Very necessary it is being thus fore-warned of God that before all things we take great heed not to be perverted and seduced by erroneous teacheâ—s or false Prophets but on the contrary do diligently preserve our faith the light of our souls the root foundation of al goodness with our which it is impossible to please God as S. Paul saith Wherin we can take no better course no way more sure then to repair to the time of the primitive Church when the bloud of Christ was yet fresh bleeding in mens hearts when the Gospel was instantly preached firmly beleeved sincerely practised confirmed by miracles established by the death of so many Martyrs especially being exhorted hereunto by the holy scriptures for as by them we are admonished of the dangers and troubles of the later dayes so are we for a preservative against them sent to ancient times to conduct us to Gods true religion Stand saith the Prophet leremy Chap. 6. upon the way and inquire of the ancient paths which is a good way walk in that and you shal find rest for your selves Solomon likewise in his Proverbs admonisheth us in this sort Do not passe the ancient bounds which thy Fathers have set down Chap. 22. And in Ecclesiasticus Ch. 8. Do not set light by the report of thy elders for they have learned of their forefathers because of them shalt thou learn understanding and in the time of necessity shalt thou give answer To the end therefore gentle Reader that thou be not carried away with the sweet benedictions of those licentious masters with which the later times according to the predictions of the Apostles should be much pestered nor seduced with the erroneous doctrine of those false Prophets and false Christs of which the son of God the true Prophet and true Christ hath forewarned us and that thou mayest find out a good way to walk in and keep thee within the ancient bounds set down by our forefathers and by their report learn wisdome and understanding I am to request thee to vouchsafe the reading of this old Father newly translated and I nothing doubt but thou wilt give that censure which the Queen of Sheba gave of the wisdome of Solomon 3. Reg 10. The second reason which set me forward was for that I find this book not written against some one or a few particular false teachers as St. Augustine and divers ancient learned Doctours did against the Arians Pelagians and such like but against all heresie or erroneous doctrine whatsoever which is a thing of so great importance as I know not what can be devised more What gold were too much or what treasures too dear for that medicine which had virtue to cure all diseases False doctrine and heresie is a great sore a canker more pestilent then any corporall infirmity whatsoever seeing this worketh onely the temporall destruction of our body but that causeth death both of body and soul everlasting In other books we find the confutation of some speciall point of false doctrine in many the overthrow of divers but to destroy all at one blow and those each so contrary to themselves so distinct for time so divers for place so many for number is a property peculiar onely to this most excellent treatise and therefore it may fitly be compared to that miraculous pond whereof we read in the Gospell John 5. which cured all diseases for as that water moved by the Angell cured whatsoever infirmity of him that first entred in so this book written no doubt by the motion of the holy Ghost hath force to cure any such as is corrupted with erroneous doctrine or to preserve him from all infection if he vouchsafe to enter in that is to read it to consider and weigh diligently what is said and discoursed of The reason why this book hath this rare quality in my opinion is because it sheweth the right way of expounding Gods divine Scripture in which so many to the great danger of mens souls do so greatly go a stray and therefore as David overthrowing Golias the chief Champion of the camp put all the Philistins to flight 1 Reg. 17. so no marvell though this ancient Authour discovering the false expositions and glosses of sacred Scripture the principall pillar of all poisoned doctrine overthroweth also all wicked heresie The third and last motive which incouraged me to this labour and ought partly to move thee to the reading is the brevity of the work the finenesse of the method the eloquence of the stile and therefore if long and large volumes do little please this is short which cannot cause dislike if confusion be ingrate full a methodicall order can not but like thee if a stile harsh and course fitteth not thy taste then I trust that which is fine pleasant and delicate will content thy humour Onely I am to crave pardon that my rough and rude English nothing answereth his smooth and curious Latin And therefore I could wish thee if skill serveth rather to consult with the authour himself then to use the help of his rude interpreter otherwise for such as be not of so deep reading for whom especially I have taken this pain I am to desire that they nothing dislike the sovereign medicine for the wooden box nor the exquisite and rare gemme for the course casket These be the reasons Gentle Reader which especially moved me to the translating of this antient and learned Father I beseech thee as thou tenderest the salvation of thy soul that thou wouldest vouchsafe to reade him attentively in whom thou shalt see clearly as in a glasse the faith of our fore-fathers the religion of the primitive Church and in whom thou shalt find by Gods word and authority of sacred Scripture the madnesse of all Hereticks crushed in pieces and that in a short methodicall and eloquent Treatise The Holy Ghost which moved no doubt this antient learned Father to the writing of this Work incline and move thy heart to the diligent reading and sincere following of the same * ⎠* An Advertisement in the reading of the XIII Chapter of the Verity of Christian Faith THe Reader is desired to take notice that wheresoever in this treatise the term Adoration is applied unto the Mother of God or to any other person or thing beside God himself it imports only Dulia that is such an inferiour degree of reverence and veneration as creatures may be capable of according to the severall degrees of excellency which is in them and according at the Word is frequently understood in Holy Scripture viz. Gen 23 7. 12. †18 2. †19 1. †50 18. Acts. 10 25. Dan. 2 46. Matth. 2 2.8.1 Chron. 29 20. Exod. 3 15. †33. 10. Jos 5 14. 15. Apoc. 19 10. †22 9. and not to signifie that supream Honour and estimation which is incommunicable and proper onely to God Almighty and commonly called from S. Austin Latria Errata's in the Profit of Believing In
happy But yet because this knowledge or contemplation of the Divine Majesty is inseparably accompanied with a certain infinite and ineffable joy or pleasure conceived upon that sight and by which the sight or contemplation it self seems to be perfected therfore we say that in regard of operation or the exercise of Beatitude that it is compleated in the will which with an infinite delight doth embrace that good sight and consent to be absorpt and drowned in the glorious Abyss thereof to all Eternity As in like manner we say of man that he consists essentially in the union of a rationall Soul with the body but yet that he is perfected in regard of operations by such accidents as do either necessarily or contingently follow that union to which sense the Philosopher also saith Delight hath the same relation to Felicity which Beauty hath to youth The XI Conclusion That perfect Blessednesse cannot be attained in this life First because in this life we have no immediate knowledge of God we see him not but by and through the creatures and as it were in such a glasse as the Phantasie or some inferiour faculty of our soul is able to present unto us which manner of knowledge being so imperfect the soul of man finds no satisfaction therein that is to say no Beatitude no full content Secondly because as Boetius saith Blessednesse is a state consummate or perfected with a concurrence of all good but in this mortall life there never was seen nor ever shall be such a generall confluence of All Good Things upon any one man as that nothing should be wanting either to his body or to his soul