Experience is to be expected from them and on the other side how necessary notwithstanding it is for the Peace and Repose of this Nation that the Occasions of such mischievous Dissentions should be better considered and removed I presently perceived I had a fair Opportunity in this to present a proper instance of a Matter of such Importance to Persons as well qualified to judge and who were likely to be as sensible of the Importance of it as any and thereupon concluded to present it alone to the Consideration of Your Lordships and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession having already as to the rest made a considerable Experiment of what I have here said of the Hopes we may have of a good Success if they to whom it doth belong will but do what is in their Power towards it For having published a Liturgy Entituled The Liturgy of the Ancients represented as near as well may be in English Forms not much different only a little more compleat from that Restitution of the True English Liturgy attempted by the Scotch with the Assistance of the Principal of the English Bishops Anno 1637. I presented it to some of the principal learned Men first of the English who much approved it and wished it restored by Law then of the Lutherans who also approved it and declared their Satisfaction to communicate in that Form and at last of the Roman Catholicks who had no Exceptions to the Matter or Form of it And in short to say the Truth the Abuse and Corruptions of the Publick Liturgy in these two particulars Of Prayers for the Dead and the Christian Sacrifice to mention nothing more are so gross and notorious that they alone are sufficient to make the Church of England inexcusably Guilty of Schism and justly obnoxious to Excommunication which may be the Enchantment it seems to lie under and unsafe for any pious Person after notice to hold Communion with it so that it seems not only expedient and prudent for the State to consider these Matters for otherwise nothing is to be expected from these Bishops but absolutely necessary And so I leave it with Your Lordships Your Lordships most Humble Servant Of the Practice of Prayers for the DEAD In the Christian Church THE Performance of any good Offices for the Dead even to their Bodies their Bones their Memories their Wills c. hath always been reputed a very commendable thing among all civilized Nations and whatever hath been acted to the contrary barbarous and inhumane and the only Neglect of such Offices by such as were under any special Obligation of evil consequence as if Mankind had some secret sense that Separate Souls were sensible of the Kindness or Unkindness of those who survived them and had some power to gratifie or revenge the Kindness or Injuries especially of their Relations and such as they had any special Interest in in their Life-time And if such inferior Offices to their Bodies and Memories have been so reputed much more may such good Offices as Prayers for the Souls departed deserve commendation And accordingly it hath been always commonly practised by all Nations Gentiles Jews Mahometans and Christians and that without any known Beginning but very probably by Tradition from the common * Concerning Matters transmitted from them and received and conserved by the Gentiles See Mr. Dodwell's 2d Letter § 8. Parents of Mankind being very agreeable to Nature and confirmed by Apparitions And certainly this is a thing so innocent so free from all appearance of Evil so desirable both for ones self and their Friends that it is very strange that any especially good People should be persuaded nay frighted from it and much more that any should so presume upon their own Opinion and Conceit as to offer to persuade them so contrary to the Practice of the whole World in general and of the whole Catholick Church without clearer Evidence in so obscure a Case as is that of the middle State of Souls to us Mortals which is not to be believed could ever have been without some secret Energy of those Powers of Darkness which have effected greater Mischiefs than this by the same Instruments It is the Practice of the Jews at this day and has been so without any known beginning was so before our Saviour's time as appears by the Book of Maccabees and their ancient Form of Prayer which 't is said they used in the Captivity still extant in their Talmud and never was reproved by our Saviour or any of his Apostles or of the Primitive Christians It is the Practice of the whole Catholick Church at this day and of all Christians except such as according to the unanimous Sentiments of the Ancients are gone and are out of it and hath been so without any known beginning in their most solemn Worship so that no Church can be assigned where they who scruple at it now could have had Communion without it And never was opposed contradicted or questioned by any one of any Reputation in the Catholick Church or by any one at all for near 400 years The first who is known to have questioned it was Aerius in the time of Epiphanius a Presbyter a frantick proud conceited Man discontented because he could not get a Bishoprick and thereupon 't is probable quarrelled not only at divers Practises of the Church but at Episcopacy it self an ill Man by the Judgement of all and Epiphanius and St. Austin reckon him in their Catalogues of Hereticks for his Opposition of this Practice especially The next whose Testimony is produced in this Cause is one Stephanus Gobarus and obscure Scribler and a confessed Heretick even by Vsher who alleadgeth his Testimony as well as by Photius from whom he takes it and who gives this Character of his Book that it seems a Work of much Labour but little Profit and a Study rather of Applause and Vain-Glory than any great Usefulness It was a Collection of the different Sentences of the Fathers in divers points of Doctrine and alleadged to prove such a Difference of Opinions in this Case and what was the true Sentence of the Church A special Witness and to much purpose an Heretick to prove the true Sentence of the Church and a vain-glorious Person who out of Ostentation of Parts and Learning seeks for Differences in the Fathers and sets himself up for a Judge which he might if he had pleased have done also in the Scripture it self But after all he doth not so much as declare his Opinion in the principal Question in this Case but only in a by-point A poor Cause that stands in need of such Supports If we set him aside as well we may who is neither a competent Witness of the Sentence of the Church nor doth declare his own in this Case we find not another in near 700 years after Aerius till Peter de Bruis and one Henricus a runagate Monk who took up a Trade of Preaching and spent what he
THE LITURGY OF THE ANCIENTS REPRESENTED As near as well may be IN English Forms WITH A PREFACE Concerning the RESTITUTION of the most Solemn Part of the Christian Worship in the Holy Eucharist to its Integrity and just Frequency of Celebration LONDON Printed for the AUTHOUR 1696. Bp. Andrews's Sermon on Gal. 3.4 p. 32. No Fulness there is of our Liturgy or Publick Solemn Service without the Sacrament Some part yea the chief part is wanting if that be wanting Dr. S. Patrick the present Bp. of Ely Our Worship must be confessed to be but imperfect when the Holy Communion is wanting Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion p. 68. Id. ibid. p. 61. The Church in the best Times and the best Men in the Church in after-Ages look'd upon this as an Ordinary part of Christian Worship which Christ intended should be performed in his Church as oft as they assembled for Divine Service QUESTIONS Concerning the Proper and Peculiar Christian Worship 1. WHether the Divine Service or Liturgy as from Act. 13.2 we may conceive it to have been anciently termed as it hath been in all Ages since of the Christians hath not from all Antiquity been distinguished into two Parts The first consisting of Reading of the Scriptures and Explication thereof or Exhortation to the People with some few short Prayers called The Service of the Catechumens The other consisting principally of a Solemn Memorial of the Passion of our Saviour represented before the Father as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World with Thanksgivings and Prayers for the Catholick Church and all Mankind for the particular Church and People of all Orders and Degrees where it was celebrated and for all the Necessaries of humane Life called The Service of the Faithful to which the Catechumens and Penitents were not admitted but were excluded 2. Whether this latter Part called The Service of the Faithful hath not been retained and celebrated in all Churches of the World from the Apostles Times to this Day except those called Reformed as the Peculiar and most solemn Part of the Christian Worship daily where they had any daily Worship as in most great Churches they had from whence it had the name of Sacrificium quotidianum in others three or four times in the Week and in all every Lords Day and the rest without it be any more than the Service of Catechumens and Penitents 3. Whether there be any plain Evidence or Appearance in the Holy-Scripture of any solemn Assembly of Christians in the Apostles times where this sacred Rite was not used or that any present at any such Assembly where it was used did ever depart without Communion or Participation And whether the Sacred History Act. 20.7 relating that the Disciples came together to break Bread as the End and Occasion of that famous Assembly of the Christians at Troas though Paul so eminent an Apostle was then to Preach there and to Preach his Farewell Sermon doth not thereby signify or imply that that was notwithstanding the principal Business of that and such settled Assembles And St. Paul himself 1 Cor. 11.20 speak of their coming together to eat the Lords Supper as the constant and Principal Business of such Assemblies and the same also be not strongly implied in those other Expressions Act. 2.42 46. and 1 Cor. 10.16 4. Whether by ancient Canons all the Faithful who came to Church and heard the