Purgatory surveyed, 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.

§. 1. Of the natural instinct of all Nations to honour, and comfort the dead.

IT may well put most Catho∣licks to the blush, to consider what an incredible care, all na∣tions have ever had of the dead, by the meer impulse of nature.

Cesar takes notice, how supersti∣tiously pious, the ancient French were in this kind, who together with the dead corps, which they burnt upon a great pile of wood, were wont to consume all that had been precious, and dear to him when he lived, as all his rich moveables, his Dogs, his Horses, nay sometimes his very Servants also, who took it for a great honour, that they might be suf∣fered, so to mingle their ashes, with those of their dear Lord and Master. And does not the Ro∣man History tell us, that, when Otho the Emperous, had 〈◊〉〈◊〉 himself with a Dagger, many ••••

his Souldiers were seen to do the like, to shew the affection they had for their Prince, and how-ready they were to sacrifice their lives for his honour, and service. I know these customes were not on∣ly very extravagant, but extream rude, and barbarous, and yet they may serve to shame Christians, who are so far from expressing any such love for the souls of their friends, though they believe them to lye broyling in Purgatory. For what would not these others have done, or what would they not have given, to redeeme the souls of their friends out of cruel tor∣ments (had they believed as much) since they were so prodi∣gal, as to sacrifice their goods, and their very lives to their bare me∣mories.

What shall I say of those other Nations, whose natural piety lead them, to set burning Lamps at the sepulchers of the dead, and strew them over with sweet flo∣wers, and Odoriferous perfumes?

do they not mind Christians, to remember the dead, and to cast after them, the sweet incense of their devout sighs, and prayers, and the perfumes of their almes deeds, and other good works.

It was very usual with the old Romans, to shed whole floods of tears, to reserve them in viol glas∣ses, and to bury them with the ••••••nes, in which the ashes of their de••d friends were carefully laid up, and by them to set Lamps, so artificially composed, as to burn without end By which Symbols, they would give us to understand that neither their love, nor their grief, should ever dye, but that they would always be sure, to have tears in their eyes, love in their hearts, and a constant memory in their souls for their deceased friends Good God! shall chari∣ty be overcome by vanity, shall Religion yeeld to Idolatry, and shall ••he Catholick Roman stoop to the Pagan Roman? shall a lit∣tle vain glory, or a me•••• ••atural

affection have the power to draw whole Glasse fuls of tears, from the eyes of idolatours, and shall not a Religious compassion pre∣vaile so far ••s to draw a single tear or a figh, or a good word from the mouth of a Christian? shall they take on so bitterly for dead carcasses, that are not sensible of the flames, that consume them? & shall not we be more concerned for souls, that really feel the smart of a most cruel fire? sure they will one day rise up in judgement a∣gainst us, and reproach us for be∣lieving as we do, and carrying our felves clear contrary to the belief we profess.

They had another custome, not only in Rome, but elsewhere, to walk about the burning pile, where the dead Corps lay, and with their mournful lamentati∣ons, to keep time with the doleful sound of their Trumpets, and still every turn, to cast into the fire some precious pledg of their friendship. The Women them∣selves,

would not stick to throw in their Rings, Bracelets and o∣ther costly attires, nay their very hair also, the chief ornament of their Sex, and they would have been sometimes willing, to have thrown in both their eyes, and their hearts too. Nor were there some wanting, that in earnest threw themselves into the fire, to be consumed with their dear spouses, so that it was found ne∣cessary, to make a severe law a∣gainst it, such was the tender∣ness they had for their deceased friends, such was the excess of a mere natural affection. Now our love •••• infused from heaven, it is supernatural, and consequently ought to be more active, and po∣werful to stir up our compassion, for the souls departed, and yet we see the coldness of Christians in this kind, how few there are, that make it their business to help poor souls out of their tormenting flames. It is not necessary to make Laws to hinder any excess

in this kind, it were rather to be wish'd, that a Law were provided, to punish all such ungrateful per∣sons, as forget the duty they owe to their dead parents, and all the obligations they have to the rest of their friends.

It will help somthing to en∣crease 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 I∣vory, Ebony, or some precious Mettal, amongst others, you might have seen curious Mermaides, with exquisite musick, lockt up with∣in them Eagles, Dragons and other beasts represented to life, stately galleries hung with Scarlet richly embroydered, triumphant crowns of p••••e Gold, torches, fifteen cu∣bits high, perfumes without end.

O what an excess of love, and su∣perfluity was this? what a st••r to make a handful of ashes, of the carcass of a miserable damned wretch? And yet all this was no∣thing, to the mad profuseness of that other infamous and despe∣rate King, who yet living built his own funeral pile, and made him∣self 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 dili∣gent search for the bones, care∣fully 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 o••her costly perfumes, and so re∣served them in urns of glasse, Ivo∣ry, 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 bur∣ning in Purgatory fire, and see them with dry eyes, and with a frozen heart? Can we be so nig∣gardly, as to grudge them a lit∣tle comfort, or refuse to cast on our Wine, our Milk, and our flo∣wers, 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 Ar∣temifia will condemne u••, for ha∣ving

built one of the seven mira∣cles of the world, in honor of her dear Lord and Husband, not con∣tent with this exteriour de••on∣stration, 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 ve∣ry 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 Chil∣dren, 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 barbarou••

people, who were wont to feast themselves with the flesh of their dead Parents, and to justifie the fact, by saying, that it was 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 re∣turne the curtesie they received, when they were heretofore lod∣ged in theirs. I know this bru∣tishness does not raigne amongst us, at this present, but alas? there is another not unlike to it, which is much in fashion: for how ma∣ny Childen, gourmandize them∣selves with the riches of their pa∣rents, drink up the sweat of their browes, and devoure their goods, without so much as dreaming, what becomes of their Souls, whe∣ther they broyl in glowing fire or starve in freezing cold? Cruel wretches! Is this the gratitude with which they honour their Pa∣rents? Are they indeed children, or rather are they not direct vul∣tures 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 no∣thing of the ten valiant captains, that were slain, for not fishing for the bodies of their souldiers, and causing them to be buried, which was a crime they held unpardo∣nable I say as little, of that pions custome of the Athenians, who would confer no honour, or dig∣nity, 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, pray∣ers, and ceremonies, which were constantly performed by the vestall virgins, Priests, and whole pagan Clergy, nor of the stately mausoleums, pyramisses, colossus∣ses, 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 reck∣oning 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 pun∣nishment of their coldness, and want of charity, they may be just so served by their successors, as they dealt with their predeces∣sours. 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 de∣puted for burying of their dead.

Notes

• De bello Gall.
• Tacit. Hist.
• Herod. l. 2.
• Suet. in Aug. Dion. Alex.
• Diod. Sic. l. 17. c. 16.
• Justin. l. 1. Diod. Sic. l. 3. Bud.
• Strabo. l. 14. Diod. l. 16.
• Strabo. Val. Max.
• Xenoph. l. 1 Pausan. l. 2.