A REMEMBRANCE FOR THE LIVING TO Pray for the Dead Made by a Father of the Soc. of Iesus By the Prayers of the Holy Cath. Church the wholesome Sacrifice of the Altar by Almes giuen for their Soules it is not to be doubted but the DEAD are holpen that they may be dealt withall more mercifully by our Lord then their Sinnes haue deserued S. August Serm. 32. de verb. Apost tom 10. Permissu Superiorum Anno 1641. TO THE Deuout and Charitable READER LORD sayth holy Dauid Psal 8. What is mā that thou art mindfull of him The Hebrew word Enosch which Dauid in this place vseth to signify Man doth most properly signify a most miserable forgetfull Creature So that in the language of Scripture a Man a Creature most miserable and most forgetfull is all one This forgetfulnes is chiefly in things of the other life which though they be neuer so important neuer so much inculcated yet they find either no place at all or the very least last in our thoghts I did not therefore without particular reason entitle this briefe Treatise A Remembrance for the liuing to pray for the dead for I thinke deare Reader that if thou hast the hart of a Man and not a stone in place of a hart that this Remembrance will stir thee vp to affoard farre more assistance to these distressed Soules in Purgatory then thou didst vse to doe meerly for want of due Remembrance Reflection and Consideration of this matter I haue in this Treatise made much vse of a litle Book lately set forth in Latin of the same subiect for I found in it diuers points briefly touched which seemed to me most worthy of longer Consideration I haue done my best to obserue that method and vse that plainesse of style which might most help my Reader to carry away my whole discourse Sweet IESV who didst loue all Soules so dearly that thou didst powre out the last droppe of thy sacred bloud for them graunt I beseech thee euen by this excesse of thy Charity that we may not be so vncharitable to those very Soules whom thou didst loue so tenderly as to neglect their complaints to slight their sufferings and to leaue them without due assistance in their miseries A Remembrance for the Liuing to pray for the Dead The Preface BEsides many who erroneously think there is no such matter is a Purgatory and consequently that it is a vaine thing to pray for the dead there be many who either for want of sufficient instruction in that which they belieue or by inconsideratiō of what they belieue do passe ouer this important busines of praying for the dead so coldly as that they think they do inough to help their owne ye a Christs owne Brother if they do but say God rest his soule which is a most vnmercifull manner of proceeding For if we saw our litle Brother falne into the fier we should neuer be so hard-harted as to see him broile there and perswade our selues it were charity inough to throw a little drop of water into the fier somewhat to asswage his torments And so I know not how it comes to passe that many flatter themselues with the name of good-natur'd kind-harted Creatures who notwithstanding take so litle to hart this extreme necessity of their Brethrē that their thoughts are busied about nothing lesse then relieuing them The intention therefore of this presēt Treatise is first though very briefly to rectify the vnderstanding of those who thinke and belieue amisse of Purgatory Secōdly more at large to stirre vp in the will of all faithfull belieuers an ardent desire to redresse the vnspeakable miseries of these distressed Soules CHAP. I. PVRGATORY proued by all kind of sacred Authority 1. FIrst I must put my Reader in mind that it commeth all to one to proue that Prayers do profit the Dead to proue a Purgatory for prayers can neyther profit those dead who are in Heauen nor those dead who are in Hell and are past our help Those dead then who can receaue profit by our Prayers must neyther be in Heauen nor in Hell but in a third place which we call Purgatory where being detayned to suffer for their sinnes not fully satisfied for do stand in need of the help of their liuing brethren To pray for these soules we hould it Piety Impiety to deny them this reliefe 2. This we prooue first by the authority of the old Testament In the second Booke of the Machabees Cap. 12. it is recorded how the most pious and valiant Judas Machabaeus hauing to this end made a gathering of twelue thousand drachmes of siluer did send this mony to Jerusalem That sacrifice might be offered for the sins of the dead And this Scripture addeth A holy therfore wholsome thought it is to pray for the dead that they may be freed from their sinnes Hence it is cleare that the Iewes did hold prayer for the dead consequently a Purgatory seeing that they did all contribute for the making vp of this great summe of money to procure that sacrifice might be offered for the sins of the dead And this pious custome of praying for the departed is