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
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 eveÌ„ 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 theÌ„ 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 wheÌ„ the church of Rome hath neede of Reformation in capite membris as it is the ancient coÌ„plaint 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 advaÌ„cing of their Empire should be holden for the word of God and the rule of our faith But let vs here the productioÌ„s of these doctors all those things that they say are not coÌ„tained in the Scripturs Our observaÌ„tin 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 demaÌ„deth 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 IndulgeÌ„ces printed at Rome wee beleeue the history of Pope Ioâ—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 mentioÌ„ 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
passages and falsifying others even so far forth as to make him say that the soules departed out of the bodies doe not enioy the beatitude before the resurrection albeit that Calvin hath beaten down this error in a treatise which he wrot expresly vpon that argument Calvini Psichopannichia he lastly in his 17. page beginneth his proofes by the holy Scripture 6. His words are these The holy Scripture which teacheth vs all that is necessary to saluation doth withall forbid vs any thing that may be contrary thereto now let any man shewe me so much as one place that forbiddeth to pray for the dead The fire of Helie saith the same Pag. 8. 62. only he denieth that the Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation and therefore giueth examples The baptisme of children The consubstantialitie of the father with the sonne The Trinitie of persons c. To all the which wee haue already answered in the second Chapter It were good these doctors could agree among themselues In the meane time in answer to the Fryer Isay It is a mishapen argument and two of the propositions are false The first Propositiō is this The holy Scripture commanding that which is necessary to saluation doth also forbid all that is cōtrary thereto Which we deny because here the question is of an expresse prohibition For the Frier requireth that we should shew him such a one but it is well knowe that God when hee hath commanded any thing doth not alwaies in expresse words adde the prohibition of the contrary he wil be prayed vnto but where doth he forbid that we should not pray to him It suffiseth that this prohibition follow the commandement albeit it be not expressed The second prohibition is also false That prayer for the dead is not forbidden For any addition to the commandement of God is forbidden Deut. 4.2 prayer for the dead is an additiō to the commandement of God it is therefore forbidden because it is not commanded Againe Prayer that is not of faith cannot be acceptable to God Iames 1.6 Hebrewes 11.6 Prayer for the dead is made without faith for faith cōmeth of the word of God and is grounded therevpon but throughout all the worde of God prayer for the dead is not spoken of It cannot then bee acceptable vnto God Which is more by the same argumēt we may proue al things we may say that all that is in Amadis or in the chronicle of S. Frances is true because wee find not that it is there contradicted And let this be spoken in answer to Doctor Du Val who groundeth his Purgatory vpon this that Iesus Christ did not condemne prayer for the dead which saith hee was put in practise among the Iewes yet Iesus Christ never reproued thē for it True it is that the Iewes had their abuses which are not condemned in the Gospell Ioseph in that place saith that the Esseans in the course of their life observed Pithagoras rule As the sect of the Esseans witnesse Pliny lib. 5. cap. 17. and Iosephus Antiquitatum lib 18. cap. 2. And their opinion was and yet is That the Messias should be a great Prince that should conquer the nations and subdue them to the Iewes Iosephus also in his 12. booke and 2. Chapter of the warres of the Iewes saith that the Pharises taught the passage of the soules out of one body into another yet did not Iesus Christ reproue them for the same As concerning the opinion of praying for the dead if any of the Iewes were tainted therewith yet was it not vniversall doctrine receaved among them Eccl. 49.10 besides that it hath no affinity with Purgatory For even to this day such Iewes as pray for the dead knowe not what Purgatory is and their ordinary prayer is that the memory of the dead may be blessed 7. These Doctors hauing thus produced their reasons without Sctipture do now alleage Scripture without reason Thus saith the Frier S. Iames in his fifth Chapter saith Pray one for another that yee may be saued Pag. 17. Here S. Iames tyeth not this to the liuing only Hee also alleageth S. Augustine in his 20. book of the City of God who saith that the soules of the dead are not seperated from the Church He farther demandeth whoe told vs whether our Lord teaching vs to say forgiue vs our trespasses c. limited this prayer for the living or for the dead This also is of the like nature and full of subteltie Pag. 40. Iesus Christ saith hee taught vs to pray for the dead when hee Instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist Where he said Drinke yee all of this for this is my bloode of the new Testament which shall be shed for MANY S. Luke saith for YOV In saying for you for many he meaneth both present absent and to come therefore it is not for you to limit the will of Iesus Christ only to the living To answere all this requireth much patience though smal dexterity for we are driven to reduce these men as litle children to the ABC of reason 1. First this passage of S. Iames is falsified for S. Iames speaketh of the cure of the body not of the salvation of the soule as appeareth by the verse next before Prayer in faith shall saue the sicke and the Lorde shall raise him vp againe And to the like end also was this vnctiō namely to cure the diseased Thus the Apostle healed many diseased by anointing them Marke 16. 13. Tertullian in his 2. booke Scepula c. 4. speaketh of one Proculus who cured the Emperour Severus by annointing him with oile 2. I would aske the subtle doctors to whom S. Iames writ whether to the living or to the dead or to both Surely he writ to the living for they vse to carry no letters into Purgatory then they whom he commanded to pray were living 3. What kinde of proofe call you this S. Iames excludeth not the dead neither doth he forbid to pray for them we must therefore pray for them Surely if this reason were of force we must also pray for the Angels for the Saints yea for the damned for S. Iames doth not forbid to pray for anie of the 〈◊〉 4. The same answere may serue for that which they say That the dead bee of the Church and one bodie with vs for who denyeth it Must we alleadge S. Augustine for that which we may learne in the word of God Apoc. 6 12 Heb 12.23 Ephes 3.17 But doeth it follow that wee must pray to God for all that be of the Church why thē doth not the Romish Church pray for the Saints and Martyrs 5. The mēbers of one selfe body must helpe each other when any one of them standeth in need of help But here we maintaine this is the somme of our difference that the faithful deceased need not our succours The Frier then presupposeth as granted that which is the main question The passage
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 preseÌ„t 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 ancieÌ„t 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 â—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 CaÌ„non 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 noÌ„ 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 meÌ„tioned 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 QuoruÌ„ supputatio temporum non in Scrip sanctu quae Canonica appellant ur sed in aliis invenitur in quibê° 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 MoÌ„k 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 vpoÌ„ 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 theÌ„ 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 brethreÌ„ deceased there is
