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book_n	old_a	prophet_n	testament_n	5,085	5	8.1969	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20964	The waters of Siloe To quench the fire of purgatory and to drowne the traditions, limboes, mans satisfactions and all popish indulgences, against the reasons and allegations of a Portugall frier of the order of St. Frances, supported by three treatises. The one written by the same Franciscan and entituled The fierie torrent, &c. The other two by two doctors of Sorbon. The one intituled The burning furnasse. The other The fire of Helie. By Peter Du Moulin minister of Gods word. Faithfully translated out of French by I.B.; Accroissement des eaux de Siloé. English	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Barnes, John, fl. 1600-1621, attributed name.; I. B., fl. 1612.	1612 (1612)	STC 7343; ESTC S111086	158,344	552

in any other place shall wee find any word thereof Thus is this place now emptie if we cannot find any to lodge in it And because it is likely that the Franciscans according to their rule doe not goe into Purgatory single but by two and by two This Limbo lying in the way to Purgatory seemeth a very convenient place to lodge him who being departed hence alone must attend his companion Besides these foure places Bellarmine who lately writ at Rome The flowred meddow and as it were in the Popes bosome with the approbation and commendation of all the Church of Rome but particularly of al our Doctors in the 7. Chap. of his second booke of Purgatory hath found out a fifth place that is to say a bright and cleere meddow all diapred with sweet smelling flowers which hee maketh to be a dependance of Purgatory and as it were a withdrawing chamber wherein those doe take their rest who are most kindly entreated most gently dealt withall and groundeth himself vpon the auctoritie of venerable Beda and Dionise a Charterhouse Monk an auctor of great credit whoe is full fraught with fantasticall revelations he should haue added how these flowers doe spring without sun or raine frō whence that goodly brightnesse could pierce into those deepe partes of the earth Out of this meddow do the souls immediately passe into Paradice but before the comming of Iesus Christ they went thence into Limbo a matter of great compassion that passing out of a bright meddow full of recreation they should come to bee shut vp in a darke prison Such therfore is the building which our Masters haue erected vnder groūd making by an order contrary to nature the lowest chambers to be the hottest digging without any autoritie of the Gospell sundry compartiments vnder the earth like to mouldwarpes blinded with the sunshine of Gods word In this place I would entreat the reader throughout all this mysterie to take note of a certaine kinde of soules which should haue more agilitie experience then their fellowes so many walkes and turnings are they put vnto These are those soules who departing from their bodies vnder the old Testament were first presented before the Iudge and thence sent into Purgatory but escaping thence after a scalding fire entered into a bright meddow ful of recreation Afterwards from this medow they passed into Limbo thence came forth with Iesus Christ then did they follow him 40 daies vpon the earth finally entered into Paradice Let vs therefore finde no farther fault with Plato or his Metempsychosis for his revolutions and passages of soules are nothing so prodigious indeed our Masters doe carry away the bell for invention from all Poets These matters thus dispatched and set out as it were in a table it resteth that wee now examine this Purgatory and the abuses therevpon depending and proue that the word of God is a spring more then sufficient to quench this the Popes so profitable a fire Here may our Reader if it please him note that Purgatory is by our adversaries placed among the Articles of our beleefe so as vnlesse wee beleeue therein Bellarm. de Purgat lib. 2 cap. 12. Haec sunt we cannot bee saved that the importance of the matter may tie him to attention So shall we breake one of the legges of this Colossus one of the principall pillers of Babylon CAP. 2. That the holy scripture is a sufficient iudge for this question as also for all other cōtroversies concerning faith and that therein is no mention of Purgatory or of any Indulgence whereby to release soules out of the torment thereof to a iudge that beareth them so smal favour they many times giue it some gird Thus saith the Auctor of the fire of Helie Pag. 61. Albeit there bee no mention of Purgatory in the Scripture yet cannot Du Moulins conclusion bee but bad in saying there is no Purgatory And here he raketh togither a number of things which saith he are not in the holy Scripture Yea so presumptuous is our Franciscans ignorance as to say that