Scriptures The custome to pray in a tongue vnknown even to him that praieth The feast of God The Elevation and walking of their consecrated cake vp and downe The hallowed Graines and Medals The fraternity of S. Frances Corde loaden with so manie pardons and priviledges and such like trash Can. satis Dist 96. Gloss Clem. cum inter Sacr. Cerem sect 7. cap. 6. sedes Dei sedes Apostolica The last Councell of Lateran sess 9. Divinae Maiestatis tuae conspectus which them selues do confesse were brought in long since the Apostles time shal by this reckoning be holden for the word of God and the Tradions of the Apostles And that with good reason sith the Pope assumeth to himselfe the name of God and his holinesse The divine Maiestie and in infinite places in his Cannons The Spouse of the Church yea as saith Bellarmine de Pontif. Rom. lib. 1-cap 9. etiam Christo secluso eveÌ„ Jesus Christ excluded or set aside Sith that likewise the Pope tearmeth office Apostolat all his furniture Apostolicall as his chamber his letters his chaire his cloake his Pallace And vnlesse God take pitty vpon vs they will shortly call his hose and points Apostolicall Now that in all this the drift of our Masters tendeth only to shunne the holy scriptures which condemne them it appeareth in these words The vnwritten word For what is the vnwritten word but a Chimera in the aire an imperceptible Idea For where can we finde this vnwritten word If we must seeke it as they say at the mouth of the vniversall Church when shal I haue gathered together the vniversall Church to instruct me Or if the people must haue recourse to their Curat how shal they know whether their Curate agreeth with the vniversall Church What side shall we take where the doctors do disagree As do now these three doctors who are growne to censure and in their pulpits to disclaime one of theÌ„ Or if one bee borne in an hereticall Church or betweene two Churches grounded vpon contrary Traditions as betweene the Greeke and the Romain But if wee must seeke this vnwritten word of God in the bookes of ancient doctors then it is written and albeit these bookes be subiect to errour yet the Traditions of the Romish Church as the afore named and Purgatory are not there to be found as hereafter we shall proue Moreover in as much as they would make vs beleeue that the Pope hath such letters of credence that wee must therefore do all that he commandeth and beleeue all that he list to perswade vs albeit this bee not found in the holie scripture yet wheÌ„ the church of Rome hath neede of Reformation in capite membris as it is the ancient coÌ„plaint what meanes is there to proceed considering that he that is to bee reformed is the maker of the lawes soveraigne Iudge in all matters of Religion consequently in his owne cause God forbid that man should bee iudge over the cause of God or that all the Popes inventions for the advaÌ„cing of their Empire should be holden for the word of God and the rule of our faith But let vs here the productioÌ„s of these doctors all those things that they say are not coÌ„tained in the Scripturs Our observaÌ„tin Moncke shall march formost and haue the first place He saith that thorough out all the old Testament there is not one expresse worde concerning the Immortalitie of the soule Admit it were so yet what interest had he to search out the defects of the holy scripture But had he sought wel he might haue found these wordes in the last of Daniell Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame contempt What can bee spoken more expresly And in the 12. of Ecclesiastes v. 7. And dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit returne to God that gaue it And in the 23. of Numbers Balaam desireth to die the death of the righteous An evident proofe that he held their death to be blessed But were this frier Minor as well acquainted with the holy Scriptures as he is with the rule of S. Frances he would never haue vttered a speech so impertinent and ful of impietie for the which hee deserveth to change his order and from the Observantine fryerie to be sent to the ignorant friers The auctor of the fire of Helie broaceth it much deeper he demaÌ„deth how by the holy scriptures wee canne proue this proposition That the holy Scripture containeth all that we ought to beleeue But this is not our saying for we may and ought to beleeue many things that are not contained in the holy Scripture In such maner do we beleeue that Romulus with a troope of theeues built Rome Stella Platina The booke of IndulgeÌ„ces printed at Rome wee beleeue the history of Pope Ioâ—e as a history advowed by many auctors both friends and servants to the Popes and of whom there yet remaine manie traces and causes of remembrance wee beleeue that Alexander 3. did set his foot vpon the throat of Fredericke Barberossa Volateran Sabellicus Martianus Polonus vpon the staires of S. Markes Church at Venice where this his so heroical exploit is to this day represented we beleeue those histories that recorde howe the Emperour Henrie the 7. was poysoned in their consecrated cake Their God poisoned with a thousand such like histories both old and newe whereof the scripture never made mentioÌ„ Only we say that the holy scriptures doe containe all documents and instructions necessary to salvation This doe we say with S. Paul who in the 2. to Tim. cap. 3. v. 15. saith It is able to make vs wise to salvation what more can we demand The same Apostle 1. Cor. 4 6. teacheth vs Not to presume aboue that which is written toward the end of the new Testament we find these words I protest vnto every one that heareth the Prophecie of this booke that if any man shal adde vnto these things God shal adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke whereto our adversaries can frame no other reply Consilium foro Iulii but that this curse extendeth no farther but to the booke of the Revelation Yet doth the councell of Triuly bridle them in these words The protestation of the Apostle Iohn in the Revelation vnder the title of one booke hath relation to the whole course of both the Testaments saying if any man adde c. Againe he challengeth me to proue by the holy Scriptures these 8 things which vnderhand he supposeth to bee necessary to salvation In the Index Biblicus printed at Anwerp by Plantin 1588. p. 5. 1. The baptisme of young children which neverthelesse is proved by the Iesuits and Doctors of the Vniversitie of Lovaine also by the Catechisme of the Councell of Trent by many passages of the holy Scripture Thus
in any other place shall wee find any word thereof Thus is this place now emptie if we cannot find any to lodge in it And because it is likely that the Franciscans according to their rule doe not goe into Purgatory single but by two and by two This Limbo lying in the way to Purgatory seemeth a very convenient place to lodge him who being departed hence alone must attend his companion Besides these foure places Bellarmine who lately writ at Rome The flowred meddow and as it were in the Popes bosome with the approbation and commendation of all the Church of Rome but particularly of al our Doctors in the 7. Chap. of his second booke of Purgatory hath found out a fifth place that is to say a bright and cleere meddow all diapred with sweet smelling flowers which hee maketh to be a dependance of Purgatory and as it were a withdrawing chamber wherein those doe take their rest who are most kindly entreated most gently dealt withall and groundeth himself vpon the auctoritie of venerable Beda and Dionise a Charterhouse Monk an auctor of great credit whoe is full fraught with fantasticall revelations he should haue added how these flowers doe spring without sun or raine frō whence that goodly brightnesse could pierce into those deepe partes of the earth Out of this meddow do the souls immediately passe into Paradice but before the comming of Iesus Christ they went thence into Limbo a matter of great compassion that passing out of a bright meddow full of recreation they should come to bee shut vp in a darke prison Such therfore is the building which our Masters haue erected vnder groūd making by an order contrary to nature the lowest chambers to be the hottest digging without any autoritie of the Gospell sundry compartiments vnder the earth like to mouldwarpes blinded with the sunshine of Gods word In this place I would entreat the reader throughout all this mysterie to take note of a certaine kinde of soules which should haue more agilitie experience then their fellowes so many walkes and turnings are they put vnto These are those soules who departing from their bodies vnder the old Testament were first presented before the Iudge and thence sent into Purgatory but escaping thence after a scalding fire entered into a bright meddow ful of recreation Afterwards from this medow they passed into Limbo thence came forth with Iesus Christ then did they follow him 40 daies vpon the earth finally entered into Paradice Let vs therefore finde no farther fault with Plato or his Metempsychosis for his revolutions and passages of soules are nothing so prodigious indeed our Masters doe carry away the bell for invention from all Poets These matters thus dispatched and set out as it were in a table it resteth that wee now examine this Purgatory and the abuses therevpon depending and proue that the word of God is a spring more then sufficient to quench this the Popes so profitable a fire Here may our Reader if it please him note that Purgatory is by our adversaries placed among the Articles of our beleefe so as vnlesse wee beleeue therein Bellarm. de Purgat lib. 2 cap. 12. Haec sunt we cannot bee saved that the importance of the matter may tie him to attention So shall we breake one of the legges of this Colossus one of the principall pillers of Babylon CAP. 2. That the holy scripture is a sufficient iudge for this question as also for all other cōtroversies concerning faith and that therein is no mention of Purgatory or of any Indulgence whereby to release soules out of the torment thereof to a iudge that beareth them so smal favour they many times giue it some gird Thus saith the Auctor of the fire of Helie Pag. 61. Albeit there bee no mention of Purgatory in the Scripture yet cannot Du Moulins conclusion bee but bad in saying there is no Purgatory And here he raketh togither a number of things which saith he are not in the holy Scripture Yea so presumptuous is our Franciscans ignorance as to say that throughout the old Testament there is not one expresse word of the immortalitie of the soule Pag. 16. In this regard it is requisite that before we proceed any farther we trie these Doctors in this case to the quicke and defend the perfection of the holy Scripture Amid the corruptions of the world wee haue yet this honor that we be the advocates of Gods cause and of the worthinesse of his word Which as S. Paul 2. Tim. 3. saith is able to instruct vs and to make vs wise to salvatiō Initio lib. 2. adversus Gentes which also saith Athanasius abundantly suffiseth to instruct vs in all truth Wherein as saith Chrysostome vpon the second Chapter of the 2. to the Thessalonians is cleerly cōtained al that is necessary For was it possible that aforetime the fiue books of Moses were sufficient to instruct the Church to salvation that now the same fiue bookes together with the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles cannot suffice hath God forbiddē to adde or diminish to the bookes of Moses Deut. 4.1 and nowe that both in the old and new Testament we haue much larger instruction shal it be tollerable to adde an vnwritten word Other Canonicall bookes Other articles of faith Jf the Gospell be sufficient to saue vs who shal be so bold as to say that the new Testament doth containe but part of the Gospel To alleadge either the tiranny of custome or the antiquity of a traditiō without the word of God what is it but to alleadge the antiquitie of Error and to arme both Iewes Gentils with the like reasons cōsidering that vntruth is very ancient yea it hath beene even from the beginning also that against the truth no prescription of time may take place To ioine therfore to the holy scriptures an vnwritten word and to make the traditions of the Romish Church equal with the bookes of the olde and new Testamēt is a great disparagemēt to the Maiestie of the holy Scripture It is as much as to do that which expresly is forbiddē in the law of Moses that is to plow with an oxe and an asse to yoake togither things very vnequall to make man equall with God and the lead of the Popes Buls with the pure steele of the spiritual sword of the Gospel True it is that they tearme these Traditions the word of God and traditions of the Apostles but they shewe not when or to whom God did first inspire them They deliver vnto vs the Canon of the Masse for an Apostolical tradition wherein neverthelesse they name some persons that lived three hūdred yeares after the Apostles time Thus the Indulgences the forgiunesse of all sins at the end of every 25. yeares The communion vnder one kinde The fetching of souls out of Purgatory by Popish Indulgences The prohibiting of the lay people from reading of the holy