especially seing that Immortality the Crown of the Bodies perfections cannot possibly be attained here no more then the certain hour of a mans death can be foreseen and that knowledge which is the prerogative royall of the soul is found but by very few and that never absolutely clear in this life never but darkened and eclipsed with a multitude of errours Not to speak of those inferiour and lesse valuable goods of fortune and the body health wealth c. the least of which yet being wanting doth infinitely disturb our union with God and dayly yea hourly deject us from that state wherein True Felicity consists The XII Conclusion Yet notwithstanding a certain Inchoate Felicity or as 't were the First Fruits of happinesse may be had in this life In the heart of man we may conceive a double rest viz. either of the appetite it self or of the motions and stirrings of the appetite The former which is indeed a beginning of happinesse a man may perhaps perfectly obtain in this life for it is nothing else but the determining or settling of our desire upon that object which is in Truth our last end 'T is true in a generall notion all men do naturally desire to be happy because 't is naturall for every thing to desire at least that perfection which is proper to his kind yet in particular or in regard to their indeavours or motions to attain happinesse they do as generally mistake few of them knowing where to find it or in what Thing it consists and therefore we see their desires thereof are commonly unequall irregular and restlesse But when once a man hath found that his happinesse consisteth in the Contemplation or knowledge of God and is resolved to make it his chief business study and care to advance himself therein his appetite becomes in that respect satisfied and quiet But yet again because this knowledge of God is not perfect in this life but rather in continuall advancement towards perfection therefore we say in that second sense that the appetite is not satisfied that is to say not the motions and stirrings thereof which indeed never cease but are continually labouring and endeavouring after greater perfection in that Contemplation and this so much the more incessantly and strongly by how much a man comes nearer to perfect Beatitude and receives as it were beforehand some glimpses and Irradiations thereof And this is that we call Felicity Inchoate or in its First-fruits The XIII Conclusion That Christians have this Felicity Inchoate in a greater measure then the best of Philosophers The reason is because the Contemplation and Fruition of God which good Christians have are in themselves greater and more perfect then those which the most excellent Philosophers could ever arrive unto By what I have elsewhere said it is manifest that a Christians life is not founded upon any naturall principle either within or without man but in something supernaturall that is to say in the Grace of God by which also he is elevated unto a participation of the Divine nature Seeing therefore that the operation of every thing followeth its Essence for every thing worketh so far as it can agreeably to its own nature by how much the nature or essence of any thing is more perfect by so much perfecter also is it in its operation or working But Grace is a thing of a much nobler and more perfect essence then nature and therefore the operations or effects which proceed from thence must needs excell those of nature And seeing again that by how much the operation or Action of any Thing is more perfect by so much a greater and more perfect delight is conceived thereupon it must needs follow that those spirituall Contentments and Gusts which good Christians have with God and in God do infinitely excel those of philosophers which at best are but naturall and such as the principle is from whence they proceed Besides seeing that happinesse consisterh in the Contemplation of God the greater knowledge a man hath of God the greater that is the more perfect is his Contemplation and Fruition of him But this is certain that Christians have greater knowledge of God then philosophers as well in regard of the light of Grace which perfects that of nature and reveals unto Christians many excellent mysteries altogether unknown to philosophers as also in regard of that Purity of heart which as we have shewed elswhere true Christians do injoy in a more excellent measure then others The delights therefore which Christians injoy in their Contemplation of God are much greater in themselves and more perfect then those which the best of philosophers could have And seeing that this happinesse Inchoate which we speak of doth consist in that Contemplation and Fruition of God which is attainable in this life it follows that it is more perfectly attained by Christians then philosophers Lastly this happinesse Inchoate is so much greater and more perfect by how much it cometh nearer to Felicity consummate or that of the next life But the Felicity of Christians which is here begun cometh much nearer to Felicity Consummate then that of philosophers for as much as no man shall ever actually attain heaven but by Grace which the philosophers neither had nor knew it is manifest therefore that true Christians are more
reason to believe and embrace unheard of millions of fables and tales CHAP. VII That we ought not to judge rashly of the holy Scriptures and how and with what care and diligence the true Religion is to be sought for BUt now if I can I will accomplish that which I have begun and I will treat with thee after such a sort that in the mean time I will not expound the Catholick Faith but I will shew unto them that have a care of their souls some hope of divine fruit and of finding out the Truth to the end they may search out the great mysteries and secrets of Faith He that seeks after the true Religion doth without doubt either believe already that the Soul is immortall unto whom that Religion may be commodious and profitable or he desires to find her to be so in the same Religion and therefore all Religion is for the souls sake for the nature of the body howsoever it doth put him to no care and solicitude especially after death whose soul hath taken a course by which it may become blessed Wherefore true Religion if there be any was either onely one chiefly instituted for the souls sake and this soul erres and is foolish as we see untill she gets and possesses wisdome and that perhaps is the true Religion if I seek out and enquire the cause of her erring I find it to be a thing which is extremely hidden and obscure But do I send thee to fables or do I enforce thee to believe any thing rashly I say our soul being entangled and drowned in errour and folly seeks after the way of venty and truth if there be any such to be found if thou findest not thy self thus inclined and disposed pardon me and make me I pray thee partaker of thy wisdome but if thou doest let us I beseech thee both together seek out the truth Imagine with thy self that no not ce had as yet been given unto us nor no insinuation made unto us of any Religion what soever Behold we undertake a new work and a new businesse Professours of Religion are I believe to be sought for if there be no such thing Suppose then that we have found men of divers opinions and in that diversity seeking to draw every one unto them but that in the mean time some amongst these do surpasse the rest in renown of fame and in the possession of almost all people Whether they embrace the truth or no it is a great question but are they not first to be examined and tried that so long as we erre for as men we are subject to errour we may seem to erre with mankind it self but thou wilt say Truth is to be found but amongst a few certain men if thou knowest amongst whom it is why then thou knowest already what it is Did not I say a little before that we would seek after the truth as though we were yet ignorant thereof but if by the force of truth thou doest conjecture that there be but few that embrace it and yet thou knowest not who they be what if those few do lead and rule the multitude by their authority and can dive into the secrets and mysteries of faith and can make them in a manner plain and manifest do we not see how few attain to the height of eloquence