A Disputatio Concerning the Prior State of the Banished Angels
X
Doctor Faustus again undertook a discourse with his spirit, asking: How, then, did thy master, Lucifer, come to fall?
This time, Mephostophiles asked of him a threeday prorogation, but on the third day the spirit gave him this answer: My Lord Lucifer (who is so called on account of his banishment from the clear light of Heaven) was in Heaven an angel of God and a cherub. He beheld all works and creations of God in Heaven and was himself with such honor, title, pomp, dignity and prominence as to be the exemplary creature before God, in great perfection of wisdom, yea in such brilliance that he outshone all other creatures and was an ornament beyond all other works of God, gold and precious stones, even the sun and stars. For so soon as God created him He placed him upon the Mount of God as a sovereign prince, and he was perfect in all his ways.
But so soon as he rose up in insolence and vanity and would exalt himself above Orient he was driven out from the House of Heaven, thrust down into fiery brimstone which is eternally unextinguished and tormenteth him forever. He had been honored with the crown of all Heavenly pomp. But since he sat in spiteful council against God, God sat upon His Throne of Judgement and condemned him to Hell, whence he can never more rise up.
Doctor Faustus, having heard the spirit concerning these things, did now speculate upon many different tenets and justifications. He went in silence from the spirit into his chamber, laid himself upon his bed and began bitterly to weep and to sigh, and to cry out in his heart. For the account by the spirit caused him this time to consider how the Devil and Banished Angel had been so excellently honored of God, and how, if he had not been so rebellious and arrogant against God, he would have had an eternal Heavenly essence and residence, but was now by God eternally banished.
Faustus spake: O woe is me and ever woe! Even so will it come to pass with me also, nor will my fate be the more bearable, for I am likewise God's creature, and my insolent flesh and blood have set me body and soul into perdition, enticed me with my reason and mind so that I as a creature of God am strayed from Him and have let the Devil seduce me to bind myself unto him with body and soul, wherefore I can hope no more for Grace, but must needs be, like Lucifer, banished into perpetual damnation and lamentation. Ah woe and ever woe! To what perils I am exposing myself! What is my purpose with myself? 0, that I were never born!
Thus did Doctor Faustus complain, but he would not take faith, nor hope that he might be through penitence brought back to the Grace of God. For if he had thought: The Devil doth now take on such a color that I must look up to Heaven. Lo, I will turn about again and call upon God for Grace and Forgiveness, for to sin no more is a great penance. Then Faustus would have betaken himself to church and followed Holy Doctrine, thereby offering the Devil resistance. Even if he had been compelled to yield up his body here on earth, his soul would nevertheless have been saved. But he became doubtful in all his tenets and opinions, having no faith and little hope.
A Disputatio Concerning Hell,
How It Was Created and Fashioned;
Concerning Also the Torments in Hell
XI
Doctor Faustus felt, no doubt, contrition in his heart at all times. It was a concern for how he had endangered his own salvation when he plighted himself to the Devil for the sake of temporal things. But his contrition was the contrition and penance of Cain and Judas. Indeed there was contrition in his heart, but he despaired of the Grace of God, it seeming to him an impossibility to gain God's favor: like unto Cain, who also despaired, saying his sins were greater than could be forgiven him. It was the same with Judas.
And it was the same with Doctor Faustus. I suppose he looked up to Heaven, but his eyes discerned naught therein. They say that he dreamt of the Devil and of Hell. That means that when he recalled his transgressions he could not help thinking that frequent and much disputation, inquiry, and discourse with the spirit would bring him to such a fear of the consequences of sin that he would be able to mend his ways, repent his sins, and sin no more.
Thus Doctor Faustus again decided to hold discourse and a colloquium with the spirit, asking him: What is Hell ; further, how Hell was created and constituted; thirdly, about the manner of wailing and lamentation of the damned in Hell; and fourthly, whether the damned could come again into the favor of God and be released from Hell.
The spirit gave answer to none of these questions or articles, but spake: As concerns thy purpose, Lord Fauste, thy disputatio on Hell and Hell's effects on man, thy desire for elucidation--I say to thee: what is thy purpose with thyself?
If thou couldst ascend directly into Heaven, yet would I fling thee down into Hell again, for thou art mine, walking my path toward Hell even in thy many questions about Hell. Sweet Fauste, desist. Inquire of other matters. Believe me, my account will bring thee into such remorse, despondency, pensiveness, and anxiety that thou wilt wish thou hadst never posed this question. My judgement and advice remains: desist from this purpose.
Doctor Faustus spake: And I will know it or I will not live, and thou must tell it me.
Very well, quoth the spirit, I will tell thee. It costeth me little grief.
Thou wouldst know what Hell is, but the mortal soul is such that all thy speculations can never comprehend Hell, nor canst thou conceive the manner of place where the Wrath of God is stored. The origin and structure is God's Wrath, and it hath many titles and designations, as: House of Shame, Abyss, Gullet, Pit, also Dissensio. For the souls of the damned are so shamed, scorned and mocked by God and His Blessed Ones as to be confined in the House of the Abyss and Gullet. For Hell is an insatiate Pit and Gullet which ever gapeth after the souls which shall not be damned, desiring that they, too, might be seduced and damned. This is what thou must understand, good Doctor.
