more unlearned and unhappy If I bee not able to discover what feates the Divell wrought in that time of darkenesse wherin men were not so vigilant in marking his conveyances and such as might see somewhat were not so forward in writing bookes of their Observations must the infelicitie of that age wherein there was little learning and lesse writing yea which for want of Writers as Cardinal Baronius acknowledgeth hath been usually named the Obscure age must this I say inforce me to yeeld that the Divell brought in no tares all that while but let slip the opportunitie of so darke a night and slept himselfe for company There are other meanes left unto us whereby we may discerne the Tares brought in by the instruments of Satan from the good seed which was sowen by the Apostles of Christ beside this observation of times and seasons which will often faile vs. Ipsa doctrina eorum saith Tertullian cum Apostolicâ comparata ex diversitate contrarietate suâ pronuntiabit neque Apostoti alicujus auctoris esse neque Apostolici Their very doctrine it selfe being compared with the Apostolick by the diversitie and contrariety thereof will pronounce that it had for author neyther any Apostle nor any man Apostolicall For there cannot be a better prescription against Hereticall novelties then that which our Saviour Christ useth against the Pharisees From the beginning it vvas not so nor a better preservative against the infection of seducers that are crept in unawares then that which is prescribed by the Apostle Iude earnestly to contend for the faith vvhich vvas once delivered unto the Saints Now to the end we might know the certaintie of those things wherein the Saints were at the first instructed God hath provided that the memoriall thereof should be recorded in his owne Booke that it might remaine for the time to come for ever and ever He then who out of that Booke is able to demonstrate that the doctrine or practice now prevailing swarveth from that which was at first established in the Church by the Apostles of Christ doth as strongly prove that a change hath beene made in the middle times as if hee were able to nominate the place where the time when and the person by whom any such corruption was first brought in In the Apostles dayes when a man had examined himselfe hee was admitted unto the Lords Table there to eate of that bread and drinke of that cup as appeareth plainly 1. Cor. 11.28 In the Church of Rome at this day the people are indeed permitted to eate of the bread if bread they may call it but not allowed to drinke of the cup. Must all of us now shut our eyes and sing Sicut erat in principio nunc unlesse we be able to tell by whom and when this first institution was altered By S. Pauls order who would have all things done to edification Christians should pray with understanding and not in an unknowne language as may be seene in the fourteenth chapter of the same Epistle to the Corinthians The case is now so altered that the bringing in of a tongue not understood which hindred the edifying of Babel it selfe and scattered the builders thereof is accounted a good meanes to further the edifying of your Babel and to hold her followers together Is not this then a good ground to resolve a mans judgement that things are not now kept in that order wherin they were set at first by the Apostles although he be not able to point unto the first author of the disorder And as wee may thus discover innovations by having recourse unto the first and best times so may wee doe the like by comparing the state of things present with the middle times of the Church Thus I finde by the constant and approved practice of the auncient Church that all sorts of people men women and children had free libertic to reade the holy Scriptures I finde now the contrary among the Papists and shall I say for all this that they have not removed the bounds which were set by the Fathers because perhaps I cannot name the Pope that ventured to make the first inclosure of these commons of Gods people I heare S. Hierâ—me say Iudith Tobiae Macchabaeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia sed eos inter Canonicas Scripturas non recipit The Church doth reade indeed the books of Iudith and Toby and the Macchabees but doth not receive them for Canonicall Scripture I see that at this day the Church of Rome receiveth them for such May not I then conclude that betwixt S. Hieromes time and ours there hath beene a change and that the Church of Rome now is not of the same judgement with the Church of God theâ— howsoever I cannot precisely lay downe the time wherein shee first thought her selfe to be wiser herein then her Forefathers But here our Adversary closeth with us and layeth downe a number of points held by them and denied by us which he undertaketh to make good as well by the expresse testimonies of the Fathers of the Primitive Church of Rome as also by good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures if the Fathers authoritie will not suffice Where if hee would change his order and give the sacred Scriptures the precedency hee should therein do more right to God the author of them who well deserveth to have audience in the first place and withall ease both himselfe and us of a needlesse labour in seeking any further authority to compose our differences For if he can produce as he beareth us in hand he can good and certaine grounds oâ—t of the sacred Scriptures for the points in controversie the matter is at an end he that will not rest satisfied with such evidences as these may if he please travaile further and speed worse Therefore as S. Augustine heretofore provoked the Donatists so provoke I him Auferantur chartae humanae sonent voces divinae ede mihi unam Scripturae vocem pro parte Donati Let humane vvritings be removed let Gods voyce sound bring mee onâ—e voyce of the Scripture for the part of Donatus Produce but one cleere testimony of the sacred Scripture for the Popes part and it shall suffice alledge what authority you list without Scripture and it cannot suffice Wee reverence indeed the ancient Fathers as it is fit we should and hold it our duety to rise up before the hoare head and to honour the person of the aged but still with reservation of the respect we owe to their Father and ours that Ancient of dayes the hayre of vvhose head is like the pure vvooll We may not forget the lesson which our great Master hath taught us Call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Him therefore alone doe wee acknowledge for the Father of our Faith no other Father doe we know upon whose bare credite
Peter of binding and loosing upon earth just as Theodoret reporteth the Audians were wont to doe who presently after confession graunted remission not prescribing a time for repentance as the lawes of the Church did require but giving pardon by authoritie The lawes of the Church prescribed a certaine time unto Penitents wherein they should give proofe of the soundnesse of their repentance and gave order that afterwards they should be forgiven and comforted lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch heavinesse So that first their penance was injoyned unto them and thereby they were held to be bound after performance whereof they received their absolution by which they were loosed againe But the Audian hereticks without anie such triall taken of their repentance did of their owne heads give them absolution presently upon their confession as the Popish Priests use to doe now a dayes Onely the Audians had one ridiculous ceremonie more then the Papists that having placed the Canonicall bookes of Scripture upon one side and certaine Apocryphall writings on the other they caused their followers to passe betwixt them and in their passing to make confession of their sinnes as the Papists another idle practise more then they that after they have given absolution they injoyne penance to the partie absolved that is to say as they of old would have interpreted it they first loose him and presently after binde him which howsoever they hold to be done in respect of the temporall punishment remayning due after the remission of the fault yet it appeareth plainly that the penitentiall workes required in the ancient Church had reference to the fault it selfe and that no absolution was to