spiritual and Temporal Occasions; who dream of preventing what may hurt us, and to uphold us in our Weaknesses? Every one thinks of himself in this World, and is as it were quite separated from others. We see almost no where any true Union; and we see but too much amongst Christians the accomplish­ment of the Threat which Jeremiah made to the Jews, c. 9. v. 4. That every brother should set snares for his brother; and that every friend should use deceit and artifice: Quia omnis frater supplan­tans supplantabit, & omnis amicus fraudu­lenter [Page 233] incedit: And that they should ren­der Jerusalem as a heap of sand, Jer. 9.12. Et dabo Jerusalem in acervos arenae. For the Church indeed is almost composed of nothing but a heap of Sand, that is to say, of dry Members, which are not united together by an interior Union of Gods Spirit, but by an exterior Compo­sition, forming a kind of Society which edifies little, and which is ready to be disunited at every blast of Wind.

What is yet stranger, is, That this disunion hath not only place in the great Society of the Church, because of the Wicked who fill it, but we observe it in almost all particular Societies, and even i [...] that of the most Religious Men. All there is filled with interior Divisions of Mind and of Sentiments, and exterior Peace is conserved thereby only because every one hides himself, husbands him­self, and dissembles his Thoughts from others.

In fine, Although we have found Friends exempt from all faults, we ought always to fear lest they change, saith St. Austin, in Psal. 85. as we ought to fear our selves. Thus as wicked mens malice is a continual cause of grief, the uncertainty of good mens perseverance [Page 234] is a continual cause of unquietness. Who will be astonish'd after that that St. Au­stin maintains, That pious men are al­ways afflicted in this Life, and that we need only to walk in the way of God to be persecuted? Ambulet per viam Angu­stam & incipiat pie vivere in Christo, & necesse est ut persecutionem patiatur; since that being afflicted as they are with the disorders and scandals of the World, and the instability of good men, these kind of Persecutions can never be want­ing to them.

'Tis true, there are very few who re­sent these Pains in this nature; and the Wicked, who make up the greatest num­ber, are no ways moved thereat: But they are so far from being happy there­by, 'tis that which on the contrary cau­ses the heighth of their misery. For this insensibility comes from the blindness of the Understanding, and the obdurate­ness of the Heart. They are all covered with horrible and mortal Wounds; they are deprived of all true Good; they are the Object of God's Wrath; they are the Pastime of the Devils, who do­mineer over them, who move them, who lead them into Hell, and they neither see nor perceive any thing thereof.

Although they should enjoy with that all Earthly Goods, and be exempt from all Evils of this Life, they should never­theless be very miserable, and their false Felicity ought to pass for nothing but a true Misery. Falsa foelicitas vera miseria, saith St. Austin, in Psal. 85. But often also they are not temporally happy: God's Justice does not cease to make them feel it, and to trouble their misera­ble Pleasures. The World hath its Bit­ternesses for them, as well as for vertu­ous Men. They are no more exempt from Losses than others, from Maladies, and Sicknesses, and other Accidents, to which Men are exposed; and they are so much more sensible thereof, by how much more they love the Goods which are forced from them by these Accidents. They are pure Evils for them, as finding nothing in them whereby they can re­ceive any comfort. They can neither go out of themselves, because they find no­thing but Afflictions; nor enter into themselves, because they find nothing that's Good. Non est quo exeat quia dura sunt, non est quo intret quia mala sunt. Even when they shall not have outwardly any cause of Affliction, their Passions make Troubles arise within them, which per­mit [Page 236] them not to enjoy any true repose. Thus although it may be generally true of all Men, as well good as bad, that 'tis impossible in this Life to be free from Fear, Labour, Grief, and Danger; this nevertheless is principally true of the Wicked: They are incapable of Rest, of Peace, and Joy; and their Lives are so much more miserable, and so much more to be complained of, by how much less they know their Miseries, and are concerned for them; tanto magis flenda, quanto minus fletur.

CHAP. VII.
The first manner of conceiving Heavenly Felicity, by the exemption from the Evils of this Life.

THE Prospect we have of the Mise­ries of this Life, ought not only to free us from and make us hate them; it ought also to be to us as a Rule to raise us to the knowledge of the Heavenly Life, seeing that the exemption from these Miseries makes up a part of the Happiness which we expect. And there­fore the Scripture often represents it to [Page 237] us under this Idea. It makes us consider, that thereby we are delivered from the necessity of Death, and from all occasi­ons of Tears which we have in this World. God, saith Isaiah, cap. 25. v. 8. will destroy death for ever, and our Lord God will dry up the tears of all eyes, and will blot out from the face of the earth the reproach of his People; for 'tis our Lord who hath spoken: It promiseth an abso­lute deliverance from all our Enemies, that is to say, from the Devils, from the Wicked, from our Passions, and from our Sins. You shall hear speak no more, saith the same Prophet, cap. 60. ver. 8. of violence in your Land, nor of destruction and oppression; salvation shall environ your walls, and praises shall ring at your doors. It makes us hope for an ex [...]mption from all Necessities which spring from our Mortality, and which render the Souls dull and heavy. They shall have no more, saith he, hunger nor thirst, heat nor the Sun shall not burn them, because he who is full of mercy for them shall conduct them, and lead them to drink at the fountain head. Your Sun shall set no more, and your Moon shall suffer no more decrease; because our Lord will be your eternal torch, and the days of your tears shall be finished.

'Tis upon this Model St. Austin, in divers places of his Works, makes the exemption from Miseries and Necessities of this present Life appear in the pour­traicture of Beatitude, whereof he en­deavours to imprint a Love and Desire in Christians. ‘We shall, saith he, de Symb. ad Catech. lib. 2. cap. 22. have no more need of Clothes in this most happy Life, seeing we shall there be clothed with Immortality; we shall not want Food, seeing our Souls shall there be satisfied with the presence of the Bread of Life, which is descend­ed from Heaven for our Salvation; we shall have wherewith to quench our thirst, being we shall be neer unto the Fountain of Life. There we shall be free from Heat, because we shall find our Refreshment under the Wings of him who will protect us for all Eter­nity. There we shall suffer no Cold, being we shall there have a Sun which will warm our Hearts by the heat of his Love. There we shall never be weary, because we shall have him with us who is our Strength. There will be no Traffick, no Slavery, no troublesom nor laborious Works.’

