Four last things

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Hieronymus Bosch's 1500 painting The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things. The four outer discs depict (clockwise from top left) Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Hieronymus Bosch- The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.JPG
Hieronymus Bosch's 1500 painting The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things . The four outer discs depict (clockwise from top left) Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

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]

Contents

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

Novissimos, A Morte (1793) - Jose Gervasio de Sousa Lobo (Paroquia de Nossa Senhora do Pilar de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais).png
Novissimos, O Juizo (1793) - Jose Gervasio de Sousa Lobo (Paroquia de Nossa Senhora do Pilar de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais).png
Novissimos, O Inferno (1793) - Jose Gervasio de Sousa Lobo (Paroquia de Nossa Senhora do Pilar de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais).png
Novissimos, O Paraiso (1793) - Jose Gervasio de Sousa Lobo (Paroquia de Nossa Senhora do Pilar de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais).png
The Four Last Things in a 1793 series of paintings by Portuguese Brazilian artist José Gervásio de Sousa Lobo, in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil; clockwise from top left: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

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." [19]

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
WorkTypeCreatorYearNotesRefs
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things Painting Hieronymus Bosch c.1500
Christ painting the Four Last Things in the Christian HeartEngraving Anton Wierix 1585One 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 John Bunyan 1683 [24]
The Four Last Things (German : Die vier letzten Dinge)SculptureAnton Neu, based on ideas from the Asam brothers 1751Stucco cartouches in the vestibule of Weltenburg Abbey chapel [25]
The Four Last ThingsSculpture Josef Stammel c.1760In Admont Abbey [26]
Novissima (Portuguese: Novíssimos)PaintingsJosé Gervásio de Sousa Lobo1792–3Originally made for the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men  [ pt ] in Ouro Preto; currently in the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar  [ pt ] in the same city. [27]
Die vier letzten Dinge Oratorio Joseph Leopold Eybler 1810  [28]
Die letzten DingeOratorio Louis Spohr 1826
Cantata of the Last Things of Man Cantata Ladislav Vycpálek 1920–22Czech title Kantáta o posledních věcech člověka [29]
The Four Last ThingsPoetry collection Madeleva Wolff 1959Poems with theological themes
No. 18 (unfinished)Film Harry Everett Smith 1990sIntended as his masterwork
"Die vier letzten Dinge (Quasi una Sinfonia da Requiem)" Symphony Horst Lohse  [ de ]1996–97For organ and orchestra [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afterlife</span> Purported continued existence after death

The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's stream of consciousness or identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body. The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity. Belief in an afterlife is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death.

Christian eschatology, a major branch of study within Christian theology, deals with the doctrine of the "last things", especially the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. Eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος) and "study" (-λογία) – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world, or of the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eschatology</span> Part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity

Eschatology concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions, which teach that negative world events will reach a climax. Belief that the end of the world is imminent is known as apocalypticism, and over time has been held both by members of mainstream religions and by doomsday cults. In the context of mysticism, the term refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and to reunion with the divine. Various religions treat eschatology as a future event prophesied in sacred texts or in folklore.

Islamic eschatology is a field of study in Islam concerning future events that would happen in the end times. It is primarily based on sources from the Quran and Sunnah. Aspects from this field of study include the signs of the final age, the destruction of the universe and Judgement Day.

Salvation is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, salvation generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its consequences. The academic study of salvation is called soteriology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damnation</span> Concept of divine punishment

Damnation is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Last Judgment</span> Eschatology of the Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism

The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord is part of the Abrahamic religions and the Frashokereti of Zoroastrianism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortal sin</span> Sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent before death

A mortal sin, in Christian theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. It is alternatively called deadly, grave, and serious; the concept of mortal sin is found in both Catholicism and Lutheranism. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person from God's saving grace. Three conditions must together be met for a sin to be mortal: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." The sin against the Holy Spirit and the sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance are considered especially serious. This type of sin is distinguished from a venial sin in that the latter simply leads to a weakening of a person's relationship with God. Despite its gravity, a person can repent of having committed a mortal sin. Such repentance is the primary requisite for forgiveness and absolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Christian universalism</span> Doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls will ultimately be reconciled to God

In Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God. The doctrine has been rejected by most mainstream Christian churches, which tend to maintain at least the possibility that many are not saved, but it has received support from many prestigious Christian thinkers as well as many groups of Christians. It has been argued that the Bible itself has a variety of verses that seem to support a plurality of views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hell</span> Abode of the dead in various cultures

In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the Dharmic religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Particular judgment</span> Divine judgment occurring immediately after death

Particular judgment, according to Christian eschatology, is the divine judgment that a departed (dead) person undergoes immediately after death, in contradistinction to the general judgment of all people at the end of the world.

General judgment is the Christian theological concept of a judgment of the dead. When the individual dies, general judgment holds that the person's final dispensation will await the general judgment of the dead at the end of the world, rather than be judged immediately. It is generally contrasted with a particular judgment right after death. It is related closely to Judgment Day and often is just another phrase for the Last Judgment or Final Judgement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hell in Christianity</span> Christian views on Hell

In Christian theology, Hell is the place or state into which, by God's definitive judgment, unrepentant sinners pass in the general judgment, or, as some Christians believe, immediately after death. Its character is inferred from teaching in the biblical texts, some of which, interpreted literally, have given rise to the popular idea of Hell. Theologians today generally see Hell as the logical consequence of rejecting union with God and with God's justice and mercy.

A deathbed confession is an admittance or confession made by a person nearing death, or on their "death bed".

