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
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
Now this Virgin Christina doth thus speake of her selfe instantly after she did rise from death to lyfe in the sight of many then liuing Statim vt è corpore excessi c. Presently after I did leaue my body certaine Angels of God being ministers of the light receaued my soule and brought it to an obscure darke and horrid place being full and replenished with the soules of men and women The torments which I did behould in that place were so extreme violent and insufferable as that they cannot be deliuered in any words I did see there diuers with whom I was acquainted whiles they here liued vpon the earth I did much pitty those poore miserable soules I demaunded of my Conductours what place this was for I did imagine that it was Hell They answered that it was the place of Purgatory reserued for such sinners who had obtayned true penitency of their sinnes before their death but had not yet performed any actuall satisfaction for their Crimes in their lyfe tyme committed After this my Conductours brought me to behould the punishment of the damned in Hel where also I did find certaine persons knowne to me in their lyfe tyme. After this I was conducted vp to Paradise euen to the Throne of the diuine Maiesty where I did behould our Lord wellcomming me I reioyced excessiuely thereat as being then perswaded that I should there remayne with our Lord for all eternity But he presently answered me saying Most wellcome daughter thou shalt with out all doubt finally stay with me but here I put to thee an election of which of these two things thou hadst rather make choyce to wit whether thou haddest rather now stay with me for all eternity or els to returne vnto the world and earth againe and there resuming thy former body to suffer paynes though without any danger to thy body by which paynes thou mayest free set at liberty those soules which thou behoulding in Purgatory didst commiserate pitty that so by this means men and women yet liuing vpon the earth through the example of thy penitent lyfe abstayning from commiting more facinorous Crymes and performing in satisfaction of them what they ought to do may in the end being enriched with store of merits and good deeds be conuerted to me Now I without any pause or delay answered that I had rather returne to my body vnder the former condition proposed to me and thereupon our Lord taking it well that I shewed my selfe so ready in the choyce commandeth my soule to be restored to its body In the performance whereof it was wonderfull to behould the incredible swiftnes and celerity of the blessed spirits For euen in that very houre when it is sayd in the Sacrifice of the Masse which was then offered for me Agnus Dei O Lambe of God c. my soule was placed before the diuine Maiesty and at the third time of the saying of the foresaid words Agnus Dei the Angells restored me to my body And thus the matter standeth touching my departure out of this world and my after returne to lyfe since all this was done concerning my being restored to lyfe for the chastizing of men and their amendment in manners and conuersation Therefore I would intreate all persons that they would not be troubled or affrighted with such things as they shall see in me The things do exceed mans vnderstanding which God commanding shal be performed in me Neither haue such euents at any tyme hapned among mortall men Thus much did she speake And then the wryter of her lyfe adioyneth these words following concerning her Cap. 6. Tum vero caepit illa exercere c. Thtn she did begin to exercise and put in practise such seuerities for the performāce of which she was sent by our Lord She did voluntarily enter into burning Ouens was tormented in those fyers so as through the straytnes of the place and paynes she made a fearefull horrible noyse But after she came out of those places there was not to be seene in her body any print or marke of such her burnings And then the foresaid Authour thus further proceedeth in his discourse Cap. 7. Sub aquis Mosae fluminis hyberno tempore cum rigerent omnia gelu c. She very often long stood in the waters of the riuer Mosa in winter time when it was congealed with frost remayning there in such manner six dayes and more And then a little after the foresaid Authour thus further sayth cap. 9. Interdum in aquis orans c. She sometymes praying in the waters was caryed by them vpon the wheele of a water mill and so in most horrible manner was borne about with the wheele thereof being notwithstanding perfect vnhurt in all the parts of her body And the Authour thus more writeth ibid. Surgebat quandoque medijs noctibus totius Oppidi Trudonensis canes