‘Wherefore, saith he, in another place, is Man renewed again? 'Tis to desire heavenly and eternal things, and to sigh after this divine Country, where we may enjoy a full Security, where we no more shall lose our Friends, where we shall fear no Enemies, where we shall be filled with holy affections, where we shall be without care for any thing, where no Man is born, because no Man dies there, where goods grow no more, because they receive there no dimunition; where we have neither hunger nor thirst, but where we shall be filled with immortallity and nourished with truth it self.’

After he hath represented in his Ser­mon upon the 84. Psalm, That there is [...]o peace in the World, that we must be there always at strife with the De­vils, with our concupiscences, with ten­tations, with evil thoughts and desires, with hunger and thirst, with weariness and sleep, having shewn that the com­forts and miseries which spring from our mortality, will become mortal by their continuation, that to die 'tis suffi­cient continually to eat, to fast, to sit, to walk, to watch, and to sleep; that [Page 240] so we may not hope for peace, but Death shall be swallowed up by our Victo­ry, which will give us eternal rest, he cries out, ‘O Brethren, we shall be in a certain City, of which I would never cease speaking, principally when scandales are augmented. Who would not wish for this place of peace, from whence no Friend will ever depart, and whereinto no Ene­my shall be able to find entrance; where there be no more tempters, no more seditious Men, nor none who divide the People of God, no more Diabollical Ministers who tire and trouble the Church of God, being that the Prince himself shall have been cast into everlasting Fire, with all those who follow his designs, and are not separated from him? 'Twill be then there will be a perfect peace for all Gods Children, because they shall love each other perfectly, seeing them­selves replenisht with God: when God shall be all in all, when she shall be the common spectacle, the common possession, the common peace of all his Elect, and that he himself shall be all things to us.’

'Tis through the difference there is [...]etwixt an Earthly and Heavenly life, [...]hat he delivers this in another place of the same work. In Ps. 49. ‘We do, saith he, good Works in this life, in giving Bread to those who want, re­ceiving Strangers into our Houses, &c. but all that, is it not mingled with misery and affliction? For we cannot practice mercy, if there be no miserable People; then seeing there must be miserable People to ex­ercise it, is it not a quite contrary happiness to be in a place, where none needs assistance, because none have need of nourishment? where there are no Strangers to be lodged in their Houses, no Naked to Cloath, no Sick to visit, no Quarrels to compose? where all is perfect, all in health, all is true, all eternal? where Justice will be our bread, Wisdom our drink, Immortallity our cloathing? where we shall have Heaven for our eternal House? where weariness shall not make us yield to sleep? where there will be no more death, no more di­visions, but where we shall enjoy ever­lasting peace and quiet, and joy and justice?’

This makes him conclude, That there is nothing but Poverty in this World, Sickness, Infirmities, Weakness, Imper­fection, Necessity, and that true Health and perfect Justice are only in Heaven.

‘In this holy City, there will be true riches, because there we shall want nothing, and effectively we shall need nothlng. There we shall have perfect health, because death shall be destroyed there, and this Corruptible body shall be cloathed again with In­corruptibility. There we shall have true justice, because there we cannot do any bad or Wicked action, and we shall be also uncapable of having any evil thoughts. Aug. in Ps. 122.’

If the Saints proposed to themselves these objects without fear of altering the purity of their love; who ought to scruple proposing them to themselves? and who ought not to acknowledge that 'tis a great fault to be so little en­tertained with these thoughts, and to sigh so little after this happy state, so different from ours, where we shall en­joy an unalterable peace, no Enemies to contend with; where we shall be trou­bled no more with either inward or out­ward temptation; where the Body shall [Page 243] contend no more against the Spirit; the Soul shall be no more pressed down by the weight and the inclinations of the flesh; the Spirit no more troubled nor busied with cares, inquietudes, or with vain and unprofitable thoughts; the Heart shall be [...]o more separated and torn by so many different desires; where there shall be no more scandals, infidelities, artifices, suspi­cions; where we shall no more see things in this thick cloud, which discovers only to us as it were a confused shadow of truth; and lastly, where God shall reign absolutely over us, and shall be the perpe­tual object of our knowledge and love?

CHAP. VIII.
That we ought not to form to our selves the Idea of a Carnal Beatitude.

ALthough the holy Fathers have ap­proved that Christians should comprehend the deliverance from the Evils of this present life by the Sove­raign happiness which is promised us in Heaven, and that they themselves have given us the example to desire this per­fect peace, which shall not be troubled [Page 244] with any disquiet, nor any grief, and which shall place the Soul in a full and entire joy; yet they have found that we may abuse these words, and take occasi­on from thence to frame an Idea of a felicity quite carnal, by not proposing to our selves other Goods in the other life, than those we may enjoy in this, as riches, honours, Magnificent shews, quietness of the Mind, and lastly, plea­sures which spring from self-love.

Therefore they have had a care to destroy these false Ideas, to enable us to form true ones.

‘Worldly Men, saith St. Austin, in Ps. 86. are all transported by their pleasures and divertisements. Never­theless our Lord God lets us know that the Wicked are incapable of joy. 'Tis because there is another pleasure and another joy, which the Eye hath not seen, which the Ear has not heard, and which the Wit of Man can never conceive. 'Tis the joy of those who dwell with thee, O my God. Let us prepare our selves for this joy, of which we may find some footsteps in the World, but which are far short of truth. Let us be very careful not to propose to our selves pleasures [Page 245] like to those we taste upon Earth; otherwise all the mitigation whereby we abstain from Worldly pleasures, would only be a kind of avarice. There are some Persons who fast on­ly to prepare themselves for better chear. Fasting is a great thing, the intention of it is to moderate concu­piscence; and yet sometimes we make use of it to satisfie our inordinate desires. If you believe then, Brethren, that in this Country, whereunto we are called by the Heavenly Trumpet we ought to have pleasures like those of this World, and that now we ab­stain from them only to enjoy them more plentifully in the other life, you resemble those who fast to dispose themselves for a great feast, and who are temperate through a greater in­temperance. Banish from your thoughts these base and carnal imagi­nations, prepare your self for some ineffable thing, purifie your heart from all terrestrial and secular affecti­ons. We shall see an object which will render us happy, and this single object will suffice us.’

