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
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
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
the words of the Bul do run Manus porrigentibus adiutrices for such as shall put to their helping hands In the Church of S. Mary deliver vs from the paines of hell for that is the Churches name there are dailie granted eleven thousand yeares of IndulgeÌ„ce to such as shal bring an honest offering that is to say that shal giue not to the poore indeed but to the rich Moncks not to those that weep but to those that sing for now almes with the true vse thereof hath also altred the signification of the word In the church of S. Praxede you haue dailie twelue thousand yeares of verie pardon and as manie Quarentines of daies with the remission of the third part of your sins in such maÌ„ner that visiting this church three daies on a row you shal purchase plenarie pardon of all your sins and six and thirtie thousand years by provision besides the Quarentines which the Popes haue since encreased to sixscore thousand years for everie daie witnes the book of Indulgences printed at Rome in the house of Iulius Accolto an 1570. see also the book of Romaine Indulgences sundrie times printed at Rome namely in the yeare 1519 the second of Februarie by Marcell Franck. Yet are all these pardons but few in regard of those that belong to the Church of S. Iohn of Lateran Gab. Biel in his 17. lesson vpoÌ„ the CannoÌ„ of the Masse the somme whereof yee shal find either hanging vpon tables or graven in the wals of divers churches of Rome All this do we set downe to shew that as the plaister ought to be fitted to the largenes of the wound so the Popes haue thought it meet to perswade men to beleeue that the paines of Purgatorie are of long continuance sith they require so long a time to purchase release from the paines thereof withal presupposing that in that so fiery and scortching a countrey where the sun hath no being they reckon all by daies and by yeares This long continuance is also to bee gathered out of the Revelation of Venerable Bede in the fifth booke of his historie cap. 13. That is to say about some nine hundred years since where he saith that the souls which in his time were in Purgatorie should be delivered in the daie of Iudgement except some few that shoulde bee redeemed from thence by the praiers of the living Moreover besides all this the selfe doctors of the Romish Church doe agree that even during these so violent torments the soules neverthelesse are assured of their salvation out of the danger of hell neither do I know since when this opinioÌ„ crept into the church of Rome for in the Masse for the dead we finde a clause after the Gospell that contrarywise doth testifie that still they are in danger These be the words Libera Domine animas omniuÌ„ fidelium defunctorum de poenis Infernis de profundo lacu libera eos de ore Leonis ne absorbeat eos Tartarus O Lord deliver the soules of all the faithfull departed from the infernall paines from the deepe lake deliver them from the throat of the lyoÌ„ least the gulph of hell should swallow theÌ„ vp so they fall into vtter darknes Tearms over bitter to signifie Purgatory and such as may in no case stand with people assured of their salvation We haue also the ordinary prayers said â—t burials yea and vsed at the funerall of 〈◊〉 Pope wherein we find no mention of Purgatory Indeed this soule is brought â—n as praying to be delivered from hel and from eternall iudgement in these words Saue me o Lord from eternall death â—n the terrible day when the heauens and â—he earth shall bee moved Sacrar Cerem lib. 1. Sect 15. and when thou halt come to iudge the world by fire I treÌ„ble and quake and doe feare when the examination shall come and the day of wrath of calamitie and of misery that great and woÌ„derfull better day Speeches which caÌ„not proceed from a soul assured of her salvatioÌ„ Surely wheÌ„ these praiers were first penned these matters were not yet well considered of and this may we easily gather from Pope Gregory the first who in his dialogues placeth the Purgatory of some souls in bathes of some vnder the leaues and of some vnder the Ice and this do these three champions that haue assaulted my treatise both say and defend for nothing to them is to hard or to hot Damian speaketh of a soule that had her Purgatory in a river but whither she swam with the stream or against it he saith not The Rosarie of Bernardine hath of this nature many revelations and the Legend of S. Patricke telleth vs that in Ireland there is a caue that openneth into Purgatory to be briefe albeit many soules are returned from those partes which haue brought news yet did the matter still rest full of doubt vntil the Councell of Florence which among other occasions was assembled to perswade Purgatory to the Greeke Churches who both before and yet do deny it albeit their deputies in the Councell did agree vnto it in hope of succours against the Turk True it is that we find some more ancient Councels which made mention of prayer for the dead but hereafter we shall most evideÌ„tly proue that these prayers make nothing for Purgatory also that such prayers as we find among the ancients doe plainely shewe that they beleeved no Purgatory Even to this day doe the Greek Churches pray for the dead yet doe they deny Purgatorie In the last session therefore of this Councell holden in the yeare 1539. was it defined that wee should beleeue Purgatory In which Counsell as in all others holden within these fiue hundred yeares the Pope sat president and that with such auctority that hee grew to bee adored and intituled The Divine Maiestie the spouse of the Church the Saviour and Lion of Iuda the king Prince of all the world having all power both in heaven and in earth All which titles were attributed to Pope Leo the 10. in the Councell of Lateran Thus in all these Councels nothing passed but by his will Sess 1. 3. 9. 10. in such wise that if any did contradict him hee was soone burned as was Iohn Husse in the Councell of Constance notwithstanding the safe coÌ„duct and faith given by the Emperour and al the Councell But to returne to our Matter The soules thus purged in this fire are brought into Paradice Howbeit because this purgation will growe somewhat long the Popes mercy doth sometimes abridge this punishment For besides that the paines that the living haue vndergon for theÌ„ as fastes almes whippings pilgrimages liberalities to the Church c. also that the Masses fouÌ„ded for the deceased which leaue any rents or annuities to a convent or abbey or other religious house if we may beleeue those that sing theÌ„ are of great vse to mitigate and allay the heat of Purgatory and to