wheeles of this great frame of the Roman hierarchie For as a beast deadly wounded springeth forth with an extraordinarie force even so these Doctors doe excessiuely storme when you touch them in their best feeling that is in the belly in Avarice and in Idlenesse Of all the rest this Portugal Monk is the most ridiculously violent hee speaketh with a barbarous impetuositie with such a pride as hardly agreeth with his habit yet did I forbeare his honour and abstaine from all iniuries and bravadoes albeit I had a large field open before me and many proofes of his ignorance But I seeke not to dishonor any man only the glory of God do I aime at To these books thus stuffed with civilitie haue these reverend Doctors imposed Capriccious titles after the manner of those that hang out scurrilous tables over the forefronts of the houses where they act their enterludes or as such as carue Cyclops and Satyres vpon the frontispice of their buildings CAYER Marke then the title of Cayers booke The burning fornace or oven of reverberate c. And in his booke his speech runneth all vpon Limbecks firing evaporating recalcining c. All words of his art and of all this he maketh an Amalgame cōtaining more moon then sunne The other treadeth the same path and entituleth his booke The fire of Helie to drie vp the waters of Siloe VAL. Luke 9. You wot not by what spirit you be led The FRIER The Frier was loath to bee behind his fellowes or to vse a lesse ridiculous title then his writing is so to procure an vniformity wherein he proceeded with great discreation and this is his title The Torrent of fire proceeding from the face of God to drie vp the waters of Mara enclosed in the causey of the Mill of Ablon O frock garnished with elegācie Who was able on this side the Pirinean mountaines to attaine to such gallant conceptions and so well polished This Frier minor entendeth to haue all his pollutions and vncleannes that he spueth out throughout his whole booke to come forth from the face of God that is to say to bee expelled out of Gods presence Which neverthelesse hee armeth with autoritie entituling himselfe The Reverend Father Iames Observantin Doctor Preacher c. And in his preface braggeth that he writeth succinctly and strongly yet had it beene good hee had expected other mens commendations but he had more desire to ease them of that labour At the first blush therefore seeing so fierie bookes such hot furnaces Torrents of fire I feared to come neere thē but plucking vp my spirits and being a little way entred into the reading of the same I grew into farre greater admiration considering that these three friers were as farre discordant among themselues as fire and water and that these Doctors did most fiercely bang each other and yet were all signed and approved by the Doctors of Sorbone Yea so hot was this contention among them that one of them namely Cayer after hee had beene well displaid and hardly entreated was finally disclaimed in all their Pulpits blasted with perpetuall infamie All which they could never haue compassed but they must likewise taxe those Doctors that subscribed and allowed his booke Well did I knowe that the opinions of the Romish doctors doe agree but badly Herein is the Councel of Basil contrary to the Coūcel of Florence One saith that the pope cannot teach false doctrine another that hee can One that the Pope is aboue the Councell another that the Councell is aboue the Pope Misteria Mislae lib. 3. cap 9. Causa 15. Cā Alius Can. Nos sanctorū quaest 7 Extravag vnā sanctam de Maiorib Oleo One that Invocation of Saints is necessarie as Pope Innocent the 3. and Cayer in his conference advowed subscribed by the Doctors of Sorbone The others as the Lord of Eureux that it may wel enough be forborne and it is no matter of necessitie The Iesuits and such as in their hearts are more soundly nailed to the Papall sea doe advow that the Pope may giue and take away kingdomes that hee can absolue subiects from their oaths and fidelitie allegance to their Princes and this power haue the Popes of late assumed to themselues doe now put in practise Others that hold their iudgements somewhat more at liberty doe affirme all this to be meere vsurpation The most strictest orders of Friers and such soules as they haue brought into captivitie doe beleeue that the Church of Rome cannot erre in any point of doctrine and doe defend even the most grosse absurdities other more smooth tongued but withall more white livered doe say that there bee indeed grosse absurdities That they beleeue not any Purgatorie That the Iubile is but a kind of Marchandize That the fraternitie of the Corde is but superstition That the hallowed graines are but prophane trumperies That we might very well forbeare the portraying of God the taking of the cup in the Supper from the lay people the baptizing of bells the singing of Masses for horses corne hogges c. Yet for all this that wee must not separate our selues and the reason that vnder hand they giue out is this It is good for vs. All this passeth smoothly away so long as we speake not hardly of his holinesse and that the Church Profits be not deminished To be briefe these people are like twinnes whose heads being devided the bellies are neverthelesse knit together Surely this is the course whereby the vnitie of the Romish Church is vpholden Nether were wee vtterly ignorant of this discord yet should I never haue imagined that they would haue published their contradictions or produced these Doctors to the stage there to haue given them so rude a bastinado But drinke yee together Doctors agree among your selues for surely the same God that confounded the languages of the builders of Babylon doth still suffer divisiō to molest those that build it againe Now that which we speak of concerneth not Cayer alone for the Frier likewise gainesayeth his two cōpanions albeit he hath both seene their bookes out of them borrowed some part of his writings So as that which in the sixteenth of Genesis was spoken of Ismael His hand shall be against every mā and every mans hand against him doth very well agree with every of them whereof in this Treatise I will shewe you sundry examples These contradictions are somwhat hard of disgestiō but much more their slanders wherein they impose vpon vs most horrible and wicked opiniōs infinitely estranged from our beliefe As thus that we beleeue fiue mansions for the soules that our drift is to deny the Immortalitie of the soule that wee make al sinnes alike equal that we hold that the soules doe sleep from the day of their decease to the day of iudgmēt that wee would haue I wot not what Synode that never was to passe for an article of faith
that the theft was scourged Suetonius Iulius in segmento 73. Plautus in Aphitruone aut satisfaciat mihi aut adiuret in super nolle esse dicta quae in me in sontem protulit but not the thiefe That excogitatum Commentum signified a Commentary That the pardons of foure and fifty thousand yeares are good and receaueable That satisfacere signifieth not to acknowledg his fault to the partie offended or to testifie that he was sorry for it or when he saying vnto me that God should be vniust if there were no purgatorie I answered that then God should be vniust to such as should liue in the day of iudgmeÌ„t also to the Carmelites that dy vpoÌ„ the friday who as themselues report haue a priviledge that they shal remain in purgatory no longer but vntill the next saterday But who would thinke that vntruth could so farre exceed Verily I am one of the least amonge the servants of God yet would I be sorrie that my yeares or want of capacitie should any way preiudice the equity of my cause but the word of God is mighty even in the mouthes of babes Besides should I trouble my selfe with answering an vnlearned man vnseene in the Greeke and Hebrew as appeared when we were to haue recourse to the Originals in both those laÌ„guages wher vpon the Iesuits of Turnon tooke vpoÌ„ them to stuffe his booke with passages collected out of prophane auctors and the Rabbins into whoÌ„ hee never thrust his snowt which Iesuits neverthelesse were many times mistaken in diverse things The manner of these Doctors in answering as in place convenient shall appeare But how should they make faithful report of things spoken who make no coÌ„science to falsifie my writing See therefore how they entreat me They produce not my wordes they reverse the order of my speeches The frier beginneth with the last page of my booke here there they mangle snatch at my discourse one beginneth at one end an other in the middest If I speak any thing that biteth they can quietly passe it over with silence They obiect the matter that I answer but my answers they suppresse He that seeketh the truth ought to produce the very wordes of his adversary he should trace him step by step without counterfeiting curtalling or disseÌ„bling but these men by a certaine doctoral disposition do skippe as at their masse over whole leaues they conceale the most forcible and the sooner to lead the reader that followeth vs out of our tracke they shuffle the course of my reasons and bring the head forth last Then having thus sented my discourse they proclaime before the pallace their fiery burning magnificall and ridiculous titles Some coulor they might haue had for their flight had my first booke been either tedious or ful of wordes The chardges of the Impression with the readers impatiencie might haue serued them in steede of figge leaues to cover their shame but my writing contained few pages the Arguments lay close for I studied to lay the bones bare that the sinewes might bee the better seene Their vnfaithfull dealing doth proceed yet farther for they forge other obiections then mine and of mine do they take away the edge by propounding them in other manner then I did Thus do they skirmish and sport them in answering of themselues much like vnto the Bulles in the amphitheater to whoÌ„ they cast men made of straw vpoÌ„ whoÌ„ being provoked they dischardged their rage As if they should say vnto me you are too rough The Church of Rome must be more gently entreated Take away your forcible argumeÌ„ts for these reasons lie to hard vpon vs so wil we commune with you Thus and thus must you obiect that so wee may answere with some coulor but they forgat to giue this warning before I doe therefore protest that these writings of these Doctors doe not coÌ„cerne me for that I never spake manie things that they impute to me they haue either fearefully dissembled or malitiously corrupted my best obiections Neither can I thinke my selfe sufficiently satisfied vntill I see my own writing perfect in the writings of my adversaries and their answer set down article to article reason to reason without cutting of or altering my wordes or disordering the order of my discourse Reverend Doctors I beseech you in curtesie None of these Doctors haue yet answered therfore the victory yet resteth with the Aâ—uctor yea I adiure you by the relicks of your coÌ„sciences to entreat me with more equirie take this booke which againe I offer vnto you encreased amplified and corroborated with reasons and some passages of Scriptures and answer it in such wise as that my reasons may not be mangled nor thrust out of order but that all men may see your answers at the foot of my obiections If your desire to bring the truth to light faileth you not no more then your leasures meanes books and support albeit all these faile vs wee shall soone perceaue which of vs hath the word of God to warrant and from the encounter of our reasons truly and vprightly reported wil proceed the sparks of the truth The Lord God vouchsafe to direct our pennes and dispose our hearts to propound such matters as may bee profitable to the salvation of his people proper to the glory of God and comfortable to the truth of his word THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOKE 1. A description of the foure chambers or stages which the Church of Rome placeth vnder the earth Namely of Hell of the Limboe of Children of the Limboe of the fathers and of Purgatory Also of the meanes to get out of Purgatory 2. That in this controversie as in all other that concerne faith the holy Scripture ought to bee iudge also that the same speaketh not of Purgatory nether of any temporall torment after this life nether of any Indulgences wherewith to fetch soules out of this torment 3. That the holy Scripture overthroweth Purgatory and that there is no other purgation of our sinnes but the blood and death of Iesus Christ and consequently that papall Indulgences are vnprofitable to the deceased 4. Against mans satisfactions in general 5. Against Popish Indulgences and the extraction of soules out of Purgatory 6. A confutation of such passages of the holy Scripture as these Doctors haue alleaged 7. What the Doctors of the foure first ages after Iesus Christ did hold and beleeue concerning this matter and that they never beleeued any Purgatory Also of prayer for the dead of Indulgences and of the satisfactions of the primitiue Church A CONFVTATION OF PVRGATORY CAP. I. A description of the foure Chambers or stages which the Church of Rome placeth vnder the earth and particularly of the place called Purgatory THE Doctors of the Church of Rome doe hold that vnder the earth there bee 4. severall places which are so many prisons wherein the foules are either broyled or shutt vp The lowest place The auctor of