in se concitans c. She often tymes rysing about midnight would stir vp against her all the dogs of the towne of S. Truyen she rūning before them following her like a swyft Deare throgh certaine obscure places full of bryars and thornes in so much as she was pricked her skinne torne in diuers places as that no part of her body was free from wounds and yet after her sheeding of much bloud thereby no prints scarrs or marks of any woūds or pricks were to be seene in her body Thus far the forsaid Authour Now that this his Narration of all set downe was most true appeareth seuerall wayes First because as I said aboue he had Iacobus Bishop and Cardinall of Vitriacum a most graue man to beare witnesse thereof Secōdly in that the authour of this History did relate passages done in his owne life tyme and in the same Prouince wherein himselfe liued seeing he was Bishop and suffragan to the Archbishop of Cambray Thirdly in that the matter and History it selfe euen publikely as it were deposeth and auerreth the truth hereof to wit that her body was so after conformed and strengthned by diuine power as that it should suffer payne by fyer and yet should not be dissolued should receaue wounds and shee l much bloud and yet no prints of those woūds should appeare In this sort this most blessed woman liued not for the space of few dayes only but during all the time of fourty two yeares after her returne to lyfe And lastly because by this course of her life she conuerted many to true penance and compunction of their sinnes and after her death was glorious and eminent for miracles therefore God by such examples aboue insisted vpon would stop the mouths of such incredulous persons who are not afraid sometymes to demand Who hath returned from Hell who hath seene the torments either of Hell or Purgatory Behould heere we haue two faythfull Witnesses a man and a woman who haue seene the most bitter and insufferable torments of Hell and Purgatory and therefore such men do wholy rest
be expressed but in most deplorable Threnes and Lamentations Nay I dare be bold to say that Beasts seeme to haue greater practise of Reason then diuers of these men haue Strike a Horse or an Asse once or twyce or thrust him into a deep or dangerous hole out of which he can hardly get he will conceaue such Feare thereof as that he will for a long tyme after seeke to auoyde both the stroakes and the hole And yet where the Scripture the testimonies of the Ancient and holy Fathers the seuerall miracles exhibited in proofe of the torments of Purgatory do fully proclame the horriblenes of those paines diuers Catholikes who are infallibly hereafter to endure the same paynes if so they make no preuention in their lyfe tyme haue no Feare no Sense no Feeling thereof O God that Men should thus cease to be Men and Beasts after a certaine manner should step in their place Well I will conclude this my discourse to you Worthy Catholikes humbly beseeching you euen for the most precious and bitter Passion of our Lord and Sauiour for the future good of your owne soules to cast your eye vpon all the Premisses set downe in this smal Treatise and haue a feeling Consideration both of the extremities of the paynes and of the infallible authorities prouing the vndoubted certaynety of those paynes and do not suffer your iudgments to fluctuate or wauer touching the certainty of them Therfore I will only demand Is there a Heauen Is there a Hell Is there a Purgatory Yf you belieue these things to haue a true and reall being as no doubt infallibly you do where then through your so much sleighting of them is your Iudgment If you hould them as God forbid but as intentionall and aery Speculations of the braine where is your Fayth And a most miserable Election it is whether a man will be damned for all eternity for want of practising necessary points of Christian Religion or through want of Fayth But before I end this passage I will turne my penne but withall gentle and soften in part my style in respect of the Persons to which I will direct these few ensuing lynes To you then great Catholicke Ladyes and other Catholicke Gentle-women of worth to whom in regard of my Sexe I may be the more bold to speake freely whose present Widdowed states by reason of your deceased Husbands stand enriched with more then ordinary affluency during your liues of lands money and other temporall goods You I say Noble Ladyes and others of Worth though you be weake in Nature yet know your owne strength and what great matters during your Widowhoods you are able through Gods assistance to performe for the freeing you from the flames of Purgatory and remember that howsoeuer the nycenes delicacy of diuers of you be such as that in this world you can brooke nothing