be expected from the Minister for the one before all reckonings were ended for the other Onely where the danger of death was imminent the case admitted some exception reconciâ—iation being not denied indeed unto them that desired it at such a time yet so granted that it was left verie doubtfull whether it would stand the parties in anie great stead or no. If any one being in the last extremitie of his sicknesse saith S. Augustin is willing to receive penance and â—oth receive it and is presently reconciled and departeth hence I confesse unto you wee doe not denie him that which hee asketh but wee doe not presume that he goeth well from hence I doe not presume I deceive you not I doe not presume Hee who putteth off his penance to the last and is reconciled whether hee goeth secure from hence I am not secure Penance I can give him securitie I cannot give him Doe I say hee shall be damned I say not so But doe I say also he shall be freed No. What doest thou then say unto mee I know not I presume not I promise not I know not Wilt thou free thy selfe of the doubt wilt thou escape that which is uncertaine Doe thy penance while thou art in health The penance which is asked for by the infirme man is infirme The penance which is asked for onely by him that is a dying I feare lest it also dye But with the matter of penance we have not here to deale those formal absolutions and pardons of course immediately granted upon the hearing of mens confessions is that which wee charge the Romish Priests to have learned from the Audian hereticks Some require penance to this end that they might presently have the communion restored unto them these men desire not so much to loose themselves as to binde the Priest saith S. Ambrose If this be true that the Priest doth binde himselfe by his hastie and unadvised loosing of others the case is like to go hard with our Popish Priests who ordinarily in bestowing their absolutions use to make more hast then good speed Wherein with how little judgement they proceed who thus take upon them the place of Iudges in mens consciences may sufficiently appeare by this that whereas the maine ground whereupon they would build the necessitie of Auricular confession and the particular enumeration of all knowne sinnes is pretended to be this that the ghostly Father having taken notice of the cause may judge righteous judgement and discerne who should be bound and who should be loosed the matter yet is so carried in this court of theirs that everie man commonly goeth away with his absolution and all sorts of people usually receive one and the selfe same iudgement If thou seperate the pretious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth saith the Lord. Whose mouth then may we hold them to be who seldome put anie difference betweene these and make it their ordinarie practise to pronounce the same sentence of absolution aswell upon the one as upon the other If we would know how late it was before this trade of pardoning mens sinnes after this maner was established in the Church of Rome wee cannot discover this better then by tracing out the doctrine publickly taught in that Church touching this matter from the time of Satans loosing untill his binding againe by the restoring of the puritie of the Gospell in our dayes And here Radulphus Ardens doth in the first place offer himselfe who toward the beginning of that time preached this for sound divinitie The power of releasing sinnes belongeth to God alone But the ministery which improperly also is called a power hee hath granted unto his substitutes who after their maner doe binde and absolve that is to say doe declare that men are bound or absolved For God doth first inwardly absolve the sinner by compunction and then the Priest outwardly by giving the sentence doth declare that he is absolved Which is well signified by that of Lazarus who first in the grave was raysed up by the Lord and afterward by the ministery of the disciples was loosed from the bands wherewith he was tyed Then follow both the Anselmes ours of Canterbury and the other of Laon in France who in their expositions upon the ninth of S. Matthew cleerely teach that none but God alone can forgive sinnes Ivo Bishop of Chartres writeth that by inward contrition the inward judge is satisfied and therefore without delay forgivenesse of the sinne is granted by him unto whom the inward conversion is manifest but the Church because it knoweth not the hidden things of the heart doth not loose him that is bound although he be raysed up untill hee be brought out of the tombe that is to say purged by publick satisfaction and if presently upon the inward conversion God be pleased to forgive the sinne the absolution of the Priest which followeth cannot in anie sort properly be accounted a remission of that sinne but a further manifestation onely of the remission formerly granted by God himselfe The Master of the Sentences after him having propounded the diverse opinions of the Doctors touching this point demandeth at last In this so great varietie what is to be held and returneth for
led by who were the penners of the Canocicall Scripture But this is your old wont to blinde the eyes of the simple with setting forth the sanctitie and the learning of the Fathers much after the maner of your grandfather Pelagius who in the third of his bookes which hee writ in defence of Free-will thought he had struck all dead by his commending of S. Ambrose Blessed Ambrose the Bishop saith he in whose bookes the Romane faith doth especially appeare who like a beautifull flowre shined among the Latin writers whose faith and most pure understanding in the Scriptures the enemy himselfe durst not reprehend Vnto whom S. Augustine Behold with what and how great prayses he extolleth a man though holy and learned yet not to be compared unto the authoritie of the Canonicall Scripture And therefore advance the learning and holinesse of these worthy men as much as you list other answer you are not like to have from us then that which the same S. Augustine maketh unto S. Hierome This reverence and honour have I learned to give to those bookes of Scripture only which now are called Canonical that I most firmely beleeve none of their authors could any whit erre in writing But others I so reade that with how great sanctitie and learning soever they doe excell I therefore thinke not any thing to be true because they so thought it but because they were able to perswade mee either by those Canonicall authors or by some probable reason that it did not swarve from truth Yet even to this field also doe our challengers provoke us and if the Fathers authority will not suffice they offer to produce good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the points of their religion which they have mentioned yea further they challenge any Protestant to alledge any one text out of the said Scripture which condemneth any of the above written points At which boldnesse of theirs wee should much wonder but that wee consider that Bankrupts commonly doe then most brag of their ability when their estate is at the lowest perhaps also that Ignorance might be it that did beget in them this Boldnesse For if they had been pleased to take the advice of their learned Counsell their Canonists would have told them touching Confession which is one of their points that it were better to hold that it was ordained by a certaine tradition of the universall Church then by the authority of the New or Old Testament Melchior Canus could have put them in minde that it is no where expressed in Scripture that Christ descended into Hell to deliver the soules of Adam and the rest of the Fathers which were detayned there And Dominicus Bannes that the holy Scriptures teach neither expressé nor yet impressé involuté that prayers are to be made unto Saints or that their Images are to be worshipped Or if the testimony of a lesuite will more prevayle with them that Images should be vvorshipped Saints prayed unto Auricular Confession frequented Sacrifices celebrated both for the quicke and the dead and other things of this kind Fr. Coster would have to be reckoned among divine Traditions which be not laid downe in the Scriptures Howsoever yet the matter standeth we have no reason but willingly to accept of their challenge and