Job 19:21

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Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei, quia manus Domini tetigit me. Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the lord has touched me. (Job 19:21)

Roman Catholic Christians! is it not you, that hold it for true & certain, what god has revealed, & his infallible church has always taught & believed about a middle state of souls departed between eternal bliss & woe, about a third place differing from heaven & Hell, which you are used to call purgatory. where such souls are detained for a while, & purified, as die in the state of grace, but at their departure are still guilty of lesser sins & daily or imperfections which the justest saints are keep not long clear of, & where the temporal satisfaction, if any be still due for mortal sins repented of, is exacted to the last farthing? Is it not you likewise, who profess, that the just but suffering souls in pur suffering in purgatory are be benefited by the prayers of the living? is it not you, who doubt not of the truth of the divine revelation in these words: it is a good & Wholesome thing thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins? (2 Maccabees 12:44-46) is it not you, who protect against all protesters, that who who wantonly strive to suppress at last the belief of purgatory it, not being able to extinguish the fire of purgatory & therefore declare all prayers for the dead to be in vain? you then Roman Catholic Christians! & you alone are the people, the poor sufferers in purgatory may expect assistance from; there hence fore I intreat you today in the name & behalf of each of them, with the words of my text: have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends! because the hand of the Lord has touched me. These words were originally the groanings of Job after the hand of the Lord had touched & deeply involved him in distress, the same words are no less suitable for the souls of the deceased suffering in purgatory. In my present discourse I will first suggest you some motives of Charity towards them, & then I will again 1: I hope not without success effect: 1 represent each of the poor souls, as imploring the assistance of your prayers & good works with the moving words: Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends! because the hand of the Lord has touched me. (Job 19:21)

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Worldly minded Christians, who [symbol: x] are not actuated by the principles of revealed Religion, which they profess, give no other token of their concern about a person deceased, but tears, sighs, lamentations, which are often times feigned, seldom of a long duration, never of advantage either to the spirit, or corpse of the deceased. Others, whose abili some of them, whose ability is equal to their ambition procure a splendid train & numerous train of seemingly sympathizing neighbors to attend the remains to the place of their interment: they themselves make a show with their mourning apparel: funeral sermons must with praises raise the deceased as it were to the sky, whither perhaps he could not rise from the weight of their his sins: magnificent funeral monuments, or tombstones are erected to their memory, & engraved with their names titles, & eulogiums. This being done they feel the same satisfaction within, which is felt by a man, who debtor, as soon as he has discharged all his debts. Only for some while after they remember the dead & speak of himthe dead, but their remembrance, & concern about him gradually wears away, until they forget him at last entirely; but for the souls of departed they do as little, as heathens, & less than the Jews do for the souls of their deceased. Is that right, & justifiable in a Christian? Christians! either lay down your name, or be more tender & charitable to the souls of your deceased fellow Christians, to the souls, I say which undoubtedly are the best part of man, spiritual beings, immortal spirits & images of God, the price of Christ’s precious blood, heirs of heaven, because for ought, you know, they may be suffering in purgatory, & stand therefore in need of your help. All Christians in the universe, are one Church, one body, the head of which is Jesus Christ, hence there is a charitable communication between the head & the members, & among the members themselves in regard of one to another: in the apostles Creed that communication is mentioned by the words communion of saints: it is likewise spoke of 1 Cor. 12. Saint Paul says there: if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it, (1 Corinthians 12:26) in the same Chapter we are taught, that members ought to be careful mutually careful one for another: (1 Corinthians 12:25) In Saint James’s V. is enforced on all members the command: pray one for another, that you may be saved. (James 5:16) Now since the just souls departed do not cease to be members of Christ & his Church as Saint Augustine observes, the souls of the faithful Departed are not separated from the Church, which is the kingdom of Christ (de Civitate Dei 20.9). Therefore the living Christians ought to be Charitable to the deceased, & assist their fellow members in