Scriptures were not oblig'd to stay this Solemn Service of the Faithful and Communicate under the Penalty of Excommunication 5. Whether there was ever any Doubt or Question whether all the Faithful ought to Communicate every Day that is if where there was a daily Celebration till the time of St. Augustine And whether many did not continue to do so then 6. Whether this most Holy Solemn and Peculiar Worship of the Faithful Christians be not being duly performed most highly Honourable to the Father by Solemn Worship and Recognition of him as the Soveraign Lord of the Universe and also to the Son by like Solemn Worship and Recognition of him as our Lord and Redeemer and that we are all his Purchased Servants and to the Holy-Ghost by whose Presence and Virtue all Sacred Operations are perfected And moreover of very great Benefit to the Souls of the Faithful duly disposed by a Communication of Divine Virtue to them 7. Whether what some Learned Men have rightly observed à posteriori from matter of Fact That the Devil hath exercised and vented more Malice against this Holy Rite than against any other part of the Christian Religion except the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity be not also credible upon Considerations â priori from the Nature of the thing from the Honour and Worship therein performed to the Father and to our Saviour and to the Holy-Ghost and the Benefits communicated to Humane Souls but more especially because therein that Passion of our Saviour which the Devil had maliciously procured is solemnly Honoured and represented before the Father as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World to the Confusion of that Proud Malicious and Envious Spirit 8. Whether great Elevation of Soul and Devotion to God and Enlargement of Souls in mutual Charity of one to another being principal Benefits ordinarily communicated to Souls duly disposed in the frequent and Reverend Use of this Holy Sacrament Deprivation of these Benefits and instead thereof Dissentions Contentions and Animosities and Decay of Piety and over-spreading of Wickedness may not be just and deserved Punishments of the Neglect of so great a Duty and Solemn Worship and of so Holy Means for the obtaining of those Benefits and may not therefore reasonably be believed to be Special Judgments of God for the same when we see them follow Notorious Neglect thereof at no great Distance 9. Whether therefore Neglect of Communion by the People in the Greek Churches where Chrysostom preached vehemently against it both at Antioch and Constantinople may not reasonably be believed to have been severely Punished by the Special Judgement of God and Malice of the Devil getting Advantage thereupon by the Divisions and Confusions which arose there not long after his Death and continued till almost all the Eastern Churches were first over-spread with them and at last over-run and enslaved by the Turks and Mohemetans And in the Latin-Churches by the abominable Corruptions Abuses Impostures and Usurpations of the Papacy 10. Whether the Neglect not only of Communion by the People but even of Celebration by the Clergy so that such of the People as would have Communicated could not and in a manner taking away of the daily Sacrifice in the Churches called Reformed may not also reasonably be believed to have been punished by the special Judgement of God and Malice of the Devil by their Divisions amongst themselves from the Beginning of their Reformation and by the great Decays of Piety and Over-spreading of Wickedness which hath by degrees increased amongst them
ever since 11. Whether in these Divisions in the Churches called Reformed the Socinian Heresy hath not had great Advantage by their Neglect of so Pregnant a Testimony of the Catholick Church against it as this of the Solemn Memorial of the Passion of our Saviour before the Father as the great Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World 12. Whether all these Churches called Reformed Note The like Judgments of God are observeable upon divers particular Persons who neglect the Opportunities or refuse the Invitations they have for this great Duty and necessary Means For there is as much Unworthiness and Dis-respect done to this Holy Sacrament by Neglect or Refusal of Communion as by Unworthy coming to it or Irreverence at it And most of the Pretences which People make to excuse their Omission will be found but Hypocrisy at last But many have not Opportunities or discerning to observe this in particular Examples have not great Reason to fear and expect a further Judgement upon them for this Neglect if they be not moved by those before mention'd speedily to reform the same that is to be delivered into the Hands of their Enemies as it happened to the Greek Churches and hath happened to some of these already and particularly to one of the most Ancient and best Reformed of them all in all other Respects the Bohemian besides others since 13. Whether there can be any Objection or Exception against the constant use of this Holy-Worship which doth not reflect upon and imply either great Ignorance or something more shameful in such as make it 14. Whether all such as Oppose or Discourage the frequent Rever and Vse of this Holy-Worship do not therein greatly gratify the Devil and do him a very pleasing Service 15. Whether as well from the Nature of the Thing as from the Authority and Practice of the Catholick Church this Holy-Worship ought not to be restored to a daily Frequency in all Cathedrals with Prayers there to be offered up with this Solemn Memorial for the whole Diocess more particularly besides those for the whole Catholick Church and the Nation as also in all great Towns and populous Places where there are a competent number of People to frequent it daily but especially in the Universities and to a Weekly Vse that is every Lords-Day at least in all other Churches 16. Whether all the Clergy belonging to such Churches or in such Places ought not Constantly and Reverently to attend this Solemn Worship except when hindred by sufficient special and extraordinary Occasions 17. Whether our Offering up to God a defective or imperfect Service in a superficial formal Manner hath not been a great Offence and Provocation to many to forsake the Church and go over to the Dissenters and the Restitution of the compleat Christian Worship reverently and devoutly performed would not be as likeâ—y to reduce them 18. Whether our Neglect of the daily Sacrifice so manifestly contrary to the Practice of the Catholick Church hath not been a great Scandal and Offence â—o many of the Papists and hindred their Communion with us and the Restitution of it with all Decency and Reverence be not a likely Means to invite them to come in especially if we did but therewithal restore some more of the undeniable Practices of the Catholick Church and particularly that Solemn Manner of Treating of Penitents so Honourable to God and Beneficial and Necessary to Men 19. Whether though of all the ancient Liturgies that of the Greeks the Form of which may be seen in Cyril of Jerusalem and much of the Matter in the Ancient Book called Clements Constitutions not much different from that which bears the Name of St. James be both more Ancient and more compleat than any now extant of any of the Latin-Churches there be not notwithstanding a great Agreement among them all in all the Principal and Essential Parts of this Holy-Worship and between them and the most Ancient Forms of the Jews in such things as are common to both as many are and not peculiar to the Christians and therefore Whether all Persons ought not to be very cautious how they use either their own extempore Conceptions or Forms composed according to their own private Phansies or Opinions in so Solemn Worship of God 20. Whether it be not the Duty and the Wisdom of any Church or People as well as of particular Persons to give Glory to God by an humble Acknowledgment of their Sin and a speedy Resolute and effectual Reformation but a foolish and dangerous thing either to palliate or cover the same for fear of Weakning their Authority or to delay or procrastinate the Reformation or do it insufficiently or imperfectly upon any other prudential Considerations FINIS THE PREFACE THE Method which our Blessed Saviour prescribed for the Reformation of what is amiss in individual and private Persons and Matters viz. That it be gradual and first as gentle as may be by tacit Admonition or private Reproof and if that will not do then to proceed only to the Audience of one or two but still in private that there may be Witnesses to attest the orderly Proceeding as well as the Obstinacy of the Offender and then indeed if that will not do to report it to the Church or Holy Assembly of the Faithful but never to expose the Person till all other Means have been used and found ineffectual and unsuccessful the same is doubtless according to his Will ordinarily much more to be observed in publick Persons and Matters And this I have endeavoured and do desire to observe in the Matter in hand which is of no mean Moment but concerning a Principal Matter of the Christian Religion the most Solemn and Peculiar Part of the Christian Worship For upon diligent Search under the Conduct of the Hand of God into Miscarriages and Matters amiss therein having plainly discovered and detected the same to my own Satisfaction I have given Notice thereof to such as were concerned to promote a Reformation and expected a just time for something to be done or at least be begun for that Purpose And having done all that could be done in Secret I am now by a regular Course of Proceeding to make my Report to the Church and for that since there is no appearance of any opportunity to do it in a Synod there is no other way left but this of the Press And this I have been careful to use with all the Gentleness and Deliberation that is fit in this Case to be used if we consider who is concerned in it and how far I have already out of respect to those in Authority for no inconsiderable time in a manner suppress'd communicating but to a few and some of the principal men what I had Printed though it did but in part open the Faults and now I do but propose a Specimen of a Remedy to Consideration without expressly noting what is amiss desiring only Leave to use it with my own
