Purgatory, By The Rev. M. Canty, P.P., Part 19.

DOGMATIC AND SCHOLASTIC - THE VARIOUS QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH IT CONSIDERED AND PROVED.

Saul and the Witch of Endor

CHAPTER XIII. THE PLACE WHERE PURGATORY IS. Part 4.

II. The limbus of the fathers is proved to be under the earth. cont.

3. The true apparition is also proved from theological reasoning: that is, a species of argumentation, which human reason deduces from admitted principles of theology. The arguments, under this heading, in favour of the apparition, are strong and insurmountable, while the arguments against it, as we have before seen, are weak and trifling. It is sustained by grave arguments. You will observe that the apparition foretold to the letter the slaughter, with the circumstances attending it, of the Israelites, on the following day. This fore knowledge, comprising a future contingent event, and the circumstances of it, was such as God alone could impart. It will not sufficiently explain the prediction to say, that the straitened circumstances of Saul were such, as that in all probability he should be killed the next day. This explanation will not convince, for Saul himself could have escaped. Though his army may perish by the sword of the enemy, he, like many a leader, could have saved his life by flight. There was nothing to prevent his sons from doing the same. They were under no necessity of courting the fortune, or rather the misfortune, of the army. They could have retired to some place were they would be safe from hostile attack. Unless Providence had dis posed affairs for his destruction, Saul could, and should, after such serious and terrific admonition, have consulted, by flight, for the safety of himself and his sons. This prediction, therefore, was suggested or inspired by God.

But if we deny the credit of it to God, and attribute it to Satan, then we should have to multiply miracles, in order to avoid admitting one. It would be a miracle that Satan, on behalf of God, would reproach Saul with the crimes which he instigated him to commit. It would be a miracle that God would give the evil one a prescience, such as was
displayed, of future things. It would be a miracle that God would publish his praise by the pen of the writer of Ecclesiasticus. It would be wonderful that Satan should, six times, pronounce with reverence the name of the Lord. Moreover, this interpretation would offer violence to the words of the Scripture, which, through the passage, speaks of Samuel by name, without uttering one word which would lead us to think that another person should be understood under his appellation. Any one of these objections should be fatal to the opinion which would attribute the apparition to an evil spirit. How can that opinion, then, stand when all these objections, banded together, militate against it ?

The very wording of the passage itself would show that it was Samuel who appeared. Any one who, free from partiality or preconception, would cast his eye over the sacred page and reflect on it, should admit that; he could no more doubt that Samuel appeared, than he could doubt that Saul changed his garments, or betook himself to Endor, or asked the witch to raise up to him the spirit of Samuel. The sacred text is as explicit on the first, as it is on the other points.
Thus far we have seen the arguments that prove the genuineness of the apparition of Samuel. We have as if it were digressed, to prove that it was genuine and not counterfeit. But this was necessary; for if it be once proved that it was genuine, we must consequently admit that Samuel, to quote the words of the text, " ascended out of the earth ; " and this is an indisputable proof that the Limbo of the Fathers was under the earth. We shall now return to the direct arguments which prove the Limbo of the Fathers to be under the earth.

III. A third argument to prove that Limbo was under the earth, is taken from the Apocalypse, V. 2 , 3.

where the angel proclaimed with a loud voice: " Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" It is at once answered: "No man was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open the book." St. John de clares there was no man under the earth worthy to open the book. By worthy he means the just: no other person could be at all thought worthy to open the book. Some of these just persons were in heaven, some on earth, and some under the earth. Unless there were just persons under the earth, there would be no sense in saying, that there was no one found worthy under the earth. There would be nothing remarkable in this, that there should be no one found worthy to open the book under the earth, if there were no just there. Now these just were, either in the Limbo of the Fathers, or in Purgatory. Although the souls, that had been in Limbo, were then, when St. John wrote the Apocalypse, with God, it may be that he alludes to their condition before the Anointed of the Lord opened to them the gates of heaven, or ascended there. Whether the apostle alludes to the souls in Limbo, or to those in Purgatory, his words contain a confirmation of the opinion as to the subterranean abode of the dead.