to require them to bring forth those good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the articles by them propounded as also to let them see whether we be able to alledge any Text of Scripture which condemneth any of those points Although I must confesse it will be a hard matter to make them see any thing which before hand have resolved to close their eyes having their mindes so preoccupied with prejudice that they professe before ever we begin they hold for certaine that wee shall never be able to produce any such Text. And why thinke you because forsooth we are neither more learned more pious nor more holy then the blessed Doctors and Martyrs of that first Church of Rome As who should say we yeelded at the first word that all those blessed Doctors and Martyrs expounded the Scriptures every where to our disadvantage or were so well perswaded of the tendernesse of a Iesuites conscience that because he hath taken an oath never to interpret the Scripture but according to the uniforme consent of the Fathers he could not therefore have the forehead to say I doe not deny that I have no author of this interpretation yet doe I so much the rather approve it then that other of Augustines though the most probable of all the rest because it is more contrary to the sense of the Calvinists which to mee is a great argument of probabilitie Or as if lastly a man might not dissent from the ancient Doctors so much as in an exposition of a Text of Scripture but hee must presently make himselfe more learned more pious and more holy then they were Yet their great Tostatus might have taught them that this argument holdeth not Such a one knoweth some conclusion that Augustine did not know therefore he is wiser then Augustine Because as a certaine skilfull Physician said the men of our time being compared vvith the ancient are like unto a little man set upon a Giants neck compared with the Giant himselfe For as that little man placed there seeth whatsoever the Giant seeth and somewhat more and yet if he be taken downe from the Giants neck would see little or nothing in comparison of the Giant even so we being setled upon the wits and workes of the ancient it were not to be wondred nay it should be very agreeable unto reason that we should see whatsoever they saw and somewhat more Though yet saith he wee doe not professe so much And even to the same effect speaketh Friar Stella that though it be farre from him to condemne the common exposition given by the ancient holy Doctors yet he knoweth full well that Pygmeis being put upon Gyants shoulders doe see further then the Gyants themselves Salmeron addeth that by the increase of time divine mysteries have beene made knowen which before were hid from many so that to know them now is to be attributed unto the benefite of the time not that we are better then our Fathers were Bishop Fisher that it cannot be obscure unto any that many things as well in the Gospels as in the rest of the Scriptures are now more exquisitely discussed by latter wits and more clearely understood then they have beene heretofore Either by reason that the yce was not as yet broken unto the ancient neither did their age suffice to weigh exactly that vvhole sea of the Scriptures or because in this most large field of the Scriptures even after the most diligent reapers some eares will remaine to be gathered as yet untouched Hereupon Cardinall Caietan in the beginning of
good and the confusion of the evill and that it is the propertie of a faithfull man to bee fully perswaded of the truth of those things that are delivered in the holy Scripture and not to dare eyther to reject or to adde any thing thereunto For if whatsoever is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God then vvhatsoever is without the holy Scripture being not of faith must needs be sinne Thus farre S. Basil. In like maner Gregory Nyssene S. Basils brother layeth this for a ground vvhich no man should contradict that in that onely the truth must be acknowledged wherein the seale of the Scripture testimony is to be seene And accordingly in another booke attributed also unto him we finde this conclusion made Forasmuch as this is upholden vvith no testimony of the Scripture as false vve will reject it Thus also S. Hierome disputeth against Helvidius· As vvee denye not those things that are written so vve refuse those things that are not vvritten That God was borne of a Virgin we beleeve because we reade it that Mary did marry after shee was delivered wee beleeve not because wee reade it not In those things saith S. Augustine vvhich are layd downe plainly in the Scriptures all those things are found which appertaine to faith and direction of life And againe Whatsoever ye heare from the holy Scriptures let that savour vvell unto you whatsoever is without them refuse lest you wander in a cloud And in another place All those things which in times past our ancestors have mentioned to be done toward mankind and have delivered unto us all those things also which we see and doe deliver unto our posteritie so farre as they appertaine to the seeking and maintayning of true Religion the holy Scripture hath not passed in silence The holy Scripture saith S. Cyrill of Alexandria is sufficient to make them which are brought up in it wise and most approved and furnished with most sufficient understanding And againe That which the holy Scripture hath not said by what meanes should wee receive and account it among those things that be true Lastly in the writings of Theodoret wee meete with these kinde of speeches By the holy Scripture alone am I perswaded I am not so bold as to affirme any thing which the sacred Scripture passeth in silence It is an idle and a senselesse thing to seeke those things that are passed in silence Wee ought not to seeke those things which are passed in silence but rest in the things that are written By the verdict of these twelve men you may judge what opinion was held in those ancient times of such Traditions as did crosse either the verity or the perfection of the sacred Scripture which are the Traditions we set our selves against If now it be demanded in what Popes dayes the contrarie doctrine was brought in among Christians I answer that if S. Peter were ever Pope in his dayes it was that some seducers first laboured to bring in Will-worship into the Church against whom S. Paul opposing himselfe Coloss. 2. counteth it a sufficient argument to condemne all such inventions that they were the commandements and doctrines of men Shortly after them started up other Hereticks who taught that the truth could not be found out of the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknowen forasmuch as it was not delivered by writing but by word of mouth for which cause S. Paul also should say Wee speake wisedome among them that be perfect The verie same Text doe the Iesuites alledge to prove the dignitie of manie mysteries to be such that they require silence and that it is unmeet they should bee opened in the Scriptures which are read to the whole world and therefore can onely be learned by unwritten Traditions Wherein they consider not how they make so neare an approach unto the confines of some of the ancientest Heretickes that they may well shake hands together For howsoever some of them were so madde as to say that they were wiser then the Apostles themselves and therefore made light account of the doctrine which they delivered unto the Church either by writing or by word of mouth yet all of them broake not forth into that open impietie the same mysterie of iniquitie wrought in some of Antichrists fore-runners then which is discovered in his ministers now They confessed indeed as witnesseth Tertullian that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing and differed not among themselves in their preaching but they say they revealed not all things unto all men some things they delivered openly and to all some things secretly and to a few because that Paul useth this speech unto Timothy O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust And againe That good thing which was committed unto thee keepe Which verie Texts the Iesuites likewise bring in to prove that there are some Traditions which are not contayned in the Scripture In the dayes of S. Hierome also this