or among the Ancient Christians of the first Ages is known ever to have been held without it Thes 6. No Church upon the Face of the Earth from the Time of the Apostles to the Time of the Reformation nor to this Day except among Protestants is known to have kept the Lord's-Day or had any ordinary Assemblies for the And as to the Communion or Participation Thes 1. By most Ancient Order in the Church who-ever departed after the Reading of the Scriptures or Sermon and stay'd not at the Communion and received were to be excommunicated Thes 2. In the first Ages till about the Time of St. Augustin we find not any Doubt or Question concerning the Obligation of all to Communicate daily if they were where it was Celebrated and had no just Impediment But then when many especially among the Greeks began to neglect that Holy Duty that Question arose among the Latines and the more Devout continued to receive every Day an Argument of Daily Celebration then and others intermitted certain Days Thes 3. By Ancient Canons if any neglected to Communicate for Three Sundays together they were to be excommunicated Thes 4. It was Anciently commonly reputed a grievous thing to be hindered from Receiving the Blessed Sacrament but to be denyed it a grievous Punishment and such was the Judgment of the Church concerning the Importance of it that to such as were hindered from coming to the Church it was sent home to their Houses by the Deacons Thes 5. It was Anciently not only Scandalous but Punishable in a Clergy-Man to be in a City or other Place where it was celebrated and not to attend and communicate Thes 6. These Orders of later Ages concerning Receiving at least Three times in a Year and so indulging a Neglect for all the rest are most justly by Calvin said to be Certissimum Diaboli Inventum Thes 7. It hath been always the Practice and Advice of all Devout People to be very frequent at it and of most to neglect no Opportunity Dr. Taylor 's Conclusion concerning it in his Holy Living is very agreeable to the Sentiments of the Ancients and deserves to be Read by all Concl. 1. From all this it appears how far different the Devotion of this Age is from that of the ancient genuine Christianity and short of it 2. This Holy Service having been constantly performed in this City in Publick Churches ever since the Sixth of Janunry 1694. and in the Heart of the City for a Twelve-month together and frequented by so few is a Notorious Argument of the miserable Ignorance and Indevotion for all our Pretences both of Priests and People amongst us 3. It hath been the Opinion of several Learned Judicious and Observent Men that a great part of the Mischief which hath been in the World in these latter Ages is to be imputed to so woful a Neglect of this Holy Ordinance Now for Proofs of these things They who pretend to any kind of Learning I suppose will be cautious how they require it lest they betray their own Ignorance in Antiquity and for others they are not so much to be regarded as to insist upon them meerly for them but if there be Occasion abundant Proofs both Old and New may soon be produced And in the mean time for the Satisfaction of such well-meaning People as doubt they may be referred to Mr. Joseph Mede Dr. Sherlock the present Dean of St. Pauls in the last chap. of his Book of Religious Assemblies Dr. S. Patrick the present Bp. of Ely in his Discourse of Frequency of Holy Communion Mr. Thorndike Bp. Andrews Dr. Jeremy Taylor and others who have several considerable Passages to the Purpose in several Parts of their Works very consonant to the Sentiments and Practices of the Ancient Christians and the whole Catholick Church And certainly it is a wonderful thing that Almighty God should ever permit the Enemy of Mankind so to impose upon such as may well be supposed did really intend his Service and had a great Zeal for it as some leading Men in the Beginning of the Reformation and that such Men of Learning and Parts should be so imposed upon as by a mistaken Zeal against Superstition to abolish and deface so considerable a Part of the most Holy and Solemn Worship of God and even of the true Notion and proper Use thereof But our most Wise and Gracious God for most Excellent Ends no doubt though we cannot comprehend them all hath again concluded all under Sin that he might have Mercy upon all abolish that Enmity and Uncharitableness which the Enemy hath fomented amongst us and teach us henceforward by a very remarkable Example in the Work of God to attend with more Reverence and Circumspection to his Conduct and not presume too much upon our own Conceits and Opinions These Men who so much over-shot themselves had the Honour and Service of God for their End and the Word of God for their Rule and yet How have they erred from both done Dis-honour and Dis-service to God for the Honour and Service they intended and instead of the Pure Word of God followed their own or their Leaders meer Fancies and Imaginations The Great Business of Man upon Earth is the Intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator in the Subjection of the Intellect as well as the Will and therefore it is absolutely necessary that we should have great Experiments of the Danger of Presuming too much upon our own Opinions as well as of adhering too much to our own Wills And such is this we are now considering And if we inquire into the Causes of it they are such as I have just now touched 1. Not sufficient Attendance to the Conduct of God over us for he is always present in a special manner with all those who are imployed in any special Service for Him to direct them if they be careful to follow Him fully and not unadvisedly conclude upon their own Opinions like them Jos 9. when they should ask Counsel of the Lord. 2. Conceitedness and Presumption upon our own Judgments which makes us apt to neglect that Attendance 3. Want of Charity to such as are otherwise minded and a Spirit of Opposition apt to run without due Consideration and be insensibly transported from one Extream or Errour into another beyond either the Conduct of God or Mature Deliberation of our own Minds 4. Want of due regard to Humane Authority For though we must obey God rather than Man yet we must be subject to Humane Ordinances too so far as they are not inconsistent with the Orders of God and even in those things wherein we cannot obey yet have due regard to the Authority 5. Having Mens Persons in Admiration and receiving their Opinions as the Oracles of God a secret Principle of all Sectaries 6. Indiscreet Zeal without Knowledge for the Honour and Service of God another Occasion of running out of one Extream or Errour into another 7. Mixture
ashamed of Christ or his Words the Doctrines and Institutions delivered by Him in Person or by his Apostles to the Churches Matt. 10.28 32. Mar. 8.34 and lastly the Danger of a fruitless and ineffectual Profession expressly declared in the conclusion of our Saviour's first Sermon upon the Mount Matt. 7.21 c. and in his Farewel Discourse when he went last out of the Temple in the whole 25th chapter of St. Matthew all concerning Professors whence it appears how far People may go in a Profession and yet at last fail of their Expectation upon the consideration whereof it may be doubted whether as many Souls do not miscarry by Security in an ineffectual Profession as by living in gross and scandalous Sins To Souls thus prepared Truth will undoubtedly find admittance and the Good Spirit will be ready to lead them into all necessary Truth The Discourses above-mentioned are OF Prayers for the Dead With a Preface shewing the Necessity of a Retraction of the mistaken Reformation for a more firm Settlement of the Peace of the Nation A Profession of Faith comprizing the Ancient Forms of the Catholick Church with other Articles concerning the Roman Terms of Communion A Letter to a Young Man of one of the Religious Societies in London concerning Separation and the Proceedings of the Reformation Common Principles of a just Vindication of the Rights of the Kingdom of God upon Earth OF PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD Whether the Practice and Tradition thereof in the CHURCH be truly CATHOLICK and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority Humbly tendred to the Consideration of the Right Honourable the JUDGES and of the Gentlemen of the Honourable Profession of the LAW With a PREFACE concerning the Reasons thereof and the Concern of the Nation that the Differences about Religion be better considered in order to a more firm Foundation of an Honourable and Lasting PEACE LONDON Printed in the Year 1699. To the Right Honourable John Lord Summers Baron of Evesham Lord High Chancellour of England Sir John Holt Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir George Treby Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Edward Ward Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Honourable Judges May it please Your Lordships THough at first to some it may seem strange and improper to offer a Theological Controversie to the Consideration of Magistrates and Judges of Civil Causes yet if the present Constitution of the Church of England the Nature of the Question and the special Qualifications of the Persons for the Consideration of such a Question besides the Common Concern of all States and Persons in Matters of Religion be well consider'd nothing can be more reasonable A Church professing and glorying in the Profession of a Religion Established by Law and so intirely subject to the Authority of the State that it cannot call a Synode choose a Bishop Dean or Prebend make a Canon or alter any publick Prayers of the Church without it a Question of Prescription Vsage and Custom than which none are more frequently examined tryed and determined in our Civil Courts and by consequence no Persons more proper to give