greatest so doth he smite the greatest blowes for by these meanes the hath encroached a dominion over Emperours kings and Princes whom either in person or by their Embassadours he forceth to take the stripes and beatings in his own presence Baldus l 5. De. 2. Mach. l. 1. Hist of Florence Polid. Virg. Mat. Paris Io. Maior l. 4 c. 3. Omitting all latter examples let vs speak of matters more ancient Pope Alexander the third enioyned Henry the second king of England in person to go into Palestine and withal to giue to his subiects leaue to make their appeales to Rome Pope Innocent the fourth imposed vpon Iohn king of the same land a yearly satisfactiō of a thousand markes and this tribute continued in force in England vntill the Reformation Pope Alexander the thirde made the Emperour Fredericke Barbarossa to humble himselfe at his feet yea he set his foot vpon his throat nay more They haue proceeded so far as to depriue kings and Emperours of their estates which is a grievous satisfactiō and never followed by any Indulgence The more we read the more abhomination And it falleth out with vs in these matters as with such as begin to count the stars in the beginning of the evening but after by the multitude that shoot forth are vtterly confounded Alas how hath Satan wonne so much from the Church of God Had we ever greater cause with the Prophet Ieremie to wish that our eies were fountaines to bewaile these woūds of the church so great abuse so heavy a yoke laid vpon mens consciences O eternall son of God take in hand thine owne cause deliver so many captived soules and let the light of thy gospel shine among vs. But least we should stray too far let vs returne to our principal matter boldly enter the Bishop of Romes quarters We purpose to lay open his marchandize vsurpations in matter of Indulgences where by he draweth the soules out of Purgatory And as these people haue at the confines of Purgatory placed a field all diapred with flowers as a dependance or withdrawing chamber thereof so shall the chapter ensuing be a dependance of the question of Purgatory For this fiery prison was purposedly built that the Pope might bee the Iaylor thereof and from thence fetch foorth the soules by the hookes of his buls Indulgences which be of more charge to the living then profit to the dead Purgatory is the matter wherof and Indulgences the cause for which we do dispute CAP. 5. Against Indulgences and the fetching of soules out of Purgatory THE Pope at the petitiō of the kindred and friends of the deceased if they be of ability and calling doth many times grant Indulgences wherewith to fetch the soule of the deceased out of Purgatory yea which is more he cōferreth such grace to certaine aulters that whosoever shall procure a stinted number of Masses to bee said thereon he shall fetch one soul out of Purgatory himselfe hath also some times granted to such as beene crossed to the holy lād priviledge to fetch one or more soules out of Purgatory at their choice A grace and favor which is also conferred to the fraternity of the Corde Cardinall Caietan in the beginning of the booke of Indulgences acknowledgeth that in all antiquity there was nothing to be found concerning Indulgēces Durand Antoninus and Roffensis do say that Indulgences were not knowne in the daies of S. Ierome and S. Augustin or during the first fiue hundred years Bell. de Indul l. 2. c. 17 Biel. in Can. Missae lect 57. tit 1.7 as Bellarmine also confesseth Gabriell Byel vpon the Canon of the Masse saith as much making a question wherefore now a daies they should be so frequent he answereth himselfe with the words of Iesus Christ It is not for you to knowe the times and seasons which the Lorde hath put in his owne power With this bridle he restraineth our curiosity Besides my adversaries who will vse the fathers in despight of their hearts haue not yet produced the example of any one fetched out of Purgatory vnder the primitiue Church As for that which the fire of Helie telleth of Silvester and Gregory is false and hath not the testimony of any ancient autor Now to furnish so notable a liberality the Pope hath laide a bottomelesse foundation which he nameth The treasury of the Church and it is composed of the superabundance of the merits suffrings both of Iesus Christ and of his Saints This he distributeth among the souls of the dead to helpe them out of Purgatory it is manifestly laid down in the Extravagants of Clement the sixt which beginneth Vnigenitus Ad cuius the sauri cumulīe Beatae Dei Genetricis omnia electorum merita adminiculū prestare noscuntur Wherein it is said that the merits of the mother of God and of all the elect do helpe the merit of Iesus Christ and serue to make vp the heape of this treasure To enter therefore into the examination of this new Gospell 1. We aske who gaue the Pope power to fetch soules out of Purgatory 2. Let them produce either commandement or example of any Indulgences given to the deade by the Apostles or by their first successours 3. If it bee a new benevolence how commeth it that God is now become more liberall then heretofore 4. If al the power that the Pope assumeth to himselfe were first promised in these words I will giue thee the kayes c. when was it actually conferred It was say they when Iesus Christ said to Peter Feed my Lambs Admit it was spoken to the Pope and that S. Peter only had the charge of feeding our Lords Lambs must wee therefore reckon the dead among these Lambes Yea will some say because the Pope therevpon sheareth them be it so but is the pulling of thē out of the fire feeding 5. Moreover in that the Pope armeth his power with the words of Iesus Christ Whatsoever yee shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Doth he not condemne him selfe in that he goeth beyond his commission for Christ saith All that thou shalt loose on earth hee saith not All that thou shalt loose vnder earth It must be saide that for the avoiding of this obiection Pope Gregorie after him our doctors haue placed Purgatory in bathes in ice in the winde 6. Out of this groweth an other absurdity and this it is The Pope looseth delivereth the souls out of prisō which neverthelesse he could not binde how commeth it that the Popes power is is halfe decayed toward these souls and that he reserved himselfe no more power but to loosen The answer is evident for by binding of soules and imposing punishment vpon them hee could get nothing for no man will giue mony to be tormented but to be released from torment he therefore reserved to himselfe so much as is profitable 7. Againe if he be able to draw out any soules out
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
haue given power to bind and lose vpon earth and in heaven and on my behalfe demand of him this Indulgence Herevpon this good Saint repaired to Pope Honorat at his hands craved this large Indulgence without offerings But the Pope answered him that it might not bee Note this principle for it was meete that whosoever would purchase pardons must also merit them Ponendo manus adiutrices by putting to his helping hand id est by coÌ„tributing Being asked for howe many yeares he demanded this pardon hee answered that he craved no yeares but soules and therevpon would none of his buls but said that the Virgin should be his paper Iesus Christ his Notary and the Angels his witnesses But now is this Indulgence restrained to one day of the yeare only and that is the first of August It is called Portiuncula or S. Mary of the Angels vpon which day whosoever visiteth the said Church obtaineth remission of all his sinnes coÌ„mitted since his baptisme as well for the sinne as for the punishment wherof it ensueth that whosoever dieth comming from theÌ„ce shall never come in Purgatory This Indulgence is yet in great esteeme in Italy and is set downe in Bernardines Rosary