C015/Y01479.json

[
{"content": "Among the numerous gifts of grace bestowed upon us by our Lord in this transient life, we must remember and cherish the immortal lovingkindnesses and thanks. Among these blessings and gifts, we are granted free will, and through our good deserts, we are supported and helped by His most divine mercy and grace. We are enabled to be the children of eternal salvation and to possess the joys of heaven, which are incomprehensible, inestimably blissful, and good. Due to our frailty and inconstancy, prone to fall, weak, and insufficient in ourselves to resist the alluring malice and temptation of our ancient enemy, the devil, He has given us His mercy as our relief. Reason to be our lantern, and Memory to order our guidance.\n\nFirst, of this precious gift of mercy, we may take great comfort. Verily, we are to trust him at all times as our creator and Redeemer. Submitting all our wills to his pleasure. Thirdly, we owe it to remember how we may stand in his grace. Considering what we were, what we are, and what we shall be. And since very prudence advises and teaches us that the conclusion of every thing should be most sovereignly attended to, we must be well informed and thoroughly seen and understood, not only seen and read, but also noted and often remembered. And if perhaps we find there any cause for complaint, or else any motion to blot or rust, having no despair in the Lord's mercy, for it is infinite. And truly, no such evil moving comes but from the instigation of our spiritual adversary, whom we must virtuously resist and continually rest upon the most firm pillar of our faith, which is the very assured shield and means of our salvation. The text teaches every soul to keep the ways of salvation for the inheriting of eternal joy and glory. Amen\n\nThe first principal part is of the bodily death. And to this belong three other singular parties.\n\nThe first of these three is how the remembrance of death makes a man meek and humble.\nThe second is how the remembrance of death makes him despise all vain worldly things.\nThe third is how the remembrance of death causes a man undisturbed to take upon himself penance and accept it with a glad heart.\n\nThe second principal part is of the last day of Judgment and contains in itself three other singular parties.\n\nThe first of these three is how the accusation at the day of Judgment is something to be feared.\nThe second is how the last day of Judgment is terrible and not without cause, for there must be given a due reckoning and account of every thing.\nThe third is how the terrible abiding of the extreme sentence causes doubts to be had of the Judgment.\n\nThe third principal part is The text discusses four principal parts of Hell and Heaven, as follows:\n\n1. The first is the various names of Hell in holy scripture.\n2. The second is the punishments endured by those who descend into Hell.\n3. The third is the diverse conditions of torment in the pains of Hell.\n4. The fourth is the blissful joys of Heaven, with three singular parties:\n   a. The first is the praise and reverence for the Kingdom of Heaven due to its beauty, clarity, and light.\n   b. The second is the praise for the numerous goodnesses found in the Kingdom of Heaven.\n   c. The third is the reason to rejoice in the perpetual and infinite joy and gladness of the celestial Kingdom.\n\nMemory of the last things, and thou shalt never sin. Ecclesiastes speaks these words in his seventh chapter. Also, Saint Augustine says: Keep the last things in mind, and thou shalt not fall into sin. saith in his book of meditacions. That man ought rather haue in fere and eschewe thabhominacion\u0304 & filthe of synne than ony other crueltees of thinfernal turmentis. Lo then\u0304e how the knowlege of these four last thinges and fre\u00a6quentyng the memorye and remembraunce of them cal\u2223leth us from synne / and draweth us to vertu / and confor\u00a6meth vs to alle good werkis. Wherfor by the helpe of the deuyne inspiracion I haue purposed to reherse and saye a lytyl of these four thingis As which they be / and what they be. And also to declare somwhat of euery of them sin\u00a6gulerly by them self / precyously and dignely by seyngis and auctoritees of seyntis / and generally by examples and seyngis of auctorised clerkis. It is to be noted that after the seyng of seyntes men seye comynly / ther be foure the last thnigis. And whiche they be it apperith clerly by the wordes of seynt Bernard in a sermon Where he seyth in al thi werkes haue remembraunce of thy last thingis. Whiche be four. That is to wete first. Deth bodely. Se\u2223conde. The third day is called the Day of Judgment. What is more horrible than death? What is more dreadful and terrible than the Day of Judgment? And what is more unbearable to suffer than the torments of hell? What is more joyful than celestial glory?\n\nSaint Bernard said in the same sermon, \"These are the four wheels of the chariot, which bring the soul to the everlasting glory of paradise. These are also four movings that awaken the spirit of man to that end, that he despise all worldly things and return to his creator and maker. It is both convenient and profitable that they be kept continually in remembrance. And therefore the wise man says in Ecclesiastes 28, 'Bear in mind the last and final things, and look always perfectly upon them, to the intent that they may be securely fixed and engraved in your memory.'\" The sovereign enforces him to have an assured mind and a whole remembrance of these four last things, and that they may cordially be impressed within your hearts. Therefore, it is consistent and agreeable, if it may please, that this present treatise may be entitled and bear the name of the Cordial.\n\nThus ends the prologue of this book named Cordial. Which treats of the four last and final things that are to come.\n\nAnd here begins the first part of the aforesaid four last things.\n\nThe first part of the four last things, of which the remembrance withdraws a man from sin, is death, present or temporal. And therefore, Saint Bernard says in a book called The Mirror of Monks: \"The most sovereign philosophy is to think always on death. And he who bears it in his mind: in whatever place soever he goes, shall never sin.\" Saint Augustine says in his book of exhortations: \"There is no thing that so effectively recalls and calls a man from sin as the remembrance of death. Certainly.\" It is that thing which causes a man to be humble and to despise himself, and to do penance. I say that recording the remembrance of death makes a man meek and humble, and therefore says St. Augustine in the book he made about our Lord. A man knowing himself to be mortal shall put from him all manner of pride. In truth, all other things as good as we have are uncertain. But of death only we may be well assured. And how is it that the hour thereof is hidden and uncertain from us yet always approaching and shall surely come without long tarrying? And to this purpose says Ecclesiastes in his thirteenth chapter. \"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;\" it is also written in Tobit that death hastens and that there is no fleeing from it. Also by the common law of nature every man must pay his mortal tribute. St. Bernard says in a sermon, \"O wretched man, why dost thou not dispose thyself to be ready at all hours? Think that thou art now dead, since thou knowest well enough that thou shalt be.\" That necessarily thou must die. Remember well how thine eyes will turn in thy head and the veins break in thy body, and thy heart will divide into two parts by the right sharp angish and pain of death. Who then is he that ought not to fear and make himself humble? When he knows certainly that he must return and become earth. Now truly there shall be no exception of persons. But all shall pass that way. For as it is written, the earth shall call Death. For it is a bitter morsel to all men in so much as no creature may escape it. And therefore it is said in the book of the dispraisyng of the world and distroieth all things created and made in flesh. She both beteth down the high and lowly, reigning imperially over the nobles and dreading no living creature; for her power is come over princes and dukes. She takes as well the young as the old, and when she strikes, she has mercy on no creature. All things created in flesh perish under her hand. Nor is there any so. But she destroys and wastes all things bringing life without rescue. There is nothing that spares it, whether poor or rich. She neither takes payment nor friendship. Certainly, death spares no one. For neither the poor nor the rich can escape from her grasp. I now understand that death is the end of all worldly living things. And therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes, the poet says that death takes away and annihilates all living things. Lo, is it not said that the wise Cato and the good Socrates are dead? Which gives an example that there is neither science nor doctrine that can preserve one from the destructive dart of death. It is written in Ecclesiastes in the second chapter. As the wise man dies as the fool. It is written in Isaiah in the thirtieth chapter. Where are the noble, the learned men? Where are the preachers of the word of God? Where are those who were accustomed to teach the children? Not and not be in the common course with others and do deeds out of this world. Now, I ask you to tell me, where is Hector of Troy, where is Julius Caesar, where is Alexander the Great, where is Judas Maccabeus, where is the mighty Samson, where is Crassus the rich, where is the fair Absalom, where is Galen the physician and Aesculapius his companion, where is the wise Solomon, where is Aristotle the philosopher, and where is Virgil the skilled poet? They are not all dead and passed out of this world as pilgrims and gestes, and they have all departed in a very short space: yes, certainly, there is not one left alive among them. All their joys were but vanities and have failed, and their days have been consumed and passed. And as the Psalter says, man passes his days resembling a shadow, and one time he is whole and strong of all his members, and the next day sick and laid in the earth. And as Chaucer says, our life is given to us to be full of doubt and fragility. A philosopher named Secundus clearly appeared and was questioned by Emperor Adrian about the being and state of man. He answered as follows: Man is subject to death, east of the place where he is, like a voyager passing. He is also like a red berry and a new apple, which evidently shows how fragile and fleeting is the life of a man. And not only the life of the poor people, but also the life of all human creatures, whether rich or powerful. For death spares no one. And although she is cruel and perverse, yet she keeps equal law in taking both kings and princes as well as the poor. Therefore, she gives great cause to weep if it is well read and taken from her. And Job in the 22nd chapter of his book of the rich and arrogant man says: \"Although his pride is inspired into the sky that his head should touch the clouds, yet in the end he will turn to nothing and be nothing.\" Like a dwelling place of Donghill. And those who have seen him will ask where he is now, and nothing of him will be found, no more than the fleeting dream passed in the night. Baruch in his third chapter asks, \"Where are now the princes of the people who were accustomed to have dominion over the beasts, and took recreation with houses and hawks of the air? And they gathered great treasures of gold and silver, in which men give their allegiance and trust. What has become of those who were busy and diligent here to forge gold and silver to gather and keep it? Certainly, their time is ended, and they have descended into hell. And now others are exalted and live in their places. Therefore, Prosper says in his sentence, \"Where are the orators not surpassed? Where are those who have conveniently disposed of their feasts? Where also are the palfrey keepers who kept the shining palfreys in their stables? Where are the captains of men of arms? And where are the lords and tyrants? Are they not all consumed and brought to nothing?\" Powder for the dead: And so it shall be for ours. Is not the effect of life altered into worms? Behold and look into their graves / whether you can know which is the lord, which is the servant, which was the poor, which was the rich. Discerningly judge if you can by knowledge the prisoner from the king, the strong from the weak, the faithful from the unfaithful. Chrysostom says, \"What has it availed those who have lived in lechery and the voluptuousness of this present life until their last days? Look at them now and behold in their sepulchres if you can see any sign of pride. If you can have any knowledge of their riches or their lechery, ask where their rich attire and their strange disguised garments with their voluptuous and nice looks have gone. And where are their great company and number of servants that followed them? Where are their lavish feasts, their games and their outrageous gladnesses beyond measure?\" And behold carefully the end of one thing and then of another and draw near their sepulchers. And you shall find nothing therein but only ashes. And the remainder stinking and full of worms. Remember yourself what is the end of all mortal men, whether they have passed the course of their lives in delightful pleasures or else in labor or in continence of their flesh. Yet all must die. St. Bernard says in his meditations: Tell me now where are the amorous people of this world who were among us. In truth, there is nothing left of them but ashes and worms. Think on them and remember often. What they were and what they have been before. They have been men, as you are, they have eaten and drunk, laughed and made great cheer in their times. And after, in a moment, they descended into hell. And their flesh delivered for worms' meat, and their soul given into hell. There to be tormented by fire, so that the body shall come and join. Agean them again, and be plunged into prisons or painful iron chains with those who have been their fellows in committing sins and transgressions without repentance, penance, and satisfaction. O what has it profited their vain glory, their short joy, and the power of this world, the voluptuousness of the flesh, the deceivable riches, the great number of their servants, the unhappy concupiscence? Where are their plays and disports? Where is their boasting and worldly pride? The more they had their delight and rejoiced in them here, the more shall be their pain and sorrow there. And so, after great voluptuous pleasure, they shall have a miserable and perpetual painful sorrow. Their being shall turn them to ruin and harsh torments. Lo, all that comes to them may happen to you. Thou art but a man. Homo sum, that is to say, a man made of earth. Thou art of the earth, and to the earth shalt thou return. The following people of this world, living fleshly and not fearing death, which is their neighbor, speak to the brethren of the Mount of our Lord. O ye miserable sinners, who suffer the wretchedness of this present life to return and lead you from the right way. And the greater part of your days you spend in making good cheer. You are descending to hell being alive. And each of you may say that the anguishes of sorrowful death have surrounded me, and I have found myself in the peril of hell. These are the miserable creatures that this present life deceives. Of whom is written in. Job. the 21st chapter. These felons, whose life is haunted by pomp and pride, and are comforted by their riches. They think that their seed shall abide forever by the multitude of their friends and neighbors, their houses to be always secure and in peace. The rod of God not to come upon them, their pleasures, they love the harp, the tabernacle, the organs, and all vanities. continue a while in that mirth / and suddenly they descend into hell. Oh greatly is he deceived and beguiled. Oh folly is he mocked / that for the flourishing vain beauty of this world shall descend down into hell / & lose the diadem of eternal glory. Truly the rich man who by sin has deserved the pains of hell had been better to have lived virtuously in great need and poverty all his life / than to have great abundance of riches and at last for his sinful life to be damned. Alas what profiteth it then / the great treasures and heaps of gold and silver. When sinners shall be sent into the low tenebres of hell / there to be punished and tormented everlastingly without end. My right dear brother and friend, what do you say of the rich and mighty people of this world? Do they not die as well as others? In good faith / it seems they are nothing privileged, for as it is written in the Book of Wisdom, the seventh chapter / the beginning of this life is one and common to all, and seemingly so is the end. Iob speaks in the forty-second chapter. This man dies strong and lusty, his belly full of grease and his bones full of marrow. And this other dies lean and feeble, full of sorrow and without any riches. Yet they shall both sleep in the earth, and worms shall eat them. Look, the rich and powerful men of this world have their death common and equal to the poor people. And therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes in the fifth chapter, \"The life of the mighty man is very brief. For today this man is a king, and tomorrow he is dead. Of such a kind is the man read about in the second chapter of the first book of Maccabees, how his glory is a foul dung-hill and as vile as a worm. He is exalted today: and tomorrow, there is nothing to be found of him. We have an example according to one of the highest and most excellent princes of this world. That is to wit, Alexander the great king of Macedon. Who subdued the universal world in such a manner that he was deemed to be the only lord of it. And it is reported that Alexander, the great king of Greece, obtained many victories in various lands. In his journey through diverse regions, he subdued all the world to his jurisdiction. In another place, he is reported to have been king of kings, and to have seen all realms subject to him. Thus, the wisdom of his renown and fortune created a universal monarchy, or an empire of the entire world. At one time, it was all bound and subject to him without disobedience. Therefore, he was the greatest of all the known world. However, what followed after he had triumphantly obtained the only empire of the universal world was not the stability of the reign, the perpetuity of might, the health of his body, or the long endurance of his life natural. On the contrary, he was subdued by the same thing that is common to all. That is, death. Therefore, Alexander might well have said, as Job did in the 15th chapter of his book, \"I.\" I am he who once was rich and mighty, and suddenly brought down, for I obtained only my empire. But only for a period of sixteen years. And therefore it is written of him in another place, that he ruled and was obeyed for sixteen years. And after that he was subject to death, of whom the renown still lives and cannot die. Apparently complaining of death himself, he might say, as is written in Job the nineteenth chapter, \"My glory has dispossessed me, and taken away the crown from my head, she has also utterly destroyed me, whereby it appears manifestly here, that death is the end of all men. And also that, Julius Caesar had the whole world under his empire, yet his glory failed him and left him but a tomb eight feet long. Whereby it seems that the mightiest royal power, all worldly prosperity, and the order of days: pass briefly from man without delay when the hour of death is come. And therefore says another poet, 'If you be wise, your greatest earthly power and all prosperous things pass away swiftly, and death comes to all.'\" wisdom departs with your death. If you are proud in riches, it leaves you at your death. If you are a prudent man, your prudence ends with your death. If you are honest, it is taken from you by death. If you are strong, your might fails by death. Certainly then I now know that the passing years take away from us all things. Wherefore, if you are rich, strong, or fair, what does it profit you? If you are a bishop, a priory, or an abbot, what does it profit you? If you are a great, excellent, and mighty lord, If you are a king or a pope, what avails it? All passes away right quickly without long delay, and here remains only the merits. Whereof you good brethren, we ought to think how brief and short is the worldly happiness, how little is the glory of this world, and how frail and fleeting is the temporal might thereof. And therefore every man may say: Where are the kings, where are the princes, where are the emperors? Where are the rich and mighty men of this world? They are all like a shadow/and transient as a dream of the night. For though one might seek them, they will not be found here. What more shall I say? The kings are dead and the princes are gone/nevertheless, many still believe they will live long and never die, but they are all foolish. Says the poet Ita in his epistles to Lucia. The issue of this present life is death. It undoes all living things. And every life ends in death. Certainly, the worldly death concludes all the vain felicities of men. If you preached the faith of Abraham, the pity of Joseph, the charity of Moses, the strength of Samson, the sweetness of David, the miracles of Elisha, and the riches and prudence of King Solomon, and in weeping occupied the extremities of all these in declaring their ends: the histories would show that there is but one conclusion. That is the saying, death. Here it appears. Rightly it is manifest by the thing aforemented that beauty, lineage, conditions, wit, riches, nor worship can keep a man, but that he must stumble and fall and return to ashes for all things that are engendered. Ovid says that all things which are engendered yearn and require to come again to their universal mother, that is to say, the earth. For all that has been and passed before, may be likened to a running river. It seems to me, wretch that I am, brought almost to nothing, and have not known it for my days are past from me, little, and little as a shadow. And I am dried as the withered herb. Certainly we are nothing but powder. Men's days are like the flowers in a meadow, and themselves may be likened to the fleeting flower that grows in the meadow. Now observe this, for man is a thing that endures but a short space and is of the nature of the fleeting flower that grows in the meadow. It is written in Isaiah the forty-first chapter. All flesh is grass, and his glory like the flower of the field. Very all people are like the wilting flower. But the word of the Lord remains and endures. Why then does a man set himself in pomp and pride, being like the withered head of the field? It is written by Innocent in the book of our miserable condition. Human flesh is the vessel of filth, and a vessel of tears, a dry thought, a stinking sack. The life of the flesh is labor. The conception of the flesh is but filth. The end thereof is rottenness. And the birth is but vile. It was first a seed. That is to say, the seed of man. And now it is a stinking sack. And after, it shall be worms' meat in the earth. Now why should a man be proud? St. Bernard says in his book of Meditations. Why should a man grow proud since the conception of man is in sin? And of all the birth in pain, the life in labor, and necessarily all must die. And after death turn to worms, and after worms to filth and stench. Lo. \"thus finally every man is clearly converted and turned out of all humanity. Consider your beginning, middle, and end, and you will find a great occasion and cause to make and humble yourself. Now what do you say? What do you think? What reckoning do you make of yourself? Are you not just powder of the earth? It is written in the 12th chapter, but more plainly in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes. The powder returns to the earth that it came from. That is, to rot in the cold earth full of worms. And therefore he writes, \"I have said to rottenness, you are my father and my mother.\" And I have said to the worms, \"you are my brothers and my sisters.\" It is read in Ecclesiastes in the 17th chapter that every man is earth and ashes, and from that have taken their being. Also it was said to a man, \"You are but powder, and to powder shall you return.\" And as Alain de Lille warns and admonishes the man when you shall lie in the cold earth.