and yet the schools of Rhetoricians do make a great noise throughout the whole world with companies of young men Do all those that desire to become good oratours being terrified with the multitude of unskilfull men think that they ought to addict themselves rather to the studie of the orations of Coccilius and Erucius then to those of Tullius Cicero all men affect the things that are strengthened and confirmed by the authority of their ancestours The simple sort of people endeavours to learn those things which a few learned men have delivered unto them to be learned but very few there be that attain unto great eloquence fewer there be that practise it but fewest of all that grow eminent and are famous What if true Religion be some such thing what if a multitude of ignorant people frequents the Churches it is no proof nor argument that therefore none are made perfect by those mysteries and yet if so few should studie eloquence as there are few that become eloquent our parents would never think it fit to have us recommended unto such masters When as therefore the multitude which abounds with a number of unskilfull people invites us to these studies and makes us earnestly to affect that which few do obtain why will we not admit that we have the like cause in Religion the which peradventure we contemne and despise to the great perill and hazard of our souls for if the most true and most sincere worship of God though it be but amongst a few yet it is amongst those with whom the multitude though wholly addicted to their appetites and desires and farre from the purity of knowledge and understanding doth consent and agree which without all doubt may come to passe I ask what answer are we able to give if any one should reprove our rashnes folly for that having a great care to find out the true Religion we do not diligently search it out amongst the masters and teachers thereof if I should say the multitude hath discouraged me Why then hath it not disheartened men from the study of the liberall sciences which hardly yields any profit to this present life why not from seeking after money and getting wealth why not from obtaining dignities and honours moreover why not from recovering and preserving health finally why not from the desire of a blessed an happy life in all which affairs though many men be imployed yet few there be that are eminent and excell You will say that the books of the Old Testament seemed to contain absurd things Who are they that affirm it namely enemies for what cause or reason they did it is not now the question but yet they were enemies you will say when you read them you understood so much by your own reading Is it so indeed if thou hadst no skill in Poetrie at all thou durst not take in hand Terentianus Maurus without a master Asper Cornutus Donatus and a multitude of other Authours are thought requisite for the understanding of any Poet whose verses deserve no greater esteem then the approbation and applause of a stage and thou without a guide doest undertake to reade those books and without a master darest passe thy judgement upon them which howsoever they be are notwithstanding by the confession of almost all mankind published to be holy and replenished with divine matters nor if thou findest some things therein which seem unto thee absurd dost thou rather accuse the dulnesse of thy wit and thy mind corrupted with the infection of this world as the minds of all fools are then those books which peradventure by such kind of men cannot
between his folly and the most sincere truth of the Divine Majesty For a wise man according to the ability which he hath received doth imitate God and a fool hath nothing nearer unto him which he may profitably imitate and follow then a wise man when because as I said it is not easie to understand by reason it was necessary that certain miracles should be proposed and set before mens eyes which fools do use much more commodiously then their understandings to the end that the life and manners of men moved with authority might first be purged and made clean and so they might be enabled to understand reason And therefore when as man was to be imitated and yet no confidence to be placed in him how could the Divine Majesty shew greater signs of his favour and liberality then that the sincere eternall and unchangeable wisdome of God unto whom it behoves us to cleave and adhere should vouchsafe to take humane nature upon him who did not onely do those things which might serve to invite us to follow God but did also endure and suffer those things whereby we were discouraged from following of him For whereas no man can obtain the most certain and chiefest good unlesse he doth fully and perfectly love it which by no means will be brought to passe so long as men fear the miseries of the body and the things that are subject to fortune and chance he by his wonderfull birth and admirable works hath purchased for us love and charity and hath excluded terrour and fear by his death and resurrection And finally he hath shewed himself to be such an one in all other things too long to be here expressed and set down that we may know and perceive hereby how farre the divine clemency can reach and be extended and how farre mans infirmity can be elevated and extolled CHAP. XVI That Miracles do procure Belief THis believe it is a most wholesome authority this at the first is a withdrawing of our minds from an earthly habitation this is a conversion from the love of this world to the true God It is onely authority which moveth fools to make haste unto wisdome So long as we cannot understand sincere things it is indeed a miserable thing to be deceived by authority but truly it is more miserable not to be moved thereby For if the Divine Providence doth not rule and govern humane affairs we ought not to busie and trouble our selves about Religion but if even the frame and species of all things which we must believe proceeds and flows from some fountain of the truest beauty doth as it were publickly and privately exhort all the more noble and braver spirits both to seek God in I know not what inward conscience and to serve him we ought not to despair but that the same God hath constituted and ordained some authority upon which if we lean and rely as upon a sure step we may be elevated and lifted up unto him This authority reason being set aside which to understand to be true and sincere it is a very hard matter for fools to do as I have often said doth move and excite us two manner of wayes partly by miracles and partly by the great number and multitude of followers It is certain that a wise man needs none of these things but now we are discoursing how we may become wise men that is how we may cleave and adhere unto the truth which is a thing that doubtlesse cannot be done with a foul and impure mind the uncleannesse whereof is to expound it briefly the love of all things whatsoever besides it self and God from which filth by how much any one is more purged and cleansed by so much the more easily doth he behold the truth And therefore to desire to see the truth that thou mayst cleanse the mind when therefore it ought to be cleansed that thou mayest see the truth is certainly a perverse and a preposterous thing Wherefore to a man that is not able to behold the truth that he may be made fit to see it and may suffer himself to be purged and cleansed authority is at hand which without doubt receives her strength and vigour partly by miracles and partly by the number and multitude of followers as I said a little before A miracle I call any hard or unwonted thing whatsoever which appears above the expectation and power of the wonderer In which kind nothing is more fit for the common people and for men that are absolutely sottish and foolish then that which is applyed and proposed to the senses But these again are divided into two sorts for some there be that onely move men to wonder and admiration and others which besides do winne and purchase great favour and good will For if any one should see a man fly he would onely wonder at it because it is a thing which besides the beholding of it yields to the spectatour no commodity nor profit But if any one being afflicted with a grievous and desperate sicknesse