Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A47042
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Saint Patricks purgatory containing the description, originall, progresse, and demolition of that superstitious place / by Henry Jones ...
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Jones, Henry, 1605-1682.
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1647
(1647)
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Wing J946; ESTC R16600
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121,914
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152
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Manes His ubi tum Natum Anchises unaque Sibillam Persequitur dictis portaque omittit Eburna Two gates of sleep there were of home one was By which men say true spirits use to passe The other made of purest Ivory Whence by the ghosts false dreams are sent on high Through this Anchises his discourse being done Dismist Sybilla and with her his sonne Thus have we seen neither can it be denyed but that this is one of the most pregnant proofes for this Purgatory the description of the place and the severall passages in the pilgrimage being so sutable To conclude then as in the former Chapter it appeared that the Reverence gained to this Purgatory did first proceed from him who was supposed the Author of it S. Patricke and yet with what uncertainty that could be beleeved was there shewed so here we finde it much more esteemed for it selfe out of the opinion of the strange effects of it Certainely strange if true and that accompanied with so many strange sights as were reported to be seene both strong motives to satisfie either Curiosity and Devotion all which granted what wonder was it to finde it so much looked after and so much flocked unto from farre and neare And yet with what foppery with how many contradictions with how great an heap of absurdities this was followed hath been in this Chapter considered So that again and again I say it it cannot be sufficiently admired that not onely the multitude but men otherwise rationall and learned should be so drawn on as to relish and digest such grosse Fables and Fooleries and still to reverence so poore and base a thing as this Cave is as if men were resolved to be missed or Not receiving the love of the Truth but holding it in unrighteousnesse God justly sending such strong delusions that should beleeve a lye But yet cannot we judge thus of all as if all of them had purposely shut their eyes and captivated their Iudgements so to be led on blind-foulded and against Reason to beleeve all reports concerning it For it cannot be thought that in so long a time and among so many thousands of Pilgrims there being so many eyes to pry into it it should be possible but that some more ingenious than others should at last discover the Imposture And therefore as this Purgatory did grow to that great height so did it groane under its own burthen being first discovered to some few after to all and lastly and that more than once deservedly demolished Of all which more fully in the following Chapter CHAP. III. How this Purgatory did begin to decline and fall from its esteeme being first suspected and found Fabulous and lastly quite demolished HAving formerly sought after the beginning of this Purgatory And after observed the Rising and increasing of it Order now leadeth to take notice of its continuance which if we should begin with the Time of Saint Patrickes converting this Kingdome Anno 432. unto which it is commonly referred with a supposed continuance thereof untill the yeare one thousand sixe hundred thirtie two the peryod of its dissolution It would make up a computation of one thousand two hundred yeares A time surely wonderfull if true for so grosse an Imposture to stand without discovery even potent States having suffered many alterations in a shorter time and among others none more than this Kingdome of Ireland which also maketh the matter yet more strange that this Cave should notwithstanding subsist a midst so many combustions But hee that shall observe the severall passages shall finde it to have its sencible declinings and that as it did please God to open the eyes of men and to disperse the mists of ignorance So that now by the full Sun-shine of the Gospell it is quite vanished without any memoriall which is the thing we are next to search after Neyther must the matter be so taken as if all this were done in an instant but as it did rise so fell it by certaine steps and degrees Yea the very rising not being without tottering and its progresse followed with a continuall staggering which notwithstanding it be evident out of what is before declared yet for the more cleare manifestation thereof I shall reduce all that hath beene said unto these three heads wherein as it were in one view the rising and falling thereof may at once be apparant The first step was out of the beliefe of having the Institution of it from Saint Patricke the Apostle of the Irish as being a meanes of the conversion of the Nation Which were it true deserved much of that respect and flooking unto it which hath beene afforded it and as a memorable and ancient monument and memoriall thereof ought it still to be preserved But this hath fayled it Saint Patrickes age would not owne it neyther had it a name for many ages even seven hundred yeares after And when in the yeare one thousand one hundred and forty it began to peepe up it would not be acknowledged by some eminent persons of that time by whom Henry of Saltry desired to bee informed of it whereas his Relators for it spake but by heare-say and so weake was the report that howsoever it seemed then to get head yet within fortie five yeares it is husht againe and no more newes for a while heard of it I meane in Iocelines times in the yeare one thousand one hundred eighty five of which before at large Secondly it having notwithstanding these rubs againe recovered its motion and gained a Name of throughly purging a penitent from all his sinnes in the Compasse of a naturall day where also strange sights of torments and joyes should be discovered to him by which meanes almost from all parts the concourse thither was so great as scarcely to be credited yet even in that very age was it as confidently rejected as a meere fable not consisting eyther with Reason or Religion as before wee heard out of Vincentius Belluacensis Anno 1240. being but one hundred yeares after that Henry of Saltry To which I will adde that of Bonaventure the Seraphicall Doctor within 25. yeares of Vincentius Anno 1265. esteeming it no other than a fable his words are these It is written that I Patrick obtayned that one should be punished in a certaine place within the Earth and from hence it was fabulously reported that Purgatory was in that place which to be meant of this Purgatory is by Gabriel Pennottus acknowledged by whom it is so farre stretched as to be a full casting off of all things delivered of it as Fables Truely faith he not withstanding that Bonaventure in 4. dist 20. par 1. quaest ult suspecteth all reported of the said Purgatory to be fabulous yet he saith that S. Patrick obtained that one should be punished in a certaine place of the earth out of which it was fabulously reported that Purgatory was there This you see is confessed but Pennottus his glosse