‘We shall be replenisht with the Goods of your House, saith he, in [Page 246] another place, In Ps. 64. But what are the goods of this House? shall we imagine, Brethren, a magnificent Pa­lace, filled with all sorts of riches, Gold and Silver Vessels, Officers, Horses, and shall we fancy to our selves Pictures, Marble, Wainscoting, Columns, and rich Appartments? There are some who love these things, but these things belong to Babylon. Lop off all these desires, O ye Citizens of Jerusalem, and if you will return to your Country, do not place your joy in your Banishment and Exile, covet the House of God, covet the Goods of this House, but do not covet the like to those which you might have seen and which you may desire to have for your House here upon Earth, either for your Neighbour, or for your Friend. The Goods of the House of God are not of this Nature.’ We shall be replenisht, saith the Prophet, with the Goods of your House, your Temple is Holy, it is wonder­ful in Justice. ‘Behold the Goods of this House! He does not say that this Temple is admirable in Columns, in Marble, in Wainscoting; but that 'tis admirable in Justice. You have exte­riour Eyes to see Gold and Marble, [Page 247] but the Eye by which we see Beauty and Justice is interior.’

We must not therefore deceive our selves, nor stretch forth concupiscence [...]ven to Heaven, by desiring there the [...]joyment of it. God will only be the portion of his Elect. He alone will com­pleat their felicity. Their only joy shall be to see him, love him, to be subject to him, to see him rule over them, and to have nothing in them opposite to his Justice. See here what the ground of their happiness will be, they will not consider all the rest, but in relation to this essential good.

CHAP. IX.
A larger explication of the Essential Beati­tude of the Saints.

'TIS a very strange thing that we must be obliged to prove to Men that the sight and love of God are capable to make them happy. For 'tis like proving to them that the light is able to illuminate them; since that God being essentially the Soveraign good, produceth also by his possession [Page 248] necessarily perfect happiness, as light necessarily chaseth away darkness. How­ever, it is true, that although Christians have no need of reasons and proofs, to believe in general that [...]heir happiness consists in seeing and loving God, they have need thereof to be made concerned for this truth. The lively Idea they have of sensual pleasures, makes them be but little sensible of Spiritual ones; they are troubled to conceive how we may be happy by a sight and love which shall have nothing that's sensible.

'Tis then necessary to assist them in this point, to guide them as it were by degrees to the knowledge of true felicity, and see here how St. Austin does it ordinarily. There are very few amongst those who have any love for piety, who may not sometimes be touch­ed with sensible affection for persons in whom they have seen great and emi­nent virtues: And as it is not the shape of these Persons they love, nor their natural Wit, it is evident that what they like in them, is the excellency of their Justice and Charity, and Virtue ‘If Justice, saith St. Austin, in Ps. 64. had no beauty, how could a just and virtuous old Man be beloved? What [Page 249] presents he to our Eyes that can be pleasing? Crooked members, a Wrinkled Forehead, an universal weak­ness? But perhaps being uncapable to please the Eyes, he has wherewith to satisfy the Ears. By what words, by what charm is he able to do it? Al­though he might have had a voice in his younger days, Age may have rob­ed him of it; scarcely can he be heard, so that he is far from being able to please in speaking. Nevertheless if this old Man be just, if he do not desire other mens Goods, if he give wise counsel, if he have a right judg­ment of things, and if he be ready to deliver his body broken as it is, for the truth, as many Martyrs have done in this age, we cease not to love him; and as we shall discover in him nothing that's Beautiful to the Eyes of the flesh, we ought to conclude from thence, that there is a certain Beauty of Justice, which is seen with the Eyes of the heart, and which Men have very much loved in the Martyrs, even when their members were rent in pie­ces by Wild Beasts; when they were covered all over with Blood; when their Entrails were torne by the teeth of [Page 250] Mad Beasts, Eyes saw nothing which did not give them horror. What then was it which made these Martyrs loved in this state, if it were not the beauty of Justice which remain'd entire in those mangled Members?’

Now if Justice may be beloved, there may be joy in the contemplation of it. Because there is a pleasure in seeing and knowing what we love; and there is so much more thereof, by how much the love is greater, and the knowledge more clear. If the contemplation of Justice do not touch us very sensibly in this life, 'tis because we know it not well, and love it but weakly. But yet it is easie to comprehend that by aug­menting this love and this knowledge, the pleasure of the Soul ought to en­crease proportionably.

Now 'tis what properly happens in the other life. We shall there see Justice it self, not in troubled rivolets, and disfigured Images, but in its own source. It will manifest it self to us in all its beauty, in all its Grandeur, and in all its Majesty.

And as this Justice is God it self, this prospect will excite transports and ra­vishments of love and joy, so lively and [Page 251] ardent, that no Human capacity can be [...]ble to comprehend the impetuosity and the violence of it. But what we may comprehend, is, that their enjoy­ment of this love, which is in the pos­session of its Object, ought to produce by necessity an ineffable joy and plea­sure in the Soul, or rather it is it self this joy and pleasure, being that joy is nothing but a love enjoying what it loves.

By this 'tis also evident, that the love of God which shall cause the feli­city of the Saints, shall have nothing of mercenary nor interested, but shall be perfectly cleansed from all mixture of self-love; for this love being the love of Justice, it does not relate God to Man, but Man to God. The Spirit of the happy will be quite struck through with the infinite excellency and greatness of God, and the meanness and the wretch­edness of creatures, with the Justice of the right God hath over them, which obliges them to relate all their be­ing and all their actions to his glory, with the dismal unjustice of a creature who substracts himself from his order, who withdraws him self from his depen­dance, and w [...]o makes himself his own [Page 252] destruction. And these lights wherewith they shall all be filled, being joyned to the ardent love of this Justice which prescribes them these duties, will incline them to annihilate themselves conti­nually before the Majesty of God, and to prefer him before themselves through an eternal love, as St. Austin says. They shall place their happiness in a conde­scending to his will, and they shall be by this means uncapable of the least seeking of self-interest.

But in not seeking themselves at all, they shall not be less happy. Gods great­ness, glory, and his felicity will cause their joy, and God communicating himself to them with an ineffable effusion, shall unite them so strictly to his Being, that they shall be as it were plunged in him, and they shall participate of his greatness and of his felicity.

Mens Minds are feeble in this Life to comprehend the Joy which the possession of God will produce in the happy Souls. Therefore St. Paul expresses it no otherwise than by saying, The eye hath not seen, nor the ear hath not heard, what God has provided for those who love him, 1 Cor. 2.9. We can only judge that it shall be something inconceivable, seeing [Page 253] 'twill be the effect of God's Magnifi­cence, and the accomplishment of his eternal Love for his Elect.

Nevertheless, to form some Idea thereof, it is good to conduct the Un­derstanding through these Degrees. Al­though we see Creatures only in compa­ny and separately, and that the know­ledge we have of them be extremely li­mited; yet it cannot be denied but that there is some pleasure in contemplating Beauty.

