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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93834	Judex expurgatorius: or, a short examination of the doctrine of purgatory, in a sermon upon 1 Pet.3.19. Together with an orthodoxall interpretation of the text. / By Am: Staveley, A.M.	Staveley, Ambrose.	1655 (1655)	Wing S5345; Thomason E850_2; ESTC R207399	14,230	23

and fabrick of the Jewish Government perturbed and disordered the face of it both as to Ecclesiasticall and Civill relations quite changed Israel had lost her former beauty wherewith she was renowned and the whole state of affaires depraved and corrupted Their Empire ruinous their Doctrine unsound their Manners their Rites their Langnage their Names all extinguished and in one word in affection of conformity with two other Nations they were wholly degenerated into Heathenisme No warrantable rantable President or Example had they no precept no promise encouraging this action of theirs onely what themselves had copied forth from the custome of those Gentiles amongst whom they had their conversation whereas neither in the books of Moses which are as I may so terme them the Head-Quarters of the Scriptures nor yet in the Prophets we shall not finde the least syllable tending to advantage their opinion or practise nor doe the Romanists themselves stick to assent to us in this Position And should I tell you that those books of the Macchabees are not Canonicall and by consequence no infallible standards for Speculative or Practicall Theologie it is no more than what I am able to justifie having the suffrages of learned and judicious Authors corroborating this assertion To omit Lyranus who sayes Non sunt in Canone leguntur tamen per constitutionem Ecclesiae Romanae But withall ut sobrie legantur S. Austin in his second Book De Doctrinâ Christianâ Chap. 8. reckoning up the Books accounted Canonicall omitteth these books of Macchabees in his Catalogue so that it seems that learned Father esteemed them Apochryphall And Saint Jerome saith expresly Legit haec ad aedificationem plebis non autem ad authoritatem Ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam The Church reads them indeed for instruction of the People but not to confirme any Ecclesiasticall Tenent moreover adding Eorum quippe authoritas ad roboranda ea quae in contentionem veniunt minus idonea judicantur Their Authority is insufficient to decide a Controversie To this agreeth Saint Cyprian Lege quidem in Ecclesia volui non tamen proferri ad authoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam This now was the sense of the antient Fathers I might expatiate my discourse to shew the vast difference in manner of composing those two books the Genius running through the veines of the one being altogether unlike that of the other But he whosoever was the Amanuensis of the second book hath given occasion enough to suspect it acknowledging he had Epitomized it into one volume from the works of one Jason of Cyrene who had degested the History in five books as in 2 Macehabees 2.23 you may at leisure peruse which place when you consult be pleased to take a view of that slender and childish Apologie made at the end of the Story which scarce relisheth of a masculine temper much lesse of a Divine inspiration 2 Macchabees 14. ver 38 39. And it is not unworthy of our observation that in all Histories it cannot be proved after the time of Macchabaeus till our Saviours dayes that this custome of Sacrificing or Praying for the Dead was retained or used amongst the Jewes Indeed the Rabbins after Christs time having their eyes blinded and their hearts hardned renewed it afresh and Lyranus relating it as from the example of Razis killing himselfe they counted it an Act meritorious to be felones de se their owne Executioners so from the practise of Macchabaeus the Rabbins instituted Memorialls for the Dead And to this day in their Synagogues they have Memoriales Libellos out of which twice every yeare from their Pulpits publickly they rehearse the names of the deceased And at the close prayer is made that God would in mercy remember their Souls and place them in Paradise with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Thus have I dealt impartially in this History which how much or how little it patronizeth Roman Purgatory I leave it to the arbitration of any indifferent Judge and whereas our adversaries confesse that they cannot produce any other place speaking plainly to strengthen their Doctrine manifest is it how ruinous is their structure whose very basis and foundation is so infirme and tottering Having now cleered it that the Academies of the Gentiles were the Seminaries of this opinion of Purgatory teaching it the Jewes when their Religion was decaying under the Law it now remaineth to be treated how it had its entrance amongst Christians under the time of the Gospell That Christ and his Apostles propounded no such Doctrine might be insisted on did not the time prevent me But if we examine the Spring-head of it whence first it did descend we shall finde the occasion of its Introduction into Christian Churches was no more warrantable than of old into the Jewish both of them alike invalid I can now stand but onely to present you with a short view of it which in briefe was this Presently after the Apostles were taken out of the world there went abroad some Apocryphall Comments under their names which being dissipated began to be obtruded if not to be believed yet to be disputed and in processe of time gathered strength under the arrogated title of Apostolicall Tradition Amongst the rest one Hermas whom report maketh to be Saint Paul's Scholar and he onely averreth it as being dictated to him from the vision of an old woman where the relation is so weak and ridiculous that it is beneath seriousnesse to repeate it Whereupon Chemnitius maketh this Animadversion Et haec lector benè notet quod Purgatorium quando sub novo Testamento primum quasi de longè emicare caepit anile commentum ab anu personula profectum fuit I shall not need to English it The like spurious stuffe is Fathered on Saint James and Saint Andrew to the former whereof is imputed a Masse wherein is contained prayer for the Dead and a namelesse Author penning a book of the Acts of the Apostles mentioneth that S. Andrew interceded for an old dead Man And Irenaeus writeth that there were some Hereticks in his time who pouring Oyle and Water with some certain invocations upon the head of the deceased thought thereby they mitigated their paines if any were inflicted upon them I should be too prodigall of my time in pursuing the series of the History how Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen were somewhat tainted with an opinion concerning Purgatory but so that it was quite of a different nature from that which the Romanists endeavour to propagate For Origen's Purgatory admitteth no ease relaxation or redemption by the prayers or workes of the living but that every one expiateth for himselfe and therefore indebted to none but themselves for their releasement And Clemens Alexandrinus affirmeth it very dubiously if we may give credit to Chemnitius who onely sayes Forsan cessabunt supplicia post hanc vitam So that at best his is but conjectural and it may be this in succeeding generations was controverted in the Church till the