vntill this very day kept and obserued by the Iewes Lastly chiefly this custome is recommended by Scripture as holy wholsome 3. The Protestāt wil perhaps say that these two Books of the Machabees be not Canonical Scripture I answere that a thousand and almost three hundred yeares ago these books were defined to be canonicall by the Councell of Carthage in which S. Austin himselfe being present did subscribe to this definitiō of the Councell The words of the Councel can 47. are The Canonicall Scriptures be these Genesis Exodus c. the 2. Books of the Machabees And S. Austin saith l. 18. de Ciuit. c. 36. The Books of the Machabees not by the Iewes but by the Church are held for Canonicall And S. Hierome in Prolog Although the books of the Machabees be not in the Canon of the Iewes yet by the Church they are reckoned among the historyes of diuine volumes If therefore we wil receiue the Canon of Scripture from the Church our question is at an end if we will not we may make questions without end So we see Luther himselfe calleth into question the authority of the Apocalyps saith in Praefat noui Testam that he esteemeth this booke neyther written with a Propheticall nor Apostolicall spirit yet our Gospellers who are so well skilled in the spirit scarce esteeme more any one booke of scripture But by the way I would aske of them how if the Apocalyps be true Scripture Luther can be a true Saint For in the end of the Apocalyps cap. 22. it is said If any man shall diminish from the words of the booke of this Prophecy God shall take away his part from the booke of life But Luther tooke away all the words of this Prophecy saying it was not
written with a propheticall spirit Ergo God shall take away his part from the booke of life So dangerous a thing it is to discard Scripture 4. Secondly I answer that no Protestāt can deny these books of the Machabees to be at least of farre greater authority thē be the writings of any profane Author in the world and that far more credit is to be giuen to the writer of them then ought to be giuen to any man that euer did or shal write history For you your selues giue these Books a place in your Bibles which honour you would deny to the faithfullest history-writers in the world Neither can you deny but that there may well be made a doubt whether these books be the word of God or no seing we haue brought so great proofes to proue that they are Gods Word Well then say I if credit be to be giuen to any history that euer was written much more is it to be giuen to this It is therfore true that Judas Machabaeus who was then high Priest and the chiefe man amongst Gods onely people did cause this great summe of money to be gathered and sent to Hierusalem that Sacrifice might be offered for the sins of the dead It is true that the people and the onely people of God did contribute money very liberally to this end It is also questionles true that the Priests of Hierusalem hauing receaued this money did offer Sacrifice for the sins of the dead And it is most true that the ancient and most graue writer of this history doth commend it as a thing Holy and Wholsome to pray for the dead that they may be freed frō their sins And all this by the Coūcell of Carthage by the whole Church of God in her purest age as S. Austin and S. Hierome do witnes was held so true that they belieued it to be Scripture Shall we thinke that both the Church of the Iewes which then was the only true Church in the world and of the primitiue Christians the purest Church that euer Christ had did so generally maintaine an Errour fond superstitious as Protestāts call Prayer for the dead 5. As for the new Testament I shal haue a necessary occasion in the next Chapter to cite many places therefore now I will content my selfe with this one S. Paul writing to the Corinthians brings this argument to prooue the Resurrection What will they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead do not rise at all to what end are they baptized for thē 1. Cor. 15. As if he would say to what end do men do pennance for the dead If there be no resurrection why do they do pennance for them This and no other can be the sense of these words For what other Baptisme but the Baptisme of pennance so S. Marke S. Luke do call it can with profit be taken for the dead And heere S. Paul taketh his argument frō that which is profitably done for the dead for els whē he presseth so hoatly those words To what end are they baptized for them one mighty easily answere to no end This much for Scripture 6. That the Apostles did ordaine Prayer to help the soules of the dead is taught in playne words by S. Chrysostome Jt was not rashly ordained by the Apostles that in the dreadfull mysteryes Commemoration should be made of the dead for they knew that from thence there commeth to the dead much gaine profit Hom. 69. ad pop 7. But if we would wish an euidēt proofe that