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purgatory with their prayers; [symbol: +] by all means they ought to regard & treat them still as a part of God’s people, & members of his Church, nay even as as the [babs] the ornaments of his church, belonging to the best part thereof. For whilst they lived, they were good & faithful servants of god, their edifying & virtuous life, their zeal in keeping gods commands their care in conforming to the rules of the Church, has endeared them for ever to the divine Master, whom they served, & in his grace they persevered to the end. God loveth them still, & is preparing a crown for them in heaven, to reward their merits with, as soon as they shall be purified of the little stains of venial sins these [*] daily faults of human frailty, of which the just, & chief saints are not exempt; or as soon as they shall have paid suffered under the hand of justice the temporal punishment yet due for their mortal sins repented of in their life time, because not having lived to blot that debt out through worthy fruits of repentance. penance. To behold such holy sufferers in their extreme necessity, is that not moving? Should that make no impression on your hearts? if your hearts be not of flint, it should indeed. The reprobates in the eternal flames of hell suffer like the devils there; they have deserved nothing less better than they; the eternity of their misery is proportioned to the greatness of injury done to the infinite Majesty of God by their abominable crimes, & final impenitence. [Dear Christians] that [this state] of theirs may be thought on with less compassion, & concern. But the holy souls off in purgatory ought indeed to excite our compassion not only on account of their moral goodness but also likewise because of the greatness of their torments. These good souls are plunged into a most dismal abyss of devouring flames, which penetrate them on all sides kindled by the just wrath of God, which penetrate them on all sides, & cannot but create an extreme anguish, & the mo exquisite pains. their torments are greater, than all we are able to conceive, or imagine: the torments, which tyranny itself [is] has ever invented in this world, are nothing if compared to those in purgatory. even what the damned suffer in the Hellfire is probably not severer their despair, & the endless duration of their misery only excepted. Besides how hard must it not be to these just souls to see themselves retarded from the sight of God, which they so eagerly long for, from the desirable end of their career, from the center of all their wishes. That retardation must needs keep them in a state of uneasiness, & add more to their embitter their situation shockingly, I think, it afflicts them

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more than the scorching [symbol: +] flames themselves. A figure of their pitiful situation presents itself in the case of Absalom, Absalom, who for a crime of an heinous nature was exiled in Geshur, thought this banishment of his so irksome & insupportable, that he solicited his Father the offended king, & obtained at last by the intercession & a stratagem of Joab obtained permission to return to Jerusalem on con the d condition however that he never attempt to come to court, or before his Fathers face. Absalom Still unable to bear this relaxed severity, he entreated Joab again, to procure for him leave to come to the palace, & see his Father. I beseech thee, says he to Joab, I beseech thee, that I may see the face of the king, & if he be mindful of mine iniquity, let him kill me. (2 Samuel 14:32) Death then seemed more eligible to Absalom, than a longer retardation from his Father's sight. Such as Absalom's must be the anguish of the souls in purgatory. no doubt, but they love their heavenly father more tenderly, & wish more intensely to see him face to face, than Absalom loved his Father, hence to find themselves debarred from his face, & Fatherly embraces, what a vexation & grief? are they not likely to look for a Joab to intercede for them, & to intreat every one of their living fellow servants with the words: have pity on me have pity on me, you at least my friends! (Job 19:21) especially since they are conscious they cannot help themselves, for they know it, they themselves cannot shorten the time of their banishment, wherein they burn not able to extinguish the fire, they & are fastened with Chains they cannot break, let them do what they can, they can not merit a release; all their sighs & lamentations do can not put out one spark of their fire; let them make what instances they please they can not move the divine justice in their favor. For as soon as a man's life time ends, the season of gathering merits, of reaping the fruits of divine mercy, of bettering one’s condition for eternity is past, & justice alone takes place rendering to every one according to his works. as The souls in purgatory as they of the deceased are incapable of sinning & incurring that thereby God’s displeasure, so it is in their power no more to perform any meritorious or satisfactory good works for their own benefit. At the close of their life time they were called to an account, and feared, that their work was all finished they could do nothing more towards their salvation in the other world. So Christ informs us in Saint Luke’s 16 In it with these words addressed in a parable to the steward: give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer. (Luke 16:2) After death that night cometh when no man can work. (John 9:4) so our savior instructs us in John’s ninth.

