Literature, Medieval -- Translations into English; Tales
"Lastly, Thou wilt have me tell thee that which only belongeth to God,
which is, if it be possible for the damned to come again into the favour
of God, or not. Why, Faustus, thou knowest that this is against thy
promise; for why shouldst thou desire to know that having already given
thy soul to the devil, to have the pleasure of the world, and to know
the secrets of hell; therefore thou art damned, and how canst thou then
come again to the favour of God? Wherefore I discreetly answer, no; for
whomsoever God hath forsaken and thrown into hell must there abide his
wrath and indignation in that unquenchable fire, where is no hope of
mercy to be looked for, but abiding his perpetual pains, world without
end: for even as much it availeth thee, Faustus, to hope for the favour
of God again as Lucifer himself; who indeed, although he and we have a
hope, yet it is to small avail and taketh none effect, for out of that
place God will neither hear crying nor singing; if he do, thou shalt
have a little remorse, as Dives, Cain, and Judas had. What helpeth the
emperor, king, prince, duke, earl, baron, lord, knight, esquire, or
gentleman, to cry for mercy being there? Nothing; for if on earth they
would not be tyrants and self-willed, rich with covetousness, proud with
pomp, gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers, backbiters, robbers, murderers,
blasphemers, and such like, then were there some hope to be looked for;
therefore, my Faustus, as thou comest to hell with these qualities thou
mayst say with Cain, 'My sins are greater than can be forgiven;' go hang
thyself with Judas; and lastly, be contented to suffer torments with
Dives. Therefore know, Faustus, that the damned have neither end nor
time appointed in the which they may hope to be released; for if there
were any such hope that they, by throwing one drop of water out of the
sea in a day until it were dry, or there were one heap of sand as high
as from the earth to the heavens, that a bird carrying away but one corn
in a day, at the end of this so long labour, that yet they might hope at
the last God would have mercy on them, they would be comforted; but now
there is no hope that God once thinks upon them, or that their howling
shall ever be heard; yea, so impossible it is for thee to hide thyself
from God, as it is impossible for thee to remove the mountains, or to
empty the sea, or to tell the drops of rain that have fallen from heaven
until this day, or to tell what there is most of in the world; yea, and
as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, even so impossible it
is for thee, Faustus, and the rest of the damned, to come again into the
favour of God. And thus, Faustus, hast thou heard my last sentence, and
I pray thee, how dost thou like it? But know this, that I counsel thee
to let me be unmolested hereafter with such disputations, or else will I
vex thee every limb to thy small contentment."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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