wheeles of this great frame of the Roman hierarchie For as a beast deadly wounded springeth forth with an extraordinarie force even so these Doctors doe excessiuely storme when you touch them in their best feeling that is in the belly in Avarice and in Idlenesse Of all the rest this Portugal Monk is the most ridiculously violent hee speaketh with a barbarous impetuositie with such a pride as hardly agreeth with his habit yet did I forbeare his honour and abstaine from all iniuries and bravadoes albeit I had a large field open before me and many proofes of his ignorance But I seeke not to dishonor any man only the glory of God do I aime at To these books thus stuffed with civilitie haue these reverend Doctors imposed Capriccious titles after the manner of those that hang out scurrilous tables over the forefronts of the houses where they act their enterludes or as such as carue Cyclops and Satyres vpon the frontispice of their buildings CAYER Marke then the title of Cayers booke The burning fornace or oven of reverberate c. And in his booke his speech runneth all vpon Limbecks firing evaporating recalcining c. All words of his art and of all this he maketh an Amalgame cōtaining more moon then sunne The other treadeth the same path and entituleth his booke The fire of Helie to drie vp the waters of Siloe VAL. Luke 9. You wot not by what spirit you be led The FRIER The Frier was loath to bee behind his fellowes or to vse a lesse ridiculous title then his writing is so to procure an vniformity wherein he proceeded with great discreation and this is his title The Torrent of fire proceeding from the face of God to drie vp the waters of Mara enclosed in the causey of the Mill of Ablon O frock garnished with elegācie Who was able on this side the Pirinean mountaines to attaine to such gallant conceptions and so well polished This Frier minor entendeth to haue all his pollutions and vncleannes that he spueth out throughout his whole booke to come forth from the face of God that is to say to bee expelled out of Gods presence Which neverthelesse hee armeth with autoritie entituling himselfe The Reverend Father Iames Observantin Doctor Preacher c. And in his preface braggeth that he writeth succinctly and strongly yet had it beene good hee had expected other mens commendations but he had more desire to ease them of that labour At the first blush therefore seeing so fierie bookes such hot furnaces Torrents of fire I feared to come neere thē but plucking vp my spirits and being a little way entred into the reading of the same I grew into farre greater admiration considering that these three friers were as farre discordant among themselues as fire and water and that these Doctors did most fiercely bang each other and yet were all signed and approved by the Doctors of Sorbone Yea so hot was this contention among them that one of them namely Cayer after hee had beene well displaid and hardly entreated was finally disclaimed in all their Pulpits blasted with perpetuall infamie All which they could never haue compassed but they must likewise taxe those Doctors that subscribed and allowed his booke Well did I knowe that the opinions of the Romish doctors doe agree but badly Herein is the Councel of Basil contrary to the Coūcel of Florence One saith that the pope cannot teach false doctrine another that hee can One that the Pope is aboue the Councell another that the Councell is aboue the Pope Misteria Mislae lib. 3. cap 9. Causa 15. Cā Alius Can. Nos sanctorū quaest 7 Extravag vnā sanctam de Maiorib Oleo One that Invocation of Saints is necessarie as Pope Innocent the 3. and Cayer in his conference advowed subscribed by the Doctors of Sorbone The others as the Lord of Eureux that it may wel enough be forborne and it is no matter of necessitie The Iesuits and such as in their hearts are more soundly nailed to the Papall sea doe advow that the Pope may giue and take away kingdomes that hee can absolue subiects from their oaths and fidelitie allegance to their Princes and this power haue the Popes of late assumed to themselues doe now put in practise Others that hold their iudgements somewhat more at liberty doe affirme all this to be meere vsurpation The most strictest orders of Friers and such soules as they haue brought into captivitie doe beleeue that the Church of Rome cannot erre in any point of doctrine and doe defend even the most grosse absurdities other more smooth tongued but withall more white livered doe say that there bee indeed grosse absurdities That they beleeue not any Purgatorie That the Iubile is but a kind of Marchandize That the fraternitie of the Corde is but superstition That the hallowed graines are but prophane trumperies That we might very well forbeare the portraying of God the taking of the cup in the Supper from the lay people the baptizing of bells the singing of Masses for horses corne hogges c. Yet for all this that wee must not separate our selues and the reason that vnder hand they giue out is this It is good for vs. All this passeth smoothly away so long as we speake not hardly of his holinesse and that the Church Profits be not deminished To be briefe these people are like twinnes whose heads being devided the bellies are neverthelesse knit together Surely this is the course whereby the vnitie of the Romish Church is vpholden Nether were wee vtterly ignorant of this discord yet should I never haue imagined that they would haue published their contradictions or produced these Doctors to the stage there to haue given them so rude a bastinado But drinke yee together Doctors agree among your selues for surely the same God that confounded the languages of the builders of Babylon doth still suffer divisiō to molest those that build it againe Now that which we speak of concerneth not Cayer alone for the Frier likewise gainesayeth his two cōpanions albeit he hath both seene their bookes out of them borrowed some part of his writings So as that which in the sixteenth of Genesis was spoken of Ismael His hand shall be against every mā and every mans hand against him doth very well agree with every of them whereof in this Treatise I will shewe you sundry examples These contradictions are somwhat hard of disgestiō but much more their slanders wherein they impose vpon vs most horrible and wicked opiniōs infinitely estranged from our beliefe As thus that we beleeue fiue mansions for the soules that our drift is to deny the Immortalitie of the soule that wee make al sinnes alike equal that we hold that the soules doe sleep from the day of their decease to the day of iudgmēt that wee would haue I wot not what Synode that never was to passe for an article of faith
that baptisme was not necessarie for any but the children of vnbeleevers that out of our Kalenders we haue raised the Virgin Mary the Apostles and in their places haue inserted Luther and Calvin that our Ministers doe preach liberty of conscience without any apprehension of divine iudgemēt that we hold that it sufficeth vs that Iesus Christ suffered for vs and therefore that wee neede not doe any more that at the Funerals of the late Queene of England they sung Masse had their offertory and prayed for her soule that Luther and Calvin in liew of raising the dead to life did put the living to death and that they are our Masters Patriarkes and Apostles c. To bee briefe they set downe even all the slanders that hatred can devise or malice can suggest wherewith they seduce the people and abuse their simplicitie What shall I speak of their vprightnesse in alleaging the Scriptures All the passages that they produce are for the most part either falsified or wrested to a contrary sense or to no purpose With a Magisteriall license they force a number of passages quoined vpon the anvill of Avarice that are not to be found in the originals either Greeke or Hebrew yea and sometimes contrary to the Roman translations Of so much negligence or dulnesse of their reader do they presume assuring themselues that the people shall never perceaue any thing or can so much as cōsult with the Scriptures which vnto them are as sealed letters and suspected bookes albeit in the meane time they are permitted to read the monstrous Legends the Psalters of the Virgin Mary ful fraught with blasphemy and the frivolous and and fabulous bookes of the life of Iesus Christ O yee soules that long for your salvation will you still liue in such grievous bondage What shall we yet be so vaine as to passe the seas to looke vpon the relickes of some Saints and will we not heare Iesus Christ when he offereth himselfe vnto vs in the holy Scriptures Shall we stoop more to curiositie thē to necessitie To the cōtent of our eies then to the salvation of our soules Shall we still be so rashly negligent as in a matter of such importance to credit the first commer Contenting our selues with following in liew of knowing Placing pietie in the knoweledge of nothing thrusting our selues into the presse and shrowding vs amōg the multitude