and Bellarmine defendeth it in his second booke of Indulgences Thus doe we with griefe behold the accomplishment of the prophecie of S. Paule 2. Thes â— 11 God shall send them strong delusions that they shall beleeue lies and that for a punishment because they haue accompted Godlinesse to be a gain religion a marchandize for the time and Gods word a dangerous booke such a one as the common people may not looke into so long as such vngodly and impious â—nventions are published as most convenient for the instruction of the vnâ—earned This is the history of Purgatory â—hese are her tenents and butteresses and herein were matter sufficient to make men merry had they not a greaâ—er ground of sorrow in seeing religioÌ„â—urned into fables and the only cleanâ—ng of our sinnes which is the bloud of â—esus Christ be as it were degraded and â—based to the ende to make a gaine to â—hose who in the Temple haue againe â—aised vp the tables of the mony chanâ—ers which Iesus Christ did once overâ—hrowe and cast downe Of the Limbo of Children The third stage or chamber is the Limbo of children deceased without â—aptisme The third place who are there without torment as also without pleasure Pag 9. or hope ever to come forth and there doe remaine saith our frier in griefe for that they cannot attaine to beatitude and this is it that they call poena damni but if this grief be also felt it is poena sensus and surely it were a goodly matter to knowe what they doe in this place where they haue no communication either with God or with the Divels besides that they are without remembrance of any thing that they haue seen or done having no body to instruct them sith also that they must rise again and what sentence the Iudge shal in the day of iudgement passe vpon them For our Lord Iesus Christ in the 25. of Matthew speaketh of no more but sentence against the damned and for the elect But these questions are to bee resolved by Doctors for the word of God penetrateth not so farre The auctor of The fire of Helie doth resolue vs Pag. 38. saying These children shall not bee iudged in the last day For it is written in the 3. 〈◊〉 S. Iohn Whosoever beleeveth not is already â—udged But they never had faith then be they already fully iudged By this his Maiesteriall conclusion he also maketh the children that die soone after Baptisme to be already iudged and banished into Limbo for they likewise had no more faith then the former that died a â—ittle before Then maketh he one step of a Clarke farther because hee seeth not that Not to beleeue in this place is spoken of the rebellious and incredulous for of those that haue not beleeved Iohn speaketh in the next verse following Vers 19. They loved darknesse more then light that is to say errour more then â—ruth which cannot bee imputed to children newe borne Thus the Church of Rome by excluding childreÌ„ that dy without Baptisme from salvation committeth sundry oversights 1. First in so doing shee tyeth the Grace of God to the water 2. Here â—y also shee referreth the salvation of â—he child to the power of man or of a midwife for if they list to baptize the childe while it is dying it shall go into Paradise if they list not to baptize it it shall not come there 3. Herein also they accuse God that he provided but badly for the salvatioÌ„ of children born vnder the old Testament in that hee would not haue them to bee circumcised before the eighth day 4. Neither was it a small point of rashnesse mixed with barbarisme to bring in the custom practised at Paris where they cast their children headlong into a gulph that is in our Ladies hospitall or Gods house 5. Againe these our Masters doe place this Limbo vnder the earth and so what shall become of it when the earth shal haue no more being but be vtterly consumed with fire as saith S. Peter in hiâ— second Epistle Apoc. 21.1 chap 3. and David Psal 102. ver 26 27. At the least they should in time haue chalked out some other lodging for those childreÌ„ in some other place This so presumptuous and cruel doctrine against children is grouâ—ded vpon the words of Jesus Christ in the third of S. Iohn Except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Wherin the church of Rome is contrarie to her selfe for shee holdeth that many are saved that were never baptized in water as many Martyrs that were never baptised in water neither will it serue their turne to say that those Martyrs were baptized in their blood for this place of S. Iohn importeth That of necessity they must be borne againe of water besides that this baptisme in blood is contrary to the caÌ„nons of the Church of Rome which saith that the Sacrament is no Sacrament if hee that conferreth it hath not â—n intent to baptize But the heathen executioners had never any intent to baptize Againe sith Baptisme is vnreâ—iterable what reasoÌ„ is it that the martyrdome of a man not baptized should be Baptisme Yet will wee not deny but â—hat the Martyrs are baptized in their â—lood alwaies provided that this word to baptize be taken simply to wash aâ— that is the significatioÌ„ of the word but if we speake of Baptisme as it is a Sacrament of the Church a scale of the covenant exhibitiue of the grace of God in Jesus Christ the blood of a sinnefull man cannot bee this washing for the blood of the sonne of God is the onlie washing of our sins In answere to this place of the third of S. Iohn I
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
principle least our people shoulde overlabour them selues to defend it for as wel it maketh against Purgatory It were better say they that the soules should do but in Purgatorie they suffer they are miserably roasted certaine hundreds of yeares Admit that to roast were to do yet were it better to doe in heaven and so to haue the action of Angels As for the Contribution that we shal bring to the attaining of salvation the holy scripture prescribeth vs other meanes to attaine thereto It willeth vs to beleeue in Iesus Christ to carry his Crosse leaving al worldly cogitations to tend to the aime of supernatural vocation and to make perfect our salvation with trembling and with feare Thus is there a meanes to labour for our salvation yet such as our labour shal not be accounted a payment or satisfaction neither our soules be roasted in a fire Now albeit I haue spokē and inculcated these things the more expresly to cut of sclanders and that I haue said do yet say that the faithful ought to cōtribute and to bring whatsoever their care labor toward the work of their salvation yet is bad dealing so turned into nature with our frier minor that he dare sclander impute to me a cōtrary speech to that which indeede I spake That for our parts we ought to cōtribute nothing Slander and that the holy scripture teacheth vs to go to Iesus Christ c. And withall he exclaimeth saying Why do you thus abuse the people A prodigious shāelesnes Thus is the cause of Jesus Christ handled as some oration over a box of triakle or a game at gobelets The auctor of the fire of Helie doth likewise wrest my words He maketh as he were abashed saith he because wee saie that the soules in Purgatory doe satisfie by their paines because they doe not but only they suffer But I never spake it 25 Vpon this fire already quenched we poore as a surplussage this aspersion