\" Thou shalt be torn to powder and worms' meat, and from thenceforth no creature will be willing to look upon thee. For thy flesh shall be more rank in stench than the flesh of a rotting corpse. According to that holy man, St. Bernard, what is more vile and stinking than human care? And what is more odious to behold than a dead man? The more delectable he has been in life, to the contrary, his look shall be horrible after his death. What will riches profit us: pleasures and worldly worship? Riches do not defend us from death nor pleasures from worms nor worship from foul stinking things. O mighty God eternal, in how miserable a chance is man included. Certainly, my right dear friend, if you had pondered diligently on these matters, you should thereby find a great occasion to make and humble yourself. The remembrance of death causes humility in man. It appears well by the third book of Kings in the 21st chapter. Chapter of King Ahab. When he heard of Helly's prophecy of death approaching him, he made himself submissive before the Lord, who spoke to Elijah and said, \"See how Ahab has humbled himself before me. For it is reported that at some time, when men created a pope, a piece of flax was brought before him, and these words were spoken: 'Thus passes the vain glory of this world. Likewise, the glory of this world fails and passes away.' Isidore also reports that anciently, at the coronation of the Emperor of Constantinople, when he was seated in his greatest glory, a mason would come before him and show him three or four marble stones, saying that he should choose from which one he would have his tomb made. It is read of St. John, once patriarch of Alexandria, that had commanded to: Make his tomb and would in no way have it fully finished and ordered for great and solemn festivals when he was in his highest honor. One should come to him and say that your tomb is not fully accomplished or performed. Give commands that it be finished, for you do not know how you shall die nor when they will come who are to undermine the devil that forces himself to destroy souls. And why did the pope, the emperor, and the patriarch do such things? Who were the men most excellent in state of all the world, but only to confess and acknowledge to themselves that they were mortal. And thereby they should have before them the remembrance of death to cause them to be more humble in all their works. And so says a prophet: Know all people that men have come and been made of earth. Therefore, they must necessarily die. It is also written in Ecclesiastes, in the one and forty chapter, \"All things that come from the earth: shall be converted again to the earth. Whereof man is come, as it is well known. And therefore says Jeremiah the prophet in the twenty-second chapter, 'Earth, earth, earth. Now hearken to my words. He called man thrice earth: because he may so be named in three ways. First, he is earth/for he is made of the earth. Secondly, his conversation is in the earth/ And finally, he returns into the earth/ So is he earth in his creation, in his conversation, and in his death. He is earth by his nature in his life/ And in his sepulcher he has enriched the earth/ he has loved the earth, he has desired and cultivated the earth. The body of man is taken and plowed in the earth/ And yet he forgets the celestial things/ and pleases himself with the terrestrial, and gives battle for the earth. He goes/ He comes, and turns about the earth to have the earth/ And often in anger. Payne and labor now here and there, and all for the earth, and never singing till he is himself, who comes from the earth, returns again to his first mother - that is to say, the earth. It may be said, as it is written in Third Kings, in the second chapter: \"I depart and pass the common way of the universe's earth, and for as much as we are bound with the slime of the earth, the mud of the earth, and are right vile things. Wherefore should we then be proud of ourselves, knowing we come from the earth, living in the earth, conversing in the earth, and finally shall return into the earth. As every day appears evidently to all people.\n\nRemembrance of death causes a man to despise all earthly vain things and to regard them as nothing. Therefore, says Saint Jerome in the prologue of the Bible, that he always despises all bad things: he always remembers how he must die. The concupiscence of the eyes is despised when one remembers that he shall. \"shortly part from earthly things; the desire of the flesh is despised: when one remembers that his body shall become food for worms in a moment; the pomp and pride of this life are set at naught. When a man contemplates in his heart how he who would be above all others shall be hastily cast into the earth under the feet of others. For this reason, says Saint Jerome, in a letter to Cypriane, remember the joy of your death: and you shall not sin. He who always keeps in mind how he must die: easily dispenses with all present things, disposing himself to all good things that are to come. Certainly, Esau, considering how death was near to him, despised lightly all worldly things. It is written in Genesis, in the twenty-fifth chapter: \"Behold, I die, and what shall profit me all these things that I have been born for?\" Isidore also advises himself of the brevity of this present life, which is so soon passed and that all that men are.\" If you wish to possess what I am about to leave behind suddenly by death, I exhort every man to despise such things. If you desire peace and seek nothing of this world, you will be quiet in your heart, if you put aside all desires and curious busynesses of this life. Set aside all things that may distract and hinder your good purpose. Be dead to the world, and the world to you. Behold the vain glory of this world as though you were dead. Disengage yourself and depart from the voluptuousness of this world. And as a man finishes, have no affection for this world. And as a man passes out of this world, purge yourself of all kinds of filth. Seneca also says that there is no profit in such temperance and disdain of all worldly things as much as contemplating often the short and uncertain nature of this present life. Therefore, my right dear friend, remember often in your heart how you must die. It is read in a book. A long time ago, there was a wise philosopher who completely abandoned himself to the vanities of this world. He once heard about the long lives of ancient fathers, and it was said of each one that they were dead in the end. As it is written in Genesis, in the fifth chapter. Then, he thought to himself that death might happen to him as it did to them, since he was very old. He quickly entered religion and took the order of preachers. He was later made master of Theology in Paris. From that day on, he lived a very holy life. Oh, how fortunate this man would have been to have the words of Ecclesiastes before his eyes. In the twelfth chapter, it says, \"The man who has lived many years and has been glad and joyful, let him remember his last days, and the coming of the dark time. For then it will be in vain to argue about things past for his relief. Certainly, at the day of death appears the vanity of vanities, and how all things shall be.\" For this reason, it is written in Ecclesiastes, in the third chapter: All things are meaningless and empty. This is true of all things in this world, and of each one in particular. Our life and every worldly creature is meaningless. And so the prophet says that, in general, every living man is meaningless. You think you will live a long time and possess your temporal goods delightfully for many years. My dear friend, it will be otherwise. Man is like vanity, and his days pass like a shadow. Behold now and see how short your days will be, and another will come and take your possessions. To this purpose, Chaton says, \"Do not promise yourself that you will have a long life, for in whatever place you enter, death always follows the shadow of your body.\" Therefore, if you look up and carefully consider in your heart what will be shown to you in the hereafter, you should rather say these words. I. Although I am about to die, I trust that I will live on for a long time. It may be the last day of my life. The holy and blessed man Saint Luke says in his 14th chapter, \"O fool, this night your soul will be asked of you, and you will certainly know that the dispossession of your tabernacles is but light.\" As it is written in the second epistle of Saint Peter, in the first chapter, \"Consider that you have died: when you know that after a number of years you are certain to die. Therefore, despise all transitory things that must be hastily left behind, as if it were a matter of indifference to you.\" The poet says that wisdom, rent from the land's possession of riches, the making of walled towns, the building of houses, the glorious manner of living at the table, with pleasant drinks as well as delicious foods, the soft, well-hung and dressed beds, white tablecloths, bright burnished cups, and rich garments, are all contrary to the good. \"The great flocks or herds of beasts inhabit the great countries of arable lands. The vineyard dwellers abundantly set with vines. And the joy and love of his own children. Yet all this will be relinquished, passed, and lost, and nothing will be found of it afterward. By these things may be seen that in this present life, nothing is stable or permanent, which ought to cause fear. Therefore writes Ecclesiastes in the second Chapter: I have greatly exalted my works. I have built myself fair houses. I have planted vines. I have made gardens. In them I have grafted all manner of trees. I have also cast pounds and stagnes, and have set trees in the forest. I have had servants and chamberlains and great company in my household more than ever had any before me in Jerusalem. I have had great flocks of sheep and herds of beasts. I have assembled for myself gold and silver, and gathered the treasure of kings and provinces, my neighbors. And also have heard before me singers.\" Both men and women, and many delightments of children, have I had. I have surpassed all in riches who have been before me in Jerusalem. Wisdom also always prevailed in me, and I have not denied or defended myself from anything my eyes desired, except that they have had no pleasure but in such things that I had ordained. And when I turned myself and beheld well all these things and the works that my hands had wrought, and looked upon the labor that I had many times sweetened in, and all for naught I perceived then and knew well that all my works were in vain and an affliction of the spirit. And under the sun in this world, there is nothing permanent or sure. Therefore, says John of Garland, that all things of this world, which were and shall be, perish in the moment of an hour. What profit is there then to have been, to be now, or to be hereafter? Certain things are transient and lack flourish for all that exists or will exist has an ending. The world passes and so does its desire. Therefore, a wise man should consider obtaining treasure that is quickly lost. Saint Bernard says in his book of meditations: \"Why should any man make treasure here of riches? Set aside both that which is accumulated and he who gathers it, for both are passing and will be lost.\" O man, what do you intend to have in this world: when the fruit is but ruinous and the end is death. My dear and good friend, I wish you would understand these things and arrange for your last things. Peter of Blois says in a letter: \"The deceptive and vain glory of this world beguiles all those who love it. For all that it promises in future time or presents in the present time fails and comes to nothing, like water cast upon the earth.\" Observe how frail, how deceptive, and how transient. Vaine is the world and its joy that we desire so little. O thou fool, why do you lightly dispise those things that you see so briefly fail and pass? Do you not know that the world is nothing and furious, and in its lust it perishes by the cruel grip of death? It is indeed true that no argument can serve against the contrary. Therefore, and by the things aforementioned: it appears manifestly how remembrance of death should cause disdain for all worldly things and withdraw a man from falling into sin.\n\nFollowing the order set forth, it is now to inquire diligently how remembrance of death causes a man to do penance and gladly accept it. This is clear from the prophet Jonah in the third chapter, speaking of those of Nineveh who did penance out of fear of death. Therefore, Saint John the Baptist incites men also to do penance. As Saint Luke writes in his third chapter, saying, \"Do penance and bear fruits worthy of repentance.\" And he says afterward, \"The ax is laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.\" The axe is set to the root of the tree. This signifies the threatenings of death. Therefore, says St. Ambrose on Luke: Alas, Lord, if I have not wept for my sins. Alas, Lord, if I have not risen at midnight to confess to thee. Alas, if I have deceived my neighbor. Alas, if I have not always spoken the truth. The axe is ready set to the root. Every man therefore then do penance and deserve the fruit of grace. For here comes the Lord to ask the fruit of our life. For this cause Job, considering the shortness of this present life, had rather and chosen to have repentance presently than afterward, by which should grow no fruit. The same, Job, said in his tenth chapter: Shall not my short days quickly end? Yes, in truth. The life present is right short. Alas, then, a little while let me complain and bewail my sorrow before my departing into the tenebrous darkness of death without returning. And it is also said in Job the forty-fourth chapter: Man's days are brief. It is written in the. First, in the seventh chapter of Corinthians, St. Augustine says that it is better to have endured a little bitterness and lived a long life, rather than to repent endlessly. He adds that a wise man would ask what profit a man gains by living for 200 years, only to think at his death that his entire life has passed like the wind. St. Augustine also says in the Psalter that if a person had lived from the time Adam was expelled from paradise until that day, and was to die, they would consider their life not long. No matter how long a man's life may be, it can be lengthened as much more to cause many years, yet it will still fail and vanish like the shining of the morning sun. St. Augustine further states in an Omely that we are more fragile and brittle than glass. Although glass can be broken, if it is well kept, it may not break. But man's life, however well and diligently kept, does not endure long. It is written in the Hebrew book, in the ninth chapter, \"It is established and ordained for every creature to die.\" Seneca says in his book of remedies against fortune, \"Our life is but a pilgrimage, and when one has walked long, he must finally return.\" This necessity to die and the shortness of human life was well considered by the pagan. Xerxes, of whom St. Jerome wrote in a letter to Elijah, saying that this powerful king Xerxes, who subdued mountains and covered the seas, being in a high place, looked upon the infinite multitude of his host and tenderly wept, because he knew that none of those whom he held would live over a few years. It is a necessary thing in the world that man's life not be prolonged excessively. And as Balaam says, \"It is likened to a tree having two worms gnawing in the root; the one black and the other white, in the similitude of the two classes of men, the wicked and the righteous.\" This life is a doubtful life, a blind life, and a needy one. St. Augustine, on the seeing of St. John in his third chapter treating of the question \"What is our life?\" &c. This life is a doubtful life, a blind life, and a needy one. Humors make it bearable, sorrows make it weak, heat dries it, the eye disposes it to sickness, food makes it swell, fasting makes it lean, pleasures make it err, weeping destroys it, busyness constrains it, severity makes it rude, riches enhance it, poverty abates it, weeping abashes it, youth makes it wan, age makes it yield, sickness makes it break. And after all this comes death, which destroys and makes an end of it with all his joys in such a way that when the joys are past, all seems as if they had never been. It is also read in the Book of Wisdom in the second chapter that the days of our life are but short, and yet they are full of grief. We are made:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Middle English. No significant OCR errors were detected, so no corrections were made.) And yet we know not whence. And after we shall be: as if we had never been. For our days pass like a shadow. It is written in the same book of Wisdom in the same chapter that our life passes like the trace of a cloud and shall fail like the little cloud that is broken by the might of the sunbeams. It is written in Job. Behold how my days have all passed, and I shall go forth in the path, and shall never return. Also the same. Job says in the ninth chapter, My days are passed more swiftly than a chariot or a messenger. They have gone lightly away like ships that are laden with apples. Or like an egg does fly for its food. Job says also, My days are passed more swiftly than cloth is cut from the loom, and they are all wasted without any hope of recovery. O Lord God, remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return again to see the good things to come. To this purpose speaks Peter of Blois in his book called Aurora, My life shall be sooner out. In this world, life is more transient than a web of cloth cut from the loom. Remember how short, how little, how changeable, how deceitful our present life is. Ecclesiastes in the eighteenth chapter says, \"It is great age for a man to be seventy years old. But by the passage of time, it is greatly diminished. It is written in the Psalter, 'The days of our years are seventy, and if we reach eighty years: to surpass this is but labor and sorrow. But what is it of sixty years, or yet of forty? This ought not to be taken for a long time and a great space of years. Certainly not, in regard to guarding eternity. It ought rather to be named a moment than a space of time. For to our Lord, a year is but as yesterday, which quickly passes. Indeed, this life is short and transient: not only to be pondered or endured for its brevity, but much more for its uncertainty, which is doubtful and full of tribulation. \"Casual paradox: and we are not certain of it day nor hour. And when it shows us fortune and peace, then suddenly comes death. And perhaps with it, that deceiver, Satan. Therefore, a poet tells us. Who knows himself to live many years: since we do not know whether we shall die tomorrow or sooner. It is written in Isaiah. The forty-eighth chapter saying, \"Dispose your house: for you shall die soon: and not long live.\" Isaiah also says in the same chapter, \"My life is snatched from me as a piece of cloth from a loom. And when I began first to live, then death began to approach me. For this reason it is said in the book of Ecclesiastes in the fifth chapter, 'We are soon born and soon depart from being.' Seneca says in his letters, 'Every day we die, and every day is taken away from us a part of our life. Thus, what is our life: other than a passage, or a running toward death. And therefore, it is not unreasonable that she be likened to an ox, which goes always from degree to degree.'\" The degree continually moves until it reaches a certain point, and then strikes suddenly upon the bell, which constrains the sound. Our life passes away and runs continually until it reaches a certain point. That is to say, the hour of our death, which the Lord has fixed, and no man can pass it. And then our life falls and fails without remedy. Awake and attend wisely to the end of your life, for your allotment has but few degrees to run, and every hour passes over many. And when it comes to the last, you will stumble suddenly into the cavern or cause of death. Now listen to what a poet says: The present life is short and fleeting, and fades away like a shadow, and departs and falls suddenly, when we think that it is most permanent and enduring, and in the midst of our life we are often at our death. And therefore, in Ecclesiastes in the ninth chapter, it is said that man knows not his end, but as a fish taken with a net, and the birds with a snare. Similarly, men The life of man is taken at inconvenient times. Thus comes our end and death is the last thing to all things bearing life. It is written in a book of the life and deeds of the great Alexandre. Oh, how happy would a man be if he always had in remembrance the eternal joys. And fear death, which is ordained for the nobles as well as for the poor people. Which comes to the great peril and danger of the soul when it is unpurified.\n\nLo here then, my right dear friend, you see well that the life of man is but a thing diked about, and surrounded with rude death. Our flesh is but ashes. And such was the beginning: such shall be the end. Saint Bernard says, \"When I remember that I am but ashes, and that my end approaches, my fear and dread are without end, and I grow cold as ashes.\" And therefore, as Saint Gregory says, \"That man solicits his good works: that he always thinks upon his last end. And we should fear that every day should be our last day. And always have in mind: that necessarily we must die.\" Who may have the bold courage considering approaching of our death, which is coming. Who is he also that ought not then to think diligently that our days and our years fail and waste as smoke? And that man, naturally born, lives but a short space, and fades as a flower, and flees away like a shadow? Who is he also that calls these things to mind and weighs them well in his heart, and so subdues the devil the flesh and the world and repents him in this short space? There is no one that delays and is negligent in this: but only those that are blinded in malice and lack of grace. O how great a pain shall ensew (ensue) for the negligent, says the apostle. To the Hebrews in the second chapter, he says, \"How shall we escape who despise so great a salvation as to say, we might have had heaven if we would?\" And St. Jerome says, \"My right dear brothers and friends: if we are negligent in the little space of time that we have now, we shall have no manner of excuse to allege for remedy of our.\" synnes. Therefore do not despise the shortness of this time. But do penance while you have the opportunity, for after it will be too late and fruitless. It is better to do penance here than infinitely, and eventually be shut out with the vain and foolish virgins, as Saint Matthew says in his twenty-fifth chapter. Behold, here is the bridegroom, and those who were ready have entered with him to the wedding. Whereupon Saint Gregory says, \"How wondrous was that word to them: the bridegroom who had come. How sweet was that word to them who entered with him to the wedding. And how bitter were the other words. The gates are shut and closed. My dear friend, if you truly savored and understood all these things and beheld them in your heart, certainly you would run with all diligence to do penance. And you would not lose so unprofitably, and without fruit, the acceptable time and days of your health. For no manner of voluptuous pleasures or other idleness. And as it is written: Written in the Apocalypse in the second chapter. Remember when you fall or depart, and do penance. It is recorded how, in days past, it happened in the Abbey of Cluny, that a holy man, in the midst of his prayers, heard a voice making a pitiful lamentation. And as he asked who it was: A soul answered, saying, \"I am the soul of a damned man, complaining of my unhappy state of condemnation. And then I demanded of him his pain, which answered that of all things that cause most pain to a damned soul, it was the loss of time. God had ordained man, by His grace, that he might have done penance in a little time and be delivered from the everlasting pains of the gehenna of hell. To this purpose, said Hugh of St. Victor. The lack of the sight of our Lord, and failing of all the goods of grace, that we might have had, would surmount and be more grievous to us than all the infernal torment. Let us do good works while we have time, lest we say in repentance, \"As is said in, \" (End of text) I hereby, in the sixth chapter. That is to say, Lent is past, summer is finished, and we are not saved. Wherefore, my friends, I require and humbly pray you, that you will amend yourselves in short time and be ready in an hour for the evening service. The Reaper shall come to render account to every man according to his works. It may appear by these examples how the remembrance of death should induce a man to do penance. It is read of a felonious and cruel knight who would never accept nor do any penance enjoined upon him by the pope. Alexander. And at last, the pope gave him his ring to bear on his finger: by way of penance. And as often as he beheld it, to think on his death, and when he had borne it a space of time with that remembrance on a day, he came again to the pope, saying, he was ready to shrine himself and to fulfill any other manner of penance that he would enjoin him. It is read of another sinner who in like manner would do no penance, & at last his confessor\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Middle English. No significant OCR errors were detected, so no corrections were made.) enjoyed him who should command his servant to present him every day at his table with the first mess and a staff with the rim scorched. saying, \"Sir, remember that necessarily you must die. Not knowing where, when, in what manner, nor how. And this was continued for a while, because of that Remembrance, all that he ate turned him to grief and trouble. Then he called again for his confessor. saying he was ready to do and obey any penance that he would ordain. For his heart vaunted itself then clearly I need not explain how Remembrance of death causes a man to humble himself, to despise all worldly things, and acceptably take upon him to do penance and consequently to eschew sins. And therefore, my right dear brethren and friends, remember often, you and right often, that you shall die. And if you bear in your minds the death, you shall well come by that remembrance to the most happy resort of life. That is to wit The heritage of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thus. The first part of this treatise concludes, dealing with four things that frequently bring us to remember and call us away from sin: The second part refers to the last and final day of judgment, which the memory recalls not only from grave sins but also from venial ones. It is read in Uias Patrum, in the lives of the Fathers, that an old man seeing a young man laugh recklessly said, \"Soon we must give account of all our life before heaven and earth. Why do you laugh so fast? If you knew how strict an accounting will be at the day of judgment for all sins, great and small, you would rather weep and repent. Now is the time to weep and put away sins. And those who weep for their sins now will laugh later. Saint Gregory says in his Homily that the joy of this present time ought to be such that the bitterness of the day of judgment may be balanced by it. Ecclesiastes. The forty-eighth chapter. Remember this in judgment. And also the Lord, through His prophet in the Psalter, says, \"When I shall see or have time, I will judge and do justice to every one.\" And Joel says in his last chapter, \"Arise and come to Judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will judge all people.