shall so soon as the disease is commanded to depart recover his health he shall overcome the wonder of the cure by the charity of the curer Such things were done as many as were sufficient when God appeared to men in the shape of a true man The sick were cured Mat. 9.6 13 15 16. Mat. 9.7 22. Mar. 3.5 10. Joh. 4.53 the leaprous were cleansed Mat. 8.3 Mar. 4 2. Luke 5.3 7.22 going was restored to the lame Mat. 11.5 sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf Luke 18.42 Joh 9.7 The men of that time saw water turned into wine Joh. 2.9 five thousand people filled with five loaves of bread Mat. 14.20 21. men walking upon the sea Mat. 14.25 Joh. 6.19 21.7 and the dead rising from death to life Luke 7.15 8.55 So some miracles were done for the cure of the body by a more manifest benefit and some for the cure of the soul by a more hidden sign but they were all for the help of mankind by the testimony of the Divine Majesty thus did the Divine Majesty then draw unto it the straying souls of mortall men Why sayst thou are not these things done now Because they would not move unlesse they were wonderfull and if they were common and usuall they were not wonderfull For bring unto me a man when he first sees the courses of day and night and the most constant order of celestiall things the 4. changes of the yeare the falling and returning of the leeves unto the trees the infinite vertue of seeds the beauty of light the varieties of colours sounds smels and tasts and if wee can but speak with him we shall find him wholly astonished and quite overcome with the sight of these miracles and yet we despise and we make and account of al these things not because they are easily known for what is more obscure then the causes of them but for that we are accustomed
and in her prayers more and more instantly recommends her Sonne it is not the place of the dead body but the Mothers lively affection perhaps excited and quickened by the memory of the place which succours the soul of the deceased For doubtless it doth not unprofitably concern the religious mind of one that prayeth to consider at once both who is recommended and to whom he is recommended Even as we see men that pray do commonly so dispose the members of their body as usually is most proper and effectuall for suppliants to do as when they bend their knees when they spread their hands when they prostrate their bodies on the ground or do any other visible action of that nature although I say their invisible will and hearts intention be known well enough unto God who needs none of these signs to make him see what is in the heart of man yet certainly the man who prayeth doth move himself to pray to lament to grieve by such motions and postures as those much more humbly much more fervently and devoutly then otherwise he would Yea and how it comes to pass I know not seeing these motions of the body are not made but by some precedent motion of the mind yet certain it is that by these externall actions visibly done that other invisible motion which caused them is reciprocally increased and by this means that affection of mind which preceded those Actions as the cause of them is it self also increased because they are done and yet notwithstanding when it happens that a man is held in such sort or perhaps tyed by constraint that he cannot so dispose his corporall members as willingly he would his interiour man ceaseth not therefore to pray nor yet to prostrate himself before Almighty God in the more secret Cabinet of a contrite heart In like manner truly it much imports where a man can place the dead body of him for whose soul he intends to supplicate almighty God Observe this that it much imports even wherthe body is interred because both his precedent affection did chuse an holy place and also having put the body there the remembrance of the same place revives and increases that affection which preceded it But neverthelesse a religious friend being determined to give buriall to him whom he loveth although he cannot perhaps obtain to bury him where he would yet let him not by any means forbear necessary prayers in his recommendation for whatsoever becometh of the dead body Rest of the souls to bee procured even after death the Rest of his soul must be procured which soul of his when it left the body carried its sense along with it by which is distinguished in what condition every one is after death whither good or euil Nor doth the spirit of man after departure expect that its life should be any way relieved now by that flesh to which it self when time was afforded life which life at the hour of death it carried away with it self and shall restore again when it returnes For this is certain the flesh procures not the merit of Resurrection to the spirit but the spirit to the flesh whither it revives unto pain or glory CHAP. VI. VVE read in the Chronicles of the Church which Eusebius wrote in Greek and after him Ruffinus translated into Latine that the bodies of some Martyrs in France were thrown unto dogs and that what the dogs left of them together with their very bones was afterwards consumed with fire and the ashes cast into the river Rhosne so that not the least part of them could remain for memory Which we cannot imagine was permitted by the Divine Providence for any other reason then to teach Christians that by them who for the honour and Confession of Christ do despise their own lives the want of buriall after death is least of all to be regarded For out of all doubt this thing which was executed with so great cruelty upon the Martyrs bodies would never have been suffered by God if the victorious Souls themselves could thereby have been hindered of their Crowns and rest Hence therefore it is clearly manifest that our Lord saying Fear not those who kill the body and have no more to do meant not that men should act nothing upon the bodies of his servants deceased as well as living but that whatsoever they should be suffered to do nothing should be done that might disturb their happinesse nothing that should affect them with any sense of grief nothing that should hinder the perfect resurrection and restauration of their bodies in due time CHAP. VII ALL which notwithstanding by reason of that naturall and inbred affection which is in men in respect whereof it is said that no man ever hated his own flesh if they perceive that any thing be likely after their death to be wanting unto their bodies which the solemnity of funerall would require at least according to the custome of the countrey and place where they live we see they cannot forbear to be sad like men and sollicitous for that provision touching their bodies before death of which when they are once dead they shall not be sensible at all Yea so far doth this extend that in the book of Kings we read how God Almighty himself by one Prophet threatneth another who had transgressed his command that his body should not be buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers The words of Scripture are these Thus saith our Lord 3 Reg. 13.21 Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of our Lord and hast not kept the Commandment which our Lord thy God commanded thee but camest back and hast eaten bread and drank water in the place in which our Lord commanded thee not to eat bread nor drink water thy carcase shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy Fathers Which punishment if we consider it according to the Gospel where as hath been often said we are taught not to fear after our departure any thing that may be done to our dead members it will scarce seem to be any punishment at all but if we reflect upon that humane affection which all men naturally bear to their own flesh a man can hardly choose but be contristated even while he liveth for that which when he is dead he shall not feel In this respect therefore it was a punishment unto the Prophet that he could not forbear to grieve at present for that which should afterward befall his body though when it should indeed befall he were sure enough to have no sense of it For the will of our Lord doubtlesse was to chastise his servant thus far onely who had transgressed his command not so much by any particular pravity of his own will as through the fallacy of another who deceived him and made him think he had obeyed the command of God when he did not And it were very hard to think otherwise as that his body being killed by the tearings of
