of their sensual and beastly appetites But you must observe that all The power of grace above nature this happens while a soul is left to her selfe and her own natural forces for when the divine goodness is pleased to furnish her with plenty of his grace even in this world as wicked as it is this grace has such an ascendant over nature and breathes such spirit and vigour into a soul that she can wrestle with all difficulties and remove all obstacleâ— nay though the body be borne and sunke into the very center of misery yet can she still hold up her head and steer her course towards heaven Now will you clearly see how the souls can at the same instant swim in a paradise of delights and â—et be overwhelmed with the hellish torments of Purgatory cast your eyes upon the holy Martyrs of Gods Church and observe their behaviour They were torn mangled dismembred flead alive rackt broyled burnt and tell me was not this to live in a kind of Hell and yet in the very height of their torments their hearts and souls were ready to leape for joy you would have taken them to be already transported into heaven Hear them but speak for themselves O lovely Cross made St. Andrew beautiful by the precious body of Christ how long have I desired thee and with what care have I sought thee and now I have found thee receive me into thy armes and lift me up to my dear Redeemer O death how amiable art thou in my Eyes and how sweet is thy cruelty Your coales your flaming firebands and all St. Cecâ—ly the terrours of death are to me but as so many fragrant Roses and Lillies sent from Heaven Shower down upon me whole deluges St. Stephen of stones whil'st I see the Heavens open and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of his eternal father to behold the fidelity of his Champion Turne O St. Laurence turne the other side thou cruel Tyrant this is already broild and cookt fit for thy Palate O how well am I pleased to suffer this little Purgatory for the love of my Saviour Make hast O my Soul St. Agnes to cast thy selfe upon the nuptial bed of flames which thy dear Spouse has prepared for thee O St. Felicitus and the Mother of the Machabees that I had a thousand Children or a thousand lives to sacrifice them all to my God What a pleasure it is to suffer for so good a cause Welcome tyrants tygres St. Ignatius Lyons let all the torments that the Devils can invent come upon me so I may enjoy my Saviour I am the wheat of Christ O let me be ground with the Lyons teeth Now I begin indeed to be the disciple of Christ O the luckie stroak St. Paul of a Sword that no sooner cuts of my head but makes a breach for my Soul to enter into Heaven Let it be far from me to glory in any thing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Let all evils band against me and let my body be never so overloaded with afflictions the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastry and my soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations that no words nor even thoughts are able to express it You may imagine then that the Souls once unfettered from the body may together with their torments be capable of great comforts and divine favours and break forth into reâ—olute heroical and supercelestial acts The holy Ghost tels us that the body that Sap. 9. 15. is corrupted burthens the Soul and the earthly habitation presses downe the understanding So that a Soul by the infirmities of the body is violently kept from the free excercise of her functions whereas if the body were supple pliable and willing to follow the perswations of a resolute and generous Soul or the inspirations with which she is plentifully supplied from above what might we not be able to do even in this life Now that which is not done here but by very few who are lookt upon as so many miracles and prodigies of men is easily performed by those separate holy souls who are in the very porch of Heaven assured of their eternal salvation In fine will you have a most perfect exemplar and idea of this wonderful combination of â—oys and griefs in one simple person you may clearly see it in the most sacred person of our blessed Saviour who in the midst of his bitter passion and in the very height of his agony and extream dereliction when he not only seem'd to have been abandoned by his eternal Father but had even abandoned and forsaken himselfe by miraculously withholding the superiour part of his blessed Soul from relieving and assisting the inferiour yet even then had all the comforts of Heaven and saw God face to face and consequently was at the selfe same time most happy by the fruition of the beatifiâ—al vision and yet so oppressed with griefs that he cried out himself my soul is sorrowful unto death and againe O my God alas why hast thou thus forsaken me Conceive somthing like unto this of the Souls in Purgatory who are most miserably tormented and yet replenished with heavenly comforts §. 2. Two maine grounds of their comfort the double assurance they have of their salvation and impeccability THe better to unfold you this They are certain of â—heir salvation riddle I must tell you that possibly the most solid and powerful ground of their comfort is the assurance of their eternal salvation and that one day when it shall please God they shall have their part in the joyes of Paradise That which is the sorest affliction in this life unto the most refined Souls in the greatest torments is the fear of offending God and making an unhappy end for want of the gift of perseverance of which none can be assured without a particular revelation and so becoming the Devils martirs by purchasing one Hell with another For if an Angel should come down from Heaven and give this infallible assurance unto an affâ—â—cted person that undoubtedly he shall be saved as being one of the choyce number of the elect certainly his very heart would leap for joy nor would the severest usage with death it selfe and death represented in her most frightful and gastly attire seem cruel or irksome unto him but exceeding welcome and pleasant When almighty God was pleased once to reveal unto St. Francis his eternal predestination and to seal him as it were a deed of gift of Paradise this Seraphin incarnate was so transported with an extasie of joy and so ravished out of himselfe that for eight dayes together he did nothing but go up and down crying out Paradise Paradise O my soul thou shalt have Paradice and had so quite lost all memory of eating drinking sleeping suffering living dying and all things else as being inebriated with the sweet remembrance of that
griefs alas I have deserved far more but with all be pleased I beseech thee to remember in thy mercy to encrease also my courage and to fortify my patience Ther 's nothing sure that is Nothing to pure heavâ—nly consolations comparable to pure heavenly consolations When all creatures are wanting all other worldly satisfactions eclipsed from our hearts so that we remain in pure suffrance and savour nothing but God alone then it is says the mistical divines that we prosess the joy of all joys and the quintessence of all true and solid comfort God has done us the honour says St. Paul to ad Ephes 2. 6 make us sit by his divine Majesty and as it were side by side to his son Jesus Christ a favour that has so ravisht my soul that I cannot think on it without incredible St. Christ Homil. de laud Pauli joy Where do you imagine was S. Paul says S. Chrysostome when he spoke this For my part I believe he was lying in a dungeon in irons neck and heels together forsaken of all the world and that it was in this generall dereliction when he was surprised with those ravishing joys of heaven and had such a feeling of Gods greatness that he seem'd to be already seated at his right hand When thinke you says S. Thomas was he rapt up into the In ep ad Cor. third heaven I am apt to believe it was at his conversion when despoiled of all worldly comforts and all things failing him at once all mighty God snatcht up his soul into heaven and gave him a sweet relish of the delights of Paradise What shall I say then of the souls who seeing themselves besieged with fire and torments and a thousand Martyrdoms and having no humane consolation are put upon a sweet necessity to have their recourse unto God and to seek their contentment in him alone O what fervent aspirations what holy exstasies what cordial oblations what divine acts of uniformity How amorously doth God and his Angels inspire them what pure lights and affections do they instill Heare the Prophet David Ps 93. 19. according to the multitude of my bitter griefs your consolations O my God have rejoyced my heart And S. Paul when I 2 Cor. 1. 5. am oppressed with evills then it is that my soul swims in celestial joys and that I am as it were all can died with sweetness And the Prophet Esay in the greatness of our furies in the severest rigour of your anger O my Lord you have cast out some raies of your sweet mercies and have ravished me with admiration Now though all this be said of this mortal life yet may we in some proportion give a guesse by it how it fares wâ—th the holy souls in Purgatory and the rather because a soul once severed from the body has much more liberty to actuate her self and to couple an excess of torments with an excesse of joys since the same in some sort has been seen to have happened in this life Have you ever read in St Austin that if a drop of the Heavenly torrent should fall into Hell Hell would no longer seem to be Hell but a kind of Heaven Now certainly the divine goodnesse le ts fall some of those drops into Purgatory nor are the Angels sparing but rather prodigal in showring them down upon the souls there who within a few moments are to be exalted into Heaven as high and gracious as themselves and possibly more I begin to fear this discourse may debauch your devotions and coole your charity and that seeing the souls enjoy so much comfort in Purgatory your compassion for them may grow slack and so not continue equall to their desert Remember then that notwithstanding all these comforts here rehearsed the poor creatures cease not to be grievously tormented and consequently have extream need of all your favourable assistance pain and endeavours When Christ Jesus was in his bitter Agony sweating blood and water the superiour part of his soul enjoyed God and his glory and yet his body was so oppressed with sorrow that he was ready to dye and was content to be comforted by an Angel In like manner these holy souls have indeed great joys but feele with all such bitter torments that they stand in great need of our help So that you will much wrong them and me too to stand musing so long upon their joys as not to apply your best endeavours to afford them succour Let us then here break off this discourse and passe on to consider what assistance we owe and they expect of our charity and first let us see what a charity it is to help them The third Survey That there is not in this world a more eminent or Prudent Act of faternal Charity then to help the Soules in Purgatory THe Divine Apostle the Desciple of Paradise and 1 Cor. 13. Doctor of the universe reads us this lesson that the highest point of Christian perfection consists in Charity The abridgment of the Decalogue the epitome of the whole Bible the quintecense of all vertues is finally reduced to this sole point of divine Love Now fraternal charity or the love of our neighbor is cozen German to the love of God and upon these two holy loves as upon the two Poles of the World moves the Heaven of all perfections They are the two Angels that keep sentinell at the Gen. 3. 24. gates of Paradise the two Cherubins that cover the Ark when 3 reg 8. 7. the Manna of the felicity of this life is contained They are the two eyes of the spouse of the soul which wound the heart of God and pierce it so deep with their divine glances that he cryes out in the Canticles that they have Caâ—◠〈…〉 stolne away his heart alas says he my beloved thou hast wounded my heart and hast robbed me of it so powerfull are thy innocent charmes and chast allurements The more power the love of God has in us the greater is the heat of fraternal charity which burnes the very heart of our souls and like the Phenix takes delight to live and dye in so noble a fire and to consume in such harmlesse and yet murthering flames My designe here is not to treat of the love of God but only to suppose that the more one loves God the more he loves and desires to help his neighbour and to believe that a man loves God without doing his uttermost to assist his neighboure in way of charity is to fool him self directly Would you know how much you love God look with what courage you use to serve your neighbour for otherwise your charity is not fire but smoke and your affections are not divine love but winde or a meer natural love or in a word selfe love or rather an empty shadow or Phantastical appearance of divine love He that loves not his neighbour whom he daily sees with both his eyes says
what cannot so many millions of Angels and Saints do what can they be denied in so favourable a request for persons of so high merit I answear that they pray for them and pray iâ— good earnest and I say further that they are not content with a quarant hour now and then as our custome is in occasions of pressing necessity but they keep a perpetual and constant course of prayer in heaven in favour of these holy Souls This I take to be the pious belief Vid. Su. d. 48. Sect. 9 of the Catholick Church as delivered by the whole sacred Torrent of Doctors Nor is there the least reason why they should not do it being not only powerful but full of charity especially when they remember that the like charity was bestowed on many of them that their necessity is extream urgent that they are all Members of one body that they do not only concur to the glorification of their dear brethren but are themselves to receive an additional increase of accidental glory for having advanced the delivery of those precious souls who perhaps may be holier then some of their own blessed company Besides this is a charitable office sutes well with their happy state and there appears not the least inconvenience in it in this World And yet if this be so one would think they might soon turn all the souls loose and empty Purgatory so that it were impossible for any soul to make any long stay there Hold you must pardon me and not flatter your selves too much with this vain credulity You are to know that the Saints are not such strangers to the decrees of divine justice as to beg the souls release without punishment for that were the way to destroy all justice no they accommodate themselves to the Laws of heaven and willingly submit to the most equitable resolves of Gods justice amongst which it stands irrevocably decreed that this life should be the place for mercy but that justice should bear the sway in Purgatory Do not then wonder that the Saints do not obtain so extra vagant a favor the souls themselves who are the most nearly concerned in their own sufferings would be ashamed to demand it Is it not reason that God should be God in all his attributes and exercise his justice as well as his mercy We must take heed how we employ or rather abuse his clemency so as to break down the Laws of his justice Will you then know what the Saints do First They pray God to inspire The saints have many wayes to help them the living to offer up their satisfactory works for the dead and to find out a thousand inventious to help them Secondly They labour to shorten their time by procuring that the intension or sharpness of their pains may supply for the length and extension thereof wherein there is no wrong done to justice but only an exchange made of a long pain into a shorter one but more violent and yet this is an extraordinary favour for you cannot imagine what an incomparable treasure is one day in heaven advanced before the ordinary prefixed time Thirdly Many Saints have left behind them a great treasure of satisfactions above what was due for their sins so many holy innocent hermits so many chast Virgins so many great Saints of all orders in Gods Church who lead such austere lives Now is it not very likely that these good Saints may pray God to apply the superbundance of these their merits and satisfactions to the poor souls in Purgatory and who knows whether the infinite goodness of God may not accept it for good payment Fourthly Why may we not piously imagine that even those Saints who have no such remainder of merits pray those that have it to bestow it as an almes to relieve the poor souls Sure they are so courteous as not to deny any thing to one another especially in a case of so great commiseration and why should they hoard up these precious treasures which cannot availe them or how can they bestow them more charitably Fifthly What harme were it to say that the Saints beseech our blessed Lady and even Christ himself who has an infinite treasure of satisfactions in store to apply some of their precious merits this way I know the severer divines will not have it that the Siants have recourse in this to our blessed Saviour who has determined what and how he will have this applied according to the ordinary straine and set Laws of his divine justice but there be other Doctors of a milder temper believe he may be drawn somtimes to wave the extremity of rigour to dispense with his own Laws so that by extraordinary priviledge we may hope for this favour of sweet Jesus and his Saints And if other Saints have so much charity for the poor Souls you will think it but reasonable that the Fathers and Mothers the same is to be said of other near relations who are in Heaven and know that the Souls of their dear children are lockt up in that fiery furnace will use all their possible endeavour as far as God will give them leave to fetch them out But what shall I say of those saints who were lifted up into Heaven before their time by the extraordinary assistance of the living whose turne now it is to be in Purgatory is it not very credible they will now requite their courtesie and with usury too For example there may be a soul in Purgatory has helpt above a thousand other Souâ—â— out of that place of torments can it be imagined but that that regiment of Saints will do all they can and more if it were possible to deliver this their deliverer and to place him in the court of Heaven who had so great a hand in their timely preferment But because we are mere strangers to the stile of that court and nothing acquainted with the constitutions of that divine Monarchy let us conclude only thus That whatsoever the Saints can do for the comfort of these languishing souls we may be sure they do it and do it punctually without neglecting the least moment and where they cannot prevaile without breaking the just decrees of their Soveraigne there they willingly acquiesce and with due submission adore the divine justice So much for the Saints Let us now speak of the Souls themselves and see §. 2. Whether they are capable of being relieved by one anothers Prayers IT may be justly questioned They help one another whether the Souls though altogether incapable of helping themselves in their extream misery may not at least be permitted to help one another by their devout prayers For if they have the priviledg to pray for the Saints in Heaven that God will be pleased to encrease their glory if they can pray for the living as I endeavoured to evince in the last § Nay if a damned soul may have liberty to pray for his friends as it seems to be clear
Purgatory Survey OR A Particular accompt of the happy and yet thrice unhappy state of the Souls there ALSO Of the singular Charity and wayes we have to relieve them And of the Devotion of all Ages for the Souls departed WITH Twelve excellent means to prevent PURGATORY AND The Resolution of many Curious and Important Points Printed at Paris 166â— To the truly Noble and Vertuous Lady Mris. D. C. Madam THough this Survey of Purgatory address it self to all Roman Catholikes in general yet is there not the person to whom it is more peculiarly devoted nor indeed any from whom it may with more confidence look for shelter and entertainment then your self For were it a meer stranger to you yet am I so well acquainted with your noble humour and civility to all your guests as not to despair of a friendly wellcome But since it was so lucky as to receive its first birth or at least to begin to breath our English Aire under your roofe it is certainly there it may best challenge countenance and protection now it comes to appear abroad and expose it self to publick view And if I mistake you not you are neither so wedded to the pleasures of this transitory life as not to be more concerned for what passes in the other world nor so taken up with Playes and Romances the usual employment of your sex but that you can lend an eye or an ear now and then and with delight too to spiritual discourses though running in a lower strain not so agreeable to the quaint Palats of our times Howsoever I dare promise you here no unpleasant entertainments I am sure at least you are read a very pleasing lecture in the last Survey For while you see the way for you to scape Purgatory chalked out you will clearly find your self already in it as practising most of the twelve means there prescribed To say nothing of the rest in which no doubt you have a large share I cannot but take notice of two of the most important I mean your singular charity to the poor your patient suffering for a good cause Your loyalty and your noble Consorts to God and your King even when you saw others to renounce both was very remarkable and I think I may safely say with proportion to your Estate you were as great sufferers upon this score as the worst of times could produce And yet you were never so great loosers your selves but you could still have the heart to spare a very liberal proportion to relieve others I could bring instances and enlarge my self upon each particular did not your modesty give me a silent check I will only then conclude with leaving you this comfortable satisfaction to know you are in the ready way to redeem a good part of your Purgatory in this life if not all as he most heartily wishes you may who must ever subscribe himself Madam Your most obliged humble Servant R. T. A Prefatory address to the Catholike Reader Dear Reader THe drift of this Treatise is not to prove Purgatory but taking it for granted as a prime maxime of Catholicism that God has a suffering Church in the other world besides that which triumphes in heaven and is militant here upon earth the design is to set it forth in such lively colours as may not only express its nature as far as we are able to judge of it at so great a distance but raise your thoughts first to a compassionate care for the present of procuring all possible relief for such distressed souls as are already faln under the lash of those merciless torments and secondly to a provident prevention for the future that the like mischief may not involve your selves hereafter Now this being the chief aime of these my labours I am put upon a kind of necessity of giving you the trouble of this Prefatory address For should this Survay of Purgatory fall into any other hands but yours it could look for no better entertainment then to be laid aside for wast paper such as would be some strange Map or Survay of another world which had no other subsistance but in the brains of the Painter For why should the enemies of truth whose belief reaches only to heaven and hell amuse themselves with the consideration of a third place for which they can find no place in their Creed And yet though I presume this will be its common fate when it meets with such persons yet I am very confident the judicious Protestant if he can but find in his heart to peruse these Papers especially the fifth Survay will find more then enough to convince him of this middle state of Souls which we call Purgatory Now to say the truth of this Treatise I know not well how to profess my self the Author nor yet the Translator of it Not Author for I must acknowledge the maine bulke and substance of what I offer to be borrowed of the Reverend Father Steven Binet of the Society of Jesus Not a bare Translatour because I am to do my self so much right as to tell you that I have not tied my self so wholly to that worthy persons method or matter as not to yeeld a little now and then to my own genius but have so made use of his learned pen as to dispose abridge or enlarge where I took it to be more for your satisfaction in this conjuncture of time and place wherein I was to puhlish it As for the language I have taken care neither to have it so bald as not to sute a little with this eloquent age we live in nor yet so flourishing and luxuriant as to dry up the fountains of devotion which I seek to open And if all my endeavours prove but so lucky as to occasion the releasing of any one soul out of Purgatory or the conveying of any other into heaven without passing that way I have my end which is only the greater glory of God and the good of souls There was a Roman Emperour would never dine but he would be feeding his eyes and his thoughts with the contemplation of the torments of hell and the pleasures of the Elizian fields which he had caused to be curiously painted and exposed for that purpose in his dining room I do not press you to use any such devotion or pictures I only offer you this Survay of Purgatory which I beseech you to look often upon and withall to have an eye still upon heaven and the best meant how to send souls thither and to follow them your selves without stepping a side into Purgatory for believe it if you come once there you will find it a very restless and uncomfortable lodging which I pray God you may all timely prevent and I earnestly beg your good prayers that the like mercy may not be deuied Your most devoted Servant R. T. The Contents The First Survey PVrgatory is layd open with all the hellish paines wherewith the souls are there tormented Page 1.