\" In Jeremiah's second chapter, the Lord says, \"I will contend with you in judgment.\" Of this judgment is written, Osee. In the fourth chapter, \"The judgment pertaining to our Lord upon the inhabitants of the earth.\" Sincerely, this judgment is greatly to be doubted. Therefore, the prophet says, \"I fear for your judgments.\" It is written in the book of Hosea. In the fifth chapter, \"Those who see the great Judge will be horribly troubled, playing and wailing the fear of their souls. In this day, all people will be troubled, and those who dwell in the farthest parts of the earth will fear those tokens and signs.\" \"Shall they doubt it, and not without cause, for they will be marvelously horrible. Saint Luke says in his twenty-first chapter, 'When the Son of Man will show himself, that is to say, the Child in the stars, and on the earth people will be filled with dread, trembling at the sound of the trumpet of the Lord, and all the world will fall down for the fear they will have then.' O wretched man, remember the terrible coming of this Judge: he is both God and man, before whom is a burning fire and a strong tempest. I say there will be a fire before him which will flame fully around his enemies. It is written to the Hebrews in the tenth chapter, 'The terror of this judgment is right terrible, and the fear of it, which will destroy his adversaries.' Malachi says in his third chapter, 'Behold the day that comes, flaming like an oven, and then it will burn all the arrogant and those who commit evil.' It is read in Isaiah, in the forty-seventh chapter, 'Here is our Lord who will come and judge.'\" by fire. And Iohell, in his second chapter, says: He shall have a fire before his face consuming, and behind him a burning flame. For this reason, Malachy, in his third chapter, asks: Who will then be the one who will see our Lord? For he will be like a glowing fire, set to make clean and purge silver. Who is that of a devout heart who will not fear with all his heart this Judge and his coming? And the Saints Gregory on Ezechiel ask: Who can have that courage, but he who will fear and dread the presence of the eternal Judge, when all things will come into the sight of every man? And all things done before by delight will be called to remembrance with great fear. Certainly, as it is written in the Proverbs in the thirty-sixth chapter: The wicked do not think of the Judgment. But they desire and dread God: let them have all good things in their hearts. Saint Bernard says in a prose: Truly I fear the Judge who will come to whom nothing can be hidden, and who will punish all things unpunished. And who will he be? The text below describes reasons why the Last Judgment should be feared. The first reason is the manifold and diverse accusations against all sinners. In the holy scriptures, we find seven things that accuse sinners at the great day of judgment.\n\nThe first is our own conscience. conscience. Who shall argue against the sinner, not secretly but manifestly before all. It is written in Damascenes seventh chapter. Thy judgment is set, and the books are open. That is to say, the consciences which then are openly uttered. In those books are contained the sciences of life or of death, of glory and of confusion, of salvation perpetual or eternal damnation. It is also read in Revelation, chapter twenty. That deceased men shall be judged of the things written in their own books. That is to say, in their consciences. Therefore it is written in the Epistle to the Romans in the second chapter, that their consciences shall bear witness for them. For as the witness of the evil conscience is the accusation, the pain, and the torment of sinners: Right so shall the good conscience be help and salvation to the good creatures. The second thing that shall accuse the sinners shall be the fiends and the evil spirits. Which falsely and treacherously have procured and stirred men accuse a sinner as one thief accuses another of a crime done by both. It is written in the Apocalypse, the 12th Chapter. The devil is called the accuser of brethren. And St. Augustine says, \"They are all before the judicial seat of Jesus Christ. And there the devils shall be ready. Which shall rehearse the words of our profession and shall oppose to our face what we have done and in what we have sinned and in what place, and what we ought to have done and left undone. Truly our adversary, that same devil, shall say then, 'Righteous and just Judge: Judge this man for his sins. For he will not be thine by grace. He is thine by nature. He is mine by his misery. He is thine by thy passion. He is mine by persuasions. He has been disobedient to thee. He has been consorting with me. He has received of the thief of Immortalite, and from me this black garment that he wore of perpetual death. He has left thy liver and'.\" \"he has taken my joy and bliss, and has taken my sorrow and pain. O just judge. Judge him therefore to be mine, and let him be condemned with me perpetually. These words spoke our Lord to Saint Augustine. The third thing that accuses sinners shall be angels and the good spirits. It is certain that he who has given them our souls to keep will require an accounting. As those who never lie nor take upon themselves the sin or fault of others, they must necessarily say, they are not to blame. But the guilt is in us sinners. Who would not obey or believe them? It seems not the fault of the physician, who does his cure as it appears. Therefore it is written, \"Ieremy 1.50. We have had Babylon in care, and yet she is not healed. These are the words of the angels as they will say. We have done all that was necessary to be done for her to be healed and bound.\" In her default, she is not belied. This. Babylon is to be likened to man's soul. The fourth thing that shall accuse sinners is creatures. And if you asked me, what creatures they are, I answer thee, each and every one of them by themselves. For and the Creator of all things is offended, all the good creatures shall hate him: he who has displeased him. As Job says in his twentieth chapter, the heavens shall show and lift up the evil works of the sinners and the earth shall testify against them. For our Lord shall call upon him the heaven above, and the earth cannot discern his people. And therefore says Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. Matthew. There is no thing that we shall be able to remedy by answer that day when the heaven and the earth, the sun and the moon, the night and the day, and all the world shall bear witness against us for our sins. Therefore says St. Gregory. If you ask me, Who shall accuse thee? I say to thee, all the world. And that the creatures shall be the accusers. The book of Wisdom in the fifth chapter states that not only should we accuse sinners, but we should also require the Creator to take vengeance on them for their sins. To accomplish this, all creatures will be armed against His enemies and will fight the whole world against those who have been insensate, that is, against sinners. All creatures, acknowledging Him as the maker of all things, will chase them and inflict punishments upon those who have not been just.\n\nThe five things that will accuse sinners will be miserable persons who have suffered many wrongs. At that time, the prophet's word will be fulfilled, which says, \"I have known that our Lord will give judgment for the afflicted ones, and will avenge the cause of those who cannot.\" He who observes the deep depths of the seas and sits enthroned above all. Cherubim and Seraphim go before Him with winds all around: He is more terrible in His counsel and will than are the sons of men. He will then judge the causes of poor men who have been constant, and hold against those who have caused them much anguish. The father of orphans and the judge of widows will right all wrongs, and the patients of poor people shall not perish. The subjects will also accuse the felons and negligent prelates and curates. Therefore, Saint Bernard says on the Canticles: \"O how cruel our Lord will be upon the sons of men. Indeed, the wretched sinner will say then for naught to the mountains. Fall upon us and cover us. They will come before the tribunal seat of Jesus Christ where there will be heard most grievous accusations by those who have paid their wages and born dispenses wrongfully and their sins shall not be defaced nor hidden from those who fraudulently have blinded their doctors.\" Confessors. The fifth thing that shall accuse sinners is malice and sin. We read in Jeremiah, the second chapter, Thy malice shall accuse thee, and thy refusing shall blame thee. For sins shall then be bound to the neck of sinners. To this purpose says Osee in his thirteen chapter, The iniquity of fearing is bound to overtake and his sins are not hid. We read, My iniquities are bound and laid on my neck; and as the stolen goods taken in the neck of a thief accuse him, so sin shall then accuse the wretched sinner. It is written also in Proverbs, the fifth chapter, Iniquities shall take the felon sinner and each of them shall be taken and strained with cords of their sins. And the Prophet says, The cords of my sins have ensnared me, and gone around me. By these cords I say also the wicked shall be drawn in by the devices of the devil; they fall into their nets and are taken by their baits. We read of the property of an archer. whiche. that when he entreth into a gardeyn: he lodeth hym with apples stikyng on his prikkes , And when the gar\u00a6dener comes: he wolde flee , but he is then\u0304e so ladyn: that he can\u0304 not awey. And so he is there taken with all hiall makyng his Iugementes & handweerkes , and the synner shal be taken. Vppon the whiche seith. Crissostom\u0304. Our owne thoughtes , and specially our werkes shal be afore our eyen , and shal accuse vs afore god. And therfor seith. Seynt Bernard. Our werkes and we shal speke to gydre and sey. O my\u00a6serable synner thou hast made vs / we been\u0304 thy werkes , we will not leue the , but go with the to thy Iugement. It is red in. Ezechiell. the .xviij. chapitre. Like as the Iustice of the Rightwys man shal be on and for hym Right so the felony of the felon\u0304 shal rest vppon hym\nThe. Psalter. seyth. Here ye all peple , here / and reteyne wele in your eres all ye that dwellyn in this worlde. Wherfore shal I not be dredefull in that euyll daye. That is to wyte. The daye of dome , Whiche shal not oonly It is evil to me, but it will be right evil to every sinner. In response, he answers himself, saying, \"I shall fear then: For the iniquity of my feet shall surround me. The seventh and last thing that will accuse sinners: will be the torments and instruments of the passion of Jesus Christ. And also Jesus Christ himself. Therefore, Saint Jerome says, \"The cross of Jesus will fight against Jesus Christ, and it will show and allege his wounds against the [unclear]. The nails will complain on them. As Saint Augustine says in his treatise on symbols, \"Perhaps our Lord has kept in his body the trace of tokens of his wounds, so that at the day of judgment, he will show them again to the sinners for their reproach. And in conquering them, he will say, 'Behold the man whom you have crucified. See God and man / in whom you would have no belief. Look upon the wounds that you have made him / recognize the side that you have wounded and hurt. Which has been opened.\" I. Jesu Christ will accuse sinners, quoting Naum in his third chapter: \"I will show your faults before your face, and will display your nakedness to the people, and your shame to you. Osee in his second chapter says, 'I will make your folly manifest before the eyes of your lovers. And no man shall be able to take it from my hands. O wretched sinners, how desolate and sorrowful you will be on the day of great judgment. For as it is written in the first chapter of Apocalypse, 'Every eye will see Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Then sinners, seeing all this, will be full of anguish and sorrow.\n\nII. The second thing that will make the final and last judgment dreadful is the strict reckoning and accounting of our vile deeds in all things. St. Luke says in his sixteenth chapter, 'Give an account of your deeds, for after this life you will no longer be able to do anything.' My right dear friend. thou should give a reckoning and accounts of \u00a31,000 before a temporal lord prudent and wise, thou wouldst be well advised and take good heed how thou should make him a just and due reckoning. Have thou then much more thought and be more dread full to yield good reckoning and accounts of all things that thou hast committed and done, and of thy duty left undone. When thou shalt come before God, his angels, and all his saints, in whose presence necessarily thou must account. And not only of the great things: but also of the small. Unto the least part thereof. And as it is written in the third chapter of Isaiah, Our Lord shall come to judge with all his most Ancient people. Zachary, in his fourteenth chapter, says, Our Lord my God shall come, and his saints with him. That is to say, To the general judgment. Whose shall be done openly and not in secret. And therefore it is greatly to be doubted. For it is written in Zephaniah, in the third chapter, He shall hold his. I. Judgment in the morning by daylight and shall not hide him. There shall then be many diverse reasons to give an account of all that has been committed and given to us by God. Now, truly, if a king had given his daughter to one of his subjects whom he entirely loved, intending to make her a queen in his realm, and if that subject had not kept her well, would anyone doubt: but that the king would have an accounting, and know the cause - how and why - his daughter had been so evil? That is to say, her soul. Which he loves particularly and intends to enhance to royal dignity in heaven, if he had kept her ill, would God therefore ask for an accounting and reason for it? Yes, hardly. It is written in Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter, \"Keep carefully thy soul and thy life.\" Saint Augustine says, \"It is a greater loss of one soul than of a thousand bodies.\" Saint Bernard says in the Book of his Meditations, \"That all this present life is but a passing moment.\" The world may not be esteemed nor valued to such a high price as one soul. He also says, why make yourself fat and adorn your flesh with precious stones? Worms will eat these within your sepulcher in a few days. And why not make your soul fair with good manners and virtues? These should be presented to God and His angels at the day of judgment. Why do you take no heed to make her fair and clean again at that time? And why do you rather apply yourself to your flesh than to her? It is a great abuse. St. Bernard says of himself in the book of dispraising of the world. Nowadays, the care and charge of the soul is despised and left, and the completion of all their desire is after the will of the flesh. They do not fear to sin nor remember how they shall be rigorously punished. My right dear friend, will you then love better things of little worth? Value your soul more than those who are more worthy and of higher price. Enhance not your body, and never let the lady become chambermaid. Crissostom says, \"If we despise our soul, we cannot save our body. Truly, the soul is not made for the body, but the body is made for the soul. He who despises the highest and first thing and enhances the second and lowest harms both one and the other. But he who keeps them in good order exalts and keeps that which is chief, and despises that which is second. For he makes that, which is most worthy and first, the soul. If you want to save your soul and give a good accounting to God, instruct it with wisdom and divine virtues. Plato says in his book of Timaeus, \"The soul is joined with the body, so that she may learn science and virtue. If she comes with willingness, she is received by her Maker. But if not, she is then sent to hell to remain in torment and pain.\" Perpetually, secondly, we must yield reason and reckoning for our body. It is our castle committed and delivered to us by God. Therefore, as St. Bernard says, \"He keeps a good castle who keeps asked reckoning of this castle, as whether the enemies of vice and voluptuousness have ever entered it at any time. And if his friends and his servants, who are virtues and good works, have been shamefully chased out. If we have done so: it is a great sign and suspicion of our peril. And we shall necessarily yield reason and reckoning. Therefore, our body is as a mare that our Lord has given us to use for the profit of our soul, of which we shall render reckoning, as in three things: it is written in Ecclesiastes, the third and thirty-first chapter, \"The meat, the rod, and the burden is given to the ass; the bread, the discipline, and the work is given to the servant.\" Certainly, our body signifies as well a mare and an ass as a servant to whom is given the bread for the sustenance of nature. Rodde of discipline, to refrain vanities. And the burden of good works for the perception of penance. Our lord then shall ask of this his mare or his servant, if we have ministered to him his meat discretely, not too lavishly. For he that nourishes his servant over deliciously, shall find him after more fierce and proud. It is written in the Proverbs. the ninth and twentieth Chapter. And also not to give the body over little of that which is necessary. For so we might be homicides of our own flesh. Against this speaks St. Bernard, in a Pistle, to the Brethren of the Mount of God. saying, There are many other exercises of the body, in which it is necessary to labor, as in waking, fasting. Which impedes not, nor lets spiritual things. For if they were let go by default of spirit, or by sickness of the body, he that should take a way from his body the effect of good work, The true desire of his spirit. The good example to be shown. To his neighbor and honor to God, his maker. He should commit sacrilege and be culpable for all these things against God. Yet says St. Gregory in his \"Moralia,\" in the one thirty-first chapter, \"By abstinence should the vices of the flesh be quenched.\" Certainly, when we turn away from our enemy, we harm our own flesh. Secondly, our Lord will ask us if we have corrected our body with the rod of discipline in restraining it from rebellion and other vain idolatries. St. Bernard says in the Canticles that the displeasing of good works must be chastised and helped by the bite of discipline. He also says in a letter, \"How well good disposition yields discipline to the state of the body, and the habituation of thoughts abates the sleep of the head / she orders the continuance of the countenance / she tempers the tongue / she restrains the throat / she appeases the anger / and dresses the going.\" Thirdly, our Lord will ask if we have labored our body in virtue and works. Saint Augustine, in his book on Baptism of children, states that Adam was expelled from terrestrial Paradise because it was to signify that labor contrary to delight should be shown to the tender flesh of children. Therefore, our bodies may be called a laboring beast, which the Lord has lent us to do and complete the works of penance. Do not keep the body idle then, since you do not know how long it will remain with you. Perform the works of penance. Chrysostom says, \"If you have borrowed an ox or a horse, you will not set him idle, lest he ask for it back the next day. Why do you not similarly treat your body, as you will treat the horse or ox?\" Thus, nourish your body, which is lent to you by Jesus Christ, in such a way as your nature can be sustained, and overcome the vices and correct your body by the works of penance. \"Rodde of discipline: obedient and resplendent in chastity. Instruct it to good labors, chasing away idleness, and finally yield a good and just reckoning to the Lord at the day of judgment. Thirdly, reckoning for next kin: the father of the son. As written in the first book of Kings, in the second chapter and third of Hely, he was punished for his children because he knew they did amiss and did not correct their faults. Therefore, it is also written in Solomon's Nineteenth Chapter: \"Learn and teach your son,\" and a wise man said, \"If you have a son, correct him if he sins, lest you bring shame on his name.\" Secondly, the prelate shall give reckoning for his subject or diocesan. It is written in Ezekiel, the eighth and thirty-fifth chapter, \"My son, I have set you to be a keeper and overseer of men in the house of the Lord. When you hear any of them blaspheme against me, then you shall put them to death.\"\" I. My words will speak on my behalf. That is, if I tell a felon that he shall die a wicked death, and if he does not show my words to him with the intent that he may amend himself, I will ask for his life from your hand. Similarly, Ezechiel says in his third and thirty-fifth chapter, \"Behold and see how I myself am above all my other herds, and I will demand my pasture from their hands.\"\n\nII. The Lords or Princes Royal shall render and give accounts of their subjects. This is evident in the Book of Numbers, in the fifth and twenty-fifth chapter, where worldly princes are commanded to be hanged on the gallows for the sin of their people because the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab. What they called their sacrifice is recorded in the same chapter. Such are the princes and prelates, as it is written in Jeremiah, the fifth and twenty-fifth chapter. Cry out, O ye men, and shout strongly, and cast upon you ashes; for your days are numbered. complete. These are the Prelates of the Church, and all Princes, more cursed than wolves, and craftier than foxes. And the temporal Princes are to do justice on trespassers and defend their good subjects, and keep widows, orphans, and wretched persons. And not to harm any by unrightful exactions or unjust causes. They should know what is written in the Book of Wisdom, the Sixth Chapter. How there shall be a right harsh judgment for those who have been more excellent than others. Certainly mercy will be granted to the good poor man. But the wicked rich man shall suffer great torment. O ye Prelates of the Church, and ye Princes of the universal world, these words are addressed to you, to the end that you should learn wisdom and not depart from it, and that you should govern and defend your subjects so. We are to be certain at the last day of the righteous judgment, where the greatest and strongest pains will be inflicted upon the mightiest offenders.\n\nFourthly, it is required to render an accounting of all our wills and works. Anastasius says on the Symbol, \"Whoever wishes to have salvation,\" and so on. At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, all mankind shall arise bodily and render an accounting of their own works. This is written by the apostle in the second letter to the Corinthians, in the fifth chapter, where he says, \"It is necessary that we should all appear before the judicial seat of Jesus Christ, so that each may receive good or evil according to their merits and deserts. It is read in Ecclesiastes, in the last chapter. Our Lord shall be present at the judgment of all things; not only the great and grievous sins, but also those which we think are little or none. The deeds of a man seem but a small thing. Nevertheless, they shall be accounted for. At the final day of Judgment, Job says in his tenth chapter, \"Thou hast marked my ways and my paths. Thou hast seen the imprints of my feet. And in the following chapter, he adds, \"Thou hast numbered all my steps. It is written in Ecclesiastes, in the seventeenth chapter, \"His eyes behold incessantly all the ways of men. He will reward all that they do accordingly. We read in U Wisdom, an example of an angel: that once named all the places of a hermit. Which place is less than an idle word. Therefore, Saint Matthew says in his twelfth chapter, \"Men shall give account and reason at the day of judgment for every idle word they have spoken. It is written in the Book of Wisdom, in the first chapter, \"He who speaks evil and perversely will not hide himself at the day of judgment. Correction shall not pass by him. A vain thought seems but a little thing. Nevertheless, it is written in\" The Book of Wisdom. In the first chapter, how evil and sinful thoughts must be answered. Isaiah speaks of this in the last chapter, \"I will search their deeds and their thoughts, and I will gather mankind together. That is, to judge them. God also speaks of this in His third chapter, \"I will gather all kinds of people in the last days, and bring them to the valley of Josaphat. And there I will contend with them, teaching my people, and my inheritance Israel. All our thoughts, words, and deeds will then be strictly judged. And as St. Gregory says on the Gospel of St. Matthew, in the thirty-second chapter, \"All the heresies of our heads will be numbered. It seems that God considers all our goings and steps. And He wills that all our vain thoughts and idle words shall not remain undiscussed at the day of judgment. Certainly all our works will then be shown openly to all. People: as though they were written on our foreheads. As it is written in Ecclesiastes, in the eleventh chapter, At the end of man, all his works and deeds shall be uncovered and made open. It is written in the fifth chapter of Matthew, Then shall the great King say to those on his right hand, Depart from me, you wicked, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. I have been hungry and you have not fed me, and so on, which was one of the causes why the false rich glutton found no water to refresh him, was that he would not suffer the poor Lazarus to have the crumbs that fell from his table. One shall not reckon only of things done and forget, but also of time lost in executing evil things and leaving undone the good. It is written in Ecclesiastes, the seventeenth. Chapter. Our lord has given man a number of days and a season, intending that he should use it well and healthfully for his pleasure and own benefit. Yet many people pay no heed, and waste their time inefficiently. Therefore, Saint Bernard complains to his scholars, saying, \"There is nothing more precious here than time. But alas, nowadays it is most wisely lost. The days of salvation pass by, and no one heeds it. No one complains about the loss of a day, and yet it can never be recovered. There will not be a moment of head or a grain of sand of time lost. But all shall come to a due reckoning. O what fear had Saint Anselm in his meditations, saying, \"O unprofitable and dry tree. What will be your answer the day when you are questioned to give an accounting of all your work and render an account for the least twinkling of your eye and all the time of life that has been lent to you? How you have spent it.