Four last things explained

In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things (Latin: quattuor novissima)[1] are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife.[2] [3] They are often commended as a topic for pious meditation; Saint Philip Neri wrote, "Beginners in religion ought to exercise themselves principally in meditation on the Four Last Things".[4] Traditionally, the sermons preached on the four Sundays of Advent were on the Four Last Things.[5]

The 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia states "The eschatological summary which speaks of the 'four last things' (death, judgment, heaven, and hell) is popular rather than scientific. For systematic treatment it is best to distinguish between (A) individual and (B) universal and cosmic eschatology, including under (A): (1) death; (2) the particular judgment; (3) heaven, or eternal happiness; (4) purgatory, or the intermediate state; (5) hell, or eternal punishment; and under (B): (6) the approach of the end of the world; (7) the resurrection of the body; (8) the general judgment; and (9) the final consummation of all things.".[6] Pope John Paul II wrote in 1984 that the "judgment" component encompasses both particular judgment and general judgment.[7]

Books

Numerous theologians and Christian apologists have written on the Four Last Things; published accounts include:

16th century and earlier

17th century

18th century

20th century

A Catholic sermon on the Four Last Things features in James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916); a "hellfire" sermon in the Protestant revivalist tradition appears in Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm (1932).

The four last things

Death

Martin of Cochem explains that "there are three principal reasons why all sensible people fear death so much: First, because the love of life, the dread of death is inherent in human nature. Secondly, because every rational being is well aware that death is bitter, and the separation of soul and body cannot take place without inexpressible suffering. Thirdly, because no one knows whither he will go after death, or how he will stand in the Day of Judgment."[18]

Or as Alphonsus Liguori wrote in his meditations: "We must die: how awful is the decree! We must die. The sentence is passed: It is appointed for all men once to die. Heb. 9:27"[19]

The Last Judgment

Of the final judgment, Alphonsus Liguori writes that, "the last day is called in Scripture a day of wrath and misery; and such it will be for all those unhappy beings who shall have died in mortal sin; for on that day their most secret crimes will be made manifest to the whole world, and themselves separated from the company of the saints, and condemned to the eternal prison of hell, where they will suffer all the agonies of ever dying yet always remaining alive."

Heaven

Of heaven, Richard Challoner in his famous work Think Well On't writes, " Consider, that if God's justice is so terrible in regard to his enemies, how much more will his mercy, his goodness, his bounty declare itself in favour of his friends! Mercy and goodness are his favourite attributes, in which he most delights: his tender mercies says the royal prophet, Ps. 144. are over all his works.[20]

Hell

Luis de la Puente writes concerning The nature of hell: "Hell is a perpetual prison, full of fire and of innumerable and very terrible torments, to chastise perpetually such as die in mortal sin. Or, again, hell is an eternal state, wherein sinners, for the punishment of their sins, want all that good which they may desire for their content, and endure all kinds of evils which they may fear for their torment. So that in hell is joined together the privation of all that good which men enjoy in this life and angels in the other, and the presence of all those evils which afflict men in this life and the devils in the other."[21]

Artworks

The Four Last Things are a common theme of artistic and literary works as well as theological works.