taken out of a booke indeed Apocriphal yet such a one as our adversaries do hold for Canonical Thus speaketh the booke of Wisdome cap. 3. v. 1. of the soules of the faithful The soules of the righteous are in the hands of God no torment shall touch them then shall they not go into Purgatory He addeth At their departure they enter into peace then not into a fire CAP. 4. Against mans satisfactions in generall PVrgatory thus razed which is the forest and most scortching satisfaction let vs go forward and search it even to the roote reversing in generall all the satisfactory paines that our adversaries do impose vpon the sinner And now that we are cōe to the word satisfie you are to vnderstand that there are two sorts of satisfying Expositiō of the word Satisfie the one for debt the other for offence Debt wee satisfy by paying offence by confessing the fault and craving pardon this in true speech is to make satisfactiō Now in this questiō we deale with the means how to satisfie God for our offences which is not by paying or redemption but by humbling of our selues with amendment and asking forgiuenesse As therefore we doe admit this kind of satisfaction which signifieth the confessing of our faults and humiliation before God so on the other side we reiect such satisfactions as are holden for redemptions and payments to Gods iustice Pag 80. The Monke beareth himselfe after his ordinary manner in a ridiculous insolent ignorance These be his wordes In this place I coniure the reader without passion to consider the grossnesse of the minister for hauing brought him into such tearmes that he could not vnsay himselfe he bethought him of the most notable cavill in the world namely that where the ancients doe vse this word Satisfie they vse it in this signification to haue faulted as who would say Nolim factum A slander yea hee hath presumed to set this downe in writing these last words he addeth that himself might giue vent to the slaunder for Throughout my writing is there any mention that Satisfie should signifie to haue done amisse But I say that to Satisfie signifieth to confesse to haue don amisse and to aske forgiuenesse Now let vs see whether his coniuratiōs without holy water be not frivolous and how hee discovereth my grossenesse What Calepine saith he did ever deliver such an interpretation Hee vnderhand confesseth that he is well seene in Calepine but we need no Calepine in words that little boies are skilfull enough in Suetonius in Iulius Caesar cap. 73. Valeriū Catullum à quo sibi vesiculis de Mamurra perpetua stigmata imposita non dissimulaverat satisfacientem eadem die admisit cenae And in Tiberius cap. 27. Consularem satisfacientem sibi ac per genua orare conantem ita suffugit vt caderet supinus And in Claudius cap. 38. Ostiensibus graviter correptis cuque cum invidia vt in ordinem se coactum scriberet repente tantū non satisfacientis modo veniam dedit And read Torrentius vpon the first passage where he saith Solebant qui verbis aliquem laeserant Ni◠in te scripsi Bithinice credere non vis iurare iube Malo satisfacere iurare nolle se ea dicta esse atque ita satisfacere This is the sense of the worde in Martial lib. 12. Epigram 79. In Plautus Amphitruo Alemena iniuried by her husband saith thus Aut satisfaciat mihi atque adiuret insuper se nolle esse dicta quae in me insontem protulit Tertullian in his booke de poenitentia saith Satisfactio confessione disponitur Confession And that which hee calleth satisfaction in the same booke he calleth Exomologesis Gehennam exomologesis extinguit But peradventure our Monke wil thinke these latin auctors to bee tainted with heresie or to be incompetent iudges of smal skil in his latin tōgue which now we must learne out of Scot Holcot Bricot or the rule of S. Frances where it is elegantly said Fratres possunt vestimenta repeciare de saccis alijs pecijs cum benedictione Dei It is now therfore meere simplicity in our younger schollers to offer to speake latin in the presence of the Franciscans for that which is said in the tēth chapter of the same rule That friers vnlearned must not care to learne is spokē for that time when ignorance was meritory But because these witnesses be but of smal auctority let vs here Bellarmine in his fourth booke De poenitentia cap. 16. vpō these words of S. Ambrose Ambros Nomine satisfactionis excusationem siue defensionem apertissime designavit lachrimas Petri lego satisfactionem non lego saith that S. Ambrose by this word satisfaction meaneth excuse or defēce no paymēt or redemption then as our frier woulde haue it who to mainetaine his speech produceth such passages of the Scripture as make against him wherein to satisfie signifieth not to pay or redeem He saith that Pilat meaning to satisfie the Iewes delivred
right that beseemeth her which is this treasure composed of the merits satisfactions of her master with the satisfactions of the Saints We answer that the church is indeed a spouse but the spouse of Iesus Christ not of Saints for they also are the spouse It belongeth to God the father of this spouse to Iesus Christ her spouse to endow her and he hath endowed her with celestiall and eternall goods but admit the Saints were bound to endowe the Church must the Pope neverthelesse be treasurer of this endowment it would be dangerous for in his Cannons hee tearmeth himselfe The spouse of the Church And Bellarmin Bell. l. 1. de Pontif. Rom. cap. 9. who writ at Rome with the Popes approbation saith that The Pope is the spouse of the Church etiam Christo secluso even Iesus Christ beeing excluded and set aside The same fire of Helie saith that in the old law they had a treasury in the Temple where vpon he inferreth that the Church of Rome must also haue her treasury composed of the satisfactions of Iesus Christ and his Saints A gallant shift But the Pope who hath sixe and twenty thousande crownes a day to spend hath hee not a treasury of like substance as the temple of Salomon Howbeit vpon Apostolicall simplicity on the day of his coronation he scattereth among the people batocchi bagatini halfe pence and farthings Lib. Cerem sacrarum c. Of the Popes Coronation saying with S. Peter Act. 3.6 Silver gold I haue none but such as I haue I giue thee Let vs consider likewise what entereth into this spirituall treasury Stripes pilgrimages wallets labours and travailes with fasts superaboundant What dreames What husbandry And al this to bee mixed with the merits of Iesus Christ so well must they be accompanied What shall we say of the prodigious tearmes of their pardons amounting even to millions of yeares Yea somtimes with manifest scorne adding to the yeares so many monthes and so many daies as if this people did very exactly calculat with God And that this scorn may the better appeare they grant pardons that giue plenary remission and six thousand yeares to boot See the very words of the book of Roman Indulgences printed at Rome by Iulius Accoltus anno 1570. In the moneth of February vpon Quinquagesima Sunday yee shall haue the stations at S. Peters with plenary Indulgence and 28 thousand years of Indulgence and as many Quarentines Leo Bishop of Rome Leo Papa ep 89. who lived foure hundred yeares after Christ had never learned this Arithmeticke for he saith Pag. 52. 