saith Iesus Christ hath by himselfe purged our sinnes In this place if we beleeue him purgation signifieth punishment whervpon it must follow that Jesus Christ hath made the punishment for our sinnes whereas he did only beare it Moreover sith this punishment and passion of Iesus Christ was the cause of the purgation of our sinnes it is not the purgation it selfe And indeed himselfe though falsely maketh Ieremie to say Falsehood Ierem. 11. The chastisements serue to purge vs Then is the chastisement one thing and the purgation an other for the end of a matter is divers from the meanes to attaine therto Now follow two places out of Ecclesiasticus the 7. Two falsehood Purge thy selfe by thine owne arme purge thee of thy negligēce That is to say saith the Moncke Chastise thy selfe Let vs overpasse the follie of this explication for both the places are falsely alleadged And in the Gteek which is the Original of this booke we finde no one word of all this neither in any of the translations but the Roman with the like falshood haue they alleadged out of the 47. chapter of the same booke ver 11. these words Christ purged his sinnes But in the Greeke it is The Lord hath taken away his sinnes The same likewise is false that they alleadge out of the third of Malac. Falsehood The Lord shal purge the sonnes of Levy For endevouring to perswade that to purge signifieth to punish he hath suppressed the words following which do proue that to purge in that place signifieth to purifie after the manner as they purge mettals The whole place is this He shall even fine the sonnes of Levy and purifie them as gold silver He here speaketh of purifying cleansing the hearts by the efficacie of the spirit of God as saith S. Peter Act. 15. God purifieth the harts by faith After so many falsifications our Monke triumpheth and croweth like a cocke on his owne dunghil saying that we be the spirits of Satan beasts and in his iudgement fooles Let this passe for it is the priviledge of that Robe this Monke is like his wallet that hath nothing but belly and throat He therfore runneth on his course and would faine proue that a torment may iustly be called a Purgatory or purgation These be his words Is not the Medicine an afflictiō of the patient which serveth to evacuat his corrupt humors In some he wil haue the physicke to be a punishment which we deny especially considering that in this question of purgatory we intreat only of punishment imposed to satisfie the party offended for who ever tooke physicke to the end thereby to be punished vnlesse you wil haue Socrates poyson taken for physick Or who ever tooke phisicke to be a satisfaction for an offence Let vs glorifie God and acknowledge Gods iudgements vpon his adversaries who after the losse of their cōsciences haue lost also al common sense And this will more manifestly appeare if wee call to minde that here our question concerneth only that purgation for sinne that is performed in Purgatory We heare deale only with the purgation of sins past of a clensing of vncleanenesse that doth no longer remaine as wel because the souls that doe roast in this imaginarie fire are already righteous and do sin no more as because the sinnes that are purged in this fire were heretofore cōmitted whereof do ensue two evident absurdities The one that this serveth to purge the vncleanenesse that is not and to purifie the souls already pure free from sinne the other that the fire doth grosly mistake in the examples passages afore alleadged which speake of the purging of such vncleannesses as are still remaining in effect for everie physicall medicine serveth to purge the humors offending that actually are in the body And God saith that hee will purge the sonnes of Levy as men purge gold that is from those vncleannesses that in effect are not from those that are taken away Thus is this marchandise blowne vp this purgatiō grown ridiculous that doth more manifestly appeare by the extravagant forme of the Monks speech where he saith That the paines doe serue to purge vs from those obligations of sin whereto it left vs subiect for yet was there never man that had his iudgement so farre out of ioint as to say that he purgeth himselfe of an obligation when hee dischargeth all that he was bound vnto But to mōstrous divinity wee must vse monstrous tearmes They therfore that reap most profit by this purgatory may do wisely to seek it out some other name because herein we find nothing to be purged 10 Saint Paul saith Rom. 3.24 that we are FREELY iustified by the redemptiō that is in Iesus Christ If it be FREELY then do we pay nothing The same Apostle Colloss 2.13 saith God hath forgiven or remitted all our trespasses In the Greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis largitus est he pardoned freely for so much the word importeth The same Apostle also in the second to the Corinthians 2.10 vsing the same word saith that hee pardoned the incestuous to whom he imposed no satisfactorie paine after the pardon He saith moreover All our offences that wee may knowe that God doth not pardon to halfes All our offences thus taken away and pardoned the satisfactory punishment is also taken away for there cānot be any such punishmēt but in regard of the offence and the cause which is the offence that only produced this effect being taken away this effect is also takē away Here vnto also compare the saying of our adversaries that in Purgatory veniall sinnes are remitted for if this be true then S. Paule abused the Colossians in telling them that al their offences were remitted Againe is this any remission of sins to punish thē in a fire The frier in liew of answering setteth downe some principles but so strange as the very propounding of them may serue for a sufficient Confutation God saith he pardoneth vs freely but there resteth an obligation to his iustice which must of necessity be satisfied As if he should haue said God doth pardon and acquit vs freely yet not freely be cause we are not acquitted of the Obligation to the paine but that we must satisfie the same This is even the like God saith he doth freely pardon our offences but yet he dischargeth vs not of the Obligation to satisfie to his iustice Could he more evidently contradict himselfe Considering that to pardon a criminall person is no more but to free him frō the pain wher to by the iustice of the Law hee standeth bound Thus the auctor of the fire of Helie saith That God forgiveth al our debts yet saith he with some cōtribution of our parts Now if that which we contribute be holdē for payment and satisfaction as our Doctors would haue it who perceiveth not that God acquitteth vs not of all our debts Thus doth the spirit of Contradiction
principle least our people shoulde overlabour them selues to defend it for as wel it maketh against Purgatory It were better say they that the soules should do but in Purgatorie they suffer they are miserably roasted certaine hundreds of yeares Admit that to roast were to do yet were it better to doe in heaven and so to haue the action of Angels As for the Contribution that we shal bring to the attaining of salvation the holy scripture prescribeth vs other meanes to attaine thereto It willeth vs to beleeue in Iesus Christ to carry his Crosse leaving al worldly cogitations to tend to the aime of supernatural vocation and to make perfect our salvation with trembling and with feare Thus is there a meanes to labour for our salvation yet such as our labour shal not be accounted a payment or satisfaction neither our soules be roasted in a fire Now albeit I haue spokē and inculcated these things the more expresly to cut of sclanders and that I haue said do yet say that the faithful ought to cōtribute and to bring whatsoever their care labor toward the work of their salvation yet is bad dealing so turned into nature with our frier minor that he dare sclander impute to me a cōtrary speech to that which indeede I spake That for our parts we ought to cōtribute nothing Slander and that the holy scripture teacheth vs to go to Iesus Christ c. And withall he exclaimeth saying Why do you thus abuse the people A prodigious shāelesnes Thus is the cause of Jesus Christ handled as some oration over a box of triakle or a game at gobelets The auctor of the fire of Helie doth likewise wrest my words He maketh as he were abashed saith he because wee saie that the soules in Purgatory doe satisfie by their paines because they doe not but only they suffer But I never spake it 25 Vpon this fire already quenched we poore as a surplussage this aspersion taken out of a booke indeed Apocriphal yet such a one as our adversaries do hold for Canonical Thus speaketh the booke of Wisdome cap. 3. v. 1. of the soules of the faithful The soules of the righteous are in the hands of God no torment shall touch them then shall they not go into Purgatory He addeth At their departure they enter into peace then not into a fire CAP. 4. Against mans satisfactions in generall PVrgatory thus razed which is the forest and most scortching satisfaction let vs go forward and search it even to the roote reversing in generall all the satisfactory paines that our adversaries do impose vpon the sinner And now that we are cōe to the word satisfie you are to vnderstand that there are two sorts of satisfying Expositiō of the word Satisfie the one for debt the other for offence Debt wee satisfy by paying offence by confessing the fault and craving pardon this in true speech is to make satisfactiō Now in this questiō we deale with the means how to satisfie God for our offences which is not by paying or redemption but by humbling of our selues with amendment and asking forgiuenesse As therefore we doe admit this kind of satisfaction which signifieth the confessing of our faults and humiliation before God so on the other side we reiect such satisfactions as are holden for redemptions and payments to Gods iustice Pag 80. The Monke beareth himselfe after his ordinary manner in a ridiculous insolent ignorance These be his wordes In this place I coniure the reader without passion to consider the grossnesse of the minister for hauing brought him into such tearmes that he could not vnsay himselfe he bethought him of the most notable cavill in the world namely that where the ancients doe vse this word Satisfie they vse it in this signification to haue faulted as who would say Nolim factum A slander yea hee hath presumed to set this downe in writing these last words he addeth that himself might giue vent to the slaunder for Throughout my writing is there any mention that Satisfie should signifie to haue done amisse But I say that to Satisfie signifieth to confesse to haue don amisse and to aske forgiuenesse Now let vs see whether his coniuratiōs without holy water be not frivolous and how hee discovereth my grossenesse What Calepine saith he did ever deliver such an interpretation Hee vnderhand confesseth that he is well seene in Calepine but we need no Calepine in words that little boies are skilfull enough in Suetonius in Iulius Caesar cap. 73. Valeriū Catullum à quo sibi vesiculis de Mamurra perpetua stigmata imposita non dissimulaverat satisfacientem eadem die admisit cenae And in Tiberius cap. 27. Consularem satisfacientem sibi ac per genua orare conantem ita suffugit vt caderet supinus And in Claudius cap. 38. Ostiensibus graviter correptis cuque cum invidia vt in ordinem se coactum scriberet repente tantū non satisfacientis modo veniam dedit And read Torrentius vpon the first passage where he saith Solebant qui verbis aliquem laeserant Ni◠in te scripsi Bithinice credere non vis iurare iube Malo satisfacere iurare nolle se ea dicta esse atque ita satisfacere This is the sense of the worde in Martial lib. 12. Epigram 79. In Plautus Amphitruo Alemena iniuried by her husband saith thus Aut satisfaciat mihi atque adiuret insuper se nolle esse dicta quae in me insontem protulit Tertullian in his booke de poenitentia saith Satisfactio confessione disponitur Confession And that which hee calleth satisfaction in the same booke he calleth Exomologesis Gehennam exomologesis extinguit But peradventure our Monke wil thinke these latin auctors to bee tainted with heresie or to be incompetent iudges of smal skil in his latin tōgue which now we must learne out of Scot Holcot Bricot or the rule of S. Frances where it is elegantly said Fratres possunt vestimenta repeciare de saccis alijs pecijs cum benedictione Dei It is now therfore meere simplicity in our younger schollers to offer to speake latin in the presence of the Franciscans for that which is said in the tēth chapter of the same rule That friers vnlearned must not care to learne is spokē for that time when ignorance was meritory But because these witnesses be but of smal auctority let vs here Bellarmine in his fourth booke De poenitentia cap. 16. vpō these words of S. Ambrose Ambros Nomine satisfactionis excusationem siue defensionem apertissime designavit lachrimas Petri lego satisfactionem non lego saith that S. Ambrose by this word satisfaction meaneth excuse or defēce no paymēt or redemption then as our frier woulde haue it who to mainetaine his speech produceth such passages of the Scripture as make against him wherein to satisfie signifieth not to pay or redeem He saith that Pilat meaning to satisfie the Iewes delivred