SAINT PATRICKS Purgatory Containing The Description Originall Progresse and Demolition of that superstitious place By Henry Jones Bishop of Clogher 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye LONDON Printed for Richard Royston and are to be sold at his Shop in Ivy Lane at the Signe of the Angell 1647. The CONTENTS Chap. 1. 1. THe description of S. Patricks Purgatory in Ireland 2. The customes and manners of that Pilgrimage 3. The Author and beginning of it 4. And why it is called a Purgatory 1. Chap. 2. The Progresse and flourishing estate of Saint Patricks Purgatory in the esteeme it had at home and abroad Whereof some probable conjectures Some Pilgrimages thither set downe Together with an examination of the truth of them 54. Chap. 3. How this Purgatory did begin to decline and fall from its esteeme being first suspected and found fabulous and lastly quite demolished 116. SAINT PATRICKS PVRGATORY CAP. I. 1. The Discription of S. Patrick's Purgatory in Ireland 2. The customes and manners of that Pilgrimage 3. The author and beginning of it 4. And why it is called a Purgatory IN the North edge of the Province of Ulster in Ireland on the borders of Tirconnell Fermannagh Donegall there is invironed with a marvailous great waste of bogs and mountaines a certaine Lough as they tearme it or Lake of a great compasse called Lough-Derge a place famous and celebrated by the pennes of many at home and abroad as that which encloseth and compasseth within it that which is of greatest observation and use I say not onely in this Kingdome of Ireland but if reports be true in the whole world beside of which I 〈…〉 〈◊〉 discourse S. Patricks â—… It 〈…〉 this Purgaâ—… that tedious 〈◊〉 concerning the name of Lough-Derge As that neare that Lake in the shin-bone of one that had been murthered there was bred a Serpent which did grow to an incredible greatnesse for â—o must we beleeve if it did as they say it did swallow downe 2410. men at once That the Serpent being slaine and his bloud running into the Lake the complexion of the water was changed and continued Red for 48. houres That hence it was that from Lough-â—â—n or the White-logh by which it was before knowne it was after called as now it is Lough-Derge or the Red-Logh For confirming whereof that there may not want something besides the bare name among other Reliques there did remaine ready to be shewed a great Knotty bone said to be one of the least joints of that Serpents Tayle A fable I confesse not worthy to take place in a serious discourse did I not finde it sutable to those relations we are hereafter to meet withall in our treating of this Subject they being I doubt not as true and I assure my selfe no lesse strange and monstrous than this is Within this Lake there are many small Islands but two of especiall note above the rest The one is called the Island of S. Avoge or Abheoge wherein that Saint is said to be buried or the Island of S. Fintanus as others would have it In which Island there is seated a Convent of Cannons Regular of the order of Saint Augustine subject to the Abbot and Monastery of the Apostles Peter and Paul scituate in the Cittiâ— of Ardmagh yet he who within the Lake is chiefe of the Monks is honoured with the Title of Prior of the Purgatorie of these Monks by turnes two are continually resident in the Island of Purgatory to be there for the entertaining and directing of such Pilgrimes as doe come thither to be purged This is that which is called Iusula dâ—moniaca for so we sometimes finde it into which S. Patrick is said to pursue those evill Spirits which he had driven from the mountaine Chruan in Connaught yet did they possesse one part of this Island of which Nicholas Harpsfeldius out of Giraldus Cambrenfis thus He Giraldus reporteth that in Vlster there is a famous Island in a certaine Lake the one part whereof is pleasant and delightfull and much spoken of in respect of Angels and Saints there frequenting and appearing the other part thereof being no lesse terrible as haunted with Devils which are there often seene The truth whereof I leave to the Authors But there is nothing that doth make this place so famous as another Island not farre from this being something lesse than a mile as may be supposed from the shore which by reason of the Cave that is in it of which so much is spoken is knowne by the name of S. Patricks Purgatory It is altogether rockie from the one end of it to the other exactly levell it cannot be said and yet not very uneven no one part thereof being much higher than another The Figure of it is Oblong extending it selfe from South to North unto which the nearer it runneth the narrower it groweth It doth containe about halfe an Irish acre and eleven perches in all 41. perches and one halfe in circuit each perch being 25. fâ—â—t for thus was it exactly surveyed by that truely Honourable the Lord Dillon Le. Bâ—… of Kilkenny West in whose presence it was 〈◊〉 asured by Anthony Lipset whom for that purpose I brought with me into the Island and whom I accompanied into the Cave and the rest of the places that were measured saith he The Mappe whereof as it was then made have I here unto preâ—… acknowledging my self here in bound to that Noble Lord and his Lordships sonne Sir Iames Dillon Knight both curiously inquisitive in this whose observations have been imparted unto me Without the compasse of this Island and within the water toward the North-east of the land about two yards from the shore doe stand certaine Rocks or Stones distant from each other whereof two are of especiall use in this pilgrimage The one which is the least and next the shore is that whereon they say S. Patrick was wont to kneele one third part of the night as he did spend one other third part in the Cell which they call his Bed of which after and the other third part in the Cave or Purgatorie In this stone there is a clift or print reported to be made by S. Patricks kneeling or standing thereupon This it may be is that which Lumbard meaneth yet being mis-informed writing by heresay he placing it within the Cave whereas indeed there is no such thing there The other Stone is much greater further in the Lake and covered with water called Lackevanny this is esteemed to be of that singular vertue that the onely standing thereupon doth heale the sorenesse of the Pilgrimes feet occasioned by their going barefoote on sharpe Rocks and Stones The entrance into the Island for there is but one and that about the South-south-east point thereof is narrow rockie