got in Gaming and on Harlots They denied also the Baptism of Infants the Christian Sacrifice Publick Churches c. against them Petrus Cluniacensis a Man eminent for Learning and Sanctity wrote and St. Bernard preached and confirmed his Doctrine with so great a Miracle as convinced Multitudes who had been seduced by them After these arose one Waldo a Citizen of Lions very rich but unlearned who probably had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and attributing too much to his own Opinion procured certain Books to be written in his own Language and distributing his Estate among the Poor took upon him the Apostolick Office of Preaching and began the Sect called after his own Name Waldenses and from their Place and Quality The Poor of Lions Among other Heterodox Opinions whereof some were peculiar to their own Sect and disallowed by all others this of rejecting Prayers for the Dead was one The Apostolici of that time I suppose were not a distinct Sect but the same who assumed that Name And the Albigenses who in the next Century encreased very much till by the secular Power and force of Arms they were suppressed seem to have been a Branch of the same Root however in this particular they agreed as they did in most others Since those I know not any Sect which hath arisen and which questioned or contradicted Prayers for the Dead till those which have sprung out of what is called the Reformation For I do not find that Wickelif and his Followers here the Lollards or John Huss or Hierom of Prague who carried his Books and Doctrines into their own Country and were all three Men of Parts and Learning ever opposed Prayers for the Dead tho' among the Opinions attributed to Huss one is that there is no Purgatory Fire which is denied by others who yet are for Prayers for the Dead But by all the several Sects of the later Reformers since Luther began they have been questioned opposed and left out of their Publick Prayers Only here in England in the first Liturgy composed by English Clergy in the Reign of King Edward 6. which I therefore call The True English Liturgy the ancient Prayers for the Dead were retained both in the most Solemn Office of the Daily Sacrifice and at Funerals But these and other principal Parts of the Liturgy were soon after new-modelled in a clandestine manner by Cranmer Bucer and other Foreigners and Calvinian Sectaries and craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation And the Abuse is continued to this day This is the true Original and Succession of all the Opposition which hath ever been made to this Practice of all Mankind in general and of the whole Catholick Church of Christ by Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks and the meanest of all those not a Man amongst them of any Eminence for Piety or any Virtue or so much as Parts or Learning much less any Man of Note in the Church much less any Church Party or Part of the Catholick Church who were or who continued in Communion with The Catholick Church or any Particular Catholick Church as they anciently distinguish'd them from the Assemblies and Associations of Hereticks and Schismaticks in the same City It is very observable wonderful and a great Evidence of unquestionable or undeniable Truth that in so many Ages when there had been so many so considerable Parties of Hereticks and Schismaticks and so malicious spiteful and inraged as many of them were against the Church that none of the most considerable of them should ever seek to advantage their Cause by such a Question which doubtless they would not have failed to have done had they apprehended any color of Truth or Advantage in it that none in all the Parts of the World should ever oppose it but such an obscure inconsiderate and inconsiderable Generation of People till the late Reformers sprung up who thought they could never reform enough or pick quarrels too much till they had brought that which might have been a considerable Cause if well laid and managed to an indefensible brable Amongst them indeed there have been many Men of sufficient Learning but but few of that Ingenuity Impartiality freedom from Prejudice temporal Interest or Fear of Displeasing and of that Generosity as to assert the Truth plainly without respect of Persons or Parties and those few have been very much born down among us especially by the Violence and Headiness of Parties and Factions Yet such is the Power and Evidence of Truth in this Case that it hath found Advocates amongst the most learned of all Parties Of this I think it not improper to produce an instance or two in this Place The first shall be an eminent Person both for Learning and Virtue Bishop Forbes the first Bishop of Edenburg promoted by King Charles 1. who is reported to have said of him That he had found out a Bishop who deserved that a See should be made for him In his Considerationes Modestae Controversiâ de Purgatorio cap. 3. § 17. coming to speak of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead Sed hic primum c. But here first saith he is to be reproved the Opinion of some rigid Protestants who do altogether censure and condemn Prayers for the Dead because they find no Precept or Example of such Prayers in the Old or New Testament Certainly even those who are most against it dare not deny that it is a most ancient Custom and most universally received in the whole Church of Christ that in the Publick Prayers of the Church Commemoration should be made for the Dead and Rest be prayed for to God for those who died piously and in the Peace of the Church And having cited