Againe when any man shall say vnto vs that Iesus Christ or any of his Apostles do in such a place or in such a place teach vs Purgatory or the Invocation of saints c. Shall wee be so cruelly cowards to our selues or so vnthankfull to God as not to take so much paines as to look whether the same be truely alleaged And indeed wherefore should these Doctors cite the places but that we might see them For what an absurditie is this to quote the places to the people and then to debarre them from seeing of them To referre them to the places and then to command them not to looke in the booke The people of Beroe practised this examination of the things that S. Paul taught Acts. 17.10 for albeit he preached with farre more auctoritie and certitude thē any man in our age yet did they examine his preaching by the reading of the Prophets farre more obscure then the new Testament Enter therefore in to this examination I say and yet I say vnto you especially if you haue recourse to the originals that you shall enter as it were into a shop where they sell vizards yea where they doe not only sell them but where they make thē so excessiue is their licentious liberty Of all this will wee in this Treatise produce sundry proofes according as occasion shall serue A Treatise whose principall drift is a defence of the only purging of our sinnes which is the bloud of our Saviour Iesus Christ against the fire of Purgatorie An argument that carrieth with it the confutation of the doctrine of the Limboes of Traditions of Prayer for the dead of mans satisfactions and of Popish Indulgences I plead the cause of Iesus Christ I confute the reasons and passages of these Doctors and their burning writings yet touch not their persons neither their furnitures full of Invectiues that concerne not the argument Two things there are neverthelesse which I cannot overpasse their folly in vanting and their false dealing in answering me Fire of Helic p. 4. First they paint forth many triumphs great conquests and an extreame shaking of our Church so many goodly soules such a multitude of notable personages namely forty at Diepe revolted to the Romish Church which now is in travel of them If they come to life they shal come forth These men doe packe them very grosly for enquiring of any such breach in the Church of Diepe I cannot learne of more long time revolted then two the one a maiden who allured by a carnall marriage hath violated her spirituall marriage with Christ the other an English Iesuit 2. Pet. 5.22 who vpon a fained conversion intruded himselfe into our company and is now returned to his vomit Howbeit let vs put the case that the reporte of these conversions were as true as they be forged at pleasure Is it any mervaile that some loue the world turn wing to that part that yeeldeth most quietnesse and worldly promotion Were it not rather a wonder if there were none such Ioh. 6.66 Iesus Christ was forsaken of his disciples how much more wee who haue nothing but by his bounty Men in these daies in matter of Religion do follow the course of the affaires and do fit their beliefe to their worldly commodities The belly hath no eares And as vsually such are deafe as dwell neere the downefall of great waters even so the word of God pierceth not into the eares that are deafned with the bruit of the world and stopped with the currāt of Covetize of voluptuousnesse and of ambition especially at Paris where mē are bought and sold where rewardes are propounded And God graunt that Idolatry possesse none but those whō she hath deerely paid for herein are we to acknowledge the work of God that notwithstanding so many allurements and discommodities yet do the flocke of Iesus Christ grow and encrease yea even since these men made their vaunts that our Church was so sore shakē But we boast not so much neither indeede are these victories ours but our Lorde Iesus Christs In their triumphs they paint mee forth make me a party in the proofs of their sufficiencie The auctor of Helies fire saith that in the disputation against the frier I was twise or thrice at a non plus and so made some of them merry but hee sheweth neither when nor whervpon It might peradventure be when the frier refused to enter into any orderly disputation or to propoūd his reasons in forme saying that he was not permitted so to do either when he said
that the theft was scourged Suetonius Iulius in segmento 73. Plautus in Aphitruone aut satisfaciat mihi aut adiuret in super nolle esse dicta quae in me in sontem protulit but not the thiefe That excogitatum Commentum signified a Commentary That the pardons of foure and fifty thousand yeares are good and receaueable That satisfacere signifieth not to acknowledg his fault to the partie offended or to testifie that he was sorry for it or when he saying vnto me that God should be vniust if there were no purgatorie I answered that then God should be vniust to such as should liue in the day of iudgmeÌ„t also to the Carmelites that dy vpoÌ„ the friday who as themselues report haue a priviledge that they shal remain in purgatory no longer but vntill the next saterday But who would thinke that vntruth could so farre exceed Verily I am one of the least amonge the servants of God yet would I be sorrie that my yeares or want of capacitie should any way preiudice the equity of my cause but the word of God is mighty even in the mouthes of babes Besides should I trouble my selfe with answering an vnlearned man vnseene in the Greeke and Hebrew as appeared when we were to haue recourse to the Originals in both those laÌ„guages wher vpon the Iesuits of Turnon tooke vpoÌ„ them to stuffe his booke with passages collected out of prophane auctors and the Rabbins into whoÌ„ hee never thrust his snowt which Iesuits neverthelesse were many times mistaken in diverse things The manner of these Doctors in answering as in place convenient shall appeare But how should they make faithful report of things spoken who make no coÌ„science to falsifie my writing See therefore how they entreat me They produce not my wordes they reverse the order of my speeches The frier beginneth with the last page of my booke here there they mangle snatch at my discourse one beginneth at one end an other in the middest If I speak any thing that biteth they can quietly passe it over with silence They obiect the matter that I answer but my answers they suppresse He that seeketh the truth ought to produce the very wordes of his adversary he should trace him step by step without counterfeiting curtalling or disseÌ„bling but these men by a certaine doctoral disposition do skippe as at their masse over whole leaues they conceale the most forcible and the sooner to lead the reader that followeth vs out of our tracke they shuffle the course of my reasons and bring the head forth last Then having thus sented my discourse they proclaime before the pallace their fiery burning magnificall and ridiculous titles Some coulor they might haue had for their flight had my first booke been either tedious or ful of wordes The chardges of the Impression with the readers impatiencie might haue serued them in steede of figge leaues to cover their shame but my writing contained few pages the Arguments lay close for I studied to lay the bones bare that the sinewes might bee the better seene Their vnfaithfull dealing doth proceed yet farther for they forge other obiections then mine and of mine do they take away the edge by propounding them in other manner then I did Thus do they skirmish and sport them in answering of themselues much like vnto the Bulles in the amphitheater to whoÌ„ they cast men made of straw vpoÌ„ whoÌ„ being provoked they dischardged their rage As if they should say vnto me you are too rough The Church of Rome must be more gently entreated Take away your forcible argumeÌ„ts for these reasons lie to hard vpon vs so wil we commune with you Thus and thus must you obiect that so wee may answere with some coulor but they forgat to giue this warning before I doe therefore protest that these writings of these Doctors doe not coÌ„cerne me for that I never spake manie things that they impute to me they haue either fearefully dissembled or malitiously corrupted my best obiections Neither can I thinke my selfe sufficiently satisfied vntill I see my own writing perfect in the writings of my adversaries and their answer set down article to article reason to reason without cutting of or altering my wordes or disordering the order of my discourse Reverend Doctors I beseech you in curtesie None of these Doctors haue yet answered therfore the victory yet