Works about the Four Last Things
Work Type Creator Year Notes Refs
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things Painting c.1500
Christ painting the Four Last Things in the Christian Heart Engraving 1585 One of 18 copperplate engravings published as Cor Iesu amanti sacrum [22] [23]
"One Thing is Needful, or Serious Meditations upon the Four Last Things" Poem 1683 [24]
The Four Last Things (German: Die vier letzten Dinge)Sculpture 1751 Stucco cartouches in the vestibule of Weltenburg Abbey chapel [25]
The Four Last Things Sculpture c.1760 [26]
Novissima (Portuguese: Portuguese: Novíssimos) Paintings José Gervásio de Sousa Lobo 1792–3 Originally made for the sacristy of the in Ouro Preto; currently in the in the same city. [27]
Die vier letzten Dinge 1810   [28]
Die letzten Dinge Oratorio 1826
Cantata of the Last Things of Man 1920–22 Czech title Kantáta o posledních věcech člověka [29]
The Four Last Things Poetry collection 1959 Poems with theological themes
No. 18 (unfinished) Film 1990s Intended as his masterwork
"Die vier letzten Dinge (Quasi una Sinfonia da Requiem)" 1996–97 For organ and orchestra [30]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Mühling, Markus. T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Eschatology. 19 November 2015 . 2015-06-18 . Bloomsbury Publishing . 978-0-56765568-4. 16.
  2. Book: Martin, Regis. The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven. 19 November 2015. 1998. Ignatius Press . 978-0-89870662-8. 15.
  3. Book: Pohle, Joseph. Eschatology: or, The Catholic Doctrine of the Last Things: A Dogmatic Treatise. 19 November 2015. 2006-02-03. Wipf & Stock . 978-1-59752562-6. 2.
  4. Book: Bacci, Pietro Giacomo. The Life of Saint Philip Neri, Apostle of Rome, and Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. https://books.google.com/books?id=T-I7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA444 . 19 November 2015. 1847. T. Richardson & Son. 444; February 18 . Maxims and sayings.
  5. Book: Cooper, Helen . Scase. Wendy. Lawton. David. Copeland. Rita. New Medieval Literatures . 3 . https://books.google.com/books?id=rMlee8pSnXwC&pg=PA39 . 19 November 2015. 1999. Clarendon Press. 978-0-19818680-9. 39 . Helen Cooper (literary scholar) . The Four Last Things in Dante and Chaucer: Ugolino in the House of Rumour.
  6. Encyclopedia: Eschatology . 1909. Catholic Encyclopedia . 19 November 2015.
  7. Web site: Wojtila . Karol . Reconciliatio et Paenitentia . John Paul II. 2 December 1984. Apostolic Exhortations . . 19 November 2015.
  8. Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004,
  9. Web site: The four last things: Thomas More (1903). Internet Archive. 15 July 2022.
  10. Web site: Mr. Boltons last and learned worke of the foure last things, death, iudgement, hell and heaven. With his assises-sermons, and notes on Iustice Nicolls his funerall. Together with the life and death of the authour : Bolton, Robert, 1572–1631. Internet Archive. 20 November 2015.
  11. Web site: The four last things : death, judgment, hell, heaven : Martin, von Cochem, 1634–1712. Internet Archive. 20 November 2015.
  12. Book: Nancy L. Matthews. William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer. 8 July 2004. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-89091-5. 25.
  13. Book: Blair Worden. The Rump Parliament 1648-53 . 5 May 1977. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-29213-9. 120–.
  14. Book: Bates, William. The Four Last Things, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Internet Archive. S. Johnson. 19 November 2015. Manchester.
  15. Book: Paulson, Ronald. Hogarth's Harlot: Sacred Parody in Enlightenment England. 19 November 2015. 2003-10-29. JHU Press. 9780801873911. 253.
  16. Book: Garrigou-Lagrange. Réginald. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. Life Everlasting and the Immensity of the Soul: A Theological Treatise on the Four Last Things : Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. 20 November 2015. 1991. Tan Books. 978-0-89555203-7.
  17. Book: Guardnin, Romano. The Last Things: Concerning Death, Purification After Death, Resurrection, Judgment, and Eternity. Romano Guardini . 1965. 1-94989948-9 . Cluny Media.
  18. Book: Cochem, Martin of. . The four last things: death, judgment, hell, heaven. 1899. Benziger Brothers. Martin of Cochem.
  19. Book: Liguori, Alphonus. . The Way of Salvation: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. 1836. Dublin. Alphonsus Liguori.
  20. Book: Challoner, Richard. . Think Well On't or, Reflections on the great truths of the Christian religion for every day of the month. 1801. T. Haydock. Richard Challoner.
  21. Book: de la Puente, Lius. Meditation XVI. Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith. 1852. Richarson and Son. Luis de la Puente.
  22. Book: Koerner, Joseph Leo. The Reformation of the Image. 20 November 2015. 2004-02-27. Reaktion Books. 9781861898326. 217–8.
  23. Book: Smith, Jeffrey Chipps. Sensuous Worship: Jesuits and the Art of the Early Catholic Reformation in Germany. 20 November 2015. 2002. Princeton University Press. 9780691090726. 36, Fig.19.
  24. Book: One thing is needful, or, Serious meditations upon the four last things, death, judgment and heaven, hell unto which is added Ebal and Gerizzim, or, The blessing and the curse : with prison meditations and a catalogue of all this author's books / by John Bunyan.. 1683. Nath. Ponder. 19 November 2015. London.
  25. Web site: Die Kirche. Weltenburg Abbey. de. 20 November 2015. 21 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151121042000/http://kloster-weltenburg.de/die-kirche/. dead.
  26. Web site: the four last things. Stift Admont. Admont Abbey. 19 November 2015.
  27. Campos . Adalgisa Arantes . 2012 . Notas sobre um pintor lusobrasileiro e a iconografia dos Novíssimos (a Morte, o Juízo, Inferno e o Paraíso) em fins da época colonial . pt . Notes on a Portuguese Brazilian painter and the iconography of the Novissima (Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven) in late colonial times . Fênix – Revista de História e Estudos Culturais . 9 . 2 . 1807-6971 . 27 August 2020.
  28. Book: Mathew, Nicholas. Political Beethoven. 19 November 2015. 2013. Cambridge University Press. 9781107005891. 127.
  29. Newmarch. Rosa. 1923. Some Czechoslovak Choral Works. II. Vycpalek's Cantata of the 'Four Last Things,' Op. 16 (Continued). The Musical Times. 64. 969. 762–764 . 0027-4666. 10.2307/911531. 911531 .
  30. Web site: Archiv. Horst Lohse Komponist. de. 20 November 2015.

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