So soon as my master was fallen, and even in that moment, Hell was ready for him and received him. It is a Darkness where Lucifer is all banished and bound with chains of darkness, here committed that he may be held for Judgement. Naught may be found there but fumes, fire and the stench of sulphur. --But we devils really cannot know in what form and wise Hell is created, either, nor how it be founded and constructed by God, for it hath neither end nor bottom.
That is my first and second report, which thou hast required of me. For the third, thou didst conjure me and demand of me a report as to what manner of wailing and lamentation the damned will find in Hell. Perchance, my Lord Fauste, thou shouldst consult the Scriptures (they being withheld from me). But now even as the aspect and description of Hell is terrible, so to be in it is an unbearable, acute agony. Inasmuch as I have already given account of the former, thy hellish speculations on the latter will I also satisfy with a report. The damned will encounter all the circumstances which I recounted afore, for what I say is true:
The pit of Hell, like woman's womb and earth's belly, is never sated. Nevermore will an end or cessation occur. They will cry out and lament their sin and wickedness, the damned and hellish hideousness of the stench of their own afflictions. There will then be at last a calling out, a screaming and a wailing up unto God, with woe, trembling, whimpering, yelping, screaming and pain and affiiction, with howling and weeping. Well, should they not scream woe and tremble and whimper, being outcast, with all Creation and all the children of God against them, bearing perpetual ignominy while the blessed enjoy eternal honor? And the woe and trembling of some will be greater than that of others, for, as sins are not equal, neither are the torments and agonies the same.
We spirits shall be freed. We have hope of being saved. But the damned will lament the insufferable cold, the unquenchable fire, the unbearable darkness, stench, the aspect of the devils, and the eternal loss of anything good. Oh, they will lament with weeping of eyes, gnashing of teeth, stench in their noses, moaning in their throats, terror in their ears, trembling in their hands and feet. They will devour their tongues for great pain. They will wish for death, would gladly die, but cannot, for death will flee from them. Their torment and agony will wax hourly greater and acuter.
There, my Lord Fauste, thou hast thy third answer, which is consonant with the first and second. Thy fourth question pertaineth to God: whether He will receive the damned into His Grace again. Thanks to thine other, related inquiries, and mine own views concerning Hell and its nature, how it was created of God's Wrath, we have been able to clarify certain fundamentals in advance. Thou shalt now receive one further, specific account (notwithstanding that it will be in direct violation of thy contract and vow).
Thy last question is whether the damned in Hell can ever come again into the favor and Grace of God, and mine answer is: No. For all who are in Hell are there because God banished them there, and they must therefore burn perpetually in God's Wrath and severity, must remain and abide in a place where no hope can be believed. Yea, if they could eventually gain the Grace of God (as we spirits, who always have hope and are in constant expectancy) they would take cheer, and sigh in anticipation. But the damned have even as little hope as have the devils in Hell of transcending their banishment and disgrace. They can have no more hope of salvation than can they hope for a twinkling of light in Hell's darkness, for refreshment with a drink of water in hellfire's heat and anguish, or for warmth in Hell's cold. Neither their pleading, nor their prayer, their crying nor their sighing will be heard, and their conscience will not let them forget.
Emperors, kings, princes, counts and other such regents will lament: had they but not lived all in violence and lust, then they might come into the favor of God. A rich man: had he but not been a miser. A frivolous man: had he but not been vainglorious. An adulterer and philanderer: had he but not indulged in lechery, adultery and fornication. A drunkard, glutton, gambler, blasphemer, perjurer, thief, highwayman, murderer, and their ilk: had I but not filled my belly daily with sumptuousness, pleasure and superfluity of drink and victual, had I but not cheated, blasphemed God in my heart, had I but not scolded wickedly and wantonly against God at every opportunity, had I but not borne false witness, stolen, sacked, murdered, robbed, then perhaps I could still hope for Grace. But my sins are too great and cannot be forgiven me, wherefore I must suffer this hellish torment. Hence may I, damned man, be sure that there is no Grace for me.
Let it be understood then, my Lord Fauste, that the damned man--or the soul, if you will--can no more attain Grace than can he hope for an end to his sufferings or a tide wherein he might perchance be removed from such anguish. Why, if they could be given the hope of dipping water day by day from the sea at the sea shore until the sea were dry, then that would be a redemption. Or if there were a sandheap as high as Heaven from which a bird coming every other year might bear away but one little grain at a time, and they would be saved after the whole heap were consumed, then that would be a hope. But God will never take any thought of them. They will lie in Hell like unto the bones of the dead. Death and their conscience will gnaw on them. Their firm belief and faith in God--oh they will at last acquire it--will go unheeded, and no thought will be taken of them. Thou thinkest perhaps that the damned soul might cover itself over and conceal itself in Hell until God's Wrath might at last subside, and thou hast the hope that there might come a release if thou but persist in the aim of hope that God might still take thought of thee--even then there will be no salvation. There will come a time when the mountains collapse, and when all the stones at the bottom of the sea are dry, and all the raindrops have washed the earth away. It is possible to conceive of an elephant or a camel entering into a needle's eye, or of counting all the raindrops. But there is no conceiving of a time for hope in Hell.