53. let no man prescribe any measure or define any time to the mercy of God To this question the Frier is stil for saith he hee must preach vpon it this next lent The fire of Helie having acknowledged some abuse in the excessiue length of these Indulgences as indeed it is but a newe invention and a testimony howe farre mans spirit will proceed when God hath given it over yet soone after hee vndertaketh their defence and to that ende hee alleageth the sinne of Adam the punishment whereof hath continued aboue fiue thousand yeares This he saith to confound himself For if the Pope neither could neither yet can remit to any this punishmēt which hath continued aboue fiue thousand yeares no nor exempt him any one day therefro how dare he presume without any autority of the Scriptures to exempt soules for some thousands of yeares from a tormēt infinitly more grievous Besides wee haue already shewed that the calamitie and miseries of the world are not punishments for Adams sinne but punishments for that the world ensueth the sinnes of Adam The same doe we say of the Amalekites destroyed foure hundred yeares after their sinnes committed in the wildernesse for albeit God did againe call to mind the offence before committed yet was there no man rooted out that had not well deserued it But to what purpose is all this What resemblance betweene the delaying of a punishment foure hundred yeares and pardons for sixe hundred thousand yeares That which he addeth passeth all absurditie Hee saith that the daughter of the Canaanite was afflicted with a divel in her infancie for the sin of Cham who died three thousand yeares before He ought to haue produced his autor for this so lame a fable By the way let him learne that if C ham died about the time of his brother Sem it was but eighteene hundred yeares or a little more betweene his death and the birth of this daughter of Canaan and thus was hee wide twelue hundred yeares in his calculation Hee farther proceedeth and saith That I mistake if I thinke that this great number of yeares should bee for Purgatory for saith he they are for the pennances enioined by the Confessors or that should haue beene enioined had they observed the severitie of the ancient Cannons c. Wherein he counterfeiteth the ignorant for hee knoweth well enough that in the Church of Rome they doe hold that if any man in his life time hath not satisfied the pennance enioined hee must afterward finish this satisfaction in Purgatory whereof it ensueth that the Pope releasing those pennances doth also exempt from Purgatory him who being by death preverted had no time to accomplish them Moreover if a man should gather togither all the longest penances imposed by the ancient Canons yet doe I think it vnpossible to draw them to amount to the summe of six hundred thousand yeares which is the pardon purchased at Rome in the Church of S. Bibian vpon Alhallon day Surely this so long a tearme doth shew that this pardon is not a release for paines enioined only in this life but also for the paines after this life This doth Bellarmine teach in his first booke of Indulgences Cap. 9. parag Existit Finally hee alleageth Scripture to proue these Indulgences grāted to the dead In the 20. of S. Iohn Pag. 54. Iesus Christ saith to all his Disciples Whatsoever you shall lose vpon earth shall be losed in heauē And then hee leaveth vs to conclude that the Pope may lose vnder the earth and fetch the soules out of Purgatory And other as welfavored In the first to the Corinthians the third Chapter Let a man so thinke of vs as of the ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Then may the Pope giue Indulgences to the dead as who should say Masses for horses are wholsome then is the Pope God vpon earth Yee subtle Doctors that haue passed by the examen of Logick tell me in kindnesse in what figure are these syllogismes but they knowe well enough that these mysteries whereof S. Paul speaketh are the doctrine of the Gospell He addeth that S. Paul 2. Cor. 2. Released that which hee had enioyned to the Incestuous of Corinth To what purpose is al this for papal Indulgences fetching of souls out of Purgatory 1. The incestuous lived these in Purgatory
so to omit Pope Iohan. Pag. 35. of being tainted with this heresie wherein he sheweth himselfe a sclanderer in print for how is it possible we should holde that opinion sith we condemne it in others As for Iohn the 22. alias 23. the case is to plaine to be dissembled William Ockam in his worke of 53. daies and Adrian in the question of confirmation doe accuse him to haue held that the souls should not see God before the resurrection Gerson in his sermon of the passeover witnesseth the same and saith that the Divines of Paris with the assistance of Philip the long king of France forced him to vnsay it Neither doth it any whit helpe the Monke to search whether the time quoted by Calvin be free from error for it importeth not whether Gerson lived in the time of the said Iohn or after so long as the matter is true as Bellarmine from whom the Monke borrowed this Arithmeticall disputation doth confesse in his fourth booke De Pontifice Rom. in these words In the behalfe of Adrian I answer that this Iohn did indeed beleeue that the soules shall not see God vntill after the resurrection Iohannem hunc revera sensisse animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectione The autorities of the Fathers that he doth afterward alleage are false and hereafter shall be spoken of 18 They do yet adde one passage more out of the 12 of Matthew v. 32. The fire of Helie Whosoeuer shall speak against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiuen him in this world nor in the world to come This would not Iesus Christ haue spoken say our masters if there were not some sinnes that shall not be forgiven in this world but shall in the world to come and this world to come is Purgatory wherein their memory faileth them for they say that Purgatory was already in the time of Iesus Christ then could not Iesus Christ call it in the world to come But if our mens reply be true that Purgatory is the world to come in regard of every particular living person to whome this punishment is yet to come there shall be by that reason a thousand millions of worlds to come all differing in beginning and in continuance This at the least doth remaine that with Iesus Christ who spake Purgatory could not be the world to come 2. Againe Iesus Christ speaketh of a world wherein sinnes are forgiuen but they say that in Purgatory sinnes are punished and that the pardon for all manner of sinnes is already granted in the life through Iesus Christ only In Purgatory they bear the punishment of the sinnes alreadie pardoned Thus doe they runne themselues on the Pikes as also they answer nothing to the matter And as for the Frier his answers are ridiculous haue no correspondence with that which I haue said The autor of the fire of Helie doth shew by the example of David Achab that the sinner obtaineth mercy by the punishment but hee deceaueth himselfe for it is true as concerning such paines of this life as tend to the amendment of the sinner but not of Purgatory where there is no amendment neither could this haue bin better confuted then by cyting S. Augustine who saith Hie vre hic seca vt in aeternū parcas For he