The sixt Meditation for Saterday: howe death is to be feared: and that a Christian ought so to…

BE mindfull, ¹ saith the wiseman, for death dooth not tarry: the remembrance of it is the mother of many good things: for the same Wiseman saith:² Remember the end, and thou shalt neuer doe amisse. And Saint Bernard saith: Continuall remembrance of death is a great blessing.³ Let a man alwayes carry this about with him, and hee shall neuer offend. And Saint Augustine sayth:⁴ There is not any thing, that more forciblie holdeth a man from sinne, then the continuall remembrance of death. This maketh a man humble & lowly: this bringeth a cōtempt of earthly things, & induceth a man to take vpon him the burden of repentance. S. Hierome also doth subscribe vnto these,⁵ saying; Hee that perswadeth himselfe that he shall dye, easily contemneth all things: he despiseth the pride of lyfe, who remembreth that ere long hee shall be cast into the earth: for hee that knoweth that shortly, he must be put vnder all mens feet, & be troden vpon by euerie one, he will not desire to be extolled, or to be lifted aboue others: he that remēbreth that he must leaue all things by and by, contemneth the lust of his eies; but especially he despiseth the concupiscence of the flesh, who considereth that after a short time his body shal be deuoured of the wormes of the earth. I wold to God, saith S. Ierome, that the kings & Princes of the earth, and the possessors of the riches of this worlde, wold cōsider, how after a short space of time they shall be carried out of theyr magnificent Pallaces, and be enclosed & included in a very narrow corner of a roome: how they shall be caried out of their glistering & famous buildings into a darke & obscure Sepulcher: out of their golden & gilded houses, painted with most beautiful & most plesant flowers & picturs into a Sepulcher replenished with crawling worms, & intollerable stink: out of their Pallaces full of all the fine furniture & riches of this world into an empty and hollow Sepulcher: out of Pallaces, in which a company of children and a troup of seruants daily attēded, into a solitary, desert forsaken Sepulcher, seperated from all society and resort of men. Tell mee, where remayneth all that forepassed glory and pompe? Where is the multitude of seruants and attendants, that were wont to follow them? Where are their costly & delicate banquets? They ioyed heere a little time, and liued in their Pallaces, in the midst of the delights of this world; and nowe worms in a Sepulcher do frollick and feede on them.

Of this remembrance of death,⁶ Petrus Damianus wryteth vnto a certaine Countesse, saying; O that wee would remember, deare Lady, how the miserable soule is excruciated at the point of death with horrible feare, cruell remorse, and sharpe piercings, it being now to depart out of the prison of the flesh. It shall remember vices and sins committed, which are so strictly forbidden: It shall beholde the precepts of God, which it hath not obserued partly throgh negligence, and partly through contempt; it shall lament the time spent without fruit, which was granted it to repent in: it shall mourne and bewaile, because it hath so lately vnderstood the ineuitable and immutable vengeance of condemnation. It shall bee compelled to forsake and leaue the flesh, it shall desire to reuoke and recall the time past, but it cannot, neither shall it bee heard. Looking backwardes, it shall see all her life time, as the tract and step of one pace. And looking forwards, seeing so euerlasting an age of eternity, it shall howle and cry out, that in so short a time it did not purchase that great glory, which the Saintes shall enioy for euer and euer: it shall lament that for so small and momentany a pleasure, it hath lost the perpetuall felicity of euerlasting blessednes. It shall blush & be ashamed, that for the flesh, which shal be cast vnto wormes to eate, it neglected and despised it selfe, which should haue liued in the society and felowship of Angels. And lifting vp the beams of her vnderstanding, and considering of those immortall riches of heauen, and seeing that shee hath changed them for the miseries of this life, shee shall bee exceedingly afflicted, and vtterlie confounded. When she shall turne her eyes to view the vanities of this world, and the darknes of the earth, shee shall admire and wonder at the brightnes of the light glistering aboue her, and shall manifestlie knowe that thys worlde is night and darknesse. The breaste shall beginne to pant and beate,⁷ the forehead shall waxe stiffe, whence cold sweate shall issue: the eyes shall growe dimme, the eares deaffe, the nose shall sinke downe, the nosethrils shall bee filled with filth and corruption, the countenance shal wax wanne and pale, the mouth shall bee distorted and pursed, the lippes shall grow blew, the hands cold, the pulse shall faint and languish, nowe beating neuer a whitte, nowe stryking softlie, and sometymes creeping lyke a worme or a pysmier: the feete shall wax cold, and the whole flesh shal turne to corruption.