This pleasure would be greater, if our Minds becoming larger could con­ceive many of them together.

What would it be then, if it were able to comprehend them all at a time, and contemplate the marvelous relations they have together to frame the beauty of the whole Universe?

It seems that this spectacle might be capable to satisfie and fill Mans Mind, and yet 'tis nothing in comparison of that which the happy Souls enjoy. They see all creatures in God, but moreover they see the God of all creatures, and this sight makes all Creatures appear to them but as nothing, and that they disappear presently, so much they are filled with the greatness and the excellency of their Creator.

Saint Austin hath not disdained to make use of these degrees, to raise us to the knowledge of a Soveraign good. Con­sider, saith he, In Ps. 84. That all you see that's faire and excellent in the World, all therein that draws your hearts, is nothing but the handiwork of God; now if these things have so much beauty, what ought we to judge of God? If there be so much greatness in his works, what is the great­ness he possesseth in himself? Si haec pulchra sunt, quid est ipse? Si haec magna sunt, quantus est ipse?

If you find so many pleasures, saith he, in another place, in Ps. 26. in what you call wealth, in that wealth, say I, which of it self is no wealth, because it is move­able, and nothing that's moveable can be wealth of it self; what then will be the pleasure in the contemplation of unchange­able and eternal wealth, which remains always in the same state; seeing all things which you call wealth, cannot please you, if it be not wealth, and it cannot be wealth except it be borrowed from the bounty of him who is it of hims [...]lf?

If all creatures be in respect of God, but as a drop of Water is to the main Ocean, what can all the consolations be which Creatures are able to give us, [Page 255] but a small share or part of this drop, which entring into the heart of Man, leaves him as small as he was before? But when God shall enter in the same manner as he shall enter by glory, 'tis an impetuous River, 'tis a torrent of delights, according to the Scripture. It enlargeth and dilateth Mans heart. It ex­tends and raiseth it infinitely beyond the boundaries of its nature, that it may receive this abundance of joy, wherewith it will take pleasure to ine­briate it, as the Prophet speaks; In­ [...]briabuntur ab ubertate Domus tuae.

The possession of God will replenish in such a manner all the necessities and and all the desires of the Soul, that all her capacity of loving, desiring, and enjoying, will be absolutely drained, and she will be unfit to desire and to love any thing without God, because she will find there all, and God will be all things to her. ‘Gold, saith St. Austin, In Ps. 33. is not the same here as Silver, nor Wine the same as Bread, Light is not Drink: But God is all to those who possess him. He will be our Food, by warranting us from Hunger; our Drink, in satisfying our Thirst; our Light, in enlightening [Page 256] our Darkness; our support, in preser­ving us from becoming Weak. He will possess us absolutely, in giving himself to us. We shall not do one another wrong by possessing him. Eve­ry one shall possess him thus entirely, but he shall not hinder another like­wise from possessing him, because we shall all be but as one, and God shall possess us all in unity and totally.’

But what Idea soever may be formed of this Soveraign happiness by the means of these Images, it must be allowed that all is nothing, and even that the Soul is not capable in this life neither to con­ceive it, nor to undergo it. For it must needs be, that God to render her susceptible of these divine communi­cations, and of this torrent of delights he reserves for her, raise her to an­other state, and render her resembling him, in a manner so divine, that St. Austin is not affraid to say, that when this ineffable joy shall be acknowledged by us, humane understanding shall perish, and become divine: In Ps. 35. Cum accepta fuerit ista ineffablis Laetitia, perit quodammodo Mens Humana, & fit divina. St. Gregory of Nazianze, In Or. 15. P. 302. saith, That the Trininy, disperseth it self [Page 257] into all our Souls, [...]. And he expresseth in many places the state of the Blessed, by that of be­ing made divine.

If we could have any knowledge thereof, it should be by those to whom God hath given sometimes even in this life some drops of this divine Water, wherewith he will inebriate the Saints in Heaven: And those who have made this happy tryal, do all declare, that all the joys of this World are nothing in comparison of those which he will cause Souls to feel in those happy mo­ments. 'Tis but reading what St. Te­resa, St. Bernard, St. Austin, and all those whom we have no reason to sus­pect, would distribute unto us, imagina­tions and dreams; or rather, we need but read what the Evangelist saith there­of, when relating to us that light spark of Glory which Jesus Christ shewed to his Disciples upon mount Tabor, he repre­sents them as out of themselves, and transported with what they saw.

Notwithstanding, if Humane joys be nothing in comparison of those which God gives to his Saints yet living, it is certain also, that all the joys of living Saints are yet nothing in comparison [Page 258] of those of the other life. It is al­ways true to say, that we know not God here but as through a Glass and by an Enigm. Videmus per speculum & in Enigmate. But we do not see him open­ly; and by the means of these Divine Tasts, all these Celestial joys that these Saints, Men and Women, have experi­enced, are only some drops of this Ocean whereinto the Blessed are plun­ged, little rays of this immense light which illuminates them, and light sparks of this great fire of love which inflames them.

CHAP. X.
Of the eternal Employment of the Blessed.

AS Mens Pleasure consists here be­low in a variety of Action, and all long Employments tire their Spirits as well as their Bodies; they are trou­bled at first to comprehend what is said concerning the Lives of the Blessed, that it will not have that vicissitude of Acti­ons wherewith that of Men is divertised upon Earth: and the Fathers, who hum­ble [Page 259] themselves sometimes even to di­ [...]erse the most frivolous doubts, have [...]t been unmindful of this. St. Austin [...]reats thereof in divers places, and is always careful in giving us a true Idea [...]f the eternal Employ of the Blessed, to go beyond these mean and humane Thoughts.

He does it sometimes more obscurely, as at the end of one of his Sermons de Temp. Ser. 153. where he speaks thereof in these Terms. When we shall be in the House of God, which is in Heaven, we shall not onely praise God during the fifty days of the Resurrection; we shall have no [...]ther Employ there for all Eternity: We shall see him, we shall love him, and we shall praise him: what we shall see will never lessen in our eyes: what we shall love will never perish: and what we shall praise shall never cease to deserve our praises. All will be eternal, and without end, in that Life.

These Words make us see at the same time, that a heavenly Life can ne­ver change, and why it is incapable thereof. It is impossible to see God, and not to love him; nor to love him perfectly, without seeing him. So the Sight of God necessarily produceth Love, and Love Praises; and all these [Page 260] Actions shall never end, because what inclines us to alter and change our Acti­ons in this Life, shall not be found in the other.

