soeuer happeneth in this lyfe, it is lesse and shorter,
compared with the eternall paines, then is the soden pricke
of a needle, incomparisõ 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 mã, 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,