divers of the Ancients for it he adds This most ancient Custom was full of Piety and most truly did Cassander say This was always fixt in * Note Then this was agreed among All. All Christian Minds That the Spirits of those who being initiated in the Sacrament of Christ departed this Life in the Confession of his Name with signification of Repentance should be commended to the Mercy of God that Remission of Sin Eternal Rest and a Part with the Elect might be intreated for them †This second part is so cited in Vsher p. 246. as is apt to lead the Reader into mistake as if they were not agreed in more than the Author did intend And altho' concerning that State of Souls for which those things were profitable it was neither sufficiently manifest nor agreed among all yet all judged this Office as a Testimony of Charity toward the Deceased and a Profession of Faith concerning the Immortality of Souls and Resurrection to come to be grateful to God and profitable to the Church Then he saith This most Ancient and Vniversal Custom of the Church very many and most learned Protestants do not disallow and cites the Apology of the Augsburg Confess Chemnicius Mentserus Luther Gerard Vrbanus
Regius Vorstius Vossius Dr. Field Bishop Andrews and passing over in silence very many others as he saith he recites the Words of the Liturgy of Edward 6. both in the Office for the Communion and that for Burials laments that such most ancient and pious Prayers should by the Persuasion of Bucer and others be expunged and wisheth that the Church of England which hath shewed great Moderation in many other things of less moment had rather conformed her self in this business as also in some others to the most ancient Custom of the Universal Church than for some Errors and Abuses which had by degrees crept in plainly rejected it and wholly taken it away to the great Scandal of almost all other Christians I need add no more after this Learned and Apostolick Bishop only in short take notice of what Vrbanus Regius saith that None reject it but Epicureans and Sadduces and Vorstius that No Good Man can dislike it and Bishop Andrews that There is little that can be said against it and conclude this matter with the Words of the learned and famous Hugo Grotius The use of Praying for the Dead received through all Churches of the East no less than of the West ought not to be condemned And after some reasons for it and something concerning the Jews he adds The Ancient Liturgies are not to be condemned since Christ himself did never reprehend the Prayers for the Dead commonly used among the Jews of which there is a Form extant in the Talmud made as is believed in the Babylonian Captivity and mentioned in the second Book of the Maccabees It will be replied That as great a Man and of the Church of England as any of those hath written against it the famous Vsher Arch-Bishop of Armath It is very true he hath and imployed and strained all his Learning all his Parts and all his Skill and a little too much to oppose it and all to very little purpose for his own Cause but to very good purpose against it For it is a great Evidence and Demonstration of what Bishop Andrews truly said That there is little that can be said against what this great Man takes such pains to oppose The sole Question between him and his Adversary was Whether the Fathers of the first 400 or 500 Years held that Prayer for the Dead is both commendable and godly as appears by the Challenge which was in those very Words and no other How and where doth he answer this plain Question His Title of that part of his Answer is general Of Prayer for the Dead He saw well enough how little he had to say to that plain Question and therefore resolved to take more Liberty to say something of the matter of his Title tho little or nothing to the Question He spends three score and ten pages upon the general matter but if I mistake not not ten lines directly and closely to the special Question * To use his own words p. 170. He alleadgeth indeed a number of Authorities to blear Mens Eyes with all which being narrowly looked into will be found nothing at all to the purpose Which is to abuse not so much his Adversary as his Reader with a specious appearance of an Answer which in truth and reality is nothing to the purpose That which comes nearest to the purpose is what he saith pag. 246. These Two Questions saith he must necessarily be distinguished Whether Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead and Whether the Dead did receive any peculiar Profit thereby In the latter of these he the Reader shall find great Difference among the Doctors in the former very little or none at all This is indeed to the purpose but his Resolution of the former Question tho' very true is a plain Confession against himself For if they be agreed that Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead then certainly they held that that was commendable and godly which is all that his Adversary did affirm then and that I do principally assert now for what I have to alleadge farther is but a Consequence of that And his Resolution of the latter Question is manifestly false and a disingenuous Assertion for if among so great a number of Doctors in so many Years he could have assigned five or six or ten who had really differed in that point from the rest which those few he cites rightly understood did not had that been a Great Difference And if some Authors do say that some or that many in their time were doubtful in the point is that a sufficient proof that it was still a Question in the Church when