We cease beholding certain Objects with pleasure, and we are inclined to change them, because we find therein some faults; and all that is in the World being limited, we desire to see some­thing more. It's then the fault of the Objects which makes us weary of them. Now this never happens in seeing God: For we never observe there any Defects, nor any Limits; so that we are never weary. Quid videbimus non deficiet. And as we are never weary of seeing him, and as he is always present with the Soul, she cannot cease to love him, nor consequently to praise him: 'Tis what this holy Doctor expresses in ano­ther place, in these Terms: ‘Happy, saith he, are those who shall dwell in thy House. Beati quia habitant in domo tuae Domine. But what shall they do there? They shall praise you, adds the Prophet, world without end. Thus all their whole Life shall be nothing but a continual praising of God, and an eternal Alleluia. And do not think, Brethren, they can find any disgust in [Page 261] this only Occupation, because you cannot praise God any long time: There are on the one side Necessities of Life which dissuade you; and on the other, not seeing God, you are not so sensibly touched. If we could cease loving God in the other Life, we should also cease praising him: But Love being eternal, because we can never be filled with seeing the Beauty of God, do not fear ever ceasing to praise whom you cannot cease to love.’ Si deficias ab amore de­ficies a laude: si autem amor sempiternus erit, quia illa insatiabilis pulchritudo est, noli timere ne non possis semper laudare, quem semper poteris amare. August. in Psal. 81.

Therefore to express the Peace, Tranquillity, and Repose which shall accompany this eternal Action of the Blessed, he says in another place, That the business of Loving God will be the only Employ of those who shall have no other; the only Labour of those who shall be delivered from all Labour; the only Action of those who shall enjoy a perfect Repose; and the only Care of those who shall be free from all sorts of Care and Inquietudes. Erit hoc otiosoram negotium, [Page 262] hoc opus vacantium; haec actio quietorum, hae cura securorum. Aug. in Psal. 110.

But what shall be the cause of all these eternal Praises? This is not hard to be understod. They shall praise God for what they shall see in him, for what shall ravish them, and for what shall fill them with Joy and Admiration: For their Praises shall be nothing but the effusion of their Transport and Rap­tures. They shall praise him for what he is, for his infinite Greatness, his Ho­liness, his Mercy, his Justice, and his Omnipotency. They shall praise him because of the Miracles he hath opera­ted. They shall praise him for the Fa­vours which he hath done them, for the Mercies he hath exercised upon them, and all his Elect. Each Elect shall praise for himself, and for all others. They shall joyn all together to sing for ever God's Mercies towards them, Misericor­dias Domini in aeternum cantabo. Lastly, They shall sacrifice continually in their Hearts as it were Holocausts of Chari­ty; and Jesus Christ joyning his to that of theirs, shall offer them without in­termission as a Sacrifice of Love to his Father. Tota ista redempta civitas, hoc est congregatio societasque Sanctorum uni­versale [Page 263] Sacrificium offertur Deo per Sacer­dotem Magnum qui etiam seipsum obtulit pro nobis, ut tanti capitis corpus essemus. Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 10. c. 6.

This is the Idea which ought to be formed concerning the Occupation of the Blessed; and though we be far from comprehending this State, and this Life, yet we may easily comprehend, that they cannot be tired with so holy an Employment; because we change Acti­ons only to find out others than those we have, and thus the alteration can only be convenient for those who aim at Felicity, and not for those who possess it.

CHAP. XI.
Of the Peace of a Heavenly Life.

WE have already given cause, by several things which we have said, to consider in the Lives of the Blessed a Sovereign Peace. But the Peace they enjoy is so great a Good, that it ought to be particularly conside­red; and this Object is so capable of drawing our Hearts, that 'tis just to re­present [Page 264] it apart from the rest, to the end it may work a great Impression.

We see also, that 'tis under this Idea that St. Austin represented generally Beatitude; and likewise he inspired such a Love into his People of this heavenly Peace, that they could not forbear at the very name of Peace to make a shew of their Transport, by Acclamations which broke off the Discourse of those who spake to them. 'Tis what St. Austin ob­serves himself with comfort, in the Ser­mon he made on the Psalm Lauda Jeru­salem, Psal. 147. For having pronounced these Words, Qui posuit fines tuos pa­cem, he was interrupted by a noise of Acclamations; whereupon he spake to them in this manner: ‘Tis a great comfort to me, Brethren, that the love of Peace can make you send forth these Acclamations from the very bot­tom of your Hearts. You have been surprized with a sudden and prompt Joy, I had as yet explicated nothing, but only pronounced the Verse of the Psalm, and behold you already tran­sported. What is't that forceth these Cries from you? The Beauty of Peace hath shewn in your Souls, and struck your Hearts. There is no more need [Page 265] of my speaking, nor enlarging on these Praises; the motions of your Hearts have prevented my Words. Let us put off the Praises of Peace, to the Habitation of Peace. 'Tis there we shall praise it fully, because we shall possess it perfectly. If we love it al­ready with so much fervency, having only an imperfect Idea thereof, how shall we love it when we shall possess it in its perfection? I will only tell you then, Beloved Children, O Children of the Kingdom of Heaven, O Citi­zens of Jerusalem, That the Word Je­rusalem signifies, that we shall see Peace there.’

This Idea was so familiar to him, that in another place he reduceth there­unto all Beauty. ‘What, saith he, in Psal. 36. will be the Pleasures we shall expect? They shall be accumulated with an abundance of Joy, answers the Prophet. Our Gold shall be the Peace; our Silver shall be the Peace; our Lands shall be the Peace; our God shall be our Peace: This Peace shall be all things to us. And this Peace is God himself, as is said in the sequel.’

But to lay open what as yet we see only confusedly in these general [Page 266] Terms, we must consider with St. Austin, de Civit. Dei, l. 19. c. 12. That as there is no man who desires not Joy, likewise there is none who wisheth not for Peace; and that even those who make War with themselves, do it only to overcome, and by consequence only to arrive at Peace.

He saith also, ‘Those who break the Peace, do not break it because they hate it, but to procure another ac­cording to their Fancies. Thieves and Robbers conserve Peace with their Companions, to the end they may di­sturb it Scot-free amongst others. All the World desires to live in Peace, with their Wives, Children, and Fami­lies: And even the severity which is used against those who disturb it, hath no other end but to maintain it. This desire of Peace is found amongst the Wicked, as well as amongst the Good. For they would have all things to ply and yield to them, that nothing resist them, which is a kind of Peace; and at the same time that they break it with God, by revolting against him, they desire it in their Souls and Bodies, but cannot have it.’