displeasing to you yet in the next world admitting you dye in state of Saluation you must infallibly vndergo those horrible flames so much spoken of in these leaues except by your charitablenes and this in a most full degree you redeeme those paynes O what good Workes might you do during your Widdowhoods And yet I feare you are most forgetfull therein Many of you I know are ready to bestow a hundred Marks or more vpon one gowne and that gowne must not serue two yeares but another as chargeable must instantly be had Agayne some of you will be content to lose a hundred marks or more in one night at Gleeke and will weare about your necks Iewels worth many hundreds of pounds O cut of these needles fruitles charges and bestow a good part thereof vpon your Soules with the preciousnes of good and satisfying works though your bodies in part be depriued of such glorious Ornaments There is none of you but besides your greater sinnes you daily commit lesser sinnes for it is said in holy Writ Prou. 24. The lust man shall fall seauen tymes a day How many idle and vnnessary thoughts and words passe from you but in one day and yet you must make satisfaction for euery such thought or word either here or in Purgatory before you can arriue to Heauen For it is sayd Prou. 19. They shall render an account of euery idle Word in the day of iudgment Now then in tyme of your Widowhoods lay out a great part of your riches to spirituall vsury as I may terme it for the good of your Soules I did know a yong gentle-woman now dead she was left by her deceased Father two thousand pounds and better in portion She intended to mary and so before her death she did yet before she would subiect herselfe and her state to any man besides diuers good acts before she gaue at one tyme I speake of certaine and particular knowledge three hundred pounds of her portion away to the brining vp of poore schollers beyond the Seas saying thus to herselfe If I shal be content to enthrall my selfe seauenteene hundred pounds at least to the will of a stranger who I know not how he will vse me haue I not reason to giue three hundred pounds away to my owne Soule for his sake who will not suffer a cup of could water giuen in his name to be vnrewarded This is an Example worthy of your taking notice of thereby to put you in mind to remember to preuent the flames of Purgatory during the tyme of your Widowhoods For if you be not solicitous thereof before your second mariage when your states are in your owne disposall it is much to be feared that your future Husbands will bridle you of all such though most necessary charges This Example may also be worthily a President for all other yong Catholike gentle-women of great portions to prouide for the good of their soules before they tye themselues in mariage to any one Well Worthy Ladyes let a woman once preach to women and since you are Women Imitate that Blessed Woman so much celebrated for her charity to others in Gods holy writ Prou. 31. Manum suam aperuit inopi c. She opened her hands to those that wanted and stretched out her armes to the poore and thereupon it followeth of her in the said word of God Et ridebit in die nouissimo and she shall laugh at the last day That is at the day of her death she shall reioyce and so Noble Ladyes and others it is in your power if your selues will to enioye the like felicity and retaliation for your workes of charity with her And with this I giue a full close to this my Exhortative Discourse Certaine examples of good works to be practised for the auoyding of Purgatory propounded by the Authour of this Treatise SECT IV. THE first of these Good Workes so much wished by me shal be not only in a mans priuate Deuotions Prayers but also by soliciting of others of our Catholike Clergy though euen of their owne most ready propension
O how worthy an Act is this and how do you suffer in their sufferings And you may then infallibly interest your selues in the words of the Apostle Hebr. 6. God is not vniust that he can forget your good workes and charity which you haue shewed in his name and haue and do minister vnto his Saints I well remember that some twenty yeares since a certaine Prison hauing in it some six or seauen Priests far more poore lay Catholikes lying there in great want there was a Catholike gentle woman of good account who taking great cōmiseration of their wants relieued all the Catholike imprisoned company with weekly prouision of meate for seuerall months and so she intended still to continue this her Charity but that she was shortly after preuented by death This was an Heroicall and most Christian charity in her able no doubt throgh Christs mercifull acceptance thereof euen to abate the flames of Purgatory In like sort