resteth with the Aâ—uctor yea I adiure you by the relicks of your coÌ„sciences to entreat me with more equirie take this booke which againe I offer vnto you encreased amplified and corroborated with reasons and some passages of Scriptures and answer it in such wise as that my reasons may not be mangled nor thrust out of order but that all men may see your answers at the foot of my obiections If your desire to bring the truth to light faileth you not no more then your leasures meanes books and support albeit all these faile vs wee shall soone perceaue which of vs hath the word of God to warrant and from the encounter of our reasons truly and vprightly reported wil proceed the sparks of the truth The Lord God vouchsafe to direct our pennes and dispose our hearts to propound such matters as may bee profitable to the salvation of his people proper to the glory of God and comfortable to the truth of his word THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOKE 1. A description of the foure chambers or stages which the Church of Rome placeth vnder the earth Namely of Hell of the Limboe of Children of the Limboe of the fathers and of Purgatory Also of the meanes to get out of Purgatory 2. That in this controversie as in all other that concerne faith the holy Scripture ought to bee iudge also that the same speaketh not of Purgatory nether of any temporall torment after this life nether of any Indulgences wherewith to fetch soules out of this torment 3. That the holy Scripture overthroweth Purgatory and that there is no other purgation of our sinnes but the blood and death of Iesus Christ and consequently that papall Indulgences are vnprofitable to the deceased 4. Against mans satisfactions in general 5. Against Popish Indulgences and the extraction of soules out of Purgatory 6. A confutation of such passages of the holy Scripture as these Doctors haue alleaged 7. What the Doctors of the foure first ages after Iesus Christ did hold and beleeue concerning this matter and that they never beleeued any Purgatory Also of prayer for the dead of Indulgences and of the satisfactions of the primitiue Church A CONFVTATION OF PVRGATORY CAP. I. A description of the foure Chambers or stages which the Church of Rome placeth vnder the earth and particularly of the place called Purgatory THE Doctors of the Church of Rome doe hold that vnder the earth there bee 4. severall places which are so many prisons wherein the foules are either broyled or shutt vp The lowest place The auctor of
the fire of Helie p. 44. The lowest place is hell the habitation of the damned and the same is divided if wee beleeue our adversaries into two parts The one where the soules are tormented in fire the other where they are tormented in snowe Throughout alâ— the word of God can we not find that that ever any came out of this place Yet Pope Gregory the first in the first Booke of his Dialogues cap. 12. reporteth that S. Severus raised a dead bodie whome the Divels had carried away Also Damascen In 4 Dist 45 quest 2. and after him Thomas Durand and Richard doe tell vs that by the prayers of S. Gregory Traian an heathen Emperour was fetched out of hell Gabriel Biel in his 56. Lesson vpon the Cannon of the Masse holdeth the same opinion And Ciacconus hath written an Apologie expresly for this history Cayer and the Doctors that subscribed to his book do approue this historie The secoÌ„d place but his coÌ„panions do reiect it The second place is the Purgatory that serveth for such as are indeed righteous and do not sinne but in their life time haue committed some trespasses for which they haue not satisfied The same â—ope Gregory teacheth that so soone as â— man is deceased his soule is presented before the Iudge Lib. 4. c. 36. also that soÌ„time there happeneth abuse they bring before God one that was not called As saith he it chanced to one named Stephen who being deceased and his soule presented before God immediatly as God saw him hee said that was not the man that hee had called for but that it was â—n other Stephen a beater of Iron who therevpon died incontinentlie and the former Stephen revived againe and was sent backe because hee dyed before he was called These soules thus presented before the Iudge if they need any purging are instantly sent to this second place which they tearme Purgatory And this doctrine is grounded vpon this principle which is a third article of their faith and taken out of the vnwritten word Read the catechisme of the couÌ„cel of Trens in the châ—â— of pennaÌ„ce namely that Jesus Christ by his death and passion hath indeede dischardged vs from the fault and from the paines due to sinnes committed before baptisme but from the paine duâ—â— to sinnes committed after baptisme he hath not discharged vs. Therefore that such as haue not made full satisfaction in this life by fastings scourgings gifts to the Church c shal be sent to Purgatory there to finish their satisfaction and to pay as they say even to the last penny Herehence grewe that pennance which the Priest imposeth vpon the sinner which do farre differ from the pennance vsed in the primitiue Church which was publicke of long continuance and rigorous thereby to humble the sinner and to repaire the scandall to the Congregation but at this day in the Church of Rome they impose for the most part privat pennances and the same either very easie or ridiculous these doe they make vse of to prevent Purgatory and yet to pay and satisfy Gods iustice The formes of these pennances are to say a set number of Anees intermixed with Paters vpon a paire of beads to scourge their bodies or vpon tâ—e bare flesh to gird themselues with aâ—cord or to goe in pilgrimage to Saint â—â—mes in Galicia N. Giles an 768. c. Our Annals do informe vs of a pennance imposed by a â—ope vpon one Robert the Norman surnamed the Divell vpon sundry his â—ots committed that is that for the space of seven yeares hee should not â—â—eake and that he should all that time 〈◊〉 at a staier foote and take no other food but the relicks of such bones as a Grayhound should haue gnawn Was iâ— meet to abridge the benefit of Iesus Christ and to supply the places with such frivolous devises and in such couÌ„terfeit quoine to satisfie the iustice of God which Iesus Christ had before satisfied to the full The Frier pag 75. As concerning the torments that the soules doe there endure these our masters doe tell vs that all the fires and torments in this life are â—ut easie in regard of the heate of the â—te of Purgatorie and that the tormeÌ„t â—hereof equalleth that of the damned This doctrine was not yet receaued in the Church of Rome when to the CaÌ„noÌ„ of the Masse they added these words ensuing which the Priest must daily say for the soules in Purgatory Memento Domine Remember Lord thy servants whose soules doe rest in the sleepe of peace Hereby it appeareth that they then beleeved that the paine was easie or rather none at all and that the soules for whom they prayed did rest in peace as in a sleepe Hereto accordeth the saying of the aforenamed Gregory who advoweth that the soules of S. Severus S. Pascasius wrought miracles in the Bathes where they lay in Purgatory Lib. 7. Epist 61. For it is hard to worke any great miracles in such cruell torments This is the same Pope Gregory who doth in earnest confesse that the Apostles celebrating the Lords supper added vnto the consecration nothing but the Lords prayer and so consequently prayed not for any soules in Purgatory Againe the Church of Rome holdeth this torment to be of long continuance for every sinne they must abide there seaven years besides also that we pray for some that died many hundred yeares since And in this regard doth the Pope grant pardons some for fifty some for an hundred thousand yeares and the Frier may verie well remember that when I shewed him in the Masse booke a praier that contained foure fiftie thousand yeares of pardon thereto adioined he did not onlie advow it but tooke vpon him to defend these so â—iberal indulgences In the Church of S. Bibian at Rome vpon the day of all Saintes they haue sixe hundred thousand yeares of verie pardon for the space of one whole day In the booke of Romane Indulgences these sixe hundred thousand years are writteÌ„ at large The Pope that granted that pardon preâ—upposing that a soule may haue committed so many sinnes besids those for which the paines of Jesus Christ haue â—atisfied that hee must haue so manie â—eares of torment to purge all his sins â—nlesse the Masses and suffrages of the â—ving togither with the Popes indulgences doe procure him ease and abbreviation of his paines At Paris in the entering into a chappel of the friers Fevillans in the suburbs of S. Honorat hangeth to be seene a long bedrole of pardons wherein among other is contained that vpon everie daie of lent there are to bee purchased three thousande eight hundred sixtie seaven yeares and two hundred and seaven Quarentines of daies of verie pardon In the church of S. Eusebius at Rome they haue seaven thousand foure hundred fifty and foure Quarenteins of daies of verie pardon for such as shall bring thither any honest offering and as