to draw tears from thy eyes But for thy comfort there are Doctours in the Catholick church that cannot away with so much severity and namely St. Bonaventure who is very peremptory S. Bonavent in 4 d. 20. in denying it For what way is there saies this holy Doctor to verify so great a paradox without wounding reason and destroying the infinite mercy of the living God I am easily perswaded there are torments in Purgatory far exceeding any in this mortall life this is most certain and it is but reasonable it should be so but that the least there should be more terrible then the most terrible in the world cannot enter into my belief May it not often fall out that a man comes to dye in a most eminent state of perfection save only that in his last agony out of mere frailty he commits a venial sin or carries along with him some relique of his former failings which might have been easily blotted out with a Pater noster or wash'd away with a little holy water for I suppose it is some very small matter now what likelihood is there I will not say that the infinite mercy of God but that the very rigour of his justice though you conceive it to be never so severe should inflict so horrible a punishment upon this holy soul as not to be equalled by the greatest torments in this life and all this for some petty fault scarse worth the speaking of How would you have God for a kind of trifle to punish a soule full of grace and vertue and so severely to punish her as to exceed all the racks cauldrons furnaces and other hellish inventions which are scarce inflicted upon the most execrable criminals in the world What do you make God to be is he not a God of mercy in the other world as well as in this He says Tertullian that is so sweet Tertul. Apol. and so good that he darts the rayes of his mercies into the darkest abyss of hell shall he be so extreamly rigorous in Purgatory which is so full of Saints That which a sigh would have blown away here or a teare have drowned it was so smal a matter will you have God to power out his whole wrath for it and to punish it with such a proportion of sufferings as cannot be paralleld by all the torments in this world Have a care least by making God too severe you say not that which clashes with his infinite mercy That nothing should remain unpunished is no more then fitting but that for a mere Peccadilio or for some small remnant of a little penance God should employ such tortures is a most incredible paradox and S. Bonaventure will not believe it and are we not beholding to him for it He confesses that the fire the worme and all the purging paine is of its nature far greater then the pains of this world but that the least there should surpass the greatest here he flatly denies and I cannot think thou wilt need much entreaty to side with him And thus much learned Suarez has prudently observed for thy Su. d. 40. 3 4. purpose that in truth the pains of Purgatory and those of this life are of quite different species's and can no more be compared together then a flint with a Diamond but that there may be so many flints put together as to exceed the worth of a Diamond so may the pains of this life be so multiplied as to surmount the least of those in Purgatory § 2. Of the Worm and pain of loss BUt why do I entertain you so long with the consideration of the fire and flames of Purgatory as if it were the only or the greatest torment of the afflicted soules Alas there is a worme which knawes them yet more to the quick then those murthering flames which make but an outward assault It is this worme alas it is this worme that plays the tyrant over those captive soules The worme of hell shall never dye Esai 66. 24. Mar. 9. 44. but that of Purgatory shall dye indeed but so long as it lives it is not to be imagined how cruelly it bites I know there are those among the learned that believe God has in store certain ravenous and devouring wormes that shall incessantly prey upon the carcasses of the damned soules and cause an endless martyrdome by consuming them without ever yet consuming them But as for Purgatory where there are only naked soules stript of their bodies there are no corporeal wormes but the worme that knaws them is a metaphorical worme or a sharpe and sensible grief and deep resentment which utterly undoes those miserable soules by piercing and transpiercing them with the sharpe lances of a thousand and a thousand remorses But to give you in fine a more particular description of this unsatiable Love and griâ—f are knawing Wormes and devouring Worm which causes them so much mischief and vexation Divines teach us that it is either an Heroicall Act of Charity or a vigorous Act of Contrition or finally a Holy kind of Impatience and supernatural Act of Hope but such a one as does so importunely and powerfully check them that it is not to be expressed You may fancy Charity to be a golden File which goes filing and still filing away the drosse of their imperfections and as it were consuming them without intermission Contrition to be a paire of hot biting Pincers which doth so desperately pinch those poore Souls that it is a kind of pity to God and his Angels to behold it Hope retarded to be a kind of Rack upon which those miserable Souls are so farr extended and stretch't out with a desire that carries them to God and so withheld by the impediment that lyes in themselves that it must needs be an unmercifull Torment They seem as it were to be drawn in pieces by Wilde-horses Love draws but pain withdraws contrition spurs them on but their misfortune pulls them back Hope gives them wings but Justice clips them off and through the violence of these contrary Motions these unfortunate Souls are in a most lamentable condition and as the Holy Scripture expresses it are knawn and torn in pieces with Hungry Devouring and tormenting Worms It is not the fire nor all the Brimstone and Tortures they endure which murthers them alive no no it is the domesticall cause of all these mischiefs that racks their consciences and is their cruelest Executioner This this is the greatest of their evills for a Soul that has shak't off the fetters of flesh and blood and is full of the love of God no more disordered with unruly passions nor blinded with the night of ignorance sees clearly the vast injury she has done her self to have offeâ—ded so good a God and to have deserved to be thus banish't out of his sight and deprived of that Divine fruition She sees how easily she might have flowne up straight to Heaven at her first parting with her
have this privation or pain of loss to be so cruel as others make it and in particular he maintains that it does not always exceede the greatest torments of this life I will not take upon me the boldness to make my selfe judge and umpire between St. Thomas and Saint Bonaventure that is to say between an Angel and a Seraphin an angelical doctor and a Seraphical Doctor in a word between two famous oracles of Divinity two glorious Suns placed in the several Spheres of their religious orders But what remedy whether of the two shal we believe The one assures us that the privation of the sight of God is a martyrdomes beyond all the Martyrdome of this world the other tels us for a truth that it were certainly a most grievous torment but that it is somtimes so tempered and alleniated by other considerations that it equals not the severest rigour of the Torments of this world What is there no means to reconcile these two heavenly Doctors May we not say they have both reason on their sides they have both won and both lost the field and whilst the one looks as it were to the North the other to the South they both meet in the Meridian line of charity and rest securely in the bosome of the same truth St Thomas would say that if you look upon this privation as it relates to God the loss is incomparable and he speaks the very truth that the Soul has not a more violent instinct then that which carries her to God this is also an undoubted truth that there cannot be a heavier loss then that of God and is not this also clear That unless this greife be otherwise moderated it is the most intolerable of all others this is as evident as the rest that you cannot deprive a Soul of a more lively object and consequently that there is not the thing in this world whose absence is of its Nature so sensible who can doubt of all this certainly if you state the case thus and go no further St. Thomas has clearly got the victory Now let us hear St. Bonaventure Who tels us that this evil of privation being joyned with a most certaine hope of seeing God ere long may be much lessened that even in this world we want the sight of God and yet by reason of other diversions are not so much concerned for it that the holy Souls most contentedly submit themselves to this piece of severity and the more willingly they do it the less are they burthened with sorrow that many Saints out of pure charity and for the glory of God have offered themselves to be thus eternally deprived of the sight of God and have taken great pleasure in it with a world of other reasons of which I shall treat in the next Survey where I must 〈◊〉 up the comforts of the Souls in Purgatory Has he not reason for all this I pray you Nay have they not both reason for what they teach Me thinks they do like those that look upon your pictures which are drawn after the Italian fashion by Mathematical projection one looks upon them this way and sees a faire Picture of St Michael another that way and sees St Laurence upon a Gridiron represented to life the one vowes he sees an Angel and he saies true the other is ready to swear he sees a Martyr and he is not mistaken mean while they contest about it and neither of them will forsake his Opinion whil'st both are in the right though they seem to wrong one another Let us therefore conclude that in truth there is somthing in this pain of loss which surpasses all that can be imagined in this world but that God is pleased in some cases to mingle certaine Comfortable sweets with it which take off much of the bitterness which the Souls would otherwise find in it §. 3. Other Considerations much aggrevating these Pains BUt that which adds new Life To loose God willfully and strength to these quick and piercing pains is to see that they have not only willfully lost for ever so many degrees of glory whereof the least is an inestimable treasure but are also estranged from the sight of God by their own carelesness and tepidity To want the sight of God out of charity is to find a kind of Paradice in Hell but to loose the sight of God by his own fault though it be but for a moment is a Hell indeed to a Soul that loves Naturalists tell us of a little bird thâ—â— is so far in love with the sun that she lives no longer then she can behold it and so lives but a few hours for no sooner does the sun set but the poor bird seeing no longer the living rayes of the sun believing it to be really dead dies also as not being able to survive the sole object of his love God is the Sun of our Souls and therefore these worthy Souls seeing this Sun quite ecliâ—sed from their eyes and overcast with the sable night of a suffering people would doubtless die if they could for God being the life of their life having lost his life how should they live When the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph had lost the sight of the little Infant Jesus what Tongue can express the affliction of their Souls He only knows who has tried it by experience and whose eyes God hath opened what it is to loose the sight of God and to loose it through his own fault and to be as it were poinâ—â—d at for a wretch that has lost 〈◊〉 God I wept sayes holy David and I Ps 41. 4. wept night and day when they would be still thus obrayding me why David where is thy God the God for whom thou hadst so much love Oh it is a dagger at my very Heart and they kill me when they aske me the question Now this dagger is never from the hearts of those desolate and languishing Souls I will either die this day cried Caesar or I will be the chief in Rome for what likelihood is there that Caesar should live and not be Caesar live and not live in the quality which is due to his birth and courage Oh how often does this thought assault persecute these holy Souls alas how easily could I have purchased a million of degrees of essential Glory and got Laurels upon Laurels Crowns upon Crowns and Trophees without number and unfortunate wretch as I am I have lost all this eternally for meer sloath for want of a little striving for it am I not worthy to undergo the pains I suffer though they were a thousand times more rigourous and intollerable I do not wonder that Divines affirme this Heart-breaking to be far worse then the privation of the sight of God for to this they can find some ease and comfort but the other is altogether inconsolable since it is purely through their own faults You may imagine all the vertues All the vertues charge
all For say they how can you require more of them then to be two years miserably tormented in a burning furnace That which here might have been redeemed with a tear of true contrition or with a sigh of ardent charity can it not be purged with flames of fire in two whole years in the other world The most barbarous cruelty in this life is scarce ever seen to reach beyond a few houres and what shall we then say of two years in Purgatory which are as it were two ages or two little eternities so great are the torments shall it not be enough to purifie the most unclean soul in the world so she be in the state of Grace But yet this opinion is not received in the Church and it is a great madnesse to attempt any thing contrary to the common judgment of the Church and her Learned Doctors Sotus held a singular opinion of his own that no soule Sect. in 4. d. 17. q. 3. remains in Purgatory above ten years For said he we must set some bounds to the rigour of Gods justice who doth all things in number weight and measure and is said to dispose all things sweetly And is not ten years of most bitter pains a great number a grievous weight and an everflowing measure to say nothing of so many prayers so many masses so many tears so many priviledged altars and Plenary indulgences so many almes and other good deeds of the living and then the most powerful intercession of the whole court of Heaven but especially of our blessed Lady and her beloved son who is the Atturney general of the whole Church and who pleads for her with a most perswasive and divine Rhetorique Yet for all this I must tell you many divines lay heavy censures upon this opinion sticking not to call it not only temerarious but also erroneous and the common sense of the church is quite contrary as appears by the immemorial custome of perpetual foundations of set Masses to be yearly said for such particular persons and to continue to the worlds end all which would be needless if almighty God put a period to their punishments after ten years for to what purpose are those Masses after the ten years are expired And though the most learned of this age will not take upon them to condemne this opinion of errour yet they all accuse it of much temerity No certain time beyond which a soule may not be tormented because in truth this whole business is very uncertain as being a secret lockt up in the cabinet of God himself and letters sealed up which our Saviour would not hitherto open to his Spouse the church so that whilst it remains in the nature of a secret we must not presume to define any thing precisely Only this we know that many soules do but touch Purgatory as it were with their finger and away others lie there whole houres dayes months and years and as we are not easily to credit those visions which threaten the soules in Purgatory with a continuance of their torments untill the last day so are we to believe that God can well punish some of them so long that the space of ten years in comparison should seem little or nothing to it Hence it is a very laudable and pious custome to found Masses to perpetuity because alas who knows whether he may not be of the number of those unfortunate souls who are to be kept there so long How few know truly the state of their own soules and the debts they are to pay to the severity of our most just judge who is indeed ful of clemency but such as is ever accompanied with an impartial justice worthy of God I may adde here that the piety of the founders looks not only upon the releasing of their own soules out of torments which they are assured will have an end sooner or later but they open their hearts and bowels of charity and extend it to others who from time to time shall be in Purgatory and very possibly have no body to remember them in their devotions This certainly is a worke of charity well becoming a good Catholick and a well disposed soule to provide so as to co-operate even after his death to the help and salvation of other soules and to be ever and anon sending some into Heaven by antedating the time of their deliverance and encreasing the number of the glorious Saints Mean time what an inconsolable grief is it to the poor soules to see themselves plunged over head and eareâ— in flames of fire and condemned to remain there ten twenty a hundred years and perhaps to the worlds end if their friends upon earth do not afford them their best assistance middle State of Souls lately censured by his Holiness There are some few of late are faln so far into the contrary extream that they cannot afford a soule once in Purgatory should ever get out before the day of judgment But as this strange Paradox took its rise chiefly from a false conceipt of the nature of a spiritual substance and other wilde principles of a new minted Philosophy so is it generally cryed down and not only contradicted by many known apparitions revelations which the Reader will meet with in this Treatise attested by such grave Authours and Fathers of the Church that he has little reason to suspect them for old wives tales or melancholly dreams as these men would have them but seems to have been blasted long In Bullar Rom. Conc. Flor. in lit vnionis act 4. agoe and condemned in a particular Bull of Pope Benedict the eleaventh and in the holy Council of Florence where it was expresly defined that those soules which after they have contracted the blemish of sin are Purged either in their bodies or being uncloathed of their bodies are presently received into heaven And since the Author of this extravagance will have Tradition to be the sole rule of our Faith of which Tradition we can have no clearer proof then from the testimony of the Church let him but look into the general doctrine and practice of the church both now at this present and time out of minde and he shall discover as cleare a Tradition for this common perswasion of the soules being released out of Purgatory some sooner some later according to their own deserts and the relief of our suffrages as for any other thing in the world Do not good people generally ground themselves upon this when they offer up their prayers give almes procure Masses and Diriges apply Indulgences for the present relief of their deceased friends Is not the whole practise of Christians for as much as concernes their piety to the faithfull departed built so wholly upon this that were it not true we must conclude that the whole Catholick church has been all along fooled by her Pastors and Doctors Who has ever hitherto so much as fancied it in a dreame that his suffrages
be like God but S. Bern. ep ad fratres de monte die not to have the power to have any other will but Gods is to be what God is that is content and happy in whatsoever condition If God for some special reason would have a soul to be a million of years in Purgatory without fault and without hope of any further merit she would not much concern her self neither for the extremity of the pains nor for the length of the delay but would rest satisfied with a perfect resignation to Gods holy will Can there be any doubt of this when we find souls even in this miserable life so couragious and so conformable to the divine pleasure as to offer themselves to be buried in Hell fire so it might but add one single graine of encrease to Gods glory No this diformity or uniformity to the designes of Gods providence is so excessive great in these devout souls so vigorous and so puissant that it cannot be expressed or conceived in this our gross ignorant world The Ecclesiastical Euseb Niceph. Baron History assures us that many of the holy Martyâ—s whil'st they were in flames of fire melting of their lives by drops as I may so say were heard to profess with a smiling countenance an invincible heart that they took themselves to be at a nuptiall feast and to tread upon Roses So well were they pleased that God was so pleased and that his blessed will was performed in them nay more that nothing griev'd them but the shortness of their torments and the fleeting condition of their petty martyrdoms as they would call them Alas would they say were this to last to the worlds end how happy were we and how welcome were our flames by the light whereof one might clearly read the fidelity of our hearts and their conformity to the heart of the great God of Heaven This excessive conformity and To cooperate with Gods justice sidelity of these holy souls makes them willing to cooperate with the sweet rigours of Gods justice against their crimes Who loves God purely for himself loves all that belongs to make up his glory and since God shews himself as much God in the excercise of his justice as in the sweet influences of his boundles mercy a happy soul cannot chuse but take pleasure to cooperate with Gods justice in procuring his satisfaction even at the charge of her own sufferings and would most readily annihilate her self for the honour of her God If our hour be come said the valourous Judas Machabeas and if God have so disposed of us let us die my brethren and let us die bravely it must be as the Heavens have decreed and I will have it so though at the cost of a hundred thousand lives And holy Job Is it not reason said he that we should as well receive what we call evils at the hand of his justice as favors at the hand of his mercy That noble Roman that buried his Ponyard in his own Sisters breast whom he met foolishly bewailing the good fortune of the City of Rome had nothing to alledg for his justification but this What said he shall not Rome be Rome as well in the excercise of rigourous justice as in the maintenance of her greatness and demonstration of her absolute power Can I offer a more pleasing holocaust unto the Gods then to sacrifice my Sister when Romes justice requires it This Roman severity carries with it I know not what masculine generosity and this cruelty to a foolish Sister argues much piety to his dear Country In effect all the world cried up the fact which at first sight seemed too brutish barbarous and inhumane The holy souls that burne with ardent charity seeing it necessary that the divine justice should receive plenary satisfaction and that Gods interest is extraordinarlly concern'd that his justice should rule by course as well as his mercy goodness and charity these holy souls I say seeing all this have such a pleasure in their torments as cannot be comprehended in this miserable life which is so ful of self-love but by some few noble and generous souls that love God only for himself and that so purely as not to make any reckoning of their own concernes or suffrings §. 4. Another comfortable consideration drawn from the desire they have to make themselves worthy of the sight of God TAke another consideration Their desire to remove all obstacles â—f seeing God which wil much illustrate that which has been already said and reinforce the joy of the souls in spight of their tormenting pains You may believe that a soul having once taken leave of the body has such a passionate inclination to enjoy her end that is to see God and be united with God and finally to arrive unto that happiness for which she clearly sees she was created that it can hardly be expressed A bird newly stolen out of the Cage wherein she was detained captive flyes not away swifter the furious Course of a torrent that precipitates it self from the top of a mountaine roules not along with a greater impetuosity the enraged winds broke loose ouâ— of their close cavernes underground blow not with more violence then the desire of seeing God thrusts on a soul once freed from the thraldome of the body Now as they see in Purgatory that there is no other obstacle but the rust and filth of sin and the remainder of their former misdemeanours and that Purgatory fire is deputed by almighty God to purifie and refine them and so to make them worthy of his presence they are so far from grumbling or repining at this sweet rigour of Gods justice that on the contrary they take it for a great favour and an extraordinary piece of mercy of almighty God their most loving Father When they saw'd off the Leg of that great Philosopher he held it out with both his hands he encouraged the operatour and perhaps also took hold of the Saw himself to do the Surgeon that piece of service saying withall let uâ— thrust my friend let us thrust and let us not fear to cut off this rotten and useless bone the pain you give me will procure me a great deal of good and the sooner we have done the better Be not afraid then my dear enemy but strike in thy Saw boldly the crueller thou art for the time the sooner thou wilt put me out of pain And thus the Surgeon cut off his Leg with as little sense or feeling as if it had been the Leg of a statue or of a person that had no relation to him or was his mortal enemy And that Japonian Virgin who was to dye by fire could not hould from kissing the burning coales and crying out joyfully O lovely Hist Japâ—n coales O delicious flames how much am I obliged to your sweet cruelty since you put me in a condition of enjoying within a few moments the only spouse of my Soule Oh
we but give way to our vertues and those divine graces which are hourely showred down upon our souls from heaven to work according to the full extent of their energy and power But alas an infirm body much passion a faint heart with a thousand other obstacles in this life make us to do scarse half whaâ— we are able And divines are of opinion that besides the mother of God there hath hardly been one amongst all other pure creatures who has acted according to the full latitude of his power and those gracious helps sent him from heaven Others indeed have somtimes made valiant attempts but it was as it were but in a bravado and by spurts and they often came off but poorly and failed of their designes But the souls in Purgatory who are as it were new minted and cast into a pure spâ—ritual substance free from the body and all corporeal and humane infirmities nor are at all impeded by their torments from the free exercise of all the powers of their souls they I say give full scope and liberty to all the quires of vertues to play their parts and suffer grace to have her entire effect and this doubtless affords them such unspeakable comforts and advantages as cannot well be expressed in this mortal life O what ejaculations of their pure love what submissions of their profound humility what conformities of their wills what submissive obedience to the holy decrees of Gods justice what fidelity and justice to satisfie the rigour of Gods justice for all they owe him what passionate desire of purity to see themselves without blemish or hinderance from enjoying God what incredible tenderness towards God who treats them so sweetly in comparison of their ingratitude and infidelity what excess of joy to see themselves within two fingers breadth as it were of Paradise In fine what a Paradise of vertues what divine endeavours of these happy souls what attractions of almighty God and heavenly allurements who can worthily comprehend such a medley of so sweet a Paradise in Purgatory so cruelly sweet and so amorously bitter And now I understand why St. Catherine said that in case the souls did not meet with Purgatory it would be a kind of Hell to them to want the help of those purging flames to cancel out the blemishes of their sins and make them worthy to see God I have not tould you what jaculatory prayers they make what sweet aspiratious they breath out and what flaming darts of love they shoote up into the heart of God For if the Martyrs in the greatest extreamity of their torments could cast out such gentle sighs and break into such divine and amourous speeches as to draw tears from the eyes of a hangman or tyrant what will not these holy souls do since they have scarse any sweeter entertainment then to converse with God and implore his mercy The afflictions Lib. de Provid and sufferings of the body says Solucanns cannot hinder the Paradise of the soul and her interiour sweetness much less when the Soul is in the other world §. 6. They joy in the continual decrease of their pains and influence of pure heavenly consolations THe fire of love makes more sensibly with them then their tormenting flames The natural instinct they have to be with God and their longing thirst so to take their fill of those inebriating joyes when they see themselves forcibly detained and bound fast to so base an Element as Fire is a torment beyond expression St. Ambrose St. Ambr. Ser. 1. maintains that the fire of love which had seized on St. Laurence his heart was more active then that which consumed his flesh and melted the very marrow of his bones Wherefore it must needs be great comfort unto these sweet souls to see that their sufferings Their pains go still decâ—easiâ—g are every moment diminished if not otherwise at least for as much as concernes the prefixed time of their durance which goes lessening it selfe more and more as it draws nearer to an end And according to the probable opinion of holy men the intensenes of the pain it self is perpetually remitted according to the proportion of the fresh supplies of succour which the Church militant never failes to administer unto them by her prayers and sacrifices since there is not an hour neither by day nor by night where there is not Mass said or some devout prayers offered up in some part of the Christian world Besides St. Catherine tells us that God also grows still more and more liberal in showring down his heavenly sweet favours and gracious influences upon these his wretched and yet happy souls There was a young woman Heavenly comforts encrease upon them Val. Max. had lived with her husband with so much chast love that she was not more tender of her own life and seeâ—ng him one day laid dead upon a burning pile and having a long time in vain cast about how she might come to receive him at length threw her self just upon his heart and so chose willingly to die with him and mingle her ashes with his And who doubts but the Angel Gardians those Eagles of Paradise seeing the souls of their pupils for whom they had so much tenderness and care in this life to lie burning in scorching flames often casts himself in to comfort them and if not release them at least entertain them with such pleasing discourses as takes of much of the sense of their bitter torments When the King asked Daniel whether the Lyond had not devoured him and whether his God had power to preserve him from that inevitable death he answer'd yes sir my God has sent his Angel who is come down from Heaven to protect me and has tied up the mouths of the hungry Lyons who have not offered to touch me nor had I ever so much comfort in my whole life as in this place of death and despaire for Paradise is every where where God and his Angels are The same happened to those three innocent yong men who had leasure to sing in the middle of a burning furnace which of a kind of Purgatory was become a terrestriall Paradise or an empereal heaven This being so and the goodness of God comforting the Souls with a world of good thoughts you must know that Purgatory seems a great mercy to them and so much the greater by how much they see clearly the vast difference between this condition of theirs and that of the damned Souls and what an unspeakable favour God has done them to dispose things so sweetly that they might be convayed into Purgatory they that so often deserved to be thrust into Hell fire and possibly more then many of the damned souls since there are certainly many damned but for one or two mortal sins whereas they may know themselves to have committed thousands And who knows then whether in their extasies of love they may not cry out with holy S. Gregory O my God encrease my
