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
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
that holy and dreadfull Sacrifice which is placed on the altar is the greatest help for the soules for which it is offered See this place at large for nothing can be spoken more Catholikly 5. The Sacrifices of the old Law were esteemed by the chiefe only true belieuers of those tymes to haue such vertue to relieue the dead that when souldiers were slaine in battaile they made a gathering of no lesse then twelue thousand drachmes of siluer and sent this money to Hierusalem that sacrifice might be offered for the sins of the dead 2. Machab. 12. What esteeme then ought we to haue of our Sacrifice S. Austin l. 9. Confess c. 3. deseruedly praysed his dead Mother in these words She did not thinke how to haue her body sumptuously buried or embalmed but she desired only that her memory might be made at Gods Altar at which she neuer omitted any one day of her life to be present knowing that from thence is dispensed the holy hoast or Sacrifice wherby is blotted out the guilt of the world And this which she requested was fulfilled when the Sacrifice of our price was offered for her as S. Austin cap. 12. of the same Booke sayth it was 6. This piety which so flourished in the primitiue Church ceaseth not in the prime parts of the world to flourish in these our dayes No lesse then one thousand seauen hundred Masses vpon one and the selfe same day were in Madrid celebrated at the funerals of Margaret wife to Philip the third King of Spaine and besides a thousand Masses which this Queene by her will gaue order to haue said for her Soule the King of his liberality caused twenty thousand more to be said for her Gasman in vita Margar. Austriac p. 3. c. 3. It is not very many yeares since the death of the Archduke Albertus Prince of the Low-Countryes whose most pious wife Isabell did procure for the reliefe of his soule forty thousand Masses and for thirty dayes togeather she herselfe did heare 10. Masses daily for this her pious Lord and husband P.F. Iac. Curuoisier in Mansolaeo 7. As for fasting most remarkable is that which we read in the Scripture That after the death of Saul his sonnes the men of Iabes Galaad did take his dead body and the dead bodyes of his sonnes and buried them in the wood of Jabes and fasted seauen dayes 1. Reg. c. vlt. Vnder the name of fasts all other mortifications and austerityes are comprehēded as disciplines hayre-cloath lying on the ground c. But because some mens silken eares cannot endure so hard language as the naming of these things and others vnder pretence of health will plead inhability to performe such works I will adde some few acts of mortification which no man or woman can be too weake to exercise For example to debarre themselues of some lesse necessary recreations to abstaine from some sweet morsels for some smal space to keep silence not to see not to heare such and such curiosities But one act of Vertue there is which the weakest creature in the world may practise and it is an act of so high worth that the strōgest man in the world can scarce practice a better It is this for Christs sake to forgiue all those from your very hart who haue done any iniury or iniuries vnto you This is not my doctrine but the doctrine of S. Austin Serm. 41. de Sanctis in these words Those who desire to be deliuered from this temporall purging fire let them by continual prayers and frequent fastings large almes and especially by forgiuing them who haue offended against them redeeme their ordinary dayly sins This act which S. Austin doth so especially aboue all other commend hath a better recommendation in the word of God which doth in plaine termes promise to this act a plenary Indulgence a Iubily a full Remission of all sins in this large forme of Grant Forgiue and it shall be forgiuen vnto you Luc. 6. And againe For if you forgiue vnto men their offences your heauenly Father also will forgiue your sins vnto you Matth. 6. This pardon you may gaine for the soules in Purgatory Heare then a memorable exāple to this purpose 8 The only sonne of an honorable Widdow was murdered by a wicked fellow who being for this his murder in danger of being apprehended by the Officers had hid himselfe but the officers and the widdow had intelligēce where he lay The Officers went to the place to take him but the pious widdow did for Gods sake so truly pardon this greatest mischiefe which could haue byn done her that she did not onely certify the murderer of his danger to the end he might fly away in tyme but for this end did she furnish him also with money and gaue him the horse of her dead sonne that he might escape the better After this she retired herselfe to pray for her Sonnes soule when behold her sonne all in glory appeared vnto her and told her that for so great Charity towards his murderer God had already freed him from the fire of Purgatory which for many yeares he should haue suffered Orosius fer 6. post Cineres Thus much for this point We may also much relieue the soules in Purgatory by suffering for them such crosses as it shall please God to lay vpō vs as sicknes losse of goods of friends trouble of the mind and all kind of afflictions which are exceeding satisfactory if we accept them willingly or beare them patiently 6. A third kind of satisfaction most auailable to the soules in Purgatory is to exercise Almes-deeds which be most effectual to abolish all paine due to sin therfore most profitable to those poore soules both when they are giuen to any sort of poore men most of all when they are giuen vnto those who are voluntarily poore as all religious both men women are for they will be sure to pray deuoutly for the dead So that they receaue a double benefit both by the guift of the almes it selfe which is a worke highly satisfactory and also by the prayers of those to whom the almes are giuen who often are very great seruants of almighty God and their prayers most powerfull with him Hence is that excellent aduice of S. Ambrose l. 1. de fide resurrect who exhorteth the Parents to bestow the portions which they intended to haue giuē their children which now are dead in almesdeeds for the reliefe of their soules Excellēt also is that Counsell which some giue to rich men They aduise thē as often as they heare a poore man knocking at their doore to imagine themselues to heare the voyce of a poore soule in Purgatory begging for reliefe and if they haue any mercy in them this imagination will stir them vp to bestow some smal almes both for the spirituall reliefe of the soule in Purgatory and the corporal reliefe of their poore neighbour 10. How grateful to God and beneficiall