was wont to be the saying of Hereticks We are the sonnes of the wise men which from the beginning have delivered the doctrine of the Apostles unto us But those things saith that Father which they of themselves finde out and faine to have received as it were by Tradition from the Apostles without the authoritie and testimonies of the Scriptures the sword of God doth smite S. Chrysostome in like maner giveth this for a marke of Antichrist and of all spiritual theeves that they come not in by the doore of the Scriptures For the Scripture saith hee like unto a sure doore doth barre an entrance unto Hereticks safeguarding us in all things that we will and not suffering us to be deceived Whereupon he concludeth that who so useth not the Scriptures but commeth in otherwise that is betaketh himselfe to another and an unlawfull way he is a theefe How this mysterie of iniquitie wrought when Antichrist came unto his full growth and what experiments his followers gave of their theevish entry in this kind was well observed by the author of the book De unitate Ecclesiae thought by some to be Waltram Bishop of Naumburg who speaking of the Monks that for the upholding of Pope Hildebrands faction brought in schismes and heresies into the Church noteth this specially of them that despising the tradition of God they desired other doctrines and brought in maisteries of humane institution Against whom hee alledgeth the authoritie of their owne S. Benedict the father of the Monkes in the West writing thus The Abbot ought to teach or ordaine or command nothing which is without the precept of the Lord but his commandement or instruction should be spred as the leaven of divine righteousnesse in the minds of his Disciples Whereunto also hee might have added the testimonie of the two famous Fathers
purpose also S. Ambrose maketh this observation upon the historie of the woman taken in adulterie Ioh. 8.9 that Iesus being about to pardon sin remayned alone For it is not the ambassador saith hee nor the messenger but the Lord himselfe that hath saved his people He remaineth alone because it cannot be common to anie man with Christ to forgive sinnes This is the office of Christ alone who taketh away the sinne of the world Yea S. Chrysostom himselfe who of all the Fathers giveth most in this point unto Gods ambassadors and messengers is yet carefull withall to preserve Gods priviledge entire by often interposing such sentences as these None can forgive sinnes but God alone To forgive sinnes belongeth to no other To forgive sinnes is possible to God onely God alone doth this which also hee worketh in the washing of the new birth Wherein that the work of cleansing the soule is wholly Gods and the minister hath no hand at all in effecting anie part of it Optatus proveth at large in his fifth booke against the Donatistes shewing that none can wash the filth and sports of the minde but hee who is the framer of the same minde and convincing the hereticks as by manie other testimonies of holy Scriptur◠so by that of Esai 1.18 which he presseth in this maner It belongeth unto God to cleanse and not unto man he hath promised by the Prophet Esai that hee himselfe would wash when he saith If your sinnes were as scarlet I will make them as white as snow I will make them white he said he did not say I will cause them to be made white If God hath promised this why will you give that which is neyther lawfull for you to promise nor to give nor to have Behold in Esai God hath promised that he himselfe will make white such as are defiled with sinnes not by man Having thus therefore reserved unto God his prerogative royall in cleansing of the soule we give unto his under-officers their due when we account of them as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God not as Lords that have power to dispose of spiritual graces as they please but as servants that are tyed to follow their Masters prescriptions therin in following therof do but bring their external ministerie for which it self also they are beholding to Gods mercie goodnes God conferring the inward blessing of his spirit thereupon when where he will Who then is Paul saith S. Paul himselfe and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom yee beleeved even as the Lord gave to every man Therfore saith Optatus in all the servants there is no dominion but a ministerie Cui creditur ipse dat quod creditur non per quem creditur It is hee who is beleeved that giveth the thing which is beleeved not he by whom we doe beleeve Whereas our Saviour then saith unto his Apostles Ioh. 20. Receive the holy Ghost Whose sinnes you forgive shall be forgiven S. Ambrose S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and S. Cyrill make this observation thereupon that this is not their work properly but the worke of the holy Ghost who remitteth by them and therein performeth the worke of the true God For indeed saith S. Cyrill it belongeth to the true God alone to be able to loose men from their sinns for who else can free the transgressors of the law from sin but he who is the author of law it selfe The Lord saith S. Augustine was to give unto men the holy Ghost and he would have it to be understood that by the holy Ghost himselfe sinnes should be forgiven to the faithfull and not that by the merits of men sins should be forgiven For what art thou ô man but a sick-man that hast need to be healed Wilt thou be a physician to me Seek the physician together with mee So S. Ambrose Behold that by the holy Ghost sinnes are forgiven But men to the remission of sinnes bring their ministery they exercise not the authoritie of any power S. Chrysostom though he make this to be the exercise of a great power which also hee elsewhere amplifieth after his manner exceeding hyperbolically yet in the maine matter accordeth fully with S. Ambrose that it lyeth in God alone to bestowe the things wherein the Priests service is employed And what speake I of Priests saith he Neyther Angell nor Archangell can doe ought in those things which are given by God but the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost doe dispense all The Priest lendeth his tongue and putteth too his hand His part only is to open his mouth but it is God that worketh all And the reasons whereby both he and Theophylact after him doe prove that the Priests of the law had no power to forgive sinnes are of as great force to take the same power from the ministers of the Gospell first because it is Gods part onely to forgive sinnes secondly because the Priests were servants yea servants of sinne and therefore had no power to forgive sinnes unto others but the Sonne is the Lord of the house who was manifested to take away our sinnes and in him is no sinne saith S. Iohn upon which saying of his S. Augustin giveth this good note It is he in whom there is no sinne that came to take away sinne For if there had beene sinne in him too it must have beene taken away from him he could not take it away himselfe To forgive sinnes therefore being thus proper to God onely and to his Christ his ministers must not be held to have this power communicated unto them but in an improper sense namely because God forgiveth by them and hath appointed them both to apply those meanes by which he useth to forgive sinnes and to give notice unto repentant sinners of that forgivenesse For who can forgive sinnes but God alone yet doth he forgive by them also unto whom hee hath given power to forgive saith S. Ambrose and his followers And though it be the proper worke of God to remit sins saith Ferus yet are the Apostles and their successors said to remit also not simply but because they apply those meanes whereby God doth remit sinnes Which means are the Word of God and the Sacraments Whereunto also wee may adde the relaxation of the Censures of the Church and Prayer for in thes◠foure the whole exercise of this ministerie of reconciliation as the Apostle calleth it doth mainly consist of each whereof it is needefull that wee should speake somewhat more particularly That Prayer is a meanes ordayned by God for procuring remission of sinnes is plaine by that of S. Iames. The prayer of faith shall save the sicke and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sinnes they shall be forgiven him Confesse