the Apostles did ordaine Prayer for the dead to the end they might be freed frō their sins what proofe could we haue greater then to haue this written by some Disciple of the Apostles themselues This you shall see how abundantly it is performed The Scripture telleth vs that among the true Belieuers who did cleaue vnto S. Paul Denis the Areopagite was one Act. 17. The same S. Denis spendeth the whole seauēth Chapter of his booke de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia in telling vs such things Quae diuino instituto super sanctè quiescentibus fiunt as by diuine ordination are done ouer those who haue reposed holily And amōg others this is one that Venerabilis Praesul precem super eo sacratissimam peragit the venerable prelate doth say ouer the dead party a most holy prayer And afterwards he tels vs the contents of this most holy prayer Precatur oratio illa diuinam Clementiam vt cuncta dimittat per infirmitatem humanā admissa peccata defuncto That prayer doth beseech the diuine Clemency that he would pardon vnto the dead man his sins committed through humane frailty Thus writeth this great disciple of S. Paul Is it prudence to belieue him or no Did the prime disciples of the Apostles vse superstition 8. I come now to the authority of the whole Church in her purest age The Councell of Carthage of which I spake before not onely approueth the Books of the Machabees for true Scripture but by name imbraceth prayer for the dead In the first councell of Nice l. 3. c. 65. it was ordained That when a Bishop died notice should be giuen of his death to all Churches and Monasteryes in the parish that prayer might be made for him But who can tell vs better the vniuersall custome of the Church then the greatest doctour of the Church who did see with his eyes that which he wrote with his pen therfore although he were a man and might erre in other things yet of this which he did see shine before his eyes he could not be ignorant and it cannot but be imprudence not to belieue him for els whom may we prudently belieue S. Austin then writeth thus l. de cura pro mort c. 1. We read in the books of Machabees sacrifice offered for the dead but although it were no where at all read in the old Testament yet notwithstanding the authority of the vniuersall Church is not small which shineth with this custome where the remembrance of the dead hath place in the prayers of the Priest which are powred out to our Lord God at the Aultar Heere you see first the Machabees accoūted part of the old Testamēt Secondly that although sacrifice for the dead were not Scripture yet being practised by the whole Church we haue sufficient warrant to thinke it well done Thirdly that the vniuersall Church did shine with this custome of offering sacrifice for the dead Let vs graūt that S. Austin as a man might erre in the two first points yet in this third that the Church did shine in his dayes with this custome of sacrificing for the dead he could not be ignorāt no more then the greatest Doctor of Oxford or Cambridge can be ignorant that in England seruice is said in the English tōgue Wherfore I say it must needs be imprudence not to belieue him who ought in prudence as much to be belieued as any man ought to be in a thing which he
did with an admirable affection giue all and euery of her actions wholy vnto the soules in Purgatory not reseruing for herselfe the least fruit of her satisfactions Cōming therfore to dy she began not a litle to be afflicted in mind for feare least that hauing many sinnes to satisfy for and hauing left herself destitute of all her satisfactory workes she might be lyable to grieuous punishments But Christ himselfe did vouchsafe to comfort her with these words That thou mayst vnderstand how gratefull that charity of thine hath bin vnto me which thou didst shew towards the soules I do euen now forgiue thee all those paines which thou shouldest haue suffered And J who for one haue promised a hundredfold will now shew my liberality and I will heap vp glory vpon thee 7. This comfort may they expect who haue shewed the like mercy towards the soules of their brethren but those who haue slighted this deuotiō as superstitious or fit only for old wiues may iustly feare to haue those dreadfull words spoken vnto them Justice without mercy to him who hath not done mercy Iac. 2. CHAP. XII That it is not against charity to our selues to offer our Actions for the soules in Purgatory but it is rather against it not to offer them 1. THE common and the only obiectiō which any Catholike can make against this liberality towards the soules in Purgatory is this That though our prayers or other good works offered vp to God for the soules in Purgatory be equally or rather more both meritorious and impetratory then otherwise they wold haue bin yet it cannot be denyed but that they do not satisfy for our owne sinnes which seing that they