throughout the old Testament there is not one expresse word of the immortalitie of the soule Pag. 16. In this regard it is requisite that before we proceed any farther we trie these Doctors in this case to the quicke and defend the perfection of the holy Scripture Amid the corruptions of the world wee haue yet this honor that we be the advocates of Gods cause and of the worthinesse of his word Which as S. Paul 2. Tim. 3. saith is able to instruct vs and to make vs wise to salvatiō Initio lib. 2. adversus Gentes which also saith Athanasius abundantly suffiseth to instruct vs in all truth Wherein as saith Chrysostome vpon the second Chapter of the 2. to the Thessalonians is cleerly cōtained al that is necessary For was it possible that aforetime the fiue books of Moses were sufficient to instruct the Church to salvation that now the same fiue bookes together with the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles cannot suffice hath God forbiddē to adde or diminish to the bookes of Moses Deut. 4.1 and nowe that both in the old and new Testament we haue much larger instruction shal it be tollerable to adde an vnwritten word Other Canonicall bookes Other articles of faith Jf the Gospell be sufficient to saue vs who shal be so bold as to say that the new Testament doth containe but part of the Gospel To alleadge either the tiranny of custome or the antiquity of a traditiō without the word of God what is it but to alleadge the antiquitie of Error and to arme both Iewes Gentils with the like reasons cōsidering that vntruth is very ancient yea it hath beene even from the beginning also that against the truth no prescription of time may take place To ioine therfore to the holy scriptures an vnwritten word and to make the traditions of the Romish Church equal with the bookes of the olde and new Testamēt is a great disparagemēt to the Maiestie of the holy Scripture It is as much as to do that which expresly is forbiddē in the law of Moses that is to plow with an oxe and an asse to yoake togither things very vnequall to make man equall with God and the lead of the Popes Buls with the pure steele of the spiritual sword of the Gospel True it is that they tearme these Traditions the word of God and traditions of the Apostles but they shewe not when or to whom God did first inspire them They deliver vnto vs the Canon of the Masse for an Apostolical tradition wherein neverthelesse they name some persons that lived three hūdred yeares after the Apostles time Thus the Indulgences the forgiunesse of all sins at the end of every 25. yeares The communion vnder one kinde The fetching of souls out of Purgatory by Popish Indulgences The prohibiting of the lay people from reading of the holy

ensuing besides the aforesaid absurdities hath yet this particular that it presupposeth that the Lords praier is said for the dead also If so thē do we also pray that God would giue them their dayly bread As for bread it is the lesse strange because the fire of Purgatory is sufficient to bake it and sith in the Masse it is said that the soules do sleepe in this fire and rest in a slumber of peace it is like whē they awake they haue a good appetite But I cannot comprehende howe this bread may be called Dayly sith there they haue neither day nor sun Hereto let vs adioine the same that our doctors haue confessed That God hath already pardoned those roasted soules from all their offences that he only requireth of them the paines due to the sins already pardoned how can we thē desire God to forgiue thē their sins which are already forgiven them A lyer must haue a good memory The last passage for subtiety beareth away the bel Iesus Christ saith the Monk shed his blood for many therefore for the dead What need he to seeke so farre set proofes to proue that which we confesse who denieth but the blood of Iesus Christ was shed for many for al the faithful for all the Saints and Martyrs How impertinent also is this collection that the Frier here maketh out of the ancients to proue that the Lords Supper is a sacrifice What maketh it for Purgatory Sith we grant that it is a sacrifice but as it is said in the Masse A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving neither Propitiatory nor redemptory but by representation because the supper is a commemoratiō of the death of Iesus Christ the only propitiatorie sacrifice And in regard hereof this sacrifice was alwaies called Eucharistia that is A thāksgiving As for the cōmemoration of the dead practised by some of the ancients in the supper I wil in the next chapter following proue that it maketh against Purgatorie for therein they also made a commemoration of the Apostles and Martyrs And in this place doth the Frier proue himselfe a most ridiculous flatterer in spreading abroad such Panegericks and praises of Monsieur Duranti one that deserveth