Thus, in short, my Lord Fauste, hast thou my fourth and last report. And thou shalt know that if thou ask me more of such things another time thou shalt get no audience from me, for I am not obligated to tell thee such things. Therefore leave me in peace with further such probings and disputationes.
Again Doctor Faustus departed from the spirit all melancholy, confused and full of doubt, thinking now this way now that, and pondering on these things day and night. But there was no constancy in him, for the Devil had hardened his heart and blinded him. And indeed when he did succeed in being alone to contemplate the Word of God, the Devil would dizen himself in the form of a beautiful woman, embrace him, debauching with him, so that he soon forgot the Divine Word and threw it to the wind.
His Almanacs and Horoscopes
XII
Doctor Faustus, being no longer able to obtain answers from his spirit concerning godly matters, now had to rest content and desist from this purpose. It was in those days that he set about making almanacs and became a good astronomus and astrologus. He gained so much learning and experience from the spirit concerning horoscopes that all which he did contrive and write won the highest praise among all the mathematici of that day (as is, after all, common knowledge by now) .His horoscopes, which he sent to great lords and princes, always were correct, for he contrived them according to the advice of his spirit as to what would come to pass in the future, all such matters falling duly out even as he had presaged them.
His tables and almanacs were praised above others because he set down naught in them but what did indeed come to pass. When he forecast fogs, wind, snow, precipitation, etc., these things were all quite certain. His almanacs were not as those of some unskilled astrologi who know of course that it gets cold in the winter, and hence forecast freezes, or that it will be hot in the summer, and predict thunderstorms. Doctor Faustus always calculated his tables in the manner described above, setting what should come to pass, specifying the day and the hour and especially warning the particular districts-this one with famine, that one with war, another with pestilence, and so forth.
A Disputatio, or Inquiry Concerning the Art of Astronomia, or Astrologia
XIII
One time after Doctor Faustus had been contriving and producing such horoscopes and almanacs for about two years he did ask his spirit about the nature of astronomia or astrologia as practiced by the mathematici.
The spirit gave answer, saying: My Lord Fauste, it is so ordained that the ancient haruspices and modern stargazers are unable to forecast anything particularly certain, for these are deep mysteries of God which mortals cannot plumb as we spirits can, who hover in the air beneath Heaven where we can see and mark what God bath predestined. Yes, we are ancient spirits, experienced in the Heavenly movements. Why, Lord Fauste, I could make thee a perpetual calendar for the setting of horoscopes and almanacs or for nativity investigations one year after the other. --Thou bast seen that I have never lied to thee. Now it is true that the Patriarchs, who lived for five and six hundred years, did comprehend the fundamentals of this art and became very adept. For when such a great number of years elapse a lunisolar period is completed, and the older generation can apprise the younger of it. Except for that, all green, inexperienced astrologi have to set up their horoscopes arbitrarily according to conjecture.
A Disputatio and False Answer
Which the Spirit Gave to Doctor Faustus
XIV
The spirit, finding Doctor Faustus all sorrowful and melancholy, did ask him what his grievance might be, and what was on his mind. When he saw that Doctor Faustus would give him no answer, he became importunate and pressing, demanding to know the exact nature of Faustus' thoughts, so that he might be of some aid to him if at all possible.
Doctor Faustus answered, saying: Well, I have taken thee unto me as a servant, and thy service doth cost me dear enough. Yet I cannot have my will of thee, as would be proper of a servant.
The spirit spake: My Lord, thou knowest that I have never opposed thee, but have ever humored thee. Except on one occasion, when I withheld information on one specific subject and under certain express terms, I have ever been submissive unto thee. Now why wilt thou not reveal thy desires? What is in thy mind?
With such talk the spirit stole away the heart of Faustus, and he confessed that he had been wondering how God created the world, and about the original birth of mankind. The spirit now gave Faustus a godless, unchristian and childish account and report on this subject, saying:
The world, my Lord Fauste, hath never experienced birth and will never know death, and the human race has always existed. There is not any origin or beginning of things. The earth subsists, as always, of itself. The sea arose from the earth, and the two got along so very well that one would think they had carried on a conversation in which the land had required his realm from the sea, the fields, meadows, woods, grass and trees; and that the sea had likewise demanded his own realm of water with the fish and all else therein. Now they did concede to God the creation of mankind and of Heaven, and this is the way they finally became subservient to God. Thou wilt observe that I have explained how from one realm there finally arose four: air, fire, water, and earth. I know none other, nor briefer, way of instructing thee.
Doctor Faustus speculated on these things but could not comprehend them, for in the first chapter of Genesis he had read how Moses had told it otherwise. For this reason, he made no further comment.