Prepare for Judgment, Book Review: The Four Last Things
My book of choice for Advent of 2025 was The Four Last Things published by TAN Books, which can be found here. There are many different authors on this topic; mine was authored by Father Martin Von Cochem. Before diving into the review, I want to note that I am in no way endorsed by anyone for this. I am making this review entirely independent of any interested parties.
About the book
My copy of The Four Last Things was written by Father Martin Von Cochem. This book is small in size, 7×4.5 inches, and only 185 pages. It is broken down into 30 chapters.
The book discusses the four last things we will deal with in life: Death, Judgement, Hell, and Heaven. The book was written for the reader to meditate on the four last things to keep them ever present in their thoughts throughout their everyday life. This book is a good read for any level of believer. By understanding the four last things, people can resolve to strengthen themselves to abandon a vice, leave the ways of mortal sin, or maintain constancy in their existing spiritual endeavors. The author refers to Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments all throughout the book while also citing many well renowned saints and experiences recorded of mystics.
While the author died over three centuries ago, his writing style is not outdated. The writing is easy to digest while articulating very profound truths. I found myself stopping throughout the book to meditate on his words and the reality conveyed.
About the author
Father Martin Von Cochem was born in 1630 at Cochem in Germany and died September 10, 1712. He was born from a faithful family and entered the novitiate of the Capuchins at a young age. He was distinguished for his fervor and fidelity to the religious rule. In 1666 when the plague arrived to Father Martin’s door. During this time, he devoted himself to the spiritual comfort of the afflicted. Due to the plague, which came less than 20 years after the thirty years war that ended in 1648, there was a large number of faithful who had been without a pastor, causing them to become religiously ignorant. Father Martin took it upon himself to combat this issue with the faithful by composing a number of “little popular treatises” detailing the truths and duties of religion, which was well received in Cologne in 1666. His superiors themselves were aided by his writings and encouraged him to continue this course of work, something he took to heart until the time of his death. Father Martin left many works including apologetics, the lift of Christ, legends of the Saints, edifying narratives, forms of prayer, Christian asceticism, and much more.1
Basic walkthrough
The book is structured in a very straightforward way. We start with “death,” move onto “judgement,” read about “hell,” and conclude with the joyous read of “heaven.”
Death
Naturally, we open the book to read about death which precedes our judgement before God. This short section sears the reality of death into our mind. In just 22 pages, Fr. Martin details the natural fear we will undergo when our eternal spirit departs from our mortal body, and when our mortal body loses its life-giving spirit. We close out by considering that we will be standing before the Son of God and His tribunal, with even the most prepared souls finding themselves in fear of the possible eternity that may await them
We can be prepared as possible for death, but we are preparing whilst our eternal soul is in our mortal body. We have yet to live while departed from our body, we are yet to experience that reality, a reality which will determine our eternity.
Judgement
After we die, we must stand before the Son of Man, and this book takes us straight from death into God’s tribunal. Fr. Martin takes his time walking us through our judgement throughout 69 pages. He focuses primarily on the Day of Judgement when Christ returns to judge every soul. We walk through Scripture passages that are clear in meaning, but Fr. Martin writes in a way to help us truly internalize, as best as we can, the inevitable reality that awaits us all. He writes about the beauty and glory of God’s elect being given a wonderful judgement, while the reprobate tremble in fear, a trembling that took a lifetime to accomplish. Throughout this portion, the author gives stark warnings for even the saintliest mortal man so we may all reflect on the true state of our soul and amend our lives.
During the section on judgement, Fr. Martin writes primarily with a focus on the damned. This is because it is a reality that more of us will face than the blessing of the few that are the elect. His detailing of this should scare any mortal man out of his sin and into an amendment of life. After reading a detailed explanation on how terrible sin is to God, it is easy to understand why the reprobate will be far more numerous than the elect. God’s judgement of each of us is right and just.
Hell
After witnessing the judgement of the Son of Man, we move onto the eternal fate of the reprobate: hell. The author pulls from all throughout the Bible, Old and New, to detail the reality of hell in the best way any mortal man can describe. He takes these passages and presents the darkest truths within the words so we may gain any sort of understanding of the torment that awaits. Fr. Martin spends 46 pages detailing hell so the image is forever branded into our thoughts so as to not forget it. As one of my friends said, hell was made for the angels who rejected God, not for man. It is a punishment I wish on no one, not even the worst of souls. After reading through his detailed description of hell, even Padre Pio would have found vices to remove from himself.
Heaven
After reading fearfully about “death”, “judgement,” and “hell,” we progress to the high note of heaven for a mere 28 pages. Fr. Martin details heaven in the best a way a mortal man can describe, which does no justice to the true beauty of the heavenly Jerusalem. He describes it in a beautiful way with the souls of the elect reunited with their bodies in the glorious resurrection. The pleasures that await the elect in heaven far surpass those of the earth; even the most beautiful gem on earth would seem as coal compared to the flowers in heaven.
The author concludes by sobering us from the high note of heaven. We read through an additional ten pages detailing the number of the saved. We would hope it would be a vast number, however it is minute compared to the number of the reprobate. For our mortal lives, Fr. Martin calls us not to be part of the few, but of the few of the few. I have no doubt we would take it farther than that if he saw today’s world.
My own takeaways
Overall, it was not challenging to read through, but it was far from lacking depth. The profound truths were articulated in digestible language. While the chapters aren’t exceedingly long, I read it mostly one chapter per day to let it soak in throughout the day rather than trying to rush through it.
The Four Last Things is very sobering. While there are moments of fear and trembling, the book is written in a way not to make people feel damned, instead, even the most sinful of readers would finish the book with an understanding that they must make a firm resolve to amend their lives. While I closed the book with a great appreciation of God’s judgement of the elect and the reprobate, I was in no way left thinking we can consider people saved or damned, because I question my own salvation. Instead, we must amend our own lives and lovingly encourage the amendment of others so they may be more prepared than ourselves to stand before the Son of Man.
I highly recommend The Four Last Things for improving your spiritual life and your relationship with God. This book can be read at any time of year but it is fantastic for Advent, the season of preparation for the Lord’s comings. There are many authors on this topic, but I can attest that Fr. Martin Von Cochem did a fantastic job writing this powerful book to educate all the faithful. From the religiously ignorant to bishops, everyone would do well to read this frequently.
References
1 Cochem, Father Von. 1997. “The Incredible Catholic Mass.” New York: TAN Books., pg XIIV-XIV
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