that beast his soul should also be plucked away at the same time to the torments of hell No we see the Lyon which killed him became instantly his Guardian and defended his body from the ravening of other beasts yea the very Asse on which he rode remained untouched seeming to assist as it were with an undaunted presence at the Funeralls of his Master which certainly was not without miracle and an evident sign that the man of God in that case was corrected onely unto a temporall death and not at all punished afterward not much unlike to that passage of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.31 where having commemorated the infirmities yea deaths of many of the people for some particular offenses among them he concludes at last thus If we would judge our selves we should not be judged by our Lord but when we are judged we are chastized by our Lord lest we should be condemned with the world And truly he who had deceived this Prophet buryed him afterward in his own monument with sufficient honour yea and took order beside that himself might be afterwards buryed as near as might be unto his corps hoping as we may probably suppose that by this means his own bones might be spared when the time should come according to the prophesie of this very man of God that the good King Josias should cause the bones of many dead people to be dis-interred and those idolatrous altars which had been built unto strange Gods in and about Hierusalem to be defiled therewith For so indeed it came to passe The Monument wherein this Prophet was buryed who foretold those things three hundred years before and the Sepulchre of him who deceived him were spared And so we see out of that naturall affection by which every man loves his own flesh 4 Reg. 23.12 this Prophet was carefull to provide for the temporall security of his body even after death who yet by a lye so much as in him lay cared not to hazzard his soul for ever In this respect therefore that every one naturally loveth his own flesh it was some kind of punishment for the one to know that he should not come to be buried in the Sepulchre of his fathers and in the other if that had been all a providence not unworthy of commendation viz. to lay his bones in a Sepulchre which he was sure none would violate CHAP. VIII THe Martyrs indeed while they fought for the truth vanquished this affection and it was no marvell they should for they who could not be overcome with any torments they suffered alive it had been very strange should they have shrunk at any thing which was to follow after death whereof they should have no sense Doubtlesse God Almighty who suffered not the Lyon so much as to touch the Prophet after he was dead but as it were commanded him to gard that body which he had slain could as easily if he had so pleased have kept off those doggs from the bodies of his servants he could have terrified by a hundred wayes the cruell minds of those people that they should not have dared either to burn their bodies or to throw about their ashes But this was a tryall of those Saints not fit to be wanting to the rest of their sufferings that the fortitude of their Confession which was already well seen in not yielding to any tortures to save their life might yet be consummated as it were and perfected in this that for Christs sake they regarded as little the honour of Sepulture remaining through their Faith in the Resurrection as secure of their bodies as they were of their souls And for this reason also it was fit that such things should be permitted to be done that the Martyrs themselves by such glorious combats should become fervent witnesses of that Truth which from our Saviour they had learned namely That they which thus cruelly tyrannized over their bodies after death had no more to do seeing that whatsoever they should attempt upon the bodies once dead would be nothing nothing I say either in respect of the soul which onely hath sense and was already departed or in respect of God the Creatour whose providence is such as nothing can be lost which he hath made And yet notwithstanding while these Martyrs themselves with infinite courage suffered such things not caring for the love of Christ what became of their bodies dead or alive their fellow-brethren the rest of the Christians had great sorrow at the same time were much afflicted that by reason hereof and of the extream vigilance of their persecutours they could not perform the honours of their funeralls no not so much as to procure privately the least Relick of them Christians in old times used diligence to get any small relicks of Saints as the same history sheweth So as when no evil at all touched them who were killed either that their bodies were torn in pieces or their bones burnt or their ashes cast abroad yet in the living we see there was much sorrow and affliction because they were not able to do that for their friends which this naturall affection seemed to require that is there was in them a great deal of fense for that of which the dead had no sense and much compassion as I may so say where indeed was no Passion at all CHAP. IX According unto which kind of miserable compassion as it may be called we reade those men were highly commended by King David who had buried that is 2 Reg 2.5 shewed such pity unto the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan But can any pity be shewen to them who have no sense of misery Or shall we say that this agreeth with the opinion of Virgil that deceased people cannot passe that river of Hell cannot come at the Elysian fields nor be at rest till their bodies be buried God forbid that Christianity should admit such a Paradox If that were true millions of Martyrs were in a miserable case whose bodies were never buried yea and the Truth it self had much deceived them saying Fear not them who kill the body and afterward have no more to do if they could do them so great mischief yet after death as to hinder their passe unto their desired rest But seeing this is so undoubtedly false and that for certain the want of buryall hurteth faithfull souls no more then it doth advantage an infidell to be buried sumptuously what may the reason then be that the good and religious King David should so highly commend them who buried Saul and his son Certainly it was nothing but this viz. the good affection with which their hearts were touched who buried them and that it seemed to be affliction to them that such calamity should befall the bodies of others as out of that naturall love which all men bear to themselves they would never wish to their own and that they were content yea studious while they lived and knew what they did to
can be perceived by corporall eyes that nothing of his substance and his nature is any wayes vioable or changeable or compounded or framed which things if thou grauntest me to be true as wee ought not to frame any other conceit of the divine Majesty all their subtle devises and shifts are subverted and overthrnown But how it can be that God hath neither caused nor done any evill and that there neither is nor ever hath been any nature and substance which he hath not either produced or made and yet that he frees and delivers us from evill is a thing approved upon so necessarie reasons and grounds that no doubt at all can be made thereof especially by thee and such as thou art if so be that to their good wits they joyne piety and a certaine peace and tranquillity of a minde without which nothing at all of so great matters can be conceived and understood and here is no report of great and large promises made to no purpose and of I know not what Persian fable a tale more fit to be told to Children then to ingenious and witty men and as for truth it is a farre other thing then the Manichees do foolishly imagine and conceive but because I have made a farre longer discourse then I thought to have done let me here end this booke wherein I would have thee to remember that I have not yet begun to refute the Manichees and impugne those toyes nor to have expounded any great matter of the Catholick doctrine