Nor can it be said that we are to understand the phrase, " under the earth? in a metaphorical sense; so that strictly speaking, there was no book to be opened, and no rational creature under the earth expected to open it; just as in the thirteenth verse of the same chapter, it is written by way of metaphor: "And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them : I heard all saying: To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction and honour and glory and power for ever and ever." There is no comparison between the two verses. The first cannot be read metaphorically, like the second. In regard to the second, we should keep in mind, that it is usual with the Scripture to represent all creatures, even inanimate things, as proclaiming praise and benediction to God. This is true, because they all show forth the glory of God, and give praise to his name, inasmuch as they faithfully serve the end for which He created them. But, on the other hand, it is quite as unusual in Scripture, as it would be ridiculous, to require or expect creatures without reason or sense, to be worthy to open the book, or unlock or disclose the mysteries it contained. It may be added that, if the second verse be received in the literal sense, as it can, the phrase, " such as are in the sea," may be understood, as Collet remarks, to refer to those, who may be travelling on sea, or who may be within the grasp of shipwreck. Taken in the literal sense, the latter verse too, as well as the former one, may be under stood to refer only to rational creatures, as blessing God, and proclaiming His praise.
St. Gregory (Lib. 4. Dialog., c. 42.) understands the words, "under the earth" to have reference to the reprobate. This rendering of them is against the common opinion of other Doctors and Fathers. It does not seem, also, to agree with the text. It would sound strange, to require, or to expect to find, among the reprobate one " worthy to open the book." But even in the light of this exposition, the phrase would demonstrate another proposition—that regarding the subterranean situation of hell—to which we shall by-and-by turn our attention.

Purgatory, By The Rev. M. Canty, P.P., Part 18.

DOGMATIC AND SCHOLASTIC - THE VARIOUS QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH IT CONSIDERED AND PROVED.

CHAPTER XIII. THE PLACE WHERE PURGATORY IS. Part 4.

II. The limbus of the fathers is proved to be under the earth. cont.

There are other places in the sacred books, in which God anticipated the soothsayer, as he did in causing Samuel to appear before the woman exercised her dark craft. In the Fourth Book of Kings (Ch. i. 16.), there is a description of how, when Ochozias, king of Israel, had sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as to whether he should recover from his illness, God anticipated the Accaronite idol, by sending an angel to command the prophet Elias to go and tell the sick ruler that he should not rise out of the bed on which he lay, but that he should surely die. It is also related in the Book of Numbers(Ch. xxii. 32.), that when Balaam, the sooth sayer, would consult the devil on behalf of Balac, king of Moab, he was prevented by an angel of the Lord to do so; and, instead thereof, he uttered a sublime prophecy about Israel and her long-expected Messias, whom she was to slay.
But, Samuel complained to Saul: " Why hast thou disturbed my rest, that I should be brought up?" It does not follow from this mode of speech that he was brought up by the witch of Endor. The rest of the prophet may be said to be disturbed, because, as Cornelius a Lapide and Menochius observe, he was moved to anger, according to our way of thinking, at the unworthy manner in which Saul endeavoured to raise him up, and to learn his fate from him. Or we can hold again with the same two interpreters, that he may be said to be disturbed, because he was called forth from the state of rest and peace which he enjoyed, and asked to implicate himself in the troublesome affairs of this world. But that Saul may be said to have disturbed the rest of Samuel, and brought him up, it is enough that his profane curiosity was the occasion of his coming up. Nothing more than this is required. It is not required that the witch should be the efficient cause of it.