one vvhom Gehenna doth receive whom Hell doth devoure for whose paine the everlasting fire doth burne Let us whose departure a troupe of Angells doth accompanie vvhom Christ commeth forth to meete be more grieved if we doe longer dwell in this tabernacle of death Because as long as wee remaine here vvee are pilgrims from God By all that hath beene said the indifferent Reader may easily discerne what may be thought of the craking Cardinall who would face us downe that all the ancients both Greek and Latine from the very time of the Apostles did constantly teach that there was a Purgatory whereas his owne partners could tell him in his eare that in the ancient writers there is almost no mention of Purgatory especially in the Greek writers and therefore that by the Grecians it is not beleeved untill this day He alledgeth indeed a number of authorities to bleare mâ—ns eyes withall which being narrowly looked into will be found eyther to be counterfeit stuffe or to make nothing at all to the purpose as belonging eyther to the point of praying for the dead onely which in those ancient times had no relation to Purgatory as in the handling of the next article wee shall see or unto the fire of affliction in this life or to the fire that shall burne the world at the last day or to the fire prepared for the Divell and his Angells or to some other fire then that which hee intended to kindle thereby This benefite onely have wee here gotten by his labours that hee hath saved us the paynes of seeking farre for the forge from whence the first sparkles of that purging fire of his brake forth For the ancientest memoriall that he bringeth thereof the places which he hath abused out of the Canonical and Apocryphal scriptures onely excepted is out of Plato in his Gorgias and Phaedo Cicero in the end of his fiction of the dreame of Scipio and Virgil in the sixth booke of his Aeneids and next after the Apostles times out of Tertullian in the seventeenth chapter of his booke de Animâ and Origen in diverse places Onely hee must give us leave to put him in minde with what spirit Tertullian was ledd when hee wrote that book de Animâ and with what authoritie hee strengtheneth that conceipt of mens paying in hell for their small faults before the resurrection namely of the Paraclete by whom if hee meane Montanus the arch hereticke as there is small cause to doubt that he doth we need not much envy the Cardinal for raising up so worshipfull a patron of his Purgatory But if Montanus come short in his testimonie Origen I am sure payes it home with full measure not pressed down only and shaken together but also running over For he was one of those as the Cardinall knoweth full well who approved of Purgatory so much that he acknowledged no other paines after this life but purgatory penalties onely and therefore in his iudgement Hell and Purgatorie being the selfe same thing such as blindely follow the Cardinall may do well to look that they stumble not upon Hell while they seeke for Purgatorie The Grecians professe that they are afrayde to tell their people of anie temporary fire after this life lest it should breed in them a spice of Origens disease and put out of their memorie the thought of eternall punishment and by this meanes occasioning them to be more carelesse of their conversation make them indeed fit fuell for those everlasting flames Which feare of theirs wee may perceive not to have beene altogether causelesse when the Purgatorie of Origen resembleth the Purgatorie of the Pope so neerely that the wisest of his Cardinalls is so readie to mistake the one for the other And to speake the truth the one is but an unhappie sprigge cut off from the rotten trunck of the other which sundry men long since endevoured to graffe upon other stockes but could not bring unto anie great perfection untill the Popes followers tryed their skill upon it with that successe which now we behold Some of the ancient that put their hand to this worke extended the benefite of this fiery purge unto all men in generall others thought fit to restrain it unto such as some way or other bare the name of Christians others to such Christians onely as had one time or other made profession of the Catholick faith and others to such alone as did continue in that profession untill their dying day Against all these S. Augustine doth learnedly dispute proving that wicked men of what profession soever shall be punished with everlasting perdition And whereas the defenders of the last opinion did ground themselves upon that place in the third chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians which the Pope also doth make the principall foundation of his Purgatory although it be a probatory and not a purgatory fire that the Apostle there treateth of S. Augustine maketh answere that this sentence of the Apostle is verie obscure to be reckoned among those things which S. Peter saith are hard to be understood in his writings which men ought not to pervert unto their owne destruction and freely confesseth that in this matter he would rather heare more intelligent and more learned men then himselfe Yet this he delivereth for his opinion that by vvood hay and stubble is understood that over-great love which the faithfull beare to the things of this life and by fire that temporall tribulation which causeth griefe unto them by the losse of those things upon which they had too much placed their affections But whether in this life onely saith he men suffer such things or whether some such judgements also doe follow after this life the meaning which I have given of this sentence as I suppose abhorreth not from the truth And againe Whether they finde the fire of transitorie tribulation burning those secular affections which are pardoned from damnation in the other world onely or vvhether here and there or vvhether therefore here that they may not finde them there I gainsay it not because peradventure it is true And in another place That some such thing should be after this life it is not incredible and whether it be so it may be inquired and either be found or remaine hidden that some of the faithfull by a certaine purgatory fire by how much more or lesse they have loved these perishing goods are so much the more slowly or sooner saved Wherein the learned Father dealeth no otherwise then when in disputing against the same men he is content if they would acknowledge that the wrath of God did remaine everlastingly upon the damned to give them leave to thinke that their paines might some way or other be lightned or mitigated Which yet notwithstanding saith he I doe not therefore affirme because I oppose it not What the Doctors of the next succeeding ages taught herein may appeare by
righteousnes and the blessednesse arising therefrom as well as we and the mediation of our Saviour being of that present efficacie that it tooke away sinne and brought in righteousnesse from the very beginning of the world it had vertue sufficient to free men from the penaltie of losse as well as from the penalty of sense and to bring them unto him in whose presence is fulnesse of joy as to deliver them from the place of torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth The first that ever assigned a resting place in Hell to the Fathers of the old Testament was as farre as wee can finde Marcion the heretick who determined that both kinde of rewards whether of torment or of refreshing was appointed in Hell for them that did obey the Law and the Prophets Wherein he was gainsayd by such as wrote against him not only for making that the place of their eternal rest but also for lodging them there at all and imagining that Abrahams bosome was any part of Hell This appeareth plainly by the disputation set out among the workes of Origen betwixt Marcus the Marcionite Adamantius the defender of the Catholicke cause who touching the parabolicall historie of the rich man Lazarus in the sixteenth of S. Luke are brought in reasoning after this maner MARCUS He saith that Aâ—raham is in hell and not in the kingdome of heaven ADAMANTIUS Reade whether he saytâ— that Abraham was in Hell MARC In that the rich man and he talked one to the other it appeareth that they were together ADAMANT That they talked one with another thou hearest but the great gulfe spoken of that thou hearest not