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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08680	Antidote against purgatory. Or discourse, wherein is shewed that good-workes, and almes-deeds, performed in the name of Christ, are a chiefe meanes for the preuenting, or migatating the torments of purgatory. Written by that vertuous, and rightworthy gentle-woman (the honour of her sexe for learning in England) Ms. Iane Owen, late of God-stow, in Oxfordshire, deceased, and now published after her death	Owen, Jane, of God-stow.	1634 (1634)	STC 18984; ESTC S103135	54,249	307

the losse incurred by sinne is far more grieuous then Poena sensus then any payne of sense or feeling And it is further most euident and confessed that all those who are in Purgatory during their stay these do suffer Poenam damni the paine of losse that is the losse of the vision of God But to auoyde the force of this Reason it may be perhaps replyed by some that the perpetuall punishment of losse to wit to lose for all eternity the sight of God as such suffer who are in Hell is truly indeed a punishment and the greatest of all punishments but during the tyme of a soules staying in Purgatory the want of the diuine vision and sight of God is not properly to be accounted a punishment or at least not a punishment or payne more fearefull then those punishments which Martyrs haue suffered in this life seeing that we whiles we liue here vpon earth do not see God and yet we are nor said truly to suffer poenam damni any payne of losse because we shall see God in due tyme if so we purge free our harts from sin as is our duty to doe Yea the ancient holy Fathers Patriarchs and Prophets who remayning in Limbo Patrum expecting the comming of the Sauiour of the world did not as then see God and yet they were not afflicted with any poena damni because they were to see God in a prefixed designed tyme. For thus Abrahā answeres to the Rich glutton Luc. 16. Remember sonne that thou in thy lyfe tyme receiuedst thy pleasures and Lazarus paynes now therefore he is comforted and thou tormented In which words we do not fynd that Abraham said Lazarus was tormēted with poena damni with the punishment of losse but that he was in solace comfort cōsequently not in torment And further where S Simeon Luc. 2. sayth Nunc dimittis seruum tuum in pace c. Now O Lord thou lettest thy seruant depart in peace was not of opinion that through death he should descend to any most insupportable paynes but to a most sweet repose and peace To conclude S. Gregory l. 3. moral c. 22. teacheth that the ancient Patriarches and Fathers during their being in the place called Limbus Patrum did not suffer there any torments but did find rest quietnes The force of this obiection or argument is easily dissolued The answere is this Whiles we are liuing here vpon earth we do not easily apprehend how heauy a matter it is to want the vision and sight of God both in regard that what things we apprehend by meanes of corporall phantasmes and the ministery of the senses we do but obscurely vnderstand as also in that we being softened and cherished in corporall delights and pleasures we solace and content our selues therewith and thereupon we are not much sollicitous and seeking after spirituall contentments The ancient Fathers and Prophets were not tormented with any poena damni payne of losse in that they saw not God because they well did know that this procrastination deferring of enioying the vision of God was not occasioned through any default in them but because the prefixed tyme of that most blessed sight was not yet come But heere in our case it falleth out otherwise since touching those soules who are condemned and relegated as it were to Purgatory after the cōming of Christ it is impossible but that they should be in the highest degree afflicted for seeing they in that state are depriued both of body and of all corporall senses they cannot take further delight in sensible obiects as in meate drinke riches honours in satisfying any carnall concupiscēce c. but they wholy breath and thirst after the contemplation of the first Truth and their enioying their Summum bonum or chiefe good for the obtayning whereof as for their last end they well know that they were created Heerunto may be adioyned this other reason to wit that the soules in Purgatory do wel know that the kingdome of Heauen is now made open to the faithfull Christians and that the only hindrance of not present enioying of it is only the guilt of payne contracted through their owne peculiar sinnes from whence it cannot but follow that these soules are euen offended angry with themselues in that they alone are the cause of their long dilation deferring of their enioying so great an happines These soules may well be resembled to a man in great extremity of hūgar thirst though hauing a table before him furnished with all variety of meats wynes choyce waters and yet the only reason and impediment of his not feeding of them proceedeth from some former miscariage of the said man which hath deseruedly caused this his delay in tasting of them We may add hereto that the most