\" And therefore, Sapiens says in Ecclesiastes, \"The fourth.\" Chapter. My dear son, keep and spend well your time. The sixth and last thing that you should reckon and account for is all the gifts that we have received from our Lord God. Truly our Lord has given us nothing but what He will have both reason and reckoning for. It seems rather that He has lent it to us than given it to us absolutely. Certainly He will call us to reckon for all His gifts, whether they be spiritual, as the gifts of grace to the soul, or temporal, as strength, deliverance, and beauty of the body, or worldly riches, power, and worship in this life of all these things. It appears by example and by a parable in the Gospel of St. Matthew. in the twenty-fifth chapter of the twenty talents. which are pieces of money. And St. Luke in the nineteenth chapter does account for every thing of it, as it is written. Job. the nineteenth chapter. Know that you are accounted for in full. Therefore says Job in his ninth chapter, \"What shall I do?\" When our Lord rises to judge all men, and when He queries me, I shall answer lightly and soon. Our salvation is near, and the time is hastening, always coming. That is to say, when our Lord comes to judge His people. As Abdeas says in his only chapter, \"The day of our Lord will come in the evening at midnight, or in the morning. If He comes suddenly, let him not find you sleeping.\" I say this to you, and to all others: Be waking then and do not sleep, for if you do not, I shall come to you as a thief, and you shall not know when or what hour. It is written in the Apocalypse in the last chapter, \"See, I am coming soon. Bring with me rewards to give each one according to their deeds.\" Now then, my right dear friend, since you must necessarily render account for so many things and for each of them, be not negligent. \"Examine yourself diligently and purge well your conscience to the bottom, so that when our lord comes to judge all things, you may be able to reasonably and answerably answer, and thereby receive his mercy, grace, and pardon for all your sins. This is what Ecclesiasticus advises us in the eighteenth chapter, saying, \"Examine yourself before the day of judgment.\" And this will be to your help in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nThe last thing that makes the final judgment dreadful and doubtful is the terrible sentence that will then be pronounced by the judgment of God, the rightful judge. This sentence will be terrible and fearful, especially for those things. The first is the doubt and uncertainty of the sentence, for there is no man sure whether it will be given for or against him. And as it is written in Ecclesiastes, \"They are just and wise, and their works are in the hands of God. Yet there is no man.\"\"\n\nCleaned Text: \"Examine yourself diligently and purge well your conscience to the bottom, so that when our lord comes to judge all things, you may be able to answerably answer and receive his mercy, grace, and pardon for all your sins. Ecclesiasticus advises this in the eighteenth chapter: 'Examine yourself before the day of judgment.' This will help you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. The final judgment is dreadful and doubtful due to the terrible sentence that God, the rightful judge, will pronounce. This sentence will be terrible and fearful, especially for the following reason: the uncertainty of the sentence's outcome. No man is certain whether it will be given for or against him. Ecclesiastes states, 'They are just and wise, and their works are in the hands of God. Yet there is no man.'\" Here is an abbot named Agathon, lying ill for three days without opening his eyes. His brethren, seeing him thus, urged him, saying, \"Father Abbot, where are you?\" At last, he answered, \"I am in the presence of all people.\" Therefore they said to him, \"Then you fear and are afraid.\" To whom he replied, \"Although I have kept the commandments of the Lord as virtuously as possible for me, yet I am a man, and I do not know whether my works are pleasing to Him, for the judgments of our Lord are all other than the judgments of men, and that is the cause of my fear. I have neither hope nor despair before God.\" Saint Augustine says, \"That which we call justice, well examined before the divine justice, is often unjust.\" And it is written in the Proverbs of Solomon, the 14th chapter, \"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.\" \"Once upon a way that seems just to a man, but leads him to death. And since this holy father Agathon pondered all these things in his heart: it is true that he was diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord; yet he died in great pain on the last day of judgment. It is also read in the writings of the Fathers how there was once an ancient father who said, \"I fear three things. That is to say, first, when my soul shall depart from my body; second, when it shall come before our Lord; third, and hear the final sentence on the last day of judgment. Look how many holy fathers have died on this day of judgment for the certainty of the doubtful sentences that will be given. Now certainly it is a thing which, of reason, ought to be feared timidly. It is written in the Gospel of Saint Matthew in the seventh chapter, and by the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'Many will say to me on that day, \"Did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name?\"'\" Then he shall say to them, \"I do not know you, nor have I ever known you. Depart from me. If you are prophets and those who have cast out demons and done miracles in the name of our Lord, who is more to be trusted and who is to live here so holy: but at the day of judgment he ought to tremble and fear. Certainly, no one on earth is purely clean without sin, not even a child of one day old, for it is born in original sin. Therefore it is written in Isaiah, the sixty-fourth chapter, \"We are all made like a clay pot,\" and we ought to fear all our works which will be revealed before us at the judgment, though we think them good and just. Therefore Job in his ninth chapter says, \"I have made all my works in vain.\" Similarly, St. Paul, who was a vessel of choice, though he was then clean in conscience, said in the twenty-first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, \"I have fought with our Lord with all my might, and I kept the good faith.\" And yet, to this day, I have a clear conscience. Yet, according to the same holy Apostle, in his first letter to the Corinthians in the fourth chapter, he wrote, \"I do not feel guilty in anything, not even in the slightest, and I am not condemned because I am justified.\" Saint Gregory said, \"The righteous fear in all their works. When they wisely consider how they must appear before the high Judge. For, as the Apostle writes to the Romans in the fourteenth chapter, 'We will all stand before the tribunal seat of Jesus Christ.' Alas, wretched sinner that I am, what shall I say, or what shall I do, when I shall come before such a Judge without good works to plead on my behalf?\n\nThe second thing that makes this sentence terrible is the harsh, lamentable, and intolerable utterance of the sentence. When our Lord Jesus Christ shall say, \"Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.\" This is written in the Gospel of Saint Matthew in the twenty-fifth chapter. When the Son of Man comes in his majesty and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Then he shall sit in the high judicial seat. And all manner of people shall assemble before him. He shall divide the one from the other as the shepherd keeps the sheep from the wolves. Certainly he ordains and sets the sheep on his right hand, and the wolves on his left hand. And then the king of glory shall say to those who shall be on his right hand: \"Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. I have been hungry, and you have fed me. (Matthew 25:35) The righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:37-40)\n\nThen he shall say to those on his left hand: \"Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)\n\nThen a wise man shall say, \"The words of the judge are but short: 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Go away from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' (Matthew 25:34)\n\nO how gracious are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall say, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.' O how harsh and bitter will be the words of the left hand!\" intolerable shall the pronouncing of that word be. Depart from me or go from me. Surely Go from me is a full sharp word. And come with me is a full blessed word. St. Bernard says. O how cruel shall those words be. Go from me / to them on the left hand / spoken by the king of kings, giver of all life, who shall say to others. Come with me. This is the cutting sword with two edges issued out of the mouth of the son of man / as it is written in the first and the nineteenth chapter of the Apocalypse. Certainly he shall then smite the earth with the rod and shall slay the felonous sinner by his works. As it is written in Isaiah the twelfth chapter. O how terrible shall it be to hear this voice. Therefore says St. Augustine on the Gospel of St. John. Those that follow backward by one word of Jesus Christ / when he went toward his passion. What shall they do / when they hear the voices of the same Jesus Christ / when he shall judge the whole world. For certain he shall roar like a lion. As Amos said. In his third chapter, Isaiah says, \"Who will not fear the lion, and he who is bitten by it will be saved? In his fifth chapter, it is written, 'His banner will be lifted up like a lion.' Isaiah also says in his twenty-fifth chapter, 'The Lord will roar from on high, and his voice will be heard from his habitation; the heavens and the earth will shake; but his voice is in great power. It is the voice of the Lord that will shatter the cedars of Lebanon. Therefore, this is to be understood: His enemies are proud people, but they will be brought low and reduced to nothing. This voice coming from the Lord will be like a thunderbolt striking the earth. Therefore, Job, trembling in his twenty-fifth chapter, asks, 'Who will be able to stand before this thunder or the voice of the Almighty?' The Psalms say, 'The Lord thunders with a great voice.'\" From heaven and the most high thunder his voice. Job says in his 34th chapter: The Lord will thunder marvelously with his voice, and he does many great things, which ought not to be written nor meditated upon. And Saint Anselm says in his Meditations: Why do you sleep, sluggish soul, worthy to be cast out of all light? Why, Zachariah says in his 9th chapter: His chariot will depart like a lightning, and the Lord will surely harness the horses as it is written in Isaiah, in the 27th chapter: In that last day, shall harness the great chariot. And therefore, Saint Cyril on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the 24th chapter: The virtues of heaven will be moved. Now truly, this will be by a great voice, which is of the terrible trumpet; to which all winds and elements obey; which voice rents stones and opens hell; which breaks the gates of brass and breaks the bonds of dead bodies; and restores the souls to the bodies again, and compels them to come to life. The judgment is swift. And all these things are consumed more lightly than the flight of an arrow in the air. Witness of Paul, it says in his first letter to the Corinthians in the fifteenth chapter. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet, the judgment will be. Of this trumpet St. Jerome speaks in the Gospel of St. Matthew, saying: \"When I think and as often as I think on the last day of judgment, I tremble with fear - be it when I eat or when I drink, and in any of my work.\" All men troubled or grieved ought to think of this day and it will be a great relief. And therefore St. Gregory says in an homily: \"My very dear brethren and friends, let the day of judgment always be before your eyes. For whatever grievous thing you may ever hear, it is but soft in comparison to that terrible day. We ought also to fear and dread the same day, for it is the great journey: the journey of wrath and bitterness. Sophonias says in his first chapter.\" The way of the Lords journey shall be very bitter. For there shall be no man so strong, but he shall be troubled, that shall be the very day of wrath, tribulation, anger, challenge, misery, and darkness of clouds of storms and of the sound of the trumpet Isaih speaks of in his thirteen chapter. The day of our Lord shall come, which shall be full of Indignation, wrath, and fury. Isaiah also speaks of it in his third chapter. The sun shall be converted into darkness, and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and horrible day of our Lord. Oh, how fearful Saint Bernard found that same day when he said, \"While I that am a mortal man remember what I shall be after my death: The fear of it puts me in terrible doubts. For I am not truly assured of that which I long for, for the day of fear, of wrath, of anger and fury, the day of wailing and the vengeance of sinners, affrights me hideously.\" Of this same day he also says in one of his sermons, \"They shall all be bare and naked before the eyes of the Lord.\" tribunal of Ihesu Criste sets this court to hear the voices of His judgment, because they have halted here before the ways of good counsel. Now what says our Lord God? Do you penance, yet there are many who dissemblingly close their eyes and will not hear it and think it is too hard to do. Remember, felons, because of your obstinacy, you shall therefore hear the harsh and lamentable word pronounced to you. That is to say, Go ye cursed people into everlasting fire. What then will those poor wretched perpetually damned people say? Seeing the holy, blessed people called up joyfully into the eternal glory and bliss of heaven. And they that are damned into the infinite pains of hell. Certainly, as it is written in the Book of Wisdom in the fifth chapter, They shall wailingly say in themselves for the great anguish of their souls. Let us do penance. For we are those who have blasphemed it. And as fools out of all wit and reason had in derision the living of the penitent. \"We thought life in folly was not worthy. Yet we see them now taken and accepted with the Son of God, and their works allowed and cherished. So, if we are accompanied by the happy and blessed saints, and they with the damned fiends of hell, we have strayed from the way of truth. The light of justice has not shone upon us, nor the sun of righteousness risen in us. We have left the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ and gone dangerous and evil ways. That is to say, the ways of Iniquity and perdition. What has our great pride profited or availed us, or what advantage have we had from all our great riches? All is past as a bird flying in the sky, or a ship gliding through the water, of which the traces cannot be perceived. Now, to make confession is overdue. For their repentance grows only for the pain they suffer. Therefore, they cannot obtain pardon, and they are past the place of mercy and grace, and in the place of equity and justice.\" when the judge, who ought greatly to be doubted, has pronounced his judgment and sentence, saying: Go from me, you wicked, and come to me, you blessed. Their remedy is past. Refer to the Utis patrum. There was once a holy man who was tempted by the spirit of fornication. He begged our Lord that his enemy, the devil, who tempted him, might appear to him visibly. So it was done. Then the said holy man said to the devil: What avails it for you to tempt people in this way? Indeed, it is a great folly, for when you have brought anyone to sin, their transgression is the greater, and consequently you increase your own pain. To whom the devil answered: Certainly, all that is true. But I know well that I lead more people to sin; the more I delay the coming of the day of judgment, I fear that day above all things and the hearing then of that harsh sentence. Go, you wicked and cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. Therefore I do my power to prolong the time of coming of that sentence, O good Lord, what cause of fear have these fiends and these unhappy sinners then? If thou wilt be assured in this terrible and dreadful journey, sow now in thy life the works of Mercy, Pity and Justice. O how blessed and how happy shall he be / who now intends to help the poor, langishing and needy. For in that hard journey our Lord will deliver them therefore from all danger. It is written in the Proverbs of Solomon in the 11th chapter, \"The merciful man does good to his soul / and also reaps the fruits of penance. For those who now sow tears and lamentations, the reward thereof shall come and bring them into the lodging of Joy and of gladness. But there are many who sow now presently through and kill, yearning for repentance and in good wheat, but truly, foxes it will not be so. The Apostle says in Galatians in the 6th chapter, \"As a man has sown, so shall he reap.\" And therefore he says, \"So let it be.\" Our Lord, through his prophet Ozias in the tenth chapter, says, \"You have sown crime and have reaped iniquity. He who has sown sin and evil works will be repaid and sent into the pains of hell. But he who has sown virtues and the good works of penance: He shall be repaid and gather eternal glory. And all who have done well: shall rest in the joys of heaven. And those who have done sin and wickedness shall go and rest in the pains of hell. Certainly, their works will follow them. As it is written in Revelation, the twentieth chapter, 'After their works men shall be both saved and damned.' It is read in the Gospel of St. John, the fifth chapter, 'An hour is coming in which all who are in monuments or tombs shall hear the voices of our Lord. And they who have done well: shall go in the Resurrection of life. And they who have done wickedly: shall go to the judgment of death.' It is written in the second chapter of Revelation how the Judge shall say, 'I am he who searches the hearts.'\" Persons and shall give to every one of you his reward according to his works. And as Abdeheromye says in the first chapter, this is the word of the eternal Judge to the evil angel speaking of the damned sinners: \"Yield and do to him according to his deeds and works.\" Therefore, if you want a good harvest and abundance of fruit in the time of this present life, sow good works generously, for he who sows them generously now will reap them abundantly then. And he who sows them sparingly will reap them scarcely. And he who sows them with blessings will reap them with great joy and gladness. As it is written in the second Epistle to the Corinthians in the ninth chapter: \"For he who sows his seeds in sin will reap sin, and he who sows in righteousness, the Spirit.\" The seed that a man sows in this present life will be his harvest when the Judge says, \"Come ye and go ye.\" The third thing. Why the judgment of the Judge will be terrible: To remember how damned souls will be by the mournful sentence, full of all sorrow, eternally separated. The text departed from God and his saints of paradise, and lifted up his hand to the fiends of hell. Certainly, he was immediately and without delay, ready and ravenous, tormenting and inflicting the souls of the wretched sinners into everlasting torment and pain. This may be apparent to us through a figure in the book of Hester, in the seventh chapter of the Maidens of King Asser. Who were eager and ready to seize Amon, as it is recorded in the same chapter. The word was not yet completely out of the mouth of the said king, but the maidens had covered the face of the same Amon. In the same way, the demons on this hideous journey will be more than ready to receive the souls of these wretched sinners. And this is written in the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the first chapter. All his persecutors have taken him. John Chrysostom says in the book of Repentance for Forfeitors, Remember these cruel and terrible tormentors who never show mercy to any soul and lead the unhappy sinners down to eternal woe. The horrible minstrels of hell shall be arrayed and immediately die as the sentence is given, to take the condemned into torment. Then the wretched, unhappy wretches shall lamentably say they have been caught like a devouring lion lurkingly has taken his prey. O what sorrow and pain, which cannot be estimated in man's mind nor expressed by telling. Wherefore Saint Bernard says in his Meditations: What do you think, what weeping, what wailing, and what sorrow will be when the sinners are expelled from the company of the just, and put from the sight of God, and delivered and cast out to go with them into everlasting fire? And utterly banished from all the joys of heaven to abide in the darkness there, suffering pains for their merits according to the quantity of their sins. And then the miserable sinners, in despair of Redemption, shall enter into the lowest parts of the earth. The hands of our lords gave them to remain without seeing any light. Of this pain of separation or parting, Crisostom says: Some fools think and believe they can escape the greatest and cast a way from the grace of the sovereign glory. I deem that the banishing from it is the most extreme and grievous torment. Whereupon Saint Gregory says: He is greatly tormented who is compelled to be put apart from the presence of our Lord. And I deem that it is the most grievous thing that can be, surpassing all the gehennas of hell. The same Saint Gregory says of this word of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the fifteenth chapter: He shall be cut and sent into eternal fire. Certainly, the gehenna of hell is a thing intolerable, and no one can comprehend how intolerable the loss of the blessed glory of heaven is, and to be hated by our redeemer, Jesus Christ, maker of all things. For, as Saint Augustine says: The wicked reproved shall prefer to endure all the torments. Helle then to behold the rightful judge's angry face and them. In his second chapter, Isaiah says the earth has trembled for his face and the mewing of his eyes; the sun and moon have darkened; the stars have withdrawn their shining; the people have been troubled by his visage. Certainly sinners shall fearfully behold his face. Through great sorrow they shall have for themselves. And when he shall turn his visage from them, it shall move them to miserably. And then the Judge severely will say, as is written in Jeremiah, the eighteenth chapter, \"In the day of thy wrath, not my face.\" O what shall that separation be. O how bitter and sorrowful shall it be for the sinner to depart from the face of our Lord. When he shall horribly say, \"I tell you, I know you not.\" And therefore says a wise man, \"The departing of friends is right sorrowful. But the separation of the body and soul from the presence of the deity is the most sorrowful thing.\" For all these things said and many others. \"Although infinitely more could be rehearsed for brevity's sake, I pass them over. But awaken, awake, my dear friends; and lift up your heads, abhorring and fearing that timid and dreadful day of Judgment. For, as Sophomas says in his first chapter, \"The day of the Lord approaches near and will not tarry.\" It is written in Isaiah, in the 13th chapter, \"Be sorrowful and cry out for the day of the Lord, for it is at hand.\" Do not sleep then, for you do not know the day nor the hour, as is written in the Gospel of St. Matthew, in the 25th chapter. It is also written to the Thessalonians in the last chapter of the first epistle, \"My brethren, you know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And when men think themselves securely in peace, he will come suddenly and take them in a mortal default.\" Therefore, my brethren, do not rest in the sin of wretchedness. Lest that day surprise you suddenly as a thief. Indeed, we are all children of the day and sons of light. Then let us not sleep as...\" But let us be alert and sober, as written in the same chapter of Luke's Gospel. Give attendance to yourselves. Lest perhaps your hearts be filled with gluttony and drunkenness, and in other vain works of this life. And lest the aforementioned dangerous day fall suddenly upon you, which shall fall upon all those who are on the earth. Be ye then in your prayers, so that at all times you may be the more worthy and able to flee all the dangers that are to come when you shall be before the Son of Man. As it is written in the same chapter for a truth. There shall then be trembling and intolerable sorrow. And therefore said I hell in its second chapter, \"Our Lord's day shall be great and very terrible.\" And who shall be able to endure or withstand it? Isaiah also said in his second chapter, \"They shall enter into the caverns among the rocks and the hidden places of the earth for fear of the Lord's face and of the glory of his presence.