a Judgment upon such a Question because none more versed and expert in Cases of that nature than those of the Honourable Profession of the Law Besides Your Lordships and the rest of that Honourable Profession have another Qualification indispensably requisite to a just and true Judgment Indifferency and Freedom from any special Prejudice more than what is common to the whole Nation and as much above that as any Persons in it I mean that of Education by which tho' the inconsiderate Vulgar and People of little Judgment are very strangely affected and moved either fondly affecting or childishly abhorring what hath nothing of real Good or Evil but what proceeds from an abused or deceived Imagination yet Men of Parts Judgment and Experience can more easily extricate themselves out of the fetters and manacles of such Impressions and Prejudice upon consideration of sufficient Grounds and Reasons But the Generality of the English Clergy and Non-Conformists are under a double special Prejudice and Pre-ingagement the Authority and Credit of their Party and their own in particular having not only imbibed a Special Opinion in the Case but inconsiderately asserted and so espoused it also besides the Prudential Caution of not disobliging or offending their Auditors tho' many Protestants in other Parts are of another Opinion and the most learned here have deserted the old Cause both in their Disputes in the Vniversity and in their Controversial Writings And therefore as every honest Man in any Difference would desire the Judgment of such as are most indifferent unbyassed and impartial so every wise Man will desire that they may be Persons of most Ability Skill and expert in such Matters And in both these respects I know none more proper to judge of this Case than Your Lordships and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession Nor is this all that You are thus qualified to judge of this matter but you have also a Concern a double Concern in it but that it may be fairly and truly determined a Concern which obligeth you to Impartiality that the Truth may be cleared and an End put to such Differences both in regard to the Places you hold and the Interest you have in the Civil State of the Nation and in regard of your Personal Interest and particular Concerns both in this Life and hereafter For Matters of Religion are of no little Importance to the Well-being of States as well as of particular Persons and to the Well-being of particular Persons as well in this Life as hereafter And all this in a double respect in respect to the Providence of God and in respect of their Natural Efficacy and Tendency It is very manifest that almost all the Vnhappiness Troubles and Disturbance which this Nation hath suffered for more than 150 Years last past have proceeded from unhappy Differences about Matters of Religion And it would be as evident if duly considered that there is as little Likelyhood if Possibility of any long Continuance of Peace without some proper Application to so fatal a Root of Mischief amongst us for the Extirpation or Suppression of it Nor is this so vain unreasonable or impracticable a thing to be thought on or attempted as most Men are apt to presume upon the Vnsuccessfulness of the Attempts which have been made if better consider'd It is no unusual thing for Men to learn from the Errors of former Attempts so to correct their Methods and Measures as to accomplish with ease what others with great Labour were not able to effect Many things in Practice are like Riddles in Speculation which after many have found insoluble by their utmost Study appear at last when the Secret is once revealed very plain and easie to the meanest Capacity But in such Differences as these there is usually a double Secret the one Supernatural managed by
got in Gaming and on Harlots They denied also the Baptism of Infants the Christian Sacrifice Publick Churches c. against them Petrus Cluniacensis a Man eminent for Learning and Sanctity wrote and St. Bernard preached and confirmed his Doctrine with so great a Miracle as convinced Multitudes who had been seduced by them After these arose one Waldo a Citizen of Lions very rich but unlearned who probably had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and attributing too much to his own Opinion procured certain Books to be written in his own Language and distributing his Estate among the Poor took upon him the Apostolick Office of Preaching and began the Sect called after his own Name Waldenses and from their Place and Quality The Poor of Lions Among other Heterodox Opinions whereof some were peculiar to their own Sect and disallowed by all others this of rejecting Prayers for the Dead was one The Apostolici of that time I suppose were not a distinct Sect but the same who assumed that Name And the Albigenses who in the next Century encreased very much till by the secular Power and force of Arms they were suppressed seem to have been a Branch of the same Root however in this particular they agreed as they did in most others Since those I know not any Sect which hath arisen and which questioned or contradicted Prayers for the Dead till those which have sprung out of what is called the Reformation For I do not find that Wickelif and his Followers here the Lollards or John Huss or Hierom of Prague who carried his Books and Doctrines into their own Country and were all three Men of Parts and Learning ever opposed Prayers for the Dead tho' among the Opinions attributed to Huss one is that there is no Purgatory Fire which is denied by others who yet are for Prayers for the Dead But by all the several Sects of the later Reformers since Luther began they have been questioned opposed and left out of their Publick Prayers Only here in England in the first Liturgy composed by English Clergy in the Reign of King Edward 6. which I therefore call The True English Liturgy the ancient Prayers for the Dead were retained both in the most Solemn Office of the Daily Sacrifice and at Funerals But these and other principal Parts of the Liturgy were soon after new-modelled in a clandestine manner by Cranmer Bucer and other Foreigners and Calvinian Sectaries and craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation And the Abuse is continued to this day This is the true Original and Succession of all the Opposition which hath ever been made to this Practice of all Mankind in general and of the whole Catholick Church of Christ by Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks and the meanest of all those not a Man amongst them of any Eminence for Piety or any Virtue or so much as Parts or Learning much less any Man of Note in the Church much less any Church Party or Part of the Catholick Church who were or who continued in Communion with The Catholick Church or any Particular Catholick Church as they anciently distinguish'd them from the Assemblies and Associations of Hereticks and Schismaticks in the same City It is very observable wonderful and a great Evidence of unquestionable or undeniable Truth that in so many Ages when there had been so many so considerable Parties of Hereticks and Schismaticks and so malicious spiteful and inraged as many of them were against the Church that none of the most considerable of them should ever seek to advantage their Cause by such a Question which doubtless they would not have failed to have done had they apprehended any color of Truth or Advantage in it that none in all the Parts of the World should ever oppose it but such an obscure inconsiderate and inconsiderable Generation of People till the late Reformers sprung up who thought they could never reform enough or pick quarrels too much till they had brought that which might have been a considerable Cause if well laid and managed to an indefensible brable Amongst them indeed there have been many Men of sufficient Learning but but few of that Ingenuity Impartiality freedom from Prejudice temporal Interest or Fear of Displeasing and of that Generosity as to assert the Truth plainly without respect of Persons or Parties and those few have been very much born down among us especially by the Violence and Headiness of Parties and Factions Yet such is the Power and Evidence of Truth in this Case that it hath found Advocates amongst the most learned of all Parties Of this I think it not improper to produce an instance or two in this Place The first shall be an eminent Person both for Learning and Virtue Bishop Forbes the first Bishop of Edenburg promoted by King Charles 1. who is reported to have said of him That he had found out a Bishop who deserved that a See should be made for him In his Considerationes Modestae Controversiâ de Purgatorio cap. 3. § 17. coming to speak of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead Sed hic primum c. But here first saith he is to be reproved the Opinion of some rigid Protestants who do altogether censure and condemn Prayers for the Dead because they find no Precept or Example of such Prayers in the Old or New Testament Certainly even those who are most against it dare not deny that it is a most ancient Custom and most universally received in the whole Church of Christ that in the Publick Prayers of the Church Commemoration should be made for the Dead and Rest be prayed for to God for those who died piously and in the Peace of the Church And having cited divers of the Ancients for it he adds This most ancient Custom was full of Piety and most truly did Cassander say This was always fixt in * Note Then this was agreed among All. All Christian Minds That the Spirits of those who being initiated in the Sacrament of Christ departed this Life in the Confession of his Name with signification of Repentance should be commended to the Mercy of God that Remission of Sin Eternal Rest and a Part with the Elect might be intreated for them †This second part is so cited in Vsher p. 246. as is apt to lead the Reader into mistake as if they were not agreed in more than the Author did intend And altho' concerning that State of Souls for which those things were profitable it was neither sufficiently manifest nor agreed among all yet all judged this Office as a Testimony of Charity toward the Deceased and a Profession of Faith concerning the Immortality of Souls and Resurrection to come to be grateful to God and profitable to the Church Then he saith This most Ancient and Vniversal Custom of the Church very many and most learned Protestants do not disallow and cites the Apology of the Augsburg Confess Chemnicius Mentserus Luther Gerard Vrbanus
