FOrsoth Cosin, if we were such as we shoulde be, I would scant for very shame (in exhorta∣cion to y^e keping of Christes faith) speake of y^e paines of hel. I would rather put vs in mind of the Ioyes of heauē, the pleasure wherof we should be more glad to geat, than we should be to flye & scape al the paines in hel. But surely god in y^e thing wherin he may seme most rigorous, is merueilous mercifull to vs, & that is (which many mē would litle weene) in y^t he prouided hell. For I suppose very surely Cosin• y^• many a man & womā, of whom there sit some nowe, & moe shal hereafter sit ful gloriously crowned in heauē had they not fyrst been afraid of hel, would toward hea∣uē neuer haue set foote forward. But yet vndoubted∣ly were it so y^t we could as well cōceiue in our heartes the m•rueilous Ioies of heauē, as we cōceiue y^e feare∣ful paines of hel (howbeit sufficiently we can cōceiue neyther nother, but if we coulde in oure imaginacion drawe as much toward y^e perceiuing of the tother, we would not fayle to be farre more moued & stired to the suffering for Christes sake in this world, for y^e wīning of those heauēly Ioies, thā for y^e eschewing of al those infernall paines. But for as much, as y^e fleshlye plea∣sures be farre lesse pleasant, thā the fleshly paines are painful, therfore we fleshlye folke y^t are so drowned in these fleshly pleasures, & in the desier therof, y^t we can haue almost no maner sauor to taste in anye pleasure spiritual, haue no cause to meruaile, that our fleshlye affeccions be more abated and refrained by y^e dreade & terror of hell than affeccions spiritual imprynted in vs, and pricked forwarde with the desier and ioyfull hope of heauen: howebeit if we woulde somewhat Page  [unnumbered] 〈1 page duplicate〉 Page  [unnumbered] 〈1 page duplicate〉 Page  [unnumbered] set lesse by the filthy volupteous appetites of y^e fleshe, and would by withdrawing from them, with •elpe of praier thorowe the grace of god drawe neuer to the se∣crete inward pleasure of the spirite, we should by the little sipping that our heartes should haue here nowe & that sodaine tast thereof, haue such an estimacion of the incōparable & vncogitable Ioy, that we shal haue (if we wil) in heauen, by the very full draught thereof, wherof it is written Sa••abor quū app••uerit gloria tua• I shal be •aciate, satisfied or fulfilled, whan thy glory good lord shal appeare.) That is to witte, with the fruicion of the sight of goddes glorious maiestie face to face, that the desier. expectacion, & heauenly hope thereof, shall more encourage vs, & make vs strong to suffer & sustayne for the loue of god & saluacion of our soule, than euer we coulde be moued to suffer here worldly paine by the terrible dreade of all horrible paines that damned wretches haue in hell. Wherefore in y^e meane time for lacke of such experimental taste as God geueth here somtime to some of his special seruantes, to thentent we may drawe toward y^e spritual exercise to for which spiritual exercise, god with y^e gifte, as with an ear•est peny of theyr whole reward after in heauen, comfor∣teth thē here in earth. Let vs not so much w^t looking to haue described what maner of Ioyes they shalbe, as w^t hea•ing what our lord telleth vs in holi scripture, ho•e merueilous great they shalbe. Labour by praie• to conceiue in our heartes such a feru•nt longing for them, that we maye for attaining to thē vtterly set at nought al fleshly delite, al worldly pleasures, al earthly losses, al bodely tormentes and paine. Howebeit some thinges are there in scripture, expressed of the mane• of the pleasures & Ioyes, that we shal haue in heauen, Page  [unnumbered] as where, Fulgebunt iusti sicut sol, & qui •rudiunt ad iusticiam tanquam sci••t•lle in arundin eto discurrent. Righteous mē shal shine as the sunne, and shall runne aboute like sparckles of fire a∣mong reedes.