haue gathered of their owne confessions that the penance or repentance practised in the Church of Rome is not the stone that Jesus Christ and S. Iohn Baptist did preach for they indeed when sinners came to them imposed no satisfactory paines Note likewise that the same which when Iesus Christ preached it was a vertue is nowe become a Ceremony and from a changing of the soule is come to be an Exercise of the body and now set down for the redemption of our soules as before we heard in Bellarmine that men are Redeemers of themselues Neither may we omit that this their sacrament of penance serveth but for the sins committed after Baptisme whereof it followeth that if an old Pagan should convert to the faith he should be received without penance or repentance 13 There is yet more For as it were Ridiculous to sowe a piece of friese vpon a satten garment so is it a matter that can hardly agree to ioine our satisfactions our fasts our scourgings a haire cloath a corde a friers coule a roasting of soules with the passion of the only son of God to make vp the total of the redemptiō of our souls and of satisfaction vnto God 14 In this matter our adversaries do still retire to their withered and olde beaten principle that is that God after he hath pardoned the sin requireth satisfaction to his iustice by the punishment of the sinne We haue already shewed that to forgiue a sinne and thē to exact satisfactorie punishment for the same are things incompatible That God never required any such satisfaction of the theefe neither Iesus Christ of the woman taken in adultery neither S. Paule of the Incestuous person after he had forgiven him That Iesus Christ hath satisfied for all the paines due to our sinnes That the iustice of God accepteth of no payment but such as shal be most exact and to the proofe of his righteousnes But there is no satisfaction sufficient to vndergoe that examen but only the satisfaction of the son of God by Ieremy called The eternall our righteousnesse And therefore that our travailes and afflictions are profitable to exercise proue amend and humble vs but not to redeeme vs or to satisfie to Gods Iustice which is already fullie satisfied by Iesus Christ and which requireth not two paymentes for one debt 15 Yea which is more themselues do acknowledge that in baptisme God forgiveth both the fault and the punishment and requireth not of the sinner any satisfactory paine Bellar. de paenit l. 4. c. 10. It is not therfore repugnant to the iustice of God to forgiue without our satisfactions 16 But in as much as this is one of the greatest abuses in popery That God by Baptisme doth pardon both the fault the punishment of sinnes committed before Baptisme yet that wee must satisfie and pay the Iustice of God for the sins committed after Baptisme It is necessary we should a little crush out this impostume 1. Conc. Trid. Sess 24. c. 8. First who authorized them in matter of remission of sins and redemptiō to invent new articles of faith with out warrant of the holy scriptures If a heathē murderer or incestuous parson shoulde hypocritically cause himselfe to be baptized shall this baptisme blot out all his former sinnes or shal his hypocrisie prooue fruitfull before God Tertul. de paenit cap. 6. Tertullian indeed in his booke de Poenitentia saith that it cannot be yet doth Spaine furnish vs of many examples thereof where the Mahumetan Marannes do cause themselues dissemblingly to be baptized 2. Againe let vs represent to our selues a heathen man a murderer a sacrilegious person c. One who sinneth not of ignorance or of feare but of meere malice and at the last in his old age repenteth frameth himselfe to Christianity and receiveth baptisme which as our adversaries do say is of such vertue that God doth simply and without satisfaction forgiue him all his sins committed before his baptisme but for the sins that he shall afterward commit albeit smal and of in firmity yet God requireth that he beare the punishment as well here as in Purgatory Doth it stande with the iustice of God simply and without satisfaction to pardon the greater sinnes committed of malice at one time and at another time to impose fiery torments for much lesser offences committed ignorantly or of infirmitie Moreover when by baptisme we haue put on Christ as saith S. Paule Galat. 3.27 haue wee put him on only for that time or for all the daies of our life Or is the benefite of Christs death of lesse effect after baptisme then in baptisme 4. Wherein I pray you consisteth the vertue of baptisme but in this that thereby wee are made partakers in the merits of the death of Iesus Christ being by baptisme buried with him in his death Also if in the holy supper Rom. 6. and in the gospell apprehēded by faith we be also partakers why should we not feel the like effects 5. I would aske againe what the reason is that sith in their Masses is applied as they say the benefit of Iesus Christ why their Masse should bee of lesse efficacy then baptisme or wherefore it cannot exempt a sinner from satisfactory punishment Also for what cause they so highly extolling the excellency of their Masse do in this point so clip her wings and trusse her vp so short Yea and why they stand in neede of so many Masses to fetch one soule out of Purgatoty cōsidering that if their Masses doe apply to that soule the benefit of Iesus Christ they cannot apply it otherwise then it is namely hauing an infinit power and consequently able to deliuer that soule at the first dash But the mischiefe is that if this should bee performed by one Masse only then should the profits of the Clergie bee mightily diminished Now albeit all these things be as cleere as the day yet are we in small hope that those men can take any relish in them that are fed maintained by the abasement of the benefit of the death of Iesus Christ For the documents of Gods word can never pierce into the vnderstanding vntill the true zeale of God be first entred into the heart Avarice Idlenesse and Incredulitie do harden the minds exasperate the stomacks and as rude barbarous vngratefull porters hinder the entry and from our mindes stop vp all the waies to the doctrine of the gospell The fruits of the Sacrament of pennance Now if there be any thing that vpholdeth the tyranny that fostereth the vices or that nourisheth the idlenesse of the Clergie it is this newe sacrament of pennance which is as it were the Palladium of Babylon First by their auricular confessiō a member of this sacrament they search into the secrets of houses and make themselues terrible to those whoe after they haue revealed to them their filthines faults cannot behold them without feare and shame By this they
ensuing besides the aforesaid absurdities hath yet this particular that it presupposeth that the Lords praier is said for the dead also If so theÌ„ 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 wheÌ„ 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 theÌ„ desire God to forgiue theÌ„ 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 commemoratioÌ„ of the death of Iesus Christ the only propitiatorie sacrifice And in regard hereof this sacrifice was alwaies called Eucharistia that is A thaÌ„ksgiving As for the coÌ„memoration 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 commeÌ„dations 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 marchaÌ„ts 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 propâ—ijs sed vtrique communibus Not proper to such or to such but coÌ„mon 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