\" When he arises to strike and punish the earth, as it is written in Abukar in the third chapter: In his fury he will tread down the earth, and people will be abashed by his wrath. Isaiah says in his eighteenth chapter: What will you do on the day of visitation and calamity coming from distant lands? To whom will you flee for refuge and help? Certainly, the sinner will have no refuge, solace, or help then. Therefore, Anselm says in his book of meditations: On your right hand, sins will accuse the wretched sinner; on your left hand, an infinite number of demons will undergo the confusion of hell, which is greatly to be feared, and over this the presence of the wrathful judge, and without all the world burning, and within this the consciences glowing. Remember this. Alas, the miserable sinners taken in that trap, where shall they flee? It will be then impossible to hide them. It will be an intolerable, dreadful thing to appear on that day. The aforementioned. sentence is more fearful and dangerous because it not only gets the body but also condemns the soul. An example is given to illustrate this. Once upon a time there were two brothers; one was foolish and ignorant, and the other was wise. They were going to a place and as they walked, they came upon a fork in the road: one led to various places, the other was sharp and uninhabited. When the foolish brother saw the fair and delightful way, he said, \"Brother, let us go this way.\" Then the wise brother answered, \"I know well that this way, which you want to lead us, is fair and delightful, but nevertheless, I counsel that we take the other way. For although it is sharp and not inhabited, it will eventually bring us to a good and honest harbor full of rest. To this the foolish brother replied, \"I would rather trust my eyes in what I see than yours in what you do not see,\" and so he set off on his own. make him relinquish his purpose: followed him. And when they had gone a little way, they encountered soldiers immediately. Who dispersed them and put them into various prisons. Now it happened that the king of that country commanded on a certain day that all prisoners should be brought before him so that he might judge them according to their merits. And when these two brothers came before him, and each knew the other, the wise brother said, \"Sir king and our judge, I complain greatly of this man my brother. For as we were going to the gyres in a way, he, being reputed a fool and I wise, yet he would not believe me nor go after me the good way that I thought him, but has made me follow him in the evil way where we were taken, and so he is guilty of my death.\" And to the contrary, the ignorant fool said to the same king, \"Sir, I have greater cause and stronger reason to complain against my brother.\" in the way which he well knew was evil and dangerous; he would not follow me. I would have returned again and followed him. In this way, I would not have fallen into this danger. Therefore, he is truly guilty of my death. When these words were spoken on both sides, the king pronounced and gave a sentence: \"You fool, you would not trust your wise brother; and you, the wise, have followed this fool in his evil ways. Therefore, both of you shall be hanged and condemned to death.\" Similarly, it shall be at the day of Judgment in the consummation of this world, when by the almighty power of God the soul of every man and woman shall return again and be rejoined to their own bodies, appearing before the high Judge to receive judgment of all things known and forgotten. For the carnal body because it would not follow the counsel of the wise soul, and the wise spirit because it would not resist but entice the carnal body, they shall both be damned together in the last extremity of Judgment. For. This sentence of the judge is called a sword with two edges. As it is written in Revelation in the first chapter, \"It shall strike the wretched sinner both in body and soul.\" It is written in the Gospel of Matthew in the tenth chapter, \"Fear him, for it will more severely condemn and cast both body and soul into the gehenna of hell.\" The quality of the said judge reveals and shows the said sentence to be fearful and dangerous. Certainly, it shall be pronounced by a circumspect and right prudent judge, who shall never fail, for every thing is clearly known to him. For God knows the hidden things of the heart and searches the works of men. Therefore, it is written to the Hebrews in the fourth chapter, \"All things are open to his eyes, for he looks into the hearts, as it is read in the first book of Kings in the seventeenth chapter.\" Also, it is read in Ecclesiastes the twenty-first chapter, \"The eyes of the Lord are much clearer than the sun. For they behold all the ways of man, and the deep recesses and the thoughts of men.\" And according to Boecke's Consolation, great curiosity to do well is introduced to us, because all that we do is done before Him who sees all things. Jeremiah says in his twenty-second chapter, \"Open your eyes on all sides of the children of Israel, and I will give to each one according to his ways and the fruit of his administrations.\" Certainly, the judge is greatly to be feared, both in what is open and hidden; all secret things are clear to him, all dark things answer to him, and all thoughts speak to him without voices, and all silences confess them to him. This sentence is to be pronounced by the Just Judge, who bows and will judge all the earth and its inhabitants in equity. He is not swayed by the might of any body, nor does he except any person, whatever they may be, nor is he appeased by any gifts. It is written in Deuteronomy in the tenth chapter, \"God is great and mighty, and terrible, who will favor.\" No one receives gifts; certainly, a pure and clean conscience will be worth more than purses filled with silver. Riches will not profit them, nor will anything belonging to rich people. But only will profit Ezechiel in the seventh chapter. Their money will then be their downfall; neither their gold nor themselves will deliver them on the day of the Lord's wrath. Then, the fraud and the false will be revealed, having had their pleasure and delight in it. This sentence is also to be given by the judge who will not be corrupted by prayers nor appeased by desires. And as it is written in the Proverbs of Solomon in the sixth chapter, \"He will not yield to them nor bow to any requests, whatsoever Crisostom says, the angels will not then intercede nor pray for men; for the righteous judge will show them no mercy, but will render to each according to his merits and demerits equally, not bending justice. And therefore says he through his prophet Ezechiel in the seventh chapter.\" I shall do the right according to your ways and shall judge according to your judgments. I will make it known that I am your lord. For this reason, Job feared greatly. Therefore, St. Bernard speaks in a prose that he made, saying: \"Certainly our lord will judge justly and will spare no one, nor will he be corrupt by any price or gifts. It seems he will not bow to any man for prayer. O my right dear friend, labor diligently to bring justice here, for you will find no mercy. For it is written in the Proverbs of Solomon: 'Riches will not profit on the day of vengeance, but justice will cause deliverance from death.' And if the scholars who cannot bear their lessons to be examined by their master are left unpunished, how much more severely should the sinner be examined. The unjust sinners shall be punished and the seed of felons. And yet the just people shall be in eternal memory, and they shall not fear any evil accusation. It is written in Ecclesiastes, the eighteenth chapter: \"Make ready justice before judgment.\" This final sentence shall also be given by a judge cruelly moved, who in no way shall be appeased. For our Lord Jesus Christ, who is naturally amiable and meek as a lamb, shall appear then as a lion, right cruelly and greatly moved. And therefore says Osee in his thirteenth chapter: \"It may well be the words of the Lord by the covetous and proud people at the day of judgment, saying thus: 'They have fulfilled themselves in their pastures and have arisen up their hearts, and have forgotten me. I will be to them as a lioness and as a leopard in the way of wrath. I will come against them as a she-bear which has lost her cubs, and will break their judgments within and will destroy them like a lion.'\" How might one remember a more cruel thing than by those beasts? Our Lord shall come against them. Say to the felons that shall be condemned, as is written in Ezekiel in the seventh chapter. The conclusion has come, and now comes the end upon them. I shall send my fury against them surely, as fire burns forests and mists break upon mountains. Apparently, in the tempest, you shall then persecute your sinners and trouble them in your ire. Then, your wrath shall be chased like fire and shall abate, as it is written in the thirty-third chapter. The name of our Lord shall come from far off, and His fury shall be incomparable. Job once took this fury in a vision when he said, \"Who shall be that living man who shall be so meek that you will defend me from hell and hide me until your fury has passed?\" Certainly, the fury of the Judge shall be so great then that it cannot be expressed by any words nor thought by any hearts. Verily, all the judgments and sentences that have been against and upon the human race since the beginning of the world are but a little flame or a spark in comparison to the fury. Of Jesus Christ. Who will exercise judgment in the last day, and how strictly shall he rise, depart bone and ascend into heaven to judge, therefore Saint Gregory, in simple terms, on the word of Saint John the Evangelist, says that Saint Thomas, one of the twelve apostles named Didymus, which means \"doubting,\" spoke thus: \"My brethren and friends, order your lives, your works, and your conditions, and pursue it. For the meek and amiable one will come swiftly and strictly at the day of judgment. Certainly, at the day of examination, which is greatly to be doubted, he will show himself clearly among angels and archangels, among thrones and dominations, and among the principals and powers, and all the skies will be moved, and the earth and the other elements will tremble and fear of his service. Set before your eyes this Judge, who is the cause of such great abasement, and fear and dread when he is doubted. Certainly, if one of you had to speak or allege a cause against your enemy, he would greatly fear.\" I shall not be harsh with you, lest it be thought that you are culpable, and I will inquire about myself and whether I should come. Certainly, not long after I have been a man, I shall become worms and then worm's powder. Now then, if the judgment of him who is but powder is to be dreaded and respected so greatly, by what intention is it to be thought that fear must be most dreadful, which is the judgment of the greatest and highest majesty. All these things said Saint Gregory in the chapter aforementioned. Yet there is something more concerning the aforementioned sentence. That is, there is no power that can resist it. And as it is written in the Book of Wisdom in the eleventh chapter, \"Who shall be able to resist Your power?\" Isiah also said in his forty-fourth chapter, \"I will take vengeance on them, and who will resist me?\" Indeed, none shall be able to resist it. But necessarily, all must appear before the angels, your sentence. Of the sovereign Judge, who spoke by Isaiah himself in the said chapter to the sinners who are to be condemned. And thus your shame shall be known, and your vileness reproached shall be seen. Whereupon I will take vengeance, and no man may resist it. Job said in his ninth chapter. God is he who, in his wrath, no man may resist. And as it is written in the book of Hosea the fourteenth chapter. Fair Lord God, all-powerful, all things are set under your jurisdiction, and there is none that may resist your will. Certainly, you have made the sky, the earth, and all that is contained within the circuit of the world; you are Lord of all things, and there is none that may resist your will. This is the great and powerful Lord, of whose greatness and might there is no number nor end, and he shall fear none, though they be ever so mighty. It is written in the book of Wisdom in the sixth chapter. Our Lord shall fear no one, whatever he may be. For he has made both great and small. It is read in the Apocalypse in the sixth chapter. Our Lord The king shall not harm\nany man whatsoever. The kings of the earth, the princes of the world, the tribunes, the rich, the strong, and all men alike, bond or free, shall hide in caves and among the rocks, saying to the mountains: \"Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of wrath has come. It is written in the same Revelation in the eighteenth chapter. The kings of the earth will weep, and they will particularly complain who have made fornication with Babylon and have lived in delicacies. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will be afraid and will want to go into hiding. Certainly, as St. Matthew says in his twenty-fourth chapter, there will then be great tribulation, and so great, that since the beginning of the world until now, there is no place there for sinners to hide. And as St. Anselm said, it will then be impossible for one to hide.\" Therefore, he says in his twenty-fourth chapter, \"There will be no place for them to hide.\" In the darkness, there will be no hiding place for those who have done iniquity. Saint Bernard once said in a sermon that before the judicial chair of Jesus Christ, they will stone all naked who have closed their eyes to the voices of counsel. Therefore, they will hear the voices of judgment, as previously stated. My right dear brother and friend fears this day and sincerely doubts the said Judge and lord who will decide all things. It is read in another place that in fearing the Lord, He withdraws every man from evil doing. There is another thing that agrees with this sentence: there is no place to appeal to anyone else, nor is there any space to flee. The Psalter says, \"Why should I go back from Your spirit, and how should I flee from Your face? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are present there.\" And for this reason, the Lord of sinners says, Amos in the xix chapitre. They shal fle / and ther shal be noon saued of them. If they descende into hell my hande shal pul\u0304 them vp from thens. and if they hyde them in the mounteyne of Carmele / I shal seke them til I haue put them thens. And if they hyde them in ye botom\u0304 of the see / I shal sende a dragon whiche shal deuour them And if they goo into seruage emongis their enemyes / I shal sende a swerde which shal sle them. and shal cast myn\u0304 eye vpon them in wrath & not in loue. Iob saith in his x chapitre. Our lorde ought to Iuge all thingis / and is noon that may escape his handes. Certeinly I see clerely the hande of our lorde almyghty wyl\u0304 fynde vs ouerall And therfore saith the Auctour of the chare of the sowle What wilt thou riche man do / that neuer shalt liue surely whyther shalt thou retraye the / whyther wilt thou turne thy body / for thou art not sure here nor ellis wher. fore and thou stye vp into the skye / or descende into hell. he that hath dominacion is that cruell and myghty kyng. If thou You shall go into the sea, where the king has jurisdiction; thou shalt not be able to go any part there safely, for thou shalt be found everywhere. Certainly thou shalt have no place to flee to, neither in thy death nor in thy life. O how well understood this Ezra was, who said, \"I will neither flee nor quit the second book of Maccabees, the seventh chapter. Lo, by these our lord's saying it appears in many ways that final judgment is to be feared from all, and shall be for the accusation of diverse things which must be violently suffered, endured, and born. And for the reason that must be yielded singly and generally of all things. And for the definite sentence that shall be then pronounced, it shall preserve and defend each man from falling into sin until the end, to come finally to the judgment and sentence. The third part of this treatise is dedicated to the four last things: remembrance of which keeps us from sin is hell or infernal Gehenna. Anastasius of St. Anthony, the hermit, when the devil tempted him to any sin, remembered the pains of hell due to sinners. This is significant in three ways regarding this matter. First, the various designations of the painful places of hell. Second, the manifold afflictions of infernal ministers. Third, the strange and diverse torments of hell, of which remembrance profits greatly and withdraws a man from falling to sin.\n\nIt is first to be declared primarily the designations of the painful places of hell. Wherfor it is to be known that hell is a place full of fire and is so called because those who go there are born into it to suffer pain eternally. And therefore Job in his seventh chapter says, \"He who descends into hell shall not return nor come to his house again.\" Hell is also often called Gehenna of fire. The aforementioned St. Gregory in his fourth book of his Dialogues said, \"Certainly it must be believed that there is only one fire in the Gehenna of hell, but it torments not all sinners in the same manner. For every man shall have pain according to the quantity of his guilt and deserts.\" Isidore, in the book of Sovereign Goodness, says that the fire of the Gehenna of hell will shine and light up the damned souls, increasing their pains, so that they may see their own sorrows. It will neither light nor shine to their consolation nor give them cause for any rejoicing. The pain of those who are damned is doubled by sorrow and pains. That torments the soul and the fire that burns the body. Of this fire of hell speaks the sawn-off fire, having no comfort in their miseries. Our Lord shall torment them with His wrath, and the fire shall consume them. Therefore, it is written in Isaiah in the ninth chapter, \"The people shall be as fuel for the fire.\" It is also said to every sinner in Ezekiel in the twenty-first chapter, \"Thou shalt be fire; Jeremiah the fifteenth chapter says, \"Our Lord speaks to the damned souls, 'Then brimstone fire from the infernal regions shall boil and burn you all.' This fire is of the nature that renews itself. It is written in Job the twentieth chapter, \"The flesh of sinners shall have vengeance by fire.\" This fire of Gehenna in hell is different from material fire primarily in its infinite power to burn. Therefore, says St. Sebastian, \"When the angel of heaven crowned him in the air, he said that our sensible fire is no more like the fire of hell than the painted fire on a wall is like our material fire.\" Secondly, in enduring. It is written in Isaiah in the last chapter that the fire for sinners shall not quench, and so it may not waste nor consume, neither the body nor the souls of sinners by burning. Job says in his twenty-second chapter of sinners being in hell, \"He shall be filled full dear now that he has done, yet he shall not be satisfied.\" John Chrysostom also says that our material fire consumes all things laid in it, but the fire of hell torments continuously those who are there, and yet it preserves them always in prolonging their pains. Therefore, it is said that the sinner shall be clothed with corruption not only of their life but in lingering and torturous pains coming continually. Certainly no voice could express nor any word could describe the greatness of the pain. The fire's fervor cannot quench it. Alas, what shall we do there, and what shall we answer for in hell but grinding of teeth, yowling, crying, and weeping in pain? But then, penance is too late, and from all parts, comfort and help will be put away. There will be nothing but augmentations of pains. The fire of hell is not of nature to consume, nor does it give any comfortable light. It is an obscure fire, and the flame of it tenebrous.\n\nSecondly, hell is called locus inquietus,\nthat is to say, a restless place ever enduring and having no end. Therefore, it is said in this life that there is one place which is always still. That is to wit, the center of the sky. Other places are sometimes troubled, as men seem to prove that the lowest part is always in trouble without rest. And therefore, it is called tartarus. For after papyrus, tartarus is as great to say as troubled and obscure. Certainly, the unrest and tribulation come there particularly of three things. First, the variance. The weather is troubled when it is mixed with rain, hail, snow, or such storms, as prophets testify in hell. It will rain upon sinners both fire and brimstone, ministers of the infernal realm. As it is written in Jeremiah, chapter 17: Neither night nor day shall grant you rest. As it is written in Isaiah, chapter 65: You shall weep for sorrow and howl by the contrition of your soul. In truth, the Lord will answer all those who weep and cry, as it is said in Jeremiah, chapter 33: Why do you cry out and howl, since your sorrow cannot be healed? I have punished you thus for your wicked, felonious sins. Thirdly, hell is called a place without temperance or delight for the pains are not moderated there, but continue in great excess. Indeed, there is no temperance in hell for the pains. There, within, are excessive darknesses, which are called exteriors. As Saint Matthew says in his twenty-first chapter. We have an example of this in Exodus in the tenth chapter, with the manageable darknesses that were once in Egypt. O how much greater shall the darknesss of hell be than these. It is written in Job in the twenty-second chapter. All horrible darknesss shall come upon him Again then shall the sinners say, as it is said in the Psalter: They have cast me into the lowest lake and in the tenebrous place and in the shadow of death. They have logged me in the obscure place as if dead from this world. Therefore my soul is angry with me. It is presumably written in Lamentations of Jeremiah. They have logged me in with those that are eternally dead. There is excess heat there. As Job says in his forty-fourth chapter: The heat is great there. And the cause is that it does not break out but is closed in, as the heat in an oven. The Psalter says: When thou art angry, thou wilt put the sinners in an oven full of fire. Our lord will torment them with his wrath and fire will consume them. There is also a right sharp cold, as written in Job in the said chapter. The water of snow is colder than all other waters, yet the waters of hell cannot be compared to it in chill or coolness. Therefore, Fulgencius writes in his pistles, \"There are two principal ways of torment in hell: by intolerable cold and by insatiable heat.\" It is written in the twenty-fourth chapter of Saint Matthew, \"There will be weeping and wailing in hell.\" Certainly, the effusion of tears by weeping comes from heat, but the inward sorrows are caused by cold. Witness Job in the same twenty-fourth chapter. The sinner, passed by the cold water of snow, goes after into the great fiery heats. It is also found in a little book of the deeds of Alexander the king of Macedon. When he was chilled by snow, he would go to the fire of Colchis. O how miserable and painful shall this trouble be to those. that shall not die nor have lightning in the prison of hell. But be tormented there infinitely. Fourthly, hell is called a noisome wailing place, and therefore, after Papie, it is named Acheron, that is as much to see as a place without joy, lacking all goodness. For this reason, says the Commentator Aueros in the fourth chapter of poetrie, that hell has a continual sorrow and weeping without consolation. In truth, the damned souls there be have no comfort in the world for the orisons and prayers that are said in the church militant may profit them nothing, and from above comes no help to them, nor does mercy fall upon them. Therefore, they are in despair of any grace in time coming and know certainly that they are without remedy and not to be quit in desolation. It is written in the book of Wisdom in the fourth chapter. That the damned souls shall be utterly in desolation. Also, the damned soul says in the first chapter of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. I am cast in desolation and am. \"It is written in Isaiah in the forty-fourth chapter that the wretched sinner shall be in desolation throughout the world of worlds. Alas, alas, what pain is it to be endured. O most cruel pain. O desolation full of all torments. Therefore, O man, remember and print often in your heart and mind the things above said, so that you may escape and withdraw from sin. And thereby have the most precious glory and felicity everlasting.\n\nNow, to proceed in order, it remains to be explained how there are many and diverse afflictions given by the soldiers of hell. These soldiers are to be understood as the devils, who are torturers and hangmen, abominable to behold and cruel in their deeds, never weary of torment or giving pain. I say first that these devils are horrible to behold, and therefore they are so painted in the church with hideous and fearful figures. To this purpose it is read that once upon a time, a religious man was lying in his bed.\" A doctor among his brethren. In the night, he cried terribly, and all the brethren of his convent resorted to him. They found him staring, with fixed eyes on a wall, unmovable, and would answer no question asked of him. He was seized with a marvelous fear. In the morning, his prior came to him and asked what had disturbed him that night. He replied, \"I saw the devil.\" And then he was asked, \"What shape he was?\" He answered, \"His shape could not lightly be described. If there were here a vat full of fire and there, the figure of the devil, I would have as much desire to enter the vat to behold his most horrible figure.\" And as St. Bernard says in the Psalm of Qui habitat in adiutorio, \"O my dear brethren, what do you think, if one of these princes of darkness, who are of so many hideous and marvelous shapes, should come and appear among you with his great cruelty and terror?\" Uninformed beholder beheld a tenebrous body; what temporal or spiritual wisdom could sustain one to behold him. It is read in the book of the Fathers. There was once an ancient man who said, \"I believe there is no living creature, but if he saw the devil in the same form that the damned souls see him, he would no longer live, but would soon die.