Those antecedent tokens of death neerely approching,⁸ and these neerer signes beeing at hand, the euil works, which she hath done, the wordes, which she hath spoken, and the cogitations, which she hath thoght vpon, shall also approach: and both the workes, wordes, and thoughts, shall be witnesses against a miserable sinner: they shall stand in his sight: & will he nill he, he shall be constrayned to see them. At the one side of him there shall bee deuils present, and at the other Angells: these shall comfort him dying, the other shall accuse him, and both of them shall earnestly expect, which of them shall carry him away with them. If there be in him signes of piety and contrition, he shall be glad at the sight of the Angels, and hee shall take courage to depart with thys sweete and happie companie. But if on the left side there shal bee present so obscure and so hatefull a multitude of sinns, so vncleane and stinking, that the Iudge cannot abide the smell of them, thē the miserable soule shall forth-with faint for feare, it shall bee disturbed with violence of perturbations, & shall bee compelled to forsake the prison of the miserable flesh. Then the soule shall runne to the mouth, to the eyes, to the eares, to the nosethrils; seeking which way it may get forth, & finding all thinges shut vp and closed, it shall breake through, which when it hath so done, and shall looke round about, casting her eyes on euery side, and seeing her selfe condemned, shee shall curse and banne her selfe, exclaiming, and crying out: O the cursed soule of one excomunicate of a theefe, of a Church robber, of an adulterer, of an vsurer. And whē the wretched soule shal view the white and vnspotted garment, that was giuē her in baptisme, to be nowe blacker then pitch, she shal sigh and mourn with greate lamentation and howling, saying: Woe is mee, woe is mee miserable wretch; who hath changed my garmēt? it was whiter then snow, and nowe it is blacker then pitch. Then the deuill will presentlie step forth, who wil mock thee, and say; O my soule doe not meruaile, beholde it is I, that haue prepared for thee thys blacke garmeut: with which vesture the greater part of the worlde is inuested: to which thou hast alwayes beene obsequious, which thou hast credited, which thou with me hast imployed thy selfe in, alwayes following myne aduice and counsaile: therefore with mee thou shalt for euer dwell in mine infernal kingdom: where there is sorrowe without ioy, hunger without meate, thyrst without drinke, darknes without light, stinke without sweetnesse, greefe without comfort, mourning without consolation, teares without ceasing, hideous noyse without silence, howling without melody, burning fire without refreshing, a violent wind without calmnes, heat without ende, and all euill without any good. Therefore arise my loue, & goe with me; behold all the infernal spirites doe come to meet thee. Then also shall bee present the Angel of GOD, to whom the soule was committed, saying; Happie and blessed are they, who in this worlde haue not spotted nor blemished theyr garments. O vnhappy soule, ô friend of deuils, ô the cursed creature of the omnipotent God. I alwayes stood by thee, and thou sawest mee not. I alwayes admonished thee, and thou wouldest not heare me: I alwayes suggested good counsailes vnto thee, and thou wouldest not beleeue mee. Therefore now get thee gone to hell into the handling of deuills: that is, to the place of torments, which are prepared for thee according to thy deserts.

Who can expresse the multitude of hellish fiends, that with great fiercenes shal runne to catch the vnhappie soule, and carrie it to euerlasting torments, who despitely insulting ouer it, and mocking it shall say; O how proude hast thou beene heeretofore? How delicately and sumptuously hast thou banquetted? How finelie & curiously hast thou been cloathed? Howe valiant and prosperous hast thou alwayes been? Tell vs, why doest thou not now eate, why doest thou not drinke, why art thou not gallantlie apparrelled? Why doest thou not nowe play and reioyce with thy wife, children, and friends? Then the miserable soule shall curse the bodie, ⁹ saying: O temple of the deuill, whose works haue polluted mee: ô cursed earth, ô habitation of sathan, arise now and goe with mee, and thou shalt see the place of torments prepared for thee: in which I shall dwell without thee till the comming of the Iudge: and then also shalt thou come hither, and for euer shalt bee tormented with mee. Cursed bee thine eyes, which would not see the light of truth, and the way of righteousnesse: cursed bee thine eares, which refused to heare the wordes of eternall lyfe: Cursed bee thy nosethrills, which disdayned to smell the most sweete sauour of vertue. Cursed be thy lippes and tongue, and cursed bee thy mouth, that would neither taste the ioy of glory, nor prayse theyr Creatour. Cursed bee thy handes, which denyed almes to the poore: Cursed be thine heart, which brought foorth so many, and so vncleane cogitations and counsayles: Cursed bee thy feete, which would not frequente the Church of Christ Iesus: Cursed bee thy members, which neuer brought foorth the workes of repentance: And cursed bee all thy workes, which haue deserued so cruell, and so endlesse torments.