books how many things doe weaken their autority In the second of the Machabes 1.19 it is said that the Iewes were led captiue into Persia where hee should haue said Babylon or Chaldea for in the time of Nabuchadnezar who transported thē Persia was not yet vnited into one kingdome with Chaldea Cyrus some seventy yeares after vpon his taking of Babylon vnited these two kingdomes an errour that made Chrysostome to stumble in his sixt homely vpon Matthew where hee saith that the Iewes were delivered out of the Persian captivity 1. Maccab. 1.7 he saith that Alexander devided his kingdome among his friends before he dyed which is contrary to the general cōsent of all historiographers who all do testifie that he dyed in Babilon without disposing of any thing which also the warres succeeding betweene his princes and domesticall servants about the division of his conquests do sufficiently shew Read Iustin Curtius Arrian Plutarch in the beginning of the life of Eumenes and toward the end of the life of Alexander In the eighth chapter of the same booke he speaketh like a Clarke at Armes and saith that by great battailes the Romans had conquered the Galatians yet in those daies they had set no foot in Gaule to conquer it Neither can he by the Galatians vnderstand the Galatians or Gallo-greekes of Asia who were cōquered without resistāce besides in that place he also speaketh of the conquest of Spaine as neere to the Gaules In the said place it is also said that they had taken Antiochus the great on liue Livy lib. 3◠36. Eutrop lib. 4 Florus lib. 2 cap. 8. contrary to the testimonie of al historiographers Read Livy Florus Eutropius and others Well doe they confesse that Antiochus lost three notable battailes one in Achaia against Accilius Glabrio another vpon the seaes vnder the conduct of Anniball the third neere to Magnesia a town in Asia against Cornelius Scipio but was never prisoner or captiue to the Romans In the same Chapter it is said that the Romans gaue the Indies to Eumenes to whome were giuen only certaine townes to Natolia before wonne from Antiochus For as for the Indies the Romans never sawe them and when their Empire was at the highest they neverwent far beyond Euphrates But the most notable of all is that in the 16. verse it is said that the Romans yearely committed their estat to one man considering it is manifest that yearely they created two Consuls whereof the proofe were superfluous In the 2. Chap. of the 2. of Machabes it is said that Ieremy hid the Arke in a chest of the mountaine Nebo that it might be found after the captivitie and that this place should be vnknowne vntill that God had gathered againe the congregation of the people which is contrary to the 10. Chap. v. 22. of the 4 of Esdras by our adversaries accounted Canonicall which saith that the Arke was defaced by the enimie also in the sermon of Onction attributed to S. Cyprian it is said Arca ab Allophilis capta est The Arke was taken by strangers Experience saith as much for after the returne out of captivitie we find no mention of the Arke neither was there any in the Temple as all the Rabbins do testifie who complained that in the second house they wanted fiue things which the first house had 1. Vrim and Thumim 2. The holy fire 3. The Arke Rabbi Schelomo Iarchi Initio Proph. Aggei v. 8. 4. The presence of the divinitie 5. The spirit or Inspiration which so tortureth Bellarmine that he proceedeth so far as to say that this Arke is yet hidden and shall bee found the next day before the iudgement hitting the counterfeiters and forgers of rellicks a shreud knocke over the knuckles for the booke of Roman Indulgences printed at Rome saith that the Arke is reserved at Rome among the rellicks of the Church of Lateran In the 2. of Machabes cap. 14. the act of Razias is commended who slew himselfe neither can we say that his valeancy only is commended for it is there expresly delivered that hee died vertuously And I see that this opinion beginneth to get ground among some of our adversaries For Carron the Divine at Burdeaux otherwise a man of a good spirit doth stiffe and stoutly maintaine this opinion in his second booke of wisdome cap. 12. especially in the 450 page of the impression of Burdeaux where he shutteth vp his discourse with this resolution That we must try all meanes before we come to this extremitie also that it is a point of wisdome to knowe the time and take it And withal he scorneth the cowardlinesse of many that haue outlived their glory He also saith page 405. that the world hath long lived vnder vniust vngodly and extravagant lawes which if any man should endeavour to reforme he should shew himselfe an enimie to the Common-wealth withall that turbulent stirrers vnder pretence of reforming do marre all What shall we say of the strange cōtradictions in these bookes Wee finde that Antiochus the noble died three times In the first booke cap. 6. hee died at Babylon in his bed In the secōd cap. 1 he dieth in the Temple of Nannea in Persia where hee and his being entrapped and enclosed in the Temple he was slaine with stones Afterward in the 9. Chapter following falling from his chariot in his returne from Persia the wormes issued out of his body and hee died a stranger among the mountaines See the 12. book of Ioseph Antiquities where wee shall finde the trace of the sāe contradiction How a stranger if hee died at Babylon the capitall citty of his dominions How in the mountains sith Babylon standeth in a plaine and is scituated vpon the river Euphrates How with a fall from his chariot if hee were stoned in the Temple Neither cā it be said that they were sundry Antiochus for all this is reported in the time of Iudas in whose daies there was but one Antiochus Yea in the first booke cap. 1. and in the second cap. 9. he is surnamed the Noble or Epiphanes in either place What more these bookes doe reckon the yeares frō the beginning of the raigne of the Grecians in Asia In the first of the Machabes the 9. it is said that Iudas was slaine in the yeare 152. but in the 4. of the secōd booke Iudas writ letters bearing date 188. that is to say six and thirtie yeares after his death Now let vs see in what accoūt these bookes were holden in the primitiue Church The Councell of Laodicea of like antiquitie as the Councell of Nice placeth not these bookes in ranck with the Canonicall That the primitiue Church never acknowledged the Machabes be Canonicall The falsehood of the Frier wherein I admire the little faith of our Frier minor who in the 22. page of his booke dare report that this Councell placeth the Machabes among the Canonicals for they are not so much as there named
Romans he speaketh thus of the last iudgement We shall all appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ for it is written I liue saith the Lord let everie knee bow before me and every tongue giue praise vnto God In this place S. Paule taketh to appeare before the iudgement seat of God for bowing the knee before God The wicked therefore the divels shall bow the knee because they shall appeare and be forced to acknowledge the iustice of God In this regard doth Iustine the Martyr in his dialogue against Triphon say that the Infernall spirits are subiect to Iesus Christ bowing their knees at the bare pronountiation of the Crosse 8. As for the praises spoken of in the fifth of the Revelation they are the praises of all creaturs of whom even of the inanimate as of the heauens the earth the sonne c. The Scripture in aboue a hundred places saith that they praise the eternall Psal 19. Psal 140. Psal 145. especially in the Psalme 148. where this is repeated some twentie times Neither need we goe any further then this passage namely of the Revelation to proue it For he saith I heard EVERT CREATVRE which is in heauen thē the sunne the starres the Angels c. he also saith All that is on the earth vnder the earth and in the sea yea even all things that are comprised in them c. It appeareth then that he speaketh of all creatures and this is it that made our adversaries to omit these words yea all things that are comprised in them with a notable falsehood according to their custome thereby to abate the edge of Gods word and to take from him that which pierceth the very vntruth I should wrong the autor of the fire of Helie if I should suppresse one inventiō which he doth very gallantly produce to shewe that the divels doe not bowe to Iesus Christ If saith he Du Moulin himselfe will not put of his hat when wee speake of the name of Iesus how can the divels be forced to doe it The divels then by this Doctors saying doe wear hats but they will not put them of when we speake of Iesus Is it because they are somewhat surly and prowd or for that they feare the aire Note also that by this argument taken from the more to the lesse hee doeth vs this honour that hee holdeth vs lesse wicked then the divels and yet wee flee not for his holy water But in the end I say this doctor is deceived in one point and deceiveth in an other hee is deceived in that he thinketh that by the name of Iesus Saint Paule in this place meant the word