I could wish all of you who are carefull to preuent the raging flames or Purgatory that what workes of labour or satisfaction or Almes deeds you intēd to doe that you would not defer the accomplishing of them till the day of your departure out of this world but performe them when you are in health The differēce is most great betweene a worke of Charity done at the Houre of a mans death and when he is in health not likely to dye For in the first manner the party dying giueth away his goods to pious vses because he cannot enioy them any longer In the second it is in a mans power to keep his riches longer yet departing from them in his Health he is content thereby actually to lessen in his owne daies his temporall meanes and departeth with them with cherefulnes and alacrity of mind a circumstance most pleasing to God since we read 2. Cor. 9. Hilarem datorem diligit Deus God loueth a chearfull giuer In the former the will of a dying man is not for the most part in all things performed either through the Couetousnes of the wife Children or negligence of the Executors In this other a man is assured his will shall be performed since he is resolued to make his owne Hands his Executors and his owne Eyes his Ouerseers Lastly Almes-deeds dōne after the first sort do take effect only at the death of the Party not before whereas they being distributed after this second sort they begin to worke and obtaine by degrees Indulgēce lessening of the future paynes euen from that houre in which they were first bestowed So great a disparity there is betweene hauing a Candell going before a man lighting him the way to the Kingdome of Heauen hauing a Candell only to follow him I am persuaded there are very few of you so simple who if you did owe great summes of Money and were infallibly to pay euery penny of them if other course in the meane tyme could not be taken But that if by preuention of time I meane by paying afore the day of payment cōmeth you might be suffered in lieu of the whole to pay but the twentith part and thereby to be discharged of the whole great debt but that you would take course by all meanes possible yea by taking your siluer vp at Interest for the present discharge of the said twentith part so to redeeme your selues from the payment of all the rest I do assure you euen from the testimonies of all ancient learned Fathers that it is in your power to redeeme not only the twentith part of your future torments in Purgatory but euen the greatest part and perhaps all by your charitable Deeds liberality and pious workes now done in your life time And will you then be slow in taking the like course herein O insensati Galatae quis vos fascinauit Gal. 3. But I will yet go further with you There are not many of you I speake of such of you as are much deuoted to the world but that if you had a fayre demayne of fiue hundred pounds yearely worth though not in possession yet that it were infallibly to descend to you and your Posterity for euer after twenty yeares were expired And that notwithstāding it were in your Power Freedome to buy out and redeeme the said twenty yeares thereby to haue present possession of it I say there are not many of you but that you would striue though it were by impouerishing your selues for the tyme and by liuing vnder your owne worth thereby to procure meanes for the redeeming of the said terme of twenty yeares Heauen is your Inheritance after the guilt of eternall damnation is once remitted Yet thither it is impossible for you to arriue vntil for certaine yeares you haue performed your temporall punishments yet remaining These inexplicable punishments which may endure for many scores of yeares more then twenty yea it may be for seuerall hundreds of yeares you may redeeme perhaps for lesse charges to your Purse disbursed in your life time and health to pious religious vses through Christs most mercifull acceptance then you would be content to lay out for the getting in of the former mentioned twenty yeares And yet how Dull and Backward are most of you to vndertake the same How can you heere Apologize or excuse your selues Is Heauen not so good as an earthly demaine O men of little Fayth What a muddy disposition of the Soule is this which lyes so groueling vpon the earth and wholy absorpt in terrene thoughts and cogitations Well ceasing to enlarge my selfe further vpon the Premisses I earnestly desire euery one of you to procure now in tyme of Health the most Reuerend Dreadfull Sacrifice of the most blessed body and bloud of our Sauiour to be offered daily vp to two ends to wit for the spirituall good of your selues and your Children and secondly for the preuenting of your future paines of Purgatory And that you shall perceaue of what ineffable