For the middle space betwixt heaven and earth he calleth a gulfe MARC Can a man therefore see from earth unto heaven it is impossible Can any man lifting up his eyes behold from the earth or from hell rather see into heaven If not it is plain that a vally only was set betwixt them ADAMANT Bodily eyes use to see those things only that are neere but spirituall eyes reach farre and it is manifest that they who have here put off their body doe see one another with the eyes of their soule For marke how the Gospell doth say that he lifted up his eyes toward heaven one useth to lift them up and not toward the earth In like maner doth Tertullian also retort the same place of Scripture against Marcion and prove that it maketh a plaine difference betweene Hell and the bosome of Abraham For it affirmeth saith he both that a great deepe is interposed betwixt those regions and that it suffereth no passage from eyther side Neyther could the rich man have lifted up his eyes and that afarre off unlesse it had beene unto places above him and very farre above him by reason of the mightie distance betwixt that height and that depth Thus farre Tertullian who though he come short of Adamantius in making Abrahams bosome not to be any part of Heaven although no member at all of Hell yet doth he concurre with him in this that it is a place of blisse and a common receptacle wherein the soules of all the faithfull as well of the new as of the old Testament doe still remaine in expectation of the generall resurrection which quite marteth the Limbus Patrum of our Romanists and the journey which they fancie our Saviour to have taken for the fetching of the Fathers from thence With these two doth S. Augustin also ioyne in his 99. epistle to Euodius concerning whose iudgement herein I will not say the deceitfull but the exceeding partiall dealing of Cardinall Bellarmine can verie hardly be excused Although Augustin saith he in his 99. epistle do seeme to doubt whether the bosome of Abraham where the soules of the Fathers were in times past should be in Hell or somewhere else yet in the 20. booke of the Citie of God the 15. chapter he affirmeth that it was in Hell as all the rest of the Fathers have alwayes taught If S. Augustin in that epistle were of the minde as hee was indeed that Abrahams bosome was no part of Hell he was not the first inventer of that doctrine others taught it before him and opposed Marcion for teaching otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone he went not two there were at least as we have seen that walked along with him in the same way But for that which he is said to have doubted off in one place and to have affirmed in another if the indifferent Reader will be pleased but to view both the places he shall easily discerne that the Cardinall looked not into these things with a single eye In his 99. epistle from that speech of Abraham Betweene you and us there is a great gulfe fixed he maketh this inference In these words it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke that the bosome of so great happinesse is not any part and member of Hell These seem unto the Cardinall to be the words of a doubtfull man with what words then when he is better resolved doth he affirme the matter With these forsooth If it do seem no absurditie to beleeve that the old Saincts which held the faith of Christ to come were in places most remote from the torments of the wicked but yet in Hell untill the blood of Christ and his descent into those places did deliver them truely from henceforth the good and faithfull who are redeemed with that price already shed know not Hell at all If satis ut opinor apparet it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke must import doubting and si non absurdé credi videtur if it doe seeme no absurditie to beleeve affirming I know not I must confesse what to make of mens speeches The truth is S. Augustin in handling this question discovereth himselfe to be neyther of the Iesuits temper nor beleefe He esteemed not this to be such an article of faith that they who agreed not therein must needs be held to be of different religions as he doth modestly propound the reasons which induced him to think that Abrahams bosome was no member of Hell so doth he not lightly reiect the opinion of those that thought otherwise but leaveth it still as a disputable point Whether that bosome of Abraham where the wicked rich man when he was in the torments of Hell did behold the poore man resting were eyther to be accounted by the name of Paradise or esteemed to appertaine unto Hell I cannot readily affirme saith he in one place and in another Whether Abraham were then at any certaine place in Hell we cannot certainly define and in his 12. book de Genesi ad literam I have not hitherto found and I doe yet inquire neyther doe I remember that the canonicall Scripture doth any where put Hell in the good part Now that the bosome of Abraham and that rest unto which the godly poore man was carried by the
our Lord as in the end of this booke saith he he doth testifie meaning the apocryphall Appendix which is annexed to the end of the Greeke edition of Iob wherein we reade thus It is written that he should rise againe with those whom the Lord was to raise which although it be accounted to have proceeded from the Septuagint yet the thing it selfe sheweth that it was added by some that lived after the comming of our Saviour Christ. Touching Adam S. Augustine affirmeth that the whole Church almost did consent that Christ loosed him in Hell which we are to beleeve saith he that shee did not vainely beleeve whencesoever this tradition came although no expresse authoritie of the Canonicall Scriptures be produced for it The onely place which he could thinke off that seemed to look this way was that in the beginning of the tenth Chapter of the booke of Wisedome Shee kept him who was the first formed father of the world when hee was created alone and brought him out of his sinne which would be much more pertinent to the purpose if that were added which presently followeth in the Latin text I meane in the old edition for the new corrected ones have left it out Et eduxit illum de limo terrae and brought him out of the claye of the earth which being placed after the bringing of him out of his sinne may seeme to have reference unto some deliverance like that of Davids Psalm 40 2. He brought me up out of the horrible pit out of the mirye claye rather then unto his first creation out of the dust of the earth So limus terrae may here answere well unto the Arabians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al-tharai which properly signifying moyst earth or slime or claye is by the Arabick interpreter of Moses used to expresse the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Hell or Grave And as this place in the booke of Wisedome may be thus applied unto the raysing of Adams body out of the earâ—h whâ—rein hee lay buried so may that other tradition also which was so currant in the Church be referred unto the selfe same thing even to the bringing of Adam out of the Hell of the Grave The verie Liturgies of the Church doe lead us unto this interpretation of the tradition of the Church beside the testimony of the Fathers which discover unto us the first ground and foundation of this tradition In the Liturgie of the Church of Alexandria ascribed to S. Marke our Saviour Christ is thus called upon O most great King and coëternall to the Father who by thy might didst spoyle Hell and tread downe death and binde the strong one and raise Adam out of the grave by thy divine power and the bright splendour of thine unspeakeable Godhead In the Liturgie of the Church of Constantinople translated into Latin by Leo Thusâ—us the like speech is used of him He did voluntarily undergoe the Crosse for us by which he raysed up the first formed man and saved our soules from death And in the Octoëchon Anastasimon and Pentecostarion of the Grecians at this day such sayings as these are very usuall Thou didst undergoe buriall and rise in glory and rayse up Adam together with thee by thy almighty hand Rising out of thy tombe thou didst rayse up the dead and break the poâ—er of death and rayse up Adam Having slept in the flesh as a mortall man ô King and Lord the third day thou didst