IESVS cōsidering that the scripture by the name of God ordinarily vnderstandeth his auctority his glory his strength his power c. and so say we Our helpe be in the name of God also hallowed bee thy name and I come against thee in the name of the Eternall 2. Sam. 17.45 In this sense we honour the name of Iesus but our adversaries honor the syllables and thereof commeth the feast Masse of the name of Iesus for as concerning his parson there is a feast apart But in this that he falsely accuseth vs he deceiveth For if a man hearing the name of Iesus putteth of his hat we like it well so as it be done without superstition But marke what it is They vse many salutations to the name of Iesus whiles in the mean time his parson is wronged and his benefite abused and they finde out other redeemers and an other purging for our sins he is entreated as he was by those that buffeted him saying vnto him All haile Thus is Religion corrupted which at this day hold her handes in rule and giveth godlinesse her pasport Hereof it cōmeth that the service of the Church of Rome namely the Masse consisteth in gestures in a set number of bowings in frisking from one end of the alter to the other in Allegoricall habites historied at pleasure whiles the people looking on learneth nothing and is entertained with gestures when they should be instructed by the intelligible worde Thence commeth also the gallāt Interpretations of Pope Innocent the 3. of Durands Rationals and others which say that the Priest turneth his backe to the people because God said to Moses Thou shalt see my backe parts That the miss all is laid vpon a Quisheon because it is written Mat. 11. My yoake is easie my burdē light That he that serveth the Priest at Masse moveth and steppeth vp and downe as the Priest doth because Iesus Christ said Where I am there shal my servant be also That the Gospel booke is laid vpon a deske in forme of an Eagle because it was written in the 18. Psalme Hee flyeth vpon the wings of the winde That the deakon goeth in at one side of the pulpet commeth out at the other because it is written Mat. 2. They were warned from heauē to returne an other way And he that serveth a Bishoppe at his Masse kisseth his shoulder looking a scance on his face because it is written 1. Cor. 13. Wee see now in part Thus is the whole battery of our adversary dismounted which was not charged but with stubble and hay against the truth and here would I shut vp this chapter did not the falshoods of the fire of Helie detaine mee yet a while so extreamely licentious is he in falsifying Many of his falshoods haue we already produced yet here followe some more In the pages 40 41. to proue the Limbo of the fathers he alleadgeth the Apostle in the 11. to the Hebrews Having beene tryed by the testimony of faith This word salaried is of his own invention they received not the promises that they without vs should not be made perfect and salaried In the 43. page he saith that God by the leaues of the figge tree closed vp Ezechias sore and for that citeth the 4. of Kings 26. and Esay 38. In page 44. to defende Purgatory in bathes in yee in rivers c. hee alleadgeth Iob. 24. in these words The wicked that are in hel from a heate of fire do passe to a coldnesse as snow Al this is false and by him devised In the same place where S. Peter Act. 2.24 saith that God raised vp Iesus Christ hauing loosed the sorrows of death he saith the sorrowes of Hell In page 56. to proue that the Pope may graunt Indulgences for the dead he maketh S. Paule 1. Cor. 5. say The stewardship of Indulgences vvas by Iesus Christ left to the Church whereof there is not a word in the whole chapter In page 66. be corrupteth this excellent passage of Esay 57. Whosoever vvalketh before God goeth in peace he maketh him say Whosoever vvalketh before God vvalketh in peace In pages 69 70. he maketh S. Paule say to the Colossians 1.24 I fulfill in my flesh that which wanteth in the passion of the Lorde for his body which is the
saepe negemâ—â— or beetles or Cham who discovered his fathers shame But the greatest inconvenience is that the copies are divers discordant mangled and falsified yea so farre as to haue some tracts of other men suggested and inserted into them wherevpon I remember that I propouÌ„ded to the frier the preface to the last edition of S. Augustine wherin our masters the correctors doe confesse that they haue changed some things and taken forth the errours intruded by the malice of hereticks that is to say al that mislike them and in plaine tearms they say that The bookes of the ancient fathers must bee purged according to the decree of the tridentine Councell and to the same purpose I alleadged the Confession of the doctors of Doway in their Expurgatory Index in the letter The Index is printed at Antw. by Plantin 1571. by autority of K. Phil. the D Alua. B. where speaking of the purging of the book of Bertram they say thus Considering that in all other Catholick autors we beare with many errors which we do extenuat shake of and often times excogitato commento deny by some faigned Invention and do insert into them some commodious sense wee see no reason wherefore Bertram deserveth not the like equity and the same diligent review And this was the place where the Monke said that Excogitatum Commentum signified a Commentary But in this booke page 1. Hee saith that it is an explication devised contrary to the text Thus doth he confesse that it is his occupation to bring in such explications vnlesse hee should shrinke from the vnion of those purgers auctorised by his holinesse Here might I alleadge a great heape of falsifications brought in by these correctors albeit we know not the huÌ„dred part Yet are we greatly to praise God who hath not suffered them to compasse their intents but among the fathers hath yet left vs sufficient weapoÌ„s to fight with the Church of Rome And that is it that in this chapter wee are to produce yet with this protestation that I alleadge not the doctors fathers as meaning vpon their auctorities to hang the truth of my cause but to shew how our adversaries doe abuse them and make them to speake manie things contrary to their owne opinioÌ„s I take them not to bee advocates in my cause but am my selfe their advocate For Iesus Christ Iohn 5.14 telleth vs that he craveth not the testimonies of men neither doth his word neede their witnesse The truth that those good men haue spoken we do beleeue not because they spake it but because wee finde it in the word of God And this is the reason that I reserved this tract to the end least I shoulde mixe divine auctority with humane This is a chapter rather not superfluous then necessarie which we giue not to the necessity of the matter but to the stiffneckednesse of the age wherein the holy scripture is growne into suspition and men opeÌ„ their cares when wee speake of Origen Ambrose Tertullian c. But stop them when we speake of the Prophets or Apostles Bellarm. de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 12 The holy Bible say they is a booke for hereticks a sword for all hands a pecce of a rule a forrest of forraging yea saith the autor of the three truths It will make a man become an Atheist Passages of the ancient Doctors against Purgatory Iustin Martyr in his 75 question After the departure of the soule out of the body there is immediatly made a distinction betweene the good and the bad for by the Angels they are brought into the places worthy for them the soules of the good into Paradice where is the haunt and viewe of the Angels the soules of the bad into hell Himselfe in his 60. question saith that men cannot after the soule is departed from the body by any provision care or study get help and succour Cum anima à corpore evellitur statim aut in Paradiso promeritis bonis collocatur aut certè pro peccatis in in ferni tartara praecipitatur S. Augustine in his book of the vanitie of the world tom 9. c. 1. Knowe yee that when the soule parteth from the body shee is for her good workes instantly placed in Paradice or for her sinnes cast headlong into the pit of hell And our masters the Expurgators in their last edition at Paris found themselues so puzled with this saying that they set down in the margent Vbi nunc Purgatorium Where now Purgatory is Himselfe in his first Chapter of his second sermon of Consolation over the dead saith Recedens anima ab Angelis suscipitur collocatur aut in sinu Abrahae c. Tertium penitus ignoramus immo nec necesse esse in Scripturis sanctis venimus The soule at her departure if shee bee faithfull is by the Angels taken and carried