Regius Vorstius Vossius Dr. Field Bishop Andrews and passing over in silence very many others as he saith he recites the Words of the Liturgy of Edward 6. both in the Office for the Communion and that for Burials laments that such most ancient and pious Prayers should by the Persuasion of Bucer and others be expunged and wisheth that the Church of England which hath shewed great Moderation in many other things of less moment had rather conformed her self in this business as also in some others to the most ancient Custom of the Universal Church than for some Errors and Abuses which had by degrees crept in plainly rejected it and wholly taken it away to the great Scandal of almost all other Christians I need add no more after this Learned and Apostolick Bishop only in short take notice of what Vrbanus Regius saith that None reject it but Epicureans and Sadduces and Vorstius that No Good Man can dislike it and Bishop Andrews that There is little that can be said against it and conclude this matter with the Words of the learned and famous Hugo Grotius The use of Praying for the Dead received through all Churches of the East no less than of the West ought not to be condemned And after some reasons for it and something concerning the Jews he adds The Ancient Liturgies are not to be condemned since Christ himself did never reprehend the Prayers for the Dead commonly used among the Jews of which there is a Form extant in the Talmud made as is believed in the Babylonian Captivity and mentioned in the second Book of the Maccabees It will be replied That as great a Man and of the Church of England as any of those hath written against it the famous Vsher Arch-Bishop of Armath It is very true he hath and imployed and strained all his Learning all his Parts and all his Skill and a little too much to oppose it and all to very little purpose for his own Cause but to very good purpose against it For it is a great Evidence and Demonstration of what Bishop Andrews truly said That there is little that can be said against what this great Man takes such pains to oppose The sole Question between him and his Adversary was Whether the Fathers of the first 400 or 500 Years held that Prayer for the Dead is both commendable and godly as appears by the Challenge which was in those very Words and no other How and where doth he answer this plain Question His Title of that part of his Answer is general Of Prayer for the Dead He saw well enough how little he had to say to that plain Question and therefore resolved to take more Liberty to say something of the matter of his Title tho little or nothing to the Question He spends three score and ten pages upon the general matter but if I mistake not not ten lines directly and closely to the special Question * To use his own words p. 170. He alleadgeth indeed a number of Authorities to blear Mens Eyes with all which being narrowly looked into will be found nothing at all to the purpose Which is to abuse not so much his Adversary as his Reader with a specious appearance of an Answer which in truth and reality is nothing to the purpose That which comes nearest to the purpose is what he saith pag. 246. These Two Questions saith he must necessarily be distinguished Whether Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead and Whether the Dead did receive any peculiar Profit thereby In the latter of these he the Reader shall find great Difference among the Doctors in the former very little or none at all This is indeed to the purpose but his Resolution of the former Question tho' very true is a plain Confession against himself For if they be agreed that Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead then certainly they held that that was commendable and godly which is all that his Adversary did affirm then and that I do principally assert now for what I have to alleadge farther is but a Consequence of that And his Resolution of the latter Question is manifestly false and a disingenuous Assertion for if among so great a number of Doctors in so many Years he could have assigned five or six or ten who had really differed in that point from the rest which those few he cites rightly understood did not had that been a Great Difference And if some Authors do say that some or that many in their time were doubtful in the point is that a sufficient proof that it was still a Question in the Church when they name not one Person in particular much less any Doctor nor tell us so much as of what quality they were who had those Doubts When a Difference is Great there must be some proportion between the Contenders and where a Question is continued there must be some Disputes Contention or Debates But if Peoples secret Doubts must be taken for Questions in the Church that is the ready way to bring all Religion into question and it is not to be doubted but such dealings in Controversies hath had its share in producing this growth of Scepticism and Atheism of late That such a Man as this should put Colours upon Causes should hold up Contentions should be so addicted to Parties as in favour to them to confirm People in Opinions which if false are mischievous and if true of little Advantage and contrary to so great Authority as is on the other side and so expose his Judgment or Integrity is a great Unhappiness to himself and a Scandal to others It is possible what others may have observed in this great Man for 't is a scurvy thing to be ingaged in an ill Cause may have taught them more Wisdom for for ought I can find as well in the Controversial Writings of late as in the Disputations at the University the Old Cause An Preces pro Defunctis sint Licitae is quite deserted and that Question is turned into another An Preces pro Defunctis antiquitus usurpatae inferant Purgatorium Papisticum It is well Men have learned so much Wisdom for themselves as to mend their Cause so far as that and it is to be wished that they may also learn so much Honesty as to undeceive the People and restore to them for themselves and their Friends the Comfort and Benefit of that ancient Catholick Practice Mr. Thorndike one of the learnedst Persons this Church hath produc'd and a late Bishop of St. Asaph have done well to do what they could and restore it upon their own Tomb-stones tho' they could not do it in the Church and if all who believe well would but do so well as profess what they believe which certainly they ought to do we should soon see the Truth revive and flourish beyond Expectation and so much of our Contentions abated Thus concerning the Persons who have opposed this
and eminent Sanctity was by the Importunity of the People made Bishop of Nola in Campania so that he also was every way qualified for another Witness in this Case and these two I suppose sufficient for their time especially for the Latin Church S. Paulinus in an Epistle to St. Augustin says as much as need to be in few Words that * Vacare non posse quòd universa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit ap Aug. de Cura pro Mort. pr. It cannot be in vain that the Vniversal Church is accustomed to pray for the Dead Not the Church but the Vniversal Church not only did at that time but was accustomed so to do that is time out of mind without any known beginning And what was it accustomed to do Not barely to commemorate but to pray and supplicate for them Vniversa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit As ample a Testimony I think as can be expressed in so few words S. Augustin in confirmation of this alleadgeth the Book of Maccabees and addeth ‖ Sed etsi nusquam in Scriptuâ— is veteribus omnino legeretur non parva tamen est Universae Ecclesiae quae in hâ—c consuetudine claret Authoritas ubi in preâ—ibus sacerdotis quae Domino Deo ad ejus altare funduntur locum suum habet etiam Commendatio Mortuorum S. Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis c. 1. But altho' we did no where at all read this in the ancient Writings yet is not the Authority of the Vniversal Church which is clear in this Custom a small matter when in the Prayers of the Priest which are poured out to the Lord God at his Altar the Commemoration of the Deceased hath also its proper place In this Testimony are divers things observable and very considerable 1. The Authority of the Universal Church not of a Particular Church of a City of a Province of Hippo or Africa but of the Universal Church which however manifested or declared is no small matter 2. But in this it is declared in the most Solemn Acts of the Church her most Solemn Address to Almighty God at his Altar So that here is the greatest Authority that is among Mankind and that most solemnly declared 3. It is no new Resolution but a Custom Consuetudo Vniversae Ecclesiae an ancient Custom and a universal Custom which he elsewhere upon another occasion expresseth in this manner * Hoc à Patribus traditum Universa observat Ecclesia ut pro eis qui in Corporis Sanguinis Christi Communione Defuncti sunt cum ad ipsum Sacrificium suo loco commemorantur oretur pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur S. Aug. de verb. Apost Ser. 32. c. 2. This being delivered from the Fathers à Patribus traditum doth the Vniversal Church observe that for them who are departed in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ when they are remembred at the Sacrifice it self in their place Prayer be made and it be commemorated that that is offered for them also Not only for the Living but for the Dead also and in their proper place 4. This Custom and Tradition was not only for a general Commemoration but for a special Commendation And here because this excellent