commendations out of an honester mans mouth as also of our king who is too wise to thinke that such commēdations are other then shamelesse beginnings But what is become of those daies when men of his coat went in Procession in armes the pike in one hand the portuise in the other and were the firebrands of publike combustions encouraging the people against their king whilst we as good subiects even such as we will be to the death did shed our blood in his service Of like substance also is the fable that hee patcheth vp of a Masse song in England for the soule of the late Queene and the offerings contributed in her funerall wherevpon in full hope he exclaimeth At length the truth shall rise out of Democritus well you deceaue your selfe good man she rose from thence even in the time of the Apostles and primitiue Church But the divel hath dealt with her as he did with Ioseph when hee came out of the well she hath been sold to strange marchāts brought into bondage and put in subiection not as Ioseph was to an Eunuch but to the father of lies marveilous fruitfull 8 This now decided let vs into our way againe In his 19. page hee bringeth in a prayer for the dead taken out of Esay 57.1 2. Cayer also pag. 24 citeth the same place but contrarieth the Frier saying that it is not a prayer for the dead but a lamentation that he maketh because that in those daies in Israel they prayed not for the dead The fire of Helie is content to say only that this passage doth not condemne Purgatory Pag. 66. Thus doe these our masters agree among themselus but in the third Chapter we haue shewed that the Frier falsifieth this place and that the same quite quencheth Purgatory 9 Nowe followeth the passage which all the 3 Doctors make vse of whereof they forme a mightie Bulwarke It is in the 2. of the Machabes the 12. where say they Iudas sent 12 thousand drachmes of silver to Hierusalem to be offered in sacrifice for the dead Hereto we answer 1. They falsifie the place The Frier pag. 10. 2. The book is not Canonicall 3. Were it Canonical yet maketh it nothing for Purgatory 4. They sinne against the naturall principles of the question For we never dispute against any but by the principles and autorities that we receaue Men dispute not with Iewes by the autoritie of the new Testament neither will the Gentils disputing against the Christians produce the testimony of Hesiods Theogony This S. Augustine knowing in his question against Maximine saith in his third booke and 14. Chapter that he will vse the Scriptures non quorumcunque prop●ijs sed vtrique communibus Not proper to such or to such but cōmon to both Now let vs returne over the three first points First the falsification is proued by reading over the place This it is Iudas sent to Hierusalem the summe of twelue thousand drachmes of silver to offer sacrifises for the sinne hee saith for the sinne not as the Frier saith for the dead Now what these wordes for the sinne doth signifie shall hereafter appeare That the book is not Canonicall we haue infinite proofes 1. First these books are not in the Hebrewe 2. Iesus Christ and his Apostles whoe vpon every occasion did alleage the passages of the old Testament never named any of these bookes neither out of them cited any passage 3. The Autor himselfe cap. 2. v. 19. saith that his purpose is to abridge the fiue bookes of Iason the Cirinean into one booke Now if Iasons bookes were not Canonicall how can the abstract of them be Canonicall If Trogus or Dyon bee prophane bookes how can Iustine or Xiphiline be sacred S. Paule 2. Tim. 3.16 saith All Scripture is given by inspiration of God But what inspiration is it to say the same that another in a prophane booke hath spoken and only to abridge his words What more The Autor doubting whether he had said well toward the ende concludeth thus If I haue said well and as it appertaineth to the history it is as much as I desire Are the motions of the spirit of God so insensible or doubtfull as to leaue the mind in suspense and vncertaine concerning the excellency of such things as it hath suggested a little after hee excuseth the simplicitie of his stile Will God who hath no interest to be beleeued whose naked words doe farre exceed the most polished words of man excuse the poverty of his owne phrase Or shall not hee that made the tongue haue eloquence enough yes for hee inspireth his servants with so much eloquence as he thinketh good neither is it for vs either to distast it or to bring excuses But in the reading of these