right that beseemeth her which is this treasure composed of the merits satisfactions of her master with the satisfactions of the Saints We answer that the church is indeed a spouse but the spouse of Iesus Christ not of Saints for they also are the spouse It belongeth to God the father of this spouse to Iesus Christ her spouse to endow her and he hath endowed her with celestiall and eternall goods but admit the Saints were bound to endowe the Church must the Pope neverthelesse be treasurer of this endowment it would be dangerous for in his Cannons hee tearmeth himselfe The spouse of the Church And Bellarmin Bell. l. 1. de Pontif. Rom. cap. 9. who writ at Rome with the Popes approbation saith that The Pope is the spouse of the Church etiam Christo secluso even Iesus Christ beeing excluded and set aside The same fire of Helie saith that in the old law they had a treasury in the Temple where vpon he inferreth that the Church of Rome must also haue her treasury composed of the satisfactions of Iesus Christ and his Saints A gallant shift But the Pope who hath sixe and twenty thousande crownes a day to spend hath hee not a treasury of like substance as the temple of Salomon Howbeit vpon Apostolicall simplicity on the day of his coronation he scattereth among the people batocchi bagatini halfe pence and farthings Lib. Cerem sacrarum c. Of the Popes Coronation saying with S. Peter Act. 3.6 Silver gold I haue none but such as I haue I giue thee Let vs consider likewise what entereth into this spirituall treasury Stripes pilgrimages wallets labours and travailes with fasts superaboundant What dreames What husbandry And al this to bee mixed with the merits of Iesus Christ so well must they be accompanied What shall we say of the prodigious tearmes of their pardons amounting even to millions of yeares Yea somtimes with manifest scorne adding to the yeares so many monthes and so many daies as if this people did very exactly calculat with God And that this scorn may the better appeare they grant pardons that giue plenary remission and six thousand yeares to boot See the very words of the book of Roman Indulgences printed at Rome by Iulius Accoltus anno 1570. In the moneth of February vpon Quinquagesima Sunday yee shall haue the stations at S. Peters with plenary Indulgence and 28 thousand years of Indulgence and as many Quarentines Leo Bishop of Rome Leo Papa ep 89. who lived foure hundred yeares after Christ had never learned this Arithmeticke for he saith Pag. 52. 53. let no man prescribe any measure or define any time to the mercy of God To this question the Frier is stil for saith he hee must preach vpon it this next lent The fire of Helie having acknowledged some abuse in the excessiue length of these Indulgences as indeed it is but a newe invention and a testimony howe farre mans spirit will proceed when God hath given it over yet soone after hee vndertaketh their defence and to that ende hee alleageth the sinne of Adam the punishment whereof hath continued aboue fiue thousand yeares This he saith to confound himself For if the Pope neither could neither yet can remit to any this punishmēt which hath continued aboue fiue thousand yeares no nor exempt him any one day therefro how dare he presume without any autority of the Scriptures to exempt soules for some thousands of yeares from a tormēt infinitly more grievous Besides wee haue already shewed that the calamitie and miseries of the world are not punishments for Adams sinne but punishments for that the world ensueth the sinnes of Adam The same doe we say of the Amalekites destroyed foure hundred yeares after their sinnes committed in the wildernesse for albeit God did againe call to mind the offence before committed yet was there no man rooted out that had not well deserued it But to what purpose is all this What resemblance betweene the delaying of a punishment foure hundred yeares and pardons for sixe hundred thousand yeares That which he addeth passeth all absurditie Hee saith that the daughter of the Canaanite was afflicted with a divel in her infancie for the sin of Cham who died three thousand yeares before He ought to haue produced his autor for this so lame a fable By the way let him learne that if C ham died about the time of his brother Sem it was but eighteene hundred yeares or a little more betweene his death and the birth of this daughter of Canaan and thus was hee wide twelue hundred yeares in his calculation Hee farther proceedeth and saith That I mistake if I thinke that this great number of yeares should bee for Purgatory for saith he they are for the pennances enioined by the Confessors or that should haue beene enioined had they observed the severitie of the ancient Cannons c. Wherein he counterfeiteth the ignorant for hee knoweth well enough that in the Church of Rome they doe hold that if any man in his life time hath not satisfied the pennance enioined hee must afterward finish this satisfaction in Purgatory whereof it ensueth that the Pope releasing those pennances doth also exempt from Purgatory him who being by death preverted had no time to accomplish them Moreover if a man should gather togither all the longest penances imposed by the ancient Canons yet doe I think it vnpossible to draw them to amount to the summe of six hundred thousand yeares which is the pardon purchased at Rome in the Church of S. Bibian vpon Alhallon day Surely this so long a tearme doth shew that this pardon is not a release for paines enioined only in this life but also for the paines after this life This doth Bellarmine teach in his first booke of Indulgences Cap. 9. parag Existit Finally hee alleageth Scripture to proue these Indulgences grāted to the dead In the 20. of S. Iohn Pag. 54. Iesus Christ saith to all his Disciples Whatsoever you shall lose vpon earth shall be losed in heauē And then hee leaveth vs to conclude that the Pope may lose vnder the earth and fetch the soules out of Purgatory And other as welfavored In the first to the Corinthians the third Chapter Let a man so thinke of vs as of the ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Then may the Pope giue Indulgences to the dead as who should say Masses for horses are wholsome then is the Pope God vpon earth Yee subtle Doctors that haue passed by the examen of Logick tell me in kindnesse in what figure are these syllogismes but they knowe well enough that these mysteries whereof S. Paul speaketh are the doctrine of the Gospell He addeth that S. Paul 2. Cor. 2. Released that which hee had enioyned to the Incestuous of Corinth To what purpose is al this for papal Indulgences fetching of souls out of Purgatory 1. The incestuous lived these in Purgatory
at libertie because some friend of his hath scourged himselfe or fasted for him 3. Whether the pardons that the Pope giueth without enioining any penance be of any force as also those which he giueth with conditiō to work some wickednesse as in the yeares 1587 and 1588. when hee gaue seven yeares of pardon to every one that would ioine with the holy Vnion that is to say that would rebell against their king yet he a Roman Catholike 4. Againe In as much as these superabundant satisfactions of Saints are gathered together into the Popes treasurie because God will haue nothing lost how haue the superabundant satisfactions of such holy men as died vnder the old Testamēt as Moses Abraham c. beene husbanded be those also in the Popes treasury But where were they laid vp before the Pope had them Did they lie lurking in some corner two or three thousand yeares vntill the Pope gathered them together and found meanes to employ thē It were not amisse also to enquire the reason why the world in the yeare of Iubile maketh such hast to Rome cōsidering that at Rome they may at all times obtaine millions of yeares of Indulgences and full remission of sinnes and some six hundred thousand yeares of plenary pardon Aboue all we would gladly know when a man that needeth ten thousand yeares of pardon doth purchase enough for fiftie thousand yeares what becommeth of the fortie thousand yeares that remaineth Cayer saith that they returne into the treasurie for the good of others but because his companions doe despise disgrace him wee would willingly bee taught by some substantiall Doctor the rather for that at Rome and in one selfe place a man may obtaine besides the plenary pardon certaine thousands of yeares of surplussage To what end may that surplussage serue wil the Pope therewith pardon sins giue Indulgences by provision CAP. 6. That all the passages of holy Scripture by our adversaries quoted for prayer for the dead and for Purgatory are either false or vnprofitable IN all the Premises wee may see that our enimies fight but faintly that they are armed but with strawes against the force of the truth how much lesse shall they be able to do any thing when they shall be quite stripped and that little armour that is left them be cleane taken away This is it which in this Chapter wee will with Gods helpe performe My adversaries therfore whose desire of gaine induceth them to practise Pyrotechny doe heape together stubble good store that is to say simple proofs to kindle this fire of Purgatory Of these proofes some concerne prayer for the dead and some Purgatory some taken out of the old some out of the new Testament we will then without dissimulation propound them all and for my part I will deale with thē with as much equitie and sinceritie as they haue dealt with me with fraud vniustice which consisteth in suppressing my best obiections and corrupting the rest Passages produced by these three Doctors to proue prayer for the dead All that my adversaries doe alleage concerning prayer for the dead is groūded vpon a false principle namely that who so prayeth for a dead body presupposeth that there is a Purgatory but in the last Chapter wee will shew that the prayers for the dead which some of the ancients did vse were even against Purgatorie Here might we dispense for answering hereto the rather for that albeit they should obtaine their desires yet had they gained nothing toward the establishment of their Purgatory Howbeit we will doe them thus much more then right that nowe receaving their principle we wil lay open the falshood and impertinencie of their proofes therevpon 1. Cayers passages p. 24. A falshood Cayer shall haue the credit to march foremost as the most skilfull His words are these It is said Numbers 16. v. 47. 48. that Aaron reconciled the people both the quick and the dead A passage false and by him invented for as well in the Hebrew as in the translations even in the Roman it is thus Aaron standing vpright betweene the dead and the living besought God for the people and the plague ceased 2. In the third book of Kings cap. 8. v. 38. There is a manner of prayer for the dead saith Cayer in these words Every prayer and supplication made by any man for the wound of his heart in the Church it shall be acceptable to God Also in the 33. verse it is said If the people fall before their enimies in praying to God they shal be heard Were not this passage falsified yet shew me one word in it that importeth praying for the dead 3. Againe he saith that in the 57. of Esay the Prophet complaineth that they did not pray for the dead This also is false neither is there any such speech throughout all the Chapter Looke also what wee haue already said in the third Chapter and third Argument 4. He goeth on and saith that in the third Chapter of Baruch it is set downe in expresse words Heare o Lord God the prayer of the dead Israelits and of their children that haue sinned before thee And soone after Remember not the iniquitie of our Fathers First the booke is Apocriphall secondly In these wordes of Israell are comprised all the people of Israell who in those daies through the extremitie of their captivitie misery were as if they lived not as it appeareth in the eleventh verse where it is said Israell is counted with them that go downe to the graue Tearming those dead after the ordinary phrase of the Scripture that are oppressed with affliction and as it were within two inches of death As David in the 88. Psalme albeit aliue counteth himselfe among the dead and those that goe downe to the pit so also in the 18. Psalme v. 5. 6. and in the 116. Psalme v. 3. hee saith that he is environed and surprised with the snares of death and with the bonds of the sepulcher Also in the 18. Psalme v. 19. the faithfull doe desire of God that he would restore them to life as if they had beene dead and already brought to the graue Thirdly to what purpose doth hee come in with a prayer of the dead considering that our question cōcerneth only the prayer of the living for the dead Fourthly as concerning these words Remember not the iniquitie of our fathers hee prayeth that the threats of the lawe which denounce that God will visit the iniquitie of the Fathers vpon the children be not executed vpon them hee therefore prayeth that the sinnes of the fathers be no cause to prolong their captivitie as plainely appeareth in the eight verse Cayer produceth yet another passage out of the second of the Machabes but that you shal find among the passages of the other two 5. The Frier having discharged all his anger vpon M. Calvin and charged that good man with infinit slanders wresting the Interpretion of sundry his