Person hath written much and therefore affords more observable matter than is ordinary in any one Author I will indeavour out of him alone to present the honest and ingenuous Reader with a Scheme of the whole Custom and Practice of the Ancients whereby he will the better understand their Testimonies and decern the Fallacies Evasions Cavillings and Shufflings of the Adversaries of it What was done by them on behalf of the Deceased was either Publick or Private What was done in Private was Prayers such as S. Augustin offered for his Mother in his Confessions lib. 9. cap. 13. Fasting and Alms c. What was Publick was done either by the Relations or Friends of the Persons deceased and that was presenting their Oblations whether ordered by the Deceased or freely offered by their Friends on their behalf Which if they departed in Communion of the Church were received otherwise rejected unless they were in the State of Penitents and were surprized in such case as the Priest should have absolved them if he could have been present or what was done by the Bishop or Priest with the rest of the Clergy and People And this was either a general Commemoration pro omnibus in Christiana Catholica Societate defunctis as he speaks de Cura pro Mat. c. 4. for all departed in the Christian and Catholick Society or Communion without any particular recitation of their Names or a more particular Memory of them by Name with others or a more special Commendation of a particular Person at his Death and besides certain other days upon their Anniversaries And these were all performed at the Altar and with the Holy Sacrifice except that at his Death in case that happened after the Priest had eaten and then by some Canons it was to be performed solis Orationibus with Prayers only but otherwise Orationibus Oblationibus that is with Prayers and Sacrifice both for that is there to be understood by Oblationibus And as S. Augustin did intend all this in what he saith of the Universal Custom by Tradition from the Fathers so did he believe that the Souls departed were benefitted by them all For his words immediately preceeding those before-recited out of his Serm. de Verb. Apost are * Orationib vero S. Ecclesiae Sacrificio salutari Eleemosynis quae pro eorum spiritibus erogantur non est dubitandum mortuos adjurari ut cum eis misericordius agatur à Domino quam eorum peccata meruerunt It is not to be doubted that the Dead are helped by the Prayers of the H. Church and the Salutary Sacrifice and the Alms which are distributed for their Spirits that the Lord should deal more mercifully with them than their Sins have deserved This was one End and Benefit of those Commemorations and Prayers and therefore was not only comprehended in the general Intendment of the general Commemorations but was expressly prayed for both in the Common Prayers and in the more special Commendations as we shall see further hereafter but this does not exclude Others of which I think fit to take notice of one in this place which is mentioned by S. Austin and others and which concern two Articles of our Creed but little understood or consider'd amongst us It is in his Book de Civ Dei lib. 20. cap. 9. in these words †Neque enim piorum animae mortuorum separantur ab Ecclesia quae etiam nunc est regnum Christi Alioquin nec ad altare Dei fieret corum memoria in communione Corporis 〈◊〉 Christi Nor are the Souls of the Pious deceased separated from the Church which even now is the Kingdom of Christ Otherwise neither at the
Altar of God should Memory be made of them in the Communion of the Body of Christ. In these words is couched one general Intendment of the Church For as the Holy Rite of the Eucharist was intended not only for the Peculiar Solemnity of the Churches Address to God here upon Earth with the Memorials of our Saviour's Passion the great Propitiation for the Sins of the World but also for Communion between our Head and the Members of his Mystical Body here upon Earth and also between the Members of his whole Mystical Body themselves so the Church in that Holy Solemnity hath always performed Acts of Communion not only with the Head but with all his Members both present in external Communion and Participation of the sanctified Creatures and with all absent whether in the Body or out of the Body by Commemorations Thanksgivings and Prayers And because they were in several States they were accordingly remembred distinctly in order which is what S. Augustin expresseth suo loco This Communion was by the ancient Christians reputed a matter of very great Importance and accordingly they were equally careful whose Oblations they did receive and whose Names they did remember whether Living or Dead and those who were ejected or rejected or refused were looked upon as out of Communion and excluded from all the Privileges of the Church both on Earth and also in the separate State according to our Saviour's Promise It was then believed that the Souls departed which should be saved were all indeed with Christ but not at the Right-hand of his Father but some before the Throne some upon Mount Sion some in the Holy of Holies some in the Temple but not in that place some in Paradice in Abraham's Bosom in the Third Heaven in very different Mansions or Receptacles as one may be said to be with the King who is with him in foreign Parts tho' but in his Army or at his Court tho' never admitted into his Presence Chamber and that by some the Church here upon Earth her self received much Benefit but others received Benefit by her Communion and Prayers and stood in need of it Nor ought we to think that these two Articles of the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints were put into the Summary of the Christian Faith and Profession and in the Order they are but for special and weighty Reasons and indeed such as are little taught or understood or regarded amongst us in this Age. S. Augustin hath many Testimonies concerning this matter of Fact and known Practice of the Church in these distinct Orders of Commemoration of the Dead so plain that the Arch-Bishop himself could not but confess that in the Church Service there was made a several Commemoration first of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Martyrs after one manner and then of the other Dead after another pag. 194. and one or two he cites in the Margin but was so wise as not to recite the words It is Serm. 17. de Verbis Apost * Ideòque habet Ecclesiastica disciplina quod fideles noverunt cum Martyres eo loco recitantur ad altare Dei ubi non pro ipsis oretur pro caeteris autem commemoralis defunctis oretur Injuria est enim pro Martyre orare cujus nos debemus orationibus com mendari And Tr. 84. in Evang Johan This hath the Church Discipline which the Faithful know when the Martyrs are recited at the Altar of God in that place where Prayer is not made for them but Prayer is made for others who are commemorated For it is an Injury to pray for a Martyr to whose Prayers we our selves ought to be commended And Tr. 84. in Evang. Johan * Ad ipsam mensam non sic â—os commemoramus quemadmocum alior qui in pace requiescunt â—t et am pro eis or mus sâ—d magis ut crenâ— ipsi pro nobis ut eorum vestigiis adhaeâ—eamus quia impleverunt ipsi charitatem qua Dominus dixit non posse esse majorem At the Table it self we do not so commemorate them as others who rest in Peace that we should also pray for them but rather that they pray for us that we may tread in their Steps because they themselves have fulfilled that Charity than which our Lord saith there cannot be greater And here I cannot but take notice of the Partiality and Disingenuity of this magnified Man in this place for it is a Scandal and Offence to me Having cited the words of S. Augustin in Euchrid ad Laurent cap. 110. ‖ Cum sacrificia sive altaris five quarumcunque Eleemosynarum pro baptizitis defunctis omnibus offeruntur pro valdè bonis gratiarum actiones sunt pâ—o valdè malis etsi nulla sunt adjumenta mortuorum quaâ—â—icunque vivorum consolationes â—uâ—t That the Oblations and Alms usually offered in the Church for all the Dead that received Baptism were Thanksgivings for such as were very Good Propitiations for such as were not very Bad but for such as were very Evil altho' they were no Help for the Dead yet were they some kind of Consolations of the Living He calls this a Private Exposition not only as he pretends because it is not to be found in the Writings of the former Fathers but also because it suiteth not well with the general Practice of the Church which it intendeth to interpret p. 194. If it had not been in the Writings of any of the former Fathers had not the notorious Practice of the Church which he often mentions with special notes of the Notoriety of the matter of Fact been sufficient and much more than any thing mentioned dogmatically by others tho' more ancient But besides that is false for we shall see it hereafter attested by Cyril of Hierusalem and not by the by but in a professed Description and Explication of the Greek Liturgy which shews the Agreement of all both Greek and Latin Churches And therefore it is but reasonable that the honest Reader be admonished to beware of this Author how he trusts him for he is a partial and crafty Writer of which other instances may be produced But perhaps it may not only do right to S. Augustin but be a Satisfaction to the Reader to see him more fully declare his mind which he doth in the words precedent to this effect * Neque negandum est Desu ctorum animas pietate suorum viventium relevari cum pro illis sacrificium Mediaâ—oris offertur vel Eleemosynae in Ecclesia fiunt Sed eâ—s haec pro unt qui cum viverent ut haec sibi postea prodesse possent meruerunt Est enim quidem vivendi modus nec tam bonus ut non requirat ifta post mortem nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem Est vero talis in bono ut ista non requirat est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat cum ex hâ—c