but that my only intent was to have rooted out of thee if I could the false opinion of true Christians which hath been malitiously or unskilfully insinuated unto us and to stirre thee up to the learning of certaine great and divine things Wherefore I will put a period to this worke and if it makes thy mind more quiet and contented I shall peradventure be more ready to serve thee in other things FINIS Saint Austins Care for the Dead OR HIS BOOK De Curâ pro Mortuis Translated into English The second Edition Revised and Corrected PRINTED Anno Dom. MDCLI Aurelius Augustin TO Paulin Bishop Concerning Care for the Dead CHAP. I. I Have been a long time your debtour venerable Brother fellow Bishop Paulinus The memory of the saints is the place where their body or relicks are kept for the Letters you sent me by the servants of our most religious sister Flora wherein you propounded a question viz. Whither it profits any one after his decease to have his body buried at the memory of some Saint For this it seems the above mentioned widow had enquired of you concerning her sonne deceased in those parts to whom you had returned answer to her comfort signifying withall that the thing was accomplished which with such maternall and pious affection she desired namely to have the corps of the faithfull youth Cynegius departed put in the Church of the most blessed Confessour Faelix by occasion whereof it came to passe that you writ also at the same time to me by the same messengers intimating the question abovesaid and demanding my opinion therein yet in such manner as you do not altogether conceal your own For you say the desire of those faithfull religious minds which procure such things to be done for them seem not to you to be altogether vain and that the custome of the Catholick Church Note this The custome of the Church to pray for the dead which is to pray for the dead cannot be to no purpose so as that even thence we ought to conjecture that it is of some avail for a man after his death if by his faithfull friends living such a place be provided for the interment of his body as may procure him the assistance or patronage of some Saint But you say withall Patronage of Saints usefull for the dead that although this be so yet you see not sufficiently how the opinion can be reconciled to that of the Apostle who saith We shall all stand at Christs Tribunall that every one may receive according to what he hath done in his body whither it be good or evil For say you without all doubt this sentence of the Apostle doth tell us that That which shall profit us after death must be done before viz. in our life therefore not then to be done when every one is to receive for what he hath done already But the difficulty is resolved thus namely that it is procured by the manner of life which we lead here in the body that such Things as these should do us good after we are departed and so it holds true still that according to things done in the body men receive Saint August in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium chap. 110. asserts these threefold sorts of Christians whereof the middle sort is onely capable of help after this life which clearly concludes Purgatory yea when they receive benefit by what is done for them religiously after their decease For it must be confest there are some sorts of men to whom the doing of such Things as these would be of no advantage at all to wit either those who have lived so ill that they deserve not to be holpen by them or those who have lived so well they need not It is therefore by the manner of life which every one leadeth in this body that the things religiously done for them after the body do either profit or not profit at all For certainly if no merit be acquired in this life by which such Things may be rendred profitable to a man after his death Note The Church used then an office of the dead it were then that is to say after he is dead in vain to seek it So we see neither the office of the Church nor our own care of our deceased friends is idle or vain and yet that it is true that every one receiveth according to those Things which he hath done in the body whither it be good or evil our Lord himself rendring unto every one according to his works For as we say it is procured by the life a man leadeth in the body that what is thus done for him should profit him after his body is dead And to have said onely thus much might I conceive be a sufficient answer to your demand but by reason of some other Things which seem to me not unworthy our consideration I shall crave your attention yet a little further We reade in the Book of Macchabees Macchabees alledged for Scripture That sacrifice was offered for the dead And though it were not found at all in any place of the antient Scripture yet the Authority of the universall Church which is clear for this custome is not lightly to be regarded Universall custome of praying for the dead Masse for the dead where in the prayers which the Priest maketh unto our Lord God standing at his Altar recommendation of the dead hath its due
place CHAP. II. WE must therefore somewhat more diligently enquire into the point propounded viz. Whither the place of buriall may be any advantage to a deceased soul And first we shall not so much look upon the common opinion as examine according to the sacred Scriptures of our religion whither indeed it addeth any thing to the misery and affliction of mens souls after this life if their bodies be not buried at all Out of all doubt that which Virgil some where saith is of little truth Aeneid 6 that the souls of unburied people are forbidden the passage of the Infernall River as if forsooth They might not cross that silent stream of horrid Phlegethon Till Superstition had compos'd the Urns of every one For what Christian heart can be moved with such fictions seeing our Lord Jesus that Christians might dy securely under their hands who for som time were to have power over their bodies assures them that not an hair of their head should perish and therefore exhorts them not to fear those who after they have killed the body have no more to do Upon which subject in my first book of the City of God I suppose I may have spoken sufficiently to stop their mouths who charged the Christians with the calamities of those times especially that which Rome suffered by those barbarous people yea objected that Christ either could not or would not help his own to whom when as I replyed that the souls of the faithfull people were at that time largely rewarded by Christ for their sufferings they objected again or rather reproached me with the dishonour of their unburied bodies whereupon I was forced to inlarge my self somewhat upon that subject concerning the buriall of men which I will here set down in the words I then used Neither indeed was it possible they should all be buried in such a ruine of Carcases Nor will a pious man who beleeveth that saying of our Saviour much fear this nor think that beasts which by chance devour their bodies can at all prejudice their Resurrection being assured that not an hair of their head shall perish For he who is Truth it self would never have said Fear not them which kill the body but cannot kill the soul if it could be any prejudice to the future life of the Saints that which their enemies do to their bodies here Unlesse peradventure a man will be so absurd as to contend that we ought not before our death to fear them which kill the body viz. least they should kill it but yet that we ought to fear least after death they should not suffer that body to be buried which they have already killed For then certainly it were not true which Christ sayes They which kill the body have no more to do if so be they could do any thing more towards the dead carcase that were to be regarded But God forbid that any thing should be false which the Truth hath spoken For we say they which kill do something while they kill the body because in the body there is sense and some feeling while it is to be killed but that afterwards they have no more to do because in a body already killed there is no sense at all Wherefore many bodies of good Christians have happened to want buriall but none of them could be ever excluded from heaven and