Now although this holy Doctor di­stinguishes afrerwards divers sorts of [Page 267] Peace, of the Body, of the sensitive Soul, and of the reasonable Soul, of the Soul and of the Body, and of the Soul with God, of Men amongst themselves, of a Town, of a State, of the Heaven­ly Jerusalem; yet it is visible that the Celestial peace consists in being in a state where our desires may be fully satisfied, where nothing may be that may resist our wills, because all resi­stance and all oppositions to our desires do disturb and trouble the peace and tranquillity of the Soul.

If the wills of Wicked Men could be fully satisfied, they would enjoy Peace; but this cannot be. For, besides desiring to be happy without God, is to desire an impossibility, moreover, Gods Justice opposes the accomplisment of their desires. They desire pleasure, and Gods Justice overwhelms them with griefs. They covet honours, and this Justice heaps infamies upon them: They are ambitious to have all subject to to them, and Justice makes all Crea­tures revolt against them, as a punish­ment for their disobedience.

The Stoicks bethought themselves of an ingenious means to compass Peace, if it could have been possible for Men, [Page 268] i. e. to desire nothing not in their pow­er: And by this means Mans desires would have been fully satisfied, seeing they would have asked nothing but what they should be able to give them­selves.

But they were not careful to consider that the Soul it not Mistriss of her de­sires: That there are some Natural ones which she cannot stifle: That she cannot but wish not to be deceived, not to suffer any harm, and not to die; Non falli, non offendi, non mori: That she is made to love: That not finding in her felf a perfect good, she must seek it out of her self, and that 'tis impos­sible that desiring this Good, she can be in Peace whilst she does not possess it, being her will is not satisfied, saith St. Austin, in Epist. 25. Ʋbi pax, ibi requies, ubi requies, ibi finis appetendorum. And con­sequently, not possessing what we wish as our end, there is no rest; and where there is no rest, there is no Peace.

Thus the Stoicks Doctrine, which was the ground of all their Philosophy, was really but a thought without any soli­dity, and is not the thing wherein the Peace of the Blessed consists. They are not exempt from desires inseparable [Page 269] from Mans nature, but they are abso­lutely from all irregular and illegitimate desires: so God accomplishing all their just desires, they have none at all which are not absolutely satisfied: So that since the beginning of their happiness, even to eternity, they shall not know any contradiction, not any opposition, neither within nor without them, and this shall be their Peace.

They shall desire to be absolute Ma­sters of their bodies, and that it may cause no harm to the Soul; and God will grant them this request so amply, that they shall have nothing to do but to wish themselves in a place, to be there, as St. Austin saith, De Civit. Dei. l. 22. c. 30. Ʋbi volet Spiritus, ibi protinus erit Corpus.

They shall desire not to be deceived, and they shall have a clear knowledge of all things, without error, labour or difficulty, because they shall drink Wis­dom even at the Fountain head. Rerum ibi omnium tam speciosa quam certa scien­tia, sine errore aliquo vel labore, ubi Dei sapientia de ipso suo fonte potabitur. Aug. de Civit. Dei. l. 21. c. 24.

They shall desire they may no [...] die, and they shall have an entire [Page 270] assurance of their Etermal happiness.

They shall desire perfect Justice, and they shall be so perfectly satisfied, that St. Austin saith, in comparison of this spring abounding with Justice, where­with they shall be filled, all that we can have in this life will be in lieu thereof but as a drop of Dew given us to asswage the miseries of this life, and to thaw the Ice of iniquity. In Ps. 122. Quantumcunque justitiae in nobis fuerit ros est nescio quis ad illum Fontem, ad illam Saginam stillicidia quaedam sunt, quis vitam nostram molliant, & duram iniquitatem solvant.

They shall all be equally fill'd there­with, by the exclusion from all injustice, and all stain, all self-love, which will be incompatible with Beatitude, and would change Heaven into Hell.

It is true, they will not all be enrich­ed alike with the gifts of God, and there will be among them several mea­sures of Charity and Light, which will cause diversitie of dwellings in the Heavenly Jerusalem; but each one, saith St. Austin, shall be perfectly con­tent with his share, and shall not bear malice to those who shall have a greater abundance, because the unity of Chari­ty [Page 271] will reign in them. Non erit invidia [...]paris Charitatis, quoniam regnabit in om­ [...]ibus unitas Charitatis. Aug. Tract. 67. [...]n Joan.

'Tis yet, saith he else where, De Ci­vit. Dei. l. 22. c. 30 one of the great [...]ods of this City, that they do not bear ma­ [...]ce to those whom they see above them; and we shall wish also as little to possess [...]hat we shall not have received, although [...]e may be perfectly united to him who [...]hall receive it, as the finger desires not to be the Eye, though the finger and the eye do enter into the structure of the same body. Every one will so possess there his share, one more, the other less, that he shall have the gift of not desiring more than what he [...]hall have received.

This inequality of gifts shall not at all trouble the Peace of this Hea­venly Jerusalem, nor shall it be altered by the consideration the just shall have thereof, the punishment of the Wick­ed, nor likewise by that of the digressi­ons and of the sins of our former lives. They shall not see in all that, any thing but occasions of praising Gods Justice and Mercy eternally. They shall approve all his actions, both as to themselves and others, and joyning perfectly their [Page 272] wills to his, nothing will be opposite to their Wills, as nothing is opposite to Will of God.

CHAP. XII.
Of the Ʋnity of the Blessed.

DAvid does not only invite us to contemplate the Heavenly Jeru­salem, but he proposeth to us more­over, as a motive the most capable to incline us thereunto, the Divine uni­on of her Inhabitants: Jerusalem, saith he, which is built like a Town, whose Inhabitants are united together. Jeru­salem quae aedificatur ut civitas, cujus par­ticipatis ejus in idipsum.

Indeed there is hardly any Object more sweet and comfortable, than this Union of the Society of the Elect. But yet to comprehend it better, we must ex­tend our minds through all the Degrees of Disunion and Union which can be observed among intelligible Creatures.

Sovereign Disunion is found in the Society of the Wicked, whether Men or Devils: for it is exteriour and inte­riour, both together. Each Reprobate, [Page 273] as we have already said, is an Enemy to all the rest; he hates them all, and is [...]ated of all; he knows their Hatred, and his is known to them. Therefore if there be any Society in them, 'tis but a Society of Place and Torments, a So­ciety the effect whereof is only to afflict one another, and reciprocally to contri­bute to each others Misery.