ensuing besides the aforesaid absurdities hath yet this particular that it presupposeth that the Lords praier is said for the dead also If so theÌ„ do we also pray that God would giue them their dayly bread As for bread it is the lesse strange because the fire of Purgatory is sufficient to bake it and sith in the Masse it is said that the soules do sleepe in this fire and rest in a slumber of peace it is like wheÌ„ they awake they haue a good appetite But I cannot comprehende howe this bread may be called Dayly sith there they haue neither day nor sun Hereto let vs adioine the same that our doctors haue confessed That God hath already pardoned those roasted soules from all their offences that he only requireth of them the paines due to the sins already pardoned how can we theÌ„ desire God to forgiue theÌ„ their sins which are already forgiven them A lyer must haue a good memory The last passage for subtiety beareth away the bel Iesus Christ saith the Monk shed his blood for many therefore for the dead What need he to seeke so farre set proofes to proue that which we confesse who denieth but the blood of Iesus Christ was shed for many for al the faithful for all the Saints and Martyrs How impertinent also is this collection that the Frier here maketh out of the ancients to proue that the Lords Supper is a sacrifice What maketh it for Purgatory Sith we grant that it is a sacrifice but as it is said in the Masse A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving neither Propitiatory nor redemptory but by representation because the supper is a commemoratioÌ„ of the death of Iesus Christ the only propitiatorie sacrifice And in regard hereof this sacrifice was alwaies called Eucharistia that is A thaÌ„ksgiving As for the coÌ„memoration of the dead practised by some of the ancients in the supper I wil in the next chapter following proue that it maketh against Purgatorie for therein they also made a commemoration of the Apostles and Martyrs And in this place doth the Frier proue himselfe a most ridiculous flatterer in spreading abroad such Panegericks and praises of Monsieur Duranti one that deserveth commendations out of an honester mans mouth as also of our king who is too wise to thinke that such commeÌ„dations are other then shamelesse beginnings But what is become of those daies when men of his coat went in Procession in armes the pike in one hand the portuise in the other and were the firebrands of publike combustions encouraging the people against their king whilst we as good subiects even such as we will be to the death did shed our blood in his service Of like substance also is the fable that hee patcheth vp of a Masse song in England for the soule of the late Queene and the offerings contributed in her funerall wherevpon in full hope he exclaimeth At length the truth shall rise out of Democritus well you deceaue your selfe good man she rose from thence even in the time of the Apostles and primitiue Church But the divel hath dealt with her as he did with Ioseph when hee came out of the well she hath been sold to strange marchaÌ„ts brought into bondage and put in subiection not as Ioseph was to an Eunuch but to the father of lies marveilous fruitfull 8 This now decided let vs into our way againe In his 19. page hee bringeth in a prayer for the dead taken out of Esay 57.1 2. Cayer also pag. 24 citeth the same place but contrarieth the Frier saying that it is not a prayer for the dead but a lamentation that he maketh because that in those daies in Israel they prayed not for the dead The fire of Helie is content to say only that this passage doth not condemne Purgatory Pag. 66. Thus doe these our masters agree among themselus but in the third Chapter we haue shewed that the Frier falsifieth this place and that the same quite quencheth Purgatory 9 Nowe followeth the passage which all the 3 Doctors make vse of whereof they forme a mightie Bulwarke It is in the 2. of the Machabes the 12. where say they Iudas sent 12 thousand drachmes of silver to Hierusalem to be offered in sacrifice for the dead Hereto we answer 1. They falsifie the place The Frier pag. 10. 2. The book is not Canonicall 3. Were it Canonical yet maketh it nothing for Purgatory 4. They sinne against the naturall principles of the question For we never dispute against any but by the principles and autorities that we receaue Men dispute not with Iewes by the autoritie of the new Testament neither will the Gentils disputing against the Christians produce the testimony of Hesiods Theogony This S. Augustine knowing in his question against Maximine saith in his third booke and 14. Chapter that he will vse the Scriptures non quorumcunque propâ—ijs sed vtrique communibus Not proper to such or to such but coÌ„mon to both Now let vs returne over the three first points First the falsification is proued by reading over the place This it is Iudas sent to Hierusalem the summe of twelue thousand drachmes of silver to offer sacrifises for the sinne hee saith for the sinne not as the Frier saith for the dead Now what these wordes for the sinne doth signifie shall hereafter appeare That the book is not Canonicall we haue infinite proofes 1. First these books are not in the Hebrewe 2. Iesus Christ and his Apostles whoe vpon every occasion did alleage the passages of the old Testament never named any of these bookes neither out of them cited any passage 3. The Autor himselfe cap. 2. v. 19. saith that his purpose is to abridge the fiue bookes of Iason the Cirinean into one booke Now if Iasons bookes were not Canonicall how can the abstract of them be Canonicall If Trogus or Dyon bee prophane bookes how can Iustine or Xiphiline be sacred S. Paule 2. Tim. 3.16 saith All Scripture is given by inspiration of God But what inspiration is it to say the same that another in a prophane booke hath spoken and only to abridge his words What more The Autor doubting whether he had said well toward the ende concludeth thus If I haue said well and as it appertaineth to the history it is as much as I desire Are the motions of the spirit of God so insensible or doubtfull as to leaue the mind in suspense and vncertaine concerning the excellency of such things as it hath suggested a little after hee excuseth the simplicitie of his stile Will God who hath no interest to be beleeued whose naked words doe farre exceed the most polished words of man excuse the poverty of his owne phrase Or shall not hee that made the tongue haue eloquence enough yes for hee inspireth his servants with so much eloquence as he thinketh good neither is it for vs either to distast it or to bring excuses But in the reading of these
no apparance to impute the inventiō of this act to him therefore it were Impudencie to condemne him And this is the place where I meane to gratifie the frier For albeit this booke may as well bee false in this point as it is in the others that I haue laid open yet will I admit this history as a truth Thus it is at large After the battaile Iudas and his men came to gather vp the bodies of the slaine and to burie them but they found vnder their apparel things cōsecrated to the Idols that were at Iannia a matter forbiddē in the law Then had they recourse to praier and intreated that the sin committed might be forgiven and forgottē Iudas therevpon having made a collection sent to Hierusalem twelue thousand drams of silver to offer in sacrifice for the sin hitherto the history That which ensueth is the auctours Iudgement whom we receiue for an historiographer but not for a iudge or doctor in matters of faith In this history then which I pray you is the first word importing praier for the dead Or that concerneth Purgatory Had Iudas offered for the dead he would haue praied for all their sins and not for that sin only and vpon this reason did the Frier falsifie this passage and set in for the dead insteed of for the sinne Iudas therefore prayed that the sin of some might not pull downe the wrath of God vpon all the people as in the like case the sin of Acham had procured the overthrow of all the people of Israell Iosua 7. 10 The frier addeth yet one passage out of Toby forgiving Almes for the dead These saith he are the wordes of Toby Cast thy bread and thy wine vpon the graue of the righteous and beware thou eate not with sinners Toby 4.17 Whereto we saie first the book is Apocriphal al the testimonies produced against the bookes of the Macchabees are in force against the booke of Toby for it is in the same Rancke yea this book hath this in particular that it maketh the angel Raphael a lyer who being demanded by Tobyas who he was answered I am Azarias of the kindred of great Ananias and of thy brethren Yet let vs admit this booke were Canonicall and consider the passage Cast thy bread wine vpō the graues of the righteous then saith the Monke It must needs be there were almes for the dead 1. First this hath no such sequence neither can we hereof frame any good Argument 2. Againe no man denieth but it is good to giue almes for the dead that is to say not only inremēbrance of the dead but also for and insteed of the dead giving to the poore that which the deceased woulde haue given if he had lived but not for fetching his soule out of Purgatory for therof we find not one word in Toby The heathen that prayed not to fetch their dead out of Purgatory yet ceased not from giving almes and making funeral feasts ferales coenas silicernia Yea even among the Israelites there was some such matter not for the redemption of the soule departed but for the Consolation of the survivers as we learne in Ieremy Ierem. 167 Tertull. de Resur carnis c. 5. vnigus defunctos atrocissimè exaurit quos postmodum Gulosissimè nutriunt Qui in memoriis Martyr se inebriant quemodo a nobis approbari possunt c. Cyprianus de duplici Martyrio An non videmus ad Martyrum memorias Christianum a Christiano cogi ad ebrietatem where hee placeth this among the afflictions prepared for the Iewes They shall not stretch out the hands for thē in the mourning to comfort them for the dead neither shall they giue them the cup of Consolation for to drink for their father or for their mother Neither can this custome be reproued in case there be neither excesse nor superstition 3. The Christians in the primitiue Church on the day of the remembrance of the Martyrs tooke their repast neer to the graues and as abuse doth commonly intrude it selfe they many times overdranke themselues and buried their reasons vpon the sepulchers S. Augustin against Faustus the Manichean lib. 20. cap. 21. saith How can wee allow of those that drinke themselues drūken at the memories of the Martyres considering if they should do it in their houses al true doctrine would condemne them Hereby it appeareth that the meats set vpon the sepulchers were not a price or offering to deliver the soules of the dead for they were set vpon the sepulchers of those Martyres for whome the Church of Rome holdes that wee must not pray 4. Consider also I pray you whether this Monke desired to be beleeued and mocketh not himselfe when hee saith that this bread and wine was for those that were destined to weepe for the deceased and to pray for them that they might take some comfort For what a iest is this to buy teares with bread to haue certaine persons destined and affected to weeping thus to bring tears to be an occupation and so of an affliction to erect a trade A course indeed practised by the heathen and by the Iewes imitated yet by Chrysostome cōdemned which also the Prophet Ieremy mocketh saying Call for the mourning women and let them come But what appearance is there that these teares premeditated and hired may bee accepted for a payment and satisfaction to the iustice of God and so enable to redeem a soule out of Purgatory Fire of Helie pag. 12. 13. 11 The same Monke as also the fire of Helie doe inculcate many examples of weeping and fasting for the dead as the teares fastings after the deaths of Saul Ionathan Abner c Yet amōg all these lamentations we find no mention of prayer for the dead or of Purgatory Besides wee haue shewed that Saul died in Gods displeasure that Iacob and Moses were also bewailed who neverthelesse never descended into Purgatory and for such the Church of Rome saith we must not pray Places out of the new Testament for prayers for the dead 12 Now follow the Friers places gathered out of the new Testament to the same purpose The first is page 39. and is taken out of the Gospell of S. Iohn where Martha saith to Iesus Christ Lord if thou haddest beene here my brother had not died Yet doe I now know that what soever thou askest of the father he will giue it thee It is very certaine saith hee that Martha prayed our Lord Iesus Christ to make some prayer for her brother for shee beleeued not that Iesus Christ could of himselfe raise him againe All coniectures All false propositions and yet not without contradiction For if Martha beleeued that God would grāt to Iesus Christ whatsoever hee demanded shee beleeued that Iesus Christ could raise him againe for he could demand it In this place the Frier prates apace and doth imitate Cayer A slander who in the beginning of his booke saith that wee