saith Hic not in purgatorio 3. Thirdly what is this world to cōe then Let vs learne it not of these people which transforme all things into matches to kindle their Purgatory but of Iesus Christ himselfe and his word Iesus Christ Luke 20.35 telleth vs that this other world beginneth by the resurrection They saith he that shall bee coūted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection of the dead Neither must we think it strange that it is said that in that day sinnes shall be forgiuen 2. Tim. 1.18 1. Sith S. Paule desireth that God would shewe mercy to the house of one Sephorus in that day which is as much as to pardon the sinnes 2. S. Peter also Act. 3.19.20 saith that in that day our sinnes shal be blotted out Amend your liues that your sinnes may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and that hee shall haue sent Iesus Christ who was before preached vnto you 3. Rom. 8.23 Luk. 21.28 For as the holy Scripture calleth that day the day of our redemption and adoption because that then it shall bee fully revealed and consummate so the same day vpon the same reasons may be called the day of remission of our sinnes And some sinnes there be which albeit by the iudgement of the Church they may be pardoned in this life yet they shall not bee pardoned in the last day such is the sinne against the holy Ghost To all this our adversaries are as dumbe as a fish and endeavor by a great heap of the Fathers to proue that sinnes are also forgiuen in the world to come but to what purpose sith we doe grant it Shall this people be suffered to pervert our words turne our speech contrary to that which wee beleeue They beat the aire and lose their blows and our Monke sclandereth mee saying that I call the fathers our adversaries Sclander but where did I so 19 The passage wherevpon they doe most insist is taken out of the first to the Corinth cap. 3. where S. Paule saith Other foundation can no man laie thē that which is laid which is Iesus Christ If any man build vpon this foundation gold siluer precious stones timber hay stubble every mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is If the worke of any that hath built therevpō doe abide he shall receaue waies If any mās worke burne he shall lose but hee shall bee safe himselfe howbeit as by fire For fire say my men is Purgatory wherein the workes are tried by fire for it is said If any mans worke burne and againe Hee shall be saued but as it were by fire Al this is full of impossibilities and absurdities 1. First an article of faith must not bee grounded vpon allegories saith S. Hierom on Mat. lib. 2. Nunque Parobolae du bia aenigmatum intelligentia potest ad autoritatem dogmatum proficere so saith Tertullian also But albeit S. Paul who by revelation receaved the sence of the Scriptures did sometime vse the Allegorie as in the fourth to the Galathians it followeth not that it is to be permitted to every newe commer much lesse to men that plead for their owne profit Besides the selfe same thing that S. Paule teacheth by Allegories is elsewhere proued by evident demonstrations Ierem. 30. Heb. 12.9 But these men produce no manifest passage where it is said that after this life there is a place wherein the soules of such as haue not satisfied to the full
immediatly hee seeketh a beginning of another iourney The soule is losed from the body Solvitur corpere anima ad huc tamē futuri iudidii ambiguo suspenditur but yet abideth in suspense vpon the doubt and vncertainty of the future iudgement If this be so then doth she not inioy felicitie before the day of iudgement S. Augustine is of the same mind for in him we finde sundry places wherein speaking of the soules of some persons deceased he thinketh them to bee translated into heaven and to bee with God but wee find more places where he holdeth the contrary and followeth the common error vpon the 36. Psalme he saith that the soule departed from the body shal not be in the kingdome of heauen well it may be in Abrahams bosome with Lazarus for so doth he cal this receptacle and to shew that this was the common opinion he saith that no man was ignorant thereof These be his words Post vitam islam parvam nondum eris vbi erunt sancti quibus dicetur venite Benedicti c. Non dum ibi eris Quis nescit So in the ninth booke of his Confessions cap. 3. he thus speaketh to God Thou hast losed Nebridius out of this flesh Nebridiu◠carne solvisti nunc ille vivit in sinu Abrahae quicquid illud est quod ille significatur Tempusquod inter hominis mortem vltimam resurrectionem interpositum est animas abditis receptaculis continet Socratis animarum receptaculis sedibusque requiescit Secundum apertissimam Domini sententiam etiā ipse sentit tūc visuros faciē Dei cum in Angelos profecerimus 1. aequales Angelis facti fuerimus quod erit vtique in resurrectione mortuorū and now he liveth in Abrahams bosome whatsoever it is that is signified by this bosome Here he speaketh as doubting In his manuell to Laurentius cap. 108. The time that is betweene death and the last resurrection containeth the soules in secret receptacles according as every one is worthy of rest or of affliction And in his 17. booke of the Citty of God cap. 9. This part of the citty of God which is gathered together from among mortall men must bee conioined with immortall Angels is now a traveller vpon earth being subiect to death whereas for those that are dead they rest in the hidden receptacles or seats of souls In his Epistle to Fortunatianus According to the most evidēt sētēce of our Lord and S. Paule holdeth that wee shall see the face of the Lord when we shal be advanced even to the Angels that is to say that we be made equal to the Angels which shall be in the resurrection of the dead I will therefore make any man of vnderstanding iudge whether the wordes wherewith at this day they pray in the masse for the soules in Purgatory doe not testifie that when this praier was penned the beliefe of the latin Church was not concordant with it Qui nos praecesserunt in signo fidei dormiunt in somno pacis These bee the words Remember O Lord thy servāts that are gone before vs in the sign of faith and do sleepe in the slumber of peace To thē O LORD and to all that rest in Christ vvee beseech thee to graunt place of refreshing of light and of peace Could this bee spoken of soules so long tormented in a fire like to hell fire What rest what quiet sleepe in fire seavē times more hot then our ordinary fire A fire that cōtinueth hundreds and thousands of yeares Vndoubtedly this praier was made for the soules that they thought to be in the hiddē receptacles where they rested in expectation of the resurrection and felt some refreshing by the praiers of the living Indeed wee haue heard that such was the opinion of Tertullian who also vseth the like tearmes in his booke of Monogamy and willeth the wise to pray for her husbād In refrigerium adpostulet vt in prima resurrectione consortium entreating some refreshing for him and that he may accompany her in the first resurrection For this doctour beleeved that all the faithfull shoulde not rise togither as in the last chapter of his booke of the soule hee doth expresly say yea evē all the Greek Church is yet of that opinion who denying Purgatory do neverthelesse pray for the dead Vide Concil