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that is likewise what we understand from the angel in Apocalypse X: [swearing] & saying that time shall be no longer. (Revelation 10:6) the poor sufferers in purgatory may be considered as insolvent debtors calling upon you us to have pity on them, & answer their debts, to pay for them the last farthing, which the God’s justice exacts. If you do not & effect their relief, it is not for want of power, but for want of will for want of charity, & pity. because If justice has disabled them to help themselves, yet the mercy has of God has enabled you to do for them a great deal in their necessity, & to assist them effectually: effectually I say; for the efficacy of your intercession for them is warranted by Saint James, when he said in his fifth chapter: pray one for another, that you may be saved; for the prayer of the just availeth much. (James 5:16) God is easily moved in favor of these ho just sufferers, because he still loveth them as his favorites, whilst he is chastising them. His justice being determined to render to every one according to their his works (Proverbs 24:12) , cannot do otherwise, but purify them for a while, before he admits them into his heavenly Paradise, whereinto nothing that is defiled can enter (Revelation 21:27) . But nothin notwithstanding he retains the tender bowels of a loving Father, who at the same time, he chastises his Son, would gladly see somebody to come to interpose himself between his rod, & the Child he punishes. To pray for the living fellow members of the Church, has in their regard sometimes no more effect, than prayers applied to the reprobates in Hell irrecoverably lost in Hell. their willful obstinacy of living sinners is the cause many times, that to intercede for them, is a wasted devotion, misapplied prayers, a disappointed Charity. But Charity, bestowed on the souls of the faithful departed meets with no obstacle, is & its good effect is in no manner dubious nor precarious. [Dear Christians] Can you reflect on the holiness of the souls in purgatory, those your just fellow members of Christ’s church, on the abyss of their distress, on their incapacity of helping themselves, on the divine goodness, willing to receive your prayers & good works as a satisfaction for their sins, can you reflect on all that, & still be at a stand well whether you shall afford them that assistance or no? if you can, say where is your charity, where is the natural tenderness of humanity? justice & gratitude lays an obligation on you to succor your

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deceased parents & benefactors; but & charity is a more general motive extending to all sufferers in purgatory without exception. Where is it? Charity, I know, prompts you to assist any living creature, that is in necessity; you pity anyone that has to suffer in his life time under the chastising hand of God’s mercy; how can you be unfeeling & insensible at the misery of the deceased, whom the hand of God’s justice lies so heavy upon? A horse falls into a ditch & you run to help him out again. Do not you shudder to see a rogue deservedly suffering in his execution? would not the most spiteful of your enemies, when in extreme necessity, turn [* illeg] only a moving object of your compassion? can you, who on all other occasions are such a great pretender, to tenderness, can you be less tender to the holy, but suffering souls of the faithful deceased? & can you resolve to do less for them? why will you seem hard hearted, & cruel in their regard? can you resolve to do less for them It is a sacred & undoubted principle of Charity to do by others as we one wisheth to be done by him imagine then [Dear Christians] the doleful situation of the souls in purgatory to be your own. think yourselves to be sentenced to remain in purgatory in these unspeakable torments for the space of one whole year, recollect that it is in the power of your living friends to abridge the time of your imprisonment, & to rid you of the pains by their prayers, & meritorious good works which they however, let us suppose so, neglect to do, suppose they think not of you, they leave you to your fate, & to the rigor of justice. Would not you think them excessively hard hearted, & cruel. with the same grounds the poor souls now in purgatory might complain of you for your indolence, & want of Charity, uncharitableness. If you Indeed If you be less concerned about them than you would wish others to be about yourselves, if you were in their situation: I ask you again & again where is your Charity where your pretensions to natural tenderness? let me ask you also: where is your self interestedness? your charity for them will stand you in great stead, when their comes case comes to be your own. the same treatment you give them, you are to receive one time. blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7) says our Savior. I reckon you recollect what Christ said in Saint Mark’s IV.