sonnes of Hynnon to burne their sonnes and daughters Againe They haue built the high places of Baal to burne their sons with fire for burnt offerings vnto Baal It is in the Hebrew Baar which signifieth to burne And this word Holocaust signifieth a sacrifice which they burnt and wholy consumed But because of late they begin to preferre the Roman translation before the Hebrew text that is to say a corrupt translation before the originall a troubled ditch before the cleere spring Let vs produce the same text of the commō translation Aedificaverunt excelsa Baalim ad comburendos filios suos igni in Holocaustum Ierem. 19.5 Immolauerūt filios filias suas daemonijs Likewise in the second of Kings 3. Accipiensque Rex primogenitum suum obtulit holocaustum It is therefore contrary both to the history and to the language to say that the selfe same translation in sundry places turneth lustrare filios for cremare purge for burne Here the Frier hath bethought him of a notable fable fetched out of the bottome of his budget Hee saith that my selfe being reduced to a shamefull silence An Englishman whome I had brought for my Gossip whispered me in the eare and told mee that lustare signified to burne This is a double vntruth for on the one part he maketh as if all the assistants holp him and that I was in a maner alone on the other part there was never an Englishman in the company indeed there was a young Flemming whom I never saw before when the Frier said that Excogitatum commentum signified a Commentary confirmed this explication by the autoritie of Rabelais who said waight of larde with a Comment As for this word lustrare I maintained that it ought to haue beene Cremare to burne also that the translation was false and I suppose I needed not make many protestations vpon a matter so vnworthy the meanest scholler In vaine therefore did hee borrow out of Calepin and from the Iesuits of Tournom those passages where lustrare signifieth to purge Wherein neverthelesse he spitteth nothing but barbarisme and blockishnesse Demost contra Aristocratem ait cum qui aliquem accusavit tactis sacris suovetaurisibus iurare solitum I will therefore read him a lesson therein doing him good for evill Hee alleageth a passage out of the third of Livy Ibi instructum exercitum ove siue tauris tribus lustrauit and then he doth expound it He purified his army by the sacrifice of one sheep or three bulls But had hee had but a cast of antiquitie he might haue heard of a kind of sacrifice frequent among the heathen named Suouetaurilia and he would not haue put Oue siue tauris insteed of Ouesuet auris but this passed the Monks learning and capacitie 11 They also make vse of the first of Samuell cap. 2. in the song of Hannah in these words The Lord killeth and maketh aliue bringeth downe to the graue raiseth vp Now in liew of graue they put hel and this hell if we beleeue the signifieth Purgatory In Hebrew it is Shelo which signifieth the state and condition of the dead the pit the Sepulcher The Roman translation still translateth it hell As in the 140. Psalme Our bones lie scattered along the hell In the Hebrew it is the 141.7 also in the 30 Psalme Thou hast brought my soule out of Hell Iacob also in Genesis saith You shall bring my white haires into hell Againe Psalme 49. They shall be laid in hell or in the sepulcher like sheepe In these such like places who seeth not that the word hell is evill put insteed of death or the graue As for the passage in the song of Hannah the Frier confesseth that the same is meant of tribulatitions but he saith If it be by comparison who euer heard of things don that are not He saith true and therefore this comparison must not bee taken of Purgatory which is not as also the chiefe interpreters of the Romish Church Caietan Lyra and the ordinary Glosse doe not by this passage mean Purgatory S. Augustine in his 17. booke and 17. Chapter of the Cittie of God expoundeth this Canticle at large yet speaketh not one word of Purgatory The Frier speaketh as if it had bin himselfe that produced this Rabbin Read Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 21 cap. 13. One of the Assistants vpon this passage meaning to helpe the Frier produced a Rabbin Isaac Alfeci the Arabian who speaketh of two hels whervnto albeit I could haue answered and proved that that had no communitie with Purgatory yet I thought it better to say That Gods enimies were not to bee iudges in the cause of God That the truth borrowed no weapons of her adversaries that Virgil and Plato had also spoken of Purgatory 12 The Frier saith he hath a whol sea of witnesses hee might haue said a forrest for that would haue serued to kindle Purgatory he thus therefore entereth into this sea the sixt Psalme O Lord rebuke me not in thy rage neither chasten me in thy wrath This rage is hell this wrath Purgatory with a law saith he of satisfaction and chastisement of the faithfull deceased but most severe S. Augustine vpon the sixt Psalme and these words Rage and Wrath saith thus Ego puto vnam rem duobus verbis significatam I think that one thing is signified by these two words As for the purging pains whereof in some places he speaketh in my next Chapter I will shewe that my adversaries do corrupt and wrong him The like we say of S. Hierom. 13 Then followeth an other out of the fourth of Esay The Lord shall wash the filthinesse of the daughters of Sion and purge the blood of Hierusalē out of the middest thereof by the spirit of iudgement and in the spirit of heate This purging and this spirit of iudgement and of heate is Purgatory But note that this purging is made in the midst of Hierusalē There then is Purgatory not vnder the earth not in the rivers not in the yce for it is too hot in Iudea 14 Here cōmeth a braue one out of Malachie the 3. Who may abide the day of his comming and who shall endure when he appeareth For he is like a blowing fire and the fullers sope This blowing fire is Purgatory for in his bible he hath Ignis conflans that is by the explicatiō of this poore doctor a blowing fire What Regent is there that would not whip his scholler for such a grosse fault Learne doctor that Conflare signifieth to forge or bake in the furnace Et curuae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem Surely it is a shame to overcome a man so impertinent 15 In the 7. of Daniel Pag. 37. A fiery streame ran before him This streame is Purgatory why did he forget Gedeons bottels or Sampsons Iaw bone of an Asse for in these things cold he by the subteltie of his brain haue foūd out Purgatory But to let
passe these toies let vs see whether in the newe Testament they can find any proofes more apparant 16 The first passage in the new Testament is in Matthew the 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his brother vnadvisedly shall be punishable by iudgement and whosoever saith to his brother Racha shall bee punishable by a Counsell who so shall say foole shall be punishable by hell fire Here see I never a word of Purgatory Likewise the principall Interpreters of the Romish Church as Lyra Caietan Maldonat and the ordinary Glosse haue otherwise expounded this passage as also S. Hierome S. Chrysostome S. Hillary Theophilact who writ expresse Commentaries vpon Matthew but against all these doth the Frier oppose S. Augustine and saith that in this place he hath found Purgatory in the first booke of the words of our Lord vpon the moūtaine and then he exclaimeth S. Augustine found it Falshood Du Moulin denieth it I had rather finde it with this holy doctour then so much as heare the blasphemy of the deniall from this tiercelet of an hereticke Herevpon I beseech the reader to see the place of S. Augustin wherin in truth this good doctor expoundeth this passage but he speaketh not of Purgatory neither of the torment or purgation of soules separate from the bodies Falshood This Monke alleadgeth also his 31. sermon vpon the words of the Lord wherein this passage is not so much as quoted so farre is it frō being expounded Nay more all the fourth sermon is vpō this passage wherein neverthelesse there is not any speech of Purgatory O frocke how many vntruthes dost thou cover how deerely wilt thou buy this licentious abusing of the people vnlesse God be mercifull vnto thee But the weakenesse of this argument doth appeare in that our doctours do contradict them selues in the expounding thereof Pag. 33. The Monke by hell vnderstandeth Eternall paine Cayer affirmeth that this Gehenna is Purgatory Pag. 21. A cup of theologicall wine to reconcile our doctors The autor of the fire of Helie saith that these three different punishmentes are after this life If Iudgement signifie Purgatory and Gehenna hell what shall become of the punishment by Counsell Vndoubtedly that is our flowred medow or some other part of Purgatory 17 This that followeth is pleasant and proceedeth from the same Evangelist and the same chapter and from S. Luke cap. 12. v. 58. who saith When thou goest with thy adversary to the ruler as thou art on the way labour to bee delivered from him least hee bring thee before the Iudge and the Iudge deliver thee to the Iaylor and the Iaylor cast thee into prison I tell thee thou shalt not depart thence vntill thou hast paid the last penny S. Matthew saith Agree quickly with thy adversary Insteed of these words labor to be soone delivered from him The allegory pleaseth them to say the adversary is the divell the way is the life the Magistrate is God the prison is Purgatory 1. would they haue vs to agree with the Divell or if the divell shall be the executioner who shall be the adverse party Some weening to speake skilfully do say that the adverse party is the lawe but it is worse 2. For S. Luke saith that we must labour to be delivered from this adverse party whiles wee bee on the way with him Are we on the way with the law Or do we go to the Magistrate with it 3. Where shall wee labour to deliver our selues to shake of this yoake Rather should shee alwaies rule and guide vs in this pilgrimage 4. But if the Divel be the Iaylor would they haue the Divell to lead the soules into Purgatorie 5. How dare they say that Purgatory is a prison from whence none shall depart before they haue paid the last penny considering that the Pope fetcheth forth the soules before the tearme of the full satisfaction expired The sense of this passage is cleere Iesus Christ exhortet vs to peace atonement with our neighbors that trouble and molest vs so do all the ancients take it S. Ambrose vppon this place saith that Iesus Christ speaketh De reconcilianda pace dissidentium fratrum of knitting againe of peace betweene disagreeing brethren Maldonat the Iesuit the same S. Hillarie in his comment vpō this place is more expresse Tertul de Anima c. 35 Tertullian in his booke of the soule of the same Theophilact reiecting the allegories expoundeth it thus Etiamsi iniuria affectus fueris ne abeas ad tribunal ne ob potentiam adversarij graviora patiaris Albeit thou hast wrong yet goe not to the Iudiciall seat least it fal out worse with thee through the power of thy adversary S. Hierome S. Chrysostome say the same Tertul. de Anima c. vlt To all this our men be dumbe champe on the bit Only the Frier alleadgeth an heresie of Tertulliā wherin he saith that the last penny implieth the least sinnes which are paid by the delaying of the resurrection And is it our Master friers will that this resurrection be the issue of Purgatory But he malitiously doeth dissemble the wordes of Tertullian ensuing Falshood Hoc etiam paracletus frequentissime commendavit For he vpholdeth this doctrine vnder the auctority of Montanus an Arch-hereticke who nameth himselfe the paraclete holy Ghost The same Frier committeth a notable falshoode in that to defend the explication of this passage he bringeth the auctority of S. Cypriā who throughout all his workes hath not expounded this place besids those words of S. Cyprian which hee hath alleadged he hath wrested and taken in a contrarie sense to kindle Purgatory as in our last Chapter we will proue After all this the frier as writing the Cock to the Asse in liew of answering accuseth vs that we do beleeue that the soules shall not enioy the glory vntill the day of iudgement Falshood which is false most sclanderous for we al do beleeue that the soules of the faithfull departed out of the bodies do enter into the heavenly glory It may be that in some places in the writings of our men some of them may say that they doubt whether the soules in the day of iudgement shal receiue any increase of glory or drawe neerer to the contemplatiō of the face of God not in place but in degree of glory but this is nothing to salvation neither toucheth the purity of faith withall it was the opinion of many of the ancients namely of S. Augustin who vpon Genesis in his twelfth booke cap. 35. saith They see not God as the Angels do see him because they haue still a natural desire to moue their bodies which withhold them c. A reason whereto we wil not subscribe howbeit we see that hee did thinke that after the resurrection the Saints shall haue an encrease of glorie Finally hee accuseth vs of sclandering Pope Iohn the 22. Note the Monk saith Ioh. 22. for 23.