into Abrahams bosome if a sinner into the charter of the infernall prison Himselfe in the fifth book of his Hypognostique saith The Catholick faith grounded vpon diuine autority beleeueth the first place which is the kingdome of heaven from whence all that are baptised are excluded also the second which is hell where every Apostata such as are estranged from the faith of Christ shall endure eternall punishments For any third place we knowe none neither doe we finde any such place throughout the holy Scriptures Yea and which is more In this place S. Augustine maintaineth that Children not baptised are excluded out of the kingdome of heaven therevpon gathereth this consequence Sâ—th they are not in Paradice they must of necessitie be in hell and in eternal torment because there is no third place Surely hee would never haue beene so rigorous towards these children had he knowne of any place of punishment more gentle and easie as Limbo or Purgatory The fire of Helie pag. 37. saith that S. Augustine denieth any such place as Pelagius doth paint forth A matter that this Doctor very presumptuously hath invented for hee there doth simply deny and saith that there is no third place at all neither doth hee there speake of any delights as hee would make vs beleeue In his 14. sermon vpon the words of the Apostle hee tearmeth the right hand the kingdome of heaven and the left damnation with the Divell and then addeth There is no middle place where thou maist put the children And soone after Nullum medium locum in Evangelio novimus We find not any middle place in the Gospell In his 18. Sermon he reproueth those who taking liberty to doe evill haue nevertheles some hope Duo enim sunt loci nec tertius est vllus He saith he that is such a man let him chuse where hee will dwell whiles yet bee hath time to change for there are but two habitations the one in the eternall kingdome the other in everlasting fire In his 232. sermon which is against drunkennesse Deere brethren let no man
their Purgatory there vpon haue they spent at the least three quarters of their allegations Now as concerning this praier for the dead the truth is that the Apostles in the celebration of the Lords Supper retained the institution of Iesus Christ and Pope Gregorie hath before testified vnto vs that to that Institution that is set downe in the holy Gospell they added only the Lords praier which argueth an vntruth in Chrysostome who saith that the Commemoration of the dead in the Eucharist is an Apostolicall tradition Soone after Martyrdome encreasing for the better encouragement of the Christians they brought in a custome in the celebration of the sacrament to name the Martyrs with the Prophets and Apostles and in everie Church they had a list or double tables called Diptiches wherin were writ ten the names of all such deceased as were to be mentioned in Commemoration and so far there was no harme The custome encreasing the parents and friends of the deceased beganne to giue almes vpon the day of the Cōmemoration of the deceased The almes togither with the commemorations they called oblations of the dead also sacrifices for the dead as we may see in the sixt epistle of the third book of S. Cyprian speaking of the Martyrs deceased in prison Celebrentur à nobis oblationes et Sacrificia in Commemorationem eorum Let vs celebrate sacrifices and oblations in commemoration of them Likewise in the fifth Epistle of his fourth booke speaking of Laurence Heb. 13.16 Phil 4 18. Celerine and Ignatius Martyrs Sacrificia pro eis offerimus quoties Martyrum passiones dies Aniuersariae Commemoratione celebramus That is to say We doe offer sacrifice for them alwaies and so often as from yeare to yeare we doe celebrate the daies and passions of the Martyrs In summe this is it The almes called in the Scripture sacrifices were offered for the dead that is to say in remembrance of them and in their steed as if the dead gaue them Thus in the eight booke of the Institutions of Clement cap. 18. The Bishop or minister prayeth We doe offer vnto thee for all those that haue pleased thee from the beginning of the world for the Saints Patriarkes Prophets righteous men Apostles Martyrs c. For such doth the Church of Rome hold that wee ought not to pray or to offer That these oblations and sacrifices were almes it appeareth by two Canons Vases Can. qui oblationes can Clerici one of the Councell of Vases the other of the Councell of Agatha Which are in Can. 13. quest 2 The Councell of Vases saith thus Can. Qui oblatione can clerici Such as detaine the oblations of the dead are slack in bringing them to the Churches are to be cut of from the Church as Infidels because they doe depriue the faithfull of the accomplishment of their vowes and the poore of their food and substance That of Agatha condemneth those that detaine the oblations of their deceased parents as murderers of the poore Burchard in his fifth booke alleageth many examples Nowe because part of these offerings were imployed in the Communion of the holy supper S. Cyprian in his sermon of Almes complaineth that the rich offering nothing yet came to take part of the sacrifices offered by the poore Domini cum sine sacrificio venis partem de sacrificio quod pau per obtulit sumis Now that this nomination of the dead in the administratiō of the sacrament tended not to fetch him out of Purgatory it appeareth evē by the same that our adversaries alleage out of Cyprian namely for that hee would not permit any nomination of of a certaine deceased person who had charged a clarke with a tutorship for surely it had beene excessiue inhumanitie to depriue a soule tormented in fire from ordinary reliefe for so slight an offence and where it was rather want of consideration then of piety as also to hold such a one for that sinne to be dāned were a rash and precipitat iudgement It was therefore a deprivation of honour among the living not a prohibition from succouring of the soule of the deceased And yet in all this there is no harme In those daies sprang vp the error of the receptacles of soules and of the fire of the last iudgemēt that should purge even the Virgin Mary and the Apostles began to take footing in the church Hereby mēs minds growing into feare and being perplexed concerning the estate of the dead prayers for the succor of the dead soone after came to bee adioined to the oblations sacrifices and almes And thus errour begat abuse which sprang from the loue of friends yet without any conceit of Purgatory and without any foresight of such abuses as might ensue and did befall in the daies of Gregory Bishop of Rome who lived in the yeare of Iesus Christ six hundred For then learning being smothered by the inundation of the barbarous nations the Gothes the Hunnes the French the Vandales c. And these lights of the primitiue Church extinct whiles there were no more Basils Cyprians or Augustins c. The divell taking his time and making vse of the covetise of the Clergie cosened the world with visions and aparitions of soules returning from Purgatory as we see in Gregories dialogues and Beda his workes who made report of a soul that appeared musled in a cloke of fire of an other that had beene a master of the bathes and being there in Purgatory offered to pull of a mans hose They also tell vs a fable of one Nocholas who getting forth of Purgatory by a hole that is in Ireland reported that hee had seene soules some broiled some fried get-some roasted c. Gregory in the fourth of his dialogues cap. 41. putteth to him selfe this question Quid hoc est quaeso quod in his extremis temporibus tam multa de animabus clarescunt quae ante latuerant And ordinarily these souls in their appearance shewed the cause of their tormēt ether that they had not paid the Church what they ought or had vowed and so entreated the living to satisfie for them or that they had withstood the Bishop of Rome c. Then began these great donations to the Church especially after the stations and Indulgences of Rome were added which are of the topgallant the last supream top of all Babylon Against this progresse of abuse what better remedy then to reduce the people to the spring head which is the holy Scripture And to say as Iesus Christ said to the Saduces Mat. 22. You erre not knowing the scriptures but from the beginning it was not so For throughout the old Testament that is for the full space of foure hundred yeares there was no prayer either for the dead or to fetch any soule out of Purgatory neither in the daies of Iesus Christ or his Apostles nor of a long time after Thus shall we attribute the glory to God to