What comes nearest this horrible Disunion, is that which is found amongst Men, where the Devil reigns, and in the Kingdom of Concupiscence: For, besides the outward Wars and Divisions this Disunion produceth in many, they are all inwardly divided, as all seeking their own proper Interest.

Corrupt Man loves nothing but him­self, and can love nothing but in relation to himself: so that when he finds not this relation, he ceases loving, and be­gins to hate. Therefore if he have not an actual hatred against all others, yet he has the Principle thereof. 'Tis but presenting him the Object, in shewing him that some one is contrary to his De­signs, to his Desires, and to his proper Interests, to incline him to hate it actu­ally.

But as this Hatred which Worldly [Page 274] Men have for others, is often included in its Principle; and moreover as they do not know the Heart and Thoughts of one another, they sometimes think they are loved, or at least are not hated by other Men. Thus their interiour Dis­union, although real, remains yet con­cealed under the appearances of exteri­our Union, to which they are obliged by the several Necessities which render them depending on one another.

From this miserable Union we may proceed to an Union which may be stiled happy, but impossible: It's that which is amongst the true Christians, who have the Holy Ghost in their Hearts: For it cannot be denied but that they are uni­ted, seeing they are animated by the same Spirit; and this Spirit making them love God, makes them also love one another, God residing by his Grace in the Just. They assist one another by the mutual help of their Prayers; and they all participate, in some sort, of the Goods and Evils of each other.

But although this Union may be the greatest Good belonging to Man in this Life, yet he must acknowledge that it is very defective, and mingled with a great quantity of Miseries.

For, in the first place, true Christians generally do not know one the other; so they cannot tell that they are united, and they enjoy not the good of their Union. The number of true Christians which every man knows, is always very small, and we are not always outwardly very much united with those we know. The variety of Understandings, Pro­spects, and Humours, oftentimes pro­duceth among pious Persons a kind of exteriour disunion, and the most strict Amities are subject to wax cold, and to be changed and altered by false Reports, Suspicions, and rash Judgment. When we shall have freed all these Faults from the Ties and Obligations we may have to vertuous Men in this World, there rest two which are inseparable from them in this Life; the one, that we know not evidently the bottom of any Mans Heart; the other, that we cannot be assured of a Perseverance in Amity with whomsoever it may be, no more than in other Virtues.

For 'tis by the retrenchment of all these Defects, that we must conceive the Perfection of the Unity of the Bles­sed. They shall not only be all united inwardly and outwardly, but this Unity [Page 276] shall not be unknown to them. The Hearts of all the Citizens of this City of Peace shall be discovered to every of them. They shall not see in any of these Inha­bitants any diversity in Opinions, De­sires, or Intentions. They shall all love one another, and they shall all know they are loved by them; they shall ne­ver fear that this Love can ever alter by any coldness.

In fine, All that the mind of Man hath possibly been able to invent, to form a perfect Idea of Friendship, is found there in a manner infinitely raised above all they have said thereof: For they have been very far from conceiving this mu­tual penetration of Minds and Hearts, this Unity of Lights and Desires, and this incredible ardour of Love which is found in Heaven.

Now if the greatest of all earthly Goods be to love a small number of Peo­ple, and to know that one is loved, and even to open ones Heart to others with an entire confidence; what Joy ought this perfect Union which it hath with all others, to produce in the Hearts of all the Elect? To see in them the ardent Sentiments of Charity which they have for it, and to know also that they see [Page 277] theirs; to love them perfectly, and to see them perfectly happy? May not it truly be said, That they all enjoy thus a multiplied and redoubled Felicity, by that of others; and that each Elect shall not only be happy in his proper Person, but in the Persons of others, being he shall look upon their Happiness as his own?

What Joy to be united to so many Saints, of whom we hear spoken in the Church-Books? to know the ways by which God hath conducted them to the Happiness they possess, and all the mo­tions which he has formed in their Hearts? to know all that's passed be­twixt God and them, and what remains unknown to Men? to know entirely this innumerable Multitude, whereof we know so little? to penetrate into the Hearts of the Patriarchs, Prophets, the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and all the Saints both known and unknown? to know not only the History of the whole Celestial Jerusalem, which compriseth the whole Conduct of God upon the Elect, but to know it by themselves, and by the manifestation of their Hearts? to see the End, the Progress, and the Ac­complishment of all things, and in what [Page 278] manner all things have been made only for the Elect? O History which only deserves to be the Object of Christians Curiosity, and which ought to blot out in them all other Curiosity! O happy History, which only regards the happy, and whose knowledge renders us happy!

CHAP. XIII.
Of the Dominion of the Blessed.

THere is no doubt to be made but the Blessed do all possess a Domi­nion or Authority, seeing that Jesus Christ himself declared them Kings, in his Judgment, when he said to them, Come, the well-beloved of my Father, pos­sess the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. 'Tis also in consideration of this Supreme Honour whereunto they ought to be raised, that David cried out, How great, O Lord, is the glory wherewith you have honoured your friends? How strongly is their Prin­cipality established? Nimis honorificati sunt amici tui Deus, nimis confortatus est principatus eorum. Psal. 139.

How should not they be Kings in the other Life, seeing they are so in this, and St. Peter calls them, even in this World, Regal Priesthood, Regale Sacerdotium? How should they not be so, seeing they are Coheirs, Brethren, and Members of Jesus Christ, to whom his Father hath made all things subject? Subjecit es omnia, as St. Paul saith; and they are associated to his Inheritance, to his Body, and by consequence to his Dominion?

To know its Greatness, we need on­ly compare it with that of Earthly Kings, and so consider the difference.

What we observe in the Power of Earthly Kings, is, That 'tis terminated by their Deaths; and so being annexed to their Lives, becomes as vain and as unsolid as Mens Lives.