Afterward the sixt vniversall Councell approueth and confirmeth all the contents of the Councell of Laodicea Hereto agreeth the Councell of Carthage wherein S. Augustine was presēt True it is that the Latine copies miserably falsified by our adversaries doe place these bookes among the Canonicall At Paris by Conrad Neobarius 1540. but in the Greek copies printed by themselues they are not once mentioned As for the anciēt Doctors Prologus Galeatus when shall we haue produced their depositions herevpon S. Hierome in his Prologue vpon the Bible Machab. lib. inter Scripturas Canonicas Ecclesia non recipit hath expresly handled this matter There hee admitteth no other bookes of the olde Testament to be Canonicall but such as be in the Hebrew Bible in number two and twentie himselfe in the preface vpon the bookes of Salomon speaking of Ecclesiasticus and the wisdome of Salomon saith thus As the Church indeed readeth the bookes of Iudith of Toby and of the Machabes but not among the Canonicall Scriptures even so also shee readeth these two volumes for the edification of the people but not to confirme the doctrine of the Church S. Hillary vpon the prologue to the Psalmes agreeth with S. Hierome and saith that in the old Testament there bee as many bookes as there be letters in the Hebrew Alphabet that is two and twentie Athanasius in his booke entituled Synopsis S. Scripturae nameth all the bookes of the olde Testament vnto two and twentie and saith That the rest of the bookes of the olde Testament are not Canonicall neither read to any but to the Catechumeni Manethon ●ishop of Sardis giueth vs a catologue of the bookes of the old Testament in the fourth booke of Eusebius cap. 25. Where in the Macchabees are not named Eusebius in his thirde booke and tenth Chapter speaking of the bookes of the old Testament saith We haue no infinite number of discordant bookes but only two and twenty And farther he saith that whatsoever is written since the time of Artaxerxes is not worthy like credit as the former and of this sort are the Macchabees Epiphanius in his booke of measures saith as much nameth all the bookes of the old Testament but speaketh not of the Macchabees Among the works of S. Ciprian we finde a treatise of the exposition of the Creed which seemeth rather to bee of Ruffinus Therein the autor nameth all the bookes both of the old and new testament then saith These are the books which the fathers haue encloased in the Cānon and Rule from whence wee are to take the proofes of our faith yet are wee to vnderstand that there be other bookes not Canonicall but Ecclesiasticall among which are the bookes of Tobie Iudith the Macchabees c. What woulde wee haue more Among al the Bishops of Rome even Gregory the great in his morals vp on Iob. lib. 19. cap. 29. purposing to alleadge the Macchabees concerning the act of Eleazar excuseth himself in these words Qua in re non inordinatè agimus si ex libris nō Canonicis c. Bell. lib. 1. de verbo Dei cap. 10. Wherein we speake not from the purpose albeit wee produce testimonies out of the bookes not Canonicall but written for the edification of the Church he wrot sixe hundred yeares after Jesus Christ Even Bellarmine doth confesse that Origen Athanasius Nazianzen Epiphanius Hierome received not the Macchabees among the Canonical Our adversaries make a buckler of S. Augustine set him in counterpoize against all antiquity in this point contemning all the auctority of the fathers and their own Popes And yet herein they doe him wrong for this good father never straied from the vniversall consent of the Church in his time August ad Gaudent li. 2. cap. 23. Vnto Gaudentium who vsed the auctority of the example of Razias that killed himselfe and is mētioned in the second of the Macchabees he answereth thus The Iewes hold not this booke in like degree as the law the Prophets and the Psalmes to whom Iesus Christ yeeldeth testimony as to those that heare witnesse of him but this booke is received by the Church not vnprofitably if it be read discreetly especially in regarde of the sufferings of certaine Martyrs Read the whole page and yee shal see that S. Augustines intent was to beate downe the obiection of Gaudentius who armed himselfe with the auctority of this booke also to proue that Iesus Christ deferred no auctority to any other but to the law to the Prophets and to the Psalmes Yet do our adversaries produce some passages out of S. Augustin to the contrary but manifestly falsified In his eighteenth booke of the cittie of God cap. 36. he saith thus Quorū supputatio temporum non in Scrip sanctu quae Canonica appellant ur sed in aliis invenitur in quibꝰ sunt Machab libri quos non Iudaei sed Ecclesia pro Canonicis habet The supputation of this time from the new building of the temple is not found in the holy scriptures which are called Canonicall but in other bookes which are the Macchabees could hee more expresly raze the Macchabees out of the Canonical scriptures but at the ende hereof let vs see a taile most botcherly clapt on by some Mōk Which booke not the Iewes but the Church holdeth for Canonicall O grosse Impostor After he hath saide that the Macchabees