In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all damned humans and fallen angels including Satan will be totally destroyed, cremated, and their consciousness extinguished rather than suffering forever in Hell. Annihilationism stands in contrast to both the belief in eternal torment and the belief that everyone will be saved ("universalism"). However, it is also possible to hold to a partial annihilationism, believing unsaved humans to be obliterated or cremated, but demonic beings to suffer forever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purgatory</span> Religious belief of Christianity, primarily Catholicism

Purgatory is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations and Islam, an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory is the final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. Tradition, by reference to certain texts of scripture, sees the process as involving a cleansing fire. Some forms of Western Christianity, particularly within Protestantism, deny its existence. Other strands of Western Christianity see purgatory as a place, perhaps filled with fire. Some concepts of Gehenna in Judaism resemble those of purgatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heaven in Christianity</span> Heaven as understood by Christianity

In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. In some Christian denominations it is understood as a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints' return to the New Earth.

General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead by which most or all people who have died would be resurrected. Various forms of this concept can be found in Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Samaritan and Zoroastrian eschatology.

In Christianity, particularly within the theological framework of Calvinism, election involves God choosing a particular person or group of people to a particular task or relationship, especially eternal life.

Hell in Catholicism is the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed" which occurs by the refusal to repent of mortal sin before one's death, since mortal sin deprives one of sanctifying grace. Like most Christian views on hell, the Catholic view is based on Sheol and Gehenna in Judaism. The church regards Sheol or Hades as the same as hell, being the place where Jesus descended to after death.

References

  1. ↑ Mühling, Markus (2015-06-18). T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Eschatology. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-56765568-4 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Martin, Regis (1998). The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven. Ignatius Press. p. 15. ISBN   978-0-89870662-8 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Pohle, Joseph (2006-02-03). Eschatology: or, The Catholic Doctrine of the Last Things: A Dogmatic Treatise. Wipf & Stock. p. 2. ISBN   978-1-59752562-6 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Bacci, Pietro Giacomo (1847). "Maxims and sayings". The Life of Saint Philip Neri, Apostle of Rome, and Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. T. Richardson & Son. p. 444; February 18. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Cooper, Helen (1999). "The Four Last Things in Dante and Chaucer: Ugolino in the House of Rumour". In Scase, Wendy; Lawton, David; Copeland, Rita (eds.). New Medieval Literatures. Vol. 3. Clarendon Press. p. 39. ISBN   978-0-19818680-9 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Eschatology". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1909. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Wojtila, Karol (2 December 1984). "Reconciliatio et Paenitentia". Apostolic Exhortations . Holy See . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN   0-19-860634-6
  9. ↑ "The four last things: Thomas More (1903)". Internet Archive . Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "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 . Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "The four last things : death, judgment, hell, heaven : Martin, von Cochem, 1634–1712". Internet Archive . Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  12. ↑ Nancy L. Matthews (8 July 2004). William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN   978-0-521-89091-5.
  13. ↑ Blair Worden (5 May 1977). The Rump Parliament 1648-53. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120–. ISBN   978-0-521-29213-9.
  14. ↑ Bates, William. The Four Last Things, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Manchester: S. Johnson. Retrieved 19 November 2015– via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ Paulson, Ronald (2003-10-29). Hogarth's Harlot: Sacred Parody in Enlightenment England. JHU Press. p. 253. ISBN   9780801873911 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  16. ↑ Garrigou-Lagrange, Réginald (1991). Life Everlasting and the Immensity of the Soul: A Theological Treatise on the Four Last Things : Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. Tan Books. ISBN   978-0-89555203-7 . Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  17. ↑ Guardnin, Romano (1965). The Last Things: Concerning Death, Purification After Death, Resurrection, Judgment, and Eternity. Cluny Media. ISBN   1-94989948-9.
  18. ↑ Cochem, Martin of (1899). "On Death"  . The four last things: death, judgment, hell, heaven. Benziger Brothers.
  19. 1 2 Liguori, Alphonus (1836). "Part 1: On the Certainty of Death."  . The Way of Salvation: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Dublin.
  20. ↑ Challoner, Richard (1801). "Think Well On't/Day 17: On heaven"  . Think Well On't or, Reflections on the great truths of the Christian religion for every day of the month. T. Haydock.
  21. ↑ de la Puente, Lius (1852). "Meditation XVI"  . Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith. Richarson and Son.
  22. ↑ Koerner, Joseph Leo (2004-02-27). The Reformation of the Image. Reaktion Books. pp. 217–8. ISBN   9781861898326 . Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Smith, Jeffrey Chipps (2002). Sensuous Worship: Jesuits and the Art of the Early Catholic Reformation in Germany. Princeton University Press. p. 36, Fig.19. ISBN   9780691090726 . Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  24. ↑ 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. London: Nath. Ponder. 1683. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  25. ↑ "Die Kirche" (in German). Weltenburg Abbey. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  26. ↑ "the four last things". Stift Admont. Admont Abbey. Retrieved 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" [Notes on a Portuguese Brazilian painter and the iconography of the Novissima (Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven) in late colonial times](PDF). Fênix – Revista de História e Estudos Culturais (in Portuguese). 9 (2). ISSN   1807-6971 . Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  28. ↑ Mathew, Nicholas (2013). Political Beethoven. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN   9781107005891 . Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  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. doi:10.2307/911531. ISSN   0027-4666. JSTOR   911531.
  30. ↑ "Archiv". Horst Lohse Komponist (in German). Retrieved 20 November 2015.

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