earth both which he totally filleth with his presence who best knoweth how and whence to restore again that which he once made It is said indeed in the Psalmes They exposed the Bodies of thy servants for meat to the fouls of the air Psal 78. and the flesh of thy Saints to the beasts of the land they poured out their bloud like water round about Hierusalem and there was none that would bury them But this was spoken rather to aggravate the cruelty of those who did such things then to intimate any unhappinesse in them which suffered For although such things at these may seem hard yea horrible in the eyes of men yet precious doubtlesse in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And therfore all these particulars that is to say provision of a Funerall the quality of Sepulture the pomp and magnificence of Exequies may seem rather to be as it were comforts of the living then any helps for the dead For certainly if a stately Buriall could of it self any thing advantage a wicked man to be poorly buried or not buried at all would be some prejudice to a good which we know to be false for doubtlesse that rich glutton in the Gospell Luc. 16. who was clothed in purple and fared so deliciously every day when he died had a very sumptuous Funerall made him by his kindred and servants but yet far more glorious in the sight of God was that given unto the poor begger by the hands of Angels who carried him out not unto any Tomb of Marble but to the place where he desired to be into the bosome of Abraham 'T is true those against whom we have undertaken to defend the City of God laugh at these things neverthelesse even their own Philosophers oftentimes have seem'd to make as little account of the rites of Sepulture and whole Armies of men when they come into the field with resolution to dy for their temporall countryes of all things mind least where their bodies fall or what beasts shall devour them yea the Poets themselves not without applause have been heard to say Heaven covers him who hath no Cofin Lucan how much lesse ought they then to insult over Christans concerning their bodies lying unburied to whom they cannot but know restauration of their flesh and of all the members of their body is promised by him who is sufficiently able to do it yea and shall be in a moment perfectly made good unto them whether from the earth or from those remotest receptacles of other elements into which the substance of their bodies by never so many changes and changes upon changes may be retired CHAP. III. WHich yet we speak not to the intent the bodies of men especially those of the Faithfull and Just should be neglected after death and thrown out of sight as some other common carcases for as much as the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to use them in their times as his own organs or instruments unto all good works For if but a ring vestment or some other thing belonging to our Father be very dear unto us and so much the more by how much our naturall affection was greater and more lively towards him in no sort certainly may the bodies of men be despised which we carry about us much more intrinsecally and nearly united then any vestment whatsoever for our bodies pertain not unto matter of ornament or any extrinsecall help but to the very substance of our nature Whence it is also that the Funeralls of just men in old time were performed with a great deal of piety
care their Exequies solemnly celebrated and the places of their buriall with much diligence provided yea themselves in their life time Gen. 23.47.49.50 would frequently give command concerning the burying and removing of their bodies after their death as there was cause Tob. 2.12 And Tobias is commended by no lesse Testimony then of an Angel to have merited with God for that he was diligent to bury the dead Yea our Lord himself although he were to rise again within three dayes after his Passion yet coÌ„mended the care the good woman had of his buriall and commanded that the good work she had done in providing such precious ointments to imbalm his body should be preached to her praise all the world over there is honourable mention made in the Gospel of those who took down the body of our Lord from the Crosse and gave it Buriall All which Authorities yet are not to teach us that there is any sense in dead bodies but onely seeing that such offices of piety are pleasing to God they signifie unto us that even the dead bodies do pertain unto the divine Providence and this the rather to confirm our Faith in the Resurrection And hence also we may learn not unprofitably how great reward there may be for such Alms as we give unto living people when even that which is bestowed upon the dead and livelesse members is not lost with God There are indeed some other particulars which the Holy Patriarchs who speak them would have to be understood concerning the buriall and translating of their bodies after death as spoken by a propheticall spirit but this is no place to treat of them seeing that which we have deliver'd already may suffice For if those things which are necessary to the sustenance of the living and cannot be wanted but with great difficulty as victualls apparell c. yet do never when they are wanted violate or overthrow the virtue of patience in good people nor extirpate piety quite out of the mind but rather exercise and revive it much lesse doubtless can those things which are usually expended in Funeralls Exequies upon deceased persons when they happen to be wanting make those persons miserable who are already setled and at rest in those secret Tabernacles of the just And therefore when it so fell out in the devastation of that great City and of the adjacent Towns that the bodies of good christians had not Buriall we may not presently charge either the living with any crime thereabout who could not help it nor yet the dead with any great misfortune who were as little sensible of it This is my opinion concerning the matter of Sepulture in generall which I have therefore translated into this book out of that other of the City of God in regard it was something more easie for me to repeat it in this then to deliver it in a new manner CHAP. IIII. NOw if this be so surely also the provision of place for the burial of bodies at the monuments of Saints must have something in it it must be at least an argument of some good humane affection toward our friends whose funeralls we celebrate and if it be some kind of Religion to bury them at all certainly to have care in what place we bury them cannot but be of like merit But yet when such comforts as these are procured by the living by which indeed their pious affection toward their deceased friend is sufficiently declared to survive yet I say I perceive not for my part any advantage coming thereby unto the dead unlesse it be in this onely respect namely that when men remember where the bodies of their deceased friends are placed they may in their prayers recommend them unto God more effectually by the intercession of those Saints unto whose patronage they may seem by the place of their Buriall Patronage of Saints profitable when desired to be received which yet also they might if they pleased very wel do supposing they were not interred in such places Neither are those more eminent Sepulchres of the dead called Memories or Monuments for any other reason then because they do as it were renew or preserve the remembrance of such persons as are by death withdrawn from the common conversation of men and so hinder that they perish not altogether as much in the minds of their friends as they seem lost to their eye For the very name of memory imports this clearly and a Monument is so called because it admonisheth or as it were prompteth the mind to something which is fit to be thought on For which reason also the same thing which we call a Memory or Monument the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in their language is as much as remembrance with us Whensoever therefore the mind of a man remembers where the body of some dear friend is buryed if the place which comes to mind be also venerable and renown'd for the name of some Martyr instantly without more adoe the good affection of him that remembers this Souls recommeÌ„ed