Likewise they do not possess it all the time they have the Title: For what is the Sovereignty of a King who sleeps? And who can believe, that a King who shall always have been asleep, had truly been King? They are not then Kings ef­fectively, when they do enjoy Sove­reignty, and act not like Kings. Now how much time is there in the Lives of Kings, wherein they do not think of their Royalty, and act nothing but mean [Page 280] Functions? But even when they think thereon the most, and would enjoy it the most, their Royalty does it exempt them from the miseries of this life and the infirmities of Nature? Do not trou­ble and vexation go about to attaque and seise them even upon the Throne? and do not they force them to forsake their Royal Imployments, to bring them down to very common Actions? There must be small amusements which hinder them from thinking of them, to help them to bear the weight of this Crown, which they cannot maintain▪ and with all these miserable Comforts, there are some who have not stuck to believe, that 'tis more advantagious to free themselves absolutely thereof. If this resolution be rare, 'tis perchance because 'tis rare for Men to follow Rea­son. For who can recount the trou­bles and pains that those have, who ap­pear the most happy, by maintaining their authority and power? how many supports and helps stand they in need of? how many Persons do they depend on? So that it may very well be said, Dominion is never bought but at the price of an infinity of Slavery, that there are no People more tormented and [Page 281] less at liberty than Princes. We obey Caesar, saith Cicero, and Caesar is obe­dient to time. So as we cannot know whereunto he will oblige us, he knows not himself what the con­junctures of time will oblige him to. Nos illi servimus, ille temporibus. Ita nec ille quid tempora postualtura sint, nec nos quid ipse postulet scire possumus. Behold what this Idol of Humane Vanity and Ambition is, which Worldly Men look upon as the Sovereign felicity of this life.

'Tis but taking the contrary to all these defects and miseries, to conceive what this divine Kingdom, which God hath prepared for his Elect, is. It is a Kingdom which is not only Eternal in it self, but that renders those who possess it Eternal. As it cannnot be lost, there needs no trouble to conserve it. We do not enjoy it by intervals and divers in­terruptions. We are never attaqued by trouble, melancholy, nor by weariness. We are there free from all misery, bon­dage, and from all cares. 'Tis a Kingdom which is never troubled with any War, because there we are not attackable by any Enemy

Lastly, 'tis a Kingdom possessed by an infinite of Kings, who are so far from [Page 282] diminishing the grandeur and the pow­er one of another, that they encrease and augment it on the contrary, and fortify it, because they have all one and the same heart, one and the same Minde, and make all together but one King, which is Jesus Christ. 'Tis to this Kingdom we are called. 'Tis this Kingdom which is promis'd us upon so favourable conditi­ons, that to obain it, 'tis sufficient to de­sire it sincerely.

CHAP. XIV.
What impressions Meditating of the Felici­ty of Heaven ought to make upon us.

AS we have hitherto only related the thoughts of the Fathers, to form the Idea of a Heavenly life, we will only follow them in the reflexions they have drawn from thence.

CHAP. XV.
The Conclusion.

A Great Wit of the latter Ages, considering on one side the cer­tainty of Christian Religion, and on the other, the Lives of those who make profession thereof, expresseth the asto­nishment wherein he was to see so little relation thereunto, in these Terms. ‘'Tis a great folly not to believe the Gospel, whose Truth is attested by the Blood of so many Martyrs, pub­lished openly by the Words of the Apostles, confirmed by the Testimo­ny of the Elements, and confessed by the Devils themselves: But 'tis yet a much greater one, not to doubt at all of the Truth of the Gospel, and to live as if there were no doubt of its falshood.’ Magna insania est Evangelio non credere, cujus veritatem sanguis Mar­tyrum clamat, Apostolicae resonant voces, Elementá loquuntur, Daemonès confitentur: Sed longe major insania est, cum de veritate Evangelii non dubites, sic vivere quasi de ejus falsitate non dubitates. Pic. de Mirand.

Now what this Author says in general of Christian Religion, and of the lives of Christians, is particularly sensible in respect of the Points whereof we have treated in this Writing; that is to say, of Judgment, Hell, and Heaven.

To make any question thereof, is a great folly; seeing they are established upon the Authority of the Gospel, and this upon so many Miracles, and the visible accomplishment of so many won­derful Prophesies.

Jesus Christ, saith St. Austin, in Ps. 73. hath executed fully all he had promised. Shall we believe that he would have de­ceived us in what he has told us concerning his Judgment? An vero exhibuit nobis omnia quae promisit, & de solo die Judicii nos fe­fellit? All that hath been written, saith he yet, in Psal. 144. has been accomplished in course of time; and after that, can we doubt he should not also accomplish the rest? Per omnes generationes reddidit quae scripta sunt, & quod restat non ei credetur?

There is no means that the Spirit can maintain it self in so unreasonable a pretension. We must believe, in spite of us, that there will be a Heaven and a Hell; that there will be an everlasting Fire, and a Glory which the Eyes have [Page 302] not seen, nor the Ears heard. No Man can withstand these Truths. We em­brace them, and we make a Profession of believing them. But what is't this Faith produceth? and what Consequen­ces hath, it in the Conduct of Christians Lives?

'Tis herein that this excess of Folly appears much greater than the defect of Faith. We believe a Hell and a Hea­ven, and we live as if we were certain there were neither. We walk with the same security, the same joy, and the same quiet in the way to Hell, as if we had a clear conviction, that all that's said were only a Story; and we lose the Kingdom of Heaven with as much in­difference, as if we believed it only to be an Illusion.

We likewise advance Extravagancy, even to make it pass for a sign of strength of Mind or Wit, never to think either of the one or the other, and to go brutishly to death, without ever so much as reflecting what must follow. We are troubled to suffer our selves to be spoken unto thereof; and those are of­tentimes the Discourses the least heark­ned to, which aim at placing these Ob­jects before our Eyes. We know well, [Page 303] saith one, all that is said thereof; but if you know it, why do not you do what this knowledge obliges you to do, without renoun­cing Reason?

'Tis an easie thing to acknowledge the excess of Folly in the Life of this World; and, which is strange, is, that it may be observed even in some Persons of Piety: For, in truth, there wants a great deal always to make these great Objects cause that Impression upon them which they should, and to make them live like People whose Voyage may be terminated at every moment by Heaven or Hell. It would be very easie to shew this in the most part of faults and weaknesses of pious Men; but it will be sufficient to conclude here generally, in respect of all the World, That the most evident, the most sensible, and the most convincing of all Truths, being, That we ought not to live in such a sort as may bring us to the heighth of all Mi­series, and deprive us of the sovereign Good; every Man, who has never so little sense, ought to regulate his Life so, as that he may have cause to believe he is marching towards Heaven, and not towards Hell; and that whosoever does not so, ought without intermit­ting [Page 304] rebuke himself: That he ought to judge hmself not only miserable, but out of his Wits: That he ought to sigh for his so miserable and unfortunate Condition, and acknowledge that all the World doth place it before his Eyes, to assist him to get out thereof. In a word, To be truly reasonable, is to la­bour seriously and only for Salvation. 'Tis yet to have some remain of Reason and Understanding, when we do it not at least to condemn our selves, and to desire an amendment of Life. But 'tis an abolishing absolutely of Reason, to live in repose, without being concerned for what shall happen in the next World.