Deuout contemplations expressed in two and fortie sermons vpon all ye quadragesimall Gospells written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by. I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford

Cum esset in tormentis. When he was in torment, &c.

Here is an indefinite tearme, put for a vniuersall. For albeit euery one of the damned doe suffer the full measure and weight of his sinnes; and (acording to Saint Austen, and Saint Gregory) suffer most in that particular, wherein they most offended; And that therefore the rich man did suffer more in his tongue, than any other member of his bodie: yet notwithstanding, there is not any one that is d••mned, which doth not generally suffer in all his whole bodie, and in euery part of his soule. For, as Heauen is a happinesse, that imbraceth all happinesse; so Hell, is a misery that includeth all miseries. There was neuer yet any tyrant in the world, in whose prisons and dungeons all torments were inflicted at once. But in that of Hell, there is not any torment, which is not felt at one and the same instant. The body, that shall generally suffer: And for this, fire, and cold, will suffice; which are generall torments. The soule shall likewise generally suffer sorrow and paine, not only because the fire shall burne it, which though corpo∣rall, yet shall it's flames haue an operatiue vertue and working vpon the soule; but because all hope being lost of any kind of joy whatsoeuer, there shall there∣in be deposited all the reasons that may be, of sorrow and of miserie. Likewise there shall be particular torments for the sences of the bodie, & for the faculties of the soule; the eyes shall enioy so much light as shall serue to see fearefull Vi∣sions, (so sayes Cirillus Alexandrinus) and on the other side, they shall suffer such thicke and palpable darknesse, that they shall imagine them to be the ghast∣ly shadowes of death. Saint Chrysostome saith, That they shall see the huge and infinite numbers of the Damned, taking notice of all those that conuersed with them in their life time, as fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and friends. And if the varietie & multitude that are in a deep dungeon, if the ratling of their chains, the clattring of their shackles, their hunger, their nakednesse, the noyse, coyle, & con∣fusion which they make, cause a horrour in as many as both see and heare it; what a terrour then will it be, to see the miserable torments, and to heare the fearefull shri••kes and pittifull outcries of those that are damned to the bot∣tomlesse pit of hell? The eares will suffer with their howlings, their lamentati∣ons, their blasphemies, their cursings, their ragings, their dispairings; besides the vntunable and harsh musicke of the Deuills, roaring and yellowing like so many mad Bulls, that with the dinne and hideousnesse of the noyse, Heauen and Earth might haue seemed to come together, and the whole frame and ma∣chine of the Orbes to haue crackt and fallen in sunder. The smell, the taste, the touch, the will, the vnderstanding, and the memorie, both irrascible and concu∣piscible, shall not be employed vpon any thing (as Saint Augustine hath noted it) from whence they shall not receiue most grieuous paine and torment. But of all other torments, that of their desperation will be the greatest, because there will be no wading through this Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone, nor no end at all to these their endlesse miseries. That ten thousand, nay, a hundred thou∣sand yeares continuance in hell shall not suffice to satisfie for their sinnes, that the fountaine of mercie should be shut vp for euer, not affoording them so much as one drop of cold water to coole the tongue; that God will not admit for the of∣fences of three dayes, the satisfaction of seuentie times seuen thousands of yeares. This is that Magnum Chaos inter vos & nos; This is that great Chaos, that huge Gulfe which is set betweene you and vs; it is Chaos impertransibile, that im∣passable Gulfe, wherein to fall it is easie, but to get out impossible.

Many of the Saints vpon this consideration deepely weighing these things with themselues, haue made great exclamations; as S. Chrysostome, Petrus Crysolo∣gus, and others. If we beleeue (say they) that this imprisonment is perdurable, t••is fire is eternall, and that these torments are endlesse; How comes it to passe that we eat, liue, and sleepe as we do? O, the madnesse of those men who seeke fit and handsome dwellings for three dayes, and omit to thinke of those eternall habitations which continue world without end! O, the sottishnesse of those which couet such short and transitorie contentments! O, the blindnesse of those, who for a moment of pleasure wil aduenture an eternitie of pain! Is it much that these holy Saints should exclaime? Is it much that they should weepe teares of bloud, who beleeue that this rich man doth frie in perpetuall flames, because he was pittiles & voyd of mercy? seeing on the one side so many Lazaruses, naked, ful of sores, & driuen, if not beaten away from our dores; whose beds are the hard benches and open porches of the Rich; whose meat are the scraps and offalls, and oftentimes onely the bare crummes of the rich mans boord; whose drinke are the waters of those Riuers and Fountaines where the Beasts doe drinke; whose wardrobe are rags; whose cattle, vermine; whose store, miserie; whose tables are their knees; and whose cups are their hands: And on the other side, so many Gluttons, who feeding like beasts, vomit forth that they eat, at their ta∣bles where they sit; [Mensae repletae sunt vomitu] beeing as emptie of pittie, as they are full of wine: [Optimo vino delibuti non compatiebantur super contritionem Ioseph] who dying (like Oxen in a stall) fat and ful fed, it is no meruaile if (as Esay sayth) they make Hells sides to stretch and cracke againe, Propter hoc dilatauit in∣fernus Os suum.

I would faine aske some one of those which heare me this day, My friend, tel me, I pray thee, thinkest thou, or hast thou any hope, that thou art the only man in this world that shall liue here for euer? Doost thou beleeue that Death shall one day come to the threshold of thy doore, and call for thee, and that thou must hereafter giue a strict account of thy workes, words, and thoughts, before the tribunall seat of God? If thou doost, tell me then againe, Whither thou hadst rather desire the felicitie of Lazarus in that other life, or the eternall torments of this rich man? Art thou persuaded, that thou canst weare out two thousand yeares in a bed of fire? But if the verie thought thereof cause feare and horror in thee, and makes euerie bone and ioynt in thy bodie to shake and tremble, Why doost thou not seeke to flie from so great a danger? Flie (saith Saint Austen) yet now euen to day, whilest thou hast time.