unto the Mar. tyrs in his prayers recommendeth the soul it loved unto the same Martyr which affection yet when it is exhibited by faithfull and dear friends unto people departed they themselves before their departure merited that it should be availeable to them And therefore where necessity suffers not either that bodyes be buryed at all or not in such places as these Prayer for the souls departed yet prayer for the souls departed is never pretermitted which the Church of God as it were ingageth her self to performe at least under a generall Commemoration without particular mention of names in behalf of all those who are departed in the Christian Catholick Communion to the intent that by the care of one pious Common Mother unto all supply may bee made of such good offices wherein possibly our friends kindred Children or parents may be defective towards us So that indeed in case these supplications wee speak of which are usually done in right faith and piety for the dead should bee wanting or not made at all I for my part suppose it would not much profit a mans soul to have his body buryed in a holy place CHAP. V. VVHerefore to return to our purpose when as this faithfull Mother desired to have the body of her faithfull Child put in the Church of a Martyr this desire of hers was a kind of prayer for as much as shee beleeved his soul might receive help by the merits of the Martyr Souls receiving help by the merits of the Martyrs S. Aug. assures us that prayer for the dead is very profitable though he was not certain whither the buriall in any particular place be so available yet he much enclineâ—h to that also and proveth it very strongly And this was that which profited if any thing did profit at all So when the Mother afterwards remembers the same sepulchre
is neither the living nor the dead knowing at all when themselves or their similitudes do so appear CHAP. XII NOt unlike unto dreams are the visions which some have both living and waking namely those who are troubled in their mind frantick or distempered people for such many times we observe talking to themselves as unto companions sometimes with such as are absent as if they were present and with the dead as if they were alive and this by reason of the Idea's or forms of such persons or things as by accident get into their fancy But even as the living themselves in such cases know not that they seem to appear and speak unto such persons who through distemper of mind do conceive themselves to fee and hear them for in reality sure they are neither present with them nor talking to them but onely the poor men have such phantasms in their head which trouble them so also is it when they imagine themselves to talk or converse with any that be dead for the dead come not at them nor do they know whither such people think of them yea or no. And like unto this is also an other case of some people who seem as it were to be abstracted from themselves and more deprived of their bodily senses then they should be if they onely slept yet in the mean time entertained with strange visions For unto such also appear the similitudes of living and dead men and when they come again to their senses if they report that they saw any of the dead men are apt to believe that in their extasies they were really with those dead not considering how at the same time upon their report they also saw others which were alive and far enough distant from them and no way thinking of them as I shall shew you by one notable example A certain ordinary person of Tully's incorporation which is nigh unto Hippo one Curina by name a poor Officer in that place and scarce got into the rank of a Duumvir and an absolute rustick beside fell sick had his senses quite taken from him and lay for some dayes in a manner dead yet some little breath remaining in him which could hardly be perceived by laying ones finger to his nosthrills yet it served for some slender token of life so as he was not buried as one absolutely dead he stirred not one member of his body received no kind of sustenance all that while perceived no body either by sight or any other sense what pain soever they laboured to put him to yet in his vision he saw many things which at length after many dayes awaking he reported And first of all upon the very opening of his eyes Let some body quoth he go to Curina the Smiths house and see what 's to do there whither when the messenger came that Curina viz. the Smith was found to be dead in that very moment when this other returned to his senses seeming as it were to be restored from death to life Then he told those who stood about him that Curina the Smith was commanded to appear at the very time that himself was discharged and that when he was dismissed in the place from whence he came he heard it said that not Curina the Officer but Curina the Smith was the man commanded to be brought unto those places of the dead In this extasie therefore of his as in a vision he may seem to have conversed with the dead yea to have seen them treated as doubtlesse they are according to their severall merits And truly perhaps I should have thought my self he had conversed with the very souls of the dead if he had not also seen in that vision sundry which are yet alive namely some Churchmen of his own Countrey by the Priest whereof he was told that at Hippo he should be baptized by me which accordingly he said was done Wherefore in that vision it is clear he saw both a Priest certain of the Clergy my self none of us all as yet dead as well as he saw those that were dead Why then might he not see us all both dead and living after one manner that is not present but absent not knowing but ignorant of what he saw in a word not in our persons but in our similitudes even as he did the places also For he saw the Field where the Priest was he saw not only the Clarks but the whole City of Hippo it self where he was Baptized in which places yet certainly he was not for he knew nothing of what was done at Hippo all that time which he would have done doubtlesse if indeed he had been there All this therefore was but by the way of vision wherein things passe not alwayes in themselves or in verity of their substance but are represented in Image or Similitude onely Lastly after many other things which he saw he told how he was taken up into Paradise and that it was said to him when he was dismissed and ready to return to his friends Go Be Baptized if ever you will live in this place of the Blessed and when they told him further that he must be Baptized by me he answered it was done already but hee who communed with him replyed Go saith he and be Baptized indeed for all this thou hast seen but in vision After this the man recovered and came to Hippo. Easter approching he delivered in his name among the rest of the Competents unknown to me and not much caring as it seems to tell his Vision either to my self or any about me But Baptized he was and when the Holy-dayes were over he went home again to his own and a year or two it was before I understood any of these particulars which I first learned from a friend of mine and his sitting at table together and discoursing of such matters Thereupon I became my self inquisitive concerning the businesse and caused him to make relation of the whole matter to my self in presence of many honest men his fellow Citizens who themselves testified the strange sicknesse which he had and that for the space of many dayes he lay as one dead and what happened to that other Curina the Smith and when he repeated all things as I have related his neighbours that stood by remembred and testified that they had heard the same things from him before Wherefore as he saw his own Baptizing and me and the City of Hippo the Church and the Font not in the things themselves or their very substance but by certain similitudes so also did he see many other persons alive which neither knew nor had thought of him CHAP. XIII VVHy then might he not see those deceased persons which he saw not in their own persons or substances but in representation onely they themselves neither seeing nor conversing with him Why shall we not say that such things as these may be the operations of some Angels by order of the divine providence Angels appear to