\" Also, Saint Gregory speaks of one called Crisso, who, being gravely ill, saw beside him a great multitude of demons. Therefore, he cried out loudly for help. He turned this way and that way to prevent seeing them, but was so fiercely troubled by them in fear that he died soon. Certainly, all those who see demons are in such great trouble that all men fear their encounter. And this is not without reason, for their horrible figure torments those who behold them. It is written in Job, the 2nd chapter. Horrible things shall come upon them. And Saint Bernard showed this when he said, \"O my soul, what...\" \"Fere you shall have, when you shall leave the presence of all things where you have joy, the sight of that which is agreeable to you and all your familiarity, and shall enter alone fearfully into the region, which is unknown, when the right terrible and horrible monsters shall come in great companies against it. O how great a deformity will be in those horrible devils that shall appear in figures of right cruel beasts. And as it is written in the 11th chapter of Wisdom: Because they permitted errors, as serpents and other superfluous beasts, you have sent them a multitude of fierce beasts as a vengeance, to make them know in what they have sinned. Certainly it is not impossible that the mightiest hand that has created and made all the unversal world of things unsense, shall send a multitude of tormentors, hardy lions and other many furious beasts of diverse shapes, casting vexing stinking smokes putting out of their eyes sparkling eyes.\" The bringing of fire / but all these things should be to the hurt of sinners and the beholding might slew them, as it is written in the aforementioned chapter. Job said in his 15th chapter, \"My enemy has looked at me with terrible eyes.\" He also says in his 41st chapter, \"His look and beholding are like a gleaming of fire from his mouth, streaming as it were with burning lamps and poppies boiling out of a pot.\" Therefore says a poet that there are serpents vomiting out of their mouths burning flames with which the souls of the miserable sinners are altogether perished. Secondly, the demons are cruel in effect, as it is written in Job, the 15th chapter, \"They have assembled against me; they have opened their mouths against me as a raging lion; they have tempted me; they have mocked me and grinningly and feloniously shown me their teeth.\" In Ecclesiastes, in the 21st chapter, it is said, \"Their teeth are like the teeth of lions, which tear the souls.\" To this purpose is written in the first. Epistle of St. Peter, Chapter V. The devil is like a ravening lion, seeking to devour some soul. The devil will be appointed at the last day to devour sinners. It is written in Isaiah, Chapter LV. O all ye beasts of the field and wilderness, come and devour. Jeremiah in his XIIth chapter saith, Come all ye beasts and assemble, and prepare yourselves for your devouring. St. Gregory in his Dialogues speaks of this and says, There was once a monk named Theodorus, not yet truly a monk in deed, who was displeased when one spoke to him for his salvation. He would not only refuse to do good, but it displeased him to hear of it. And as Theodorus was at the point of death, all his brethren of his convent assembled about him in prayer and devout supplications that they might help and defend his soul at its departure from his body. Then he suddenly began to cry out and with a great voice had them break off and leave their prayers. And he departed, for he was given to an horrible dragon to be devoured, which he said could not devour them through their prayers, and yet he had swallowed his head, and prayed them therefore to go and pray no more, but let him do what he had purposely said. Then Theodorus said, \"Why do you suffer me so long to be in this case?\" His brothers replied, \"What do you mean? Make the sign of the cross upon yourself.\" To whom Theodorus answered with a lamentable cry, \"I would feign to bless myself, but I cannot, for I am hardly pricked and oppressed by the violence of this dragon.\" And when his brothers heard him say so, they fell flat on the earth with weeping tears, and began again their prayers and devout orisons for the help and Redemption of this Theodorus, who soon after suddenly began to cry with a low voice, saying, \"I yield loving thanks and grace to God my Creator, for now the dragon, which should have devoured me, is driven and chased away from me by...\" In the fourth book of St. Gregory's Dialogues, an example is given of a monk in a monastery called Congalton, in Anchony's parts. There was a monk there, regarded as a very holy man, deeply devoted to God. However, when his brethren believed he had fasted, he secretly ate. At the hour of death, he called for all his brethren, saying to them, \"I am now delivered to a dragon to be devoured. This dragon has knotted my feet and knees, and placed its head in my mouth, drawing my soul out of my body.\" After speaking these words, he died immediately. These words may seem applicable to condemned sinners, as written in Jeremiah, chapter 15: \"He has eaten me like a dragon.\" This dragon is hideous and great, with seven heads and ten horns, as described in the Apocalypse, chapter 12. \"It has been a great battle in the sky, where Saint Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels, who could not resist. Their realms in heaven could not be found but were cast down, and so the ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, enforces himself to make war on the universal world here. And for this reason, it is read in the same chapter that harm comes to the earth and to the sea, for the devil has descended among you with all his great furious anger. This devil has a marvelous great hate for all good people, who dispose themselves to take possession of the room of heaven, from whence he was put out and chased into eternal pains. And the more it is the day of hell. Whereof Saint Bernard speaks in a prose, saying: 'O how wretched shall these tormentors be, who will inflict pain and torture on sinners! How terrible shall their vengeance be in avenging vices, wretchedness, and sins. Certainly their cruel malice is yet increased in various ways. First, because they are:'\" The Psalter says, \"Why are there so many that trouble me, and there are many who rise up against me.\" It is written in Job in the nineteenth chapter, \"They have besieged my tabernacle around me.\" It is written in Utis patrum, \"There was an old man who saw the devil envying the people and swarming like bees.\" Therefore, it is also said in the Psalter, \"They have surrounded me like bees because they are many and mighty,\" as the Apostle testifies in his letter to the Ephesians in the seventh chapter, where he calls them princes and powers and rulers of the world because they are subtle and mighty, able to afflict souls. The Psalter says, \"The strong have sought after my soul.\" This strength is understood as that of the devils. It is also read of the strength in Job, the forty-first chapter, \"There is no power on earth to be compared with it, that has no fear except him who says all things from above and is king over all the children of men.\" Prideful demons shall earnestly exert their might against sinners, cruelly tormenting them. It is written in Ecclesiastes, the thirty-ninth chapter. There are spirits ordered to take vengeance and have confirmed the tormentors in their fury, enduringly until the consummation of the world. Job says in his fifteenth chapter, \"He has surrounded me with his spirits; none can escape me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you have laid me in the dust of death.\" Thirdly, the malice and cruelty of the devil is more grievous because they are never weary of tormenting. As it is written in the book of Daniel, in the third chapter, \"The ministers shall not sit in the burning fiery furnace, delivering us from the causing of pains.\" Therefore, said a wise man, \"There are tormentors who are more to be loathed than serpents. They are black and deformed and will not be beaten down. And they are never weary to do.\" harmes are now greatly increased, and their malice is ready and boiling, eager to inflict pain on souls. They incessantly exercise their cruelty more and more. It is said to all sinners in Deuteronomy in the twenty-eighth chapter, \"You shall serve for your enemy when the Lord sends the naked to him in hunger and thirst and in all poverty.\" Ezekiel in the seventh chapter, \"When they shall feel the wrath of the Lord in the fourteenth chapter. Those who have been rebellious in the thirty-ninth chapter, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living, nor shall I behold any man who dwells in peace. It is written similarly in Jeremiah the forty-fifth chapter, 'Alas, I am unhappy, for our Lord has added sorrow to my sorrow, for I can find no rest.' Sorrow shall be cast upon his head, and all iniquity shall descend upon him. By these things above said, it clearly appears how those who descend into hell are punished with various pains. Remember this often. Defend yourself from falling into sin, whereby you would attain blessedness and celestial glory, which is imperishable and shall endure forever. Now remains the third part of this matter to be declared, which is in showing the condition of infernal torments, which are diverse. Certainly, there are specific conditions that particularly increase the pains of hell. The first is bitter weeping, grinding of teeth, complaining, the perpetual death, painful lingering in despair, and the wrath and blaming of the Creator of all things, with other numerous torments and pains innumerable to be recited, which doubtless shall be well felt and understood there by sinners, as it appears in various places of holy scripture. And as it is written in Revelation in the 15th chapter: \"They have eaten their tongues for great sorrow and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their anguish and their wounds.\" Saint Gregory says that he who is condemned to the torments finds: more pain than can be supposed or thought. Saint Jerome says that the sorrow in hell will be so intense in the ninth chapter. My woe increases in sorrow upon sorrow. The harshness of the pains of hell will be so great that sinners will hate and despise The Revelation in the ninth chapter. A day will come that men will desire and wish for death and not have it; they will crave death and it will flee from them. In truth, our Lord witnesses the harshness of the pains of hell in Jeremiah in the ninth chapter, where he says, \"I will feed my people with wormwood, commonly named wormwood, a bitter herb, and I will give them to drink gall.\" This signifies the bitterness of the torments of hell. It is written that this harshness was well considered by a young man who was deliciously nourished. Nevertheless, he entered not into those unbearable pains of hell. Therefore, I had rather endure the little pain of this order than the pains which are incomparable. Iob speaks in the fifth chapter: The snow shall fall upon them who fear the little mist. This consideration moved an hermit named Pierces to undertake a marvelous penance, which he accomplished, as Saint Gregory relates in the fourth book of his Dialogues. This hermit died from an illness; yet after his death, his soul was restored to his body. Furthermore, Saint Gregory states that there was once a monk born in Ireland named Pierces. This monk claimed that he had seen the torments of hell, the innumerable painful places, and an angel clothed in white who saved him and commanded him to attend carefully to how he should live henceforth to keep him out of the danger of those pains. After he had heard that voice, he recovered and came to himself little by little. He then showed his brethren all the things he had felt and seen. From that day forth, he lived and used a blessed life in fasting and doing penance, so that through his conversation, it might be imitated by others. We seem to describe the pains of hell as dreadful. The second condition increases the pains of hell through multiplication. In certain ones, they are innumerable. And as the Psalter says, \"The pains which are without number have surrounded and clipped me.\" It is written in Deuteronomy, the thirty-fourth chapter, \"I will heap many diverse pains upon them, and I will spend the quiver of my arrows in them.\" And as it is written in Isaiah the fifth chapter, \"His arrows are sharp among them, and all His bows are bent.\" Our Lord has many arrows in His quiver, which He has not yet shot forth, but after the judgment He will smite all sinners with them. These arrows are the diverse pains of hell where sinners shall be tormented in many ways. The Psalter says, \"The arrows of the mighty. That is to say, of the Lord, are sharp among the collisions of desolation.\" Our Lord says in Deuteronomy, the thirty-fourth chapter, \"I will ensnare my arrows in their blood, my sword shall devour their flesh, they shall perish by famine.\" The birds shall strangle them with a bitter morsel. I shall send them the teeth of wild beasts with the fury of those that ramp and devour upon the earth. Outwardly, the sword shall destroy them, and inwardly, fear and dread shall waste them. Speaking of this multitude of pains, Saint Gregory says in the eighth chapter of Saint Matthew, \"They shall be cast out into the uttermost darkness, that is, hell, where will be an unbearable cold, an unquenchable heat, an insatiable worm, an intolerable stench, a gnawing darkness, and an awful vision of devils thrashing and beating, a confusion of sinners, a separation of all joys.\" And a wise man said, \"Hell is a pitting mortification full and complete.\" It shall rain brimstone upon sinners, and the spirits of tempests, which are part of the sorrows and torments of hell. And this saying is to be noted, for there are many other parts of torments impossible to express. All that has been spoken of the pains of hell is full. Little is to be said about the great infinite multitude of them, but to make the multiplication of these pains more expressly declared. It is also to be noted that damned souls shall be filled with all miseries and sorrows. For they shall have weeping eyes, grinding of their teeth, stinking in their noses, wailing in their voices, fear in their eyes, burning in all their members, and therein shall be bound hand and foot. Lo, how the wretched sinner descending into hell shall be filled with all torments. It is written in Job the fifteenth chapter of the damned man how tribulation shall hold him, and anguish shall envelop him. And in Isaiah the twelveteenth chapter, how all men's hearts shall be abashed and terrified for the sorrows and torments that shall hold him, having the pain of childbirth. Each one shall sorrow upon his neighbor, and their bruised faces shall affright the rich other. Therefore Baruch said in his sixth chapter, \"Their faces shall be blackened with smoke, for the faces of the damned shall be as such.\" All sinners shall be brought to the likeness of a round pot, as it is written in I Samuel chapter 2. This is also stated in Ecclesiastes chapter 48. The pains of a woman in labor shall come upon them. The same is written in Hosea chapter 13. Thus, it appears that there are many scourges and flails in hell to torment sinners. Certainly, the damned soul shall more say with the Psalter, \"The sorrows of death have surrounded me, and the pains of hell have overwhelmed me.\" It says, \"It has surrounded me for this reason.\" For it is to him a vestment or covering of cursing, which shall be both within him and without him. O what vestment shall this be that shall be woven with such painful threads, and those without number, which can never be undone or taken away? For with an immortal string it shall be inseparably bound to the sinner. This shall be a sore and biting vestment to be suffered. This is the vestment that is written of in Isaiah in the tenth chapter, saying, \"Thy.\" vestments shall be worn. The consideration of these manifold pains recalled David from sin and caused him to do penance. Therefore he said to the Lord, \"How many sore tribulations have you shown me, and you have converted and revived me.\" The consideration of these aforementioned pains sometimes moved an hermit to take upon himself a sharp, painful life, which he led in his hermitage, as is read in the Writings of the Fathers. It was asked of him why he would subject himself so. He answered, \"All the labor of my life is not sufficient to be compared to one day of torments that are ordained and reserved for sinners in the future. Bede shows us in his writing of England how, in the time of young Constantine, there died a knight about the years of our Lord eight hundred and six. This knight received, and after for the pains that he had seen, he fled into an hermitage, as is read in the Writings of the Fathers. And he built himself a little house by a river side. In the which river he \"He often ran clothed in winter, allowing his clothes to freeze against his flesh, and then endured the discomfort until his death. When people saw him behave in such a way, they criticized him. He responded, \"If you had seen what I have seen, you would do as I do, and even more.\" Saint Gregory says, \"The vision of the pains of hell is the most excellent moving force for penance and contrition. The third condition increasing the pains of hell is its everlasting nature. It is written in the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 4, that the Lord will mock sinners after they fall from their worship among those who are eternally dead. Saint Matthew says in Chapter 25, 'They will go into torment.' In Judith, Chapter 15, it is read that the Lord will send worms of fire against their flesh, making them burn and feel pain eternally. Isaiah speaks of this in his prophecy.\"\" Last chapter. Their works shall not die nor their fire be quenched. And therefore says the Lord in Deuteronomy in the forty-third chapter, \"The fire is kindled with My fury and shall burn in the lowest part of hell, and that shall be perpetually and endlessly.\" Isaiah in his thirty-fourth chapter says, \"Which of us shall endure and suffer the devouring fire, who shall be among those who shall be burned? Isaiah is said, 'The ground where they shall dwell shall be converted into burning pitch night and day, and it shall not be quenched, and the smoke shall rise from generation to generation upon them throughout the ages of the ages.' It is written in Revelation in the twentieth chapter, 'The devil shall be sent into the lake of fire and sulfur and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented night and day throughout the ages of the ages. And he who is not found in the book of life shall be sent into that lake of fire to dwell in the shadow of death, where there is no order,'\" sempiternal horror and sorrow. It is written in Job, chapter x. And Saint Gregory says in his moralia, \"Then shall the miserable sinners suffer great pain with great fear, a great flame with darkness, and death without death, an end without finishing. For death shall ever live, and that end shall begin anew, and that fault shall never fail. A poet shows how that miserable death cannot die nor finish, but seems always to begin and renew itself with weeping and languishing. Peter of Blois said in a poem, \"There shall be no order of any kind of torments, but the pains shall endlessly renew and begin again. Death cannot die there, for it shall be ever permanent and never ceasing in eternal death.\" The Psalter says, \"They are cast into hell as the sheep for the shepherding in Psalm 43:2.\" The beginning of the grape and the vine, which they shall have, shall be ashes and gall. \"dragons and the venom of the serpent called Aspe, which is incurable. Wherewith shall sinners be nourished? Do you not see how they are perpetually tormented with the most cruel death? They shall live then in dying and be dead while living. St. Bernard says in a book he sent to Pope Eugene III. The biting worm and the living death I greatly fear and dread. I fear to fall into the hands of the death that never dies and of the life that never dies. St. Gregory says that the felon sinners shall die of an immortal death. O good Lord eternal, why have you allowed me to act contrary to your will and to work my own sorrow, why do you not help me out of sin? Whereby might I escape this perpetual death? O how happy, how blessed he will be who shall not be defiled nor smeared with the filth of sin, and who has not rejoiced in the sensual voluptuousness of this transient world nor in temporal vanities. I am certainly afraid that we miserable sinners have strayed from the way of life.\" \"and that the light of Justice has not shone upon us. We have not followed the ways of our Lord, but have taken the unhappy ways of iniquity and destruction. It is written in Isaiah in the forty-ninth chapter. We have labored in vain and for nothing; we have wasted all our strength. What has our pride availed us? What has profited our pomp? And the vanity of the riches of this world? What have we gained by our jewels or precious garments, by our delicious meals and drinks, our gluttonies, our laughing and idle disports? Now what profits us all those things, in which we have vainly, unfruitfully, and damningly spent our time? Alas, alas, we have lost and passed our days without fruit, and may be likened to a dog, and all those things be past. But our wretchedness shall remain to our eternal torment. Our Lord will say to every damned soul, as is written in Job in the twenty-second chapter: He shall suffer torments and penalties after the multitude of his wicked operations. And in the eighteenth.\" Chapter of Revelation is written. As much as he has glorified himself in delights and pleasures, so much torment and pain shall be given him therefore to remain there eternally. Is it not great folly for the rich or vain pleasures of this world, or any other miserable thing, for a man to submit himself to perpetual torments, both of his body and soul? John Chrysostom says in his book titled \"The Reparation of Faults,\" what continuance of lechery and space of delights will you compare to the eternal pains? Now take that you live C [year] in delights, set it beside an other C [year], and yet C [hundred], and after the hundred, if you will. Yet what comparison is this to eternity? May not all the time of our bodily life, though we intended it not so voluptuously, be compared to a dream of the night in regard to the sempiternal life? Is there any person who desires to have one pleasant and delightful night in dreams, and therefore to find the sempiternal pains, and so change for a pleasant dream? So little enduring, to have the pains of hell, which are perpetual. What shall we speak of this player, or of these pains? The players pass lightly away, and the pains must remain eternally. Now take it that the time and space of the players and of the pains were equal. Is there anyone who is so mad or so foolish as to choose to have one day of pleasure here instead of a day of damnation in hell? Remember how one hour of bodily sickness in this world puts an end to all pleasure for the season. Just so remember how perpetual pains ought to resist against all sins. Oh, great torment and pain shall be to the damned souls, their eternal damnation and perpetual death is so hard and so sore, that I cannot express it grievously enough. I now certainly it cannot be sufficiently spoken, conceived in mind, or comprehended in heart. Now take us that thermometer as great as might be contained within the concave of the eight sphere. And every year a little piece should be taken from it like silver. And consequently, it would be brought to nothing: wouldn't eternity be finished by that time, and damned souls delivered from their pains? I answer and say you no. The perpetuity shall then be but at the beginning. There cannot be proportion in an infinite thing, as Aristotle the philosopher says in his eighth book of his physics. Certainly, if damned souls could know and understand that they would be delivered out of their torment as soon as the said piece of metal was wasted, they might have hope of their redemption against that season and have some manner of comfort, knowing that their torments would sometimes come to an end. Yet the years would be incomprehensible and innumerable. Now, one of the greatest pains is the desolation and lack of hope ever to be redeemed and delivered out of eternal torment. For it is written in Isaiah the forty-fourth: chapitre. The sinner shal be in desolacion tyme and worlde withouteen ende. It is writen in the boook of Trenis the thirde chapitre. Myn\u0304 ende and myn\u0304 hope in god is perisshed. Iheremy in his xv chapitre asketh. Why is my sorowe made imperpetuel and my woundes in desperacion. Wherunto is answereed in the x chapitre of the Prouerbis. That when\u0304e the felon sinner is oones dede / there is thenne noon hope to be hadde.