and so comprize the whole time of the four first General Councils from first to last Eusebius in his 4th Book of the Life of Constantine describing the Martyrium of the Apostles built by him at Constantinople adds chap. 60. All these did the Emperor dedicate that he might consign to Posterity the Memory of our Saviour's Apostles But he had another Design in his Mind when he built this Church which was at first concealed but in the end it became known to all For he had designed this place for himself after his Death foreseeing by a transcendent Alacrity of Faith that his Body after Death should be made Partaker of the Apostles Apellation that even after Death he might be esteemed worthy of the Prayers which should be performed there in Honour of the Apostles believing that their Memory would be useful and advantagious to his Soul And afterward describing the Solemnity of his Funeral chap. 71. he saith that a vast Number of People together with those Persons consecrated to God not without Tears and great Lamentation poured forth Prayers to God for the Emperor's Soul thereby performing a most grateful Office to this pious Prince And herein also God demonstrated his singular Favour towards his Servant because after his Death agreeable to his own most earnest Desire the Tabernacle of his thrice blessed Soul was vouchsafed a place with the Monument of the Apostles and that it might be joined with God's People in the Church and might be vouchsafed the Divine Rights and Mystick Service and might enjoy a Communion of the Holy Prayers This was but 12 years after the Nicen Council and a great and most illustrious instance of the common received and settled Practice of that time And here before I proceed further it is fit to consider how far the continuance of that wicked and shameful Abuse by Cranmer put upon the Church of England in his clandestine Corruption of the True English Liturgy I say the Continuance of it to this day whether by supine Negligence or base Compliance with a Faction of Sectaries be consistent with that Profession of Reverence to Antiquity in general and to those first four General Councils in particular which is made by all who pretend to be genuine Sons of the Church of England with their use of the Constantinopolitan Creed in the most solemn Office so fouly deformed contrary to the Publick Office at that time used in the Church and attested by S. Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem who was present at that Council and a principal Man there How consistent with the Statutes of most ancient Colleges in both the Universities and the Oaths taken by so many Scholars for the Observance of them How consistent with the Belief of One Holy Catholick Church and of the Communion of Saints with that Reverence and Respect which the Holy Scriptures require should be paid to the Body of Christ the Depository of Christian Verities and the Pillar or Monument and Basis of Truth with that Reverence and Honour and Esteem which all true and genuine Christians cannot but have for so many glorious Saints as flourished in the Church of Christ and all agreed in this pious Practice for more than 1200 years from the time of Constantine who himself was none of the least being converted in an extraordinary manner by special Vision from our Saviour and the Truth thereof confirmed by very remarkable Victories and afterward so great a Promoter of Christian Piety that he was as Eusebius relates partaker of the Apostles appellation being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Offices of the Greek Church and deservedly How it can be consistent therewith and with Christian Modesty to set up a Calvin a Bucer a Cranmer an Vsher like little Idols above all and not rather an undeniable proof of the very Spirit of Hereticks and Schismaticks Mr. * Life Appendix p. 55. Baxter's Questions in another Case not unlike this may very properly be proposed to our modern Opposers of this Catholick Practice Would they have held Communion with the Catholick Church for a Thousand Years together Or would they not if they had lived in those times If they would then why not with us who are of the same Judgment Was it a Duty then And is it unlawful now If they would not in all those Ages have held Communion with the visible Church what would they have done but separated from the Body and so from the Head and cast off Christ in all his Members and taken him to be a Head without a Body which is no Head and so no Christ What would they have done but denied his Power and Love and Truth and consequently his Redemption and his Office Hath he come at the end of 4000 years since the Creation to redeem the World that lay so long in Darkness And hath he made such wonderful Preparations for his Church by his Life and Miracles and Blood and Spirit c. and promised That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that his Kingdom shall be an Everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth from Generation to Generation and yet after all this shall he have a Church even as the Seekers say but for an Age or two Thus Mr. Baxter and very good but if this be good in the Case of Baptism of Infants why not as good in the Case of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead which I think hath as good Evidence of Apostolical Original as that or the Lord's-Day or Episcopacy or a good part of the Scriptures of the New Testament And if they stand all upon the same Foundation why should they not stand or fall together There is also an Assertion of St. Augustin 's which deserves to be here considered in this Case That * Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec in Consiliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Authoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur cont Donat l. 4 c. 24. what the Vniversal Church doth hold and was not instituted in Councils but always retained is most rightly believed to have been delivered by no other than Apostolical Authority For as this is a Practice which none did ever pretend was instituted by any Council so amongst all who have written concerning the Original or first Invention or Introduction of things none has ever assigned any Original of it in the Catholick Church later than the Apostles or in any part of the Catholick Church later than of the rest of Christianity it self So that could we trace it no further back than the time of Constantine it would be unreasonable to believe that the whole Christian Church so largely spread over the Face of the Earth and planted by so many several Persons at first and in Places so divided and remote one from another should so unanimously agree in such a Practice did it not proceed from some Common Cause which could be no other than the Mutual Agreement of all the Apostles in it
relied not upon any Hypothesis but upon the received Custom of the Church And that he did rely upon as is confessed But he did not in the least rely upon any thing at all of the pretended Sibyl Nor hath this Champion produced I think any one Proof that either Tertullian or any other of the Ancient or Modern Christians did at all rely upon any such Authority for that Practice but all unanimously relied upon Tradition from the Apostles His whole Book is full of Fallacy and Deceit and of the very Spirit and Genius of an Heretick who makes no scruple to abuse the whole Church of Christ and the most Excellent Persons in it to maintain his own Principles It is certain that divers of the great Truths of Christianity were known to the Gentiles long before and received by Tradition from the Common Parents of Mankind but received as Articles of Faith by Christians upon the Authority of Christ and his Apostles And such was this which he fathers upon an Impostor and pretends the Church received it from him without any Proof of either whereas if he was a Christian it is much more likely that he received the Hypothesis from the Practice of the Church at that time and is therefore rather an Evidence of it Other matters of this Book have been considered by learned Men of our own Country and I think I need say no more of this with any regard to him But as to the Practice besides all this positive and Affirmative Evidence I do deny that any competent Evidence can be produced among all the Churches of the World of any where the Christian Religion was planted without it or where it was introduced by any particular Person upon any special Occasion at any different time after the first planting of Christianity there in all those Ages since the Apostles being verily persuaded that no such thing can be produced but what will strongly confirm and illustate the contrary Evidence like Mr. Vsher's Flourish with his most ancient Manuscript Missals wherein the Commemoration of the Dead doth no where appear which yet were but two in all if not all but one mentioned by two several Authors and that no compleat Missal neither but only Liber Sacramentorum an Abstract and it self at last not to be found as his expression habebatur seems to imply a good Argument of the Agreement of all or most others in that particular that so industrious a Searcher into ancient Records and Monuments of Antiquity of that kind especially could neither see nor hear of any other either at home or abroad wherein it was not Such another Exception may perhaps be met with which may serve to confirm the general Rule but not any thing considerable I believe to any other purpose Certain it is it must either have been settled in all those several Places in the World where Churches were planted together with the rest of the Christian Doctrines and Institutions and then it must have proceeded from the same Founders who agreed as unanimously in this as they did in other necessary things of which sort this may therefore be concluded to be one or it must have had a several distinct particular Introduction by it self in all or most of those several Places and be derived from several Authors Originals Occasions and Times and then the Accounts of its special and particular Introduction in all probability would have very much varied in several places at least have remained upon Record or by Tradition in some But not a word of any such thing can