sweet society of the angels and saints in heaven, and the sight of all other things which they believe and hope to behold; for of them all they have a very lively faith, confirmed by the experience of their immortality, and of the purgatory itself which they suffer. The greatness of this pain I may figure by that which a discreet, wise, and noble man has, when he is imprisoned in a very obscure prison, without seeing the light of heaven but by some chink or loop-hole, without having any communication with his kindred, friends, or acquaintance, and without knowing what passes in the world, or how long his imprisonment shall continue. And although it is to be believed that the angel guardian comes now and then to comfort the soul of him of whom he had care, yet we may imagine that it answers him, as blind Tobias answered to St. Raphael, " What manner of joy shall be to me, who sit in darkness and see not the light of heaven," [1] or my sweet Creator and Redeemer?
Colloquy. — O my soul, seeing thou believest this pain that attends thee in purgatory if thou payest not here what thou owest for thy sins, defer not the payment, that Almighty God may not defer thy beholding Him clearly. Desire with great fervency to go to behold Him, removing from thee all that may defer the accomplishment of this desire; that with the end of thy life there may be an end of thy pain, and that thou mayest presently enter into rest and glory. Amen.
POINT III.
Thirdly, I am to consider the pain which they call of sense, which my soul shall suffer in purgatory, tormented by its terrible fire.
1. This is to be estimated, first, because this fire is the same with that of hell, in comparison of which that of this
- ↑ Tob.v. 12.