are not holy scripture nor Canonicall would he say that the Church receiveth them for Canonicall The frier saith that sundry fathers haue vsed these books and do cite passages out of them To what purpose is this Whosoever alleadgeth a book doth he therfore hold it to be Canonicall But we stand now vpō much stronger tearms For this passage well wayed will bee found contrary to Purgatory He saith that Iudas offering sacrifice for sinne thought vpon the resurrection yea hee saith that otherwise it had beene a folly to pray for the dead whereby it appeareth that the auctor never imagined that Iudas praied to bring these soules out of Purgatory but that he praid that the sinne by thē committed might not hinder them from rising to glory and salvation for any man that is demanded wherefore he prayeth for the dead if he answer that it is for the resurrection he manifestly sheweth that he beleeveth no Purgatory Otherwise hee would not haue omitted that which is most vrgent but would haue craved to be released out of such long and horrible torments Aske all these our Masters wherefore they pray for the dead I am sure none of them will say for the resurrection Pag. 11. The Frier foreseeing a storme of passages of the fathers conspiring to overthrow the auctority of this book shrim king betimes and as it were forsaking the place saith That at the least it cannot not be denyed but that this is a historie which assureth vs that Iudas made praiers and sacrifices for his brethrē deceased there is

Scriptures The custome to pray in a tongue vnknown even to him that praieth The feast of God The Elevation and walking of their consecrated cake vp and downe The hallowed Graines and Medals The fraternity of S. Frances Corde loaden with so manie pardons and priviledges and such like trash Can. satis Dist 96. Gloss Clem. cum inter Sacr. Cerem sect 7. cap. 6. sedes Dei sedes Apostolica The last Councell of Lateran sess 9. Divinae Maiestatis tuae conspectus which them selues do confesse were brought in long since the Apostles time shal by this reckoning be holden for the word of God and the Tradions of the Apostles And that with good reason sith the Pope assumeth to himselfe the name of God and his holinesse The divine Maiestie and in infinite places in his Cannons The Spouse of the Church yea as saith Bellarmine de Pontif. Rom. lib. 1-cap 9. etiam Christo secluso evē Jesus Christ excluded or set aside Sith that likewise the Pope tearmeth office Apostolat all his furniture Apostolicall as his chamber his letters his chaire his cloake his Pallace And vnlesse God take pitty vpon vs they will shortly call his hose and points Apostolicall Now that in all this the drift of our Masters tendeth only to shunne the holy scriptures which condemne them it appeareth in these words The vnwritten word For what is the vnwritten word but a Chimera in the aire an imperceptible Idea For where can we finde this vnwritten word If we must seeke it as they say at the mouth of the vniversall Church when shal I haue gathered together the vniversall Church to instruct me Or if the people must haue recourse to their Curat how shal they know whether their Curate agreeth with the vniversall Church What side shall we take where the doctors do disagree As do now these three doctors who are growne to censure and in their pulpits to disclaime one of thē Or if one bee borne in an hereticall Church or betweene two Churches grounded vpon contrary Traditions as betweene the Greeke and the Romain But if wee must seeke this vnwritten word of God in the bookes of ancient doctors then it is written and albeit these bookes be subiect to errour yet the Traditions of the Romish Church as the afore named and Purgatory are not there to be found as hereafter we shall proue Moreover in as much as they would make vs beleeue that the Pope hath such letters of credence that wee must therefore do all that he commandeth and beleeue all that he list to perswade vs albeit this bee not found in the holie scripture yet whē the church of Rome hath neede of Reformation in capite membris as it is the ancient cōplaint what meanes is there to proceed considering that he that is to bee reformed is the maker of the lawes soveraigne Iudge in all matters of Religion consequently in his owne cause God forbid that man should bee iudge over the cause of God or that all the Popes inventions for the advācing of their Empire should be holden for the word of God and the rule of our faith But let vs here the productiōs of these doctors all those things that they say are not cōtained in the Scripturs Our observātin Moncke shall march formost and haue the first place He saith that thorough out all the old Testament there is not one expresse worde concerning the Immortalitie of the soule Admit it were so yet what interest had he to search out the defects