tears that are able to move cruelty it self Whence I conclude there is not upon the earth any object deserves more commiseration then this nor where fraternal charity can better employ all her forces Next to the grievousness of their More charity to help those that cannot help thâ—mselves pains there is not any thing can so magnifie your charity to deceased souls as the nature of their condition wherein they can neither help themselves nor one another For there is no more time for merit alas no nor any way left them to solace themselves in the least degree but meerly to suffer patiently the sweet rigours of the divine justice Here upon earth there is not so wretched a creature that cannot both help himself and receive help of others At least he has his comfort that he merits heaven by his sufferings and that his patience will prepare him a crown of glory He may excercise a thousand acts of vertue which are as many dâ—grees of grace and glory if he do them as he ought In fine he makes a vertue of necessity by embracing that voluntarily which he cannot avoid and glories in this that he can imitate his Saviour Jesuâ— Christ whereas the souls can receive no comfort by meriting which is the comfort of comforts in this life whence I conclude that our charity to them cannot be better employed When our blessed Saviour saw that poore creature and heard him say that he had lane there perishing at the Pond side for the space of thirty eight years for want of a man to help him in it went to the very heart of sweet Jesus and presently forsaking all others he cured this poore impotent creature and wrought that famous miracle in favour of this helpless wretch forsaken of the whole world besides and certainly this was a case of great commiseration but nothing comparable to thâ— case we treat of for those that are yet living though never so miserable have a thousand tricks and devices to shift and help themselves in their miseries but the poore souls alas have no way left them to decline or sweeten their martyrdome Pliny reports that an Eagle seeing one day the young maid his dear Mistresse who had cherished him in her bosome to be laid flat on a burning wood pile was so struck at the sight what with love and what with compassion that she immediately took wing and launching into the burning flames to deliver her was there consumed with her Good God! shall Savage beasts and that Tyrant of the Aire have more pity of a dead carcasse that feels nothing then we have of immortal souls who have so great a feeling of insupportable torments Your Indian women use to hold it for a great honour to throw themselves into the flames to their dead husbands so to joyn souls and ashes together and shall it be said that a natural love is more daring then a supernatural and that women have more love for the dead carcasses of their husbands then we for the preciouâ— souls of our Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters and others who are most worthy of incomparable love §. 2. Our Charity for the souls departed is prefered before all other works of mercy YOu shall be judg your self you that read this If God at the same instant should put you both in Purgatory and in a common Gaole as it is most easy for him to do I conjure you to tell me in which of the two places would you desire to be first relieved and ought you not to do that for others which you would have them to do for you Besides the spiritual works of mercy are of a higher rank then 〈◊〉 Châ—â—â—ty in spirâ—tual then in corporeal works of mercy those that are corporal as St. Thomas proves excellently well Is it not then a more noble piece of Charity to relieve souls then bodies to stretch out your hand I say to help a poore soul out of scorching flames then to comfort a sick person that feels but a little heat of a Feavour and may have a thousand sweets and refreshments Again when you bestow an Almes on a poore body t is true Nothing lost that iâ— given to the Souls you can never do amisse if you look only upon God but you may often fail of your aime and loose both your money and your labor if you consider the men themselves who for the most part are Ungratefull Deceitfull Wicked and so far unsatisfied that you have never done with them Do them a thousand good turnes if you faile but once all is lost they do nothing but grumble and repine they quite forget all the good they have so plentifully received from your accustomed liberality they take notice of nothing but what you have omitted they believe all is no more then their due they are as insolent aâ— if you were alwaies bound to do for them To say nothing thâ—â— they often abuse your charity and serve themselves of your gracious benevolences to offend both God and man as being notorious gluttons Drunkards Blasphemers and abominable villans both for body and soule But the good you do for souls so beâ—utiful so noble so holy besides the rewâ—rd you shall be sure to receive from God it is not to be imagined how well it is bestowed and how grateful they are for it There is nothing lost though you give never so little they take themselves to be infinitely obliged for your charity they never forget it they never complain they never turn ungrateful Certainly it must needs be an unspeakable advantage to you to be assured that the good you do is for a happy soule though unhappy for the time for a Saint that is ready to be canonized in heaven and happily after a few more moments of pain shall be a greater Saint there then many whose feasts wee keep with great solemnity Besides it cannot but be an excessive comfort to oblidge a soul which God loves with all his heart and which will soon lodge in his very heart Lastly what an honour must it be thus to contribute to the glory of so happy a soul who within â—â—hile shall be brighter then the sun and a companion to the Angels and shall exercise a world of most sublime acts of vertue of thanksgiving to God fraternal charity and the like And if you chance to go your self into Purgatory before they are released you will be exceedingly joy'd to see what a gratefull remembrance they have of your charity and would not for all the treasures in the world but have done that little you have done for them and will scarce have a more sensible feeling for any thing then for having lost so many faire occasions of relieving 〈◊〉 many poor souls in their grievous torments Our Blessed Saviour tells us whosoever bestowes a charity on a disciple or on a Prophet shall be sure to have the reward of a disciple or of a Prophet Now as long as your charity
extenâ—s it self only to the living let your motive be never so pure and for the love of God alass you are often deceived and think you do a good turn for an Apostle and he is an Apostate or another Judas you take him for a great servant of God and he often proves to be a most wicked fellow â— râ—venous wolfe in a lambs skin and this is seen daily and every where not but that you ought to do it and shall never want your reward But it falls out clear otherwise when you place your charity upon the souls in Purgatory for they are undoubtedly the disciples of Christ they are Prophets and great Saints and therefore â—hosoever shall do any châ—ritable office for them may well hope to have the reward of Saintâ— For so it is not only those that are thus relieved shall be translated into heaven but those also tâ—â—t relieve them shall be carried â—â—â—â—her in â—ue time to take possession of the glory of the Saints St. Thomas tells us there is an It is the â—â—st ordered â—harity to help the Souls St. Th. 2. 2. â—eâ—ord châ— order to be observed in our works of charity to our neighbour â—hat is we are to see where there is a greater obligation a greater necessity a greater merit and the like circumstances Now where is there more necessity or more obligation then to runne to the â—â—re and to helpe those that lie there and 〈◊〉 not able to get out Where can you have more merit then to have a hand in raising up so great Saints and Servants of God where have you more assurance then where you are sure to loose nothing where can you find an object of more compassion then where there is the greatest misery in the world where is there seen more of Gods glory then to send new Saints into heaven to praise God eternally Lastly where can you shew more charity and more of the love of God then to employ your teaâ—s your sighs your goods your hands your heart your life and all your devotions to procure a good that surpasses all other goods I mean to make soules happy for all eternity by translating them into heavenly joyes out of insupportable torments That glorious Apostle of the Indies St. Francis Xaverius could run from one end of the world to the other to convert a soul and think it no long journey the dangers by Sea and Land seem'd Sweet the Tempests pleasing the Labour easy and his whole time well employed Good God! What an advantage have we that with so little and few prayers may send a thousand beautifull souls into heaven without the least hazard of loosing any thing St. Xaverius could not be certain that the Japonians for example whom he baptized â—â—uld persever in their faith and though they should persever in it he could have as little certainty of their salvation Now it is an Article of our faith that the holy souls in Purgatory are in grace and shall assuredly one day enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But since I am entred upon the Nothing can more advance Gods glory point of seeking Gods greater glory and procuring that his Sacred Majesty be worthily Adored by his creatures where can you finde any thing among all the other works of mercy more eminent in this kinde then to concur towards the peopling of Paradise and encreasing the number of those thrice happy souls Let it be never so little that you advance the tearm appointed for the eternal happinesse of a soul by recovering it out of Purgatory and placing it above the Firmament O into what acts of Love will she break forth what glory will she give to God what excesse of Love what Transports Visions Unions and miracles of heaven will ensue And what a happinesse is it for you to have concurred to make up all these wonders which would have been quite lost all this time and by your occasion are now added as a superabundant encrease of Gods greatnesse St. Ignatius that glorious founder of the society of Jesus stuck not to say he should think his whole life well bestowed should he but hinder an ungracious soul from offending God one onely night Such an esteem he had of encreasing Gods glory and such an apprehension of diminishing the least grain thereof What a mercy is it then that by helping a Soul out of her purging flames you are the cause of a million of most divine acts which would never have been had not the time of her delivery been antidated by your charitable and devout prayers Tell me dear reader what can you doe here below comparable to this How many thousand Beggars Prisoners and sick persons may you relieve without procuring the thousanth part of this â—nspeakable good That which one does by anothers means he is accounted to do himself So that all the new Saints I mean all the souls who have been delivered by your assistance shall be as it were your Lievtenants and your Vicar-generalls or your Embassadors to do incomparable wonders in Heaven whereof you are the cause in whole or in part And what comparison is there now between the good we doe for men upon earth and what we doe to relieve souls in the other world There is but one onely Case One 〈…〉 more to be â—pied then that 〈◊〉 Pur 〈◊〉 can be imagined in which your Charity might seem clear better employed then in comforting the poore languishing souls in Purgatory And it is this Suppose you had but one instant of life at your disposal and could either employ it in the conversion of a desperate sinner who must otherwise be infallibly damned without redemption or in releaving a Soul in Purgatory whether you ought not in this case to preferr the eternal salvation of a sinner before the present ease of a soul in Purgatory To this I answer that in the first place you put a very metaphysicall case farr remote from all common practise for it is not a thing that will probably ever happen but should it really fall out in Gods name do the one or the other as God shall inspire you and God will sooner multiply the bread in your hands then you should want an occasion of relieving the poore whether living or dead But to give you better satisfaction put the case as you please and I will make the Souls in Purgatory themselves judges of the cause that they may have no reason to complain or appeal from my sentence They will certainly tell you that where there is question of a mortal sinne or of the eternal losse of a soul that has been ransomed with the blood of Christ they had rather lye still groaning under their torments then purchase a little ease at so dear a rate No they are not so selfish their love is more pure then so their fidelity to God will never suffer them to seek their own glory with the least diminution or lessening of Gods glory St. Catherine
of Siena beâ—â—â—d two years together with tears in her Eyes that she might be damned for all mankind and that she alone might suffer all the pains of Hell rather then any one soul should be damned or her dearest spouse grievously offended And do you believe that a tender Virgin made of flesh and blood and as yet a sinner at least so far as to be guilty of certain venial transgressions can have less Self-love more courage and more of the love of God then the souls of the other world who are totally disengaged from all self-respects and love God only with a most perfect love No they had rather double and redouble their cruel Martyrdomes with a million of fresh torments then willingly give consent that for their sakes one should forbear to hinder the commission of a mortal sin or the damnation of a soul And therefore should the case fall in your way stick not tâ— bestow your time for the benefit of the living do not so much as think on the Souls in Purgatory who would most willingly melt themselves away in tormenting fire rather then permit such a horrible mischief §. 3. Of the great advantages we receive by this devotion for the Souls departed BUt to come nearer to you It makes most for our interest to pray for thâ—m seeing that interest rules the world most and is the spirit that moves the whole Universe if you are at all sensible of your own interest I mean a holy interest allowed of by God himself to wit an interest which we all have in the encrease of our Grace Glory and eternal happiness in Gods name do all the good you can for your neighbour I except only the case I lately spoke of I defie you to do the thing that can bring you so much true and solid good or be of so much advantage to you as is the striving to relieve the Souls in Purgatory with your pious endeavours And first though it were true Their 〈◊〉 angels 〈◊〉 strive to â—â—quite us as many will have it that the Souls in Purgatory are not able to obtain the least mercy of almighty God for themselves or us in respect of their present confinement in which they lye as it were at pawne and under a most severe restraint and strict seizure yet have we reason to believe their good angels will supply their defect and not fail to requite you for seconding them so well in delivering the Souls under their charge for whom they are in a kind of pain to see them endure so much pain and yet to be held back as it were only by a smal thred from enjoying their full liberty and becoming their companious and as glorious as themselves One sigh or sob one tear of yours shed for these captive Souls is enough to cut the thred and then they will cry out with holy David Our souls are got loose like the innocent Sparrow and are flown up to Heaven having luckily broken the Iron nets that hâ—ld them bound to hellish fire The holy name of God be ever blessed and they also who have been so kind as to call upon him in our behalfs It is you dear Reader to whom these holy souls address their speech whom you have comforted with a good wish or with a Tear or with a Mass or with a Communion But suppose the Angels should God will be sure to reward us neglect to performe this good office which notwithstanding we have reason to expect of their charity God himself would not fayl to do it For beholding the zeal with which you burn and the charity which impels you to succour those tormented souls whom he loves and for whom he has prepared eternal Laurels and rich Crowns of immortal glory can you doubt whether he takes it well that you love these his dear friends that you have a tender heart towards them he so tenderly loves that you do this good work believing as it is most true that this is faternal charity in the highest point of its perfection and that making choyce of it to â—erve God in the best manner by your self and by those holy souls his infinite goodness is highly pleased with your charity so well bestowed and on so good a subject Mark well the reason I am now going about to lay down before you Christ Jesus has vouchsafed to honour his Church so far as to stile her his body of which he is the divine head Now it is most certain that of all the members of this most sacred and mistical body that which is the most oppressed with evils and the most lamentably afflicted are these dear souls who are alass most severely treated in the bosome of the Church-suffering since there is not any torment in the world that is comparable to theirs as you have seen elsewhere If then our Blessed Saviour see your heart melt with coâ—passion for that part of his body which is the most comfortless and the most afflicted of all others sure he must needs love you with a paternal affection and give you a thousand benedictions for the ease and pleasure you give him in that part of his body which suffers most Historians tell us how a man having one day plucked out a thorne out of a lions foot the generous beast feeling himself eased in that part which was most grieved soon forgot his fierce nature and by force of love and gratitude metamorphosed himself into a Lamb to waite upon this Saviour of his who had â—â— us preserved his life and by way of requital in a like occasion of danger saved the 〈◊〉 life also to the astonishmeâ—◠〈◊〉 all the beholders God playes the Lyon of Juda below in Purgatory permitting his justice to sway the Scepter of rigour now if you but pul out the thorne out of his foot that is 〈◊〉 you ease him in that part of 〈◊〉 mystical body which suffers tâ—e pains of Purgatory this Lyon will soon become a Lamb he will not only save these poor souls but when you your self are in most need as when you are strugling for life he will shew himself he will fight for you and will give you the true life In a word he will make you clearly see how well he takes it that you have pluckt out the thorne out of his foot Now let us suppose the worst The souls themselves will pray for us Put case that neither God nor his Angels do requite you Yet I maintaine you cannot do an act of faternal charity wherein your gain is so great and so certain as this I do not say it because thâ— men of this world are commonly in an ill staâ—◠〈◊〉 which their prayers can do you no service I do not say it because though you suppose them to be in the state of grace yet is their devotion for you soon at an end and while it lasts is but a slender cold and untoward piece of service I do not say that these souls
in the case of the rich glutton why may they not be so kind as to pray for one another If the flames of Hell said the Devout Sales that worthy Prelate of Geneva were not sullied with the smoake of sin were they but pure flames of holy love O what a pleasure were it to be swallowed up by such flames or to be thus damned eternally to love God What should hinder then but that the Souls in Purgatory where the fire of love triumphs over their tormenting flames may display their ardent charity and vigorously apply themselves to assist and comfort one another as far as Gods providence will give them leave May we not presume to fancy that out of an excess of charity they are willing to dispoil themselves of all those helps and advantages which they receive of their friends to throw theÌ„ upon others offering themselves freely to suffer for one another Tertul. Apolog. Tertullian admires how prodigal the first Christians were in this kind of charity of suffering and even dying for one another how ready they were to leap into the very flames and expose themselves to the most cruel tortures that could be devised and all to save others for whom they were prepared What shall frail mortals who are made up of flesh and blood thus willingly suffer for one another and shall not the souls who have cast of with their bodies all humane weakness and imperfection have as much charity for other souls especially being certain of their salvation of which men in this life can have no assurance without a particular revelation St. Ambros de Virgin Didymas offered to dye for St. Theodora and in conclusion both died for her and with her Elizeas being dead himself raised another from death to life which was more then he did for himself St. Paul seems to have been content to be damned to save the Jews alwayes reserved that it might be without sin David would willingly have met with death in her uggliest attire so he might have saved his son Absalon and yet he knew him to be but a graceless unnatural parricide Shall not holy souls have as much kindness for other souls whom they see upon the point of being metamorphosed into Seraphins as David had for a meer reprobate and lost creature Many Saints in this world have beg'd it as a favour of Almighty God that they might suffer for the souls in Purgatory and have done it in good earnest freely renouncing their own conveniences for the souls comfort by a most heroical act of supernatural charity Do not you believe that the souls in Purgatory have a more refined love and that they actuate themselves in more heroical transcendent acts of charity since they are not only grown to be inpeccable but have withal a far clearer insight into the nature of this divine vertue I but they can merite nothing True but do you take them to be so selfish as to do nothing purely for Gods sake without seeking their own interest what say you to our Angel Guardians is it for any private lucre or merit or purely to please God and to do us a work of singular charity that they have so sollicitous a care of us And when God himself loves us is it I pray you for any interest of his own or out of an excess of his overflowing bounty and charity which Math. 5. 48. well becomes him â—e perfect saith he as I am perfect now the means to do this is to be well versed in these acts of heroical love as to love God for God because he deserves it as being the only charming object of our love I love said St. Augustine because I love I am resolved to love because I am beloved of him that loves me only because he will needs love me To love for meer love is the quintessence of divine love What shall we be so niggardly so mercinary or so mechanical as not to excercise an act of pure love without hope of reward Is not our love well requited if we please God and those whom God loveth They say Appelles would give away his Pictures for nothing he had so great a valew for them he thought no set price could be equal to their worth and that gold it self was too mean a thing to purchase such precious labours which he therefore chose rather to give away gratis then to expose to an unworthy sale so that the bare pleasure he took in bestowing them upon his friends was all the recompence he lookt for for those incomparable pieces And certainly it is a most noble and truly royal thing to give and to give without hope of requital Seneca spoke a word which shew'd a magnanimous and true Sen. l. de benef generous heart To give and to loose all benefit by his gift is no wonder but to loose all benefit and yet to be still giving is a divine Master-piece and an act worthy of God indeed Now when these charitable soules can gratifie others by giving away the charities which are bestowed on them why should they not do it To do a pleasure for another without incommodating himself is no more then what you may expect of an Arabian or Barbarian but to incommodate himself to lye burning in fire groaning under excessive torments and all this to make others happy is certainly an act worthy of those noble and generous souls who are all inflamed with pure divine love When they had a minde to flatter their Caesars the people would cry out O Jupiter take away some of our years shorten our lives decimate our dayes and give it all to prolong the life of our good Prince let him live at the charge of our lives we are all ready to lay them down at his feet that he alone may live and raign happily in the flourishing greatness of his Empire Shall Infidels have more kindness for a mortal man perhaps a wicked Tyrant or a profane Atheist then holy souls have for those that are about to be Canonized for Saints in the Church Triumphant I have heard of great servants of God who when they saw some famous Preacher or Apostolical Person draw near to his end would expresse themselves to this purpose O that I were permitted to dye in his Roome for I alas am but an unprofitable member of the Church all my services avail but little to advance Gods cause whereas this worthy person may do a world of good and be a comfort to infinite souls What should hinder a soul in Purgatory from having the like feelings may she not and with truth cry out I am well acquainted with my own abilities and can have a nearer guesse what I am able to doe in Paradise where I am like to be one of the meanest servants in the whole house of God and therefore may be well spared but there is such a soul had she but once cleard the petty debts she stands yet engaged for she would instantly
Masses for them nor yet only by offering up your Prayers Fasts Alms-deeds other such works of Piety but you may bestow upon them all the good you do and all the evill you suffer in this world If you offer up unto God all the cruel frettings and gripings you endure in a fit of the Stone which tears up your very entralls if all the bitter sting and gnawings of the raging gout when it buries you alive in a kind of Purgâ—â—ory if all the sensible tearings of a desperare Megrim when it cleaves your head in pieces if the sullen humour of a Quartan Ague which steeps your very heart in the Gaul of a deep melancholy if all the other evils which murther you alive and do not kill you out right to be still killing you with a lingring death If I say you offer up unto God all that causes you any grief or affliction for the present relief of the poore languishing souls you cannot believe what ease and comfort they will finde by it and as in the buckets of a VVell while the one sinks down to the bottom the other mounts up to the top so the lower you humble your self in your sufferings the higher you will raise the souls in their flight towards heaven Nor will you have cause to fear forgetting your self while you satisfie for them for it will infallibly come to passe as St. John Chrysostome assures us that God who is always prodigal of his mercies will be sure to remember you and the holy Souls soaring up to Heaven with the wings of your Charity will there plead for you with so much eloquence as to gain your cause or at least obtain so much patience for you as to defie the worst of your evils which do so insult and tyranize over you with so much insolence Pliny would make us believe there are certain fishes that entertain so faire an amity and faithfull correspondence with one another that if one of them chance to be hung in the net the other strives al he can possibly to set him free and having no other means to compass his design presents his taile or one of his sins which the other lays fast hold on with his teeth so that while the one thrusts with all his might and the other draws with all his force they break the mash make way for the prisoner to get out and so swim away both triumphing in their liberty Mean while the kind fish that was sorely bitten bleeds fresh of his wounds and yet is so well pleased to have purchased his friends liberty though at the cost of his blood that he thinks not of his own mischief for the joy he takes in his friends safety Do you the same for your friends who are detained captives in Purgatory lend them your Armes your Head your Blood all your griefs and pains and they will be the sooner released out of their miserable thraldome and you by their favour shall in your turn passe through it with so much â—wiftnesse that you shall scarse feel the scorching flames with which they are so grievously tormented You have another easy but â—â—â—â—lgences most powerfull means to help these unfortunate souls and that is to dispense out liberally amongst them the inexhaâ—stible treasure of indulgences to cause Masses to be often saâ—◠〈◊〉 priviledged Altars to gain Jubilies and other plenary Indulgences which are appliable to the benefit of deceased soules For though some extravagant writers have been so bold in their unwary speculations upon this subject as to question whether the Popes power in granting Jubilies and other pardons reach to Purgatory or be only confined to this world yet the current of sober Doctors must bear the sway who all conclude that as to the living his Holiness proceeds by way of absolution and as to the dead by way of suffrages and satisfactions but has full power over both to loose or bind open or lock up Heaven gates and to distribute the treasure of the Church and that he has his commission for all this from the sacred mouth of Jesus Christ himself Math. 16. Certainly there be thousands deserve to lye in Purgatory were it only for this strange neglect that haâ—â—â—g so rich a treasure in their hanâ—s wherewith to ransome poore captive souls they were so carelesse as to make little or no use of it but let a thousand occasions slip in which they might have released them and all for want of a little pains to gain Indulgences And they are the less to be excused because it is very probable Prepos de Indulg q. 14 dub 10. Alii passim that they may gain Indulgences which are appliable to the dead whether they be in the state of grace or no so they do but the work prescribed What will they do sayes the Apostle â— Cor. 15. â—9 that are Baptized for the dead What means this Baptisme for the dead I leave a dozen of Interpretations to tell you there were some fervent Christians in those days that took a world of pains and suffered a world of austerities for the faithful departed and so were Baptized in the tears of contrition and in the blood of a most rigourouâ— and penitential life I requiâ—â— not so much of you only a little care of applying such indulgences as you have in your power to do them good who by a little of your favourable assistance would be soon set at liberty Cruel heart canst thou refuse so slight a curtesie to souls so holy and yet in so lamentable a condition And if thou hast the honour to get in thither thy self hereafter I say the honour dost thou not deserve to be let alone to feel at leisure the smart of thy idleness and disloyalty Who will take the pains to help a wretch who would scarse stir a finger to help out souls whose eternal happiness she might as easily have procured as cut a smal thred in two or quench a little sparke of fire I have not the confidence to Holy 〈…〉 ses 〈…〉 all 〈…〉 low propose things of greater hardship and therefore I will not exhort you to imitate the example of St. Catherine of Siena who offered to sâ—ffer the pains of Purgatory it sâ—lf in place of her dear Mother nor that of St. Catherine of Genua who really suffered two years together what flesh and blood is not able to endure in this mortal life not that of St. Christina the wonderful whose excesses Bellarm. Surius Vitriâ—co in this kind were incredible if not attested by very credible persons I know there is no perswading you to devote your self to such holy excesses least you should chance to be taken at your word as some others have been I hope at least I may without offence minde you not to stick to apply this way all your fasts hair girdles disciplins and other corporal afflictions and in a word all the evils you suffer in body or soul whether they
upon the Crosse and sitting now at thy right hand makes Intercession for us I know she has willingly and from her heart forgiven such as offended her forgive thou also her sins O Lord forgive her I beseech thee and enter not with her into judgment Let thy Mercy overtop thy Justice c. And I verily perswade my self that thou hast already done what I desire but yet accept O Lord this prayer which I willingly make For she when the day of her death drew neer upon her did not crave that her body might be sumptuously adorned or embalmed with Spices and Odours nor desired she any curious or choice monument or cared she to be conveyed into her own Country They were not these things she recommeâ—ded to us but only she desired to be remembred at the Altar whereat she used to assist without pretermission of any one day c. Let her therefore rest in peace with her husband c. And inspire O Lord my God inspire thy servants my brethren that whosoever reads these my confessions may at thy Altar remember thy servant Monaca with Patricius her husband c. St. Paulinus that charitable Prelate who sould himselfe to redeem others cold not but have a great proportion of charity for captive souls in the other world No he was not only ready to have turnd slave himself to purchase their freedom but he became an earnest solicitour to others in their behalf for in a letter to Delphinus alluding to the story of Lazarus he beseeches him to have at least so much compassion as to convey now and then a drop of water wherewith to coole the tongues of poor souls that lye burning in the church which is all a fire I am astonisht when I call to mind the sad regrets of the people of Africa when they saw some of their Priests drag'd away to Martyrdome The Author says they Victor utic l. 2. de persec Wandal flocked about them in great numbers and cryed out alas if you leave us so what will become of us who must give us absolution for our sins who must bury us with the wonted ceremonies of of the church when we are dead and who will take care to pray for our souls such a general belief they had in those dayes that nothing is more to be desired in this world then to leave those behind us who will do their best to helpe us out of our torments §. 3. A continuation of the same subject from the sixth Age after Christ unto our dayes ALmighty God has often 6. Age. miraculously made it appear how well he is pleased to be importuned by us in the souls behalf and what comfort they receive by our prayers S. John Climacus In 4. gradu scalae writes that while the Monkes were at service praying for their good Father Mennas the third day after his departure they felt a marvellous sweet smell to rise out of his grave which they took for a good omen that his sweet soul after three dayes Purgation had taken her flight into heaven For what else could be meant by that sweet perfume but the odour of his holy and innocent conversation or the incense of their sacrifices and prayers or the primitiall fruits of his happy soul which was now flown up to the holy mountain of eternal glory there enjoying the odoriferous and never fading delights of paradise Not unlike unto this is that story which the great St. Gregory relates of one Justus a l. 4. dial c. 55. Monke He had given him at first for a lost creature but upon second thoughts having ordered Mass to be said for him for thirty dayes together the last day he appears to his brother and assures him of the happy exchange he was now going to make of his torments for the joys of heaven Pope Symmachus and his Council 6. Synod Rom. had reason to thunder out anathema's against those sacrilegious persons who were so frontless as to turn pious legacies into profane uses to the great prejudice of the souls for whose repose they were particularly deputed by the founders And certainly it is a much fouler crime to defrande souls of their due relief then to disturbe dead mens ashes and to plunder their graves And yet we read of dead carcasses that have risen up in their graves to struggle for their sheets with the wicked wretches who would have stolne them away And it were to be wished that more were permitted to do the like and that souls might have leave to appear sometimes to those that abuse them so unconsieonably happily they might fright them into reason who will not be otherwise perswaded to do them right St. Isidor delivers it as an apostolical tradition and general 7. Age. l. 1. de offic c. 18. l. 2. c. penuâ—t practise of the Catholick Church in his time to offer up sacrifices and prayers and to distribute almes for the dead and this not for any encrease of their merit but either to mitigate their pains or to shorten the time of their durance Venerable Bede is a sure witness 8. Age. for the following Century whose learned works are ful of wonderful stories which he brings in confirmation of this Catholick doctrine and practise St. John Damascene made an eligant Orat. quod ij qui. c. oraâ—ion on purpose to stir up this devotion where amongst other things he says it is impossible to number up all the stories in this kind which bear witness that the souls departed are relieved by our prayers and that otherwise God would not have appointed a commemoration of the dead to be dayly made in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass nor would the Church have so religiously observed anniversaries and other dayes set a part for the service of the dead Were it but a dog says Simeon 9. Age. In vita St. Pachom St. Euseb c. Metaphrastes that by chance were faln into the fire we should have so much compassion for him as to help him out and what shall we do for souls who are faln into Purgatory fire I say souls of our Parentâ— and dearest friends souls who are predestinate to eternal glory and extream precious in the sight of God And what did not the Saints of Gods Church for them in those days some armed themselves from head to foot in course hair cloth others tore of their flesh with chains and rude disciplines some again pined themselves with rigourous fasts others dissolved themselves into tears some passed whole nights in contemplation others gave liberal almes or procured great store of Masses In fine they did what they were able and were not well pleased that they were able to do no more to relieve the poor souls in Purgatory Amongst 10. Age. Luitprand l. 4. c. 7. others Queen Melchtild is reported to have purchased immortal fame for her discreet behaviour at the death of the King her Husband for whose soul she caused
