_Saint Patrick beholdeth the Souls of the Rich and of the poor Man sent
unto different Places._
Oftentimes did the saint behold the souls of men going forth of their
bodies, some unto places of punishment, others unto places of reward;
one instance whereof we think worthy to record, inasmuch as the saint
was wont to relate it for the purpose of edification. There was a man
who had a great name, according as names are in this world accounted
great; and he had flocks of sheep, and herds of oxen, and his
possessions increased on the earth. And this man died; and a long
assembly of his children and his kindred celebrated his obsequies with
much pomp and honor according to the estimation of men, and so
committed him unto the common mother. And they who account blessed the
man unto whom these things are given, declared him happy, whose life
was so fortunate, and whose death so honorable; and they thought that
he very much had pleased the Lord. But the other man was a beggar, who
having lived all his life in wretchedness and in poverty, went the way
of all flesh. And his body long time lay without the ministry of the
funeral rites, unburied, and mangled by the birds of prey; and at
length was it dragged by the feet into a pit-hole, and covered with
turf; and they who judge according to outward show esteemed this man
most miserable and unfortunate. But the saint pronounced the opinion
of men to differ from the righteousness of Him who searcheth the reins
and the heart, whose judgments are a deep abyss; and he declared that
he saw the soul of that rich man plunged by the demons into hell; but
the spirit of the poor man, whose life was accounted as foolishness,
and his end without honor, was reckoned among the children of God, and
his lot of blessedness was among the saints. "Truly," said he, "the
sons of men are vain, and their judgments are false in the weight; but
the just God loveth justice, and his countenance beholdeth
righteousness; and in the balance of his righteousness weigheth he the
pleasures and the riches of this evil man, and the sins of this poor
man, haply whereby he hath merited the wrath and the misfortunes which
he bore; and the one from his honor and his glory he adjudged unto
present torment; and the other, which had atoned in the furnace of
poverty and of affliction, mercifully sent he unto the heavenly joys."
Nor did the saint behold this of these men only, but often of many
others did he behold and relate such things. Thus what the word of
truth had before told of the rich man clothed in purple and the poor
man covered with sores did this friend of truth declare himself to have
beheld of other.