be many and great the paines due vnto them wil be excessiue and therfore if our Charity were well ordered we would not so forget our selues as to leaue our selues in this manner depriued of those satisfactions for want of which we shal be lyable to these torments which be so very terrible This obiection I haue differred to this place because now the answers vnto it out of that which hath bin sayd will be most cleare 2. I answer then first that though we did become lyable to these greater paines yet they were not so much to be esteemed as a fleabyte for gaining of a kingdom if by this our Charity towards the soules we might increase as we do most highly increase the crowne of our eternall glory See Chap. 8. I answere secondly that by the gaining of Indulgences we may preuent this pretended incommodity as we shall proue at large in the 14. Chapter 3. Thirdly I giue this direct and cleare answer that though by the works we do for the soules we do satisfy only for their and not at all for our owne sinnes yet by that rare act of Charity by which we giue these works away vnto them we do satisfy in a most high degree as hath bin proued in the 10. Chapter yea in a degree so high that by this satisfaction other helps as we did demonstrate in the last Chapter we haue great hope of escaping either all or greatest part of Purgatory 4. To conclude this Chapter in a word it is nothing against well-ordered Charity towards our selues to help these soules as much as we can but it needs must be against perfection of this Charity not to assist them to our full power for that we loose the merit of so rare a charity and the losse of this merit is a losse of the perfecter sight of God for euer If we loue either God or our selues this will moue vs. CHAP. XIII By what meanes we may help the soules in Purgatory 1. IF God hath done vs the fauor to soften our harts we shall not now desire any new motiues but rather seeke by what meanes we may chiefly relieue these poore soules For those who are thus disposed we will declare what is to be done in this matter 2. That which in the first place ought to be recommended is that if they will indeed benefit either their owne soules or satisfy for the souls of their neighbours they must put themselues in the state of grace for a dead member can neither help the body of which it is a member nor any body els And S. Paul sayth 1. Cor. 13. Although I should distribute al my goods although I should deliuer vp my body to burne yet if I should not haue charity it profiteth nothing This supposed 3. The ordinary meanes of relieuing the dead be these Prayer fasting almesdeeds As for prayer for the dead it is a thing instituted by the Apostles themselues as we proued in the first Chapter and so esteemed by the holy Church that at the end of euery houre of diuine office she teacheth vs to pray that the soules of the faythful may rest in peace for she wold not haue vs pray at any houre without remembring these afflicted soules in our Prayers It would make one wonder to see with what affection S. Austin in the two last Chapters of his ninth booke of his Confessions doth pray for the soule of his dead Mother not content with his owne prayers he doth earnestly craue and beg the prayers of all in these fiery wordes Inspire O Lord inspire into thy seruants that as many as shall read these things may be mindfull at thy Altar of Monica thy seruant that that which she dïd last of all request of me may be the more plentifully performed by the prayers of many 4. But among all kind of prayers there is none comparable to the oblation of the dreadfull Sacrifice of the Masse for in this Sacrifice the self-same Christ is offered in an vnbloudy manner vpon the altar who was offered in a bloudy manner vpon the crosse So sayth S. Ambrose in Hebr. 10. We offer alwayes one and the same Sacrifice and not one Lambe to morrow and another to day but alwayes the same one Christ is euery where heere fully and there fully And againe l. 1. in Luc. c. 1. When we sacrifice Christ is present Christ is sacrificed For as S. Austin sayth l. 4. de Trin. c. 14. The flesh of our Sacrifice is made the body of our Priest Wherfore that most ancient and glorious Martyr S. Hippolitus in his Oration de Consummatione mundi bringeth in our Sauiour thus speaking vnto our Priests Come you who dayly sacrifice my body and my bloud And Christ sayth this to all Priests for as excellently S. Chrysostome hom 2. ïn 2. ad Tim. The sacred oblation what Priest soeuer offers it is stil the same for men do not sacrifice this victime but Christ himself Wherfore the victime which in this Sacrifice is offered being true Christ the selfe same Christ being chief Priest which by his ministers and substitutes doth sanctify and offer this victime can any one wonder if all we Catholikes together with S. Cyril of Hierusalem Cath. mystag 5. Do belieue that the obsecration of