Sect. 1. Of the fire of Purgatory and paine of sense p. 5. Sect. 2. Of the worme and paine of loss p. 21. Sect. 3. Other considerations much aggravating these paines p. 44. Sect. 4. How long the souls are detained in Purgatory p. 57. Sect. 5. Whether their paines grow less and less p. 72. Sect. 6. A notable Example in confirmation of all the preced ut doctrine p. 76. The Second Survey A glimpse of the Paradise of Purgatory or of the ineffable joyes and heavenly consolations of the souls there p. 81. Sect. 1. How these excessive joyes can stand with their unspeakeable torments p. 83. Sect. 2. Two main grounds of their comfort the double assurance they have of their salvation and impeccability p. 90. Sect. 3. More grounds of comfort arising from their voluntarily suffering their disinteressed love of God and exact conformity with his holy will p. 100. Sect. 4. Another comfortable consideration drawn from the desire they have to make themselves worthy of the sight of God p. 119. Sect. 5. Their suffering without merit the free exercise of their vertues without impediment are to them speciall motives of comfort p. 124. Sect. 6. They joy in the continual decrease of their paines and influence of pure heavenly consolations p. 133 The third Survey That there is not in this world a more eminent or prudent act of fraternal charity then to help the souls in Purgatory p. 142. Sect. 1. The greatness of the charity to the souls in Purgatory is argued from the greatness of their paines and their helpless condition p. 148. Sect. 2. Our charity for the souls departed is preferred before all other workes of mercy p 155. Sect. 3. Of the great advantages we receive by this devotion for the souls in Purgatory p. 168. The fourth Survey Of the powerful means to quench the flames of Purgatory p. 186. Sect. 1. What succour they receive from the Angels and Saints in heaven p. 188. Sect. 2. Whether they are capable of being relieved by one anothers prayers p. 196. Sect. 3. That the dead may receive helpe from us that are living and how we must be qualified to do them good p. 206. Sect. 4. Of the particular wayes we have to helpe them p. 216. Sect. 5. Certain questions resolved about the application and distribution of our suffrages p. 233. Sect. 6. How dangerous it is to trust others with what concerns the sweet rest of our souls in the next world p. 243 Sect. 7. Some motives fetcht even as far as the other world to stir us up to be mindful of the dead p. 253. The fifth Survey How all Antiquity was ever devoted to pray for the dead p. 269. Sect. 1. Of the natural iustinct of all Nations to honour and comfort the dead p. 273. Sect. 2. The constant practise of the Church in all Ages to pray for the dead p. 284. Sect. 3. A continuation of the same subject from the sixth age after Christ unto our dayes p. 295. The sixth Survey Of twelve excellent meanes to prevent Purgatory or to provide so for our selves as not to make any long stay there p. 308. Sect. 1. The first Perfect contrition p. 309. Sect. 2. The second To die in Religion p. 313. Sect. 3. The third To be an Apostolical Preacher p. 320. Sect. 4. The fourth To serve the infected p. 318. Sect. 5. The fifth A tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin p. 333. Sect. 6. The sixth An humble Patience p. 341. Sect. 7. The seventh Devotion for the souls in Purgatory p. 347. Sect. 8. The eighth To be a great almesgiver p. 350. Sect. 9 Tbe ninth Angelical purity p. 360. Sect. 10. The tenth A profound humility p. 368. Sect. 11. The eleaventh To communicate well and often p 373. Sect. 12. The twelfth A faithful and exact obedience p. 382. The Conclusion Many curious and important Questions are incidently resolved under the foregoing heads Errata PAge 29. l. 19. r. nobly p. 41. l. 20. r. lovely p 45. l. 9. r. this p. 57. l. 21. r. last p. 61. l. 24. r. intension p. 63. l. 5. r. overflowing p. 85. l. 17. r. borne down p. 104. l. 24. r. not p. 113. l. 16. r. Agrippina p. 115. l. 11. r. deiformity p. 132. l. 22. r. Salvianus p. 133. l. 4. r. works l. 8. dele so p. 134. l. 20. dele his l. ult r. rescue p. 135. l. 13. r. take p. 137. l. 17 r. say l. 19. r. possess p. 139. l. 17. and 18. r. greatest of your p. 141. l. 7. r. and pious endeavours p. 143. l. 10. r. where p. 144. l. ult r. fraternal p. 148. l. 2. r. and to p. 162. l. 4. r. little pains p. 165. margin r. pitied p. 174. l. 16. r. Angel-gardians p. 17â— l. 14. r. then p. 203. l. 20. and 21. r. near p. 210. l. 6. r. of p. 227. l. 12. r. vigorous p. 250. l. ult r. loth to be p. 266 l. 18. r. the truth p. 323. l. 6. r. to see l. 8. dele he p. 330. l. 1. dele poor p. 343 l. 20. r. good people p. 346. l. ult r. of dross p. 347. l. 21. r. in the same p. 359. l. 11. r. this p. 394. l. 12. r. swift Be pleased to Correct these and pardon some other literal faults PURGATORY Surveyd c. The First Survay Purgatory is laid open with all the hellish paines with which the Soules are there tormented FOR feare least my discourses Deare Reader should not prove so lucky as to raise up thy compassion nor my words so prevalent as to make a breach or deep impression in thy heart which is the main thing I aime at in this whole Treatise I am resolved to have recourse to that pious Stratagem which the first Jesuits so happily made use of in the conversion of the Indies Those good Fathers were not at first well skill'd in the language of the new world and yet their zeale would be still carrying them on to preach whilest the Indians stood listning and staring at them but could understand little or nothing This would not have done their work had they not withall used this device to take with them into the Pulpit certain devout pictures which they had carried out of Europe in which the Passion of our Blessed Saviour was very lively represented here they firâ—t shewed the most bitter torments which the Son of God endured for their sakes and then they laboured to express in their best Indian phrase the name of God Saviour of the World most holy Prophet and the like pointing still at the picture to tell them that he whom they saw so cruelly misused was the very man they spake of And this they followed with showers of teares preaching Christs Passion more with their eyes then their tongues and figuring their discourses with sighs and sobs and a mournfull voice in liew of other tropes and Metaphors Who would believe it The Barbarians at the sight of so lamentable a
end does not your heart tremble when you heare that the poore soules in Purgatory are tormented with the same or the like flames to those of the damned Can you hold from crying out with the Prophet Isay who c. 33. 14. can dwell with such devouring fire and unquenchable ardours Heavens what a lamentable case is this Those miserable soules who of late when they were wedded to their bodies were so nice and dainty forsooth that they durst scarce venture to enjoy the comfortable heat of a fire but under the protection of their skreens and their fans for feare of sullying their complexions and if by chance a sparke had been so rude as to light upon them or a little smoak it was not to be endured Those for whom down it self was too hard and even ready to break their bones one single grain of misfortune a stone but as big as a nutt a rotten tooth a sullen and malignant humour stoln into the marrow of a bone a cross word an affront an idle fancy a meer dream was enough to bury their whole felicity in a kind of hell Alas how will it fare with them when they shall see themselves tied to unmercifull firebrands or imbodied as it were with flames of fire surrounded with frightful darkness broyled and consumed without intermission and perhaps condemned to the same fire with which the divels are unspeakably tormented When Saul found himself beset on all sides and in the midst of his enemies and saw that he must either dye instantly or fall into the hands of that base and accursed crue Oh let me rather die cryed he he will do me a favour that will cut my throat 1. reg 31. that so I may not see my self butchered by such wicked hands and trail'd away by them death alass is not the thing I apprehend but that a King as I am should die like a slave ah is it that which gives me the fatal blow and even breaks my very heart O God! what a confusion what a sensible heart-breaking will it be to these noble and generous soules designed to eternall glory in the Kingdom of Heaven when they shall see themselves condemned to the same punishment and devoured by the same implacable flames with those of the damned and lodged in the very suburbs of hell A Prince had rather die a thousand deaths then be condemned to live amongst base slaves in a gally or be hang'd amongst fellons for it is not the death so much as the dishonour that makes them to die indeed And can you doubt whether the soules of the just have the same feelings when they see themselves involved in the same misfortune in the same place and in the same flames of fire with which the accursed rable of damned spirits is eternally tormented ah they take it for so high a dishonour that it may with reason be questioned whether this unhappy place and condition grieves them not more then the fire it self Plut. Sen. There was a time when they would have forced a young Roman Cavallier into the bottom of a darke and stinking pit but his heart was so fill'd with indignation at it that he chose rather to dash out his braines against a doore threshold and so to let out his blood and his life together then to enter into so noysome a place What a tearing grief must it be to those vertuous soules when they shall see themselves border upon the very confines of hell and in that accursed frontire and more then this to be shut up close prisoners in that unfortunate gulfe and to be condemned to suffer the same fire as the damned though their punishment be neither so terrible nor so lasting Good God! how the great Saints and Doctours astonish me when they treate of this fire and of the paine of sence as they tall it For they peremptorily pronounce that the fire that purges those both happy and unhappy Soules surpasses all the torments which are to be found in this miserable life of man or are possible to be invented for so far they go Out of which assertion it cleerly follows that the furious fits of the stone feavour or raging gout the tormenting chollick with all the horrible convulsions of the worst of diseases nay though you joyn racks grid-Irons boyling oyles wild beasts and a hundred horses drawing several waies and tearing one limb from another with all the other hellish devices of the most barbarous and cruell Tyrants all this does not reach to the least part of the mildest pains in Purgatory For thus they discourse the fire and the pains of the other world are of another nature from those of this life because God elevates them above their nature to be instruments of his severity Now say they things of an inferior degree can never reach to the power of such things as are of a higher ranke for example the ayre let it be never so inflamed unless it be converted into fire can never be so hot as fire Besides God bridles his rigour in this world but in the next he lets the reines loose and punishes almost equally to the desert And since those soules have preferred creatures before their Creatour he seems to be put upon a necessity of punishing them beyond the ordinary strength of creatures and hence it is that the fire of Purgatory burnes more torments and afflicts more then all the creatures of this life are able to doe But is it Aug. in Ps 37. S. Th. supp q. 100. a 3. in 4. d. 21. S. Greg. in 3. Ps Penitent S. Anselm in Elucydario really true that the least pain in Purgatory exceeds the greatest here upon earth O God! the very proposal makes me tremble for feare and my very hart freeses into ice with astonishment And yet who dare oppose * St. Aug. St. Thomas St. Anselme St. Gregory the great c. Is there any hope of carrying the negative assertion against such a stream of Doctours who all maintain the affirmative and bring so strong reasons for it Have patience to heare them yet once more sinne say they exceeds all creatures in malice and therefore let it be never so little it must deserve a punishment exceeding all the pain that can proceed from creatures Again creatures here below do nothing above their natural reach and capacity they act only within the sphere of their limited forces whereas the fire that is designed to purify guilty soules derives its vigour and force from God Who being Almighty and besides provoked to displeasure makes it so active and so prevalent that there is nothing can be compared with it And they adde unto all this a world of visions and revelations which seem to countenance the rigour of their position What then will become of thee poore idle soul if the least pains in Purgatory surpasse the greatest in this world what I say will become of thee that art so tender that a little smoak is able
possest and enjoyed Grief What hast thou got but deadly heart-breakings for having preferred sin before his infinite favours Love In lieu of riding upon the wings of a Seraphin and burning with Love as they do in Heaven miserable creature thou art now to be lockt up under ground in a furnace of Hellish Flames Griefe In lieu of calling to minde the benefits of this great God thou art to be knawn to the very heart with the sharpe teeth of an infamous Grief and to pass so many whole dayes in sighs and sobs and unprofitable lamentations Love So many lesser Souls have taken their flight straight up into Heaven and what dost thou stick there below in those loathsome pits of Fire Griefe So many simple Idiots by leading innocent lives are now in Glory whil'st thou idle wretch liest there melting in unquenchable flames Love What a Madness was it for thee to cast away so many precious houres of seeing God when one glimpse of that divine object is worth a million of worlds Griefe Could there be a greater folly then for a slight pastime to offend so loving a Father and put him upon a necessity of punishing thee here like a criminal to weare of thy felonious and rebellious offences Love What is become of so many degrees of Glory so many exstatical acts so many divine Canticles which thou should'st have sung in Heaven since thou art buried under ground in a Sulphureous Laxe Griefe What is become of all thy cursed possessions which now persecute thy Soul with a fresh remembrance of thy sottish disloyalty Love Thou wert created for God canst thou live without him and without glassing thy selfe in that eternal Mirrour and sparkling rayes of his divine Countenance Griefe Thou wert placed in the sublunary world to serve him câ—nst thou without bursting for spight call to minde the life which thou hast lead and is not the remembrance of thy debauches more frightful to thee then the very sight of Hell it self Love Who loves God had rather sinke down into a thousand Hells then loose him for a moment Griefe Who loves God had rather eternally suffer all the torments of Hell then lie one instant in the Hell of Hells that is in the bosome of a mortal sin Thus violently do these two vertues of Love and Griefe make their severall on sets on this poor Soul thus terribly do they bate her one after another thus cruelly do they lay her under the heavy press of unavoidable reproaches This is not all for divines The greater Saints the moâ—e tormented with this worm teach and are very peremptory upon the matter that the more a Soul loves God and the greater Saint she is the more sensible is she of the biting of these un merciful worms And by the way you are to note that these holy Souls do not suffer these afflictions only to purge themselves No though there were no other motive but that of the Love of God and a certain honesty well becoming their noble nature though there were nothing to be got by it yet would they not desist from exercising these generous and heroical acts and from giving God a signal testimony of the dear affection of their Souls In the mean time this their honesty costs them dear and these acts of charity and contrition are extream painful And since the sting of honour wounds deeper pains sorer and goes more to the quick then pain it self hence it follows that these holy Souls whether for Love or for justice sake are upon a most cruel rack and so become an object of great commiseration and it cannot be expressed how beholding they take themselves to those that endeavour to comfort them and are mindful of their calamity Now the reason why divines believe that the most perfect Soules are the most afflicted with these voluntary kind of punishments as I may tearm them is because they all actuate according to the uttermost Sphere and extent of their vertue so that a Soul that has a greater proportion of Love acts with more vigour and plunges her self deeper in the profound abisse of Love and in the Gall and bitterness of contrision and as this proceeds out of meer love notwithstanding their so sensible misfortune they would not loose an ounce of it so tender is their love to God and so great the horrour they have of all that is displeasing in his sight But of this more at large hereaftâ—r Now I must tell you plainly all The greatness of the pain of loss that I have yet said is in a manner nothing to what I am going to say The Saints and Doctors of Gods Church as I have already insinuated unanimously agree that the most grievous pain in Purgatory is to be deprived for a time of the beatifical vision and to be laid aside and banisht as unworthy to contemplate the bright Sun of the divinity This pain of loss as they call it is the pain of pains it is the deepest pit of Purgatory and the very bellows that blowes the coales there This evil of the privation of the sight of God is according to St. Thomas of its own St. Th. in 4. d. 21. a. 1. nature far exceeding all the temporal punishments of this world and thus he proves it Will you know the full latitude of grief and take an exact survey of all its dimensions reflect with your self what the good is it deprives us of what the present evil we endure what powerful instinct we have to repossess that good which we have lost what obligation we have thereunto both by Grace and Nature and lastly what a violent application and vigour of Spirit we feel in our Souls in the pursuite of it Now all this is extream in the evil we now treat of For it is Gods precious sight which is lost who is the consummation of all bliss it is the very dregs of bitterness those poore Souls drink down at large draughts it is the only beautiful object for which they were Created and Redeemed with the most precious blood of Christ for which they breathed out so many sighs in this mortal life and which they do so passionately pursue when once delivered out of their bodies that there is nothing to be compared to that holy ardour No I do not think that an arrow shot from a bow or an Eagle upon the wing or the winde or lightning or the Sun in his ful careere or flight it selfe flies away faster I cannot believe that fire mounts up or a stone sinks down to its center with more vehemency nor that the Heavens can be swifter in their motions then these vigorous Souls are in running flying and precipitating themselves into God when alas they find their wings clipt and their whole flight so unluckily stopt that no tongue is able to express the resentment they feel at it I know St. Bonaventure strives to St. Bonav in 4. d. 20. a. 1. sweeten this Martirdome and will not
soul and therefore St. Paul speaking of our blessed Saviour Ad Hebâ— 12. 2. insists much upon this that he had the courage and the love for us all to overcome the pain of a horrible confusion which doubtlesse is an unsupportable evill to a man of wit and courage Tell me then if you can what a burning shame and what a terrible confusion it must needs be to those noble and generous souls to behold themselves overwhelmed with a confused chaos of fire and such a base fire which affords no other light but a sullen glimmering choakt up with a sulphureous and stinking smoak and in the interim to know that the souls of many country clowns meere idiots poore women and simple religious persons go straight up to Heaven whilst they lye there burning they that were so knowing so rich and so wise they that were Councellors to Kings eminent Preachers of Gods Word and renowned Oracles in the world they that were so great Divines so great Statesmen so capable of high employments This confusion is much heightned by their further knowing how easily they might have avoided all this and would not Somtimes they would have given whole mountains of Gold to be rid of a stone in the Kidnies or a fit of the Gout Collick or burning Feavour And for a handfull of Silver they might have redeemed many years torments in that fiery Furnace and alas they chose rather to give it to their dogs and their horses and sometimes to men more beasts then they and much more unworthy Me thinks this thought should be more vexing then the fire it self though never so grievous And yet there remains one The remembrance of their ungratefull Children thought more which certainly has a great share in compleating their martyrdome and that is the remembrance of their children or heires which they left behinde them who swim in Nectar and live jollily on the goods which they purchased with the sweat of their brows and yet are so ungratefull so brutish and so barbarous that they will scarce vouchsafe to say a Pater noster in a whole month for their soules who brought them into the world and who to place them in a terrestial Paradice of all worldly delights made a hard venture of their souls and had like to have exchanged a temporal punishment for an eternal The remnants and superfluities of their Lacquies a cast at Dice and yet lesse then that might have set them free from these hellish torments and these wicked ungratefull wretches would not so much as think on it § 4. How long the Souls are detained in Purgatory IF all these punishments passed away like a tempest if the time of their continuance were but short their case were not so deplorable But how long think you does a soul dwell in Purgatory First it is most certain that these pains are not eternal otherwise it were not Purgatory but hell it self for in this chiefly lies the difference between hell and Purgatory that the pains of Purgatory lasts but for a time those of hell for an eternity Again it is most certain that they survive not the day of Judgment and St. Augustine proves it evidently because then all souls are to S. Aug. de civit c. 16. receive their last doome and be immoveably fixed in an eternity of good or evil Thirdly it is most certain that all the Souls shall not be there punished equally neither for extent of time nor proportion of torment for as their crimes were not equall so the punishment cannot be equall where Justice bears the sway Fourthly It is also certain sayes the Learned and Judicious Suarez after others Suâ—d 46. Sect. 4. n. 6. that we must not apply the revelations of certain devout persons to all the souls in Purgatory All Visions and Apparitions of Souls not to be credited but rather ought to be very reserved in this kinde and not easily to give credite to all such stories which passe for revelations for though God in his secret judgments may be pleased to punish some disloyal souls after a particular manner yet must we take heed how we draw general conclusions from particular cases For since private revelations are not Articles of Faith we must be very cautious and proceed warily in this matter especially where we see such kind of revelations seemingly to clash one against another We must therefore wave such extraordinary cases and honour them with due respect but not build so much upon them as to draw thence universal maximes Wherefore in this place I mean not to speak but of the common and ordinary stile of Gods providence laying aside all particular visions and personal exemplar punishments which God has reserved to himself Now there have been some so bold as to maintain that all the souls lye in Purgatory but a few hours and are then quit and released of their pains Their The Souls not so soon released as some imagine grounds are first because the pains may be so doubled and scrued up to such a height as to equall any extension of pain what soever Secondly because the souls there do exercise such acts of love and other sublime vertues all which conspire to purify these poore creatures so that the businesse is soon dispatched Were this true it were very good news but the mischief is that most divines censure this assertion as too bold and temerarious and in truth it has very little or no probability and were a way in effect to destroy Purgatory since we may cut off half of those few hours they speak of by redoubleing the pains and another half of these by redoubling them again and so go still halving the time by doubling the paines till we reduce them to a quarter of an houre or half a quarter or possibly to an instant or so little durance as to be scarce begun but ended Which kind of Purgatory though it may have place in those souls which depart immediately before the day of judgment when the intention of the pain must supply for the extent of time which will be then wanting in regard that there is to be no more Purgatory after that general accompting day yet to apply it commonly to other souls where there is no need of such subtilties were to confound all things It is the ordinary strain of Gods Justice to proceed by degrees and therfore there must be a competent time allotted for those punishments And this is the general belief of the Church that the souls are kept there for a time some more some lesse each one according to his desert and though happily some choyce souls do but as it were kisse the gates of Purgatory and rather feel the smoak then the fire yet the greater part of them lye there for some considerable time to satisfy the sweet rigour of divine justice I am not ignorant that some great Divines have believed that if a soul stay there for a year or two it is
for the dead were to be of no greater advantage to them then as far forth as they had power to advance the time appointed for the day of judgement which for my part I apprehend so coldly that did I not relie upon better motives I should soon lay a side all devotion for the soules departed But I mean not here to dispute the question since this Treatise is not intended so much in a polemical as in an affectuous and moving way And therefore I leave it for others who have already entered the lists and are engaged in the quarrel And so I take no notice how it can stand with Gods impartial justice that whereas many soules may leave this world in the same condition as to Purgatory that is in this Authors opinion with the same burâ—hen of depraved affections some of them shall lye 1000 years in Purgatory to wit those that die 1000 years before the day of judgement anâ— others but a day or an houre or a moment to wit those that die immediately before that general accompting day For since he owns no other paine in Purgatory but that which flowes from the said crooked inclinations and affections bent against reason which I suppose to be the same in all why should some of them as it must necessarily follow in these principles shake them off so soon and others groan so long under them Again I say nothing how harshly it sounds in a christians eare that a holy soule in the other world should not only still pursue the same wickeâ— inclinations for example to drunkenness gluttony and carnality which she had in this life but that this should be her only punishment I say as little how in this opinion great sinners that die immediately Trid. sess 14. c. 2. Flor. act 4. cit after baptisme who certainly go directly into heaven must needs carry their Purgatory with them into heaven For since it is evident that baptisme does not blot out their perverse inclinations they cannot be dispossessed of them but must of necessity carry them into the other world as well as others and consequently must have their Purgatory in Heaven Purgatory being nothing else with him but the inhering strife and fury of such irrational affections I let slip a world of other absurdities because my ayme as I told you in publishing this Treatise is not to canvase curious and impertinent questions of Purgatory but to move the Reader to a solid devotion for the poore soules which I feare is not a little cooled since these fond opinions came to light But now me thinkes I heare my Reader very inquisitive to know §. 5. Whether their pains-grow less and less IT is pitty to see sometimes how your greatest divines are entangled and lost in their over subtile speculations As for the pain of loss which the soules endure by being deprived of the sight of God they agree that it is daily much lessened for seeing the time draw nearer in which they are to be made happy with the sight of God whom they love so ardently it exceedingly rejoyces them and certainly they cannot chuse but much sweeten and consequently lessen their pains by the frequent repetitions of that devout aspiration which St. Teresia was wont to use when she heard the clock strike O lovely houre how dost thou rejoyce me by bringing me the welcome newes that I am now a whole houre nearer to the sight of God For a heart that loves cannot but be overjoyed to know that he approaches to the faire object of his love though it be but a moment But as for the paine of sence your Doctors are divided some hold that as for the continuance that is certainly shortned every day by the day that is past which is evident and in particular that the prayers of the faithfull obtain of God an abridgement of the length of the time which he taxed for their punishment so that the more one prayes for the souls the more is cut off of the time of their suffering which by that means becomes the more tolerable But as for the sharpeness and intenseness of the paine and the action or activity of the fire as they speak in schools that is as grievous in the last moment as at the first and as painful in the end as at the beginning of their Purgatory And they flatter the soules as if this were best for them because the greater the pains are which they endure the sooner are they purged and made worthy to enjoy the presence of God Others teach that as well the paine as the time are continually lessened according to the proportion of the relief which they receive from the suffrages of the Church And why not since Gods goodness is so great such is the desire of the Church that begs it the tears of the faithful pretend to no less and we must not consider the fire as an Element working naturally and equally at all times but rather as an instrument of Gods justice who gives it more or less force and power to worke upon the soules as he pleases Why should Almighty God who is so loving a Father refuse to give this relief at the earnest suite of children in behalf of their Parents Brothers Sisters and dearest friends I say at their instance who are so sensible of their torments and so much concerned for their ease and relief I willingly embrace this opinion as more worthy of the bowels of mercy more sympathizing with the heart of Christ Jesus and better suiting with the prayers of the Church and the sighs of Christians And certainly none can better clear this difficulty then the soules themselves who feel the pains we speak of and these have often by Gods permission appeared to their friends and devout persons and born witnesse for this truth that their pains were still lessened as they received new succour from the pious endeavours of their friends upon earth untill they came at length to cease and determine And we must not here be too nice and hard of belief for as it is an argument of too much rashnesse and folly to give credite to all pretended visions of what nature soever so it argues too much brutishnesse and profaness to believe none especially when they are authorized by the Church and by persons of authority and credit beyond exception that we must either believe them or believe nothing in this World § 6. A notable example in confirmation of all the precedent Doctrine BEfore I leave off finishing this Picture or put a period to the representation of the pains of Purgatory I cannot but relate a very remarkable History which will be as a living Picture before your eyes But be sure you take it not to be of the number of those idle stories which passe for old wives tales or meere imaginations of crackt brains and simple souls No I will tell you nothing but what venerable Bede so grave Beda hist Angl. lib. 5. cap. 13. an
