Purgatory | Page 9

purification lasts the
more perfectly does she die to herself, until at length she remains
purified in God.
"When gold has been completely freed from dross, no fire, however
great, has any further action on it, for nothing but its imperfections can
be consumed. So it is with the divine fire in the soul. God retains her in
these flames until every stain is burned away, and she is brought to the
highest perfection of which she is capable, each soul in her own degree.
And when this is accomplished, she rests wholly in God. Nothing of
herself remains, and God is her entire being. When He has thus led her
to Himself and purified her, she is no longer passible, for nothing
remains to be consumed. If, when thus refined, she should again
approach the fire she would feel no pain, for to her it has become the
fire of divine love, which is life eternal and which nothing mars."
* * * * *
And thus this blessed Soul, illuminated by the divine ray, said: "Would
that I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror,
and say to them: O wretched beings! why are you so blinded by this
world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision
for the great necessity that will then come upon you?
"You shelter yourselves beneath the hope of the mercy of God, which

you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great
goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should
constrain you to His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own.
Since His justice is unfailing, it must needs be in some way fully
satisfied.
"Have not the boldness to say: 'I will go to confession and gain a
plenary indulgence, and thus I shall be saved?' Remember that the full
confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary
indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are
come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than
of gaining them."
EXTRACTS FROM THE FATHERS. [1]
[Footnote 1: These extracts are purposely different from those quoted
by the learned author of "Purgatory Surveyed," in that portion of his
treatise herein comprised.]
ST. CYPRIAN [1] writes: "Our predecessors prudently advised that no
brother, departing this life should nominate any churchman his
executor; and should he do it, that no oblation should be made for him,
nor sacrifice offered for his repose; of which we have had a late
example, when no oblation was made, nor prayer, in his name, offered
in the Church." [2]
[Footnote 1: Ep., xlvi., p. 114.]
[Footnote 2: Cardinal Wiseman commenting upon this passage, says:
"It was considered, therefore, a severe punishment, that prayers and
sacrifices should not be offered up for those who had violated any of
the ecclesiastical laws."--Lectures on the Catholic Church. Lecture xi.,
p. 59.]
ORIGEN, who wrote in the same century as Cyprian, and some two
hundred years after Christ, speaks as follows, in language the most
distinct, upon our doctrine of Purgatory: "When we depart this life, if
we take with us virtues or vices, shall we receive reward for our virtues,

and shall those trespasses be forgiven to us which we knowingly
committed; or shall we be punished for our faults, and not receive the
reward of our virtues? Neither is true: because we shall suffer for our
sins and receive the reward of our virtues. For if on the foundation of
Christ you shall have built not only gold and silver and precious stones,
but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul
shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into Heaven with
your wood, and hay, and stubble, to defile the Kingdom of God; or on
account of those encumbrances remain without, and receive no reward
for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It
remains, then, that you be committed to the fire, which shall consume
the light materials; for our God, to those who can comprehend heavenly
things, is called a consuming fire. But this fire consumes not the
creature, but what the creature has himself built--wood, and hay, and
stubble. It is manifest that, in the first place, the fire destroys the wood
of our transgressions, and then returns to us the reward of our good
works." [1]
[Footnote 1: Homil. xvi al. xii. in Jerem. T. iii. p. 231,232.]
ST. BASIL, or a contemporary author, thus writes, commenting on the
words of Isaiah: "Through the wrath of the Lord is the land burned; the
things which are earthly are made the food of a punishing fire;