Meditations vppon the mysteries of our holy faith with the practise of mental praier touching the same composed in Spanish by the R.F. Luys de la Puente ... ; and translated into English by F. Rich. Gibbons ...

The first Pointe.

First I am to cōsider, that God our Lord hath ordai∣ned that whosoeuer shall die, * 1.1 hauing cōmited mor∣tall, or veniall sinne, all bee it the fault bee pardoned him, yet if he haue not likewise payed the paine cor∣respōdent there vnto, hee shall not enter into heauen, vntill hee paye it in a prison vnderneathe the earthe, deputed to this ende, wich is called Purgatorie, to the which, the soule of the iust is carried by his An∣gell, that hee may there satisfie his whole debt, vnto the vttermost farthing.

2. Vpon this veritie of our faithe, I will ponder, first how iust God our lord is, and how greate is the righteousnesse of his iustice, though it bee mixed with mercie. For hee will leaue no sinne without so∣me chastizement: and therefore in the Sacrament of

penaunce when hee pardoneth a mortall sinne, hee chaungeth the eternall, into some temporall pu∣nishement, demonstrating therein his infinite mercy, and his iustice. His mercie, in pardoning the most terrible paine that was perpetuallie to continue, and his iustice in requiring satisfaction, with another lighter paine that continueth but a while. VVith this consideration I will animate my selfe, to conforme myselfe to his iustice, seeing his mercie is so aboun∣dant towardes me, to chaunge millions of yeares in a most terrible fier, into a verie fewe of voluntarie pe∣naunce. So that all that I am able to suffer in this life, is to seeme little, or nothing vnto mee, in com∣parison of what I haue deserued, and God hath par∣doned mee.

2. Secōdly, I will ponder how this temporall pai∣ne, if it bee not payed in this life with some very deepe contrition, or with some penall workes, it must of necessity bee paied in the other: aswell for the obseruing the order of the diuine iustice, as also be∣cause God is so greate a louer of puritie, that hee will admitte nothing into heauen, but what is very well purged, not onely from the sinnes, but from the pai∣nes which are the Reliques thereof: for the glorified church, * 1.2 (saith S. Paul) must neither haue spot, nor wrinckle, nor any other like deformity: and there∣fore I must labour for such puritie in this life, that I may haue nothing to purge in the other. O lambe of God in vvhose blood the iust vvashe, and make vvhite their soules, to bee admitted into thy kingdome; graunt mee by the vertue of thy most precious blood. so greate compunction for my sinnes, that I may likevvise bee free from the paines, that my soule beeing loosed out of the prison of this bodie, bee not detained in the prison of pur∣gatorie, Amen.

3. * 1.3 From hence I will passe to ponder how greate an euill veniall sinne is, seeing that therewith it is

impossible to bee able to enter into heauen vntill it bee first purified, for there (as S. Iohn saieth) nothing that is polluted may enter. And I shall also perceiue how much God abhoreth it, when he there detaineth captiues his owne freindes though they bee very holy, vntill they bee purified, and so much humbleth them, that hee giueth them for their pri∣son, an obscure place vnder the earthe and neere vnto hell, discouering hereby how heauie the burthen is of any sinne whatsoeuer, or paine that redoundeth thereof, seeing it casteth vs into so profound an abis∣me. From all these cōsiderations, I will collect a gre∣ate detestation of veniall sinnes, for the good that they depriue mee of: for the prison that they menace mee: for the burthen wherewith they burthen mee: and aboue all because God so abhorreth it, as foorth∣with wee shall ponder more at large.

Notes

• * 1.1

  2. Ma∣chab. 12.40. Zachar. 9.11. 1. Cor. 3.12. D. Tho. in addit. q. 69. & 70. Math. 5.26.
• * 1.2

  Ad E∣phes. 5.26. Apocal. 7 14. Colloquie
• * 1.3

  The grei∣uousnesse of veniall sinne. Apoca. 21 27.