so to omit Pope Iohan. Pag. 35. of being tainted with this heresie wherein he sheweth himselfe a sclanderer in print for how is it possible we should holde that opinion sith we condemne it in others As for Iohn the 22. alias 23. the case is to plaine to be dissembled William Ockam in his worke of 53. daies and Adrian in the question of confirmation doe accuse him to haue held that the souls should not see God before the resurrection Gerson in his sermon of the passeover witnesseth the same and saith that the Divines of Paris with the assistance of Philip the long king of France forced him to vnsay it Neither doth it any whit helpe the Monke to search whether the time quoted by Calvin be free from error for it importeth not whether Gerson lived in the time of the said Iohn or after so long as the matter is true as Bellarmine from whom the Monke borrowed this Arithmeticall disputation doth confesse in his fourth booke De Pontifice Rom. in these words In the behalfe of Adrian I answer that this Iohn did indeed beleeue that the soules shall not see God vntill after the resurrection Iohannem hunc revera sensisse animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectione The autorities of the Fathers that he doth afterward alleage are false and hereafter shall be spoken of 18 They do yet adde one passage more out of the 12 of Matthew v. 32. The fire of Helie Whosoeuer shall speak against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiuen him in this world nor in the world to come This would not Iesus Christ haue spoken say our masters if there were not some sinnes that shall not be forgiven in this world but shall in the world to come and this world to come is Purgatory wherein their memory faileth them for they say that Purgatory was already in the time of Iesus Christ then could not Iesus Christ call it in the world to come But if our mens reply be true that Purgatory is the world to come in regard of every particular living person to whome this punishment is yet to come there shall be by that reason a thousand millions of worlds to come all differing in beginning and in continuance This at the least doth remaine that with Iesus Christ who spake Purgatory could not be the world to come 2. Againe Iesus Christ speaketh of a world wherein sinnes are forgiuen but they say that in Purgatory sinnes are punished and that the pardon for all manner of sinnes is already granted in the life through Iesus Christ only In Purgatory they bear the punishment of the sinnes alreadie pardoned Thus doe they runne themselues on the Pikes as also they answer nothing to the matter And as for the Frier his answers are ridiculous haue no correspondence with that which I haue said The autor of the fire of Helie doth shew by the example of David Achab that the sinner obtaineth mercy by the punishment but hee deceaueth himselfe for it is true as concerning such paines of this life as tend to the amendment of the sinner but not of Purgatory where there is no amendment neither could this haue bin better confuted then by cyting S. Augustine who saith Hie vre hic seca vt in aeternū parcas For he saith Hic not in purgatorio 3. Thirdly what is this world to cōe then Let vs learne it not of these people which transforme all things into matches to kindle their Purgatory but of Iesus Christ himselfe and his word Iesus Christ Luke 20.35 telleth vs that this other world beginneth by the resurrection They saith he that shall bee coūted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection of the dead Neither must we think it strange that it is said that in that day sinnes shall be forgiuen 2. Tim. 1.18 1. Sith S. Paule desireth that God would shewe mercy to the house of one Sephorus in that day which is as much as to pardon the sinnes 2. S. Peter also Act. 3.19.20 saith that in that day our sinnes shal be blotted out Amend your liues that your sinnes may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and that hee shall haue sent Iesus Christ who was before preached vnto you 3. Rom. 8.23 Luk. 21.28 For as the holy Scripture calleth that day the day of our redemption and adoption because that then it shall bee fully revealed and consummate so the same day vpon the same reasons may be called the day of remission of our sinnes And some sinnes there be which albeit by the iudgement of the Church they may be pardoned in this life yet they shall not bee pardoned in the last day such is the sinne against the holy Ghost To all this our adversaries are as dumbe as a fish and endeavor by a great heap of the Fathers to proue that sinnes are also forgiuen in the world to come but to what purpose sith we doe grant it Shall this people be suffered to pervert our words turne our speech contrary to that which wee beleeue They beat the aire and lose their blows and our Monke sclandereth mee saying that I call the fathers our adversaries Sclander but where did I so 19 The passage wherevpon they doe most insist is taken out of the first to the Corinth cap. 3. where S. Paule saith Other foundation can no man laie thē that which is laid which is Iesus Christ If any man build vpon this foundation gold siluer precious stones timber hay stubble every mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is If the worke of any that hath built therevpō doe abide he shall receaue waies If any mās worke burne he shall lose but hee shall bee safe himselfe howbeit as by fire For fire say my men is Purgatory wherein the workes are tried by fire for it is said If any mans worke burne and againe Hee shall be saued but as it were by fire Al this is full of impossibilities and absurdities 1. First an article of faith must not bee grounded vpon allegories saith S. Hierom on Mat. lib. 2. Nunque Parobolae du bia aenigmatum intelligentia potest ad autoritatem dogmatum proficere so saith Tertullian also But albeit S. Paul who by revelation receaved the sence of the Scriptures did sometime vse the Allegorie as in the fourth to the Galathians it followeth not that it is to be permitted to every newe commer much lesse to men that plead for their owne profit Besides the selfe same thing that S. Paule teacheth by Allegories is elsewhere proued by evident demonstrations Ierem. 30. Heb. 12.9 But these men produce no manifest passage where it is said that after this life there is a place wherein the soules of such as haue not satisfied to the full
deceaue himselfe for there are but two places and no third He that hath not deserued to raign with Christ shall no doubt perish with the divell In his booke of the deserts of sinne and of the forgiuenesse of the same cap. 28. There is no middle place and therefore hee that dwelleth not with Iesus Christ cannot abide any where but with the divell Our adversaries say that S. Augustine speaketh of eternall places and acknowledgeth but two wherin they doe diversly deceaue vs. 1. Read the passages and you shall see that hee speaketh in generall of all the places whatsoever 2. Had he known of any place of temporall punishment when hee so often said that there were but two and no third at all hee would surely haue added some restriction as that he meant not to exclude Purgatory and the places of temporall torment but spake this only of the eternall places 3. Which is more wee see by these passages that he excludeth the childrēs Limbo which cannot bee eternall for the Church of Rome placeth it vnder the earth which also cannot be eternal but according to the Scriptures must perish 4. But what an absurditie is it to say that he speaketh but of the eternall places For that is it that we maintaine neither could he speak but of these two eternall habitations Heaven and Hell because there is no other 5. Finally wee haue alleaged such passages as can in no sort admit this distinction as where he saith that instantly after death they are carried either into Paradice or into Hell But let vs againe heare the same Father In quo quecunque inuenerit suus novissimus dies in hoc cum comprehendet mundi novissimus dies quia qualis in die isto quisque moritur talis iudicatur In his 80. Epistle which is to Hesichius In like estate as the last day of mans life shall find him in like estate also shall the last day of the world take hold of him for such as a man shall die in that day such shall he bee iudged in the last day Cōferre this with that which our adversaries doe say and represent to your selues a man that dieth loaden with many sins for the which hee must be a long time tormented and purged in Purgatory at the end of which Purgation he shall come forth purged and cleansed Surely I say that the soule of such a one cannot in the day of iudgement appeare such as shee came forth of his body for say our men she came forth vncleane and in need of purging but now she is represented cleane and purged in the day of iudgement so this saying must be false Qualis moritur talis in die illo iudicatur Such as hee dieth such shall he be iudged in the day of iudgement Himselfe in the 9. booke of his confessions cap. 3. saith that his friend Nebrides deceased liveth in Abrahams bosome sine fine foelix for ever happy Againe in the fifth of his 50. homilies Let vs be at one with the word of God while we are in this life Posteaquam de hoc saeculo transierimus nulla cōpunctio vel satisfactio remanebit Index restat minister carcer for when wee are gon out of this world there shall bee no more compunction or satisfaction there remaineth no more but the Iudge the serieant and the prison But Purgatory is the principall and grievous satisfaction of the church of Rome After this life there is no satisfaction saith S. Augustine then no Purgatory This is also to be noted that this good Doctor saith this in his exposition vpon that passage of Matthewe which our adversaries doe make most vse of for their Purgatory Agree with thy adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him least thy adversary deliver thee to the Iudge c. It is much to be marvailed that throughout all this homely he speaketh not of Purgatory but how much more is it that evē there he overthroweth it Himselfe in his 37. sermon vpon the wordes of the Lord wresteth frō our adversaries their chiefest principle which is the sole foundation of Purgatory That Iesus Christ hath indeed discharged acquitted vs frō the fault but not from the punishment But he saith Suscipiendo paenam nō suscipiendo culpam culpam delevit poenā Iesus Christ taking vpō him the punishmēt but not the fault hath there by blotted out both the faulte and the punishment And this after Tertullian in the fourth Chapter of his book of baptisme Exempto reatu eximitur poena Now all these sentences of the doctor should be taken for so many resolutiōs vpon a doubt that somtimes had troubled him Whether after this life there were any temporall torment and a purging fire In his manual to Laurentius cap. 68. he saith that this fire which tryeth everie mans worke and is spoken of by S. Paule 1. Cor. 3. is the triall of affliction he saith it is in this life In the next chapter following Tale aliquid post hanc vitā fieri incredibile non est vtrum sit queri potest c. continuing the same argument he saith It is not altogither incredible but that some such matter may happē after this life and a man may doubt or enquire whether it be so whether it may be found or whether it bee a matter hidden that some faithfull haue beene saved by some purging fire either sooner or later according as they haue more or lesse loved the transitorie goods Againe in his first question of his booke of Dulitius 8. questions Be it that men do suffer such afflictiōs only in this life Sive etiam post hanc vitā talia quaedam iudicia subsequūtur non abborret quantum arbitror à ratione veritatis or that some such punishments may follow after this life it is not a matter as I thinke altogither estranged frō apparance of truth thus to vnderstand this sentence In this 26. Chapt. of his 21. book of the citty of God hee is yet in greater doubt having doubted whether mē are to suffer a fire of transitory tribulations whether there only that is to say after this life or both here and there or here to the end not there he lastly concludeth without conclusion I do not reproue it for peradventure it may be true As for some other passages wherein hee seemeth to speake for Purgatory wee will come to them hereafter Tertullian is so farre from beleeving that the souls after their departure out of their bodies are sent into any temporall fire that hee doth even thinke that the soule cannot suffer any torment so long as it is separate frō the body Neque pati quicquam potest anima sola sine stabili materia id est carne Testes nobis sunt Evangelii dives pouper quorum vnum angeli in sedibus beatarum in Abrahae sinu locaverunt alium statim poenae regio suscepit