Author witnesses to have happened in his time and to have been generally believed all over England without contradiction to have been the cause of wonderful effects and which is so authenticall Bellarmin de gemicu columbae l. 2. c. 9. that Cardinal Bellarmine a man of that judgment as the world knows having related it himself concludes thus For my part I firmely believe this History as very conformable to the holy Scripture and whereof I can have no doubt without wronging truth and wounding my own conscience which ought readily to yeeld assent unto that which is attested by so many and so credible witnesses and confirmed by such holy and admirable events About the year of our Lord 690 a certain English man in the County of Northumberland by name â—rithelmus being dead for a time was conducted to the place of Purgatory by a guide whose countenance and apparrell was full of light you may imagine it was his good Angel Here he was shewed two broad Valleys of a vast and infinite length one full of glowing firebrands and terrible flames the other as full of Hail Ice and Snow and in both these innumerable souls who as with a whirlwinde were tossed up and down out of the intollerable scortching flames into the insufferable rigours of cold and out of these into those again without a moment of repose or respit This he took to be hell so frightfull were those torments but his good Angel told him no it was Purgatory where the souls did pennance for their sins and especially such as had differred their conversion untill the houre of death and that many of them were set free before the day of Judgment for the good Prayers Almes and Fasts of the living and chiefly by the holy sacrifice of the Masse Now this holy man being raised again from death to life by the power of God first made a faithfull relation of all that he had seen to the great amazement of the hearers then retired himself into the Church spent the whole night in prayer and soon after gave away his whole estate partly to his wife and children and partly to the poore and taking upon him the habit and profession of a Monke lead so austere a life that though his tongue had been silent yet his life and conversation spake a loud what wonders he had seen in the other world Sometimes they should have seen him as old as he was in freezing water up to the ears praying and singing with much sweetnesse and incredible fervour and if they had asked him brother alas how can you suffer so much sharpe and bitting cold O my friends would he say I have seen other manner of colds then these Thus when he even groaned under the voluntary burthen of a world of most cruel mortifications and was questioned how it was possible for a weak and broken bodâ— like his to undergo such austerities Alas my dear brethren would he still say I have seen far greater austerities then these they are but roses and perfumes in comparison of what I have seen in the subterraneous lakes of Purgatory And in these kind of austerities he spent the remainder of his life and made a holy end and purchased an eternal Paradice for having had but a sight of the pains of Purgatory And we dear Christians if we believed in good earnest or could but once procure to have a true sight or apprehension of them should certainly have other thoughts and live in another fashion then we doe The second Survey A Glimpse of the Paradice of Purgatory or of the ineffable Joyes and Heavenly consolations of the Soules there I Do not stile that the Paradice No terrestrial Paradise in the way to heaven of Purgatory which some have fancied as if the souls having almost clean cancelled out all those impurities which they here contracted were to be conveyed into a terrestrial Paradice or a most delicious garden of pleasure smiling with a divine amenity there to dispose themselves the better to see God without suffering any pain of sence For although this fancy may appear to have somthing of piety yet has it little or nothing of solidity and I am resolved to couch nothing here that is not very Massive Solid and substantially well grounded Now the Councel of Florence Flor. sess ult seems to take away all credite from this opinion of a terrestrial Paradice and so down goes all that goodly fabrick built in the ayre For says the Councell either the souls are quite purged and if so they are immediately received into heaven and made worthy to behold God or they want still more purging and refining and then they are still like to lye by it in Purgatory From whence it clearly follows that the souls departed can have no time left them to entertain themselves in those pleasant gardens and sweet breathings they so much magnifie Wherefore under the notion of the Paradice of Purgatory I understand the excessive joyes of these captive souls the incomparable acts of their will and understanding and the continual favours shour'd down upon them from Heaven even amidst their most cruel torments §. 1. How these excessive joyes can stand with their unspeakable torments TO make this good we must A separate soul acts without controule first suppose that the actions of a soul disengaged from the body are quite of a different nature from those which she exercises while she is chained to a lumpe of flesh drowned in blood and other humours kept in thraldome by her tyrannical passions and brutish affections overburthened with deadly frights and fears and leading a kind of slavish and miserable life Tertullian came near the marke when he compared a soul in this world to a Coach-man that is to guide four unruly Horses without Rains a Souldier that has his Sword in his hand but his Armes tied a swift courser that would run but is tethered a bird that would fly but has his wings clammed up with Bird-lime Now when the soul is once set free from this bondage and lives at liberty this Coach-man drives this Souldier strikes this Courser runs this Bird flies and this Soul does what she pleases without controule Besides that which makes the actions of a Soul in this life to be so weak and unperfect is the necessary dependance which she has of the body into which she is so ingrafted that she seems to be but one and the selfe same thing with it If the body be oppressed with pain the soul is so deeply plunged in it she can think of nothing else you must work a miracle to make her have so much as a good thought or gâ—ve you a good word she is grown so lumpish you would think her whole spirit were resolved into flesh And this may be the reason why the holy Scripture so often compares men to beasts as to Lyons Foxes and the like because their souls become brutish by following the dictaments and motions
comfortable news of eternal bliss that he was not at all sensible of any oppression of nature nor seem'd to be the least concerned for it For said he what can any thing else availe me since I am one day to have Paradise with all the delights of Heaven Now if we Suar. d. 47. S. 3. credit the holy doctours of the Church and best divines of the Christian world the Souls in Purgatory are most certaine of their salvation For no sooner is the Soul departed this life but she is brought to a particular judgment where she receives an award of her eternal state of glory or confusion and from the mouth of God hears the irrevokable sentence from which there is no appeal no civil request no review of process no writ of errour for this decree of Gods justice must immediately be put in execution They say further that in the same moment that a Soul sees her selfe condemned to Purgatory she sees also the precise time prescribed her to continue there according to the ordinary strain of Gods justice But whether she know also by divine revelation who will pray for her and what assistance in particular they will give her or how much will be cut of of the time determined for her punishment is a nicer question which I purposely leave untouched for others to excercise their wits in as they please and make hast to take up the thred of my discourse I was letting fall in which I am to lay before your eyes the ineffable joyes of the soules in purgatory when they seriously reflect upon the certainty of their salvation and how soon they shall be drowned in the Divinity and yet swim in an Ocean of all heavenly comforts When Jacob knew for certaine that he was to have the fair Rachel he was content to be espoused first to Lia though she were blear-eyed and ill favoured and besides a world of heats and colds frights and fears and fourteen years toylesome service seemd scarse an hour to him so much was his heart inchanted with a holy love of his dearly beloved Rachel and so true it is that for the enjoyment of that which a soul loves in good earnest she makes no reckoning of fire and flames and a thousand Purgatories So that a Soul that is confident of espousing one day Rachel that is the Church triumphant sticks not to be first espoused to Lia that is the Church suffring with all the pains in Purgatory so long as it shall please God and fourteen years are unto her but as an houre such is the excess of her love to heaven O with what a good heart do I drink up my tears said the royal Prophet Ps 41. when I remember I shall pass into the heavenly Tabernacle were I to make my passage thither through Hell it selfe how willingly would I runn that way And to the same tune cried out St. Chrysostome with a masculine voice and a heart which was all heart If I were to pass through a thousand Hells so I might in the end of all meet with Paradise and my God how pleasing would these Hells seem unto me And certainly there are infinite soules would be ready to signe it with their heart blood that they would be willing to dwell in the flames of Purgatory till the day of judgement upon condition to be sure of eternal Glory at the last for believe it they that know well the meaning of these four words God Eternity Glory and Security can not but have a moderate apprehension of Purgatory fire be it never so hot and furious Another heavenly comfort They are impeccable which rejoyces these happy souls in the midst of their torments is an infallible and certain assurance which they have that although their pains be never so insupportable yet shall they never offend God neither mortally nor venially nor shew the least sign of impatience or indignation A true lover of God understands this language and if he do not shall in a moment learn it in Purgatory and find by experience that a soul there had rather be plunged in the deepest pit of Hell then be guilty of the least voluntary misdemeanour So that seeing her selfe to be grown impeccable and that no evils can have the power to make her offend God and that all impatience dies at the gates of Purgatory from whence all sins and humane failings are quite banished O God what a solid comfort must this needs be unto her The greatest affliction that good people can have in the suffrings of this life is the fear of â—ffending God or to think that the violence of their torments may make them subject to break out into a thousand foolish expressions and to tosse in their heads as many foolish thoughts filling their imaginations with a world of Chimeras and idle fancies of frightful objects or in a word because they appreâ—end either death or sin or the loss of their merit and labour or that God is angry with them For griefe with the Devils help strives to snatch out of our hands the victorious palme of our sufferings or at least to make us stoope to some frailties and imperfections which imbitter our hearts And were it not for this just fear Saints would not stick at the greatest evils they can endure in this world What a joy then must it be to these holy innocent Souls to see themselves become altogether impeccable The reason of this is clear because the particular judgment being once over the final senteâ—â—e is also pronounced and the Soul is no longer in a capacity to merit or demerit not so much as to satisfie by any voluntary sufferings of her own but only to submit to the sweet rigour of Gods justice who has taxed such a proportion of pains answerable to her demerits and so to clear her conscience and blot out the remainder of her frailties and impurities Make hast to do well before Eccl. 9. 10. death is the counsel of Almighty God for the appointed time wherein to heape up treasures of justice merits is before you appear in judgement for after that it will be too late The very instant that a soul leaves the body according to Gods law there is no more time for merit or demerit and therefore the souls that are sent into Purgatory are most certain they shall never more commit the least sin that can be imagined When St. Anthony was so furiously assaulted with a whole rabble regimâ—nt of Devils he was not greatly daunted at all their hideous shapes terrible howlings and rude blows all his fear was of offending God he apprehended more the stroaks of impatience then all the wounds of hell he called upon Christ for help and having obtained the favour of a personal visite he made him this amourous complaint and sweet expostulation O good Jesu where were you alass where were you even now my dear Saviour when your enemies and mine conspired so cruelly against me why came
the soules in Purgatory say the same with a far greater ardour of love And I dare say more yet that they have such a longing desire to cooporate with God in their own purification and to render themselves capable of the beatifical vision that if it were in their power to heighten the rigour of their torments it would be the first thing they would do to advance their eternal felicity And with reason for if we were saies St. Austin to take the pains of hell in our way Serm. 2. in festo omnium sanct to see God in his glory we ought to suffer them with a good heart for a good so great that whatsoever it costs it can never be too deare Think well on these words good Reader Let God cost never so much he cannot be too deare St. Catherine of Genua was heard to say she believed that the greatest paine which the souls have in Purgatory is to see they have an obstacle within themselves and some few blemishes which hinder them for the time from enjoying 〈◊〉 â—ight of their creatour in so much that their spight and anger is not so much against the flames though never so biting as against these unlucky blemishes and loathsome remainder of their sins Nay they are in a manner in love with the fire which by little and little helpes to free them from this cruel paine and do like the Patient who kisses the razour that is to cut out whole slices of putrified flesh from a Gangrene or mortal Ulcer which would otherwise insensibly bereave him of his life if that fierce remedy were not applyed §. 5. Their suffering without merit and the free exercise of their vertues without impediment are to them special motives of comfort VVHat a pleasure thinke To exercise vertue without merit and to suffer without recompence you is it to suffer or indeed to exercise any vertuous act meerly for the vertue it self without casting about for any further recompence then barely the doing what is pleasing to him we love and who loves us out of his pure bounty without any desert of ours A Roman Lady understanding that Caesar had condemned her deare Husband Petus to stab himself snatcht up the dagger first her self and struck it deep into her breast and then with a smiling but dying look spoke thus to him My dearest this stab has done me no harme at all upon my honour it has not but alass the stab that you are going to give your self it is that which bereaves me of my life and with that she gave up the ghost Those holy and inamour'd souls calling to mind how Christ died for them to pay the ransome of their sins without looking for any returne by way of recompence out of his pure charity and obedience to his father they would most willingly sacrifice themselves for his glory in satifaction of justice and imitation of his charity and scarce feel their pains when they compare them with those of their dear redeemer And though we can scarse apprehend this joy we that are so selfish as to relish nothing but earthly things whose hearts are so wedded to our own interests and so apprehensive of pain yet have the patience to listen to the patheticall expressions of a man of this world who certainly was not without his havenly gusts but could make a shift to find out a Paradise even in the Purgatory of the sufferings of a miserable life You will soon discover by his golden eloquence who it is that speaks Had I the S. Châ—ys ho. 8. in c. â—â— Ephes choyce to be an Apostle Prophet Doctor nay more an Angel and Potenâ—ate of heaven were it in my power to be metamorphosed into a Cherubin or Seraphim and to be raised above their thrones in a word to be seated at the right hand of God or rather to be thrown down into a dark loathsome and subterraneous gaole there to be manicled fetter'd and greivously tormented for the sole love of my saviour Jesus Christ in company of the glorious Apostle St. Paul with out all hesitation or doubt I should chuse to be there with St. Paul and should prefer it before the joyes of heaven How do you feel your hearts when you heare this kind of language and what think you may not the souls in Purgatory have the like affections and more heroicall if there can be any thing thought of more heroicall then to quit heaven for Purgatory and to leave God for God sacrificing themselves entirely to his glory as a perfect holocaust to please his divine will and appease the sweet rigours of his justice Blessed Father Francis Borgia was wont to say he would willingly go to Purgatory and lie frying there to the end of the world to heap up a new treasure of grace and glory and to become a greater Saint in heaven and a more acceptable servant to his divine Majesty In earnest this was an act of a noble heart and purified soul aspiring to the highest pitch of perfection The holy man took it for a most incomparable satisfaction to see himself every moment to go on encreasing in vertue and heaping up graces upon graces and at the last to purchase so high a place in the Kingdome of heaven as not to have cause to envie the highest Seraphin And yet me thinks if I may have leave to vent my own thoughts there is somthing of a holy kind of self interest in this point of perfection holy I say but withall interest But why may we not believe that those holy captive souls fly higher and offer themselves to God to suffer there for one another out of a divine kind of civility and generous act of fraternal charity For in this world there have been Mothers have chosen rather to die themselves then see their dear children die before them There have been also souls as I have touched elsewhere have wisht to be damned alwaies understanding that it were without sinn to save others and this without hope of grace or glory merely in obedience to perfect Charity And why should we make such a wonder of it since the very Tygress who has no heart but what is made up of cruelty has nevertheless love enough to cast her self into flames if she find no other expedient to save her young ones Can we believe that bruits have more love and mortal men more charity and courage then the holy Souls of Purgatory have for the love of God and of those Souls they passionately love O sweet Purgatory O amourous flames of charity and pure trancendent charity worthy of the souls which are so pure Sure this is that which the holy servant of God meant when she said that the souls there are wholly despoyled of all self-interest and do wholly devote themselves to Gods interest and that of pure charity We should soon see wonders in The power â—â— grace and vertue when they act freely and without impediment our selves would
St. John how can he make us believe 1 Jo. 4. 20. that he loves God whom he never saw That which I am to maintaine is that amongst all the acts of faternal charity or works of mercy the most sublime the most pure and the most advantagious of all others is the service we perform for the souls in Purgatory In the History of the incomparable A remarkable passage order of the great St Dominick it is authentically related that one of the first of those holy religious men was wont to say that he found himself not so much concerned to pray for the Souls in Purgatory because they are certain of their salvation and that upon this account we ought not in his judgement to be very sollicitous for them but ought rather to bend our whole care to help sinners to convert the wicked and to secure such souls as are uncertain of their salvation and probably certain of their damnation as leading very leud lives Here it is said he it is here that I willingly employ my whole endeâ—vours It is upon these that I bâ—stow my Masses and Prayers and all that little that is at my disposal and thus I take it to be well bestowed But upon souls that have an assurance of eternal happiness and can never more loose God or offend him I believe not said he that one ought to be so sollicitous This certainly was but a poor and weak discourse to give it no severer a censure and the consequence of it was this that the good man did not only himself forbear to help these poor souls but which was worse disswaded others from doing it and under colour of a greater charity withdrew that succour which otherwise good people would have liberally afforded them But God took their cause in hand for permitting the souls to appear and shew themselves in frightful shapes and to haunt the good man both by night and by day without respit still filling his fancy with dreadful imaginations and his eyes with terrible spectacles and withall letting him know who they were and why with Gods permission they so importuned him with their troublesome visits you may believe the good Father became so affectionately kind to the souls in Purgatory bestow'd so many Masses and Prayers upon them preached so fervently in their behalf stirr'd up so many to the same devotion that it is a thing incredible to believe and not to be expressed with Eloquence Never did you see so many and so clear and convincing reasons as he alleaged to demonstrate that it is the most eminent piece of fraternal charity in this life to pray for the souls departed Love and fear are the two most excellent Oratours in the world they can teach all Rhetorick in a moment and infuse a most miraculous eloquence This good Father who thought he should have been frighted to death was grown so fearful of a second assault that he bent his whole wit to invent the most pressing and convincing arguments to stir up the world both to pitty and piety and so perswade souls to help souls and it is incredible what good ensued thereupon The History does not set down the motives which he either invented or had by inspiration to evidence this truth and therefore I will borrow them of St. Thomas that angel for divinity of the same order and of other Saints and doctours of the Catholick Church § 1. The greatness of the charity to the Souls in Purgatory is argued from the greatness of their pains and their helpless condition SInce there is no torment under Most charity to help tbc greater sufferers Heaven comparable to the pains of Purgatory as you have already seen those unhappy souls must needs be the most afflicted creatures in the world and consequently there cannot be a greater charity then to relieve them The loving mother runs always to her sickest child not but that she is tender of them all and has her heart divided into as many parcels as she has children and sick children but where there is most need there she makes a greater demonstration of her love thither her heart is carried with a greater violence and tenderness of affection where the greatest evil or danger appears As for the rest their condition is not so pressing she speaks to them at leasure and by giving one of them a few comsits a good word to another a smile to a third they are all well contented but he that burns in the Purgatory of a violent feavour it is he that has most need of his mother and so you see her as it were nail'd to his pillow her heart her eyes her hands her mouth and her very bosome lye open to this child and she can think of nothing but him so that where there is a greater share of misery reason requires there should be more compassion and more charity expressed Cast but a morsel of bread to a needy beggar send a good almes to a poor Hospital visite a prisoner give a word of comfort to a sick person and they are very well satisfied but he that lies burning in unmerciful flames alas it is he that ought to move all the bowels of your compassion When the image of Cleopatra with the stinging Aspes at her breasts was carried in triumph before the Romans though otherwise fierce and cruel enough by nature yet could they not hold from shedding a few tears of compassion and truly such a Queen in so sad a condition was not to be lookt upon with dry eyes the other captives yet living did not move them at all in comparison of that unfortunate Princess for all she was only represented in colours upon a painted cloth You Angel-keepers of Purgatory I conjure you to unlock your gates and lay your prison open that I may discover those Kings and Queens I mean those holy Souls of both sexes who are shortly to have their share in the celestial empire that I may lay before the Eyes of the whole Catholick Church those Asps of grief that lye so close at their hearts those cruel flames I say that incessantly devour them and withall the infinite modesty and patience with which they endure all in so much that not one of them lets fall the least froward or inconsiderate word or makes the least complaint against the sweet rigour of God Is there a heart if it be the heart of a man indeed and has but a drop of true Christian blood in it that does not feel it self to be either broken or mollified at so pitiful and lamentable a spectacle to see I say such noble and generous spirits in so deplorable a condition Is there any thing within the whole circumference of the universe so worthy of compassion and that may so deservedly clayme the great'st share in al your devotions and charities as to see our Fathers our Mothers our nearest and dearest relations to lye broyling in cruel flames and to crye to us for help with
who are truly miserable and yet holy under a cruel restraint and yet happy not able to merrit any thing and yet gracious in the sight of his divine Majesty no I do not say that when they are once got into Paradise they will be so many Angels Guardians of yours so many Advocates to plead your cause at the grand Tribunal of the most holy Trinity so many patrons and sureties for you and yours But I say that even while they remain prisoners they will do miracles for you I said miracles Now hear how they will doe that which cannot be done They will effect that for you which they cannot do for themselves and were it necessary to work a miracle in good earnest they would sooner do it then forsake you in your necâ—ssities I am not ignoâ—ant that the Angelical S. Thomas 2. 2 9 â—3 a. 〈◊〉 ad 3. Doctor teaches that those unhappy souls aâ—e in such a wretched state that they have more need to beg our prayers then to pray for us that they are wholly taken up with paying their debts to Gods justice who exacts an accompt of them to the last farthing that this suffering Church is rather in a condition to suffer them to act any thing that it is not now a time to merit but to burn not to succour those that are living but to expect succour from them A man that is drowning has not leasure to think of others a notorious malefactour that swims in boyling Oyl is not in a place where he ought or can plead for another his whole minde is so plung'd in the Oyle and all his thoughts so overwhelmed with the boyling liquour that torments him Alas those racked souls have more reason to cry out with holy Job Ah you my Job 19. 21. friends you aâ—â—east take pity of me for the hand of Gods justice so lovingly severe hangs continually over me and strikes me without intermission cease not to poure out your prayers for me to abate the rigour of his justice with your charitable sighs for a most miserable soul They have I say more need to beg our prayers then to pray for us I know well that many Learned Doctors are of opinion that the souls in Purgatory do not pray for us but it is no point of our faith and therefore they must give me leave to side with other great Divines who very probably maintain that Bell. l. 2. de Purgatorio c. 17. Suac d 47. Sect. 2. l. â— de oratione c. 11. those gratefull souls pray most ardently for those that pray for them The rich glutton though he were certainly damned could after his fashion pray for his brothers and shall not a holy soul have the power to do it Abraham argued the case with him call'd him lovingly sonne and seemd to be upon the â—oint of doing Luke 16. something for him at least gave him the comfort to tell him that his brothers had Moyses and the Prophets â—o instruct them as if he would haâ—e said that if his brothers had not been sufficiently provided of other means he would peradventure have granted him his request and sent Lazarus to preach to them But to Math. â— 31. give you yet a stranger instance The devils themselves have put up their requests to God have been heard and obtaind that sorry comfort they desired as when they begged not to be thrust down into Hell and got leave to enter into the heard of Swine and then to throw themselves into the Sea What! shall the damned soules pray and shall the divels be able to obtain their request and shall not the Souls in Purgatory have the like priviledges St. Thomas does not deny that they pray for us but onely affirms that they have more need of our prayers which is most true but may well stand with their praying for us A wicked Fellon that is going to be turn'd off the Ladder has yet a care to pray for his whole family for the King and the whole Bench that condemned him and many times for the very Hangman too who is ready to strangle him And shall this wretch have more power or more zeal or more grace then those souls who are so holy and who in spight of their torments are very present to themselves and have their wits about them free from all trouble and disquiet which might rob them of the sentiment and feeling which they ought to have of the obligation they owe to their charity that pray for them O no they do the one and yet neglect not the other They pray for themselves in suffering they pray for us in sighing and the one hinders not the other in Purgatory since that even here upon Earth the soul that is immersed in flesh and bloodâ— can perform both parts that â—â— sâ—tisfy for her self and yet have a sollicitous care of others Did not Onias and Hieremius pray affectionately for the people of God whilst they were in the dark prison of Abrahams bosome And do not the Saints assure us that God wrought a miracle for the merits of St. S. Greâ—â—â—dial Paschasius who yet neverthelesse was not out of Purgatory The same is reported of St Severin and though there be some dispute who this St. Severin was yet the Authors doubt not but that a Saint in Purgatory may work a miracle by Gods permission Some that are damned have wrought miracles and is it such a wonder that we should grant this to the Saints of Gods suffering Church We read in the life of St Catherine They are powerfull advocates of Bolognia whose Body Flesh and Bone is yet entire and sits to this houre 〈◊〉 chaire exposed to the view of the world though it be above sixty years since her death we read I say in her life which has the approbation of the sea Apostolick that she had not only a strange tendernesse for the soules but a singular devotion to them and was wont to recommend her self to them in all her necessities The reason she alleadged for it was this that she had learnt of Almighty God how she had frequently obtained farr greater favours by their intercession then by other means And the story adds this that it often happened that what she begged of God at the intercession of the Saints in Heaven she could never obtain of him and yet as soon as she addressed her self to the souls in Purgatory she had her suit instantly granted Can there be any question but there are souls in that purging fire who are of a higher pitch of sanctity and of a farr greater merit in the sight of God â—hen a thousand and a thousanâ— Saints who are already glorious in the Court of Heaven Tell 〈◊〉 was not our Dread Soveraignâ— during his late Banishment more puissant and more mighty then His Subjects who lived still in their own Country at their liberty and at their ease and perhaps in greater plenty for we see Him
