Four last things
In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things or four last things of man (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 collective 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".[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[]
- Cordiale quattour novissimorum (15th century) attributed to Denis le Chartreux; translated into French by Jean Miélot and thence into English as Cordiale, or Four Last Things by Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers in 1479[8] and to
- The Four Last Things (1522) by Thomas More; published posthumously
17th century[]
- The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven (1631) by Robert Bolton; published posthumously in 1639[9]
- The four last things : death, judgment, hell, heaven by Martin of Cochem[10]
- Four Last Things (1649) by William Sheppard, whose preface supported the Rump Parliament against the Presbyterians[11][12]
- Sinnliche Beschreibung der vier letzten Dinge ("A Sensuous Representation of the Four Last Things") (1675) by Angelus Silesius
- Four Last Things–Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell (1691) by William Bates[13]
18th century[]
- Myfyrdodau bucheddol ar y pedwar peth diweddaf ("Devout musings on the four last things") (1714) by John Morgan
- Thoughts upon the Four Last Things (1734) by Joseph Trapp[14]
- Four discourses on the four last things (1751) by Thomas Greene
20th century[]
- The Four Last Things (1960) by Harry Williams
- L'eternelle vie et la profondeur de l'ame (1947) by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange Published in English as Life Everlasting: A Theological Treatise on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell[15]
- The Last Things: Concerning Death, Purification After Death, Resurrection, Judgment, and Eternity (1965) by Romano Guardini[16]
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).[citation needed]
Artworks[]
The Four Last Things are a common theme of artistic and literary works as well as theological works.
Work | Type | Creator | Year | Notes | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things | Painting | Hieronymus Bosch | c.1500 | ||
Christ painting the Four Last Things in the Christian Heart | Engraving | Anton Wierix | 1585 | One of 18 copperplate engravings published as Cor Iesu amanti sacrum | [17][18] |
"One Thing is Needful, or Serious Meditations upon the Four Last Things" | Poem | John Bunyan | 1683 | [19] | |
The Four Last Things (German: Die vier letzten Dinge) | Sculpture | Anton Neu, based on ideas from the Asam brothers | 1751 | Stucco cartouches in the vestibule of Weltenburg Abbey chapel | [20] |
The Four Last Things | Sculpture | Josef Stammel | c.1760 | In Admont Abbey | [21] |
Novissima (Portuguese: Novíssimos) | Paintings | José Gervásio de Sousa Lobo | 1792–3 | Originally made for the sacristy of the Ouro Preto; currently in the in the same city. | in[22] |
Die vier letzten Dinge | Oratorio | Joseph Leopold Eybler | 1810 | [23] | |
Die letzten Dinge | Oratorio | Louis Spohr | 1826 | ||
Cantata of the Last Things of Man | Cantata | Ladislav Vycpálek | 1920–22 | Czech title Kantáta o posledních věcech člověka | [24] |
The Four Last Things | Poetry collection | Madeleva Wolff | 1959 | Poems with theological themes | |
No. 18 (unfinished) | Film | Harry Everett Smith | 1990s | Intended as his masterwork | |
"Die vier letzten Dinge (Quasi una Sinfonia da Requiem)" | Symphony | 1996–97 | For organ and orchestra | [25] |
References[]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Martin, Regis (1998). The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven. Ignatius Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-89870662-8. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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. 3. Clarendon Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-19818680-9. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ "Eschatology". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1909. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ Wojtila, Karol (2 December 1984). "Reconciliatio et Paenitentia". Apostolic Exhortations. Holy See. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860634-6
- ^ "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.
- ^ "The four last things : death, judgment, hell, heaven : Martin, von Cochem, 1634–1712". Internet Archive. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ Nancy L. Matthews (8 July 2004). William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-521-89091-5.
- ^ Blair Worden (5 May 1977). The Rump Parliament 1648-53. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120–. ISBN 978-0-521-29213-9.
- ^ Bates, William. The Four Last Things, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Internet Archive. Manchester: S. Johnson. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ Paulson, Ronald (2003-10-29). Hogarth's Harlot: Sacred Parody in Enlightenment England. JHU Press. p. 253. ISBN 9780801873911. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ 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 9780895552037. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ Guardnin, Romano (1965). The Last Things: Concerning Death, Purification After Death, Resurrection, Judgment, and Eternity. Cluny Media. ISBN 1949899489.
- ^ Koerner, Joseph Leo (2004-02-27). The Reformation of the Image. Reaktion Books. pp. 217–8. ISBN 9781861898326. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Die Kirche" (in German). Weltenburg Abbey. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ "the four last things". Stift Admont. Admont Abbey. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Mathew, Nicholas (2013). Political Beethoven. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9781107005891. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ 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. doi:10.2307/911531. ISSN 0027-4666.
- ^ "Archiv". Horst Lohse Komponist (in German). Retrieved 20 November 2015.
Further reading[]
- Göttler, Christine (2010). Last Things: Art and the Religious Imagination in the Age of Reform. ISD. ISBN 978-250352397-2. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- Kowzan, Jacek (2012-01-17). "Memorare Novissima Tua; The Iconography of the Four Last Things as a Representation of the Religious Identity.". In Cardarelli, Sandra; Anderson, Emily Jane; Richards, John (eds.). Art and Identity: Visual Culture, Politics and Religion in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Cambridge Scholars. pp. 97–126. ISBN 978-1-44383670-8. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
External links[]
Media related to The Four Last Things at Wikimedia Commons
- Christianity and death
- Christian eschatology