\nEntende & remembre this all ye that be forgeters of oure lord / lest that this moost cruell and sorowfull place of helle swalowe you / from whens ye may neuer be puld out. Lo now ye may see clerely / how the wretched syn\u2223ner can not be redemed out of helle. Wherfore my right dere frendes I amoneste and require you / bere that Re\u2223membraunce wel in your myndes / and conceyue wel they ample of the pece of metall aboue specified. And now tell me what thou felist / and what thyn\u0304 owne herte demeth and iugeth in this matier. I wene certeinly thy discrecion wo be\u00a6gyue therunto credence. for trewe it is / To find the truth by Reason, apply it also to the diverse provinces of lands. Consider in your mind every region of them: contemplate the seas, rivers, and ponds. Enclose in your mind the circuit of the wild and go everywhere thereof. Fly up into the air and then descend into the lowest part of it. And of all this, think in your mind. You have made a whole substance and imagine and extend how great a thing this should be. And if it might not be consumed by the infinite pains of sinners, tell me what you think of this. Whether they should endure the consuming of the same substance or the relieving of the perpetual pains I believe you will agree that there is nothing compared to a perpetuity. Therefore, we ought all in our hearts to tremble and fear it. Now who is he that does not fear it? Who to him, that allays himself of it? Who is he that had rather endure the consuming of the aforementioned substance than the time of eternity. This substance and this eternal time be contained within your heart, and you shall find it a profitable and advantageous thing. If you do not correct and renounce yourself from your sins through the love that you owe to God, then the mirror and remembrance of intolerable and infinite pains should recall and withdraw you from sins. O Lord God, that this enduring pain is to be avoided and dreaded, and weepingly we ought to remember our sins with great contrition, so that we might thereby come to eternal salvation. Before this, the torments of hell and how they can never cease or finish have been shown. This was well considered by one once called Fulson of Mercies. He, who in his days was an excellent juggler, entirely abandoned to the vanities of the world, was once made to think of the pains of hell and their eternity in his heart. If he were compelled to lie in a fair and soft bed. While the text appears to be in Old English, it is not extremely rampant with issues, and the content is generally readable. However, there are some minor errors and inconsistencies that need to be corrected for better readability. Here is the cleaned text:\n\n\"Although he was happily hanged and dressed, and had no necessity to leave it, yet all was it never so delicious that it could lie in his power to endure it continually. And thereupon he remembered how he should then sustain the intolerable perpetual pains of hell, which are lingering and from which none may depart. This aforementioned Fulson, considering that, left all his vain worldly delights and made himself a monk. And then he was archbishop of Toulouse, where he lived and guided himself righteously in the service of our Lord. The consideration of the perpetual pains of hell should induce and comfort every good soul to fight and resist mightily against its spiritual enemy, for if the devil conquers and overcomes him, he may be sure to lie therefore without great Repentance and grace in the sempiternal pains of hell. And therefore, for Jesus' sake, with all your might, fight and resist vigorously against the cruel enemy of all mankind, who does nothing but lie in wait for us.\" Bring all to damnation. Egelippus states in his book of the destruction of the Jews. How one of the great captains of King Alexander, chief of a host, saw once an innumerable army approaching. And when his people saw them come, they prepared to eat and drink, intending to make themselves stronger and put their trust in it. Good and worthy men, hearing these words to avoid that heavy supper, put their trust in the Lord and fought vigorously, and with triumph and honor, overcame their enemies. Considering that the memory of the pains of Hell should withdraw us from worldly delights. It is read in the Utis Patrum. There was an ancient man who said, When a woman wishes to wean her child and make it dislike the sweetness of her milk, she puts something bitter on her forehead. When the child feels it, it withdraws and takes away its appetite from the sweet milk. Similarly, the sourness of this world should wean us from worldly pleasures. Remembrance of the perpetual torments and pains of hell ought to recall a man from all the vain delightsof this wretched world. Job says in his sixth chapter, \"Can a man taste of a thing which should cause him the right bitter death? That is to say, the perpetual pains. Prosper says, 'In this present life the temporal delights are full pleasantly, and the tribulations bitterly painful. But who is he that should not gladly endure tribulations in this life for fear of the eternal pains of hell? And who is he that ought not to despise the delightful pleasures of this world to have the most happy joy of everlasting bliss? It is said also in the Legend of St. John the Evangelist that rich and mighty people were converted by his preaching and relinquished all their worldly riches. Yet they saw after some time that were their servants raised in the flattering glory and fortune of this world. Therefore they repented that they had lost all their goods so.\" Saint John stood before the Holy Ghost and prayed to our Lord for their salvation. And then our Lord changed certain receipts of timber into fine gold and hard flint stones into precious jewels. And so they were restored to greater treasure and riches than they had ever lost for our Lord's sake. Then it happened that Saint John raised from the dead a young man, who showed to those people the eternal glory that they had lost for the riches of this world and how the pains of hell did but wait for them. When the people heard this and understood, they were so abashed and in great fear that immediately they misprayed, despised and refused all worldly riches and delights, and willingly returned to their poverty for their salvation. It is read in the Utis Patrum. There was once a young brother who said to a father of his order, \"I am slothful and weary of sitting always thus still in my cell.\" To whom this good father answered, \"Thou hast not seen nor understood.\" The torments in hell are perpetually enduring. Therefore, if you suffer sufficient penance in this world, what miserable creature is he who is so blind and so hardened with ungrace and lack of reason that he would prefer to endure sufficient penance here rather than in hell to be tormented and punished without end? Isidore says, \"Think in your heart all the pains and sorrows of this world, all the bitternesses, comparing them distinctly with the gehenna of hell, and you shall more readily know that all pains here are nothing in comparison.\" Saint Bernard says in a letter, \"You dread waking at night to fast and to labor with your hands. But remembering the perpetual flames, all that ought to be light to thee, should displease thee not. Certainly, a solitary life is to be comforted by this remembrance. And if you knew the extreme discussing of all idle words, silence would displease Saint Augustine in a sermon.\" \"Thoughts, caused by human nature, are often conquered and overcome by the delight and voluptuous conceit of this world, which shuns all labor and asks for nothing but pleasures, following delightful sensations always. But when thoughts turn to remembrance of necessity and the dangerous last judgment with eternal pains, what fear of those torments, or sometimes the hope of the greatest reward, makes a man voluntarily rise up in battle against them, intending to have victory over his first delightful, vain thoughts. Abacuk says desirously in his third chapter, \"Rottenness will enter into my bones and spring up under me in my life because I should rest in it, and how unhealthy is the remembrance of infernal pains.\" The Psalter says, \"Sinners are transported into Hell.\" Therefore, by good meditations, every man in his life should intend to resist that danger. Or else they must live and die perpetually. It is read how he is\" A person who beholds the deep darknesses is happily enduring the infernal torments. That is, he holds the infernal torments in his heart with a continuous remembrance in contemplation to frequently recall that sure memory. I have sufficiently shown you the manifold pains of hell and how valuable and profitable the memorial of them is. O mortal man, what madness, what folly, and what fault is it in you when it lies within your free arbitment to have everlasting joys and willingly cast yourself into the infernal torments and pains, from which no one may return, but burn there in the fiery world without end.\n\nAnd thus ends the third part of this treatise, divided into four parts.\n\nIf a man refrains himself from mourning or any criminal cause out of fear of losing his honor or temporal goods, how much more ought he to refrain, fear, and shun all sinful operations, by which he might lose the most blissful [glory]. Sempiternal joy. St. Augustine says in his Confessions, \"There is a joy that is not given to felon sinners but to those who, of their free will, love and worship the Lord God. And you yourself are that joy. For this reason it is written in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 7, 'The wicked shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but shall be cast out from it, as the vile gluttons and dishonest people are driven out of the emperor's court and not allowed to sit among kings and princes at their excellent and solemn tables.' And Callidore says that every man is cast from the deity according to the quantity of his sins. And certainly his casting out is measured according to the delight that he has had in them. Should not then every creature avoid doing sin and hold it in abhorrence as a mortal thing, knowing that thereby is lost the celestial eternal Glory? O what shall I, wretched bearer of knowledge, pour out in words, or how shall I speak of it?\" This glory incomprehensible. Certainly there was never an eye that saw, nor ear that heard, nor heart that thought the joy that God has ordained for those He loves. As it is written in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the second chapter. Therefore, what shall I now say more or write in this work? I am as one born blind, disputing in colors, having no confidence in my own proper wit. But therefore, I must refer myself to the testimonies of scripture, by which I will speak. It is to be noted how, although in the heavenly glory there are innumerable things clearly approving the joy and felicity of it, I will specifically show how it is to be recommended for three things. The first, for the surpassing and excellent clarity thereof. Secondly, for the most abundant goodnesses that are therein. Thirdly, for the most blissful joy thereof, perdurably enduring. The beauty of it, nor the clarity, cannot be measured. The infinite goodness cannot be estimated. The kingdom of heaven is to be recommended for its sovereign beauty and clarity. As it is written in the Book of Wisdom, in the fifth chapter, where it is called the kingdom of Beauty. The Psalter says, \"Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house.\" It is also written in Tobit, the thirteenth chapter. I shall be happy if the relics of my sedes may see the clarity of Irum, whose gates are made of sapphires and emeralds and other precious stones. The circuit of the walls with fair, bright stones, and all the places paved with fine gold. It is written in the Apocalypse, the twenty-first chapter, \"That city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass. The foundation of the walls was garnished with all precious stones.\" The twelve gates shall have twelve pearls, and the streets of the city shall be of fine gold, shining as bright as glass. The temple is not yet spoken of. Certainly almighty God is there. The temple's light is the Lamb. The city has no need of the Sun or the Moon to light it, for the clarity of our Lord shall illumine it. The Lamb will be the lantern, and the people shall walk by its clarity. This is also written in the 22nd chapter of Revelation. It will never be night there, so there is no need for a candle or lamp, nor light of the Sun. For the brightness of our Lord shall light and illumine them endlessly, world without end. Which saying well accords with that, written in Isaiah, the sixth chapter: You shall have no need of the Sun's shining nor Moon's resplendence. For our Lord shall light and illumine eternally. In truth, He is a glass without spot and a light illuminating everlastingly, as it is written in the Book of Wisdom, the seventh chapter. Our Lord shall be the resplendence of glory, as is written to the Hebrews in the first chapter. Abacuk in the third chapter says that all saints shall take in the kingdom of heaven clarity and eternal light. With this, they shall rejoice incessantly in great felicity. It is also written in the book of Job, the fifth chapter, that those who love the Lord shall shine and resplend as the sun does in its rising. Also written in the book of Wisdom, the third chapter, how the just shall shine in their land, and how glorious is your royalty and how beloved are your tabernacles. How great is your beauty, how abundant is your Resplendence in your city, how sovereign is the sweetness of your celestial country. According to Saint Augustine in his book of Confessions and City of God, it is not unreasonably spoken nor without great reason that it is better to be one day in that court than a whole life in this world. O celestial Jerusalem. O shining house full of all brightness, I wish my pilgrimage to reach there and to it. And thus, in his third book on the Gospel according to Matthew, St. Bernard says, \"How glorious is the kingdom of heaven. The kings have assembled in a montage, that is, to understand, to love, pray, and glorify him who is king above all kings and lord over all lords. In the resplendent contemplation of whom, the just people shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The Psalmist also says in Psalm 4, 'Thou wilt fill me with joy in thy presence.' Job also says in Chapter 34, 'His face shall be seen in great joyful gladness.' All those who have truly served and saved our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in humility of heart, in good labors and virtuous works, Isaiah says in Chapter 33, 'They shall see the King of kings in his great beauty.' O how blessed, how agreeable, how sweet, and how happy shall be the beholding of our Savior Ihu Crist for those who have faithfully served.\" loved him. They shall joyfully say, as it is written in Abacuk, in the third chapter. I shall rejoice in our Lord and be merry in Ihu Crist my God. O how great will be the rejoicing of those who are filled with celestial joys, and what joy and gladness they will have, which will be permanent and abiding, world without end.\n\nThe kingdom of heaven is secondarily recommended for its abundant goodness. Saint Augustine says in his book De civitate dei that God has ordained that those whom He loves may not only attain it, but it cannot be sufficiently praised. Of the superabundant rich goodness of this celestial kingdom, it is written in Deuteronomy in the eighth chapter: \"Our Lord God will lead you into a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, with fountains and springs and fields and mountains. From it shall come rivers and streams. He will lead you also into a land where...\" \"This land grows wheat, barley, and vines. Figs and apples, grains and olives, oil and honey are all found here without necessity. This is a most delightful country, filled with sweetness. This is the country to which the sons of Adam were sent, as written in the book of Jude, the eighteenth chapter, which said at their return, 'We have seen a delightful, plentiful country, rich indeed. Do not despise it nor leave it, but let us take possession of it. For there is no labor, and the Lord will give us abundance there, by which we shall have no need or lack. For there is nothing that delights. And all good delights are present. Saint Augustine says that eternal beatitude and well-being are especially in two things: the absence of all evil and the presence of all good. Now if you ask me what things are in heaven, I can answer you no other way but that all good things are there.\" And all things that are nothing can never come there. Therefore, says St. Gregory. There is no good thing desired nor lacking there, nor is there any harm or enjoyment within it. It is written in the last chapter of Revelation. They shall have no more hunger nor thirst, nor shall the sun nor the heat harm them. For the Lamb of God, who sits on the throne, will govern and bring them to the source of the water of life. And more is following in the same chapter, he says. Show me the river of the water of life. Whoever is thirsty, come and drink. Whoever wishes to have of the water of life, come and take it. And he who has of that water will never be thirsty. As it is written in the Gospel of St. John in the third chapter. O how happy and how blessed is that country, where God is in all things, and where there is no poverty nor sorrow, that is good. This country is the celestial pasture, where nothing needs to be desired. For in this place, there is no need for anything. \"pasture shall be our Lord's banquet and feed his true lovers whom he will bind perpetually. Therefore says our Lord in Ezekiel, chapter forty-four: I will put them in their countries and feed them in the mountains of Israel. Now certainly, the blessed saints of heaven are well fed with the knowledge of the sovereign truth, which is to them a fruitful pasture. Whether they enter into contemplation of the divinity or consider the grace of humanity, in both they shall find cause to be satisfied and fed with delight. And they shall feel the fruit of sovereign sweetness. And as the Psalter says, \"He has given you the fullness of the fine flour of wheat.\" The fatness of the flour of wheat is the delight of sweetness caused by the love of God. Of this flour of wheat, by the same love may my soul be filled, and then I shall rest in eternal joyful security always, growing green and never withering.\" Here is now shown how good is this country where the happy men dwell. \"This shall be fed that is so fruitful and plentiful. Certainly this is the contrary of life. In which we must hope to see the goodness of our lord. The Psalter says, \"We shall all be filled with the good things of the earth.\" But only the grace of your incomprehensible glory. Saint Bernard says in a sermon on Dedication, \"The reasonable soul, made in God's image, may well be occupied with all other things, but it may not be fully filled. Certainly, she, comprehending God, may not be fully filled with less than God. We shall not only be filled with this incomparable glory, but also we shall be drunk and satiated on it. It is read in I here the 33rd chapter, \"I will make the souls of the priests of grace drunk. He shall set and administer to them food of glory, and give them drink of marvelous joy and sweetness.\" Then it shall be said to those who shall eat there, as is written in the Canticles, the 5th chapter, \"My right dear one.\"\" Friends. Ete and drink and make you drunk. In Isaiah the twenty-ninth chapter is written: \"Make you drunk / but not with wine. And with what shall they make them drunk? With joy and with gladness and with felicity / and with many manners of the celestial glory. O good Lord / God eternal / how sweetly shall your good and true servants be drunk with the plentitude of your house / and with the voluptuousness of the Fountain of life, the Fountain of beatitude and of glory permanent and never failing. Certainly all sweetness belongs to your house. It is the house of our Lord / the city of God / which is full of all riches / and resplendent with all goods. Therefore says Isaiah in Jerusalem, full of all goods. The great multitude of the citizens says in his fifty-first chapter: \"You shall go out in joy / and be brought forth in peace. O how great shall the abundance of this peace be in Jerusalem, where it shall remain perpetually without any war. Isaiah yet\" The people shall be in the beauty of peace and in the tabernacles of confidence, in the rich abundant rest. Tobit says in the fourteenth chapter: \"O Jerusalem, City of God, blessed are those who love thee and rejoice in thy peace.\" It is in Ezekiel, the fourteenth chapter: \"The saints see in the vision of peace, there is joy and peace with him who brings peace, which is so precious that it surpasses all human understanding. He who wishes to participate in such great joy and peace with the saints eternally in heaven must learn now to suffer humbly and have patience here on earth. For it is written in a book called Aurora, drawn from the Bible: 'By suffering, France is won, that most noble rest.' And there is no one so wise who can rejoice in that peace, but only if it is obtained through patient endurance of tribulations and pains in this mortal world.\" Thirdly, the kingdom and reign of God is to be recommended for this. Greet Ioye and gladness that is eternally enduring. According to St. Gregory in an homily, who has the tongue that can sufficiently declare and express the joys of that sovereign City? Or who has the understanding to comprehend how great those joys are for the companies of angels and the happy souls? And how inestimable is that most blissful eternal joy and glory in beholding the visage of our Lord God, having no manner of trouble or fear of death but living in rejoicing them of that most precious gift of grace. Which shall ever be permanent and without corruption. Certainly that kingdom, that City of our Lord, must be understood to be Jerusalem, which Iherusalem is most bountifully, plentifully, and blissfully edified. O city of cities, which is so abundantly full of blissful joys to the happy souls, be thou loved. It is written in Isaiah the last chapter. Rejoice with Iherusalem, and disport yourself in her, that you may know and be filled and fed with her bread. Of consolation, and that you may be abundant in all manners with the delectations of that glory. Of the immeasurable felicity and glory of that noble city speaks Saint Augustine in his City of God, saying, \"O how great shall the felicity be in the LXXXIV chapter. There was never eye that saw, without it, the joy which you have ordained for those who dwell there, nor greater gladness can be than what you will give to those whom you love. The Psalter says, 'Our Lord has known the days of those who are pure and not defiled, and their heritage shall be perpetual.' It is written in Tobit the XIII chapter, 'Lord, you are greatly eternal, and your kingdom is in all worlds.' Saint Augustine says in his City of God, 'We shall understand and see, praise and love our Lord. This shall be in the end, which is without end.' Now what should we desire to be?\" Our intent is to seek and find the ways to enter the realm, where joys have no end, which realm is the realm of all worlds. Your power and lordship are over all generations. Tobias says in the fourteen chapter. Blessed be our Lord, who has raised Irum to such a height that His realm is above all worlds. O how glorious is the realm, where the blessed saints rejoice with Jesus Christ. And they follow Him always, clad in white robes, like lambs. Now concerning the world to come, Saint Augustine speaks in his book on the deceased. For there is no creature but it must finish and die here. It is otherwise with the love of the world to come. In which all are so vivified that they can never die after it, and there is no adversity or weariness, but eternal joys reign there. The Psalter says, \"The thousand rejoice and are glad in the presence of the Lord, delighting themselves in His gladness.\" And all. sorrow and wailing will flee from them. It is written in Revelation the twenty-first chapter. Our lord shall dry the tears of their eyes. There will be no weeping, crying, sorrow, or death. For all that will have passed before. He says in his twenty-fifth chapter, \"Our lord shall take away the tears from every face, and shall take away the reproach of his people in every land. Then the people shall say, 'Here is our lord God, whom we have waited for, who will save us. We have endured and suffered for him. Therefore, we rejoice in salvation with and by him.' O how great will be that joyful gladness to those who shall be glorified not only in soul but also in body. It is written in Isaiah the sixty-first chapter. They shall be doubly possessed in their land. And in Proverbs the last chapter is written, \"All his household and his people shall not only have joy in their own proper good works but also in the merits of the happy saints. Our lord says in Jeremiah the thirty-fourth.\" Chapter I. I shall dwell among them assuredly, and they shall be my people. I shall be their god, and I will give them a heart and a soul, not only by the unity of substance, but by the bond of charity. Behold me, right dear friends, if the soul of a martyr, of a confessor, of a virgin, and yours, is also present. Consequently, it seems that you should rejoice in their joys, and that your souls should be similar to the apostles or any other saints. Saint Gregory says that charity will be so abundant there that he, who has not enough for himself, will rejoice to see another have it. Certainly, those wonderful and manifold joys can never enter human hearts here. And every heart will be filled and replenished with them. For within, by the purity of their consciences; outside, by the glorification of their bodies; below, by the ineffable joys. Revealing the beauty of the heavens and their creatures. In the highest part, by the clear and visible sight of our Lord God. And in all other parts, by the joyful and delightful company of all the saints in heaven. Now truly, there is no man who can imagine or think the greatness of the joys that are there. I cannot tell the rejoicing of the inhabitants in heaven, reigning there among the angels of our Lord God perpetually. It is written in the Gospel of St. Matthew in the 25th chapter. \"Enter into the joy of your lord.