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with what measure you shall [*torn] mete it shall be measured to you again, & more shall be given to you (Mark 4:24) . Almighty God will reward abundantly those works of your Charity towards his beloved servants in purgatory, & the souls assisted by you will become your powerful advocates at the throne of God. They certainly will remember their benefactors who have reprieved them from their torments, shortened the time of their imprisonment, hastened their salvation. On the reverse god will permit you to be forgot after your death, & abandoned, if you forget, & abandon others. Saint Augustine was convinced of this truth, & encouraged himself to remember the dead in his prayers & sacrifices, with the hopes of reaping an advantage therefrom for himself in his book de civitate Dei 10 he declareth: says: I pray for the dead, that, when they shall be in eternal glory, they may not cease to pray for me. ¹ Saint Augustine gives us here an example, worthy of our imitation That the most of the non Catholics do not pray at all, nor do anything for the souls of for the dead, is not to not so much to be wondered at, this their insensibility, & neglect is a necessary effect of their impiety & disbelief. But for Catholics to believe, that there is a purgatory, that the souls in it may be benefited by the prayers, & good works of the living, & yet remain unfeeling to their misery deaf to their lamentations, & dilatory in redressing their grievances wants, that is a mark of cruelty, rendering them unworthy of the titles both of men, & Christians. I hope, [Dear Christians], you are not so. Therefore it is to you, I make my application again in behalf of every soul in purgatory, with the words of Job: have pity on me, have pity on me, you at least my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21) . I wish, I could open that subterraneous dungeon of purgatory, I would lead you into it, & let you see their fire, & torments, I would you would hear with your own ears their heart-rending complaints, cries & lamentations, which the excess of their grief forces from their lips: have pity on me have pity (Job 19:21) ! you would be told there, that they believed formerly, what you believe of purgatory, & [*] prayers for that they now feel to be truth, what they believed & what force these petitions from their trembling lips [*** illeg.]. Among these petitioners, it may be, you would observe some, who for their high birth

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education, talents; power & or riches were far above you whilst they lived, & on whose will, fortune, or authority you was depending formerly even now they are better than you yourselves considering their holiness, & who now would present themselves as beggars to you necessity makes beggars of them be not proud of it, but you should not turn proud of it hard only tender-hearted & compassionate if you should see them at your feet seeking imploring your assistance with the words have pity have pity on sufferers in purgatory since god knows all that with greater certainty, than what you hear & see. crying for charity with the words have pity on me. the hand of the Lord has touched me. (Job 19:21) Perhaps some one would reach his hand out oforth out of the flames towards you, lament & say: [*] have pity on me my son, don't you know me I am your Father, your poor father your suffering Father, have pity on me the hand of the Lord has touched me. It may be some other well known voices would reach your hearts as quic soon as your ears: I am your mother mother your brother, sister, child wife or husband, etc. have pity on me at least you my friends (Job 19:21) ! should you see & hear all that & still continue resolved inhumanly resolved to stifle all feelings & sentiments of compassion, But & now since you hab have learned all that by faith what you know about the [poor], can you resolve to leave them poor sufferers in their necessity without pitying without assisting them. O be not so cruel! be not so, as David describes ill natured hard hearted men in his 128th psalm: they, that passed by, have not said: the blessing of the lord be upon you (Psalm 129:8) ! O be not so cruel! amen

be you not less merciful than Epulo was in Hell, he demanded Abraham to send Lazarus to his 5. brethren (Luke 16:27-28) – Epulo demanded help which he was not capable of. what if you hear such lamentations from the souls of purgatory would you be as hard as to pretend the chaos between you and them

Donegal 1783

Lancaster 1782

[Untranslated sentence in German and Latin]

nov. 1787 conewago maccalester york

1. This statement, cited in other theological treatises, does not appear in any translation of de Civitate Dei we have yet located.