Nowe tell some carnall minded man of this maner pleasure, & he shal take little pleasure therin, and saye he careth not to haue hys fleshe shine hye, nor lyke a sparke of fier to skippe about in the skie. Tel him that his bodi shalbe impassible, & neuer fele harme: ••t if •e thinke thā therwith that he shal neuer be an hu•gred nor a thyrst, and shal therby forbeare al his pleasu•e of eating and drinking, and that he shal neuer haue luste to s•epe, & therby lese the pleasure that he was wonte to take in slogging, and that men & women shall there lyue together as Angels without any maner mynde or mocion vnto y^e carnal acte of generacion. And y^t he shal thereby not vse there hys olde filthy volupteous fashion, he will fay he is better at ease alreadye, and would not geue this worlde for that. For as• S. Paule saith. Animalis homo nō percipit e• quesunt spiritus d•i stultica enim est illi: but when the time shal come that these foule filthy pleasures shall be so taken from him, that it shal abhorre his hearte once to thinke on thē whereof eue∣ry mā ha•h amonge a certaine shadowe of experience in the feruent grief of a sore paineful sickenes while the stomake can sca•te abide to loke vpon any meate. And as for y^• actes of y^• tother •oule filthi luste, is readie to vomite, if it happen him to thinke therō, whan men shal I saye after this life, fele that horrible abhomina∣cion in theyr hearte, at the remembraunce of these volupteous pleasures: of which abhominaciō, sicknes hath been a shadowe, for which volupteous pleasures he would here be loth to chaunge wyth the Ioyes of Page  [unnumbered] heauen when he shall I saye after thys life haue hys fleshlye pleasures in abhominacion, and shal of those heauenly Ioyes which he sette here so litle by, haue there a glymering, though farre frō a perfecte sight. Oh good god, howe fayne will he than be, with howe good wyl and howe glad wil he than geue this whole worlde if it were his, to haue the feling of some litle parte of those Ioyes. And therfore let vs all that can conceiue nowe such delite in the consideracion of thē as we shoulde haue often in our yies by reading oftē, in our eares by hearing often, in our mouthes by re∣hersing often, in our heartes, by meditacion and thin∣king vpon those Ioyful wordes of holye scripture, by which we learne howe wonderfull houge and• greate those spi•itual heauenly Ioyes are, of whych our car∣nal heartes hath so feble and so faynte a feling and our dull worldly wittes so little able to conceiue so much as a shadowe of y^• right imaginacion, a shadowe I saye. For as for y^• thing as it is that ca• not onely no fleshly carnall fantasie conceiue, but ouer that no spirituall gostlye person, peraduenture neyther that here is liuing stil in this worlde.

For sith the very substaunce essencial of al the celestial Ioyes standeth in blessed beholding of the glorious godhed face to face, there may no mā presume• or loke to attaine it in this life. For God hath so said him self: Non videbit me homo & viuet. There shall no man here liuing behold me. And therfore we may well knowe, that for the state of thys life, we be not onely shut from the f•uicion of the blisse of heauen, but also that the very best man liuing here vpō earth (the best man I meane being no more but a man) can not I weene attayne the right imaginacion therof, but those that are very Page  [unnumbered] verteo•s are yet in a maner as farre therfro, as the borne blinde man fro the right imaginaciō of colors. The wordes that Saynte Paule rehearseth of the prophet Esay prophecying of Christes incarnaciō, may proprely be verified of y^• Ioyes of heauen, N•• oculus vidit •ec a•ris a•diuit n•cin cor hominis ascendit que preparauit deus diligentibus se. For suerly for y^• state of this world y^• Ioyes of heauē are by mannes eares not audible, to mannes mouthe vnspeakable, to mannes eares not audible, to mānes hearte vncogitable, so farre forth excell they all that •uer mē haue hearde of, al that euer mē can speake of & al y^• euer any mā can by natural possibilitie think on. And yet where the Ioyes of heauen being such prepa∣red for euery saued soule, Our lorde saieth yet by the mouth of Sainte Ihon that he wyll geue his holye martyrs, that suffre for his sake, many a special kind of ioy: For he saith, Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vite. To him y^t ouercommeth• I shall geue him to eate of the tree of life. And also he that ouercommeth, shal be clothed in white clothes, and I shall confesse his name before my father and before his Aungelles. And also sayth: feare none of those thinges• that you shal suffre. &c. But be faithful vnto the death, and I shall geue them the croune of life. He that ou•rcommeth shall not be hurte. Of y^• second death, he saieth also. Vincenti da•o manna absconditum & da•o illi calculum candidū & in calculo nomen nouum scriptū quod nemo scit nisi qui accip•t: To him that ouercommeth wyl I geue manna secrete and hid. And I wyl geue him a white suffrage, and in hys suffrage a newe name written which no man knoweth but he y^• receiueth it. They v•ed of olde in Greece (where as Saynte Ihō dyd wryte) to electe and choose men vnto honorable Rowmes, and euery mannes assent was called hys Page  [unnumbered] suffrages, which in some place was by the voyces, in some places by hādes & one kind of those suffrages was by certaine thynges that are in Latine called Calculi. because that in some places they vsed thereto round stones.

