Christus precipit per sponsam cuidam deuoto magistro in theologia, quod predicet feruenter oportune et importune, quod anime purgate vident faciem Dei. Dicit eciam, quod, qui semper vellent viuere et semper peccare, eternaliter in inferno cruciabuntur.
The Call to Fervent Preaching
Christ commands the bride to urge the teacher to preach the truth of the beatific vision with unwavering zeal.
While Master Matthias of Sweden—who wrote the prologue to this book—was preaching, one of the soldiers cried out as if he were mad: "If my soul doesn't make it to heaven," he said, "let it go off like a beast, eating dirt and the bark of trees." The wait until the judgment is a long one. For before that judgment, no soul will see the glory of God. Hearing this, the bride, who was present, groaned and said: O Lord, King of glory, I know that you are merciful and very patient. The world praises everyone who stays silent about the truth and hides justice. But those who have your zeal and show it are despised. Therefore, Lord, give this teacher constancy and a fervor for speaking! Then, in a state of spiritual ecstasy, the bride saw heaven opened and hell burning, and she heard a voice saying to her, "Look," it said, "at heaven; look at the souls, and see what glory they are clothed in!" Tell your teacher this: 'It is none other than your God, your Creator and Redeemer, who says this.' Preach with confidence! Preach with constancy! Preach in season and out of season! Preach that the blessed and purified souls see the face of God! Preach fervently, for your reward will be like that of a child who listens to his father's voice. If you doubt who I am that is speaking, know that I am the one who has taken your temptations away from you.'
Divine Justice and the Hardened Heart
The Lord explains the nature of eternal punishment for those who refuse to repent while they have the opportunity.
After hearing these things, she saw hell once again. Terrified by the sight, she heard a voice say, "Don't be afraid of the spirits you see." For their hands—that is, their powers—are bound, and without me they can do no more than straw before your feet.1 What, then, are people thinking when they presume so much about themselves, as if I wouldn't take vengeance on them, when I even subject demons to my will? The bride replied, "O Lord, please don't be angry if I speak." Are you, who are most merciful, going to punish forever someone who is no longer capable of sinning forever? For people don't believe this is consistent with your divinity—you who exalt mercy over judgment—nor do people punish those who offend them forever.✦ The Spirit replied: "I am Truth and Justice itself, and I give to everyone according to their works, for I am the one who examines hearts and intentions." And just as the heavens are far from the earth, so my ways and my judgments are far from the plans and understanding of worldly people." So, since a person doesn't correct their own evil while they're alive and able to, why is it any surprise if they're punished where they're no longer able to do anything? Or how could those who want to live forever while continuing to sin forever deserve to remain in my most pure eternity? And so, whoever corrects their sin while they have the chance ought to remain with me forever, because I am eternally all-powerful and I live eternally.
A Warning from the Grave
A cautionary account of a man who died in his sins and the subsequent manifestation of his eternal torment.
This man was married. While living openly with a concubine in his own home, he rose from the table in great distress of heart because of a warning he had received; then, in the presence of many witnesses, he killed her. He died four days later with a hardened heart and without the Sacraments, and he was buried in the friars' church. From his grave, many of the brothers heard a voice on several nights crying out, "Woe, woe, I am burning, I am burning!" When this was reported to his wife, his tomb was opened in her presence. Inside, the buried body was not found, except for a few scraps of clothing and some shoes. Once the tomb was covered again, that voice was never heard again.
Read the original Latin
Magistro Mathia de Suecia, qui composuit istius libri prologum, predicante vnus armigerorum quasi furiosus clamauit: "Si", inquit, "anima mea non venerit in celum, vadat sicut bestia comedendo terram et arborum cortices.
Longa enim mora est vsque ad iudicium. Nam ante illud iudicium nulla anima videbit gloriam Dei." Quod audiens sponsa, que presens erat, ingemuit dicens:
"O Domine, rex glorie, scio, quod misericors es et multum paciens. Omnes enim, qui tacent veritatem et dissimulant iusticiam, laudantur in mundo. Qui vero zelum tuum habent et ostendunt, despiciuntur. Ideo, Domine, da isti magistro constanciam et feruorem loquendi!"
Tunc sponsa in excessu mentis vidit celum apertum et infernum ardentem, et audiuit vocem dicentem sibi: "Vide", inquit, "celum, vide animas, quali gloria vestite sunt!
Dic ergo isti magistro tuo: 'Hec dicit non alius nisi Deus tuus, creator et redemptor tuus. Predica secure! Predica constanter! Predica oportune et importune! Predica, quod anime beate et purgate vident faciem Dei!
Predica feruenter, quia merces erit tibi sicut filii audientis vocem patris sui! Si dubitas, quis sum ego, qui loquor, scias, quod ego sum ille, qui abstuli a te temptaciones tuas.'"
Hiis autem auditis vidit iterum infernum. Ex cuius pauore conterrita audiuit vocem dicentem: "Ne timeas spiritus, quos vides. Horum enim manus, idest potestates, ligate sunt et non possunt sine me plus quam stramen ante pedes tuos.
Quid ergo cogitant homines presumentes de se, quod ego non capiam vlcionem ex eis, qui eciam demonia subicio voluntati mee?" Respondit sponsa: "O Domine, ne indigneris, si loquor.
Numquid tu, qui misericordissimus es, perpetuo punies illum, qui perpetuo peccare non potest? Hec enim homines non credunt conuenire deitati tue, qui iudicio misericordiam superexaltas, nec homines perpetuo puniunt aliquos in se delinquentes."
Respondit Spiritus: "Ego sum ipsa veritas et iusticia, qui do vnicuique secundum opera sua, qui corda inspicio et voluntates. Et sicut celum distat a terra, sic vie mee et iudicia mea longe sunt a consiliis et intellectibus mundanorum.
Ergo, quia homo non corrigit malum suum, cum viuit et potest, quid mirum, si puniatur, vbi nichil potest? Aut quomodo in eternitate mea purissima manere debent hii, qui in eternum semper viuere volunt et semper peccare?
Et ideo, qui corrigit peccatum suum, cum potest, manere debet mecum in eternum, quia ego eternaliter possum omnia et eternaliter viuo."
Hic homo vxoratus fuit. Qui publice concubinam tenens in domo sua surrexit a mensa in anxietate cordis ex ammonicione sibi facta; videntibus multis interfecit concubinam.
Qui post in quarto die in obduracione cordis mortuus est sine sacramentis et sepultus in ecclesia fratrum. De cuius sepulchro pluribus fratribus audientibus et in pluribus noctibus vox audita est: "Ve, ve, ardeo, ardeo!"
Quod cum relatum fuisset ad vxorem eius, ipsa presente aperitur sepulchrum eius. In quo corpus sepultum non inuenitur preter modicum de panniculis et de calceis. Cooperto iterum sepulchro vox illa vlterius non est audita.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'stramen' (straw/chaff) is used here to denote utter helplessness and lack of substance.
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