The history of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus, 1592, together with The second report of Faustus, containing his appearances and the deeds of Wagner, 1594.
History
The history of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus, 1592, together with The second report of Faustus, containing his appearances and the deeds of Wagner, 1594.
Faust, -approximately 1540 -- Legends
up above the highest hills, even to the heavens; where being by the
Angels of the first Mobile denied entertainment (in consideration of
their evil life spent on the earth) they fall into the deepest pit or
valley which hath no bottom, into a perpetual fire, which shall never
be quenched: for like as the Flint thrown into the water, loseth not
his virtue, neither is his fire extinguished; even so the hellish fire
is unquenchable: and even as the Flint stone in the fire being burned
is red hot, and yet consumeth not: so likewise the damned souls in
our hellish fire are ever burning, but their pains never diminishing.
Therefore is hell called the everlasting pain, in which is neither
hope nor mercy: So is it called utter darkness, in which we see
neither the light of Sun, Moon, nor Star: and were our darkness like
the darkness of the night, yet were there hope of mercy, but ours is
perpetual darkness, clean exempt from the face of God. Hell hath also
a place within it called Chasma, out of the which issueth all manner
of thunders, lightnings, with such horrible shriekings and wailings,
that oft-times the very Devils themselves stand in fear thereof: for
one while it sendeth forth winds with exceeding snow, hail, and rain
congealing the water into ice; with the which the damned are frozen,
gnash their teeth, howl and cry, and yet cannot die. Otherwhiles, it
sendeth forth most horrible hot mists or fogs, with flashing flames
of fire and brimstone, wherein the sorrowful souls of the damned lie
broiling in their reiterated torments: yea Faustus, hell is called a
prison wherein the damned lie continually bound; it is also called
Pernicies, and Exitium, death, destruction, hurtfulness, mischief, a
mischance, a pitiful and an evil thing, world without end. We have
also with us in hell a ladder, reaching of an exceeding height, as
though it would touch the heavens, on which the damned ascend to seek
the blessing of God; but through their infidelity, when they are
at the very highest degree, they fall down again into their former
miseries, complaining of the heat of that unquenchable fire: yea
sweet Faustus, so must thou understand of hell, the while thou art so
desirous to know the secrets of our Kingdom. And mark Faustus, hell
is the nurse of death, the heat of all fire, the shadow of heaven and
earth, the oblivion of all goodness, the pains unspeakable, the griefs
unremovable, the dwelling of Devils, Dragons, Serpents, Adders, Toads,
Crocodiles, and all manner of venomous creatures, the puddle of sin,
the stinking fog ascending from the Stygian lake, Brimstone, Pitch,
and all manner of unclean metals, the perpetual and unquenchable fire,
the end of whose miseries was never purposed by God: yea, yea Faustus,
thou sayest, I shall, I must, nay I will tell thee the secrets of our
Kingdom, for thou buyest it dearly, and thou must and shalt be partaker
of our torments, that (as the Lord God said) never shall cease: for
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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