they name not one Person in particular much less any Doctor nor tell us so much as of what quality they were who had those Doubts When a Difference is Great there must be some proportion between the Contenders and where a Question is continued there must be some Disputes Contention or Debates But if Peoples secret Doubts must be taken for Questions in the Church that is the ready way to bring all Religion into question and it is not to be doubted but such dealings in Controversies hath had its share in producing this growth of Scepticism and Atheism of late That such a Man as this should put Colours upon Causes should hold up Contentions should be so addicted to Parties as in favour to them to confirm People in Opinions which if false are mischievous and if true of little Advantage and contrary to so great Authority as is on the other side and so expose his Judgment or Integrity is a great Unhappiness to himself and a Scandal to others It is possible what others may have observed in this great Man for 't is a scurvy thing to be ingaged in an ill Cause may have taught them more Wisdom for for ought I can find as well in the Controversial Writings of late as in the Disputations at the University the Old Cause An Preces pro Defunctis sint Licitae is quite deserted and that Question is turned into another An Preces pro Defunctis antiquitus usurpatae inferant Purgatorium Papisticum It is well Men have learned so much Wisdom for themselves as to mend their Cause so far as that and it is to be wished that they may also learn so much Honesty as to undeceive the People and restore to them for themselves and their Friends the Comfort and Benefit of that ancient Catholick Practice Mr. Thorndike one of the learnedst Persons this Church hath produc'd and a late Bishop of St. Asaph have done well to do what they could and restore it upon their own Tomb-stones tho' they could not do it in the Church and if all who believe well would but do so well as profess what they believe which certainly they ought to do we should soon see the Truth revive and flourish beyond Expectation and so much of our Contentions abated Thus concerning the Persons who have opposed this
express Hom. 21. in Act. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not in vain are Oblations for the Dead Not in vain Prayers Not in vain Alms For all these things did the Spirit Order willing that we should mutually help one another .... Doubt it not the Fruit will be pleasant It is not a light thing that the Deacon calls out to pray For those who are departed in Christ and For those who offer for their Memories And the same he saith also Hom. 41. in 1 Cor. 15. and adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if Commemorations were not made for them not so much as this would be said For our Matters are not Stage-Plays Far be that For these are done by the Ordination and Disposition of the Spirit Let us therefore afford them help and perform their Commemorations c. The Propitiation proposed is common to the World therefore do we then confidently pray for all the Worthy and name them with Martyrs with Confessors with Priests for we are all one Body tho' some Members more splendid than others .... Why dost thou grieve and lament so much Favour may be obtained for the Deceased And that he himself formed a Liturgy which is at this day in use in the Greek Churches is affirmed by the Greeks and cannot with any good reason be denied and tho' 't is likely there may be some Alterations or Additions in it yet what relates to this matter is so confirmed by this and by more ancient Authority that it cannot reasonably be questioned The other is S. Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis the Metropolis of the Isle of Cyprus a Man of good Reputation for Ability and Piety and particularly studied in all the Doctrines and Practices of the Church and the several Heresies contrary thereunto In him we have a double Testimony that of Aerius and his own in a Book of all the Hereticks and Heresies In that of Aerius is observable 1. The Matter of Fact and common Practice viz. commemorating the Names of the Dead and Praying for them 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The End for which it was done viz. That they might be benefitted by the Pardon of their Sins at the Prayers c. of their Surviving Friends and the Church Both these he opposeth and that is a Proof of both and by the Testimony of an Adversary which is reputed the most convincing 3. The Opposition without any denial or question of the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice or Observation or of the Tradition of either the Practice or the Intention and Doctrine which if he had had any colour or pretence for it he would certainly never have omitted but he is able to say nothing against either the Practice or Benefit of it but If it be so it is in vain to be pious it would be sufficient to get People to pray for the Pardon of ones Sins after his Death In all these respects is the Opposition of Aerius a very considerable Testimony of both the Practice and Intention and consequently of the Doctrine of the Church in this case But because our great Man useth his utmost Skill and very grossly to evade and elude these Testimonies I will here present them both intire according to his own Translation with Notes of the Pages where most of the distracted Parcels may be found in his Book that the Reader who hath a mind to entertain himself with a Prospect of his Ingenuity may the more plainly discern it The Objection of Aerius For what reason do you