Ferrariense seu Florentinum Nilū de Purgatorio as not yet enioying coelestiall felicity And Guido in his summe of heresies attributeth the same errour to the Churches of Armenia This was it that induced Pope Iohn the 23. to maintaine this opinion to prohibit the divines of Paris from teaching otherwise as witnesseth Gerson in his pascal sermon Iohn Villanus in the tenth booke of his history This is one of the heroical actions of the Colledge of Sorbon and one of her last gaspes of her dying liberty for saith Erasmus in his preface to the fifth book of Ireneus Iohannes coactus opere Theologorum Parisiorum ad palinodiam coram Galliarū Rege Philippo non sinc buccina By al the premisses it appeareth how irresolute the ancients are in this question how vnfit they are to decide it into what Laberinthes they that sende vs to the fathers to be directed by them do endevour to entangle the consciences It also appeareth that the prayers for the dead that are to be foūd in these doctors doe make nothing for Purgatory but were made for their refreshings in those receptacles and for their salvation in the day of Iudgement also for other intents whereof we wil speak hereafter This is one degree of the bad dealing of my adversaries in their citing of the fathers That divers of the fathers beleeved that the fire in the last iudgment should purge the soules of all men even of the Apostles and Saints Clement of Alexandria was the first that declined frō the purity simplicity of the doctrine of the Gospell intermingling Platonicall Philosophy there with also his wheeling and capricious stile did blast and corrupt all that was naturall or forcible in the simplicity of Gods word yea he proceeded so far as to say in the sixt booke of his Tapisseryes that the Greekes were iust by Philosophy also that Philosophy was givē vnto them in liew of the Testamentes By the same vanity was hee likewise induced in the same booke to say that Christ and his Apostles descended into hell and there preached the Gospell to the soules of the Gentils and Infidels who saith he were by that preaching converted hee also holdeth that the souls of Infidels that are in hell may yet be converted and come to salvation Orig hom 3. in Psal 36. Omnes nos necesse est venire ad illū ignem etiam si vel Paulus sit vel Petrus Origen his disciple succeeded him in time but outstript him in heresies and to this Platonicall humour hath added thus much more The wresting of al the scriptures into allegories
his word cleere the peoples minds from all doubts or difficulties withal cut of the pathes that lead to this trafficke How vniustly the Frier and his fellowes doe make vse of the example of the primitiue Church in matter of Indulgences In the times of persecutions the primitiue Church sought all meanes possible to honour martyrdome and to encourage the Christians thereto Amōg other meanes they had taken vp a custome that such as for any notorious offence were cut of from the Church for some long time did resort to the prisons wherein such as suffered for the gospel were detained there besought these Martyres to make intercession to the Church that the time of their pennance and excommunication might be abridged and thus did the Bishops vse at the intercessions of these prisoners appointed to martyrdome to readmit the penitent into the Congregation S. Cyprian in his sermon of the fallen also in the second Epistle of his fourth booke and Tertullian in his booke De pudicitia doe disallow this custome thinke thay they yeeld too much to these imprisoned Martyrs Yea Tertullian speaketh thereof in his book of the Martyrs cap. 1. Our adversaries like the Israelites that gathered straw vnder the bondage of Pharao for want of more substantiall proofes doe make vse of this custome in their establishing of the Popes Indulgences and in the distribution of the overplus workes and superabundant satisfactions of the Saints collected into the Popes treasurie and converted into paimentes for others Tertullian calleth thē appointed Martyrs wherein I suppose they haue no intent that men should beleeue them so farre from all apparance doe they speake 1. These Martyrs that S. Cyprian spak of were yet aliue those that our adversaries spake of are dead 2. Wee cannot finde that ever the paine of any sinner was abridged by the merits and superabundant sufferings of these Martyres who would never haue vndergon those torments had they not beleeved that God called them thereto and consequently that they were bound to endure them so it followeth that they neither did nor suffered any thing supererogatory for they could not doe otherwise vnlesse they would haue denied the Gospell 3. These imprisoned Martyrs commended to the Church this or that penitent and besought that they might be receaued into the Communion but they neither paid for them nor redeemed them as our adversaries doe say that the Saints by their sufferings are in some sort our redeemers 4. These Martyrs entreated only that the sinner might bee admitted to the Communion not that he might be exempt from Purgatory 5. In those daies there was no speech of this worthie treasure of the Church composed of the superabundant satisfactions of Iesus Christ and his Saints 6. Every Bishop imposed or abridged the pains or excommunications in his owne flocke without expecting either advice or buls from the Bishop of Rome 7. In those daies men knew not the meaning of pardons hanged vpon certain Churches by his holinesse autoritie O what a goodly sight it would haue beene in those daies to haue seene such buls set vp and fixed vpon the Church dores or some one that might haue instructed the people in this new Gospell namely that his Papall holinesse having in his treasury all the superabundant satisfactions of Iesus Christ his Saints doth giue ten thousande or fiftie thousande yeares of plenary pardon and as many quarentines with the third of all their sinnes or even full Indulgence to every one that shall say a stinted number of Paters or Avees or his rosary or beads or weare or kisse some halowed grains or contribute some peece of mony or that shall ioine himselfe to the fraternitie of the Corde likewise that such a stinted number of Masses said vpon a certaine priviledged altar shal fetch out of Purgatory any one soule even such a one as he shall chuse that must pay for it also that such venerable pardons are to be purchased in such a Church vpon such a day even vntill sun set besides that he that shall buy these pardōs may chuse him a ghostly father such a one as in the houre of death shall absolue him from all his sinnes both frō the paine and from the fault Surely I say if any man in the primitiue Church should shaue preached so prodigious a doctrine even the little children would haue hissed after him or the Phisitians would haue felt his pulse so to haue learned the cause of his frensey and to purge his hypochondriall humour for as yet it was not the custome to burne any man for heresie Now in our enterview the Frier alleaged vnto me this intercession of the Martyrs for the penitent to defend papall Indulgences I answered that that intercession had no resemblance with the Popes Indulgences besides that that custome did Tertullian condemne Then did he take me vp in a most impudent manner saying