ancient Fathers Austin Gregory Beda Anselme and Bernard do not speake de poena damni of the payne of losse which payne all acknowledge to be most great but de poena ignis of the paine of fyer this payne they all with one consent affirme to be more horrid intollerable thē any tormēts in this life For althogh here vpon earth the torment by fyer is great yet that fyer which is not maintayned nourished with wood or oyle but is created as an instrument of Gods iustice to burne and torment soules must without all doubt be most violent and sharpe in the highest degree Now from the premisses it is euicted that though we would not acknowledge poena damni the temporary payne of losse which is in Purgatory to wit of the losse of the vision of God for a long tyme to be more insufferable then all the torments in this life yet that the punishment of the fyer in Purgatory is greater then any temporall afflictions in this lyfe is euidētly proued from the authorities of so many ancient Fathers aboue produced And because there are many men who can hardly be induced to belieue any thing which thēselues haue not seene God sometimes therefore hath vouchsafed to raise certaine persōs from death to lyfe commanding them to relate to others liuing what themselues touching this payne haue seene Amonge so many eye-witnesses as I may terme them who haue seene the torments of Purgatory I will alledge only two the one being a man the other a woman whose testimonies therein are to be accepted without any doubt or diffidency The one then is Drithclmus an English man the history of which man Venerable Bede writeth relateth this accident as a thing well knowne euident to himselfe it happening in Bedes owne life tyme with great amazement to all of those dayes Thus then Bede writeth hereof in his fifth booke of the History of the nation of England cap. 13. His temporibus miraculum memorabile antiquorum simile in Britannia factum est c. In these tymes a most memorable miracle and like to the ancient miracles did fall out in Britanny For to incite the liuing

touching care to be had concerning the death of the soule a certaine Man being for the tyme dead was after restored to lyfe of Body relating many things worthy of remembrance of some of which I haue thought good at this present to make particular mention It is this There was a certaine Househoulder or Father of a family in the Country-Norman belonging to the Humbri This man did lead with his whole house a very religious lyfe Who being taken with a sudden infirmity and sicknes in body and his payne more and more increasing he was brought to the howre of death and dyed in the beginning of the Night But at the appearance of the morning he returned to life againe and setting himselfe vp in bed all those who accompanicd that night the dead Body through feare and amazement presently fled away But his wife who loued him dearely though fearing remayned with him whom he did comfort in these wordes Feare not wife for I am truly risen from death with which this night I haue beene houlden and I am permitted to liue againe among men heere vpon earth but not after the same manner as I was accustomed heretofore to liue but after a far different sort Hereupon he presently did ryse out of his bed and went to the Oratory or Chappell belonging to that village spending the most part of the day in prayer He instantly deuided all his substance into three partes of the which one part he gaue to his wyfe another to his children and the third he distributed to the poore And he with great speed freeing himselfe from all care of the world came to the Monastery called Mailros and there taking the Tonsure the Abbot prouided for him a secret cell into which he entred and there continued till the day of his death in such great contrition of mind and body that his very lyfe though his tongue had beene silent did speake that he had seene during the short tyme he was afore dead many things both fearefull and to be desired For he deliuered the matter in this manner Lucidus erat aspectu clarus indumento qui me ducebat c. One of a lightsome countenance and bright in apparell did lead me We came vnto a certaine valley of a great largenes profundity but of an infinite length That part of the valley which was vpon our left hand was most terrible through scorching flames The other part thereof was no lesse terrible through extremity of hayle frost snow and wynds Both these wyde passages of this valley were full of soules of men and women which seemed to be tossed to and fro as it were through force and violence of boysterous stormes For when they could not any longer endure the violence of so great an heat the poore miserable soules did cast themselues into the middest of that insufferable cold aboue related and when as neither there they could fynd any rest or ease they then agayne leaped into those inextinguishable flames of fyer And whereas an infinite multitude of poore soules I saw thus to be tormented with this vnfortunate vicissitude of torments and without any intermission or ease I began to call to mynd that perhaps this place was Hell of the intollerable