CHAPTER XIV
Another disputation betwixt Doctor Faustus and his Spirit, of the power of the Devil, and of his envy to mankind
After Doctor Faustus had a while pondered and sorrowed with himself of his wretched estate, he called again Mephostophiles unto him, commanding him to tell him the judgment, rule, power, attempts, tyranny and temptation of the Devil, and why he was moved to such kind of living: whereupon the Spirit answered, this question that thou demandest of me, will turn thee to no small discontentment: therefore thou shouldst not have desired me of such matters, for it toucheth the secrets of our Kingdom, although I cannot deny to resolve thy request. Therefore know thou Faustus, that so soon as my Lord Lucifer fell from heaven, he became a mortal enemy both to God and man, and hath used (as now he doth) all manner of tyranny to the destruction of man, as is manifest by divers examples, one falling suddenly dead, another hangs himself, another drowns himself, others stab themselves, others unfaithfully despair, and so come to utter confusion: the first man Adam that was made perfect to the similitude of God, was by my Lord his policy, the whole decay of man: yea, Faustus, in him was the beginning and first tyranny of my Lord Lucifer used to man: the like did he with Cain, the same with the children of Israel, when they worshipped strange Gods, and fell to whoredom with strange women: the like with Saul: so did he by the seven husbands of her that after was the wife of Tobias: likewise Dagon our fellow brought to destruction thirty thousand men, whereupon the Ark of God was stolen: and Belial made David to number his men, whereupon were slain sixty thousand, also he deceived King Solomon that worshipped the Gods of the heathen: and there are such Spirits innumerable that can come by men and tempt them, drive them to sin, weaken their belief: for we rule the hearts of Kings and Princes, stirring them up to war and bloodshed; and to this intent do we spread ourselves throughout all the world, as the utter enemies of God, and his Son Christ, yea and all those that worship them: and that thou knowest by thyself Faustus, how we have dealt with thee. To this answered Faustus, why then thou didst also beguile me. Yea (quoth Mephostophiles) why should not we help thee forwards: for so soon as we saw thy heart, how thou didst despise thy degree taken in Divinity, and didst study to search and know the secrets of our Kingdom; even then did we enter into thee, giving thee divers foul and filthy cogitations, pricking thee forward in thine intent, and persuading thee that thou couldst never attain to thy desire, until thou hast the help of some Devil: and when thou wast delighted with this, then took we root in thee; and so firmly, that thou gavest thyself unto us, both body and soul the which thou (Faustus) canst not deny. Hereat answered Faustus, Thou sayest true Mephostophiles, I cannot deny it: Ah, woe is me miserable Faustus; how have I been deceived? had not I desired to know so much, I had not been in this case: for having studied the lives of the holy Saints and Prophets, and thereby thought myself to understand sufficient in heavenly matters, I thought myself not worthy to be called Doctor Faustus, if I should not also know the secrets of hell, and be associated with the furious Fiend thereof; now therefore must I be rewarded accordingly. Which speeches being uttered, Faustus went very sorrowfully away from Mephostophiles.
CHAPTER XV
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.