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 Maccabces 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 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
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 Ezra 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
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
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 spiâ—itibus 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 â— 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 eos commemoramus quemadmocum alior qui in pace requiescunt uâ— etâ—am pro eis or mus sâ—d magis ut crentipsi 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 baptizâ—tis defunctis omnibus offeruntur pro valdè bonis gratiarum actiones sunt pro valdè malis etsi nulla sunt adjumenta moâ—tuorum 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 viveâ—di modus nec tam bonus ut non requirat ifta post moâ—tem nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem Est vero talis in bâ—no ut ista non requirat est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat oum ex hâ—â— vita transiâ—rit adjuvari Quo circa hic omne meritum comparatur quo possit post hâ—nc vitam relevaâ—i quisplam vel gravari Nemo autem se speret quod hic neglexerit cum obierit apud Deum promoreri Non igitur ista quae pro defunctis commendandis frequentat Ecclesia ilâ—i Apostolicae sunt adversa sententiae qua dictum est Omnes enim astabimus ante Tribunal Christi utreserat unusquâ—sque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit sivebonum sive malum quia etiam hoc meritum sibi quisque cum in corpore viâ—eret comparavit ut ei possent ista prodesse Non enim omnibus prosunt quare non omnibus prosunt nisipropter differentiam vitae quam quisque gessit in corpore Cum ergo sacificia c. Nor is it to be denied saith he that the Souls of the Deceased are relieved by the Piety of their living Relations when the Sacrifice of the Mediator is offered or Alms given in the Church for them But to those are these things profitable who when they lived merited that these things might be profitable for them afterward For there is one sort of Life neither so Good that it might not need those things after Death nor so Evil that they cannot profit after Death But there is such in Good that it may not require them and there is again such in Evil that it cannot be helped
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 Consilâ—s 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 * Nostra quidem Scripta cur ignibus meruerunt dari Cur immaniter Conventicula dirui in quibus Summus oratur Deus Pax cunctis venia postulatur Magistratibus Exercitibus Regibus Familiaribus Inimicis adhuc vitam degentibus resolutis corporum viâ—ctione lib. 4. suo fi But tho' this might be sufficient yet have we further Evidence to trace it even through the more troublesome times of the Churches so near to the Apostles that no Man without Disparagement to his Judgment or his Honesty can question its Original to be indeed Apostolical For tho' those troublesome times have left us so few Monuments of the Primitive Christianity in comparison that all will hardly equal the Writings of some one of the Writers of after-Ages yet among those few have we what is sufficient Arnobius an eminent Professor of Rhetorick who had been a bitter Enemy against the Christians even in the time of Persecution under Dioclesian turned Christian and wrote Seven Books against the Gentiles in the fourth of which he expostulates with them in this manner Why have our Scriptures deserved to be cast into the Fire Why our Meeting-Places to be cruelly destroyed in which the Great God is prayed to Peace and Pardon is besought for all for Magistrates Armies Kings our Familiars and Enemies for those yet living and those released from the Bond of their Bodies Where he speaks of Prayers for these