CHAPTER XIV: THOUGHTS ON THE LAST THINGS.
THOUGHTS ON THE LAST THINGS.
§ 1. On death.
§ 2. On heaven.
§ 3. On the miseries of hell. __________________________________________________________________
§ 1. The thought of death.
REMAIN united to God in perfect peace whatever may befall thee. For by this means thon wilt lead a life pleasing to God here, and at length pass hence by a holy death. Thou wilt die in the grace and friendship of God; and thy death will be the entrance into true life, according to the promise of the Lord Jesus, who saith, "He that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live: and every one that liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die for ever" (St. John xi. 25, 26). Christ also will gently whisper these or the like words to thy soul as it issues forth from the prison-house of the body; "I am thy salvation. I thy Creator, thy Redeemer, and thy Lover, have sought thee and found thee through the agonies of death; thou shalt be ever with me, fear not." In this manner will the Lord thy God then console thee if thou art a man of good and resigned will.
Wherefore let not the remembrance of death immoderately sadden thee, but let it rather bring thee joy, as it rejoiced a certain holy virgin,
[8] who said to God; Lord, when will my body (destroyed by Thee) at length return to dust and my soul be reunited to Thee its source! She certainly desired death and had patience with life. Think not anxiously by what manner of death thou wilt pass hence; but commit thyself entirely and securely to the disposal and will of God.
And if death be not perhaps desirable to thee, let it be at least endurable. Say to the Lord, "Thy will be done." Jesus thy King by dying prepared the way for thee and made it easy; follow humbly where He has gone before. Even if thou art fearful and terrified, persevere still in holy hope and trust in thy good Lord, who willeth to act towards thee not as a severe Judge, but as a merciful Father; and who Himself (as we have said above,) chose to be fearful and sorrowful before His Death, that He might console thee in thy fear and sadness. Offer to Him, to His eternal praise, thy sadness united to His; and commend thy death to Him in union with His Death. If thou lovest and fearest God, death will bring thee in numerable benefits. When thou shalt have passed through this life, thou wilt assuredly be no more stained by sin, no more wilt thou offend God, nor will this corruptible body be any longer an impediment in thy way. __________________________________________________________________
[8] St. Gertrude. __________________________________________________________________
§ 2. The thought of paradise.
After thy purgatory (if thou wert yet in need of being purified,) thou wilt arrive in thy heavenly home, a home of eternal glory, a home ever most sweet and joyful; where there is no infirmity, no corruption, no fear, no anxiety, no grief, no poverty, no affliction, no sorrow or misery (Apoc. xxi. 4). There wilt thou most happily enjoy that supreme and unchangeable Good, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of mortal man (1 Cor. ii. 9). For thou shalt clearly see the glorious Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the One supremely desirable God. Thou will be in God and God will be in thee in a most excellent manner. Being thus united to God, thou wilt perfectly taste the sweetness of His goodness, and wilt be utterly inebriated with the torrent of divine delights (Psal. xxxv. 9). Thou wilt then most fully know and feel, with what immense love He has loved thee from all eternity. Filled with unspeakable and incomprehensible joy, thou wilt behold the Human Face of thy Beloved Jesus, which is verily all gracious, glorious, and sweet; for His beauty and fairness far surpass all that can in this life be wished for or desired. Thou wilt also behold, with ineffable joy, the most benign, fair and sweet Mother of Christ the Virgin Mary, and all the blessed Spirits and all the Saints; and dwelling most happily with them, thou wilt love and praise God without end, without labour and without impediment. O blessed home, and truly the only home! All who are there, are certainly kings and queens, and children of God. There all are adorned with incorruptible beauty, and enjoy an imperturbable peace. There all are ever glorified by the serene light of the Godhead, and obtain full knowledge of the truth. Each one distinctly and perfectly knows every one of the citizens of heaven, and abounds with every sort of riches, delight and joy. Thou needst not fear lest any of those things which please thee here should be absent. For all the beauty, elegance, sweetness, grace, perfection, and excellence that can here be found in all creatures, exist there most exuberantly and superessentially. In short, there is the influx of every good. And the elect who arrive there, receive the glory of eternal bliss most abundantly in their souls before the resurrection; but after the Judgment they will receive it also in their bodies. We shall all rise