Consider therefore my brother, from what great daungers and feares thou mayst nowe delyuer thy selfe, if so nowe through the feare of death thou endeuourest so to lyue, that when it commeth, thou mayst say with Dauid: Into thy handes ô Lorde I commende my spirite. ¹⁰ Learne now to dye to the worlde, that thou mayest lyue with Iesus Christ. Learne nowe to contemne all thinges, that thou mayst freelie enter in with Iesus Christ, and enioy all the blessings of his glory. Chastice nowe thy body with repentance, that thou mayst then finde most firme assurance. O howe happy & prudent is that man, who laboureth nowe to be such an one, as hee will desire to be in that doubtfull and dreadful houre of death. Therfore now contend with all thy might to bee such an one: for thou knowest not when thou shalt die, neither what wil happen vnto thee after death. Doe not relie eyther vppon thy friendes, or thy children; for they will forgette thee sooner, then thou thinkest: and vnlesse now thou disposest of all thinges, who can or will heereafter dispose of them for thee? Be carefull and prouident: for it is better to foresee, and preuent that day with good preparation, then to looke for helpe and ayde of another. Therfore gather now immortall goods: giue almes in thys life, make those holy and blessed ones thy friends, that when thou departest hence they may receaue thee into their euerlasting habitations.¹¹ For that glorious Doctour of the Church Saint Gregory saith; that those things are with great diligence to be considered of, and those works with many teares to bee meditated vppon, which the Iudge of the world shall exact of vs, when that houre of death shall come. And Saint Bernard sayth; O my soule, what feare shal there be, when all are sent away, whose presence was pleasant vnto thee, whose sight acceptable, and whose neighbourhood so familiar and thou altogether alone enterest into that vnknowne region, & shalt see those vgly & horible monsters flocking to meete thee? Who wil succour thee in a day of so great necessitie? Who shall defende thee from those roaring Lyons greedy of theyr pray? who shal comfort thee? who shal helpe thee? who shal conduct thee? But happie is that soule, which confidentlie and boldly shall speake to her enemies in the gate: why standest thou heere thou cruel and bloody beast? Thou shalt find nothing deadly in me: which shal be entertayned of Angels, defended from the rage & violence of deuils, and shal bee carried into the bosome of Abraham. Of death and the way of sinners in an other place also thus speaketh S. Bernard: The death of sinners is exceeding euil.¹² And heare why it is exceeding euil: It is euil in the losse of the worlde: worse in the seperation of the flesh: but worst of al in the double torment of the worme, and of fire. But of al it is exceeding euil, because the soule shal bee seperated from the Diuine aspect, and with great confusion shal bee for euer depriued of the sight of God. Consider, my deare brother, and marke, that no man can eschew death, neyther know the houre, nor change the time appoynted of God. But the death of the righteous is good, for they rest from their labours; better for the nouelty of the life; but best of all for the assurance and security of eternity.

Footnotes

1. Ecclesi. 14. ↩

2. Ecclesiast. 7. ↩

3. Bernard. ↩

4. Augustine. ↩

5. Hierome. ↩

6. Petrus Damianus to a Countesse. ↩

7. The forerunners of death. ↩

8. Who stand by him that is yeelding vp ye ghost. ↩

9. The soule shall curse the body. ↩

10. Psal. 7. ↩

11. Gregor. de diuersis, cuius initi[…]m, dignū valde est. ↩

12. Bernard in Epist 106. ↩