commemorate after Death the Names of those that are departed He that is alive prayeth or maketh Dispensation of the Mysteries what shall the Dead be profited hereby And if the Prayer of those here do altogether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profit them that be there then let no body be Godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let no Man do Good but let him procure some Friends by what means it pleaseth him either by persuading them by Money or intreating Friends at his Death and let them pray for him that he may suffer nothing there and that those inexpiable Sins which he hath committed may not be required at his hands p. 238. Epiphanius his Answer and Testimony As for the reciting of the Names of those that are deceased what can be better than this What more commodious and more admirable that such as are present do believe that they who are departed do live and are not extinguished but are still Being and Living with the Lord and that this most pious Preaching might be declared that they who pray for their Brethren have hope of them as being in a Peregrination p. 240. But the Prayer also which is made for them doth profit altho' it doth not cut off All their Sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here answers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Objection Yet forasmuch as whilst we are in the World we oftentimes slip both unwillingly and with our Will it serveth to signifie that which is more perfect For we make a Memorial both of the Just and for Sinners For Sinners intreating the Mercy of God of the Just both the Fathers and Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists and Martyrs and Confessors Bishops and Anchoretes and the whole Order that we may sever our Lord Jesus from the Rank of all other Men by the Honour that we do vnto him and that we may yield Worship unto him while we thus judge p. 240. That our Lord is not to be compared unto any Man tho' a Man live in Righteousness a thousand times and more for how should that be possible considering that the one is God the other Man and the one is in Heaven the other in Earth by reason of the Remains or Reliques of the Body yet resting in the Earth p. 242. Except those who being raised from the Dead entred together into the Bride-Chamber as saith the Holy Gospel c. But forbearing these things I return to what I was about The Church doth necessarily perform this having received it by Tradition from the Fathers And who may dissolve the Ordinances of his Mother or the Law of his Father p. 237. as Solomon saith Hear my Son the Words of thy Father and reject not the Laws of thy Mother declaring by this that our Father that is God the Only begotten and the Holy Spirit hath taught us both in Scriptures and without Scripture But our Mother the Church hath Ordinances settled in her which are inviolable and may not be broken Seeing then there are Ordinances established in the Church and they are well and all things are admirably done this Seducer is again refuted p. 237. This is the Answer of Epiphanius the words inclos'd in Crochets are not in Vsher To this we may well apply what he saith before concerning Easter the Observation of which was another thing which Aerius quarrelled at But who knows these things best This seduced Fellow who is but newly sprung up and now
Practice and set up themselves against the Authority of the whole Catholick Church I come now to consider the Opposition it self their Allegations and Reasons Such is the Wit of Man and the Subtilty of Satan that scarce any Truth is so evident but they can find out some specious Appearances to set up against it But such is the Mercy and Wisdom of God that he hath provided sufficient means for Direction for all such as keep within the Bounds of Humility and Obedience that is in Subjection not only of their Wills but also of their Intellects and Understandings to his Orders Ordinances and Prescriptions the very Business of their Lives in this World for Preparation for another And to such besides the Common Means he will kindly vouchsafe a special Guidance sufficient for their Circumstances Of the Danger our Saviour and his Apostles have given to all fair Warning and great Caution acquainting us with the End why the most Wise and Gracious God permits it for Tryal and Exercise the Danger and Subtilty of the Ministers of Satan such as should deceive if it were possible the very Elect the special Marks to know and avoid them viz. Their Fruits specious Pretences Sheeps Clothing and Distraction and Disagreement among themselves crying Here is Christ and There is Christ and special Directions Believe them not Go not out after them All this Provision hath the Devil attempted to undermine partly by raising real Scandals and Offences and partly by strongly representing Imaginary ones But against all this Humility and Charity will fortifie us and the Grace special Guidance and Mercy of God will preserve us if we be careful to continue in those Graces It was Pride and Arrogance and Discontent in Aerius which gave the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiphan p. 905. a. Devil Advantage to instigate him to the first Opposition of such a Catholick Practice It was Pride Vanity and Ostentation of Parts by which he set Gobarus to work to shew his Learning and Acuteness in finding out Differences of Opinions among them who perhaps in many of those things differed no more than the Writers of the Sacred Scriptures seem to do For I do not find that he made any special Opposition against this Practice But