vertue and efficacy for mans soule the offering vp of that most dreadfull Sacrifice is I haue thought good to set downe the Iudgmentes of some few ancient Fathers pretermitting the greatest part of them for greater breuity First then we find S. Cyrill of Alexandria Epist ad Nestor to write that by meanes of this daily Sacrifice We are made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ. S. Austin calleth the said Sacrifice Precium nostrum Our pryce Confess cap. 13. And further the same Father thus writeth lib. 4. de Trinit cap. 14. Quid gratius offerri c. What can be offered vp or accepted more thankefully then that the flesh of our Sacrifice should be come the body of our Priest S. Chrysostome thus teacheth Homil. 21. in Act. Apostolorum Hostia in manibus c. The sacred host being in the hands of the Priest the Angels are present the Archangels are present the sonne of God is present cum tanto horrore astant omnes
AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST PVRGATORY 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 mitigating the Torments of Purgatory Written by that Vertuous and Right worthy 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 As VVater doth extinguish Fier so Almes-deeds do extinguish sinne Eccles 3. Printed M.DC.XXXIIII TO THE VVORTHY AND CONSTANT CATHOLICKES OF ENGLAND And more particularly to such who be of the best temporall Meanes WORTHY and Noble Catholiks My charity towards the aduancing of the spiritual good of your soules is the mayne Allectiue inuiting me to write this small Treatise pardon I pray the boldnes of my Sexe heerin The subiect therof is First to inculcate make deep impressiōs in your minds of the horrour and most dreadfull torments of Purgatory Secondarily to set before your eyes the best meanes to preuent at least to asswage and mitigate them gratū opus agricolis A labour I hope pleasing to such who are desirous to cultiuate their owne Soules for gayning their spirituall and expected haruest That you belieue there is a Purgatory your owne Catholike Faith teacheth you therefore presuming that you rest immoueable therein without the least fluctuation of iudgment I hould it were but lost labour to spend any tyme in prooffe thereof Only I heere couet that you would deeply consider and meditate thereof and thereupon that you would withall meditate and put in practise the meanes of auoiding the same Touching the terriblenes of the Torments of Purgatory I haue insisted in the Authority of the most Blessed Cardinall Bellarmine out of one of whose spirituall bookes I haue translated a whole passage concerning this subiect as hereafter I shall more fully shew Thus I make him the foundation or ground-worke of this my ensuing Discourse and the rest following I do build and erect vpon this foundation so as this Miscelene worke of myne may perhaps resemble the statua of Nabuchodonozor of which part was gould part siluer and part of baser mettall So I am sure that what is taken out of the learned Cardinalls writings in this my Treatise is perfect gould or siluer what is adioyned thereto by me must I willingly yield endure the touch of the learned to proue what mettall it is But now to proceede a little further I could wish you worthy Catholickes that you would haue a feeling apprehension of the paynes of Purgatory though yet to come True it is that the Time present and the Time future are in nature different yet if a man could in some case so liuely paint to himselfe the face of the Time future as that it might appeare to him to be the Time present it were felix Error a happy mistaking or confusion of tymes to vse the Catholike Churches like Dialect of the sinne of Adam calling it felix Culpa For then would men apprehende the Future paynes of Purgatory as present and certainely once they must be present and consequently would have a greater feare and dread of them then cōmonly they now haue It is not in mans power to depriue God of his incommumnicable Attribute of Iustice being euen of the Essence of God This then being so why will you not seeke to appease this his Iustice in this world when small satisfactions will serue rather then to performe those satisfactions incomparably far greater in a more horrible manner in the next world by enduring those Torments which are not to be endured And there to endure them donec reddas nouissimum Quadrantem Matth. 