arise againe raysing Adam from corruption and abolishing death Iesus the deliverer who raysed up Adam of his compassion c. Therefore doth Theodorus Prodromus begin his Tetrastich upon our Saviors Resurrection with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rise up thou first formed old man rise up from thy grave S. Ambrose pointeth to the ground of the tradition when he intimateth that Christ suffered in Golgotha where Adams sepulchre was that by his Crosse he might rayse him that was dead that where in Adam the death of all men lay therein Christ might be the resurrection of all Which he receaved as he did many other things besides from Origen who writeth thus of the matter There came unto me some such tradition as this that the body of Adam the first man mas buried there where Christ was crucified that as in Adam all doe die so in Christ all might be made alive that in the place which is called the place of Calvarie that is the place of the head the head of mankinde might finde resurrection with all the rest of the people by the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour who suffered there and rose againe For it was unfit that when many which were borne of him did receive forgivenesse of their sinnes and obtayne the benefit of Resurrection he who was the father of all men should not much more obtaine the like grace Athanasius or who ever else was author of the Discourse upon the Passion of our Lord which beareth his name referreth this tradition of Adams buriall place unto the report of the Doctors of the Hebrewes from whom belike hee thought that Origen had received it and addeth withall that it was very fit that where it was said to Adam Earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne our Saviour finding him there should say unto him again Arise thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Epiphanius goeth a little furthet and findeth out a mysterie in the water and bloud that fell from the Crosse upon the relicks of our first father lying buried under it applying thereunto both that in the Gospell of the arising of many of the Saints Matth. 27.52 and that other place in S. Paule Arise thou that sleepest c. Ephes. 5.14 which strange speculation with what great applause it was received by the multitude at the first delivery of it and for how little reason he that list may reade in the fourth book of S. Hieroms coÌ„mentaries upon the 27. of S. Matthew in his third upon the fifth to the Ephesians for upon this first point of Christs descent into the Hell of the grave and the bringing of Adam and his children with him from thence we have dwelt too long already In the second place therefore we are now to consider that as Hádes and Inferi which we call Hell are applied by rhe Interpreters of the holy Scripture to denote the place of bodies separated from their soules so with forraine authors in whose language as being that wherewith the common people was acquainted the Church also did use to speake the same tearmes do signifie ordinarily the common lodge of soules separated from their bodies whether the particular place assigned unto each of them be conceived to be an habitation of blisse or of miserie For as when the Grave is said to be the common receptacle of dead bodies it is not meant thereby that all dead
away speaketh he these things as if he were tâ— goe down into hell by dying For of Hell there is a great question and what the Scripture delivereth thereof in all the places where it hath occasion to make mention of it is to be observed Hitherto S. Augustin who had reference to this great question when he said as hath beene before alledged Of Hell neyther have I had any experience as yet nor you and peradventure there shal be another way and by Hell it shall not be For these things are uncertaine Neyther is there greater question among the Doctors of the Church concerning the Hell of the Fathers of the Old Testament then there is of the Hell of the faithfull now in the time of the New neyther are there greater differences betwixt them touching the Hell into which our Saviour went whether it were under the earth or above whether a darkesome place or a lightsome whether a prison or a paradise then there are of the mansions wherein the soules of the blessed do now continue S. Hierome interpreting those words of King Ezechias Esai 38.10 I shall goe to the gates of Hell saith that this is meant eyther of the common law of nature or else of those gates from which that he was delivered the Psalmist singeth Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that I may shew forth all thy prayses in the gates of the daughter of Sion Psalm 9.13 14. Now as some of the Fathers doe expound our Saviours going to Hell of his descending into Gehenna so others expound it of his going to Hell according to the common law of nature the common law of nature I say which extendeth it selfe indifferently unto all the dead whether they belong to the state of the New Testament or of the Old For as Christs soule was in all points made like unto ours sinne onely excepted while it was joyned with his body here in the land of the living so when he had humbled himselfe unto the death it became him in all things to be made like unto his brethren even in that state of dissolution And so indeed the soule of Iesus had experience of both For it was in the place of humaine soules and being out of the flesh did live and subsist It was a reasonable soule therefore and of the same substance with the soules of men even as his flesh is of the same substance with the flesh of men proceeding from Mary saith Eustathius the Patriarch of Antioch in his exposition of that text of the Psalme Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell Where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hell you see he understandeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of humaine soules which is the Hebrewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or world of spirits and by the disposing of Christs soule there after the maner of other soules concludeth it to be of the same nature with other mens soules So S Hilary in his exposition of the 138. Psalme This is the law of humaine necessitie saith he that the bodies being buried the soules should goe to Hell Which descent the Lord did not refuse for the accomplishment of a true man and a little after he repeateth it that de supernis ad inferos mortis lege descendit he descended from the supernall to the infernall parts by the law of death and upon the 53. Psalme more fully To fulfill the nature of man he subjected himselfe to death that is to a departure as it were of the soule and body and pierced into the infernall seates which was a thing that seemed to be duâ— unto man So Leo in one of his Sermons upon our Lords passion Hee did undergoe the lawes of Hell by dying but did dissolve them by rising againe and so did cut off the perpetuitie of death that of eternall hee might make it temporall So Irenaeus having said that our Lord conversed three dayes where the dead were addeth that therein he observed the law of the dead that hee might be made the first begotten from the dead staying untill the third day in the lower parts of the earth and afterward rising in his flesh Then he draweth from thence this generall conclusion Seeing our Lord went in the midst of the shadow of death vvhere the soules of the dead were then afterward rose againe corporally and after his resurrection was assumed it is manifest that the soules of his disciples also for whose sake the Lord wrought these things shall goe to an invisible place appointed unto them by God and there shall abide untill the resurrection wayting for the resurrection and afterwards receaving their bodies and rising againe perfectly that is to say corporally even as our Lord did rise againe they shall so come unto the presence of God For there is no disciple above his master but every one shall be perfect if he be as his master The like collection doth Tertullian make in his booke of the Soule If Christ being God because he was also man dying according to the Scriptures and being buried according to the same did heere also satisfie the law by performing the course of an humane death in Hell neyther did ascend into the higher parts of the heavens