\" Enter yourself into that joy / and with all your heart enter therein. Of the innumerable quantities of celestial joys speaks St. Bernard in his book of meditations. Their gladness has all things in possession. There, all feasts are possessed, and the men accompanied by angels shall remain there perpetually without any manner of fleshly infirmity. There is infinite joyousness. There is sempiternal beatitude. And after one receives it, he. \"Shall we remain there permanently. There is rest without labor, peace and friendship without envy, and the most pleasant sweetness in the vision of our Lord God. Saint Bernard says, \"The joys and sweetnesses of the country are so great that if a man were there only for an hour, all the joys and delights of this world might seem like pains, bitternesses, and filth in comparison, just as the might and bounty of our Lord God exceeds and surpasses all other worldly things. O good Lord God, what have I lacked in this earth when seven things should be much more desired than any power here, gold, silver, or any precious stones. Now what more can I say about this country and the holy city of Jerusalem? In its streets, Alleluia is sung incessantly, with joyful and the Thirteenth Chapter. It is also read in Isaiah, the First Chapter. All joy and\" Gladness shall be found in that country with actions of grace and voices of loving ones. All shall say in his temple, \"Honor and glory be to the Lord.\" Therefore, the voices of gladness and health shall sow in the tabernacles of just people. In the city of our Lord, joy and health shall continue through the saints, who have utterly forsaken the tribulations, pains, labors, and wretchednesses of this world, enjoying the celestial bliss. O sweetly, playfully, and clearly sing those in despair who before wept in Gomorrah and in Austin's book of meditations say, \"O city which is a celestial house and a sure refuge containing all things that may cause delight.\" There is dwelling in rest. The people are there without murmur or complaint. O how many glorious things are said of this city. The dwelling place of our Lord is in it, as in a thing enjoying all good things. There is peace, pity, beauty, clarity, light, virtue, honesty, glory, rest, love, and good concord. ioye / swetenes / blis & {per}durable lif. Of all those & the {per}durable lif shal ye happy sowles be certaine & sure without ony lesing therof. Isay saith in his xxxij chapitre Ther shal be furete for euer. Eze\u00a6chiel saith in his xxxviij chapitre They shal inhabite ferme\u00a6ly in eternite without ony maner of feer. It is red in the {pro}uerbes of salomon in the first chapitre. he that hath wel\nherkend / shal reste without fere and enioye in habundance Seint Austyn saith. That theternale surete enourneth and fulfilleth the beatitudes of all the celestiale goodnesses where if that sempiternite shulde faille / all the other celes\u00a6tiale goodnesses be they neuer so swete / shulde be the lesse to be praysed. Seint Ioh\u0304n saith in his xviij chapitre In assuring vs / there is no man / that shal byreue you your Ioye. O hous of our lorde / Cite of the greet king. how innumerable and how greet be thyn\u0304 eternale Ioyes with the mamfolde gladnesses of those happy sowles / that be en\u00a6habited with the. Now surely lorde they be We were blessed to inhabit in thy house, loving thee during the world of worlds. Who is he having a whole Rememberance, so ignorant that he thinks not that all the company of heaven loves not and summers? Of this eternal glory, St. John Chrysostom also says in his book of the Preparation of the Fall of Man: \"How great shall the whipping be, how great shall the joy and gladness be to the soul to be with Jesus Christ returned to his proper generation, and assuredly and undoubtedly to behold and see our Lord. The greatness nor the quantity of that joyful bliss cannot be told nor recited. Lo, who is he that shall be a partner to that joy, which is endless? It is certainly ordained, folk, lords, and others shall rejoice them in the glory of our Lord, those who have followed his traces in this world, whereby they shall reign with him, glorified, worshipped, and crowned eternally in heaven. O my right well-loved. \"brethren, how greatly shall you rejoice if you are transported into that eternal glory. You shall say then in crying and singing, as it is written in Isaiah, the sixty-first chapter: \"I will rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garment of salvation.\" According to Job, the twenty-second chapter: \"You shall be abundant then in joy, in the ecclesiastical [or spiritual] one, the eleventh chapter. It is a delightful light to see Him. That is, to understand Ihu Crist, which to know and behold permanently surpasses and transcends all the joys of this world. And is no marvel, for you know this and vision is the food, glory, and life everlasting of the happy saints. Saint John says in his sixteenth chapter: \"Eternal life is this, to know the true God and Jesus Christ, whom you send down into this earth for our redemption. Now he who may obtain and come to that blessed and joyful knoll, Saint Bernard says in his sermon: \"Merely this is a\" true and supreme joy, which is not only conceived and had by one creature, but also by the creator and maker of all creatures. Which joy thou shalt have when he shall reveal his face. Wherefore the prophet earnestly said, \"Lord, I beseech thee, let me see thy gracious face, full of all joy and gladness. Alas, my delight is prolonged from me until I may have great prosperity and until I may be drawn unto God my savior. I shall shed tears night and day. Certainly the vision by which our Lord is seen face to face is in the third heaven. And if it could be said, it is the paradise of Moses' heavens. There the fountain of clear water is seen by the happy life. Isaiah says in his sixty-first chapter, \"Thou shalt see him, and shalt be filled with delight and eternal joys. O Lord of Israel, how good thou art to them that have rightful hearts, who wilt give them such great, such rich, and such pleasurable joys. My dear brothers, gladly do we speak of these things here.\" Delights and joys, and take pleasure in them. Nevertheless, you ought not to be ignorant of the fact that the saints come to these joys only through great pains and labors. Saint Gregory says in his Homily, \"The greatness of the rewards gives me courage, and my labors should not discourage me. For one can never attain to great rewards without great labors.\" The noble preacher Saint Paul, in the second epistle to Timothy, the second chapter, says, \"There shall be no crown given but to those who have fought manfully.\" Every man shall receive his rewards, which shall be according to his labors. There are diverse who will not live well, and yet they desire to die well. They may know that the death of saints is precious. Also, when the Lord has given rest to his souls, they shall dwell in his heritage permanently, because they have been those who have always followed him in resisting temptations. Many of you would reign with Jesus Christ, but you will suffer nothing for his sake. Balaam, the priest, intended to join the children of Israel, desiring their eternal beatitude. He said to himself, \"May my soul die as a just soul does, and may my last things be like theirs. I delight greatly in their glorious end, but I balk at taking on their labors and pains, for which they have earned eternal glory.\" O God, Lord Jesus, we would gladly reign with you, but we will not labor or share in your sufferings. You chase misery and poverty, and we have taken ourselves to voluptuousnesses and delight. You have taken upon yourself and suffered bitternesses and sharpnesses to your body, and we have chosen and followed our sensual pleasures. St. Bernard said, \"The Son of God is born to whom it pleased him to be born. He chose to be born in the most mournful time, and the blessed little baby, born of a poor mother without clothes to wrap him and place him in the manger, certainly Jesus' Christ, who is never deceived, chases.\" That which most annoyed and grieved his flesh, it is best and sweetest and most profitable to choose the hardest pain in this world. And he who advises or teaches otherwise should beware of him and give him little credence. It was once promised by Isaiah, a little child, that could reprove evil and choose the good. The evil was the voluptuous pleasure of the body, and the good was the pain and affliction thereof. This child is the Son of God, who chose afflictions and relieved and forsook the voluptuous pleasers. As Saint Bernard said, \"O right dear child, you have chosen corporal afflictions from the beginning here, and in suffering have entered into your glory, which was properly yours. But we, living in delectations, would enter into that glory where we are but strangers and not worthy to come there, but by your grace.\" Against this, Saint Augustine speaks, saying, \"If it had been fitting for Jesus Christ, Lord and King, whose name is above all names, to suffer, He, the Suffering One, entered into His glory.\" He has entered into his eternal glory. What hope or trust shall we have to get there without suffering? Since we are strangers and can only enter there by him. O how foolish and hard-hearted we are to rejoice in this world and after to reign with Ihu_ crist in heaven. He entered there all naked. Yet was he there lord. And we would enter there, charged with superfluous garments, with riches of gold and silver and precious stones. He entered there chast and fasting. And you will enter there, dying on the cross to redeem those who deliciously slept in their beds. Should the servant then have it, the master not having it and not wanting to buy it, as he did? Certainly not. And it seems to me unreasonable. Listen now to what a poet says. The Lord has sweetly suffered on the cross; shall not the servant do the same? Bear your cross, for he has borne his. Taste of the vinegar, as he did. The reverence or the case of the servant should not be more than that of the Lord. If you. Follow him you must,\nensure his torments, and hold certain,\nyou cannot enter heaven through delights and pleasures.\nTherefore, when you pay to our Lord your debt of natural death which you owe him,\nforsake voluptuousness,\nrestrain your delights,\nrestrain your flesh,\nand die in the love of Jesus Christ.\nSaint Jerome says in a letter he sent to Julian that it is a great difficulty and an impossible thing for a man to have and enjoy the wealth and pleasures of this world and those to come, and that filling his belly here should feed his soul, and that he should leave delights and pleasures here for delights and pleasures there. He also says in another place that it is impossible for a man to be possessed of worldly riches and to follow Ihu Crist. Nature will not allow two contradictory things to coexist. Certainly we cannot be servants to both God and the devil. Other I am deceived, or they are. \"Think how riches of this world turn to necessities in other world. The damned souls eat, drink, and lived deliciously wearing precious garments here. But when he was dead, because he would not believe Moses, he perceived his faults and felt them well when he was in the torments of hell. Saint Bernard showed this also by a speech that was between Christ and Saint Peter. Where he said, \"Abraham said to the false rich glutton, 'You have had great wealth in your life, and leprosy has suffered many pains, but now he is in joy and consolation, and you are in pain and torment everlasting.' What more can we say? After that we end, weeping is the torment of joy, and you may not have joy in this world by adversity, but by adversity here you may have the most bitter joy. It is manifest that this worldly goods are not a house of lamentation, but in the house of worldly felicity. For those that in their life here have received\" worldly prosperities shall be tormented afterwards. And for rejoicing in their consolations here, they are ordered a sempiternal pain. What then of those who have here so much but afflictions and sorrows? Consequently, those who retain the pleasures and solaces of this world, notwithstanding universal torments and sorrows, have taken upon themselves. They have renounced their consolation here in this valley of tears, miseries, and sorrows, for torments and penances shall come to them instead. Despise and refuse the goods of this present life, and choose to suffer penance in them. By doing so, they attain the goods of our Lord with all consolation. Saint Bernard says, \"Late thy soul then renounce to be in consolation here in this valley of tears, miseries, and sorrows, for torments and penances shall come to thee instead. Despise these transitory joys. Wert thou one who could have joy in this present life and also in that which is to come: Nay. Without his permission, here is spread bitterness and sorrow. Thou art deceived.\" To have perfect joy both here and there, using this world and enjoying its delights, and never failing to obtain the riches of celestial glory and joy with Jesus Christ. Hear more about this in the Gospel from the rich man who was tormented in the fire of hell, desiring a drop of water for the refreshment of his tongue. It was answered, \"You have received the wealth of the world. Lazarus the Poor man said, \"We might well call fools the kings and prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and delicate and tender virgins, who all despised and fled from worldly riches and offered and took them to tribulations and shameful deaths for the love of Jesus Christ. If they could have obtained the joys of heaven through voluptuous delights, which they did not obtain except by anguish and pain in this world.\" Verily, friends, whatever is said, believe firmly and hold it as certain. You shall never enter. Live according to the ways taught by the disciples of Jesus Christ. That is, live soberly and justly, retain humility, charity, patience, constance, and all other virtues. Despise the world and all its parts, renounce riches and delight, do penance, and rejoice vigorously in tribulations. Act similarly to them and their doctrine, and you shall live eternally. Be of constant courage in all your anguish and labors, having hope in the help of our Lord, and He will soon heal and relieve you. Labor manfully as good knights with Jesus Christ. Do not weary in yourself, saying, \"Our labors are great, and we are so weak that finally we may not persevere in this purpose.\" Recomfort yourself and listen well to the words of St. Gregory, saying, \"There should be no time thought long.\" One who labors is worthy of eternal glory. John Chrysostom said on the Gospel of St. Matthew, \"If a man has begun his journey, think the way laborious; he ought to be considered slothful if he shuns the perils for temporal goods. Similarly, storms, frosts, and rains are trials for laborers of the earth; wounds and strokes for good knights and champions for their honor and advancement. If these are considered easy, much more pain should be endured without complaint for the recovery of celestial bliss, which is ordained for those who will deserve it. Take no heed of your painful life here. But remember, it will soon fail. Truly, you may well think that the kingdom of heaven is not suitable for sluggards nor temporal beatitude ordained for reckless and wanton people.\n\nAs Pope Leo said in a sermon. And the Gospel of St. Matthew. Matthew says in the fifty-first chapter. The kingdom of heaven is won through suffering and force in this world, and it may be believed. For Jesus Christ said that suffering brings it. A poet said, \"Your living must be sharp; your labor painful; and your clothing grievous, and so must all your other things be here, if you want to be logged there above in heaven.\" This may appear manifestly to you. Also, in the acts of the apostles, the forty-fourth chapter is written. How one enters heaven must be through many tribulations. Oh, how well was it understood by Saint Augustine, that one may not enter the bliss of heaven except through tribulation and pain in this world. For he said, \"If our soul should always support and sustain torment and pains here, and also endure for a long time the gehenna of hell, in order that we might thereby surely see our Lord Jesus Christ in his glory and be accompanied by his saints. Now would it not be an excellent thing to have such a great reward, as to be partners in it.\" \"Perfect a glory. Peter of Blois said, \"My members fail me through age and are weakened by fasting and broken by labors, and I melt with tears of my eyes. But if all my brain and the marrow of my bones were converted into tears, it would not be sufficient passion in this present time in comparison to achieving that glory to come, which shall be shown to us. If a man knew what thing he is and what it is of him and of God, he would think that suffering death for his sake were but a nothing. Behold now how good and how profitable it is to endure penance for our Lord's sake. Sustain it then gladly and bear it benignly, taking an example from murderers and thieves condemned to death, who would greatly rejoice in themselves if they could save one of their eyes by the ransom of another. Rejoice yourself similarly in great gladness. For in doing a little penance here, you may escape and exclude the death of your souls and win eternal joy.\" Therefore, you man that art mortal.\" To achieve the life that is perpetual, you must endure such pain as you would to save yourself temporally, which is uncertain and of little enduring. This is written in Ecclesiastes, the fifth chapter. You shall toil a little and here in this world is the littleness of penance. And you shall soon eat and drink the generation thereof. That is to understand, the fruits of glory, which are engendered with the labor of penance. It is written in the Book of Wisdom, the third chapter. You who are weary yet, dispose yourselves well, and your reward and recompense shall be great. Saint Jerome said, My dear and beloved brethren, the labor of our institution is but little, and the rest is great. Our affliction does not last long, but our Retribution, that is to say, the delights of Paradise. The joy and gladness there shall endure without end. The wise man said in Ecclesiastes, the last chapter, \"Behold how little I have labored, and I have found.\" For me, peace reigns. By the reasons written above, it is manifestly clear that though our labors here are little and good, our rewards in heaven may be great and many. For the joys there are impossible to be comprehended or declared by us. There was never earthly heart that could imagine the pleasures there, nor could any eye see, nor here the delectable melody and sweetnesses that are there. And the goodnesses, they cannot be directly tasted or felt here, but it may well be thought that all that ever is felt delightful or good in this present world is but a reflection and a shadow of the goodness of heaven, which we ought to take as an allegory, desiring to come to the original and root thereof, and to have a part of that most precious bliss, which is our inheritance. Now in concluding finally, it may appear by great evidence and irrefutable reasons that the four last things above-alleged, which are to wit, the bodily death, the day of judgment. I. Judgment/the fiery pit of hell/and the glory of paradise are defended and withdrawn from sin in various ways, such as having the same four last things without oblivion in continuous remembrance. By doing so, they adorn and build their souls to remain eternally in the most glorious bliss of heaven. And whenever they fall into sin, it is because they have not the same four things deeply imprinted in their minds. And alas, not even the suffering of our Lord can save them. Few consider and ponder the aforementioned four last things. Many believe they will live long and repent in their age, and thereby appease the Judge and flee the danger of hell. And yet, after they think they will possess heaven eternally. Oh, what presumptuous folly is it to believe and trust in such things! This argument does not conclude but deceives all such as have hope or confidence in it. Therefore, do penance for your salvation, or you shall perish and die in your sins. \"If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, not into the hands of man. Alas, who is he that sufficiently bewails his sins, who has good patience with his enemy, who has compassion on the poor people and relieves them in their necessities, who administers justice, and who for no vain glory or worldly lucre offends his conscience? Our generation is so wretched and frail that our hearts can only address themselves to harm, not to good. We savour and delight in worldly things and seek not after Jesus Christ. We love vices, we flee virtues, and lie in our own sins as beasts in their dung, and therein we rot miserably. The Lord looks upon the son of man and beholds if there is any asking for grace or in a good disposition. But alas, he sees few inclined to it and many disposed to the contrary, in all straits, that the miserable time of\" This world is coming. Which Micheas prophesied of in his seventh chapter says, \"Holiness is perished there, and among men there is none that is truly wise. Remember well how almost every man nowadays seeks his own particular cause and lucre / shedding of blood and wronging of others. What more shall I say? Few there are that will endeavor any good perfection, nor open their eyes for their salvation. So let them be blinded in their malicious folly. O cursed malice and unhappy folly / by which life is voluntarily lost, and death won, wellbeing despised, and harm accepted, our Lord displeased, and the devil obeyed. Now then, my right dear brothers and friends, do not strike off your heads with your own swords, as it were late, nor let your own deeds be your destruction perpetual. Rise out of sin. Look up and remember what difference is between eternal damnation and perpetual joy and bliss. Forsake and renounce your sins / and defend yourself from the devil's power. I. Although you may certainly do so with contrition, and in asking help and grace from our Lord. It is marvelous that man, who above all earthly things is a rational creature, does not seek the true original source of reason. But despises and forsakes that which is most profitable and eternally good for that which is mortal and most harmful. O good Lord, what unhappy cause inspires this, and why should we, through our folly, lose the souls that you have bought so dearly with your most precious blood? Certainly the cause is a lack of prudence, good counsel, grace, and cordial remembrance of the last four things. O our redeemer, almighty and merciful Jesus, grant us your grace so that we may yet surely seek for our last things, and so cordially remember your godhead that it may cause us, hereafter, to repel and reject our sins, resist our spiritual enemy, and conform ourselves in all good works to your blessed will, to the obedience of your eternal glory. To Whoever be this, we believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, reigning in unity, eternally in the world without end. Amen\n\nThis book is translated from French into our maternal tongue by the noble and virtuous lord Antoine Erle Ryuiers, Lord Scales and of the Isle of Wight. Defender and director of William Caxton, by my said noble lord Ryuiers, on the day of the purification of our blessed lady, falling on the Tuesday the second day of the month of February. In the year of our Lord MCCCCLXXVII, for printing and multiplying to go abroad among the people, that thereby more surely might be remembered the four last things uncertainly coming. And it is to be noted that since the time of the great tribulation and adversity of my said lord, he has been most virtuously occupied, as in going on pilgrimages to St. James in Galicia, to Rome, to St. Bartholomew, to St. Andrew, to St. Matthew, in the Kingdom of Naples, and to St. Nicholas de Bar in Puylle, and other diverse holy places. He obtained and received from our holy father the Pope a great and large indulgence and grace for the chapel of our Lady of the Pille at West Mester. This grace is like that of the indulgence of Scala Coeli. In addition, he had great service with the king and my said lord prince, both in Wales and in England. This has been a significant concern for him, both spiritually and physically, as the fruit of his labor demonstrates. However, over and above his rich virtuous disposition, he dedicated himself to devotion at all times when he could have had a leisure. This was only the beginning of his translation of diverse books from French into English. Among other works that passed through my hands were the book of the wise sayings or dictates of philosophers and the wise and healthy proverbs of Christine de Pisan set in meter. Furthermore, he composed diverse ballads against the seven deadly sins. He understands well the mutability and instability of this present life and desires with great zeal and spiritual love our spiritual help and perpetual salvation. We shall abhor and utterly forsake the abominable and damning sins commonly used nowadays, such as Pride, perjury, theft, murder, and many others. Therefore, he took upon himself the translating of this present work named \"Cordyale,\" trusting that both the readers and hearers thereof would know themselves better in the future and amend their living or depart and lose this time of grace for the recovery of their salvation. Translating, in my judgment, is a noble and meritorious deed. He is worthy of great commendation and also singular remembrance with our good prayers. For certainly, both the readers and hearers, understanding in their hearts the aforementioned four last things, may be greatly provoked and called from sin to the great and plentiful mercy. Of our blessed Savior, and no one being contrite and confessed need fear the oblation thereof, as more plainly appears in the preface of my said lord's book, made by him. In obeying and following my said lord's commandment, I am bound to do so for the manifold benefits and large rewards I have received from him. I have dedicated and maintained myself in his virtuous and laudable service, and after this short, dangerous, and transitory life, everlasting permanence in heaven Amen. This work I began the morning after the said Purification of our blessed Lady. Which was the day of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr. And I finished it on the eve of the announcement of our said blessed Lady falling on the Wednesday, the 24th day of March. In the 19th year of King Edward the Fourth.", "creation_year": 1479, "creation_year_earliest": 1479, "creation_year_latest": 1479, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"}
]