no sooner restored to His undoubted Right but he is every way as great â— King as His Predecessours as richly Attired as much Courted by Forraign Princes and as gloriously attended at White-hall whereas the rest of his Nobility and Gentry are but his creatures and most humble Servants There are great souls that for some slight misdemenours are banisht out of the Kingdome of Heaven to which they are heirs apparent as being the adopted Sons of God by Grace nay more are locked up in that burning furnace which we call Purgatory but they are scarseâ—â—â—â—â—ose when you may see them 〈◊〉 out in triumph and go soaring up above the Heavens so high as to loose all sight of them And when they are once there what will they not do for you And what did not our gracious King to his power to honour and gratifie those that stuck close to Him in his misfortune or were so lucky as to have a great hand in restoring Him King David at his death recommending his good servants to his Son Solomon spoke thus withall My Son there is such a one and such a one have well deserved death for the crimes they have committed but when I was generally deserted and when they took the boldness upon them to throw stones at me these men took pitty on me and gave me succour in my greatest affliction and therefore I charge thee O my dear son to be mindful of them and to favour them as thou lovest me Have not holy souls as much charity as David Is not the misfortune into which they are faln of a more sensible nature then His In what a lofty strain will they â—hen represent unto God the good service you have done for them in their extream necessity when they find themselves onâ—e securely seated in those heavenly mansions And what will not that boundless mercy be moved to grant at the instance of so dear friends Shall I tell you there are many worthy persons think these words of Jesus Christ may be very properly applied to the souls in Purgatory Do good saith he and make your selves friends at the charge of your purses and be good stewards of Mammon the false god of Riches that those whom you relieve may assist you at the hour of your death and lead you into eternal tabernacles Among the poor none so secure of enjoying the delights of Paradise as the souls in Purgatory who are all predestinate and all holy for the present they are poor indeed and helpless creatures but if you contribute never so little to their ease they will be sure to requite you in your necessities if not before at least when they are once possest of the joyes of Heaven Cardinal Baronius a man of credit beyond exception relates In annal Eccles how a person of rare vertue found himself dangerously assaulted at the hour of his death and that in this Agony he saw the heavens open and about eight thousand Champions all covered with white Armour to descend who feâ—l instantly to encourage him by giving him this assurance that they were come to fight for him and to disengage him from that doubtful combate And when with infinite comfort and tears in his eyes he besought them to do him the favour to let him know who they were that had so highly obliged him We are said they the â—â—uls whom you have saved and delivered out of Purgatory and now to requite the favour we 〈◊〉 come down to convey you instantly into Heaven And with that he died We read such another story of 〈◊〉 â—erthus apâ—â— P. Roam de Purg. c. 20. St Gertrude how she was troubâ—ed at her death to think what must become of her since she had given away all the rich treasure of her satisfactions to redeem other poor souls without reserving any thing to her self but that our Blessed Saviour gave her the comfort to know that she was not only to have the like favour of being immediately conducted into Heaven out of this world by those innumerable souls whom she had sent thither before her by her fervent prayers but was there also to receive a hunderfold of eternal glory in reward of her charity By which examples we may learn that we cannot make better use of our devotion and charity then this way But he that will 〈…〉 satisfie himself that he can loose nothing but gain excessively though he should offer up all his satisfactory works for the souls in Purgatory let him read over what F Eusebius Neremâ—ergicus and F. James Monford have excellently well written upon this subject The Fourth Survey Of the powerful means to quench the flames of Purgatory COuld the poor souls but They cannot help themselves help themselves or abate the cruelty of their torments with all their devont aspirations so pure and so holy they would soon free themselves But alas they cannot and this is one of their greatest miseries to see themselves in so desperate a condition as to be overwhelmed with raging fire and not to have the power to get out or to allay the fury of the flames or to merit the least favour in this kind not so much as de Congruo as they speak in Schools or by way of a certain congruity conveniency or decency The time of meriting expired with their lives what now remaines is wholly deputed for suffering and it is not the least of their vexations to see how easily they might have prevented all these mischiefs in their life time and that now there 's no remedy but by suffering to supply for that negligence though they would never so fane Howsoever I love those divines Su. in 3. p. d. 19. post St. Tho. who are somthing more civil in this point then their fellows and am easily perswaded by them that although the souls cannot immediately contribute the least to their own ransome or any way merit their own deliverance yet may they be so happy as to work upon the goodness of their Angels and by their means obtain some sweet refreshments at the merciful hand of God wherewith to allay the bitterness of their torments And following their opinion who teach that they pray for us and procure us heavenly favours what inconsequence were it to say further that they move our good Angels to inspire us efficaciously to intercede for them and to assist them with all the duties of Christian charity it being a thing to which they are otherwise of themselves so much inclined without the sollicitation or importunity of others §. 1. What succour they receive from the Angels and Saints in Heaven IN the first place you would be The Saints pray for them resolved whether the Angels and Saints in Heaven and above all the Mother of mercy Pray really for them If so how comes it to pass that they do not every hour or indeed every instant make a general Gaole delivery and quite empty Purgatory For what power has the Mother oâ— God
are requisite on his part shall infallibly relieve them Well but you long now to know what these conditions are with which we may be morally certain that our suffrages are effectual towards the purifying and releasing of the poor souls in Purgatory He that will have his works acceptable We must be in the state of grace to do them any good in the sight of God for the obtaining of any mercy for himself or others must in the first place be sure to be in the state of Grace that is Goâ—â— friend for how can God be pleased at the doings of his mortal enemies how can he relish or approve actions which proceed from a heart envenomed with the deadly poyson of mortal sin Could I work miracles and wanted but a graine of true charity all this sayes St. Paul were but wind it 1 Cor. 13. were all unprofitable Next unto this he must not fail to have an intention of doing such a good work to relieve the soul he either names himself or leaves to Gods determination and choice Besides the work must be good and vertuous of it self that is accompanied with all due circumstances The more love humility contrition and devotion you bring and the more penal your work is the more precious will it be in the sight of God and the greater miracles will it do in Purgatory rejoycing the afflicted souls quenching their flames and converting Purgatory into Paradise But let us now look a little into Whether the Mass of a wicked 〈◊〉 Priest 〈◊〉 availe 〈◊〉 the consequence of this Doctrine Does it not hence follow that all lewd and ungodly Priests are unprofitably employed for the good of the souls for since they are supposed to be in a damnable condition all they do seems to be as good as nothing and then what a world of Masses shall we have quite cast away what a world of foundations utterly lost since they may often fall into such wicked hands Away with these discourses which are not only false but very prejudicial to Purgatory Good divinity teaches that a Mass is alwayes a Mass alwayes Su. d. 48. Sect. 8. good and of an infinite valew that the Priest that sayes it or sings it as a Minister of Gods church let him be never so unworthy is alwayes acceptable for her sake in whose name he acts that if you take him as a private and particular person t is true all his prayers and devotions can availe nothing but as he represents the Church he cannot fail to do the maine deed we pretend and we need not scruple it You would be amazed should I further tell you that it may very well fall out sometimes that you may gain more by hearing the Mass of a loose or deboach'd Priest then of another for that which is common to both is that thâ—y both offer up the propitiatory sacrifice of the Mass which is alwayes pleasing in the sight of God they are both Ministers of the Church and under this qualification they are both acceptable persons both have the intention you require of relieving the soul you recommend unto them both performe all the holy rites and ceremonies which the Church prescribes in this case In this they differ that the one adds particular devotions of his own which are grateful to God because he is in the state of grace and one of his adopted children whereas the others personal actions are of no worth because we suppose him to be in an ill state Well but this is the cause why you that know it are fearful to loose by the bargaine bring so many Theological acts of Faith Hope and Charity of your own so many holy affections springing from a zealous devotion all inflamed with the love of God that the loss you were afraid of is abundantly recompenced and with no little advantage to your cause Be not then of the number of those fond persons who profess they are afraid to sound obits for their deceased kindred least the Masses should come to be said by ungodly and irreligious Priests It were meer simplicity to be afraid of clear cristal water because forsooth it issues out of the snoute of a black marble serpent or passes through the Jawes of a Lyon of Brass Would you refuse a million of Gold if it were sent you out of Turkie from some wicked renegado or should the Pope send you a Cardinals Cap would you be so nice as not to accept it because the messenger that brought it were an ill condition'd fellow Elias was not so dainty as to forbear his meat because it was brought by a Raven Do a Gods name what is fitting and leave the rest to God who out of his infinite goodness knows how to supply all these defects especially such as happen against your will and such as you know not how to prevent unless you were a Prophet §. 4. Of the particular wayes we have to help them THe holy Canons and Doctors of the Church comprehend all the means and advantages we have to relieve the dead under these four general heads 1. The Priests oblations sacrifices 2 The Prayers of devout people 3. Almes deeds 4. Fasting unto which you must reduce all kind of austerities all penal works that afflict the body what way soever and in a word all that goes under the common notion of suffrages For the enjoying of all which helps St. Augustin observes how greatly it may import to bury the dead in Churches where the bodies of Saints and holy Martyrs lie enterred not that the bare lying thâ—â—e can so much availe them but for this that devout people resorting more thither then to other places to perform their devotions to God and his Saints and seeing the Tombes of their deceased friends cannot but remember to apply their charitable suffrages for the help of such needy persons I am in love with that Religious Masses practice of Bolognia where upon funeral days they cause hundreds and thousands of Masses to be said for the soul departed in lieu of other superfluous and vain ostentations They stay not for the Anniversary nor for any other set day but instantly do their best to release the poor soul from her torments who must needs think the year long if she must stay for help till her anniversary day appears They do not for all this despise the laudable customes of the Church they bury their friends with honour they cloth great numbers of poor people they give liberall Almes but as there is nothing so certain nothing so efficacious nothing so divine as the holy sacrifie of the Mass they fix their whole affection there and strive all they can to relieve the souls this way and are nothing so lavish as the fashion is in other idle expences in importune Feastings which are often more troublesome to the living then comfortable to the dead But you may not only comfort the All kind of afflictions afflicted souls by procureing
are applied to them intention be to help any one in particular who is really in Purgatory so your work be good it is infallibly applied to the party upon whom you bestow it For as Divines teach it is the intention of the offerer which governs all and God of his infinite goodness accommodates himself to the petitioners requeâ—â— applying unto each one what has been offered for his relief If you have no body in your thoughts for whom you offer up your prayers they are only beneficial to your self and what would be thus lost for want of application God lays up in the Treasury of the Church as being a kind of spiritual waife or stray to which no body can lay any just claime And since it is the intention which entitles one to what is offer'd before all others what right can others pretend to it or with what justice can it be parted or divided amongst others who were never thought of And hence I take my rise to Better to pray for few then many resolve your other question that if you regard their best advantage whom you have a minde to favour you had better pray for a few then for many together for since the merit of your devotions is always limited and often in a very smal proportion the more you divide it subdivide it amongst many the lesser share comes to every one in particular as if you should distribute a crown or an angel amongst a thousâ—â—â— poore people you easily see yoâ—â— Almes would be so inconsiderable they would be little better for it whereas if it were all bestowed upon one or two it were enough to make them rich in their conceipts Now to define precisely whether it be alwaies better done to help one or two souls efficaciously then to yeald a little comfort to a great many is a question I leave for you to exercise your wits in I could fancy it to be your best course to do both that is somtimes to single out some particular soul and to use all your power to lift her up to heaven somtimes again to parcell out your favours upon many and now and then also to deal out a general Almes upon all Purgatory And you need not fear exceeding in this way of charity whatsoever you bestow for you may be sure nothing will be lost by it And St. Thomas will tell you for your comfort that since all the souls in Purgatory are perfectly united in charity they rejoyce exceedingly when they see any of their whole number to receive such powerfull helps as to dispose her for heaven they every one take it as done to themselves whatsoever is bestowed upon any of their fellows whom they love as themselves and out of a heavenly kind of curtesy and singular love they joy in her happiness as if it were their own So that it may be truly said that you never pray for one or more of them but they are all partakers and receive a particular comfort and satisfaction by it Me thinks this very consideration should inkindle in your hearts a fresh desire to be often â—olafing those happy souls and to entitle your selves their special benefactours who will never suffer the remembrance of your tender mercies to be blotted out of their gratefull memories But let us now state the case How if we employ otherâ— to help theâ— thus suppose you should employ another to do those good works for the souls whether or no will they have the same effect as if you had done them your self again should this other whom you thus employ be an ungratious fellow whether would all his endeavours be able to give any ease to the souls for whose sakes you procure them I am so taken with the Angelical Doctrine of St. Thomas I le go no further for an answer He tells us then that if you be good and he starke nought by whom you procure for example the Dirge to be said or any other good work to be performed that can be done by a third person for there be some that be personal it does not at all blast the fruit of your devotion nor obstruct the souls benefit for whom you procured it That if he chance to be good so much the better the benefit will be the greater though God look more upon the chief Agent and principal cause then upon the accessory or instrument he thinks fit to make use of That if you be wicked your self and the other good the good work will have its effect and the soul will be assisted by it That if you should be both so unlucky as to be neither of you in the state of grace excepting Masse only which can never fail of its effect all other means you use will be utterly void and of no effect because they proceed from so ungratefull hands and worse hearts Would you have God to accept of his enemies presents and while you refuse to give him your heart to seal with his divine grace would you have him to deliver you up his to dispose of his mercies for the benefit of others No wicked wretch no till you alter your condition do not look that God will appear in his mercy to bestow a Jubily on those holy soules you entreat for nay it falls out somtimes even in this world thâ—â— the pleading of an infamous advocate or a sworn enemy of the Prince or State makes the criminals case more odious and desperate and in lieu of a Gibet procurcs him a wheel or a worse punishment Yet I must tell you and I must conjure you by all the obligations of humanity that be you never so lost a creature never so covered with enormious crimes you never fail at least to procure Masses and to distribute liberall Almes for the relief of the poore souls and this for many reasons First Because the Masse is alwayes to good purpose as having its effect ex opere operato as they speak in schoools or of it self without any relation had to him that says it or causes it to be said Secondly Because they use to say that the last wholsome advice we ought to give to a desperate soul plunged over head and ears in sinne is to be sure alwayes to be good to the poore for sooner or later good will come of it Thirdly It is truly said of alms-deeds that they are good sollicitours and have a most charming Rhetorick to obtain of God and to extort as it were out of his hands what they please In so much that if the sentence of condemnation were already signed in the hands of God it is the expression of St. Chrysologus God Serm. 8. himself would teare it in pieces and revoke the sentence rather then refuse any favour to the mercifull Give Almes sayes the Eccl. 29. holy Ghost and hide it in the bosome of the poore and your Alms will intercede for you So that although you wicked wretch cannot say a good prayer for the
souls yet your charity will supply your place and plead for you and the poore that partake of it will also pray for you and all this may possibly be to good purpose What your tongue cannot your hand will perform with greater advantage and what cannot proceede from your heart which is poysoned with deadly sin will out at your purse which is full of mercy and help to purchase some comfortable refreshment to take of the fury of those hungry flames which are incessantly preying upon the poor souls And here again taking upon me to be Proctour for this sufferring Commonwealth I conjure you to be liberal in distributing your almes and procuring Mâ—sses for the souls departed I can expect no less from their goodness but that their Angel gardians or yours or those of the poor will inspire them with good thoughts and move them to poure ouâ— their ardent and innocent prayers for you in recompence of so great a charity Mean while you shall be like the Crow that brought bread to St. Paul the Hermite without so much as tasting it or like the Whale that convay'd Jonas safe to the shoar without feeding on him or to use St. Gregory's comparison you shall be like the water in the Sacrament of Baptisme which falling upon the head of a child washes away the foul staine of original sin and entitles him heir to the Kingdom of Heaven and mean while glides away into some noysome sinke and there turnes to filth and corruption Now to the last Query for what What souls we ought most to pray for souls in particular we ought most to concern our selves I answer briefly thus 1. Without question all obligations of kindred promise gratitude rule command c. are to be served in the first place 2. You cannot do better then to offer up your devotions for those souls which are dearest to God or his blessed Mother 3. It is a singular charity to remember those that are in most need or most neglected 4. It is a pious and laudable piece of spiritual craft to do for thosâ— that will be soonest released for by this means you shall send into heaven good store of powerful advocates who will incessantly plead for you before the throne of mercy §. 6. How dangerous it is to trust others with what concerns the sweet rest of our souls in the next world AS I cannot but highly magnifie It is a folly to trust others and extoll their charity that have a sollicitous care to rescue out of Purgatory the Souls of their dear parents friends and acquaintance so I cannot forbear deploring and even laughing at their folly and meer madness as I may rightly tearm it that leave all to the discretion of their heirs and friends they leave behind them They must pardon me if I wrong them it is the zeal of their good transports me it is a just indignation sets my heart all on fire to see how the wisest often prove the veriest fools in this occasion which is the most important of all others How many wills never see any other light but that of the fire which consumes them to ashes How many false ones are dayly forged to fill up the others roome How few do we see at this day punctually performed or rather how many do we see not performed at all Having procured a Mass or two of Requiem and the Dirige to be said for decency sake and for the honour of their house who is there almost that will give himself any further trouble to pray even for his parents The good man is scarse cold in his Grave but his Children fall together by the Eares run into endless suits seaze upon what they can next lay their hands on right or wrong and will not be perswaded to forego it but by main force of Law or by the terrour of dreadful excommâ—nications One layes injustice â—â— his Fathers charge for doing so much to advance his eldest Sons fortune another cries out upon him for being so unnatural as to undo his own Child The Daughters think much their portions are no greater the whole house is up in armes and in continual alarums and in a word there 's nothing but a meer confusion and hurly burly amongst them Mean while the good man has leasure enough to fit at his taske of suffering and to lye frying in Purgatory not so much as one of his Children thinks on him unless it be to brand him with some injurious reproach The unfortunate soul almost killed himself with care and had like also to have damn'd himself to make his Children happy in this world and these barbarous harpies are so insatiable as to be raking at the bones and gnawing the very heart of their deceased father who must needs be very sensible if he know it to see himself so undutifully regarded by his own Children I will bring him in anon to speak for himself as best able to hold forth his own lamentable condition and sure it will break your very heart to hear him And yet tell me seriously does he not deserve all this who might so easily when time was have provided better for himself and prevented all this mischief by obliging the Chuch to offer up good store of Masses for him and was so indiscreet as to leave it wholly to the discretion of his Heirs and Executours who are little better then direct Barbarians For is there any likelihood they will stir to help him out of Purgatory they that cannot so much as afford him a stone upon his Grave worth a crown with a little inscription to put good people in mind who lies there that they may cast a good thought after him But I shall have occasion yet to enlarge my self more upon this subject and to make it appear what an irreparable folly is committed by the wisest in the world in neglecting one of the most important affaires in their whole life It would go hâ—rd with many Whether a soul must stay in Purg. till restitution be made were it true that a person who neglected to make restitution in his life time and only charged his heirs to do it for him in his last Will and Testament shall not stir out of Purgatory till restitution be really made let there be never so many Masses said and never so many satisfactory works offered up for him And yet St. Brigit whose revelations are for the most part approved by the Church sticks not to set this down for a truth which God had revealed unto her Nor are there wanting grave Divines that countenance this rigourous position and bring for it many strong reasons and examples which they take to be authentical and the Law it self which says that if a man do not restore anothers goods there will always stick upon his soul a kind of blemish or obligation of justice and since the fault lies wholly at his doore he cannot say they have the least reason to complaine of
the severity of Gods justice but must accuse his own coldness and extream neglect of his own welfare Nay even those that are of the contrary perswasion yet maintaine that it is not only much more secure but far more meritorious to satisfie such obligations while we live then to trust others with it let them be never so near and dear unto us let it be your Child or your Wife or the very half of your self yet you ought not to trust your other half in this case where we see men are so dayly cozened in their expectations And you that read this and think to take so good order that the like inconveniences cannot befall you let me tell you you are like to be one of the first that will be thus miserably cheated and perhaps far worse then your neighbours if you do not seek to discharge all these obligations while you are yet alive and rather to day then to morrow And I beseech you take the pâ—ins once more to read over this § For it is unto you I direct my speech or rather it is God that speakes to you by my mouth if â—ou fail in it you will have cause to repent for my part I hold my self discharged But now to return from whence I have a little digressed I told you that these last Authors though they do not believe that a soul shall be necessarily tied to dwell in Purgatory fire till restitution be made yet they hold that it may accidentally fall out that she may be kept there farr longer then she would have been otherwise For the Creditors who have received their due the poore yoâ— have made amends for what was wrongfully taken from them and others well satisfied with your just proceedings will make it their buâ—iness to pray for your soul for want of whose prayers you may lye God knows how long neglected and forgotten in that fiery dungeon And believe it let the first opinion be never so improbable in your judgment it will not be very safe for you to lye in Purgatory till the case be decided nor will it be your wisest course to learn there how egregiously you have plaid the fool in not clearing your debts sooner and providing better for the ease of your soul I am clearly of the second opinion but would advise you to make use of the first that the one serving you as a bridle the other may be as a spurr to incite you to that which doth more import you then the dominion of the whole world You would be loth to Emperour of the universe upon condition to be perpetually tormented with the Stone or the Gout or to lye broyling upon a Gridiron and are you so willfully unwary as to cast your self into the flames of Purgatory upon a vain confidence that your friends or your children will fetch you out who perhaps have scarce a thought of you once in a twelvemonth You have no reason in the world to expect others should love you better then you love your self so that if you can finde in your heart to neglect your self it is a folly to expect others will have more care of you Sure it is not good going to heaven by proxy nor standing to anothers courtesy in what concerns the necessary refreshment and ease of our souls You that are so rich in worldly wealth but bare enough of solid vertue give but a tolerable excuse why you do not build a Chappell or an Hospital that good people remembring their founder may be daily pouring out their prayers for you both living and dead That which you often cast away at an unlucky throw at Dice would suffice that which you bury in a caprichious peece of building or devoure at an idle entertainment were more then enough Why do not you get a priviledged Alter in your own Parish or at least cause frequent Masses to be said at such Altars to release poore souls that others may be as kinde to you hereafter Why do not you send good store of Almes to poore prisoners that your charity may help to redeeme souls out of Purgatory You do nothing of all this and yet would be thought to be in your right senses which I look upon for my part as a meere paradox §. 7. Some motives fetcht even as farr as the other World to stirr us up to be mindefull of the dead CArdinal Cajetan has a singular tenet which will not a little help to promote piety deserves highly to be recorded as a Doctrine which suits well with the infinite goodness of our most just and mercifull God The question is what becomes of all the merit of those Masses and other suffrages which are offered for souls which are not in Purgatory some hold it is applied to their Parents Alliance or Frends others to those that are so frendless as to have no body to remember them others to them that stand in most need of help others will have it horded up with the rest of the Churches treasure A pious opinion of Cajetan But this learned Cardinal maintains that it goes all to relieve their soules who in this world were particularly addicted to pray for the dead And what can be more reasonable According Math. 7. 2. to the measure we deal out to others it shall be measured to Luc. 6. 38. us again give and there shall be given to you says Almighty God Who can lay a better claim to it then they For first the founders themselves were they but half acquainted with what passes in the other world cannot but be well pleased at it Then it is a powerfull incentive to encrease devotion in the hearts of all good Christians who may hope in their turnes to reap the like fruit of their charitable labours for the good of souls And who can find fault that such straggling suffrages which of right belong to no body should be so profitably employed This opinion is no Article of faith but is a very pious conjecture worthy of that most eminent Cardinal And me thinks I see the blessed souls themselves for whom these holy suffrages were offered to lye prostrate before the throne of God beseechiâ—g him to apply them to those needy souls who while they lived were so full of charity as to forget themselves to be sure to remember them Me thinks I see the other Saints in heaven who were handed out of Purgatory by the armes of charity to be joynt-petitioners and their good Angels also and all of them together to become earnest suitors to obtain this favour of Almighty God who is easily overcome in a suit of this nature which is so rational that the granting it must needs cry up his ineffable wisdome and mercy And I cannot but think that if the case were to be decided by the souls in Purgatory they would all unanimously agree that such suffrages as these which out of meer ignorance were misapplied to those that could make no benefit of them cannot
that means come to carry nothing with them but a shameful remorse which lies like an aspe at their breast continually knawing and devouring them I cannot deny then but the sault lyes at my dore and that I am deservedly thus neglected by my children And were I disposed to wish harm to any body I would wish them no greater mischief then that their children should serve them just as they have served me I say that the ungodly wretches may come hither and be as much neglected and forgotten as I am and see when it is too late what it is to trust to the kindness of children which is commonly buried in the same grave with their parents It is one of my greatest miseries that I have not the face to beg any comfort of God in my sufferings for whereas he clearly promised me all favour so I would but be good to the poore I have done the clean contrary putting more confidence in the uncertain performance of unworthy children then in the infallible truth of Gods word The only comfort I have left me in all my afflictions is that others will learn at my cost this clear maxim not to leave to others a matter of so near concerne as the ease and repose of their own souls but to provide for them carefully themselves O God! how dear have I bought this experience to see my fault irreparable and my miserie without redress One must have a heart of Steel or no heart at all to heare these sad regrets and not feel some tenderness for the poor souls and as great an indignation against those who are so little concerned for the souls of their parents and other neer relations I wish with all my soul that all those who shall light upon this passage and heare the soul so bitterly to deplore her misfortune may but benefit themselves half as much by it as a good Prelate did when the soul of Pope Benedict the eighth by Gods permission revealed unto him her lamentable state in Purgatory For so the story goes Baron an 1024. which is not to be questioned This Pope Benedict appears to the Bishop of Caprea and conjures him to go to his brother Pope John who succeeded him in the chayre of S. Peter and to beseech him for Gods sake to give great store of alms to poor people to allay the fury of the fire of Purgatory with which he found himself sorely tormented He furthen chargeâ— him to let the Pope know withall that he did acknowledge liberal alms had already been distributed for that purpose but had found no ease at all by it because all the mony that was then bestowed had been acquired unjustly and so had no power to pravaile bâ—fore the just tribunal of God for the obtaining of the least mercy The good Bishop upon this makes hast to the Pope and faithfully relates the whole conference that had passed between him and the soul of his predecessor and with a grave voice and lively accent exaggetates the necessity and importance of the business that in truth when a soul lies a burning it is in vain to dispute idle questions the best course then is to run instantly for water and to throw it on with both hands calling for all the help and assistance we can to relieve her that his Holiness should soon see truth of the vision by the wonderful effects which were like to follow All this he delivers so gravely and so to the purpose that the Pope resolves out of hand to give in charity vast summes out of his own certain and unquestionable revenue whereby the soul of Pope Benedict was not only wonderfully comforted but questionless soon released of her torments In conclusion the good Bishop having well reflected with himself in what a miserable condition he had seen the soule of a Pope who had the repute of a Saint and was really so it workt so powerfully with him that quitting his Mitre Crosier Bishoprick and all worldly greatnesse he shut himself up in a Monastery and there made a holy end chusing rather to have his Purgatory in the austerity of a Cloyster then in the flames of Pith. Baron an 874 the Church Patient I wish again they would in this but follow the example of King Lewis of France who was son to Lewis the Emperour sirnamed the Pious For they tell us that this Emperour after he had been 33. years in Purgatory not so much for any personal crimes or misdemeanours of his own as for permitting certain disorders in his Empire which he ought to have prevented was at length permitted to shew himself to King Lewis his sonne and to beg his favourable assistance and that the King did not onely most readily grant him his reqâ—est procuring Masses to be said in all the Monasteries of his Realm for the soule of his deceased Father but drew thence many good reflections and profitable instructions which served him all his life time after Do you the same and believe it though Purgatory fire is a kinde of Baptisme and is so stiled by some of the holy Fathers because it cleanses a soul from all the drosse of sinne and makes it worthy to see God yet is it your sweetest course here to baptize your self frequently in the tears of contrition which have a mighty power to wash away all the blemishes of sin and so prevent in your own person and extinguish in others those baptismal flames of Purgatory fire which are so dreadfull The Fifth Survey How all Antiquity was ever devoted to pray for the Dead THis charitable devotion for the dead is a thing so inbred and natural unto us all that we seem as it were to suck it in with the very milk of our Nurses Nor was there ever any people I do not say Christian but even Jewish or Heat henish which did not professe some Piety in this kinde As for the Jews it is well known The Jews pray for the dead to be their constant practise this day to pray for Souls departed and is confessed to be so by Purcas himself and other Modern Protestants And what their custome was when they had the priviledge of being the onely chosen people of Almighty God the Scripture it self bears witnesse especially where it relates the incomparable zeale which that valiant invincible Champion of Heaven Judas Machabeus had for the good of 2. Mach. 12. their Souls who had unfortunately been slain by their enemies Take his story in brief thus Having in several feirce encounters made such a slaughter of his enemies as to strew the fields over with dead Carcasses and to stain the Rivers with blood he caused a diligent search to be made for all those that had faln on his side to have them honourably enterred in the Sepulchers of their Fathers But the mischeif was that in stripping them of their Cloathes they discovered under their coates some unlawfull spoiles which they ought to have destroyed according to their