before he descended into the lower parts of the earth that he might there make the Patriarches and Prophets partakers of himselfe thou hast both to beleeve that there is a region of Hell under the earth and to push them with the elbowe who proudly enough doe not thinke the soules of the faithfull to be fit for Hell servants above their Lord and disciples above their Master scorning perhaps to take the comfort of expecting the resurrection in Abrahams bosome And in the same booke speaking of the soule What is that saith he which is translated unto the infernall parts or Hell after the separation of the body which is detayned there which is reserved unto the day of judgement unto which Christ by dying did descend to the soules of the Patriarches I thinke Where he maketh the Hell unto which our Saviour did descend to be the common receptacle not of the soules of the Patriarches alone but also of the soules that are now still separated from their bodies as being the place quò universa humanitas trahitur as he speaketh elsewhere in that booke unto which all mankinde is drawne So Novatianus after him affirmeth that the very places which lye under the earth be not voyde of distinguished and ordered powers For that is the place saith he whither the soules both of the godly and ungodly are led receiving the fore-judgements of their future dâ—ome Lactantius saith that our Saviour rose againe ab inferis from Hell but so he saith also that the dead Saints shall be raised up ab inferis at the time of the Resurrection S. Cyrill of Alexandria saith that the Iewes killed Christ and cast him into the deepe
grounds from whence that Invocation of Saints did proceed whereby the honour of God and Christs office of mediation was afterwards so much obscured That saying of S. Augustin is very memorable and worthy to be pondered Whom should I finde that might reconcile me unto thee Should I have gone unto the Angels With what prayer with what sacraments Many endevouring to returne unto thee and not being able to doe it by themselves as I heare have tryed these things and have fallen into the desire of curious visions and were accounted worthy of illusions Whether they that had recourse unto the mediation of Martyrs in such sort as these had unto the mediation of Angels deserved to be punished with the like delusions I leave to the judgement of others the thing which I observed was this that such dreames and visions as these joined with the miraculous cures that were wrought at the monuments of the Martyrs bredd first an opinion in mens mindes of the Martyrs abilitie to helpe them and so afterward ledd them to the recommending of themselves unto their prayers and protection where at first they expected onely by their intercession to obtaine temporall bâ—essings such as those cures were that were wrought at their tâ—mbes and other like externall benefites but proceeded afâ—erward to crave their mediation for the procuring of the remission of their sinns and the furthering of their everlasting salvation As often dear brethren as we do celebrate the solemnities of the holy Martyrs let us so expect by their intercession to obtaine from the Lord TEMPORALL benefits that by imitating the Martyrs themselves we may deserve to receive eternall saith the author of the sermon of the Martyrs which is found among the homilies of S. Augustin and Leo and in the Romane Breviary is appointed to be read at the common festivall dayes of many Martyrs Be mindfull of the Martyr saith S. Basil in his Panegyricall oration upon Mamas as many of you as have enâ—oyed him by DREAMES as many of you as comming to this place have had him a helper to your praying as many as to whom being called by name hee shewed himselfe present by his workes as many travailers as he hath brought back againe as many as he hath raysed from sicknesse as many as he hath restored their children unto being now dead as many as have received by his meanes a longer terme of life Here a man may easily discerne the breedings of this disease and as it were the grudgings of that ague that afterwards brake out into a pestilentiall feaver The Martyr is here vocatus onely not invocatus yet not called upon by being prayed unto but called to joyne with others in putting up the same petition unto his and their God For as here in the Church militant we have our fellow-souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 striving together with us and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helping together with their prayers to God for us and yet because we pray one for another we doe not pray one to another so the Fathers which taught that the Saints in the Church triumphant doe pray for us might with S. Basil acknowledge that they had the Martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-helpers to their prayer and yet pray with them onely and not unto them For howsoever this evill weed grew apace among the superstitious multitude especially yet was it so cropt at first by the skilfull husbandmen of the Church that it gott nothing neere that height which under the Papacâ— we see it is now growen unto Which that we may the better understand and more distinctly apprehend how farre the recommending of mens selves unto the prayers of the Saints which began to be used in the latter end of the fourth age after Christ came short of that Invocation of Saints which is at this day practised in the Church of Rome these speciall differences may be observed betwixt the one and the other First in those elder times he that prayed silently was thought to honour God in a singular maner as one that brought faith with him and confessed that God was the searcher of the heart and reynes and heard his prayer before it was powred out of his mouth the understanding of the present secrets of the heart by the generall judgement of the Fathers being no more communicated by him unto the creatures then the knowledge of things to come for before the day wherin the secrets of the heart shall be manifested almightie God alone doth behold the hidden things saith S. Hierome alledging for proofe of this the text Matth. 6.4 Thy Father that seeth in secret Psalm 7.9 God searcheth the hearts and reynes and 1. King 8.39 Thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men But now in the Church of Rome mentall prayers are preâ—ented to the Saints as well as vocall and they are beleeved to receive both the one and the other Secondly in the former times it was a great question whether at all or how farre or after what maner the spirits of the dead did know the things that concerned us here and consequently whether they pray for us onely in generall and for the particulars God answereth us according to our severall necessities where when and after what maner he pleaseth Anselmus Laudunensis in his interlineall Glosse upon that text Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knoweth us not Esai 63.16 noteth that Augustine sayeth that the dead even the Saints doe not know what the living doe no not their owne sonnes And indeed S. Augustine in his booke of the Care for the dead maketh this inference upon that place of Scripture If such great Patriarches as these were ignorant what was done toward the people that descended from them unto whom beleeving God the people it selfe was promised to come from their stocke how doe the dead interpose themselves in knowing and furthering the things and actes of the living aâ—d afâ—erward draweth these conclusions from thence which Hugo de Sancto Victore borrowing from him hath inserted into his booke De Spiritu animâ cap. 29. The spirits of the dead be there where they doe neyther see nor heare the things that are done or fall out unto men in this life Yet have they such a care of the living although they know not at all what they doe as we have care of the dead although we know not what they doe The dead indeed doe not know what is done here while it is here in doing but afterward they may heare it by such as die and goe unto them from hence yet not altogether but as much as is permitted to the one to tell and is fit for the other to heare They may know it also by the Angels which be here present with us and carry our soules unto them They may know also by the revelation of Gods spirit such of the things done here as