I find that was ever heard of in any part of the World but a Unanimous Agreement in all both in the Practice continued by Custom and Original by Tradition from the Apostles And thus much for Proof à posteriori from Evidence of Matter of Fact which I think enough to satisfie any reasonable Man of competent Ability and to convince any Man of Modesty and Sincerity yet because simple genuine Truth is always consistent with all that is such it may ex abundanti gratifie an honest ingenuous Reader to observe briefly the Vniversal Agreement of this Catholick Practice of the Church of Christ 1. With common Reason and the Nature of things 2. With the common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians concerning the middle State of Souls 3. With divers plain Texts of the Holy Scriptures And 4. with the common Practice of the Jews in and before our Saviour's time never reprehended by him or any of his Apostles and therefore allowed by all and indeed practised by them and on the contrary the Inconsistence of the obstinate Opposition with Truth and Justice in divers respects As for Common Reason The Universe is of vast and unconceivable extent in it we see are many great Bodies Orbs and Regions the Life of Man upon this of the Earth is very short the Time from the Resurrection of our Saviour to this is near 1700 years and how much more it may be to the General Judgment no Mortal knows in the mean time the Souls of Mortals go out of their Bodies in infinitely various States of Purity and Impurity And certainly it is most reasonable that there should be not only one general Distinction of Souls but moreover many distinct Places States and Conditions wherein the separate Souls are disposed according to their several Qualifications when they go out of the Body And as that curious Observer of the Works of Nature as well of the Holy Scriptures the late Lord Chief Justice Hale speaking of towardly Plants by Death transplanted into another Region a Garden of Happiness and Comfort adds And possibly by continuance of time as they received Improvement and Perfection here so in that other Region they add to their Degrees of Perfection and are promoted to farther Accessions and Degrees and Stations of Happiness and Glory till they come to the State of Spirits of just Men made perfect Now in all these Varieties of States is there nothing capable of receiving Benefit by the Prayers of the Living Is there no Communion of Saints between those in the Body and those out of the Body But if there be how can it better be exercised or expressed than in the solemn Offices of the Church For the Common Sentiments of the Primitive Christians because it would be too long to recite so many Testimonies in this place and they are collected already to my hand by Sixtus Senensis and others I need but refer the Reader to them But this also is confessed and asserted by Blondel and Dalle but they would have us believe that they received them from an Impostor a Counterfeit Sibyl a groundless impudent and impious Calumny The Agreement with plain Scriptures is observable in that expression of our Saviour concerning the Sin which shall not be forgiven neither in this World neither in the World to come Mat. 12.32 and that which agrees with this of being cast into Prison and not coming out by any means till
Payment of the last Farthing Mat. 5.25 Prisoners of Hope Zechar. 9.11 12. Sins blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come Act. 3.19 Such as shew the Incertainty of many Souls in their separate State even such as were Professors of a high Form in this World of what their final Doom shall be at that Day as Mat. 7.22 23. and 25.44 45. c. And the Recompence of Rewards at that day 2 Thess 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 Luk. 14.14.2 Tim. 4.8 c. Which if our confident Opposers had sufficiently considered one would think they should not have presumed to make so light of that middle State as for the maintaining of Parties to deprive so many Souls there of all Benefit they might receive by their surviving Friends here which many Apparitions even among Protestants do frequently signifie The Practice of the Jews I have noted already and shall add only here That in Discourse lately with one of them he assured me that the Form they now use for that purpose is generally believed by all to have been composed by Eâ—ra and the Great Congregation I there also remembred an instance of the Practice of the Apostles themselves in St. Paul's Prayer for Onesiphorus in such a Form as is hardly to be met with for any Person living however proves it not in vain to Pray for any Person of whom there is Hope but not Certainty till that day So that tho' our great Man with more Considence I doubt than Conscience and without any Proof or Reason at all doth positively affirm him then living p. 210. he gets nothing at all by it Thus we see in this a Universal Agreement in all things but on the contrary if we examine the Obstinate Opposition of it throughout we shall find nothing solid and consistent in it neither with Truth nor Honesty nor any good Consequence but a plausible Pretence of the Pure Word of God to cover an impure Inclination and Desire to set aside the Authority which God instituted and set up themselves and their own Conceits in the place of it 2. Inconsistent with it self first denying or cavilling at the Antiquity or Universality of the Practice and then when they thought they had found out an Evasion confessing that which they could no longer for shame deny and betaking themselves to their new Invention 3. Inconsistent with the Sincerity Simplicity and Ingenuity of the Gospel in their shameless Shuffles Cavils and Evasions of which I have noted divers and many more might be observed but there is one not to be omitted here their alleadging the Writings of Epiphanius Chrysostome Augustin and others against not only their own but the confessed ancient Practice of the Church in their time in this Case Inconsistent with that Modesty Respect and Decency which the Gospel requires toward all in their Censuring as delirous not only some particular Persons but generally all the most Holy Ancient Christians in what was their common Sentiments and is believed by the most learned of the Church of England to be plainly taught in the Holy Scriptures 5. Inconsistent with that Reverence and Regard that Christians should have for the Honour of the Church of Christ his Promises to it and Care of it in so foul and scandalous an Imputation as that they received their common Notions of the present State of separate Souls in the other World from an Impostor which was not their Impudence therein as notorious as it is groundless and destitute of any proof at all might prove a Tentation to unsettled Souls to suspect all to be no better And for other Consequences it is plain they lead the way to all others to reject their own usurped Authority with the same Ease and Impudence that they do that of the Church of Christ and to set up their own Conceits against theirs and pretend Scripture for it and so to an endless Course of Separations Schisms Sects and Confusions and in conclusion set up that Authority over others which they themselves in the mean time reject as by their Synod of Dort and others in France appears And besides all this it is much to be feared that they lead multitudes of Souls into that miserable Security and Presumption wherewith our Saviour hath acquainted us that many will find themselves deceived at that day Mat. 7.22 And therefore if these be not pertinacious Schismaticks and Hereticks speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them and therefore carefully to be avoided I know not who are or what so many Cautions in the Scripture to that purpose do signifie FINIS The Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning The Middle State of Souls And the Tradition of the Church for Prayers for the DEAD Summ'd up by Dr. Jer. Taylor late Bishop of Down and Conner With the Judgment of Mr. Herbert Thorndike a late most Learned Prebend of Westminster ALtho' there hath been lately Printed a Discourse of Prayers for the Dead proving the Practice and Tradition thereof in the Church to be truly Catholick and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority wherein divers Learned Protestants are alleadged to have been of the same Opinion yet for the Readers farther Satisfaction in that respect it hath been thought fit to Print the Discourse of these two other eminent Persons of the Church of England more at large than was thought proper for that place And first that of the late Bishop Dr. Jer. Taylor 1. Of the Middle State of Souls THE Holy Jesus promised to the blessed Thief That he should that Day be with Him in Paradice which therefore was certainly a Place or State of Blessedness because it was a Promise and in the Society of Jesus whose penal and afflictive part of his Work of Redemption was finished upon the Cross Our Blessed Lord did not promise he should that day be with him in his Kingdom for that day it was not opened and the everlasting doors of those interior Recesses were to be shut till after the Resurrection that himself was to ascend thither and make way for all his Servants to enter in the same Method in which he went before us Our Blessed Lord descended into Hell saith the Creed of the Apostles from the Sermon of St. Peter as he from the Words of David that is into the State of Separation and common Receptacle of Spirits according to the Style of Scripture But the Name of Hell is no where in Scripture an appellative of the Kingdom of Christ of the Place of final and supream Glory But concerning the Verification of our Lord's Promise to the beatified Thief and his own State of Separation we must take what Light we can from Scripture and what we can from the Doctrine of the Primitive Church St. Paul had two great Revelations he was wrapt up into Paradice and he was wrapt up into the third Heaven and and these he calls Visions and Revelations not one but divers for Paradice is distinguished from the Heaven of the