5. These are the words of holy Scripture and are vnderstood in the iudgment of the Ancient Fathers of a Soule lying in Purgatory and therefore must be performed which forcing words since they ought to be most dreadfull to ech Catholicke not performing his satisfaction in this life I haue therefore thought not amisse though I grant in a most vnusuall manner to set downe in the lower part of euery page that wheresoeuer the Reader shall open these few leaues his eye shall instantly meete with the said moouing words thereby to cause him to haue a more intense and serious meditation of them It is certaine that God is pittifully cruell as I may say since he is content to turne Eternity of punishments into temporall paines But withall it is no lesse certaine that a soule not performing its penance in this life before its dissolution from the body can no more immediatly ascend to Heauen then the Patriarchs which dyed in Egypt could be buryed in the land of Promise Well now the chiefest help for the preuenting of the paines of Purgatory is the practise of Workes of Almes-deeds and such other actions of Mercy as hereafter in this short Treatise wil more fully be proued Workes of this nature are the only Oyle which is to be powred into a Repenting soule whose full satisfaction for its former sinnes is not yet accomplished Gods sacred Word assureth you that you may buy Heauen with Good Workes Venite possidete paratum vobis regnum Esuriuienim dedistis māducare c Matth. 25. Much more then may you with Good Workes dyed in the bloud of our Sauiour and not otherwise buy out the paynes of Purgatory And though you do find a reluctation in your naturall dispositions to relinquish a part of your state to that end now in your lyfe time yet let that be made easy to you by Grace which is hard and difficult by Nature that so it may be said of you as was said of Cornelius the Centurion Act. 10. Eleemosinae vestrae commemoratae sunt in conspectu Dei For assure your selues that the Grace of God euer seeketh a charitable Hart. And by this meanes you may become more rich in your graues then you could haue beene in your life tyme Since to giue away riches in a mans lyfe for the good of the soule is to carry them away after his death And in this sense they hould most who haue the most open hand in dispensing of their riches So true is that sentence to wit It is no small riches for Gods sake to abandon riches But alas such are the pittifull tymes wherein we liue such is the scarsity of Vertue among vs as that insteed of practising Workes of Charity men are commended and praysed if only they forbeare to practise workes of Iniustice and Wrong And thus we are glad to accept of a meere Priuation of Vice in place of a Positiue and reall Vertue O the miserablenes of our dayes The very Beasts do not nor can sinne nor can they do any wrong are they therefore vertuous Well I humbly besecch you to haue a setled eye vpon your soules good for the preuenting of future punishments and remember that our Sauiour in the Ghospell Luc. 17. commended the vniust Steward for hoording vp for the tyme to come and shall then
of Piety Lessen your temporall Pompe descend in outward comportment vnder your selues and let your sparing charges by this meanes saued serue to redeeme you from those horrid flames which are hereafter to inuade you To these and the like disconsolate and Tragicall lamentations in the inward reflexe of thy foule my deare Catholike shalt thou in thy last Sicknes be driuen if thou seeke not to preuēt the danger in tyme. Therefore Remember that he is truly Wise who laboreth to be such in his health as he wisheth to be found in Gods sight at the hower of his Death But now to come to you other Catholiks who thogh you euer liued within the bosome of the Catholike Church yet the state of many of you is otherwise most deplorable who though you dye in state of grace though many hundred Catholikes through their owne vicious liues and finall irrepentance do not yet your Case with reference to the torments of Purgatory is lamētable Most of you are wholy heedles negligent in seeking by your good Workes and Almes-deeds to auoyde Purgatory How many of you whose meanes are great might without any stay after your Death euen post to Heauen by your Religious dispensing of a good part thereof whereas others through want of temporall meanes so to be distributed must stay long in Purgatory O that Man should be so treacherous to his owne Soule It is daily obserued euen with griefe to all Zealous Catholikes that many of you are ready to lay out great summes of siluer for the increasing of your temporall states That others of you who are deuoted to the contentments and pleasures of this World to dissipate a great part of your liuing in fruitles charges Some in gallantry of apparell others at Dyce in Running-Horses in keeping wastfull Christmasses your selues your Cōpany feeding most lautiously vpon all variety of curious meates wynes whiles in the meane tyme your poore soules perhaps remayne euen hunger-starued as I may say for want of spirituall nourishment In all which