es, then is the soden pricke
of a needle, incompariso of the ||E.iii.|| lyfe of man
though it bee neuer so long, for there is no conuenience or
proportion of the thyng that hath ende, and that whych is
infinite. _SPV._ You speake very truly. _HEDO._ Now if a man
coulde fully perswade you, that you should neuer feele payne
in al your life, if you did but ones deuide the flame of ye
fyre, with your hande, whyche thyng vndoughtely _Pithagoras_
forbade, woulde you not gladlye doo it? _SPV._ Yea, on that
condicion I had liefer doo it an hundred times, if I knew
precisely the promiser would kepe touch. _HE._ It is playne
God cannot deceaue. But now that feelyng of paine in the
fyre is longer vnto the whole lyfe of man, then is the
||lyfe of ma, in respect of the heauenlye ioye, althoughe
it were thrise so long as ye yeares of _Nestor_, for that
casting of the hand in the fyre thoughe it bee neuer so
shorte, yet it is some parte of hys lyfe, but the whole
lyfe of man is noo portion of tyme in respect of the eternal
lyfe. _SPV._ I haue nothyng too saye against you.
_HEDO._ Doo you then thyncke that anye affliction or
tourment can disquiet those that prepare them selues wyth a
chearful hearte and a stedfast hoope vnto the kyngedome of
God, wher as the course of this lyfe is nowe so shorte?
_SPVDE._ I thinke not, if thei haue a sure perswasion and a
constant hope too attayne it. _HEDO._ I coome ||E.iiii.|| now
vnto those pleasures, whiche you obiected agaynst me, they
do wythdrawe them selues from daunsynge, bankettynge, from
pleasaunte seeghtes, they dispyce all these thynges, as
thus: for to haue the vse of thinges farre more ioyfulle,
and haue as great pleasure as these bee, but after another
sorte: the eye hath not seene, the eare hath not heard,
nor the heart of man cannot thyncke what consolations _GOD_
hathe ordeined for them that loue hym. Sayncte Paule knewe
what maner of thynges shoulde bee the songes, queeres,
daunsynges, and bankettes of vertuous myndes, yea, in this
lyfe. _SPVDEVS_ but there bee some leafull || pleasures,
whyche they vtterlye refuse. _HEDONIVS._ That maye bee, for
the immoderate vse of leafull and godly games or pastymes,
is vnleaful: and if you wyll excepte this one thing onlye,
in al other thei excelle whiche seeme too leade a paynfull
lyfe, and whome we take too bee ouerwhelmed with all kynd of
miseries. Now I prai you what more roialler sight can ther
be, then ye coteplatio of this world? an