Nowe saieth our lord, y^• vnto him which ouercōmeth, he will geue a white suffrage. For those that weare white, signified approuing, as the blacke signified re∣prouing. And in these suffrages, did they vse to write the name of him to whom they gaue theyr voyce. And nowe saieth our lord, that to him y^• ouercōmeth, he wil in the •uffrage geue him a newe name, which no mā knoweth but he that receiueth it. He saith also, he y^• ouercommeth I wyll make him a piller in the temple of my God, and he shal goe no more out thereof. And I shall write vpon hym the name of my God, and the name of the Citie of my God, the newe H•erusalem which descendeth from heauen from my GOD, and I shal wryte vpon him also my newe name, if we would dy∣late and were able to declare these special giftes, with yet other mo, specified in y^e second and third Chapiter of y^e Apocalips: There would it appeare howe farre these heauenly Ioyes shall surmounte aboue all the comforte y^t euer came in the minde of any man liuing here vpō earth. The blessed Apostle Paule, y^• suffered so many perelles, & so many passions, he y^t saith of him selfe that he hath beene, In laboribus pluribu• in carceribus abūd•ncius in plagis su••• m•dū• &c• In many laboures, in prisōs, of•er thā other. In stripes aboue measure. At pointe of death oftē times. Of y^• Iewes had I fiue times •xl. stripes sa•e one. Thrise haue I been beatē w^t roddes• once was I stoned. Thrise haue I been in shipwrake. A day and a night was I in y^• depth of y^e sea. In my Page  [unnumbered] Iourneies ofte haue I beene in perel of floodes. In perel of theues. In perilles by y^• Iewes, In perilles by the Painims. In perilles in the Citie, In perilles in deserte. In perilles in the sea. In perilles by false brethren. In laboure and misery. In many nightes watch. In hunger & thyrst. In many fastinges in cold and nakednes, beside those thinges y^t are outward, my dayly instant labour, I meane my care, & sollicitude a∣bout all the churches: & yet sayth he more of his trybu∣lacions, which for lengthe I let passe. This blessed A∣postle I saye, for all these trybulacions y^t him selfe suf∣fred in the cōtinuance of so many yeres, calleth yet all •he tribulacions of thys worlde, but light and shorte, as a moment in respecte of the weighty glory y^t it after this worlde winneth vs. Id enim quod in presenti est momentaneū, & le•e tribulacionis nostre supra modum in sublimitate eternū glorie pondus operatur in nobis nō contemplantibus nobis que videntur, •ed que non •identur. Que enim videntur te•poralia suit, que autem non videntur eterna sunt. This same short & momētary tribulaciō of ours y^• is in this present time, worketh within vs the weyght of glorye aboue measure in sublimitie, on highe we beholding not those thinges y^t we see, but those thinges y^t we see not. For those thinges y^t we se, be but tēporal thinges: but those thinges y^t are not sene, are eternal. Nowe to this great glory can there no mā come headlesse. Our head is Christ, & therfore to him must we be ioyned, & as members of his, must we folowe him if we wil come thither. He is our gide to gide vs thither, & is entred in before vs. And he therefore that wil enter in after, Debet •itu•ille ambulauit, & ipse ambulare, the same way that Christ walked the same waye muste he walke. And what was the waye by whych he walked into heauen, hym selfe showeth what waye it was that hys father hadde prouided for hym, where he sayde vnto the two Page  [unnumbered] •isciples going toward y^e castel of Emaus. Nescieba•is qui• oportebat Cristū pati & sic introire in regnum suum? Knewe ye not that Christe must suffre passion, & by that waye entre into his kingdom? Who can for very shame desier to enter into y^e kingdome of Christ wyth ease, when him selfe entred not into his owne without paine.