courses it is be feared that many euen mortall sinnes are by you committed of the which though you after haue purged your selues by the holy Sacrament of Confession yet what reckonings are there remayning touching the temporall punishments attending such your sinnes which either in this world must be taken away by great satisfaction performed by you or els all such rust must be purged and burned away in the Horrible Flames of Purgatory Therefore it is not a simple Imprudency It is not a weakenes of the vnderstanding It is not a bare mistaking of the iudgment But it is meere Lunacy Madnes in you thus to aduance temporal respects either of gaine or pleasure before the preuenting of those insufferable torments And if any of you who are of great states do leaue a hundred pounds at your deaths to be prayed for O you thinke you haue made a large and ample satisfaction for all your sinnes and that after those Prayers are performed you are sure instantly to goe to Heauen A selfe flattering and credulous conceit Thinke of the custome of the Venerable Bishops of the anciēt Church who were vsed to tye a sinner to performe penance seauen yeares for the committing but of one mortal sinne How much different was their Iudgment from your Iudgment herein Againe what small a proportion hath this so niggard an Almes-deeds of yours with that of the man restored to lyfe and recorded by Venerable Bede who gaue the third part of his goods to the poore the rest to his wyfe and Children of whome Cardinall Bellarmyne did aboue speake in the first section of this booke Or how stands your Charity to good vses with reference to Zachaeus spoken of in the Gospell Luc. 19. who after he had seene Christ gaue instantly the halfe of his state to the poore Truly I speake in all sincerity I knew two Gentlemen in Englād who were but Esquyers though of good states and yet at the tyme of their deaths besides many other most good and holy workes done by them in their life tyme the one of thē did leaue to good vses fifteene hūdred pounds and the other a thousand Markes Therefore let such Catholiks who are carefull of their Soules-good be vertuously emulous of such mēs deuotion and charity and let them remember that saying of S. Chysostome serm 37. ad pop Antioch Non dare sed copiosè dare Eleemosyna est But to proceed If any of you vpon your iust Demerits were to be racked for diuers moneths togeather or if any of you were in the highest degree afflicted with some Corporall payne what would you not giue if it were in your power to redeeme your selues from these torments And yet the first of these paines might endure through the Clemency of the Prince but few moneths perhaps but few dayes the other could not endure many yeares through the extremity of the payne for nullum violentum est perpetuum And will you then be so leaden stupid and dull in iudgment as willingly and affectedly to vndergoe it being in your power by abandoning in your lyfe tyme a little Drosse to preuent them such paynes for many yeares perhaps for many hundred of yeares in reference and comparison of which all the greatest torments in this world in the iudgment of the ancient Fathers are to be reputed as shaddowes or tipes of paynes where is mās vnderstanding where is the light of his Reason But it seemes they are exiled and in their roome are imbraced a most sordid earthly respect of temporall fading vanities Therefore I may well here demand Are such persons Catholikes Are they Christiās yea are they men who thus be trample withall carelessnes and supine neglect the good of their owne soules and rauell out their tyme in idle toyes and pleasures Alas what are riches greatnes of state a needles fruition of temporall pleasures or that which you call your reputation honour which with-draw many from doing of good deeds able to performe Syr Iohn Oldcastle being exprobated of his Cowardlynes and thereby reputed inglorious replyed If through my persuyte of Honour I shall fortune to loose an Arme or a Leg in the wars can Honour restore to me my lost Arme or legge In like manner I heere say to you Catholikes Can your Riches your worldly pompe and pleasures or antiquity of your House and Family redeeme your Soules out of Purgatory Or can this poore weake blast of wind or ayre which you call your reputation consisting in other mens words passed vpon you coole the heate of those burning flames Nothing lesse since these toyes through your abuse of them shall serue as bellowes the more to blow the Flames of Purgatory I will vrge one reason which shall make you negligent Catholikes to blush and withall to grow pale for it shall force you to be ashamed of your incredible negligēce in this great busines heere treated of and it shall put you if so