I doubt it was not imaginary but real Scandal and gross Abuses of a good Practice by which Waldo and his Followers and the Albigenses were moved to oppose all without Distinction tho' there seems to have been in him with a Zeal for God but without Knowledge a Mixture of Pride and Conceitedness And it was real and not imaginary Scandal by which Luther was at first moved to oppose Indulgencies and his Followers at first to oppose even this innocent and commendable Practice But in such Men as Vsher and Bucer it was the Reputation of the Cause they had espoused in gross and Compliances with the Times and their particular Interests by which they were moved But let us but carefully follow our Saviour's Admonitions and Directions wisely distinguish the Ingredients of the Composition of Truth and Falsehood and honestly imbrace hold fast and own the Truth when we have the Opportunity and we shall not want sufficient Light and Evidence to find it The specious Appearances set up against this Catholick Practice of the Church of Christ are these 1. That there is no Scripture Authority for it 2. That the Ancient Practice was to Pray for all such as were at Rest 3. That the Ancients were not agreed in their Opinions concerning the State of Separate Souls or the general Intention of the Church in those Prayers To detect the Fallacy Falsity and Impertinence of these Allegations as briefly as may be To the first I say it is a meer Fallacy and grounded upon a false Supposition that nothing is to be admitted in Doctrine or Worship but what there is Scripture Authority for if it be understood of a special Authority and their usual Pretences of not Adding or Diminishing are to be understood of those particular Parts or Books of the Scripture as is plain by the Additional Writings and Practices of Holy Men afterwards 2. It is inconsistent with the Tradition of the Doctrine and Institutions of the Gospel and of the Ordinances of the Apostles which were all by Word and Deed without Writing as the Common Laws of this Nation were at first settled and much of what was written was written upon special Occasions and much with that Brevity and Conciseness by the special Providence of God as was sufficient for them for whom it was intended and yet so as should need an Authentick Explication to preserve the Authority of the Catholick Church 3. It is contrary to the express Directions of the Scripture to contend for the Doctrine once delivered to the Saints in general and to hold the Traditions they had received whether by Word or Epistle c. And if it be understood of a general Authority the Allegation it self is false For it is contrary to all those Scriptures which declare the Authority of the Church and require Obedience to Superiors And either way it is contrary to the Sentiments Testimony and Practice of the Ancient Christians who in Questions of Difficulty and Contests with Hereticks always inquired not only what was written by the Apostles but also or principally what was delivered by them to the Churches which they founded in all Parts of the World of which the Catholick Church doth consist which the Scripture it self stiles the Pillar and Basis of Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 v. Grot. not only for the Sense and Meaning of the Scripture as Lawyers with good reason do when in doubts about the Construction of Writings they inquire how the Usage hath gone for in that case the Writing is the Principal Evidence but in this case what was delivered to the Churches which were compleatly and plainly instructed and ordered by the Apostles was the principal Inquiry and the Scriptures but an accessory Evidence as our year-Year-Books are of the Common Law in Questions concerning the Common Law But I doubt not but there was a special Providence in it that so much was written and no more and that it was written in such a manner Lastly This hath been the Practice and Pretence of Hereticks and Schismaticks in all Ages to the intent with the better colour to set aside the Authority of the Catholick Church that they might so make way to set up their own private Opinions and Conceits in the Place thereof but never more grossly nauciously and scandalously than by some of the Principal of the late Reformers Calvin especially on the one side inculcating and crying up The Pure Word of God The Pure Word of God and on the other abusing it by straining wresting it to serve their own turns and eluding and evading what is plainly contrary to them which is now past all doubt not only by the Confessions of Mr. Baxter and Le Blank but the many of all
* Nostra quidem Scripta cur ignibus meruerunt dari Cur immaniter Conventicula dirui in quibus Summus oratur Deus Pax cunctis venia postulatur Magistratibus Exercitibus Regibus Familiaribus Inimicis adhuc vitam degentibus resolutis corporum viâ—ctione lib. 4. suo fi But tho' this might be sufficient yet have we further Evidence to trace it even through the more troublesome times of the Churches so near to the Apostles that no Man without Disparagement to his Judgment or his Honesty can question its Original to be indeed Apostolical For tho' those troublesome times have left us so few Monuments of the Primitive Christianity in comparison that all will hardly equal the Writings of some one of the Writers of after-Ages yet among those few have we what is sufficient Arnobius an eminent Professor of Rhetorick who had been a bitter Enemy against the Christians even in the time of Persecution under Dioclesian turned Christian and wrote Seven Books against the Gentiles in the