torments wherof I had before heard much spoken My Conductour who went before me answered to my present thought saying Do not so thinke for this place which thou seest is not that Hell which thou supposest Now the vision of Hell and after of Paradise being explayned which for breuity I omit the Conductour thus further said to the person raysed from death Scis omnia quae vidisti dost thou know all these things which thou hast seene The raised party said No. I do not know them To whom his Conductour thus replyed That great vale which thou hast seene most dreadfull for flames of heate and fyer as also for insufferable cold is that place in which the soules of all those are to be purged and chastized who in their lyfe tyme delayed from time to time to confesse their sinnes and to makc satisfaction for the wickednes by them perpetrated and yet in the very last houre of their lyfe obtayned true penitency and contrition for their sinnes and so departed out of their bodies which soules because they made confession of their sinnes and had penitency of them though at the last houre of their death do yet belong to the Kingdome of Heauen And many of these poore soules are much eased by the prayers of the liuing by Almes-deeds of their friends by their strict fastings and especially by the celebration of holy masses in their behalfe so as by these meanes diuers of them are freed from their torments before the day of Iudgment Venerable Bede thus further addeth hereto Cum ille incredibili austeritate Corpus suum vexaret c. When as this man raysed to life did afflict his body with incredible austerity praying and praysing God with hymns he then standing in water frozen through cold with yce his fellow Monkes would say to him It is wonderfull ô Brother Drithelmus that thou art able to endure such asperity of cold He then replyed Frigidiora vidi I haue seene much more cold places And when they in lyke sort said to him mirum quod tam austeram tenere continentiam velis c. It is wonderfull that thou wilt keep this austere cōtinency in meates c. He answered Austeriora vidi I haue seene greater austerity And in this sort through an indefatigable desire of the ioyes of Heauen he tamed and subdued his old feeble body vntill the day of his death he much profiting many by his perswasions and conuersation of lyfe Thus far S. Bede in his relation of this history Now that the contents hereof are most true I little doubt because it is agreable to the sacred Scripture in the booke of Iob cap. 24 Ad nimium calorem transeunt ab aquis niuium from waters of snow they passe to ouermuch heate Againe S. Bede a Venerable most godly man recordeth the same as happening out in his owne dayes and lifetime To conclude there did follow out of this vision great spirituall benefit the which God is accustomed to draw and extract out of such miraculous euents and not curiosity or vanity but the health of many soules by their conuersion to pennance vertue In this next place will I come to the testimony of a most admirable woman her name was Christina whose life is written by Thomas Cantipratensis of the order of S. Dominicke a man most worthy of credit and who liued in the dayes of the said Christina The same is in like sort witnessed by that Venerable man Iacobus de Vitriaco l. de vita rebus gestis B. Mariae de Oegnies a pious and learned Cardinall who in a booke of his maketh mention of diuers holy women and particularly of this Christina Mirabilis whose life he relateth most briefly in a short Compendium

is yet another thing most worthy of your charitable commiseration You see that the Catholickes throughout England pay yerely great sommes of money for their Recusancy Among whom there are many hundred of poore Catholikes who are so ouercharged with these yearely payments as that their meane Estates are not able to support any long time such payments of which his Maiesty who is most prone to commiseration and pitty litle heareth in particular this being effected only by certaine Subordinate Magistrates aduerse to our Catholike Religion And thereupon for their auoiding of the said payments imposed vpon them diuers of these poore men and women haue forsaken already contrary to their conscience externally their Religion and are content to come to the Protestant Church Now heere I say such of you as be of great Abilities how ample a field haue you to sow your merits and satisfactions in I meane by contributing out of your purses some yearly sommes to these poore Catholikes thereby to ease and lessen their yearely payments In your worthy performāce of this my propounded Motion you do not only help and succour them touching their bodies but which is far more pleasing in the sight of God you so take pitty of their soules as you preuent that diuers of them do not Apostatate forsake their Catholicke Religion which perhaps throgh feare of want of meanes they would doe And so you are become a secondary great Instrument of their finall Saluation And can you then otherwise thinke but that God who is mercy it selfe and who will take this Charity of yours as done to himselfe would take the like pitty of your owne soules both for the preuenting of your eternall perdition as also for mitigating your temporall punishments in Purgatory For heer our Sauiours words would be iustified in you Matth. 