dead parents and all the obligations they have to the rest of their friends It will help somthing to encrease Diod. Sic. l. 17. c. 16. our confusion to reflect how Alexander the great behaved himself at the Funerals of his dear Hephestion They tell us he spent at least twelve thousand Talents that is above seven Millions and two hundred thousand Crowns upon his funeral pile It was beautified with a world of rich and goodly statues made of Ivory Ebony or some precious Mettal amongst others you might have seen curious Mermaides with exquisite musick lockt up within them Eagles Dragons and other beasts represented to life stately galleries hung with Scarlet richly embroydered triumphant crowns of pâ—â—e Gold torches fifteen cubits high perfumes without end O what an excess of love and superfluity was this what a stâ—r to make a handful of ashes of the carcass of a miserable damned wretch And yet all this was nothing Justin l. 1. Diod. Sic. l. 3. Bud. to the mad profuseness of that other infamous and desperate King who yet living built his own funeral pile and made himself and a world of treasure to the valew of fifty millions of Gold to be all consumed to ashes What reflections shall we make upon all this we that are scarse willing to spare a shilling to ease a soul that lies consuming in the flames of Purgatory Tell me dear Reader what would they not have done for souls they that bore so Religious a respect to the bones ashes and smal remainder of dead carcasses They first cloth'd themselves with black cypres wash'd their hands clean quencht the fire with milk and wine then they made a diligent search for the bones carefully raking them up out of the ashes they placed them in their bosomes wash'd them with their tears and their choysest wines dried them again and lapped them up in their finest linnen covered them over with roses and oâ—her costly perfumes and so reserved them in urns of glasse Ivory or porphyry and could never think they had done enough for them And can we Christians with the eye of our faith pierce the Earth and see poor souls burning in Purgatory fire and see them with dry eyes and with a frozen heart Can we be so niggardly as to grudge them a little comfort or refuse to cast on our Wine our Milk and our flowers the wine of our charity the Milk of our innocency and the flowers of our devout sighs and prayers to help to quench their flames Christ Jesus told the Jewes that the Queen of Saba would condemne them at the latter day and I fear Queen Artemifia Strabo l. 14. Diod. l. 16. will condemne uâ— for having built one of the seven miracles of the world in honor of her dear Lord and Husband not content with this exteriour deâ—onstration of the dutiful affection she had for him she took a strange resolution to drink up his ashes and to lodge them in her heart and so to make it good to the very letter that man and wife are indeed but one flesh one body and and soul have but one life and can die but one death What would she not have done to have lodged his soul in Heaven she that took such care to lodge his ashes in her breast What have you to say for your selves you unkind wives or what answer can you make you unnatural Children when she shall question you what care you took to provide a better mansion for the Souls of your Husbands or your Parents when they were lodged in the merciless flames of Purgatory fire Sure you are not sprung from that wicked race of barbarouâ— people who were wont to feast themselves with the flesh of their dead Parents and to justifie the fact by saying that it was Strabo Val. Max. better their bodies should be their meat then the meat of worms and that they could not do better then to lodge them in their own bodies and so to returne the curtesie they received when they were heretofore lodged in theirs I know this brutishness does not raigne amongst us at this present but alas there is another not unlike to it which is much in fashion for how many Childen gourmandize themselves with the riches of their parents drink up the sweat of their browes and devoure their goods without so much as dreaming what becomes of their Souls whether they broyl in glowing fire or starve in freezing cold Cruel wretches Is this the gratitude with which they honour their Parents Are they indeed children or rather are they not direct vultures and Tygers I should never make an end should I go about here to reckon up all the religious expressions of charity which the Pagans are known to have made to their dead friends and therefore I say nothing of the ten valiant captains Xenoph. l. 1 Pausan l. 2. that were slain for not fishing for the bodies of their souldiers and causing them to be buried which was a crime they held unpardonable I say as little of that pions custome of the Athenians who would confer no honour or dignity but upon those who were well known to have been all wayes very religious in burying their ancestours and honouring their tombes I take no notice of a world of sacrifices prayers and ceremonies which were constantly performed by the vestall virgins Priests and whole pagan Clergy nor of the stately mausoleums pyramisses colossusses and other stately monuments which were built in honour of the dead It grieves me to the very heart to consider that there are scarce any to be found in the whole world that make less reckoning of the dead then some loose and idle Christians and I know not how to be better revenged of them then to wish that in punnishment of their coldness and want of charity they may be just so served by their successors as they dealt with their predecessours It is the least they deserve for neglecting a piety which they might have learnt of the Pagans of the very beasts themselves for some have been so curious as to observe in the Ants that in their little cells they have not only a hall and agranary but a kind of churchyard also or a place deputed for burying of their dead §. 2. The constant practise of the Church in all ages to pray for the dead IT is a pleasure to observe the 1. Age. constant devotion of the church of Christ in all ages to pray for the dead And first to take my rise from the Apostles time there are many learned Interpreters will have that baptisme for the dead of which the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15. 29. to be meant only of the much fastâ—ng prayer almes-deeds and other voluntary afflictions which the first Christians undertook for the relief of their deceased friends But I need not fetch in obscure places to prove so clear an apostolical and early custome in Gods Church You may see a set forme of
Liturgia utrinsque St. Jacobi St. Math. St. Marci St. Clem. ep 1. St. Dion Eccles. hier c. 7. prayer for the dead prescribed in all the ancient liturgies of the Apostles Besiâ—es St. Clement tels us it was one of the chief heads of St. Peters sermons to be dayly inculcating to the people this devotion of praying for the dead and St. Denis sets down at large all the solemn ceremonies and prayers which were then used at funeralls and receaves them no otherwise then as apostolical traditions grounded upon the word of God and certainly it would have done you good to have seen with what gravity and devotion that venerable Prelate performed the divine office and prayer for the dead and what an ocean of tears he drew from the eyes of all that were present Let Tertullian speak for the next 2. Age. age He tells us how carefully devout people in his time kept Tertul. de cor mil. c. 3. the Aniversaries of the dead and made their constant oblations for de monogam c. 10. the sweet rest of their souls Here it is says this grave Author that the widow makes it appear whether or no she had any true love for her husband if she continue yearly to do her best for the comfort of his soul to neglect so necessary a peece of service were to tell the world how she joys in his death and was certainly long since divorced from him in affection Believe it all love is not expressed in setting out the solemnities of a noble fâ—â—eral hanging roomes in black and shutting out the sun at noonday to lye buried in darknes or appearing abroad with Coach and Lackies all in compleat Mourning Howling and crying and the like there is often more â—eremony or vanity in all this then love It is all rather to amuse the world then to benefit the poore Soule who God knows has more need of other helps then these vain shews of Pride and Ostentation All the day long you do nothing but whine and cry your deare Husband is gone and has left you such a debt and so great a charge of children to provide for that you know not which way to turn your self and all this while it is not in your thoughts what is become of this dear Husband of yours or what he suffers in the other world and what need he has of better comfort then can spring from your unnecessary lamentations Let your first care be to ransome him out of Purgatory and when you have once placed him in the Empireall heaven he will be sure to take care for you and yours I know your excuse is that having procured for him the accustomed Services of the Church you need doe no more for him for you verily believe he is already in a blessed state But this is rather a poore shift to excuse your own sloath and lazinesse then that you believe it to be so in good earnest For there is no man saye Origen l. 8. in Rom. c. 11. 3 d. age â—ut the Sonne of â—od can guesse how long or how many ages a soul may stand in need of the Purgation of fire Mark the word ages he seems to believe that a soul may for whole ages that is for so many hundred years be confined to this fiery lake if she be wholy left to her self and her own sufferings It was not without confidence 4 th â—ge Euseb l. 4. c. 60. 71 sayes Eusebius of reaping more fruit from the Prayers of the faithfull that the honour of our Nation and the first Christian Emperour Constantine the great took such care to be buried in the Church of the Apostles whether all sorts of devout people resorting to perform their Devotions to God and his Saints would be sure to remember so good an Emperour Nor did he faile of his expectation for it is incredible as the same Authour observes what a world of sighs and prayers were offered up for him upon this occasion Saint Athanasius brings an eligant q. 34. ad Antiochum comparison to expresse the incomparable benefit which accrews to the Souls in Purgatory by our Prayers As the Wine sayes he which is lockt up in the Cellar yet is so recreated with the sweet Odour of the flourishing Vines which are growing in the fields as to flower a fresh and to leap as it were for joy so the soules that are shut up in the center of the Earth feele the sweet incense of our Prayers and are exceedingly comforted and refreshed by it We do not busie our selves saies Saint Cyrill with plating crowns Cyril Hieros in Catechesi 5. mystag or strowing flowers at the Sepulchers of the dead but we lay hold on Christ the very sonne of God who was sacrificed upon the Crosse for our sins and we offer him up again to his eternal Father in the dreadfull Sacrifice of the Masse as the most efficacious means to reconcile him not only to our selves but to them also Saint Epiphanius stuok not to Heresi 7 5. blast Aerius for this damnable Heresie amongst others that he held it in vain to pray for the dead as if our prayers could not availe them Saint Ambrose prayed heartily S. Ambr. in Orat. in Fun. Theodosii for the good Emperour Theodosius as soon as he was dead and made open profession that he would never give over praying for him till he had by his Tears and Prayers conveyed him safe to the holy Mountain of our Lord whether he was called by his merits and where there is true life everlasting He had the same kindnesse for Oratione in Fun. Valent. in fun Satyr the soules of the Emperour Valentinian the same for Gratian the same for his Brother Satyrus and others he promised them Masses Tears Prayers and that he would never forget them never give over doing charitable Offices for Conc. Carth 3. can .. 29. them And much about this time it was that some out of too much care that the dead should as soon as might be have all the comfort they could afford them were grown into an abuse of making no scruple of saying Mass for them after Dinner so that it was sound necessary that the Church should make a severe decree against it Will you honour the Dead 5. Age. sayes Saint Chrysostome do not spend your selves in unprofitable lamentations chuse rather to sing Psalms to give Alms and to lead holy lives Doe for them that which they would willingly do for themselves were they to return again into the world and God will accept it at your hands as if it came from them Saint Augustine is every where very full of this subject but it may abundantly suffice here to set down a part of the ardent prayer which he made for his good Mother after her death Hearken to me I beseech thee O my God for Lib. 9. Confesse c. 13. his sake who is the true medicine of our wounds who hung
a world of Masses to be said and a world of almes to be distributed in lieu of other idle expences and fruitless lamentations There is one in the world to 11. Age. whom I bear an immortal envy and such an envy as I never mean to repent It is the holy Abbot Odilo who was the Authour of an invention which I would willingly have found out though with the loss of my very heart blood Take the story as it passed thus Sigeb in Chron. an 998. A devout religious man in his returne from Hierusalem meets with a holy hermite in Sicily he assures him that he ofteâ— heard the Devils complaine that souls were so soon discharged of their torments by the suffrages of the faithful and particularly by the devout prayers of the Monkes of Cluny who never ceased to power out their prayers for them This the good man carries to Odilo then Abbot of Cluny he praises God for his great mercy in vouchsafing to hear the innocent prayers of his monkes and presently takes occasion to command all the Monasteries of his order to keep yearly the Commemoration of all souls next after the feast of all Saints A custome which by degrees grew into such credit that the Caâ—â—olick Church thought sit to establish it all over the Christian world to the incredible benefit of poor souls and singular encrease of Gods glory For who can sum up the infinite number of souls who have been freed out of Purgatory by this holy invention or who can express the glory which accrued to this good Abbot who thus fortunately made himself Procuratour general of the suffering Church and furnished her people with such a considerable supply of necessary relief to alleviate the insupportable burthen of their suffrings St. Bernard would triumph 12. Age. Ser. 66. in Cant. when he had to deal with Hereticks that denied this piviledg of communicating our suffrages and prayers to the souls in Purgatory And with what fervour he would apply himself to this charitable employment of relieving poor souls may appear by the care he took for good Humbertur Ser. de obitu Humberti thogh he knew him to have lived and died in his Monasteâ—â— so like a Saint that he could scarce find out the fault in him which might deserve the least punishment in the other world unless it were to have been too rigourous to himself and too careless of his health which in a less spiritual eye then that of St. Pernard might have passed for a great virtue But it is worth your hearing that In vita Malach which he relates of blessed St. Malachy who died in his very bosome This holy Bishop as he lay a sleep hears a sister of his lately dead making lamentable moane that for thirty dayes together she had not eaten so much as a bit of bread He starts up out of his sleep and taking it to be more then a dream he concludes the meaning of the vision was to tell him that just thirty dayes were now past since he had said Mass for her as probably believing she was already where she had no need of his prayers For this indeed is the ordinary excuse wherewith many use to â—â—â—â—ke their idleness God be with him he was a good soul he is certainly in Heaven ere this there is no more need to pray for him c. whereas God knows heaven is not so easily purchased as fooles imagine Howsoever this worthy Prelate so plyed his Prayers after this that he soon sent his Sister out of Purgatory and it pleased God to let him see by the daily change of her habit how his Prayers had purged her by degrees and made her fit company for the Angels and Saints in Heaven For the first day she was covered all over with black Cypresse the next she appeared in a Mantle something whitish but of a dusky colour but the third day she was seen all clad in white which is the proper Livery of the Saints What think you now sayes Saint Bernard is not the Kingdome of Heaven got by violence Did not Saint Malachy force it by storming were not his Prayers like stroaks of a 〈◊〉 like engine to make a breach in heaven for his sister to enter at Sweet Jesus you that suffer this violence are your self the cause of it the good Prelate breaths nothing but what you have inspired him so sweet are you in your Mercies so faithfull in your Promises and so powerfull in your divine wonders Thus far Saint Bernard But I cannot let passe in silence one very remarkable passage which happened to these two great servants of God Saint Malachy had passionately desired to dye at Claravallis in the hands of devout Saint Bernard and this on the day immediately going before All Souls day and it pleased God to grant him his request It fell out then that while Saint Bernard was saying Masse for him in the midle of Masse it was revealed to him that Saint Malachy was already glorious in Heaven whether he had gone straight thither out of this world or whether that part of Saint Bernards Masse had freed him out of Purgatory is uncertain but Saint Bernard hereupon changed his note for having begun Masse of Requiem he went on with a Masse of a Bishop and Confessour to the great astonishment of all the standers by O t is good to have such devout Masses said presently after ones death t is good to dye in so good hands as will not quit you till they have conducted you safe to the Quire of Angels Saint Thomas of Aquin that 13. Age. great Champion of Purgatory gave God particular thanks at his death for not onely delivering a soule out of Purgatory at the instance of his Prayers but also permitting the same soule to be the messenger of so good news Durand argues the case thus Sure Christian charity has more 14. Age. In 4. d. 45. power with Almighty God then a mere natural friendship can have with the civill Magistrate now it has been often seen that a condemned person has been quit at the earnest entreaty or voluntary satisfaction of their friends Stories are full of such courteous Civilities How can we then make any question but that God will as easily be moved to release holy soules out of Purgatory at the sweet importunity of their friends tears prayers sufferings here upon earth It was a laudable custom in some Countries that if a chast Virgin should present her self at the place of Execution to beg a Fellon for her husband her request was granted and the poor criminal was with great joy instantly conveyed from the gallowes to a nuptial feast This custome though now out of date may yet serve to tell us that Almighty God will not deny to set a soule free from the punishment of all her misdemeanours if we beg it earnestly at the hands of his infinite mercy And now we are come down to the fifteenth
Age where the 15. Age. Conc. Flor. in decreto Fathers of the Council of Florence both Greeks and Latins with one consent declare the same faith and constant practise of the Church thus handed down to them from Age to Age since Christs and his Apostles time as we have seen viz. that the souls in Purgatory are not only relieved but translated into heaven by the Prayers Sacrifices Almes and other charitable workes which are offered up for them according to the custome of the Catholick Church Nor did their posterity degenerate or vary the least from this received doctrine untill Luthers time when the holy 16. Age. Trid. sess 25 Council of Trent thought fit againe to lay down the sound doctrine of the Church in opposition to all our late Sectaries And I wish all Catholicks were but as forward to lend their helping hands to lift souls out of Purgatory as they are to believe they have the power to do it and that we had not oftner more reason then the Roman Emperour to pronounce the day lost since we let so many dayes pass over our heads and so many faire occasions slip out of our hands without easing or releasing any souls out of Purgatory when we might do it with so much ease The Sixth Survey Of twelve excellent means to prevent Purgatory or to provide so for our selves as not to make any long stay there BEhold the most important point of all others the secret of secrets and the true knack of all state affairâ—s in this world They talke of certain waterâ— which have so strange a power to dull the edge of fire that if one wash his hands with them he can receive no prejudice though he should thrust them afterwards into the fire or into boyling lead The preservatives I am here to treate of are of a higher nature they do not curbe the restless activity of this our sublunary fire which is bent only against dull bodies but they arme us against the raging fire of Purgatory which God has prepared to torment our very souls in the other world §. 1. The first perfect contrition ONe of the surest means to avoide Purgatory is to dye with teares in our eyes and St. Th. supp q. 5. a. 3. true contrition in our heâ—rts For Divines teach that our contrition may be so great â—s to wash away all those spots of sin which Purgatory â—â—re was otherwise to have words off And therefore as I take it to be a grâ—â—t piece of folly to defer the exercise of so precâ—ous â—n aâ—â— unto the houre of our death so I esteem it one of the most solid devotions of all others to accustome our selves to it all our life time that by daily frequenting such acts we may at length get such a habite and facility in them as with Gods grace to have them at our call when we come to dye All must not look for the same priviledge which the good thief had at the last gaspe It was but little that he sayd but he spoke it with so cordial an accent that he deserved to heare those comfortable words of our blessed Saviour This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise and soon found them verified by a present fruition of the beatifical vision Almighty God is pleased sometimes to make so forceable an entry into the heart of man and to set it so desperately on fire with his divine love that there is no remedy but to dye between the armes of love and griefe and thrice happy are those souls that loose their lives in this divine encounter and dye in the amourous flames of ardent charity they are sure never to feel the murthering flames of Purgatory Such was the death of our blessed Lady St. John Evangelist and infinite others who have been straight carried into heaven out of this world upon the wings of love or contrition so that a heart that is well seasoned with contrition or steeped in a bath of salt tears is like the heart of Prince Germanicus which Tacit. Ann. being washed over with a certain precious liqour could not be consumed by the fire which turned all the rest of his body to ashes This is that they call a good Peccavi but it must be a good one indeed for it is not every ordinary and triviall kind of sorrow which can work such wonders Those that have been long used to actuate themselves in those generous acts of contrition may be full of confidence that the mercy of God will not faile them at the houre of their death and that their good Angels will be then ready when it most imports to inspire them with all the best motives of true contrition since they have gone all along with them still furnishing them with such good thoughts and with so much good success that their hearts have been a thousand times broken with a lively amorous and cordial contrition and repentance for their sins And certainly they that dye either in the fire of so ardent a love or in the water of so piercing a grief need not feare the fire of Purgatory for that fire says St. Bonaventure was not made for them So that methinks this charity may be fitly compared to the Seraphin at the gates of Paradise brandishing his flaming sword which Tertulian calls the porâ—er Romphaeâ— janitrix Faradisi of Paradise grief is the edge love the fire wherewith it is inflamed and he that has this flaming sword has heaven gates at coâ—mand and goes strait thither when he leaves the world § 2. The Second to dye in Religion ANother safe way to escape Purgatory is to live and die in a good Religious order and at his death to renew and Ad fratres de monte dei à coella in coelum c. ratifie his Religious vowes To prove this I first call St. Bernard to witness who doubts not to assure us that there is a ready if not an uninterrupted passage into Heaven out of a Religious cell Next I appeal to those learned and holy Doctours who give it for a certain sign of Predestination to die in Religion because Christ has in a manner sworn in his holy Gospel to give a hundred fold and life everlasting Plat. de bonâ— stat Relig. to all those that shall leave Father Mother and other worldly concernments for his sake From whence it is that holy Church permits the superiours of divers Religious orders to make this solemne promise at the profession of their novicies for they have no sooner made their Vowes of Poverty c. But the superiour answers And I Child do promise thee Paradise and eternal life 3. Many Popes have granted a Sixt Greg. 13. Greg. 14. Plenary Indulgence in forme of a Jubily to all Religious persons that either by word of mouth or in their hearts call upon the sacred names of Jesus Maria at the hour of their death And what Religious person is there that does it not
either when he dies or not long before not only once but a thousand times To say nothing that many are of opinion that they gain this Jul. 2. bull Indulgence at the hour of their death whether they pronounce the words or no. For as other Indulgences are gained by visiting certain Churches saying certain prayers giving almâ—â— or exercising such other acts of vertue the supream Pastour of the Church thought no act more worthy of a Jubily then to die in a Religious order in the actual profession of voluntary poverty chastity and obedience with final perseverance in the austerity of a Religious life and a patient acceptance of death as from the holy hand of God â—et us then suppose a good Religious man to come to die and besides the common benefit of the Sacraments and other holy rites of the Catholick Church let him gain this Plenary Indulgence which the Popes grant as freely and with as much assurance as any other have we not all the reason in the world to hope that he goes immediately into Heaven or at most does but make a swift passage through Purgatory or rather as we read of many in the Ecclesiastical History takes it in his way to have the company of some of his friends there whom he has the priviledge to lead away with him in triumph into Heaven 4. Who can better deserve to go directly into heaven then they whose lives are a continual Purgatory They go in rough hair shirts pine themselves with rigourous fasts tear of their flesh with cruel disciplines drink up their own tears live of nothing but mortifications and perpetual hardships and thus abundantly satisfie for all the sins they have committed and for those they never dreamt of but had rather dya thousand times then commit They that have no will but that of their superiour they that breath nothing but holy sighs and burn with ardent charity how can they burn in Purgatory fire 5. Divines furnish me with another pregnant proofe and it is this It is certain say they that a solemne Profession in Religon brings with it a plenary Indulgence or remission of all their sinâ— not only because it is a second Baptisme or a lingring kind of martyrdom which is not compleated in a few moments as other Martydomes are but also because in the opinion of the angelical 2. 2. 4. ult a. 3. Doctour it is so sublime and eminent an act as surpasses all other acts in this life so that if Daniel says he could say that by giving a little almes we may blot out our sins what may we not say of this supereminent act of liberality by which a man gives unto God all his goods and present possessions with all his fair hopes of improving them his body his life his honour his will his soul with a million of worlds if hâ— had them in his power The same holy Doctour says else-where that a man who sacrifices his will unto God the most noble portion of his soul and makes it to become his eternal slave gives God ful satisfaction for all his misdemâ—â—uours since a pure creature cannot present him with a more noble gift then to make him an entire Holocaust of that which is dearest unto him in this world which is his will and the absolute soveraignty over himself and all his concernes Others go yet Su. verb. Religio n. 27 c. further and assure us that as often as a good Religious man renews this his profession he makes a new purchase of the same favour and obtaines an entire pardon of all the pain due to his sins and that these and the like priviledges are not tied only to solemne vowes but are common to all vows that make up the substance of a Religious man of what order soever in Gods Church And they say withall that these favours are not in the nature of indulgences granted by his Holiness but are inseparably annexed unto the vowes themselves which are so generous and so precious acts in the sight of God that they move his goodness to blot out the remembrance of their sins and to cancel out a great part if not all the pain which was due for them Now put all this together and it will necessarily follow that since the Pope on the one side grants a Jubily unto all religious at the houre of their death and since they have it in their power on the other side to renew their vowes before they dye by which act they may fully satisfy for all their sins there cannot be a greater assurance of going directly into heaven then theirs who have as I told you this double security of a general pardon that one way or other they can scarce sayl to obtain it What shall I say now of their perfect resignation unto the will of God their invincible patience their love of God their Virginal purity their exact and punctual obedience with a million of other divine acts of vertue which are so incident and connatural to a religious vocation all which no doubt stand ready to assist them at the last houre and to show them heaven gates open and ready to receive them and howsoever to assure them that their stay cannot be long in Purgatory since they leave behind them so many of their own order who will be sure to ply them with Masses Indulgencies and other charitable works for their speedy deliverance §. 3. The third To bâ— an Apostolical Preacher A Third meanes to redeem Purgatory is to be a zealous and apostolical Preacher for as this is a life of eminent perfection and incredible merit so is it extream painful and may well passe for a Purgatory in this life But observe that I speak of an Apostolical Preacher or of one that is full of divine fire or a holy zeal for the good of souls I mean not those that preach themselves those that desire to be admired and adored for Oracles those that profane the word of God with their vain glosses idle applications and affected eloquence seeking nothing more then worldly applause and really destroying by their life and conversation all they build up in the pulpit St. Paul compares such vaine Preachers to crackt trumpets and broken bells which make a noise indeed but are altogether useless They send others to heaven sayd St. Xaverius and go Gods knows whether themselves St. Gregory likens them to the water of baptisme which entitles children to the kingdom of heaven and is it self conveyed into some noysome sinke and there turnes to corruption I speak then of a Preacher who is a man of God one that does what he says and says what he does one that ayms at nothing but the salvation of souls preaches to a few or to many in Cities or Villages Princes Courts or poor Hospitals with the same fervour of spirit One that rents their hearts in sunder and draws floods of tears from their eyes one that preaches like another St. Paul