of the holy scripture But had he sought wel he might haue found these wordes in the last of Daniell Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame contempt What can bee spoken more expresly And in the 12. of Ecclesiastes v. 7. And dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit returne to God that gaue it And in the 23. of Numbers Balaam desireth to die the death of the righteous An evident proofe that he held their death to be blessed But were this frier Minor as well acquainted with the holy Scriptures as he is with the rule of S. Frances he would never haue vttered a speech so impertinent and ful of impietie for the which hee deserveth to change his order and from the Observantine fryerie to be sent to the ignorant friers The auctor of the fire of Helie broaceth it much deeper he demādeth how by the holy scriptures wee canne proue this proposition That the holy Scripture containeth all that we ought to beleeue But this is not our saying for we may and ought to beleeue many things that are not contained in the holy Scripture In such maner do we beleeue that Romulus with a troope of theeues built Rome Stella Platina The booke of Indulgēces printed at Rome wee beleeue the history of Pope Io●e as a history advowed by many auctors both friends and servants to the Popes and of whom there yet remaine manie traces and causes of remembrance wee beleeue that Alexander 3. did set his foot vpon the throat of Fredericke Barberossa Volateran Sabellicus Martianus Polonus vpon the staires of S. Markes Church at Venice where this his so heroical exploit is to this day represented we beleeue those histories that recorde howe the Emperour Henrie the 7. was poysoned in their consecrated cake Their God poisoned with a thousand such like histories both old and newe whereof the scripture never made mentiō Only we say that the holy scriptures doe containe all documents and instructions necessary to salvation This doe we say with S. Paul who in the 2. to Tim. cap. 3. v. 15. saith It is able to make vs wise to salvation what more can we demand The same Apostle 1. Cor. 4 6. teacheth vs Not to presume aboue that which is written toward the end of the new Testament we find these words I protest vnto every one that heareth the Prophecie of this booke that if any man shal adde vnto these things God shal adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke whereto our adversaries can frame no other reply Consilium foro Iulii but that this curse extendeth no farther but to the booke of the Revelation Yet doth the councell of Triuly bridle them in these words The protestation of the Apostle Iohn in the Revelation vnder the title of one booke hath relation to the whole course of both the Testaments saying if any man adde c. Againe he challengeth me to proue by the holy Scriptures these 8 things which vnderhand he supposeth to bee necessary to salvation In the Index Biblicus printed at Anwerp by Plantin 1588. p. 5. 1. The baptisme of young children which neverthelesse is proved by the Iesuits and Doctors of the Vniversitie of Lovaine also by the Catechisme of the Councell of Trent by many passages of the holy Scripture Thus

immediatly hee seeketh a beginning of another iourney The soule is losed from the body Solvitur corpere anima ad huc tamē futuri iudidii ambiguo suspenditur but yet abideth in suspense vpon the doubt and vncertainty of the future iudgement If this be so then doth she not inioy felicitie before the day of iudgement S. Augustine is of the same mind for in him we finde sundry places wherein speaking of the soules of some persons deceased he thinketh them to bee translated into heaven and to bee with God but wee find more places where he holdeth the contrary and followeth the common error vpon the 36. Psalme he saith that the soule departed from the body shal not be in the kingdome of heauen well it may be in Abrahams bosome with Lazarus for so doth he cal this receptacle and to shew that this was the common opinion he saith that no man was ignorant thereof These be his words Post vitam islam parvam nondum eris vbi erunt sancti quibus dicetur venite Benedicti c. Non dum ibi eris Quis nescit So in the ninth booke of his Confessions cap. 3. he thus speaketh to God Thou hast losed Nebridius out of this flesh Nebridiu● carne solvisti nunc ille vivit in sinu Abrahae quicquid illud est quod ille significatur Tempusquod inter hominis mortem vltimam resurrectionem interpositum est animas abditis receptaculis continet Socratis animarum receptaculis sedibusque requiescit Secundum apertissimam Domini sententiam etiā ipse sentit tūc visuros faciē Dei cum in Angelos profecerimus 1. aequales Angelis facti fuerimus quod erit vtique in resurrectione mortuorū and now he liveth in Abrahams bosome whatsoever it is that is signified by this bosome Here he speaketh as