A treatise of the difference bbtwixt [sic] the temporal and eternal composed in Spanish by Eusebius Nieremberg ... ; translated into English by Sir Vivian Mullineaux, Knight ; and since reviewed according to the tenth and last Spanish edition.

CAP. II.

How efficacious is the consideration of Eternity for the change of our Lives.

THe thought of Eternity St. Augustine calls a Great thought,* 1.1 because the memory of it is of great joy unto the Saints, and no less horror unto Sinners, and unto both of much profit and concernment: it causes us to do great matters, and shews the smalness of the fading and transitory things of this earth. I will there∣fore from this light begin to discover the large field of

the poverty, trumpery, and baseness of the temporal, and recommend the consideration of the eternal, the which we ought still to have in our thoughts, as David had perpetually in his; in whom whilst he was a Sinner, it caused horror and confusion, and being a Saint, it com∣forted and encouraged him to be yet more holy, draw∣ing from this meditation most spiritual and incompa∣rable profit unto his soul; and therefore in his Psalms he so often repeats the memory of it, not only in the body of them, but almost in every passage, saying, for ever, or eternally, or world without end: there be∣ing no inscription or title which he uses more fre∣quently then this, against the end, or in the end, because he composed them with the consideration of eternity, which follows the end of this life; and for more clear∣ness adds in some of them, against the end: for the Octave; which according to St. Augustine signifies E∣ternity, that being the octave after the 7 dayes of the week, into which all time is to resolve, which 7 dayes being past, there are to be no more weeks, but, as St. Peter sayes, one onely day of perpetual Eternity.

In this Eternity therefore did the Prophet employ his thoughts by day, and his meditations by night; this forced him to send up his voice unto Heaven, and to cry out unto God; this made him mute, and took away his speech with men; this astonished him and made his pulses fail with the consideration of it; this affrighted him, and mingled wormwood with the pleasures of this life; this made him know the little∣ness of all that is temporal, and made him enter with∣in himself, and examine his conscience: Finally, this brought him to a most miraculous change of life, be∣ginning to serve the Lord with more fervor; all which effects proceeding from the thoughts of Eternity are apparent in the 76 Psalm; therefore sayes he amongst other things, Mine eyes prevented the watches, I troubled myself and spake not: immediately after he gives the reason, saying, I thought upon the dayes of old, and had

in my thoughts the years of eternity, and meditated on them by night with my heart. This thought was the oc∣casion of his long watches; on this he meditated be∣fore the Sun was risen, and on this many hours after it was set, and that with so great astonishment of what Eternity was, that his spirit ••••iled him, and he trem∣bled with the lively apprehension of what it was, ei∣ther to perish eternally in Hell, or to enjoy a blessed∣ness for ever in Heaven. And it is no marvel though this great thought of Eternity should make so holy a King to tremble, when as the Prophet Abuc••ch sayes, the highest hills of the world bow down and quake at the ways of Eternity.* 1.2 The holy youth Josaphat at the re∣presentation of Eternity, Hell being placed on one side, and Heaven on the other, remained astonished & with∣out strength, not being able to raise himself in his bed, as if he had been afflicted with some mortal sick∣ness.

The Philosophers more barbarous, and who had less light, were yet daunted with the conception of it, and in their Symbols made choice of things of the greatest of terror to express it: some painted it in the form of a Basilisk, a Serpent the most terrible of all o∣ther, who kills with his onely sight; there being no∣thing more horror, then that eternity of torments, whereinto we are subject to fall. Conformable to this St. John Damascen represented eternal duration under the figure of a fierce Dragon, which from a deep pit lay waiting with open jawes to swallow men alive. Others figured it by a horrible and profound Cavern, which at the entrance had four degrees, one of iron, another of brass, the third of silver, and the last of gold, upon which many little Children of several sexes and ages stood playing and passing away the time, without regarding the danger of falling into that bottomless dungeon. This shadow they framed not only to set forth how worthy Eternity was of their fear and amazement, but also to express their

amazement at the folly of men, who laugh and en∣tertain themselves with the things of this life, with∣out remembring that they are to die, and may then fall into the bottomless abyss of Hell. Those children who were playing at the entrance of that dismal cave, being no other than men in this life, whose employ∣ments are but those of children, and who being so near their death, and therefore unto Eternity which succeeds it, have neither fear, nor care to leave the pleasures and vain entertainments of this world. Truly it is a thing of great amazement, that being in expectation of two such extreams, as are eternal glo∣ry, and torments without end, we live as if there were neither. The reason is, because men set not themselves seriously to consider what Eternity is, which is either hell whilest God is God, or glory with∣out end. For this cause it is, that they remain as set∣led and obstinate in their fading pleasures, as if they were immortal: the which was signified by these de∣grees of so hard Mettals. But in David, who serious∣ly meditated and framed a lively conception what the eternity of years was, it caused so great a fear, and so awaked his spirits with care and diligence, that it produced in him an extraordinary change of life: in so much as he said with great resolution within him∣self, Now I begin. This is a change from the right hand of the most high.