again at the age at which the Lord Jesus was when He died for us. The old man of a hundred years and the infant of one night old will be of the same stature. And although the good may now be lame, or blind, or deformed; yet they will then rise again sound, whole, fair, beautiful, and free from every blemish. The bodies of the elect will then emit a most sweet odour, and will be seven times more brilliant than the sun, since the glory of their souls will penetrate them. They will also be impassible, so that they can suffer no injury. And they will be endowed with such agility that wherever the soul may wish to be, thither it will in a moment transport the body. They will moreover be so subtle that they will penetrate solid and thick substances with less difficulty than the light of the sun penetrates glass. Then the heavens and the elements will shine for ever, being changed and adorned with wonderful beauty; and all corruption being removed, the clouds, winds, showers, burning heat, thunder, frost, night and darkness being done away, they will be succeeded by perpetual tranquillity, warmth, and light, and sunshine sevenfold brighter than it now is. The air will contain more light than it now does. The water will be purer than it now is. The earth will be clear as crystal, and perfectly level. And the sensible world thus renovated will offer for ever a most joyful spectacle to all the Saints. Oh! how fresh and pleasant will be that perennial summer! Then, in deed, the Saints, who during the winter of this exile, like trees stripped of all adornment, appeared lowly and were esteemed barren, will be clothed with unspeakable glory and beauty, and will flourish like palm-trees for ever and ever. __________________________________________________________________
§ 3. The miseries of hell.
But all things contrary to the happiness and glory of the righteous will befall the wicked and impious who shall die in their sins. For their souls will he cast before the Judgment into eternal fire and horrible darkness, and will be vexed with intolerable torments. They will, indeed, resume their bodies at the last day; but these will be black, deformed, fetid, and heavier than lead. After the Judgment, hell will receive within itself all these, and whatever foulness and filth there is in the world; and from thence neither man nor demon will ever again issue forth. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and everlasting lamentation. There will misery, pain, envy, anger, hatred, and despair never have an end. There will the lost, amid incomprehensible torments, ever see, hear and feel, all that is horrible and abominable.
Do thou, O beloved friend, weighing within thyself both the happiness of the good, and the misery of the wicked who end their days in their sins; abhor the one, and aspire to the other with all the love and desire of which thou art capable. It is only with the eye of faith that thou canst now discern God and thy heavenly country; but do thou believe in what thou seest not plainly, so that when what thou believest in shall have been made manifest, thou mayest perfectly rejoice, the clear vision of it being shown thee.
Look frequently into the spiritual mirror, which I, being already fifty years old, have written for myself and for thee. Contemplate thyself diligently in it, that thou mayest easily discover thy defects, and having discovered them, correct them with all thy strength. It is clearly expedient that he who desires to make spiritual progress, should have some certain written precepts and advice by which he may carefully regulate his whole life. Although for many it is abundantly sufficient to contemplate attentively the Life of Jesus Christ, who is the most glorious Mirror of all Christians. To Him be glory for ever and ever, Amen. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
A STRING OF SPIRITUAL JEWELS. __________________________________________________________________
PREFACE.
THE reader must be warned not to follow the perverse judgment of some men, who contemn divine revelations and visions, as though they were vain dreams, and thereby show themselves to be unspiritual, and wanting in humility. For we should not esteem of little account the revelations that have been divinely manifested, by which the Church of God is wonderfully enlightened. It is certain that the holy Prophets (into whom the Spirit of God descended like a most sweet torrent), learnt the truth without error by revelation. And the Blessed Paul commending to the Galatians the Gospel which he preached, asserts that he received it, "not of man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galat. i. 12). Lastly, the Holy Scriptures are full of divine revelations, and the Lord ever was and ever will be able to work whatsoever He willeth in the pure souls of His elect. Let, therefore, the pious reader receive with a humble and grateful mind the holy revelations here related, for thus will he derive from them immense fruit and consolation. __________________________________________________________________