booke of Purgatory cap. 9. alleadgeth this place and falsifieth it both in the words and in the sense He saith that S. Hierom speaketh of the vnbinding of the soule that is made by speculation not of the transporting of the soule in her substance but by imagination and to set the greater shew vpon this glosse and contemplation hee omitteth these words propter tenuitatē substātiae which do proue that S. Hierom spake of the trāsport of the soule in her substance with all that contemplation doeth not deliver the soule from the body neither necessarily trāsporteth her into Paradice or into hell for Contemplation hath infinite other obiects Can. in praesenti In the decrees of the Romish Church Causs 13. Quest 2 there is a Canon taken out of S. Hierom and these be the words In this present world we know that we may helpe one another either by praier or by Councell but when we shall come before the tribunall seat of Christ neither Iob nor Daniell nor Noah can pray for any but every one shal bear his owne burden But the decree hath clowted on a taile and saith that S. Hierom spake of the impenitent But how can that be For S. Hierom putteth himselfe in the number saying But when wee shall come Gregory Nazianzen in the Epitaph of his brother Caesarius saith I beleeue the words of the wise namely that every honest soule that loueth God when it is delivered from this body that is tyed thereto and is departed away IMMEDIATLY it is admitted to the fruition and contemplation of that good that attend it and doth reioice in admirable pleasure Vpon this principle doeth hee ground his stedfast perswasion that his brother is already blessed Now was he neither Martyr nor Saint nor otherwise qualified then the ordinary of the faithfull The like he speaketh in the Epitaph of his sister Gorgonia S. Ambrose hath written an excellent treatise of the benefite of death De bono mortis Vt corpus resolvatur acquiescat anima autem cōvertatur in requiem suā which is no other but a refutation of the Purgatory of the Romish Church And it is to bee noted that he speaketh of the death of all the faithfull but omitteth the Saints and Martyres more priviledged by God In this third Chapter he doth thus define death Death is a separation of the soule from the body Then he addeth Now what doth this separation saving that the body dissolveth and resteth but the soule is set in quiet and free who if shee be faithfull shall be with Christ In the fourth Chapter he saith that Death is a haven after a storme and that shee reserveth vs to iudgement such as shee founde vs and addeth that by her Transitura corruptione ad incorruptionem à mortalìtate ad immortalitatem à perturbatione ad tranquillitatē We passe from corruptiō to incorruption from mortalitie to immortalitie from trouble to rest Againe in the 7. Requies post labores finis malorum Mors stipendiorum plenitudo summa mercedis gratia missionis Chapter The foole doth feare death as the soveraigne evill the wise man doth desire it as a rest after labour and the ende of all calamities In the same place Death is the fulnesse of wages the sum of rewards the favour or grant of dispensation or license In the tenth Chapter he mocketh such as thinke that the habitation of soules is vpon earth and saith Animarū superiora esse habitacula scripturae testimonijs varijs probatur It appeareth by many testimonies of the scriptures that the habitation of the soules is aboue In the last Chapter speaking of himselfe and of al that beleeue in Iesus Christ hee saith Intrepide ad Abrahamū patrem nostrum cum Dies advenerit proficisca mur intrepide pergamus ad illum sanctorum coetū c. When that day shall come let vs goe boldly to Abraham our father to the assembly of Saints and congregation of the righteous for wee shall goe to our fathers to the schoolemasters of our faith to the ende that albeit our workes faile vs yet faith may succour vs and the inheritance be kept for vs. And to the ende no man should thinke that he speaketh only of the most holy and perfect he saith Etiamsi opera desint albeit workes faile vs and soone after he saith that it doth appertaine to all the beleevers in God and that When the day of death shall come to the end the Popes factors should not put of that day to the issue out of Purgatory Also that our adversaries may no longer shrowd themselues vnder this passage in the 12. of Matthew Blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiuen neither in this world nor in the world to come he saith in the second Chapter of the same booke Qui hic non acceperit remissionem peccatorum illic non erit Hee that will not here receaue remission of sinnes shall not bee there S. Chrysostome hom 75. in Matth. If we now doe not that we should when wee come there we shall haue no meanes to satisfie Againe hom 22. ad populum Antiochenum Read the Scriptures of our Saviour and learne that none can helpe vs when we depart hence Also in his 2. hom vpon Lazarus Pay all here that without trouble thou maist come to that tribunall seat while we are here we haue great hope but so soone as wee are departed to goe thether it remaineth no longer in our power to doe pennance or to blot out or amend that we haue done amisse Hereto Bellarmine answereth that Chrysostome speaketh of the remission of mortal sinnes which no man saith are remitted in Purgatory And all this is false for Chrysostom speaketh of all sinnes and in any of all these places never maketh distinction betweene mortall and veniall sinnes indeed hee speaketh of the wicked rich man who was not punished for one sinne only but for all his sinnes withall that our adversaries do hold that in Purgatory they may beare the punishment for mortall sinnes but that by the mercy of God of eternall they be made tēporall Yea they proceed so far as to limit the time of this punishment namely seaven yeares for every sinne as wee shewed in the first Chapter Likewise vpon the 23. of Matthew hom 25. hee saith that pennance after death is as vnprofitable as the Phisitian who after death can doe no good The same he saith vpon the first of Genes hom 5. Also vpon the fourth to the Romans hom 8. Where there is grace there is forgiuenesse where there is forgiuenesse there is no punishment Now punishment being taken away and righteousnesse through faith granted nothing may hinder vs but that we shall be made heires of this promise which is by faith Himselfe vpon Matth. hom 32. asketh of the parents of the deceased these questions Wherefore after the death of thy friends dost thou call them poore Why dost thou desire the Priest to pray for them
his word cleere the peoples minds from all doubts or difficulties withal cut of the pathes that lead to this trafficke How vniustly the Frier and his fellowes doe make vse of the example of the primitiue Church in matter of Indulgences In the times of persecutions the primitiue Church sought all meanes possible to honour martyrdome and to encourage the Christians thereto Amōg other meanes they had taken vp a custome that such as for any notorious offence were cut of from the Church for some long time did resort to the prisons wherein such as suffered for the gospel were detained there besought these Martyres to make intercession to the Church that the time of their pennance and excommunication might be abridged and thus did the Bishops vse at the intercessions of these prisoners appointed to martyrdome to readmit the penitent into the Congregation S. Cyprian in his sermon of the fallen also in the second Epistle of his fourth booke and Tertullian in his booke De pudicitia doe disallow this custome thinke thay they yeeld too much to these imprisoned Martyrs Yea Tertullian speaketh thereof in his book of the Martyrs cap. 1. Our adversaries like the Israelites that gathered straw vnder the bondage of Pharao for want of more substantiall proofes doe make vse of this custome in their establishing of the Popes Indulgences and in the distribution of the overplus workes and superabundant satisfactions of the Saints collected into the Popes treasurie and converted into paimentes for others Tertullian calleth thē appointed Martyrs wherein I suppose they haue no intent that men should beleeue them so farre from all apparance doe they speake 1. These Martyrs that S. Cyprian spak of were yet aliue those that our adversaries spake of are dead 2. Wee cannot finde that ever the paine of any sinner was abridged by the merits and superabundant sufferings of these Martyres who would never haue vndergon those torments had they not beleeved that God called them thereto and consequently that they were bound to endure them so it followeth that they neither did nor suffered any thing supererogatory for they could not doe otherwise vnlesse they would haue denied the Gospell 3. These imprisoned Martyrs commended to the Church this or that penitent and besought that they might be receaued into the Communion but they neither paid for them nor redeemed them as our adversaries doe say that the Saints by their sufferings are in some sort our redeemers 4. These Martyrs entreated only that the sinner might bee admitted to the Communion not that he might be exempt from Purgatory 5. In those daies there was no speech of this worthie treasure of the Church composed of the superabundant satisfactions of Iesus Christ and his Saints 6. Every Bishop imposed or abridged the pains or excommunications in his owne flocke without expecting either advice or buls from the Bishop of Rome 7. In those daies men knew not the meaning of pardons hanged vpon certain Churches by his holinesse autoritie O what a goodly sight it would haue beene in those daies to haue seene such buls set vp and fixed vpon the Church dores or some one that might haue instructed the people in this new Gospell namely that his Papall holinesse having in his treasury all the superabundant satisfactions of Iesus Christ his Saints doth giue ten thousande or fiftie thousande yeares of plenary pardon and as many quarentines with the third of all their sinnes or even full Indulgence to every one that shall say a stinted number of Paters or Avees or his rosary or beads or weare or kisse some halowed grains or contribute some peece of mony or that shall ioine himselfe to the fraternitie of the Corde likewise that such a stinted number of Masses said vpon a certaine priviledged altar shal fetch out of Purgatory any one soule even such a one as he shall chuse that must pay for it also that such venerable pardons are to be purchased in such a Church vpon such a day even vntill sun set besides that he that shall buy these pardōs may chuse him a ghostly father such a one as in the houre of death shall absolue him from all his sinnes both frō the paine and from the fault Surely I say if any man in the primitiue Church should shaue preached so prodigious a doctrine even the little children would haue hissed after him or the Phisitians would haue felt his pulse so to haue learned the cause of his frensey and to purge his hypochondriall humour for as yet it was not the custome to burne any man for heresie Now in our enterview the Frier alleaged vnto me this intercession of the Martyrs for the penitent to defend papall Indulgences I answered that that intercession had no resemblance with the Popes Indulgences besides that that custome did Tertullian condemne Then did he take me vp in a most impudent manner saying that I was deceaued also that I tooke Tertullian for S. Cyprian but I told him that both the one and the other condemned this custome howbeit wee wanted bookes to satisfie the assistants vpon this point This did not the Frier forget in his booke and therefore marke his words pag. 12. The Minister should remember what a Novice be shewd himselfe in the reading of the fathers how hee mistooke himselfe in citing them quoting Tertullian for S. Cyprian But let him nowe learne that which he yet knewe not so confesse himselfe to be the Novice Tertullian in his book de Pudicitia cap. 22 complaineth of this custome at large even so farre forth as to say That diverse procured their own imprisonment that so they might be Intercessors for some of their friends or that they might commit folly with women detained in the same prison Violantur viri feminae in tenebris plane ex vsu libidinum notis Et pacem ab his quaerunt paenitentes qui de sua periclitantur In the end hee concludeth thus Sufficiat Martyri propria delicta purgasse Ingrati vel superbi est in alios quoque spargere quod pro magno fuerit consequutus Quis alienam mortem sua soluit nisi solus Dei filius c. that is to say Let it suffise the Martyr that hee hath purged his owne sinnes It is the part of an vnthankfull and proud person to seeke to impart to others that which hath beene granted to himselfe for a great grace What man did ever by his owne death satisfie for anothers death but the only sonne of God In al this appeareth both the Monks ignorance in commō matters as also his assurāce in speaking that which he knoweth not besides his childish waunting of prevailing in so slight a cause For had I named Tertullian for Cyprian can the weakenesse of my braine amend his cause but it is memory that fayleth him or rather knowledge but especially conscience Note in the meane time how well these Indulgences are vnderpropped with antiquitie for my adversaries in