25. Verily I say vnto you in so much as you haue donne it vnto one of the least of these my brethren you haue done it vnto me In this next place I will descend to acts peculiar only to vs Catholikes such as do insist and rest in offering vp the prayers both of our selues but especially of the generall Liturgy of the most blessed Sacrifice of the Eucharist offered vp either for the benefit of our selues or of others Of which most dreadfull Sacrifice sayth S. Chrysostome homil 25. in Act. Apost Hostia in manibus adsunt Angeli adsunt Archangeli adest Filius Dei cum tanto horrore astant omnes And to begin Thinke what a worthy and charitable Act it were to concurre by causing Sacrifices and Prayers to be made for the redeeming of poore Soules out of Purgatory There is no man of an Humane and sweet Nature but he would commiserate a very beast much more a man lying in extremity of paynes And this Naturall Pitty is so gratefull to our Sauiour himselfe as that he pronounceth Matth. 5. Beati misericordes quoniam ipsi misecordiam consequentur Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtayne mercy So auaylable behooffull is pitty and mercy to the performers thereof But to proceed to another benefit of such a pious deed Yf a prudent man had a Cause of most great importance to be tryed before a seuere yet most iust Iudge And if at the same tyme there were certaine persons in prison whom that Iudge did much respect to whose earnest solicitations in any reasonable point he would lend a willing eare Now would not this Suppliant lay wayte by all meanes to redeeme the said men out of Prison if so he could who during their stay there were put to daily torments and rackings as well assuring himselfe that these Persons thus set at liberty by this mans meanes being men of most good and gratefull Natures Dispositions would be ready to speake to the Iudge and be earnest and solicitous in his behalfe And then is it not most probable if not certaine that this man would speed the better in determining his Cause The case is here a like and both are cast as it were in one mould The soules in Purgatory once from thence released shall become most blessed Saints in Heauen shall be most pleasing and gratefull to his Diuine Maiesty who cannot nor will not deny them the grant of any thing which they shall demaund and petition for at his hands Euery Catholike as all other men are to plead their cause before God the most iust Iudge Yet for the more easy obtayning of their Plea it is in the power of ech Catholike of good meanes if his will be answerable thereto to procure at least much to further by his liberall charges bestowed for the praying for the soules in Purgatory the releasing and setting free of diuers of the said tormented soules Now this being once performed those then Happy Soules shall no sooner leaue their Goale and Prison and ascend to Heauen but as euen abounding with a Seraphicall Charity shall in recompēce of so great a spirituall ease and Relaxation procured to them euer batter at the eares of our Almighty and mercifull Lord with their daily and incessant prayers that his Diuine Mercy would be most indulgent and pittifull to such men for the preuenting or at least mitigating of their temporall paynes by whose meanes those soules had a more speedy deliuery from their torments in Purgatory Heere then may a man who is rich in temporall state if so he be rich in charity lay out his wealth to an infinite increase of spirituall gayne O how many peculiar Aduocates and Intercessours of the then most blessed soules released out of Purgatory might a rich Catholike purchase to himselfe by this former meanes thereby to pleade his cause before the Throne of Almighty God in his greatest need And fooles I will not say Madmen are all such vpon whom God hath bestowed abundance of temporall riches and yet themselues remayne vnwilling slow in this spirituall traffique of a good and competent part of their said temporall state and meanes But because this point of relieuing by Good Workes the soules in Purgatory is of most great importance both to the poore soules relieued the liuing party performing such a most charitable work to them Therefore besydes what is already deliuered by me aboue I will adioyne as most mouing any man of Piety and Iudgment the discourse of the aforementioned learned and worthy Cardinall Bellarmine of this point who maketh the ninth Chapter of the third booke de Gemitu Columbae the subiect hereof Thus then that blessed man writeth We haue shewed aboue that there are very many or rather innumerable soules of the faithfull in Purgatory and that they are a most long tyme to be tormented almost with incredible punishments Now here we will declare the fruite which may be gathered from this consideration And certainly it cannot be doubted but if the ponderation and weighing of this point be serious longe attent and full of fayth and confidence a most vehement commiseration and