trouble in her afflictions Fourthly He was sensible enough of his pain and would complain of it sometimes I say complain do you think Saints have bodies of Steele but betweeen one complaint and anoother he would be often thus sweetly interposing O my God I desire thy will may be fulfilled in all things and nothing else but thy will I am willing that thou handle this my body and all that belongs to me according to thy divine pleasure both in time and eternity Now tell me dear reader canst thou not do all this as well as this poore paralytick who lived for no other end but to be dying a lingring death all the dayes of his miserable and yet thrice happy life Will you have a soule so holy and so plyable â—o Gods will be thrown into Purgatory fire Sure said St. Austine if he meant to damn us in the other world he would not damn us in this to a Hell of most loathsome and intollerable diseases and I may say the like here that if God meant to punish his servaâ—ts in Purgatory after this life he would not punish them here in a Purgatory of miseries His goodnesse is not wont to punish the same fault twice Go into Hell and purgatory while you live cried In illud descendant in infernam St Bernard and you will be sure not to go thither after your death for it is not reasonable that you should have two Purgatories or two Hels Alas no And this is the cause why God to save his friends from those horrible torments of Purgatory fire sends them good store of crosses and afflictions in this world which are nothing so painfull and yet are highly meritorious in his sight Hom. 8. in c. 3. ad Colon. whereas the other are but pure sufferings Hear Saint Chrysostome The tongue that praises God in the midest of afflictions is not inferiour to the tongues of Martyrs and likely they may have both the same reward If a man praise God and give him thanks in his sufferings it is reputed as a kinde of Martyrdome and would you have a Martyr go to Purgatory he that findes heaven open and ready to receive him For as Emissenus saies very well the Heavens are not onely open to Saint Steven but unto all Martyrs and unto all that suffer and die with the name of Jesus in their mouths constancy in their hearts and fidelity in theirs souls The works of patience according to St. James are perfect and that which is perfect Jac. 1. ows nothing to Purgatory nor can Purgatory refine that which is already perfect no more then our fire can refine gold of twenty foure carrats that is so pure as not to have the least mixture or drosse or impurity § 7. The seventh Devotion for the Souls in Purgatory SHall I deal candidly with you one of my chief moâ—ives of publishing this Treatise was to perswade you this truth that one of the best means to prevent Purgatory is to have a great tendernesse and a particular care to comfort the souls there to spare nothing that can further their deliverance in a word to make your self a general Agent for this suffering Church to sollicite for their eternal rest Take now the proofs of this Assertion and the whole strength of my discourse 1. Christ said in plain terms In what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again that is you shall be dealt withall in some manner as you deale with others Mat. 7. So that if you have beat your brains and employed all your endeavours to help the souls in Purgatory and have really delivered some before their time it is but reason that this your charity should be requited with a like return and with a hundred fold besides and heaven at the end of it Methinks â—our case is not unlike to that of the prudent Abigail King David was so highly incensed 1 Reg. 25. against the ungratefull Nabal that he swore to pursue him and his whole Family with Fire and and Sword and to turn all into ashes For all this Abigail ventured to meet him with a Present and did it with so good a grace that she soon made up the breach and saved all For David after some little dispute with his anger grew calmer forgave all so sent her away joyfully in peace The application is easie T is true you have played the ungratefull Nabal you have offended God so far as to provoke his high displeasure so that he may seem to deale favourably with you if he sends you into Purgatory But you have with all played Abigails part in sending him as many gratefull Presenâ—s as you have breathed out fervent Prayers for the souls in Purgatory and with these you have made your peace so as you may look to be dismissed in peace into the Kingdome of Heaven 2. Take a second reason of St. Peter who exhorts us above all things to have charity for one another because charity covereth the multitude of sins For since it is the greatest Charity in the world to 1 Pet. 4. help poore souls out of Purgatory as I proved at large in the third Survey those that devote themselves wholly to this Service may be confident so to cover their sins as to put them out of the reach of Purgatory fire When Gibellin had straightly besieged Guelph Duke of Bavary and forced him to surrender his Town upon such hard Parud l. 2. c. 70. terms as that the women onely were permitted to secure themselves and to take away with them what they could carry upon their backs but as for the men they were to remain at mercy exposed to the fury of the fire and sword The good women laying their heads together found out this strange expedient to save their husbands as well as themselves for every one taking her husband upon her back and what else she was able to carry about her they marched out of the town Never was man so struck with astonishment as Gibellin was at this fight and though he might have disputed their passage as not consisting with the true meaning of the Articles yet was he so taken with so rare astratageme and strange example of a true conjugal love that â—he suffered them all to pass freely to the admiration of the whole world And surely we may hence conclude that all those who have so much love for the poor souls in Purgatory as to carry them as it were upon their backs out of their miserable thraldome will find heaven gates open and all the blessed spirits ready to receive them with acclamations of joy for so sweet an excess of charity 3 It is not possible that they who have been thus ransomed out of Purgatory by the ardent zeal of their friends here should not hold themselves obliged to restitution to return I say the like charity to the souls of their benefactours when they leave the world How can those happy souls that
swim in the ocean of overflowing charity chuse but employ all their power and interest to make them so But sure I need not go about to multiply reasons in a case so clear of it self so full of piety and heavenly decency I will only minde you of what I told you elsewhere out of Cajetan how reasonable a thing it is that all those holy strayes or wandring suffrages which are offered up for such souls as are not in Purgatory should be applied unto them that had a particular affection and devotion to help souls out of that fiery dungeon and this certainly will be a means to fetch them out quickly if they ever come there §. 8 The Eighth To be a great Alms-giver THe Eighth means to prevent Purgatory is to be very liberal and tender hearted to the poore The holy Ghost teaches us as much in most emphatical and comfortable words some whereof I have chosen to lay down before you with a desire to imprint them in your hearts Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning Ps 40. the needy and the poor in the evill day our Lord will deliver him our Lord preserve him and give him life and make him blessed in the land and deliver him not to the will of his enemies Our Lord helpe him in the bed of his sorrow These words need no gloss For what is this evill day but the day of particular judgment at the houre of death since it is the great critical day and the most considerable moment upon which eternity depends Now he â—â—â—ls us that God will deliver him this day from what I pray you if not from eternal fire and from the dreadfull fire of Purgatory according to the measure of his charity and liberality to the poor He tells us again that he will make him happy in this day out of which I conclude that he shall not goe into Purgatory for how can he be happy that day if he lye in flames of fire Call you this to deliver a man from evil to plunge him over head and ears in a fiery gulf St. Chrysologus spoke with a Serm. 8. grace when he sayd that charity will not suffer a great almes-giver to be layd in fire but will appeal from the sentence and more God to cancel his own Decree and in a word will have him to be saved and all this with so sweet a violence says the same Saint that God had rather alter his decree then contristate mercy and charity when they pleade with such power for a great alms-givâ—â— Let us heare the holy Ghost once more I pray you Water quenches burning fire and almes resisteth sins God is the Eccl. 3. 4 beholder of him that rendreth grace he remembreth him afterwards and in the time of his fall he shall find a sure stay Sonne bow down thy eare to to the poor without sadness be merciful to pupills as a Father and as a Husband to their Mother and thou shalt be as the obedient sonne of the highest and he will have mercy on thee more then a mother O God what sweet words are these when he is about to fall he shall find a sure stay when he is ready to sink into Purgatory he shall be held up he shall be strengthned he shall be raysed above the firmament he shal be carried into Paradise What would a loveing Mother do less if it were in her power And since God has given us his word that he will be more then a Mother to such charitable souls that is have a greater tenderness and love for them is it credible that he will suffer them to fall into Purgatory or if justice require some satisfaction there is it not likely that all means will be used to remove them out of hand The Cesars crownd themselves with laurell as fancying it to be a sure protection against fire from heaven but I may safely say that a merciful soul all covered over with laurels olive branches and refined gold of charity cannot be struck with fire from heaven and has as little reason to feare the fire of Purgatory It is better sayd St. Chrysostome Hom. 39. ad pop to give an almes to the poor then to worke a miracle or to raise a dead man for in this you are beholding to God but in that God is beholding to you And therefore since God is indebted to you tell him plainly you will be payd with no other coyn but thaâ— of Paradise if he thinke of sending you to Purgatory tell him you will be first payd what he is pleased to owe you for he has promised yâ—â— life everlasting and therefore let him first place you in Paradise and you will have leasure there to talke of Purgatory It was an answer worthy of eternal memory that of the good Count Thiband of Champagne A. poore Gentleman fell at his feet with tears in his eyes saying my Lord you are the Father of the poor I have two daughters to marry and have no way to compass it having nothing in the world to give them those poor creatures are utterly lost if you take not pitty on them and me your most humble servant and therefore I beseech your honour to have mercy on us The two poor young women were all this while on their knees as beautiful as the sun their eyes humbly cast down upon the ground and their faces covered with a modest and virginal blush when out steps a ruffiâ—n like courtier his name was Arrant and rudely tells the poor Gentleman it was a pritty fight indeed to see him beg an almes with his sword by his side Besides he was to know that the Count was not for nothing surnamed the bountiful for he had given away so much that he had no more left to bestow How replied the Count that 's not so I have yet something left God be thanked and enough too to bestow upon the good Gentleman for I am willing to part with thee and to yeild up unto him all the interest I have in thee Take him friend continued he and be sure you do not part with him till he has bestowed both your daughters This he sayd and it fell out so in good earnest for the Courtier was glad at his own charge to provide competent portions for the two poor young women and all France admired and highly extolled the Count for his purdent carriage of the whole business Can you find in your heart to condemn such a brave Prince to Purgatory after he has left many such charitable examples behind him one I say that has given so much away in pious uses that he has no more to give one that would willingly have sold himself after all to make an almes of the price to our blessed Saviour in the person of those poor innocent doves The Angel Raphael deserves credit when he tells us in express tearms that it is better to give almes then to lay up treasures of Tâ—â— 12.
4. c. 27. Abbot that this fact of Matius was as pleasing to God as that of Abraham and that he should be eternally blessed for it Go now and cast this soul into Purgatory who stuck not to cast his only Son into the River at the command of his superiour and when you have done will they not sooner think you cast in the whole River which was thus blessed by a perfect act of obedience and so quench the flames then suffer her to lye burning there Mutius did but once cast his son into the River and how many Religious souls out of the same spirit of obedience expose themselves a thousand times to all dangers both by Sea and Land and after all this must they needs visit Purgatory in their way to heaven It seems boldly said of St Austin Tract 10. in Joan. that the blessed Virgin was happier in obeying God then in being the Mother of God and yet Christ himself said as much in express tearms For when by way of applauding him they were crying up her Luc. 11. 27. 28. happy that had the honour to be his Mother and to nourish him with the milk of her breasts he sudainly replied that he took them to be happy indeed that heard his word and put it in Practise Luc. 8. 21. and another time when they had told him that his good Mother and his brothers stood without waiting for him who say he are my brothers and whom do you call my Mother whosoever does the will of my Father he is my Mother my brothers and my whole parentage Now to our purpose if an obedient person have the honour to bear this honorable title of being the brother and even the Mother of God can God so far neglect this brother and mother of his as to leave them in Purgatore fire The Abbess one day commanded S. Catherine of Bolognia that for the love of God and the excercise of l. 1. vite ejus obedience she would enter into a burning furnace The Saint runs away instantly and doubtless would have thrown herself in had not the Religious stood in the way to hinder her It is not a crime 1 de civ c. 1 says St. Austin to be thus prodigal of our lives and even like Samson to make our selves away when God requires it No this is no crime but a pious holocaust offered upon the Altar of obedience and will you then kill a man that is already dead will you burn him in Purgatory that is already consumed in the holy flames of obedience God does not use to punish or purge the same fault twice and therefore a soul that has been once purged in the fire of obedience hath no need of being purged again in the fire of Purgatory O what a thing it is to be obedient cried Gerard as he lay a dying in St. Bernards armes I have been carried before Gods high tribunal and have seen the power of obedience no body shall ever perish that is truly obedient but when he comes to die shall mount above the quires of Angels Arch-angels and Apostles according to the merit of his obedience and with this he died Must Angels Arch-angels Apostles and those that are in the same degree of perfection be thrust into Purgatory fire Is it reasonable that they should be confined to so loathsome a prison that made themselves voluntary prisoners under the severe government of obedience I am resolved said H. David to fear no evils of what ragged nature soever they be Ps 22. so long as thou my God dost lead me by the hand though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death in the very suburbs of hell which is Purgatory I will feare nothing for thy rod and thy staff wherewith thou dost governe and direct me to do thy holy will in all occasions will be my sure comfort and protection An obedient man speaks nothing but victories says the holy Ghost in the Proverbs What victories Such as St. Dorotheus Pro. c. 21. 28 Doct. 1. describes when he tells us that a soul being scated in her triumphant chariot drawn by humility and obedience treads all underfoot and with a swift motion steeres her course up to heaven If humility and obedience be her horses they will not easily convey her into Purgatory for they know not the way thither but only into heaven their own native country where they will be surâ— to leave this triumphant and victorious soul in the joyful fruition of eternal happiness Take away self-will and there will be no hell cries St. Bernard If obedience can put out hell fire Ser. 1. de resur she most needs have power to put out the fire of Purgatory What a solid comfort must this be to religious souls who have given themselves over to the practice of this vertue and to all those that living in the world yet do nothing of their own heads but are constantly ruled by the will of God It is a strange but very true observation Bonau c. 13 reg noviâ— to 7. of St. Gregory and of St. Bonaventure that God who is invincible will yet suffer himself to be overcome by the obedience of his servants so far as even to obey them I say obey for it is the very expression he uses himselfe in the case of Josua who is said to have stopped the sun in his full carreere because God was pleased to obey the voice of his obedient servant If this be so that God will refuse nothing to an obedient soul let her aske him to be freed from Purgatory and she will not be denied it who never denied him any thing And without all doubt it is as easy for her to curb the fire of Purgatory as to stop the sweet motion of the heavens You then that are obedient know your power you may appeale from God to God in case he should sentence you to Purgatory you may boldly claim his promise of denying you nothing and then you will be sure to make it in your bargain to have nothing to do with Purgatory but to go straight into heaven there to enjoy him for ever The Conclusion IT is now high time to conclude this § and with it the whole Treatise And I cannot leave you better then in heaven whether I have brought you if you will your self for you see it is in your power to make your way thither without passing through Purgatory Believe mee it is no trifling matter but the most important business we have to do in this world to purchase heaven and to purchase it so as to have right to take possession of it immediately after we have left this world Christ our Saviour tells us that the kingdome of heaven suffers violence and that they must be both violent and valliant that run away with it where St. Ambrose observes well S. Amb. in Luc. that God loves to be forced and that they which importune him most and use the greatest violence are the men he makes most of Take courage then deare Reader take courage imitate the good thief snatch heaven out of his hands steal away his Paradise do something worthy of him worthy of your self and worthy of Paradise If no better means occur to you at least strive to to be hugely concerned for the poor souls in Purgatory pray often devoutly for them and procure that good store of Masses may be said for their relief You have the ell in your hands by which you may measure out your 〈◊〉 happiness says the devout Salvianus be charitable to others and they will be no less to you The time is not long that is allowed you to sojourn in this world in this little time be sure you make the Saints in heaven and the souls in Purgatory your friends that they be obliged to help you in your greatest need Learne at least by these discourses to have a tender heart for the poor souls and to use your uttermost endeavours to go your self directly into heaven out of this wiâ—ked world It is the thing I earnestly beg of Gods infinite mercy for you and for my self at the instance of your good prayers For though I must acknowledge I have de 〈◊〉 〈…〉 â—easoâ—â—â— take 〈…〉 â—our to be sentâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 to lye there as â—any months and years aâ—â—â— shall please God yet I confess ingenuously I have no great minde to either place â—ut only to heaven which I beseech God by the merits of my dear Saviour and by the plenary indulgence of his most infinite mercy to grant us all Amen Et Fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace Amen FINIS
and draws his sermons out of the Pentatuke of the five wounds of his redeemer one that after he has done all he can believes he is an unprofitable servant unworthy to open his mouth or to tread upon the earth Such a one in my opinion if he die in the exercise of his holy function either goes not at all to Purgatory or stays not there This was the case of one Cherubin a famous Hist St. Fran. 3. p. l. 7. c. 2. Preacher of the Order of St. Francis who before he died had the comfort to see St. Hierome whom he had chosen for his peculiar Pation and with him three thousand souls all saved by his meanes who assured him that they were sent expresly by Almighty God to carry him into heaven and so to requite him for shewing him the way thither in his zealous sermons Not unlike unto this is that story which I touched elsewhere out of Cardinal Baronius He tels us that Annal. Eccl. an 716. St. Boniface saw a holy Abbot at his death surrounded with divels and much terrified see them so insolent as to cry out his soul was theirs when he behold his good Angel appears at the head of a white troop of blessed souls who after a solemn profession that they had been all saved by him gave him the comfort to understand that they had brought an express commission to convey him instantly into heaven But you long now to have me paint you out such a Preacher for though there may be many that sooth themselves up with a vain perswasion that they are the men yet if we sift a little narrowly into them we shall possibly find so much vanity so much care of esteem so many by ends and so many other imperfections to steale into their sermons that we may safely say there are but very few Apostolical preachers indeed and such as seek only Gods cause and the good of souls Take an exact Idea from one The Idea of an Apostolical Preacher that lived but in the last Age. Father Gonzales Silveria of the Society of Jesus scarce ever went up into the pulpit without a hairshirt and would say a man must be well armed who goes to fight against vice It was also very usuall with him to encounter Goliah with Davids sling to make a bloody discipline and so to mount up into the Pulpit and there like thunder to carry all before him He had for the most part but five books for his Library to wit his breviary the Bible the lives of Saints a crucifix and the picture of our Blessed Lady In these five books he studied for all his sermons and certainly the thunder boltâ— of his admirable eloquence were framed in the heart of his crucified Lord the best furnace of divine love the sweet flowers of his Rhetorick were steeped in the milke of the Virgin his trops and figures and the whole variety of his sermons were borrowed out of the word of God and the admirable lives of his Saints and lastly the religious and devout performance of his dayly task of divine office and holy Masse gave fire to his discourses wherewith he did not only heat but inflame the hearts of his auditours He would preach you twice or thrice a day and would do it the more willingly in the meanest places to the poorest people His common lodging was the Hospital where he contented himself with a spare diet and gross fare he was never observed to be over nice and coy of his sermons nor required he much time to make them with applause The only thing he had before his eyes was the glory of God and helpe of souls and his life preached more then his tongue for he really acted more in his own person then he taught others As for his manner of preaching it was rather powerful then charming and fitter to break their hearts then please their eares Such was his fervour that he poured his whole heart and his whole zeal out of his mouth and he would be so transported with this zeal as not to take notice of any thing else Once as he was Preaching he struck his hand upon a sharpe naile which stuck out in the Pulpit and made it bleed so extreamly that the whole Auditory took notice of it and some of the devout women courteously offered their handkerchiefs to bind up the wound and stop the bleeding and all this while the good man neither saw handkerchief nor naile nor blood nor took the least notice of any thing till after his sermon when the wound being grown cold he was heard to wonder how the blood came there and to complain that his hand put him to some paine Another time preaching in the Queen of Portugals chappel he had put himself into such a heat that his mouth being clammed up he could scarce get out his words when the Queen perceiving it called for an Ewer of water which was instantly brought and presented him by the young Princesse but the man of God was so rapt in his devout thoughts that he saw neither the Ewer nor the Princesse nor the Queen so that they were forced to pull him by the sleeve that the Princesse Royal might not stand thus waiting on him with the Ewer in her hand and then the Queen her self prayed him to make use of the water to coole and refresh his dry mouth With much a do the good Father came to himself and rising up made a low obeysance to the Queen and to the Princesse thanked them for their care excused himself for being so uncivill as not to minde them but for all thâ—s would not take a drop of water but went on with his Sermon to the great wonder and edification of all the standers by This this is to preach like a man full of Gods Spirit like one that has his heart so transported with zeale and his Eyes so bent upon moving his auditours that he can see nothing else And would you have such a fiery man as this be condemned to Purgatory one that has so much charity for others that he forgets himself and distills out his life into blood sweat and tears and is consumed in the fire of Charity which is the sweet Purgatory of the servants of God §. 4. The fourth To serve the infected THose that charitably expose themselves to serve the infected and so come to get the Plague and to die in the service freely giving away their lives to save others may have a great confidence that they have served out if not all at least the greatest part of their Purgatory For since an act of Contrition or of perfect Charity has power to make a soule instantly fit for heaven as it falls out in Martyrdom why may we not hope that the same priviledge follows these charitable soules we speak of who though they dye not by the hands of a bloody Executioner yet are cut off by a Martyrdome of incomparable Charity Christ our Saviour
said that the greatest Charity that a man could have in this life was to give his life for his friends where by the way Saint Bernard notes that his charity must needs be greater then the greatest since he gave his divine life not only for his friends but even for his enemies What shall we then thinke of their charity who voluntarily sacrifice their lives for infected persons whether friends or enemies acquaintance or no acquaintance rich or poor and do it generously dying a thousand deaths for feare danger and paine before they come to dye in good earnest Does not the Church list them amongst other Saints in the Roman Martyrologe Does she not keep their feast and make an honourable commemoration of their glorious death on the 28 day of February does she not withall tell us that the faithful devout people were accustomed to honour them as Martyrs would you then have these kind of Martyrs who dye in the fire of charity go to Purgatory To what purpose to Metamorphose it into heaven For if a Virgin who is violently dragd away to the stews which is a kind of hell where they make a Massacre of chastity in the opinion of St. Ambrose changes it into a kind of heaven what can we thinke of those charitable souls but that if they were conveyed into the suffering church they would sodainly change it into a Church Tryumphant Hear a comfortable story to this purpose One Damian of the holy order of Annal. St. Fran. St. Francis had devoted himself to serve those that lay sick of the Plague with a burning desire to give them all the comfort he could by his charitable visits St. Francis met him one day and said my Son did'st thou but know what a crown in heaven is prepared for thee in reward of this charity of thine thou would'st be out of thy self for meer joy go on in Gods name for it will not be long before thou art translated into heaven to eternal glory The good Frier continued the employment till one day being in fervent prayer he rendred up his happy soul into the hands of his creatour Can you now believe that a man that sacrifices a good part of his life on the Altar of the highest charity which is in the world next unto Martyrdom it self one that looses his own life to make others live and dyes in the flames of a devout prayer that this man I say goes to Purgatory or rather do you not believe that heaven stoops to take him up and to crown him with immortal glory Eusebius takes a pleasure to relate the high esteem they had of b. 1. c 20. those good Priests Deacons and Secular persons who thus exposed themselves to the Plague and sometimes were seen to tumble into the same graves where they had newly laid others The fiery furnace says St. Chrysostome was so Hom. de tribus pueris astonisht to see those three innocent creatures there that it durst not touch them but vented all its fury against the cords and fetters which bound them Let us then suppose these holy souls to be cast into the furnace of Purgatory who chose rather to forsake their lives then to forsake poor infected and forlorne creatures can we imagine any thing less then that those subterraneous flames should yeild and with reverence submit unto the flames of heaven which have already seazed on those holy souls and that they should say with Ecclesiasticus Thou hast delivered me according Eccl. 51. 6. to the multitude of thy mercies from the oppression of the flame which hath compassed me and in the midest of fire I was not burnt What! shall purity have the power to resist fire so that many chast Virgins have received no harme by it and shall not charity in its perfection be as good a preservative against the fire of Purgatory §. 5. The fifth A tender devotion to the Virgin I Cannot be perswaded that a soul truly devoted to the honour and service of the mother of God can be long detained in Purgatory if she go thither at all For how should this be does our blessed Lady want power she that can do all things says St. Anselme or charity she that has no bowels but of charity she that has a heart so tender that though you suppose a heart to be made up of all the mothers hearts in the world it could not be more tender then hers which is all sweetness and tenderness St Brigit had a son lived not so good a life Osor in cone St. Brigit revel as to look for Heaven without passing through Purgatory This great servant of God who was not without the passion of a loving mother casts about how to save the poor youth who was grown careless enough of himself She resolves therefore to offer him up to the Blessed Virgin and to trust her entirely with his salvation She undertakes the trust and carries it on so luckily that in fine she saves him and at the hour of death takes up his soul into Heaven This she did by first working him to a perfect act of contrition which impt his wings for Heaven and then cutting of the thred of his life which should have held out one day longer So that the Devil finding himself thus cozened made his complaint to God the just judge of the world who returned this answer Know that my mother is Lady and Queen of Heaven and therefore has liberty to place there whom she pleases and what she does in this kind is well done and pleasing in my sight There is a world of examples of the like favours graciously showred down from the mother of mercy who has often taken the pains to conduct her good Children and faithful Servants into Heaven And when it stands not with Gods justice but that a soul must into Purgatory what does she not to help her out as well by her own powerful intercession which she will be sure to interpose as far as it may stand with the just decrees of heaven as by the prayers of her devout servants into whose hearts she inspires a thousand good thoughts of tenderness for their souls who were particularly devoted to her How many divine consolations and refreshments does she send them by their good Angels And since it is certain that she goes somtimes to visite them on their death beds why may we not piously imagine that she gives them the like comfortable visits when they lye tied to their beds of fire in cruel torments The Lionness and the Tigress though never so fierce by nature will leap into the fire to save their young ones or perish there God forbid we should make any comparison between the Blessed Virgin mother of the Lyon of Juda and these wilde beasts and yet since we must allow so much tenderness to such cruel and savage Mothers we may not doubt but that the Mother of mercy seeing her beloved Children in the fire of