_How Doctor Faustus desired again of his Spirit to know the secrets and
pains of hell; and whether those damned Devils and their company might
ever come into the favour of God again or not?_
Doctor Faustus was ever pondering with himself how he might get loose
from so damnable an end as he had given himself unto, both of body
and soul: but his repentance was like to that of Cain and Judas, he
thought his sins greater than God could forgive, hereupon rested his
mind: he looked up to heaven, but saw nothing therein; for his heart
was so possessed with the Devil, that he could think of nought else but
of hell, and the pains thereof. Wherefore in all the haste he calleth
unto him his Spirit Mephostophiles, desiring him to tell him some more
of the secrets of hell, what pains the damned were in, and how they
were tormented, and whether the damned souls might get again the favour
of God, and so be released out of their torments or not: whereupon
the Spirit answered, my Faustus, thou mayest well leave to question
any more of such matters, for they will but disquiet thy mind, I pray
thee what meanest thou? Thinkest thou through these thy fantasies to
escape us? No, for if thou shouldst climb up to heaven, there to hide
thyself, yet would I thrust thee down again; for thou art mine, and
thou belongest unto our society: therefore sweet Faustus, thou wilt
repent this thy foolish demand, except thou be content that I shall
tell thee nothing. Quoth Faustus ragingly, I will know, or I will not
live, wherefore dispatch and tell me: to whom Mephostophiles answered,
Faustus, it is no trouble unto me at all to tell thee, and therefore
sith thou forcest me thereto, I will tell thee things to the terror of
thy soul, if thou wilt abide the hearing. Thou wilt have me tell thee
of the secrets of hell, and of the pains thereof: know Faustus, that
hell hath many figures, semblances, and names, but it cannot be named
nor figured in such sort unto the living that are damned, as it is unto
those that are dead, and do both see and feel the torments thereof:
for hell is said to be deadly, out of the which came never any to
life again but one, but he is as nothing for thee to reckon upon, hell
is bloodthirsty, and is never satisfied; hell is a valley, into the
which the damned souls fall: for so soon as the soul is out of man’s
body, it would gladly go to the place from whence it came, and climbeth
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
hell, the woman’s belly, and the earth are never satisfied; there
shalt thou abide horrible torments, trembling, gnashing of teeth,
howling, crying, burning, freezing, melting, swimming in a labyrinth
of miseries, scalding, burning, smoking in thine eyes, stinking in thy
nose, hoarseness of thy speech, deafness of thine ears, trembling of
thy hands, biting thine own tongue with pain, thy heart crushed as in a
press, thy bones broken, the Devils tossing firebrands upon thee, yea
thy whole carcass tossed upon muck-forks from one Devil to another,
yea Faustus, then wilt thou wish for death, and he will fly from thee,
thine unspeakable torments shall be every day augmented more and more,
for the greater the sin, the greater is the punishment: how likest thou
this, my Faustus, a resolution answerable to thy request?
Lastly, thou wilt have me tell thee that which belongeth only 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 what shouldst thou desire to know that, having already
given thy soul to the Devil to have the pleasure of this world, and
to know the secrets of hell? therefore art thou damned, and how canst
thou then come again to the favour of God? Wherefore I directly 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 nor mercy to be looked for, but abiding in 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 all have a hope, yet is it to small avail, and taketh none effect,
for out of that place God will neither hear crying nor sighing; if
he do, thou shalt have as little remorse, as Dives, Cain, or Judas
had: what helpeth the Emperor, King, Prince, Duke, Earl, Baron, Lord,
Knight, Squire or Gentleman, to cry for mercy being there? Nothing:
for if on the 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 must say with Cain, My sins are
greater than can be forgiven, go hang thyself with Judas: and lastly,
be content 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 but by
throwing one drop of water out of the Sea in a day, until it were all
dry: or if there were an 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 howlings shall never be
heard; yea, so impossible, as it is for thee to hide thyself from God,
or impossible for thee to remove the mountains, or to empty the sea, or
to tell the number of 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
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
I will vex thee every limb, to thy small contentment. Doctor Faustus
departed from his Spirit very pensive and sorrowful, laid him on his
bed, altogether doubtful of the grace and favour of God, wherefore he
fell into fantastical cogitations: fain he would have had his soul at
liberty again, but the Devil had so blinded him, and taken such deep
root in his heart, that he could never think to crave God’s mercy,
or if by chance he had any good motion, straightways the Devil would
thrust him a fair Lady into his chamber, which fell to kissing and
dalliance with him, through which means, he threw his godly motions in
the wind, going forward still in his wicked practices, to the utter
ruin both of his body and soul.