doubting In his manuell to Laurentius cap. 108. The time that is betweene death and the last resurrection containeth the soules in secret receptacles according as every one is worthy of rest or of affliction And in his 17. booke of the Citty of God cap. 9. This part of the citty of God which is gathered together from among mortall men must bee conioined with immortall Angels is now a traveller vpon earth being subiect to death whereas for those that are dead they rest in the hidden receptacles or seats of souls In his Epistle to Fortunatianus According to the most evidēt sētēce of our Lord and S. Paule holdeth that wee shall see the face of the Lord when we shal be advanced even to the Angels that is to say that we be made equal to the Angels which shall be in the resurrection of the dead I will therefore make any man of vnderstanding iudge whether the wordes wherewith at this day they pray in the masse for the soules in Purgatory doe not testifie that when this praier was penned the beliefe of the latin Church was not concordant with it Qui nos praecesserunt in signo fidei dormiunt in somno pacis These bee the words Remember O Lord thy servāts that are gone before vs in the sign of faith and do sleepe in the slumber of peace To thē O LORD and to all that rest in Christ vvee beseech thee to graunt place of refreshing of light and of peace Could this bee spoken of soules so long tormented in a fire like to hell fire What rest what quiet sleepe in fire seavē times more hot then our ordinary fire A fire that cōtinueth hundreds and thousands of yeares Vndoubtedly this praier was made for the soules that they thought to be in the hiddē receptacles where they rested in expectation of the resurrection and felt some refreshing by the praiers of the living Indeed wee haue heard that such was the opinion of Tertullian who also vseth the like tearmes in his booke of Monogamy and willeth the wise to pray for her husbād In refrigerium adpostulet vt in prima resurrectione consortium entreating some refreshing for him and that he may accompany her in the first resurrection For this doctour beleeved that all the faithfull shoulde not rise togither as in the last chapter of his booke of the soule hee doth expresly say yea evē all the Greek Church is yet of that opinion who denying Purgatory do neverthelesse pray for the dead Vide Concil Ferrariense seu Florentinum Nilū de Purgatorio as not yet enioying coelestiall felicity And Guido in his summe of heresies attributeth the same errour to the Churches of Armenia This was it that induced Pope Iohn the 23. to maintaine this opinion to prohibit the divines of Paris from teaching otherwise as witnesseth Gerson in his pascal sermon Iohn Villanus in the tenth booke of his history This is one of the heroical actions of the Colledge of Sorbon and one of her last gaspes of her dying liberty for saith Erasmus in his preface to the fifth book of Ireneus Iohannes coactus opere Theologorum Parisiorum ad palinodiam coram Galliarū Rege Philippo non sinc buccina By al the premisses it appeareth how irresolute the ancients are in this question how vnfit they are to decide it into what Laberinthes they that sende vs to the fathers to be directed by them do endevour to entangle the consciences It also appeareth that the prayers for the dead that are to be foūd in these doctors doe make nothing for Purgatory but were made for their refreshings in those receptacles and for their salvation in the day of Iudgement also for other intents whereof we wil speak hereafter This is one degree of the bad dealing of my adversaries in their citing of the fathers That divers of the fathers beleeved that the fire in the last iudgment should purge the soules of all men even of the Apostles and Saints Clement of Alexandria was the first that declined frō the purity simplicity of the doctrine of the Gospell intermingling Platonicall Philosophy there with also his wheeling and capricious stile did blast and corrupt all that was naturall or forcible in the simplicity of Gods word yea he proceeded so far as to say in the sixt booke of his Tapisseryes that the Greekes were iust by Philosophy also that Philosophy was givē vnto them in liew of the Testamentes By the same vanity was hee likewise induced in the same booke to say that Christ and his Apostles descended into hell and there preached the Gospell to the soules of the Gentils and Infidels who saith he were by that preaching converted hee also holdeth that the souls of Infidels that are in hell may yet be converted and come to salvation Orig hom 3. in Psal 36. Omnes nos necesse est venire ad illū ignem etiam si vel Paulus sit vel Petrus Origen his disciple succeeded him in time but outstript him in heresies and to this Platonicall humour hath added thus much more The wresting of al the scriptures into allegories