Now I begin,* 1.3 as Dionisius declares it, to live spiritually, to understand wisely, to know truly, perceiving the vanity of this present world, and felicity of the future, reputing as nothing all my life past, nor all the progress I have hitherto made in perfection. I will henceforth seriously take to heart with a new purpose, a new fervour, and a a more vehement endeavour the paths of a better life, and entring the way of spiritual profit begin every day afresh.

And because he knew his heart to be so much changed, he confessed his resolution to be miraculous, saying, This change is from the hand of the

most high; as if he had said, according to the same Di∣onisius, to have in this sort changed me out of the dark∣ness of ignorance into the splendor of wisdom, from vices unto vertues, from a carnal man unto a spiritual, is onely to be attributed to the ayd, and most merciful assistance of God, who by the knowledge of Eternity hath given so notable a conversion unto my heart. This great thought of Eternity doth mightily enlight∣en the understanding, and gives us a true and perfect knowledge of things as they are. For this cause in some of the Psalms which David made with this con∣sideration, as we have already said, he added this word understanding,* 1.4 or for the understanding, that is, to give understanding to those, who meditate upon the end of this life, and the eternity of the other, and therefore despise the goods of the world.

By the experience of what happened unto his own soul the Prophet exhorts all men, that they meditate with quietness and leasure upon the eternity of the two so opposite conditions which hereafter expect them, that they may not only run, but flie unto with profit, and suffer with patience all the difficulty, which attend upon vertue: and therefore with great myste∣ry promises on the part of God unto those, who shall sleep between the two lots, that is, unto those, who in the quietness of prayer shall meditate upon the e∣ternity of glory, and of hell, that there shall be grant∣ed unto them the silver wings of the Dove, and her shoulders of gold, because the spiritual life consists not onely in the actions of our own good works, but also in the patient suffering the evil works of others; in lifting up our selves from the durt of this earth, and and flying towards Heaven, by performance of the Heroical and precious acts of vertue, and not yield∣ing unto the troubles and afflictions of this life which oppress us. All which is by a lively conception of Eter∣nity effected with great merit and perfection; and for this reason did the Prophet express it by the simi∣litude

of those things which men esteem the most pre∣cious, as of gold and silver. But because to suffer is commonly more difficult then to do, and consequent∣ly more meritorious, although both be very precious, for this cause he said that the shoulders should be of gold, and the wings of silver. This also did the Pa∣triarch Jacob hold for so singular a good, that he gave it unto his son Isachar for a blessing, telling him that he should lye down betwixt the two borders, that is, that he should at leasure meditate upon the two ex∣treams of happiness or misery eternal. For this reason he calleth him a strong beast, as having the strength of mind to overcome the difficulty of vertue, to sup∣port the troubles and burdens of this life, to suffer the scorns and disgraces of the world, to undergo great penances and mortifications, by considering the two eternal extreams which attend us.

And not onely amongst Saints, but amongst the Philosophers, did the quiet and calm consideration of Eternity produce a great love and desire of things e∣ternal, and as great contempt of all which was tem∣poral, even without looking upon those two so diffe∣rent extreams, which Christian Religion proposes un∣to us. Seneca complained much, that he was interrup∣ted in the meditation of Eternity, into which he was wholly absorpt, his senses suspended and tied up as it were in a sweet sleep, by the content which he receiv∣ed from that consideration.* 1.5

I delighted my self, sayes he, amongst other things to enquire into the Eternity of Souls, and believing it as a thing as∣suredly true, I delivered up my self wholly over un∣to so great a hope, and I was now weary of my self, and despised all that remained of age, though with perfect and entire health, that I might pass into that immense time, and into the possession of an e∣ternal world.

So much could the consideration of Eternity work in this Philosopher, that it made him to despise the most precious of temporal things, which

is life. Certainly amongst Christians it ought to pro∣duce a greater effect, since they not onely know that they are to live eternally, but that they are either to joy, or suffer eternally according unto their works and life.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Augus. in Psal. 76. Magna cogit.
• * 1.2

  Damas. in vita ejus.
• * 1.3

  Comment. in Psal. 76.
• * 1.4

  Psalm 6.
• * 1.5

  Seneca Epist. 22.