fourth of which he expostulates with them in this manner Why have our Scriptures deserved to be cast into the Fire Why our Meeting-Places to be cruelly destroyed in which the Great God is prayed to Peace and Pardon is besought for all for Magistrates Armies Kings our Familiars and Enemies for those yet living and those released from the Bond of their Bodies Where he speaks of Prayers for these last as as common as for any of the rest About 50 years before this was S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage a Person of great Worth and most deserved Reputation in the Church and at last a Holy Martyr He in his LXVI Epistle with his Collegues in Council tells the Clergy and People to whom he wrote that their Predecessors upon religious Consideration as a necessary Provision had decreed That no Christian Brother at his Departure should name a Clergy-Man for Guardian or Executor and that if any one should do this there should be * Si quis hoc fecisset non offeretur pro â—o nec sacrificium pro Doâ—mitione ejas celebretur Neque enim c. no Offering for him nor Sacrifice celebrated for his Departure for he doth not deserve to be named at the Altar of God in the Prayer of the Priests who would call away the Priests and Ministers from the Altar And therefore since one Victor †Contra formam nuper in Concilio à sacerdotibus datam contrary to the Order lately made in Council by the Priests had presumed to constitute a certain Presbyter for a Guardian ‖ Non est quod pro Dormitione ejas apud vos fiat Oblatio aut Deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequentetur there should no Oblation be made among them for his Departure or any Deprecation commonly used in the Church in his Name that the Decree of the Bishops religiously and necessarily made might be observed by them and Example given to others c. This Prohibition of those things to be done by way of Punishment is a plain Evidence of what was accustomed and should have been done if there had been no Prohibition and an Evidence not of a single Person but of a Council and not of Matter of Opinion but of plain Matter of Fact and that so notorious as was well known to all and of such Importance in the Opinion of all as the Prohibition was adjudged a competent Punishment for such a Crime as they all thought no little one It was a kind of Excommunication Another fifty years before this lived Tertullian a Man of very great and universal Learning very acute Parts and very strict for Discipline and for the Orders of the Church He mentions this Practice in divers of his Writings not only as common and usual but also as delivered by Tradition and so well known and unquestionable as to be it self an undeniable Instance and Proof of unwritten Traditions This he doth in his Book de Corona Militis § 3. where amongst the Instances which he alleadgeth for proof of the Authority of unwritten Traditions this is one Oblationes pro Defunctis pro Natalitiis annua die facimus We make Oblations for the Dead upon the Annual day of their Departure which the Ancient Christians called their Natalitiae or Birth-Days And after all concludes * Harum aliarum ejusmodi discipiinarum si Legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies Traditio tibi praetenditue auctrix Consuetudo confirmatrix Fides observatrix If of these and other Matters of Discipline you seek for a Rule of Scriptures you shall find none Tradition is alleadged for the Author Custom for the Confirmer and Faith for the Observer But of Traditions in general he hath other Discourses elsewhere and of this particular Tradition which he does but only mention here as an instance of Fact not to be denied we have farther mention in other of his Writings In his Book de Monogamia against second Marriages speaking of the Custom of the Widow's praying for her deceased Husband he says * Et pro anima ejus orat Refrigerium interim adpostulat ei in prima Resurrectione Consortium offert annuis diebus dormitionis ejus § 10. She prays for his Soul and intreats for Refreshment for him in the interim and Consort in the first Resurrection and offers for him on the Annual days of his Departure Again in his Book de Exhortatione Castitatis he thus upbraids him who had had several Wives †Et jam repete apud Deum pro cujus Spiritu postules pro qua Oblationes Annuas reddas Stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot Uxoribus quot illa oratione commemoras offeres pro duabus commemoras illas duas per sacerdotem de Monogamia ob pristinum de virginitate sanctitum circumdatum virginibus univiris ascendet sacrificium tuum iibera fronte inter cete ras voluntates bonae mentis postulabis tibi uxori castiatem◠§ 11 Say before God for whose Spirit thou dost pray for which thou dost make thy Annual Oblations Wilt thou therefore stand before God with so many Wives as thou dost in that Prayer remember and offer for two and commemorate those two by a Priest once married by reason of the ancient Sanction of Virginity incompassed with Virgins and once married Women And will thy Sacrifice ascend with Confidence and amongst other Habits of a good Soul wilt thou pray for Chastity for thy self and thy Wife This I think is plain and full for the common Practice both in private and in publick by the Priest at the Altar and for the Tradition But it is objected that Tertullian when he wrote these Books was a Montanist and wrote them against the Church And it is as easily answered that it is not Matter of Opinion but Matter of Fact for which they are here alleadged and it is certain he was no Fool which he must have