that I was deceaued also that I tooke Tertullian for S. Cyprian but I told him that both the one and the other condemned this custome howbeit wee wanted bookes to satisfie the assistants vpon this point This did not the Frier forget in his booke and therefore marke his words pag. 12. The Minister should remember what a Novice be shewd himselfe in the reading of the fathers how hee mistooke himselfe in citing them quoting Tertullian for S. Cyprian But let him nowe learne that which he yet knewe not so confesse himselfe to be the Novice Tertullian in his book de Pudicitia cap. 22 complaineth of this custome at large even so farre forth as to say That diverse procured their own imprisonment that so they might be Intercessors for some of their friends or that they might commit folly with women detained in the same prison Violantur viri feminae in tenebris plane ex vsu libidinum notis Et pacem ab his quaerunt paenitentes qui de sua periclitantur In the end hee concludeth thus Sufficiat Martyri propria delicta purgasse Ingrati vel superbi est in alios quoque spargere quod pro magno fuerit consequutus Quis alienam mortem sua soluit nisi solus Dei filius c. that is to say Let it suffise the Martyr that hee hath purged his owne sinnes It is the part of an vnthankfull and proud person to seeke to impart to others that which hath beene granted to himselfe for a great grace What man did ever by his owne death satisfie for anothers death but the only sonne of God In al this appeareth both the Monks ignorance in commō matters as also his assurāce in speaking that which he knoweth not besides his childish waunting of prevailing in so slight a cause For had I named Tertullian for Cyprian can the weakenesse of my braine amend his cause but it is memory that fayleth him or rather knowledge but especially conscience Note in the meane time how well these Indulgences are vnderpropped with antiquitie for my adversaries in
all their three burning bookes do not bring frō the Fathers any other proofes but this custome to support their Indulgences Indeed the fire of Helie saith that Sylvester Bishop of Rome gaue Indulgences but that is false neither can hee hereof produce any good author that lived in the time of the said Sylvester or a long time after I knowe that this worde Indulgence is to be found in sundry ancients yea it is to be found in Cicero But the point is to proue whether the Bishop of Rome in the first ages of the Christian Church gaue any pardons throughout Christendome and the same tied to some one Church some one day and vpon condition to contribute or to say a set number of Paters or Aves or to wear some halowed grains also whether by Indulgences he fetched soules out of Purgatory or distributed to others the surplussage of the sufferings of Saints laid vp in his treasury Here are they all quiet for never an ancient will depose for a matter so frivolous That our adversaries for the establishing of their satisfactions doe corrupt the Fathers The ancient Christians found them selues much troubled in preventing such fainthearted people as to avoide persecution did for the time fit themselues to Paganisme the storme once over returned to Christianisme To those they enioined many yeares of penance and quartered them apart by thē selues in the Church so as they were a long time excluded from the Communiō Hereof read Zozomenus lib. 7. c. 16. where he describeth the forme of publike penance in his time Their behaviours and testimonies of repētance are many times tearmed Satisfactions of which word we haue before spoken and shewed that it signifieth cōfession of the fault or humiliation and asking of forgiuenesse Read the sermō of S. Cyprian concerning the fallen where this word is common hee inviteth the sinners ad precem satisfactionis to a praier of acknowledgement of their fault Againe According to our adversaries exposition we should turne it A prayer of payment which beareth no sense Dominus orandus Dominus nostra satisfactione placandus Wee must pray to God wee must appease God with our satisfactions In the same sermon Let not the sinner cease from doing pennance and intreating for the mercy of God least sinne that seemeth small growe great through contempt of satisfaction Who seeth not that he here taketh entreating for the mercy of God and satisfactiō for one only thing And againe Illi se anima prosternat illi maestitia satisfaciat He saith that humiliation and sorrow doe satisfie God and appease him Fraudulently then doe they alleage the Fathers for the laying of the foundatiō of their satisfactions which they say to be payments redemptions and purchases towards the iustice of God and endeavour out of a bad grammer to gather as bad divinitie by the corruption of one latin word a perverting of Christian faith If Origen or any man after him hath said that our good workes or that Repentance doth redeeme our sins it is to be vnderstood in the same māner as wee say to redeeme a mans peace by praier or to redeeme the time by diligence in which forme of speech this word to redeeme importeth neither payment nor redemption We must therefore mollifie whatsoever the ancients haue spokē over harsh beat with the impropriety of their wordes If neverthelesse anie of them were hee in never so great estimatiō with vs did ever meane that there was anie other redemption from the paine due to our sins but the blood of the sō of God or that hath beleeved that a sinfull man may be the redeemer either of himselfe or of any other The frier pag. 108. falsely saith that it is the opinion of the fathers yet citeth none but Origen as my adversaries do hold we say freely with S. Paule Gal. 1. If an Angell from heaven shall preach anie other Gospel thē the Apostles haue preached vnto vs let him be to thee accursed Now would I wish the curious reader to examine the passages of the fathers quoted by these doctors so shall he find that still they doe pervert the passages in some one of the sixe formes that wee haue represented so it be not in passages vainly alleaged to no purpose or vpon matters by vs granted besides that a great part of their allegations are false and the passages either maimed or changed And hereof haue wee set down many examples as a tast thereby to iudge of the rest The confession of the Portugall Frier page 40. where in he acknowledgeth that in the olde Testament there is no speech of Purgatory His words be these The olde Testament hath not proued the immortality of the soule neither Paradice neither the creation of Angels neither many other like things as wel for the reasons before alleaged as because the Doctors of the law that taught others never doubted of thē In like sort must we vnderstand it of Purgatory The Reasons that he alleageth are the same that are contained page 18. 19 1. First for that it was for feare of giving occasion to the Iewes together with the Gentils to thinke that wee should sacrifice to the Infernall powers 2. Secondly by reason that before the redemption of mankind the estat of the dead was not so well knowne as after that our Lord descended into hell 3. Thirdly because men had not so great meanes to succour them before as they had after that the merits of the death and passion of our Lord were committed into the hands of the Church to apply them FINIS