A Golden Chain

Euseb. A true saying it is that the right way to go unto heaven, is to sail by hell, and there is no man living that feeleth the power and virtue of the blood of Christ, which first hath not felt the pains of hell. But yet in these pains there is a difference: and it is the will of God, that his children in their conversion shall some of them feel more, and some less. Hezekiah on his death bed complaineth that the Lord breaketh his bones like a Lion, that he could not speak by reason of pain, but chattered in his throat like a Crane, & mourned like a Dove.¹ Job saith, that God is his enemy, and hath set him up as a mark to shoot at, and that the arrows of the Almighty are upon him, and ⟨p. 621⟩that the poison of them hath drunk up his spirit. David bewaileth his estate in many Psalms, but especially in the 130. Psalm,² where he beginneth on this manner: Out of the deep places have I called unto thee, O Lord: which is as though he should say; O my poor soul fall not flat down, vex not thy self out of measure: the burden of thy sins press thee sore indeed, but be not for all that quite overwhelmed, thou art thrust down so low into the depth of deeps, that thou hadst need cry aloud to be heard of him which dwelleth in the highest heights: and the ever burning hell fire is not far from that lake whither thine iniquities have plunged thee, so that thou mayest perceive as it were the Echo of their cries and desperate howlings, which be there cast out of all hope of ever coming forth. But the Lord which bringeth forth even to the borders of hell his best beloved when they forget themselves, knoweth also how well to bring them back again. Go no further then downward, but lift up thy heart together with thine eye, and seek unto the Lord, to reach unto thee his merciful and a helping hand. Again in the Scriptures we find examples of men converted unto the Lord without any vehement sorrow of their sins. What anguish of conscience had the thief upon the cross for his former life in his present conversion at the hour of death?

Euseb. A true saying it is that the right way to goe vnto heauen, is to sayle by hell, and there is no man liuing that feeleth the power and vertue of the blood of Christ, which first hath not felt the paines of hell. But yet in these paines there is a difference: and it is the will of God, that his children in their conuersion shall some of them feele more, and some lesse. Ezechias on his death bed complaineth that the Lord breaketh his bones like a Lion, that hee could not speak by reason of paine, but chattered in his throat like a Crane, & mourned like a Doue.