However, there would be nothing indiscreet or absurd in our concession, were we to allow that the demon resuscitated Samuel. There is nothing more remarkable or impossible in his doing this, than in his bearing Jesus Christ, the Lord of Samuel and all the prophets,to the pinnacle of the temple, or to the top of the mountain. Hence, St. Augustine *, speaking on the matter, says : " If this causes alarm, that it may have been allowed to the malicious spirit to raise the soul of a just person, and as if to call forth from the hidden receptacles of the dead, is it not more wonderful that Satan took our Lord Him self, and placed Him upon the battlement of the temple ? The manner in which he may have done this is hidden to us ; just as is also the manner in which it happened that Samuel was raised up. Unless by chance some one may say, that the liberty to take the living Lord whence he wished, and to place him where he wished, came easier to the devil, than to raise up from his abode the spirit of the dead Samuel."

2. The opinion which maintains that the true Samuel appeared is strengthened by the authority of many Fathers, who hold it, although it must be admitted that other Fathers take an opposite view.
The first we shall name as in favour of the real apparition of Samuel, is Origen. He accepts it in this sense, and proves it to be so, by many arguments, when treating on the twenty-eighth chapter of the First Book of Kings.
Justin the Martyr, in his dialogue with Tryphon, proving the immortality of the soul, speaks thus : " That souls survive (the body) could prove even from this, that the ventriloquous Pythoness called up the soul of Samuel, such as Saul had requested."(Ita ut Saul petierat.) In the opinion of St. Justin, the true Samuel was called up. If it was a demon, under his spectre, that came forth, Justin could not adduce this fact as a proof of the immortality of the soul. In addition, it will strike the reader, that Justin states the soul of Samuel rose, " such as Saul had requested." But Saul requested to have brought before him the soul of Samuel, and not a demon representing him or assuming his appearance. Then Justin the Martyr was under the conviction that the true soul of Samuel appeared.
St. Augustine was of the same opinion. This is evident from the following quotation, which is taken from one of his works. (De Cura pro mortuis gerenda, Ch. 15) "The divine Scripture testifies that some of the dead have been also sent to the living, as on the contrary Paul from among the living was taken up into paradise. For Samuel, the dead prophet, even foretold the things that were about to happen to the living king Saul (although some may think it was not he who could have been called up by magic arts, but that some spirit, fit for such evil works, had formed his likeness) since the book of Ecclesiasticus, which Jesus the son of Sirach, is handed down to have written . . . contains, in praise of the Fathers, that Samuel even after death, prophesied," &c.
St. Ambrose too, holds, that it was Samuel in person who appeared, and foretold his unhappy, but merited, fate to Saul. This holy Father (In C. I. S. Luc.) says: "Samuel after death according to the testimony of Scripture, was not silent as to future events."
Other Fathers may be quoted in defence of the true apparition of Samuel. But it would be superfluous to do so; because when the Fathers disagree on any subject, we should attend not to their authority, but to the arguments by which the subject is sustained.

* Lib. 2 de diversis quaestionibus a Simpliciane propositis, q. 4.

Purgatory, By The Rev. M. Canty, P.P., Part 16.

DOGMATIC AND SCHOLASTIC - THE VARIOUS QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH IT CONSIDERED AND PROVED.

Dives and Lazarus

CHAPTER XIII. THE PLACE WHERE PURGATORY IS. Part 2.

II. The limbus of the fathers is proved to be under the earth.

Lessius, a theologian of great erudition, says that it is of faith that the limbus of the fathers is under the earth. It is unnecessary to observe that when he speaks thus, he is to be understood as speaking of divine faith, or of a matter that is contained in the Scripture or tradition, as distinguished from Catholic divine faith, or a matter not alone contained in the Scripture or tradition, but also defined by the Church. But the Church has never defined the situation of limbus, though this may be contained in the Scripture or tradition.

I. The subterranean location of the limbus of the fathers is proved from the Book of Genesis : (xxxvii., 35.) " I will go down to my son into hell" These are the words of Jacob, a just and holy man, in reference to his son Joseph, who was likewise just and holy. Both after death descended into hell. They did not enter heaven, for it is evident that heaven is not understood by the word hell. Nor by hell are we to understand the grave. Though hell is sometimes used for the grave, it cannot be understood in this sense here. Jacob did not believe his son was in the grave. He supposed that a wild beast had devoured him, and being under this impression he could not hope to go down to, or to join him in the grave. One who is devoured by a wild beast finds not a grave, in which the ashes of his relatives can commingle with his.

II. Another proof of the subterranean situation of the limbus of the fathers is taken from the first Book of Kings. (xxviii) Saul sought a woman with a divining spirit to bring up to him Samuel, who was dead and buried. She replied : " I saw gods (the soul of Samuel) ascending out of the earth." Thus the soul of the prophet, which was in limbo, was seen to ascend out of the earth. This is a strong evidence to sustain the opinion that limbus is under the earth. But as some do not admit that Samuel did in truth appear, it will be necessary to dwell a while on this subject, and to lay before the reader the arguments which demonstrate his real apparition.

What follows is the full text in which this remark able apparition is recorded. Saul, having consulted God, and having been found unworthy to receive an answer, changed his dress, and went in disguise to consult a pythoness 1 at Endor. " He (Saul) said to her : ' Divine to me by thy divining spirit, and bring me up him whom I shall tell thee.' . . . And the woman said to him : ' Whom shall I bring up to thee?' And he said: 'Bring me up Samuel.' And when the woman saw Samuel she cried out with a loud voice, and said to Saul: ' Why hast thou deceived me ? for thou art Saul.' And the king said to her : ' Fear not: what hast thou seen ? ' And the woman said to Saul: ' I saw gods ascending out of the earth.' And he said to her: ' What form is he of ?' And she said : ' An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle.' And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground, and adored. And Samuel said to Saul: 'Why hast thou disturbed my rest, that I should be brought up ? ' And Saul said : * I am in great distress : for the Philistines fight against me, and God is departed from me, and would not hear me, neither by the hand of prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest show me what I shall do.' And Samuel said: ' Why askest thou me, seeing the Lord has departed from thee, and is gone over to thy rival: for the Lord will do to thee as he spoke by me, and he will rend thy kingdom out of thy hand, and will give it to thy neighbour, David ; because thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord, neither didst thou execute the wrath of his indignation upon Amalec. Therefore hath the Lord done to thee what thou sufferest this day. And the Lord also will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines, and to-morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me, and the Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.' And forthwith Saul fell all along on the ground, for he was frightened with the words of Samuel."

Now, in what sense are we to understand this whole passage ? In what light are we to view it ? Does it indicate merely a phasm, a fancied apparition, in order that Saul, with the permission of God, may be deceived, or rather the true and real apparition of Samuel ? There have been four different opinions held on this subject.

1. The more common opinion of the fathers, interpreters, and theologians is that Samuel in reality appeared to Saul, and addressed him. They who hold this opinion, however, differ as to the power that called up Samuel. Some maintain that the apparition was directly caused by the power of God, and not by the art of the magician. Others attribute it to the magic evocation of the pythoness. But while they differ as to the manner of the apparition, they agree as to the truth of it.

2. Some thought it was a phasm or fancied apparition of Samuel, but not Samuel himself, nor the demon simulating him. They said that this phantom was either immediately produced by God, or by angels, at His command.

3. Others, like Tertullian, St. Jerome, St. Basil the Great, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and many more, whose opinion appears probable to Natalis Alexander, say that it was not Samuel himself, but the demon representing or assuming his form, that appeared. These writers think that the demon deceived at the same time Saul and the pythoness.

4. Finally, there is another opinion which says that the whole thing was a fraud by which Saul was deceived. The diviner, while in fact she saw nothing, feigned to see Samuel. But Calmet, writing on the passage, says that this opinion is rash, dangerous, and contrary to the sacred text.

1 A diviner, or one who fortells future events, or discovers secret things by preternatural means, is sometimes called a python. He is so called because he was accustomed to deliver his answers after the manner in which the oracles of idols were delivered, and as the oracles of Apollo were the most famous, he is hence called a python. A diviner is also called a ventriloquist, because he used to endeavour to speak after the manner of ventriloquists. Some attain great perfection, without magic, in the art of ventriloquism. But the diviner or magician practises it with diabolic invocation, and under diabolic influence.